When Shade got off the carriage at the door of the pawn shop and entered, the usually deserted pawn shop was empty, not even Old John was there. Only the bronze incense burner on the counter sprayed out water vapor with a strange fragrance. .
The pawn shop is still the same, it looks like a garbage dump with mountains of garbage, but if you look carefully, every item in the store has value. The wall on the east side is covered with various clocks, and in the window are a metal harmonica in a box and a dancing music box.
The old steam engine that could be put into the museum that Shade had seen when he first came here was still in the corner. Instead, he was very interested in the extra brass mechanical bird on the shelf that transformed through a gear mechanism. He remembered that there was something similar in Miss Carina's study.
After he rang the bell on the counter, the old man in an apron walked in from the back door:
"Oh, I thought it was a guest, but it turned out to be you. Detective, wait a moment, I'm processing the potion ingredients in the back. You know, if the six-leaf coral grass produced in the Pontal River Basin is not processed, the smell will be... It makes it impossible for people on the whole street to have lunch.”
"Am I not considered a guest?"
Shade murmured quietly, but still waited for a while. "Here's the framed picture you asked for."
Ten minutes later, when the old man came back through the back door, he carried a picture frame and put it on the counter. The framed oil painting was painted for Shad by Hella Oxenfurt, a portrait of the young detective standing in the back garden in the deserted snow.
When Shade and Luvia were walking the cat together last night, he asked the old man to help frame it and use special methods to process it so that the oil painting could be preserved for a longer period of time. He didn't expect that he would finish it so quickly.
"This painting is very good. I bet it was definitely not painted by a human. The emotion and soul power contained in it are enough for it to exist for the next thousand years. Detective, you really found a good painter."
Father John, who was very knowledgeable, said, and Shade nodded:
"The balance will be paid later. The gold and jewelry I entrusted you to sell..."
That was the money that he and Iluna found from the sewers of the Randall Valley. It was the military expenses that the rebels raised from the citizens before the United Kingdom of Kasenlik was unified.
"It's sold. This kind of thing is easy to sell. You don't need to pay me the balance of the frame. As a rule, I have to deduct five points for the middleman's fee from your treasure. This is a lot of money."
The old man said, Shade would naturally not mind. However, when he was about to leave with the bearer money order and the framed picture, Old John stopped Shade again.
"Why, you've made this big deal, do you want to give me some products? I see the gas lamp holder on the shelf over there is very nice, can you give it to me?"
"Oh, detective, that was collected for 5 shillings. It is a second-hand item from decades ago. I want to ask, have you heard about the incident in Randall Valley?"
Shade paused in putting away his wallet, turned around and glanced at the door before nodding:
"Of course, how could I not know about such an important matter? Speaking of which, does the monastery have any information that can be shared?"
Old John raised his eyebrows:
"Of course, we have people there. Judging from the current situation, the church and the Godcaller together have prevented the disaster of the earth from sweeping the entire world. But the observation of the Priory is not optimistic. The end will definitely come, and It will not disappear because of this. Even if the dirt on the earth is cleared away, the earth will become unstable. In recent years, various strange natural disasters have occurred frequently."
This was the same statement that Shade heard from the guardian. He didn't expect that the Priory would even know about such a thing.
"But all those of us living in this era can do is to do our best to change the tragedies that are destined to happen. Even if we cannot succeed, at least we have to do something."
Shade said:
"This time, everyone in Randall Valley has done a good enough job." Old John smiled and nodded:
"You are indeed a good fit for us. However, your tone sounds like you were also involved in the Randall Valley incident?"
"I wish I had participated, like the audience at the opera house, watching the tragedy happen step by step on the stage, but I couldn't change it and could only usher in the final outcome. That would be too bad."
Shade sighed, this was also his true thought.
"But no one can be an audience. We are born in this world, and we are destined to be buried in this world. The web of fate has been intertwined with our souls as early as when we uttered our first cry. We are all a stage. The one on top."
Old John sighed, and then promised Shade that if the Priory had any first-hand information about the end of the world and disaster, he could tell him.
When Shade returned to St. Teresa Square in a carriage carrying the picture frame, he unexpectedly found Miss Carina's carriage parked in front of his house.
However, the person in the carriage was not the red-haired duchess, but the black-haired maid.
"Come in, please. I'm so sorry. I thought you would come back later. Oh, Tifa, don't you have the key to my house? What are you waiting for outside?"
Shade invited her in. The maid asked the carriage to wait at the street corner, and then followed him with a smile:
"That key was left to us for cleaning. You cannot enter or leave the master's room at will except during cleaning time. This is the rule of maids."
"Actually, you don't have to be so rigid. Besides, I trust you." After a pause, he added:
"It's not the relationship between the two of us."
His white hands covered Shade's mouth. Shade looked back, and there was a rather complicated expression in the pair of black eyes at the bottom of the stairs:
"We can't talk about this now, at least not today."
Shade nodded slowly. Although he didn't know why, he still took Tifa upstairs. He first put down the picture frame and prepared tea:
"Miss Carina, what do you want me to do? Didn't she come?" He also sat down and hugged Mia.
"Miss is not here, but it is indeed an important matter."
The maid sat on the sofa seriously, with a smile in her eyes, but her expression was a bit serious: "Detective Shade Suellen Hamilton of Hamilton Detective Agency, on behalf of Duke Carina Cavendish, Send me an invitation to commission you."
"Commission?"
Although he didn't know what the witch wanted to do, Shade nodded as if receiving a client:
"It's an honor. Speaking of which, since the incident in Randall Valley, I haven't received a serious commission yet. So, maid, what kind of commission did the Duke ask you to bring?"
Tifa said:
"The Duke has ordered, detective, that you must find five legendary treasures by any means before sunset today and deliver them to the Duke."
"So which five legendary treasures are they?" The beautiful black eyes blinked:
"His Majesty the King's crown, the fountain that can spout endless wine, the red Philosopher's Stone that symbolizes priceless treasures, the Holy Grail used to worship ancient gods in distant eras, and, your heart."
"Um......"
Shade tilted his head and thought for a while, becoming more and more unable to understand what the witch wanted to do. But fortunately, the task is not difficult. No one except the doctor knows what Shade got from the devil: "What does Miss Carina want these things for?"
He chose to ask directly, but Tifa shook her head;
"This is a commission from the Duchess, and it is also a trial given to you by the Duchess. Detective, just tell me whether you want to accept it."
"Since it is a commission, what is the reward?"
Shade asked again, Tifa was already prepared, or Miss Carina was already prepared:
"The reward is a treasure you cannot refuse. If you can bring these things to the manor before sunset, the Duchess of Saladir will never break her promise."
Shade thought for a while:
"Then I'll take it. For Duke Carina, the guardian of Saladir, I will do my best to bring back those treasures... But, no
Knowing this beautiful maid in front of me, can you give me some tips? After all, these treasures are so hard to come by. "
he asked tentatively.
"You want me to betray the Duke?"
The loyal maid asked suspiciously, so Shade took one of her hands and kissed the white back of it:
"This is not betrayal, but so that I can prepare those treasures for the Duke." Tifa let him hold her hand and laughed:
"Okay, but the tips are not free. You can't impress me with just sweet words. I gave you the tips. When you come to the manor in the evening, you have to pay me."
"no problem."
"Among the five treasures, the easiest one is actually the Holy Grail. Miss knows that you no longer have the Holy Grail in your hand. But you can go to the chosen one in Randall Valley. He can detect the area where Crazy Earth appears. Let you make another Holy Grail."
"Yeah, that makes sense." Shade nodded slowly. So Tifa continued;
"Other treasures require your own efforts to obtain them. But the only ones that are truly difficult are the "endless fountain of wine" found in fairy tales and the legendary Philosopher's Stone. "
Shade nodded again:
"These two are indeed almost impossible to obtain."
"As for the king's crown, although it is difficult to steal it, His Majesty the King will not wear it all day. Maybe you can use Princess Lesia to find out the frequency and occasions when the King wears the crown, and find the right opportunity." Come out'. You are a sixth-level warlock, you have your own skills."
Tifa said with a smile, but her last words were very serious: "As for 'your heart', Shade, you need to figure it out yourself." "I understand."
Although Shade didn't actually understand what this commission was about, he still nodded:
"It's true that the day is a bit stressful, but miracles will always happen. I will take over this task, and I hope His Highness the Duke will be satisfied."
