Xia De actually keeps a diary, but he doesn't write a true diary. Instead, after inheriting the previous Detective's diary, he writes five or six days a week with useless sentences like, 'No client today, deposit is decreasing' or 'Mia eats too much, considering asking Ms. Gaode for money.'
Professor Drake, unlike Xia De, has a good habit of daily life recording. His diary is quite well-preserved, and all entries from before and after that adventure more than ten years ago are still there. Although on the surface, the contents of those diaries appear very normal, Xia De discovered that a few days before Professor Drake departed for Lake Cherub, he had complained in his diary that his eyes were somewhat red and swollen, and he saw double when looking at things.
Perhaps to ordinary people, this is just a minor issue, but for a Ring Warlock like Xia De, when investigating an abnormal event, if the eyes of someone involved in the event have problems, then it is highly probable that the person has problems throughout their entire body.
As for the letters, before the date of Professor Drake's trip to Lake Cherub, he had frequently corresponded and discussed issues with friends and academic colleagues from other places. The letters themselves were merely minor matters such as thesis publications, invitations for academic visits, and inquiries about student recommendations, but they led Xia De to speculate that if Professor Drake had encountered strange things before going to Lake Cherub, he might have written to other history and folklore professors to ask questions.
Therefore, Xia De can inquire with Professor Drake's old acquaintances to ask if Professor Drake had inquired about unusual problems more than ten years ago. The reason he had this idea was that he found a familiar name in that stack of yellowed old letters:
'Professor Terris Manning of Tobesk?'
He handed the old letter to Professor Drake at the desk. In the letter, the two were discussing the worship of cats, believing that cat worship was related to primitive moon worship, and thus believing that a very ancient moon worship tradition still existed in the Kalas Mountain area, and they agreed to go see it together when they had time.
'Oh, Professor Manning, we haven't been in touch for many years.'
Professor Drake looked at the old letters with a nostalgic expression:
'What, Mr. Watson, do you know him?'
'You know, I am a Delarion. When I was in Tobesk City, I once visited Professor Manning to discuss the connection between cats and dreams.'
Xia De said with a strange expression, recalling the dream pen of joy incident in his mind, and then thought that Professor Manning was indeed widely connected, with astonishing connections in the academic circles of history and folklore. The folklorists Xia De encountered in different Cities, whether normal or strange, were all more or less connected to Professor Manning.
'Professor Manning's age seems to be three or four years younger than mine, is he doing well now?'
Professor Drake asked.
'The Professor is in excellent health.'
After Professor Manning encountered the out-of-control dream pen of joy incident, his body recovered very quickly, which is something even young people indulging in pleasure cannot do.
'I still have some friendship with Professor Manning, I will write to Professor Manning, maybe he has some clues.'
Xia De said, and Professor Drake nodded, holding the letter as if recalling past events again.
'Diaries' and 'letters' are more obvious clues, while the third clue is a bit vague.
It was the Professor's old book, 'On the Development of Folklore,' which should have been an old textbook. When Xia De touched this book, 'she' reminded Xia De that there were extremely faint traces of elements on this book, almost as good as none.
And after Xia De opened the book, he found a line of strange characters written diagonally on the side of the illustration on the last page of the book. Those characters looked like a string of tadpoles, obviously not contemporary writing. Xia De, relying on his own understanding of writing, tilted his head and translated the meaning of that line of text:
'Knowledge, is power.'
'Professor, what kind of writing is this?'
Xia De handed the book to Professor Drake, who was looking at a stack of old manuscripts at the table. The Professor reached out with difficulty to take it, but after a glance, he also shook his head:
'I haven't seen this kind of writing either.'
'Didn't you write this?'
The Professor hesitated for a moment:
'At least I don't remember this.'
Xia De then temporarily took the book as the third clue. Perhaps this was another interference that had nothing to do with his investigation target, like the Swamp Witch. But these were the only clues he had, and no detail could be overlooked.
Xia De spent the entire afternoon of that Thursday at Professor Drake's house. By the time he had organized the materials, the evening glow had already appeared in the western sky. Seeing the Professor looking tired, Xia De bid farewell and promised to sort out the materials in his hands as soon as possible, and to contact the Professor immediately if there were any new clues.
After a quick meal in the City, Xia De did not return to White River Valley Vineyard, but instead went to Mr. Bernhardt's manor in the eastern part of the City.
The Bernhardt family is one of the oldest local families. The vineyards, farmland, and land occupied by the family are of an unimaginable area for Outsiders. Although he only holds the title of Viscount, Mr. Armand Bernhardt lives a very affluent life, and coupled with his relatively high Ring Warlock level, he is almost considered one of the top leaders among the local Vampires.
Unlike the gloomy and terrifying castles where Vampires live in horror stories, Mr. Bernhardt's manor is bright and grand, and it is even said that when it was completed more than three hundred years ago, a priest from the City was invited to bless it.
Since it was not Xia De's first visit to Bernhardt Manor, when he rode his horse to the manor gate under the night sky and rang the bell, the servant who came to open the door recognized him almost immediately.
And when Xia De met Mr. Bernhardt, the latter was frowning and looking through a roll of parchment in his study. Seeing Xia De enter, he even asked:
'Xia De, how is your ancient writing skill?'
'Writing from which era?'
Even though he could understand any writing, Xia De still asked, not only to hide his secret but also to show humility.
'Writing from around the fifth epoch 2500, but I'm not sure where it originated.'
He handed the parchment in his hand to Xia De, then instructed the servant to bring tea:
'I have systematically studied ancient writing, but I am not good at this... not inherently stupid, just not good at it.'
The middle-aged Vampire sighed, and Xia De glanced at the content on the parchment:
'Oh, this, I learned it in an elective course at Saint Byron's. It says...'
He roughly scanned the characters. Although characters containing strange Knowledge could affect the mind, at least the characters on this parchment did not affect Xia De:
'How strange, here 'emotions' are regarded as symbiotic parasites residing in the soul, describing the story of the interaction between the parasite 'emotions' and humans. But the content here should be incomplete, neither the beginning nor the end.'
'Yes, yes.'
Mr. Bernhardt seemed very happy, standing up from behind the desk:
'The educational level of Saint Byron's is indeed excellent, worthy of being one of the Three Great Arcane Academies famous in the material world. This is an excerpt from 'The Seven Emotions Curse Book,' containing parts of 'anger' and 'jealousy.' A friend lent it to me, but neither of us understands the writing on it.'
'Please give me paper and a pen, I'll help translate. Mr. Bernhardt, you are really lucky, I bet other Letter-based Ring術士 in this area might not even be able to recognize these characters.'
Xia De said, there were only a little over 200 characters in total on the parchment in his hand.
'That would be great, Xia De, I didn't expect your cultural studies level to be so high.'
Mr. Bernhardt complimented him, not being polite with Xia De.
By the time the servant brought the black tea and pastries, Xia De had almost finished translating the short text. The two went to the sofa to talk. Xia De picked up the black tea, letting the steam warm his face, while Mr. Bernhardt joked:
'Princess Margaret's visit to Tobesk is the biggest news recently, with news from Tobesk coming in every day. I've heard some rumors, the grand banquet at Lakeview Manor the night before yesterday, I hope I haven't misremembered the place name, Lakeview Manor, Xia De, have you become familiar with Princess Margaret?'
'This news has already reached Carson Rick?'
Xia De, holding his teacup, said in surprise.
'Such interesting news always spreads quickly. Ordinary people may not have heard it yet, but I have special channels. Detective, people have only a few forms of entertainment, and discussing rumors and news about the Royal Family is something even Ring術士 enjoy.'
After speaking, he raised an eyebrow at Xia De:
'Have you tried to persuade Princess Margaret to sell you the Royal Family's White River Valley Vineyard?'
Xia De did have this intention, after all, the only Anjou Royal Family member he knew was this one:
'Princess Margaret and I are not that familiar yet. However, the Princess invited me to a reading salon next week, and I think I should try to impress her appropriately again. White River Valley Vineyard is really important to me.'
He did not shy away from his thoughts, and Mr. Bernhardt expressed understanding:
'Her Royal Highness Margaret Anjou was a difficult girl to deal with when she was in Weilandale. Before this, I even heard that she hated dealing with men, which led to some not-so-good rumors.'
This was because Her Royal Highness still wanted to become Ms. Silvia's apprentice.
'Although Her Royal Highness is good at socializing, she is not a very easy person to please. Xia De, to what extent is your relationship with Her Royal Highness now?'
Mr. Bernhardt asked with great interest, just as he said, in an era with few forms of entertainment, discussing news about the Royal Family was a rare form of national entertainment:
'Last week, when I helped transport those smuggled... cough cough, those tobacco, it was because we are distant relatives, otherwise how could Her Royal Highness be so polite to me.'
Xia De thought for a moment:
'Our relationship... we played a guessing game, and then she gave me her personal handkerchief.'
The Vampire showed a respectful expression, but also felt that it wasn't actually an exaggeration. He vaguely remembered that the young man in front of him had done even more exaggerated things, but he couldn't recall what those things were.
