"Great City Player? Oh, yes, there are also betting pools outside... Speaking of which, do you already know the situation of the participants?"
Xia De asked absently, always feeling as if eyes were watching him from behind. Of course, this was a complete illusion; the two professors had chosen a corner seat, sat down, and were conversing in low voices, not paying any attention to the "stranger" with his back to them.
Xia De carefully took a sip of the strange drink in his cup.
"Not yet, but I heard that this time, a holder of a Founding series rhode cards has appeared."
"Cough, cough~"
Xia De coughed, then waved his hand to indicate he was fine:
"That's very good. The newspapers should record the information on those key matches."
He said in a low voice, trying to minimize his presence, planning to get up and leave later. Otherwise, if he left right after the professors came in, it would seem very strange.
"I don't have a chance to go to Tobesk City, and even if I did, I wouldn't be able to get tickets to watch the card players live. When it was held in Coldwater Port twenty-one years ago, the ticket price was equivalent to several months of my salary; now it can only be more expensive."
The bartender shook his head regretfully, then gestured towards Aurora Manor, wiping a glass as he said:
"Sometimes I really envy rich people. Do you know how many pounds that manor sold for twenty years ago?"
"How much? You know that too?"
Xia De asked in surprise.
"That number... I was already working in this tavern twenty years ago; I heard it from the owner here at the time."
The bartender dipped his finger in some water and wrote a few numbers on the wooden counter. Xia De raised an eyebrow, converting the prices and currency purchasing power from twenty years ago to now. If he could prove that the house at Saint Delan Square was not haunted, then the selling price of Aurora Manor was only slightly more expensive than a house at Saint Delan Square.
"In other words, if I sell Saint Delan Square Six and add a sum of money, I could buy a manor with a beach, courtyard, and garden in a place like Coldwater Port."
His mood instantly lifted. Even if he didn't sell it, knowing what he owned could make the house owner joyful.
"Speaking of this manor, when my father was a child, the manor was already here. The history of the manor is no shorter than those old streets in the South City."
The bartender continued.
"Then it's been several centuries?"
Xia De asked, then turned sideways and risked a glance back; the professors indeed weren't paying attention to him.
"I can't say the exact details, but I know the original owner of that manor was a big local merchant thirty years ago. He had special connections to get sunken ship jewels or pearls from the seabed to sell. Then one day, the merchant disappeared, and the house was mortgaged and sold."
The bartender shook his head, wiping the glass in his hand, as if lamenting the impermanence of life:
"But it used to be very eerie there. Don't look at how bright it is now; when I was young, the whole house was like an underground cave that had been soaked in water for a long time. Every night, you could even hear strange sounds of the wind passing through the windows without glass."
The more Xia De listened, the more something felt wrong, and his sense of unease gradually increased.
He continued to chat with the bartender, and just before Xia De planned to leave, the two professors from Saint Byron's actually stood up first, left the tavern, and went out into the rain.
Xia De, of course, didn't dare to follow them.
The time was 4:30 AM on Wednesday, about two hours before sunrise in Coldwater Port.
After sitting on the high stool at the counter for a few more minutes, making sure the professors wouldn't return, Xia De took the oddly flavored drink and sat in the corner where the professors had just been sitting.
The bartender was very regretful that he couldn't sell those strange medicinal wines to Xia De.
The professors hadn't left anything behind. After Xia De put down his cup, he tried using the Miracle, Echoes of the Past, wanting to try his luck.
But this was a tavern, and people were talking almost every moment within 48 hours, so he didn't have much hope for it.
First attempt.
"Stars 8, look at my 20 points!"
It seemed they were playing rhode cards.
Second attempt.
"Oh, my Maya, my Maya..."
A man was crying, probably because his wife or daughter had passed away.
"Why did you leave this home and me?"
Maybe not passed away, but his wife had suddenly disappeared.
"I've raised you for three whole years; your cat food money, I've saved it beyond 1856."
Xia De offered no opinion, but tried a third time.
"So, Mafal, it's really a pity that we didn't invite the Professor from the History Academy this time."
Xia De was startled. This was Professor Sanchez's voice. And from what he heard, it was indeed the professors from Saint Byron's conversing in low voices.
"When did I get this kind of luck?"
He wondered, but continued to listen intently.
"Oh, Professor Sanchez, who would have thought that something like this would happen here?"
The middle-aged professor, called "Mafal," sighed:
"Who would have thought that that manor was actually one of the ritual nodes for the Sea Offering Ritual? The Scarlet Cult invested a lot, using the relic, Forbidden Entry Sign. Now, people outside can't get in, and people inside can't get out. If there were a Professor from the History Academy here, I think perhaps from a spatial perspective, we could find a way to at least get one of us in."
The surprised expression on Xia De's face was completely uncontrollable.
"The manor itself has problems. These past few days, we've started from the Cultists' financial flow direction, and the preliminary investigation has already proven that the owner of the mansion thirty years ago cooperated with the Scarlet Cult to circulate funds for the Cultists and mermen. I think the mansion had already begun preparations for the Sea Return at that time."
Professor Sanchez said, followed by the sound of a cup being put down:
"We just checked it out. With current methods, no one can get in within a few hours, unless we gather the High-Ring Sorcerer responsible for other nodes. It's just that other nodes are equally important, and other places probably have Lacey's problems too. But we don't need to worry too much; didn't the Natural Church say that they received early news that suspicious individuals appeared at that banquet, so there's a full team of Ring術士 inside the manor? That small team sent back news that both sides are in a standoff and have no intention of fighting again."
"That's pretty good."
Professor Mafal pondered for a moment, but immediately realized the problem:
"However, in a situation where the whole city is short of people, why would the Natural Church think of secretly mobilizing an entire team of Ring術士 to ambush at the banquet without telling us? They shouldn't have known that there was a ritual node under the Aurora Family's manor, otherwise they would have resolved it in advance. Could it be that the Natural Church has already found the second..."
