The Whispering Verses Chapter 1361: Key to the Earth
Chapter 1361 The Key to the Earth
Hearing the count’s question, Shade immediately denied it:
"No, no, I'm just a writer, not a detective. Besides, even a detective wouldn't be able to discover that kind of ancient pre-era cemetery so easily. I want to ask you about the current cemetery of the Granger family. When was it established? ”
This kind of long-established noble family usually has its own family cemetery, or separate areas are set aside in public cemeteries to place the tombs of family members.
Earl Granger thought for a moment:
"The current family cemetery, together with the Randall Valley Public Cemetery, were both established around 1500 GCE and have a history of about three hundred years. The previous family cemetery was because of the famous Randall Cemetery in 1498. The Del Valley was destroyed by the earthquake."
Shad heard about this earthquake when he was investigating local legends. It was the most serious earthquake in the area since there were historical documents. However, due to the local status as the "center of the earth in the material world", it stands to reason that there should not be such earthquakes, so the incident three hundred years ago was very strange.
"We used to have our own family cemetery. I don't even know the history of that old cemetery. But the earthquake destroyed everything, yes, everything."
"Isn't even the wreckage left?"
Xia De asked, and the Earl shook his head regretfully:
"That place is far away from the current city, and I have never been there myself. But my grandfather has been there, and according to him, the place is completely deserted."
As he spoke, the Earl stood up and pointed out to Shade the location of the former Granger family cemetery on the map hanging in the study. It is located in the northeast of the city. Although it does not enter the mountainous area and is on the periphery of the river valley plain, it is far enough away from the city, but fortunately it is not further than the Night Temple, which is actually located in the mountains:
"That land still belongs to our family now, I remember."
Because there were too many fields, he really couldn't remember clearly, so he called the old housekeeper to inquire, and found out that the forest land is now the family's forest farm, supplying fuel wood every winter, and the excess wood will be passed through the waterway. , went north along the west coast of the Old World, and was sold as far as the Kingdom of Delarian.
"If you are interested, I will write you a letter and give it to the forest farm guard. He will not mind you wandering around. From what you said, it is indeed possible that my uncle left traces there. Of course. , if you are interested, you can also try hunting there. Rabbits are often found in the winter woodlands of the Randall Valley."
The Earl smiled and said that because of the two family crests that Shade sent him, he had a very good attitude towards Shade.
"No problem, if I can find further clues, I will let you know as soon as possible."
Shad assured, but in fact, the bones of Mr. Thomas Granger are now lying in a coffin in the Church of the Forgotten. He planned to wait until everything in the Randall Valley was over and return the skeleton to the count so that it could be buried with his family. This could be regarded as fulfilling his promise:
"In addition, I also want to purchase an antique from you, which will also be helpful to my investigation."
He took out the photo he got from the auction house again, which showed the antique metal key.
The count did not remember this antique. After careful recall, he remembered that it was something he bought on a whim. So he didn't negotiate the price with Shade, and directly agreed to Shade's quotation, and asked Shade to follow the butler who held the key to the basement of the manor to get it, while he had to receive the next guest.
Earl Heigl Granger, now thirty-nine years old, is really busy.
The brass-colored antique key collected by Earl Granger, Shade felt that this metal object was absolutely extraordinary when he saw the real thing for the first time.
The key is about the same length as Shade's hand and is quite thick. It is a key used in very ancient locks. Of course, despite its age, the count's servants seemed to know how to maintain such metal products, so there were only some imperceptible rust marks on the surface of the key.
This is not a special item, nor does it have any elemental effects. On the key, only straight and orthogonal horizontal and vertical lines were used to carve extremely fine lines on the surface.
Xia De is quite sure that there are really only horizontal and vertical lines. For the level of craftsmanship, this is incredible.
There is no evidence, but inspiration reminds Shade that he really got an incredible item this time. So in the excitement, Shade returned to the Wilde Opera House with the key. However, Miss Benenice and Miss Lassers were not here because they were going to find Mr. Lussers' safe cabin in the cemetery, so Shade I studied alone in the group leader's office on the third floor for a whole afternoon.
When the last ray of the dim sunset disappeared from the horizon and the lampposts surrounded by snowdrifts began to shine one by one, the two leaders of the Golden Dawn returned to the opera house.
When Miss Benenice opened the office door, Shade was at the window, holding the key high and pointing it at the moon.
She smiled and leaned against the door frame and said to Shade:
"The girls I met just now said that you walked into the opera house jumping in the afternoon."
"Is it that exaggerated?"
Shad turned around and asked, and then saw Luvia appearing at the door.
"I happened to meet them, so we came together."
The four of them had dinner together. After returning to the opera house, Shade mentioned the key.
The key was checked by the three ladies in turn, but just like the statue of Oxenfurt and the vase in the Statue Art Gallery, no abnormalities were found, but Shade was sure that this was the item he was looking for:
"Remember why we thought this key might be related to the Heart of the Earth?"
He asked, and then answered on his own:
"This antique key was discovered in the year 1800 of the Universal Calendar, that is, 54 years ago. It was found in an underground temple in the northeast of Randall Valley."
"Yes, it is similar to the moon worship ruins you found near Oxenfurt Manor and the Night Temple in the mountains. They are both old **** temples from ancient times. At present, it is not clear which temple belongs to Who is it, but it should be an old **** related to the earth, and this key comes from that temple."
Miss Benenice said, and Luvia also answered:
"The information I searched in the local association shows that the temple may even directly belong to the oldest earth god, that is, the ancient **** [Earth Mother Goddess], but there is no evidence to prove this. According to half a century The former church inspected and confirmed that the temple itself, as well as the numerous items found inside, were just ordinary items."
"The church was not the first group of people to discover the underground temple. The skeletons of some thieves were also found in the temple, and some of those skeletons did not even belong to the Sixth Age. This key was found from one of them, Therefore it is unclear whether it belongs to the temple itself."
Miss Lassers made a final addition:
"The local Peace Church was in charge of the excavation and inspection work at that time. In accordance with the regulations, they kept the items found there for ten years. After confirming that there were no problems, they poured the safest items one by one into ordinary people's homes. market. That’s why the key appeared at the auction more than ten years ago and was noticed by my father.”
"But what is it? Shade, what did you find this afternoon?"
Luvia asked, a smile appeared on Shade's face:
"No matter how much I stimulated it with any of my spiritual runes, it didn't react at all. I even tried to destroy the key, but I didn't expect it to succeed. However, no matter how it was damaged, it just broke along the surface lines, but it couldn't Melting and deformation. In other words, the key can only be disassembled and cannot be completely destroyed."
Luvia patted Shade gently, blaming Shade for consuming his lifespan again.
"But apart from that, in the end I found something was wrong with it. I was convinced that it had something to do with the heart of the earth, so along this line of thinking, finding the right power would definitely resonate with it."
"I remember you don't have the earth spirit rune."
Miss Benenice said, Shade nodded:
"But I have this."
He took out the earth runestones obtained from the [Plague Merchant] that could enhance the "healing aura". The runestones came into contact with the key. At the point of contact, an earthy-colored stream of light flowed along the horizontal and vertical carvings on the surface of the key, as if some power from the runestones had been poured into the key.
In just half a minute, the entire key was completely "lit". When Shade separated the two, the key had quite clear miraculous elements attached to it. Even when he released the key, the luminous metal actually floated directly above his palm.
After a full five minutes, the light disappeared, and the element response on the key also disappeared:
"Look, that's it."
"Why do you always get such weird things? Last winter, I still remember you asked me to come to your house at night to see some flying slates."
Luvia said with a smile, took the key again, and tried divination with the obsidian pendulum she got on the night of the Lake Eldron incident.
Miss Benenice said:
"Now that it has been proven that this key is extraordinary, what is its use?"
"The key is, of course, used to open the lock."
Xia De said with certainty:
"There must be a local lock that can be opened. And if my guess is correct, then there should be the answer I'm looking for behind the lock."
The witch raised her eyebrows:
"So, the search continues."
"But I can feel that this is close to the end."
"The next step is to find a lock or a door. What are you going to do? Are there any clues now?"
"Of course, Miss Benanis, Miss Lassus, and Luvia, have you noticed that I have received so far information about the Guardians, about the legendary Heart of the Earth, and even about the Chosen Ones? Most of the clues are related to the Granger family?"
The three ladies nodded suspiciously:
"You don't think that Earl Granger is the one hiding at the end, and after you find the door, he will jump out with a confetti cannon and tell you all the truth, right?"