Sure enough, Duke then uttered a terrible word.
"Fire dragon?" Ethan asked, "A real dragon? Like the ones described in the stories, with a height of dozens or even hundreds of meters, and wings that can cover the sky when spread out?"
"No, that kind of monster doesn't exist." Duke shook his head. "Based on the vague records handed down in the manor, I can only say that it should be a kind of... giant lizard."
"How big exactly?"
"Maybe two or three stories high? I'm not sure... but it's obviously different from the stories. The accounts don't even mention whether it has wings."
Duke sighed.
"It has intelligence and evil power, and can spit terrible acid and fire... It often leaves its nest and robs people for food."
"Glarant's ancestor used the power of the tree demon to defeat and kill the monster, so he was naturally supported by the people. Even though many people don't remember what happened, the vaguely connected blood and the magic contained in it are also affecting them."
"Are you sure this monster no longer exists?" Darent asked him again.
"Sure." Duke nodded firmly.
"But, Mr. Gran...we saw those hoof prints in the woods not long ago," Hitzfeld reminded him.
"That's what I'm going to explain in detail next." Duke looked at her.
"The curse exists in two ways at once."
"The first is spiritual. The person who kills the fire dragon and his descendants will be immersed in the sense of crisis when facing the fire dragon and cannot extricate themselves."
Hitzfeld suddenly remembered how old Bal looked when he first met him.
"The second one is related to those legends..." Duke continued, "You should know that some stories say that the blood of the fire dragon seeped into the ground and formed the red maple forest?"
"Yes."
"Of course this is nonsense, but the beast's blood has indeed survived. Some animals in the forest were contaminated by its blood and mutated, transforming into evil species with some characteristics of fire dragons."
"Is this the truth about the monster?" Hitzfeld asked, "He mentioned before that the Baines family was killed by a fire dragon. Did those people die from the evil creatures?"
"That's it."
"Then..." Hitzfeld thought for a moment and stretched out his tone, "The so-called secret guarded by the Gralant family is actually the curse they bear."
"I wonder what would happen if Bar-Gallant died?"
Ethan held his breath for a moment.
Even Darent was impressed by her audacity at this moment.
"……I have no idea."
Faced with this question, Duke Gran seemed a little overwhelmed.
He first supported his chin with his hand, then folded his hands together and placed them on the table, moving his lips as if he was chewing the air.
"Our mission is to prevent this from happening... This is the purpose of the Guardian family's existence."
"Could it be that those bastards just want to kill him?" Darent proposed a possibility.
"Will it be possible that if he dies, the bloodline that suppresses the power of the fire dragon will disappear, and those people will be able to revive the beast?"
"Oh... I hope that's not the reason!"
The man held his head in his hands.
"this is too scary!"
The atmosphere in the room became strange, as if everyone had lost the ability to speak.
"Nothing can be determined yet."
After a long while, Hitzfeld broke the silence.
"That's it for today."
"Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. Gran."
Chapter 32 Poisoning
After Duke left, Ethan and Darent had a heated argument.
Darent thought that the matter was clear - it was obvious that all this was planned by a group of evildoers, and their ultimate goal was to kill Old Barr and completely destroy the descendants of this "dragon slayer". The monastery was set on fire and Father Booker died in order to conceal the matter. The postman Luke was also killed by them. It was very likely that Eugenie did not actually enter the town because he discovered the existence of this group of people.
Ethan was more conservative. Although he also thought that the logical chain of this hypothesis was credible, how should he put it -
Assumptions are just assumptions after all.
Before turning a hypothesis into truth, before truly proving that this logical chain is true, he believes that other possibilities should still be considered.
"For example, you can't explain why Eugenie lied at the beginning." He said, "Eugeni started lying in the letter he sent to Jerry on the first day. This means that he found the group almost as soon as he got off the train. How is this possible?"
It is impossible for the words "evildoer" and "bad guy" to be written on their faces. Even the most professional detective would not be able to immediately identify an evildoer mixed in the crowd. It is impossible for Eugenie to have such investigative ability.
There is also No. 14 Red Maple Street. There are still many doubts in this case that cannot be explained.
"The most obvious one," Ethan concluded to Darent, "If these people's goal was to kill him, why would they dump Luke's remains next to that house?"
"You'd warn a man about murdering him so loudly? Hmm?"
"Are the people of Shadow Lion so rigid?" Darent refused to give in. "Do you think the body was left there by the murderer? Why couldn't Eugenie have stolen it? Was it to warn Baal?"
After arguing for a long time, neither of them could convince the other. Finally, they went to Hitzfeld like children and asked her to judge who was right.
"Smart people know how to eliminate those messy and useless clues." This is Darent.
“Only a fool would be misled by junk information.”
"No matter what this fool says, Hitzfeld, you have to remember that investigating a case is a rigorous discipline." This is Ethan.
"If you can't determine the truth directly, then you have to take it step by step and not rely on conjecture to make inferences!"
"Oh, actually I think you're all right..." Hitzfeld was so annoyed by their quarrel that he held his cheek and shook his head helplessly, "Overall, I lean slightly towards Ethan... There are indeed some doubts that are hard to explain."
"For example?" Darent was still unconvinced.
"Like...if Eugenie never came into town, how did he get in touch with the letter Luke sent him?"
As soon as these words came out, the other two people quickly calmed down.
They seemed to have discussed this issue before, but because there were too many issues to consider, its priority did not seem to be high, and it was gradually ignored by them.
Now that the girl brought it up again, they immediately realized that it seemed that every process of reasoning could not avoid this initial question.
Yes.
If Eugenie hadn't entered Green Town, how did he find the letter Luke sent him?
"This question... um..." Darent rubbed his chin, "While you were sleeping, Lister and I went to find Luke's family... Only his mother and grandfather were left at home, but I still insisted on asking them, and they told me with certainty that it must be Luke."
"Then I asked them if Luke only did this (delivering mail) on weekdays. They said no, he didn't have a fixed job. Sometimes he delivered things for others, sometimes he helped at the docks and in the transport team, and sometimes he would just go to the mountains to pick wild fruits."
"You mean, Luke wasn't in town at the time, he went to the forest to pick wild fruits, and then happened to meet Eugenie and was hired by him?" Ethan frowned.
"Do you think there is any other explanation?" Darent shrugged. "It's impossible for Mr. Copperfield to tell him what to do in a dream, right?"
This is of course impossible.
Hitzfeld shook his head inwardly.
Even if Eugenie had this ability, and sent a dream... the train hadn't reached Green Town the night before yesterday. The distance between them was so great that it was impossible for Grace to be resurrected.
"Let's eat first." Hitzfeld closed the notebook. "Don't think too much about it for now. Darent and I will go to see that family this afternoon."
She wanted to get some more details.
"Dong dong dong."
"Come in!"
The door opened and the person who came in surprised the three of them - it was the owner of the hotel, Mr. Tonks.
The old man looked to be in poor condition, with a haggard face similar to Liszt. His pair of calloused hands were clenched tightly in front of him, with his ten fingers intertwined and twisted constantly.
"Uh--am I bothering you guys?"
Tonks looked even more uneasy when she saw them sitting together discussing serious matters.
"No." Hitzfeld keenly realized that something was wrong.
Tonks already knew their identities.
Murders happened one after another in the town, and as ordinary residents, we were definitely very frightened.
Putting himself in his shoes, he could see why he came directly to the three detectives at this time...
She immediately stood up, guided Tonks to her seat, poured him a glass of water, and tried her best to calm him down.
"You should have heard what's going on outside," she said. "Every clue is important now. We welcome information support from any channel."
"Actually, I'm not sure..."
Tonks held the cup in both hands and shifted in her seat.
"Before, didn't Miss Hitzfeld give me some money and ask me to help look after Miss Norm?"
"Yes."
"I did follow through with it... and then I felt as if someone was trying to get close to Miss Norm."
"Hmm? What exactly is going on?"
"I didn't really see it." Tonks waved her hands quickly.
"What happened was, when I was going upstairs... I felt a man coming down next to me, but I do remember that there were only a few ladies on the fourth floor at that time. I wanted to turn around to see his face, but he ran very fast and disappeared at the stairs in an instant. Out of caution, I went to the fourth floor to check and found that Miss Norm's room door was ajar."
"Has he been in there?"
"I am not sure."
"Was Miss Norm in there?"
"Yes, I'm resting."
"It doesn't seem to be of much value." said Darent.
"Evidence - Mr. Tonks, you must have evidence. We can't rely on conjecture."
"..." Hearing him say this, Ethan's face began to distort.
"I have evidence!" Tonks raised her voice. "There were snacks and tea on the table - all open. I was worried they might have been tampered with, so I put them all away!"
"Ah!" Hitzfeld's eyes widened.
"You did a great job! ... Are those things still there?"
"Still, I don't dare put them in the kitchen... I'm afraid someone will steal them. They are under my bed in the bedroom. If you are willing -"
"Yes!" the girl interrupted him excitedly.
"Hurry and lead the way!"
Three minutes later, they followed Tonks into his bedroom and saw him pulling a tray out from under his bed.
After seeing what was on the tray, Tonks's face changed drastically.
"How...how could this happen?"
"..."
"..."
"..."
Hitzfeld and his companions also had gloomy expressions and frowns.
There was a small dish of pastries and a cup of fruit tea on the plate, which could be said to be very simple and plain.
What made them react like this was not these things, but the three mice lying next to the pastries.
He was lying on his back with his legs up in the air, his mouth filled with white foam, pus and blood.
They are all dead.
Ethan felt a chill.
You know, that's also the room where Hitzfeld lives!
If Tonks hadn't discovered this, what if the girl felt hungry and thirsty after returning and picked up the food...
