"what happened?"
Shade asked curiously, then noticed the noise coming from the window.
He stuck his head out of the car window and found that the entrance to Mason Street was actually blocked by two horseless carriages lying sideways. Sandbags and stones were placed on both sides of the carriages to block the gap.
At this time, the Mason Street was even more lively than before. In addition to the people watching the excitement, the masons with sledgehammers and small hammers seemed to have run into the street. Although the police tried their best to maintain order, they still could not stop the masons who were divided into two groups from swearing at each other and insulting each other in the most vicious words.
Although Shade was only at the intersection, when he jumped off the carriage, he could still see that smoke seemed to be coming out of the best building on the street where the Masons' Association was located. Someone must have set a fire there just now.
"What's going on?"
Iluna also got off the carriage. After Shade paid the fare to the bus driver who was watching the fun, he found other people watching the fun and inquired about it. Only then did he find out who had taken the money from the royal family from the top of the Masons Association. So rumors spread that he planned to negotiate peace with the royal family.
The anger against the Anjou royal family that had been building up for more than ten years was ignited. Before Shade and Iluna arrived, some masons planned to besiege the masons' association and drag out the "traitors" for trial. But fortunately, there are still some people who are more rational and want to stop them, which leads to the scene of almost armed fighting between the two sides.
"Princess Margaret's plan will cause more troubles because of this incident, right?"
Iluna asked worriedly, Shade nodded:
"Margaret just told me yesterday that she was almost sure to solve the matter. Today there was an accident... it must be related to her brother."
There was a commotion here on Mason Street, and a large number of police were coming from other parts of the city, so the nearby flower girls had already left. Shade and Iluna did not find the "little Liana" the country girl mentioned just now.
Fortunately, Shade gave two small copper coins to the beggar on the street, and the beggar who was busy watching the excitement impatiently provided the news:
"Those little girls usually don't sell flowers here, but they must go to the Peace Church two blocks away. It's a nice place there. If "One-Eyed Jeff" hadn't occupied the spot there, I would definitely go there too. Go begging. Oh, get out of the way, there's a fight over there, you're blocking my view!"
He jumped up with his straw mat and bowl, while Shade and Iluna also turned around and saw two stonemasons fighting with their bare hands.
"Has this city always been so crazy?"
Iluna asked curiously, but Shade couldn't answer this question.
Although the local Peace Church is located in the old city, it is still close to the river like other churches. But after leaving Mason Street, that depressing feeling of approaching storm disappeared.
It's still foggy in the city today, but at least visibility is better near the church. I don't know if it was Shade's illusion, but he actually felt that there were more people going to the local Peace Church than the people he saw when he went to the Dawn Church with Luvia a few days ago.
But later I thought that it was probably the insecurity in the city that made people more eager than usual for the protection of the gods.
Because Mason Street was not far from the Peace Church, and Iluna was more willing to walk with Shade, so the two walked to the vicinity of the church. At the intersection of the street, they happened to see a group of people carrying a fainted old man into a carriage, and the priest, who had a dove-shaped holy emblem on his chest, told the coachman to rush directly to the Church of the Sun.
"Petrified Plague."
Shade whispered to Iluna. The two of them stood outside the noisy crowd and watched the carriage leave. From people's discussions, we learned that the old gentleman just now went to the church to worship with his family, but he had an accident before he could enter the church just over a hundred steps away.
And this incident did not affect the presence of the flower-selling girls.
The beggar at the corner of Mason Street was right. There are indeed many flower-selling girls nearby. Shade and Iluna randomly found someone. Shade spent money to buy Iluna, who kept saying she didn't need it, and bought one that was probably a winter greenhouse.
After picking up the roses grown there, the flower girl took them to find little Lianna who was indeed nearby, but eating black bread in the alley.
The girl called "Little Liana" looked about thirteen or fourteen years old, but her eyes were shrewder than all the flower sellers Shade and Iluna had encountered so far.
After listening to Iluna's self-introduction, she did not ask Iluna more questions first, but looked at Shade:
"Sir, may I ask if you bought the flower in Miss Bayas's hand for her?"
Iluna was a little embarrassed, while Shade nodded:
"Yes, what's the problem?"
"I have never heard that when a police officer goes out to investigate, he can take his boyfriend with him."
The girl looked at Shade and said, Shade smiled and nodded:
"Yes, it is indeed against the rules. So, I will also buy you a flower. Can you keep the secret for Miss Bayas?"
So the little girl called "Little Lianna" nodded immediately and picked out a beautiful red rose from her basket.
Although Iluna was very happy that Shade could give her roses, she was not happy at all that Shade was "blackmailed" by others:
"Don't waste this money."
"It doesn't matter. How can it be considered a waste if I give you flowers? Just ask the question quickly." Iluna could only nod unhappily. When she looked at little Lianna, her face was obviously not very good:
"We are here to investigate the serial disappearance of flower girls. Yes, it is for your own good. We have already found other flower girls who have returned after disappearing. Although they have no other clues, they think you are well-informed, so It can help the police."
Judging from Iluna's expression, if the little girl in front of her said she didn't know anything at this moment, Iluna would probably really teach her a lesson.
"I know!"
Fortunately, the girl, like Shade, was aware of Iluna's emotions:
"There are 11 missing girls in total now, and 7 have returned. Including the baron's daughter and maid who caused a lot of trouble a few days ago, 4 have not returned! When all of them disappeared, they were alone When she was alone, even the Baron's daughter disappeared first, and she disappeared only when her maid asked for help."
Iluna nodded:
"So, what's in it for us?"
"You can find someone to pretend to be a flower girl, act alone, and lure the bad guy into being fooled!"
The girl looked at Iluna:
"Miss Detective, I think you are a good fit."
"You can't take this kind of risk casually. Besides, this city is so big. How can you meet that bad guy just by disguising yourself?"
Shade immediately stopped him, but the flower girl said again:
"I know this. The missing girls all disappeared while passing through deserted alleys. Therefore, the adults are right. Children should not go into alleys alone."
Iluna was obviously moved, but Shade was still worried:
"You must have your own discussions about the disappearance of the girls. So, what do you think it is? Is it really human trafficking specifically targeting flower girls?"
"No, no, it's the flower girl monster!" the young girl said:
"This is a rumor that circulates among flower sellers. The content of the rumor is that if a flower seller acts alone late at night and sells flowers to single men, she may be abducted by the men who turn into monsters. Go and hurt.”
Although she looked mature, she was still too young, so she didn’t understand what she said:
"But it sounds strange. Why would someone go to the street at night to sell and buy flowers?"
Iluna tried her best to hold back her laughter, but she had already made up her mind. Maybe she could really try to lure out the enemy behind the scenes.
When he touched the girl's forehead in the village just now, Shade did sense traces of very low whispering elements. The whisper element has no other conditions for its production other than being produced from relics.
In other words, this matter is really related to the relic.
Since it involves unknown relics, he definitely doesn't agree with Iluna using herself as bait, but Iluna thinks this is a good idea.
So after bidding farewell to little Liana who was selling flowers, the two of them talked all the way to the Wilde Opera House. The three great witches are not here at this time, only Miss Lassers has just returned from going out. After Shade learned the truth about the Guardians, although pursuing the truth about Mr. Lassers became less important, she still did it.
The three of them had lunch together at the Wilde Opera House. During the meal, Shade told Miss Lassers what they were doing.
"Actually, have you ever considered another way?"
So the young blonde girl asked curiously:
"What our sect is best at is reading and rewriting memories. Although the Zhengshen Church cannot read those erased memories, I might be able to. Why don't you ask me to help?"
Miss Lassers' idea makes perfect sense, and the most important thing is that it's safe.
It happened that some of the girls who had returned after missing were selling flowers near the Wilde Opera House, so the three of them went out to find the flower sellers, and then asked Miss Lassers to try to read the forgotten memories and erase them. Except for the memory of her meeting three people and having them do strange things.
"I can't get the complete memory fragment either."
After returning to the opera house, Miss Lassers admitted:
"However, I saw some scattered fragments. In the first fragments of her lost memories, she met another flower seller in the alley. The other person was very young and dressed strangely. You should understand that selling flowers Most of the girls in Hua come from poor families, but when she met that little girl, she was dressed like... something out of a story, with layered skirts, lace-decorated hats, and shiny black buttons. Little leather shoes, I have never known any flower girl to dress herself up like this."
