Before Mr. Leibert could speak, Shad emphasized
"I am proficient in ancient languages. In addition to the scripts of the Fifth Epoch, I have some familiarity with certain texts from the Fourth Epoch."
This was the bargaining chip he had prepared before proposing a trade with the [Apuna Library]. Knowledge is wealth; as an outsider, he understood this well. Although his meager savings amounted to only a five-digit sum of gold pounds, the "wealth" inside his head was substantial.
"Oh? Scripts of the Fourth Epoch?"
Mr. Leibert, who was receiving Shad, spoke with a hint of curiosity
"Our library does indeed house some books from the Fourth Epoch, most of which have not been translated into modern language. If you are truly proficient, we could offset the value of that antiquity through the translation of books. The library has always believed that knowledge and wisdom are the most precious forms of wealth..."
He turned to look at the bookshelves behind him
"I have a book here titled *The Lost Merica*, which contains records of the Akken, a cannibal tribe of the Fourth Epoch. There are a few lines of ancient script in it; if you can decipher them..."
As he spoke, he started to rise to retrieve the book, but Shad simply extended his hand
"Library Retrieval."
A weathered book with a black cover flew—*whoosh*—from the third shelf on the left of the eastern wall directly into Shad's hand. The nose behind the mask twitched; his intuition told him he had touched sticky blood, yet the book was actually quite dry. This indicated that the knowledge within the book was exceptionally dangerous.
"Is it this one?"
Shad placed the book on the coffee table. Mr. Leibert sat back down, astonished
"What kind of occult art was that just now?"
Shad did not answer. Mr. Leibert gave him a curious glance, flipped to the fifth page, and pointed to the sixth line, where the letters were crooked, resembling simple sketches of ox or sheep hooves
"These are the ones. It is a quoted sentence; I believe it was transcribed correctly."
The entire book was a manuscript, in a format very similar to the narrow black notebooks carried by detectives and police officers. A thin red string served as a bookmark, and the yellowed pages were crawled over by milky-white traces resembling orange fibers, like some kind of mold.
Shad looked at the sentence and immediately felt a strong sense of discomfort, as if he could hear wailing in his ears.
"This one, huh... it seems difficult to translate. Yes, this script is quite obscure, and it's strange and disgusting."
Shad frowned, pretending to be troubled. He took a full five minutes before translating those two lines of letters
【The brain-eater is wise and clever; the arm-eater possesses infinite strength; the foot-eater is poor and lowly; the scalp-eater is the King of Merica.】
After finishing the translation, he pretended to be mentally unstable, bowing his head and panting heavily for a while before calming down. Mr. Leibert confirmed that Shad's translation was very close to the current mainstream analysis of those texts.
Thus, the two reached an agreement. Shad would return to 21 Ickum Street tonight, and Mr. Leibert would hand over the other texts of the same script—roughly fifty to sixty letters—that needed translation. Shad was to complete the translation by Sunday and deliver the results by Sunday night; at that time, he would receive the stone tablet he desired.
Shad had originally thought that of the three tablets, the one in the Apuna Library would be the hardest to obtain. He hadn't expected that with Old John's help, it would actually become the easiest. Although he hadn't physically obtained it yet, there shouldn't be any more accidents.
Therefore, the last remaining tablet was most likely hidden in the library of the St. Byron's Comprehensive Academy. Shad would need to go to the library personally to find it. His only current opportunity to do so was if Miss Danest, the librarian, confirmed that the "Moon of Guidance" was useful and required him to appear at the library to use the spiritual light of the core spirit rune to unlock the clues to the [Silver Moon Library].
"So, the most important person right now is still that Sir Prisha."
Shad thought to himself, but he hadn't seen the gentleman during this visit to 21 Ickum Street. According to Dr. Schneider's description on Saturday, Sir Prisha was different from Princess Margaret. The latter had been very enthusiastic about contacting local circle-mage groups upon arriving, using Mr. Alan Madison's group to acquire rare materials, items, and specialties from the local black market. Sir Prisha, however, had not proactively contacted any local correspondence circle-mages since contacting Mr. Madison's group on the night at Lakeview Manor.
Consequently, trying to gather the spiritual light of the "Moon of Guidance" through Dr. Schneider's friends seemed unfeasible; Shad would still have to take the path through Princess Margaret.
After visiting 21 Ickum Street in the early morning, Shad returned home and traveled from the basement to the White River Valley Vineyard in Huntington City. Upon entering the city and transferring to a carriage, he bought a copy of the *Huntington Morning Post* from a newsboy.
The news in the first few pages had little to do with Shad, but on the third page, he saw news that the "Snake Heart Hospital," a well-known charitable institution from the Old Continent, was purchasing property locally to prepare for operations.
The Snake Heart Hospital had already communicated with the local city hall, obtained their assistance, and received policy-based grants. This was an institution under the [Spirit Cult]. To protect the secrets of Pantanal, Sister Devlin was determined to plant more personnel locally. If the sister's plan went smoothly, she would likely be able to enter the depths of the Great Swamp with the witches around February 1854 to hunt the "Evil Things of Pantanal" and recover the spark of the First Fire.
That was a matter for several months from now and currently had little to do with Shad. Sitting in the carriage and reading the newspaper, he arrived once again at Professor Drake's home. The professor had been waiting for Shad's visit and hurriedly had the maid push him into the study. The old man asked Shad impatiently
"Mr. Watson, good morning. You've finally come. Do you have the results of your investigation?"
"I asked a friend in Tobesk to contact Professor Manning and locate your letters, but those letters aren't of much value; they only indicate that you were in very good health before you visited the 'Lady of the Lake'."
The professor looked disappointed. Shad then took out a photograph he had tucked into his notebook
"But I found new clues elsewhere. Professor, do you recognize this photograph?"
He handed over a photo of the professor with Halder Ondiba, the holder of the "Arrow" from over a decade ago. Professor Drake reached out to take it, his eyes widening in shock
"I have no memory of this photo. Looking at the background, this should have been taken in a village in the Pantanal Great Swamp. I remember the clothes in the photo, but I don't remember taking a picture with this man."
He looked up at Shad
"Mr. Watson, who is this? Does he know something? Can we find him?"
"Halder Ondiba. Over a decade ago, he was arrested and executed by the Inquisition of the [Church of War and Peace] in this diocese."
"What?"
"He was a cultist," Shad said, carefully observing the professor's expression. The surprise and panic on the old professor's face did not seem feigned.
"Oh, what on earth did I do over ten years ago?"
"That's hard to say."
Shad pointed to Halder Ondiba in the photo
"Even now, this deceased gentleman is still being tracked. While investigating this, I nearly came into conflict with some dangerous individuals. They are willing to kill and have no regard for the police."
Professor Drake tremblingly placed the photo on the desk, then gripped the armrests of his wheelchair tightly with his right hand, panting heavily
"Mr. Watson, I am truly sorry for putting you in danger. Do you know anything more?"
"This is all the progress of the investigation so far. It seems the 'Lady of the Lake' didn't just erase your memories of the adventure, but even blurred a vast amount of related clues. Based on current information, Professor, the memories you lost might not have been a price, but something you actively gave up—things you did not want to know."
The old professor's already aged face seemed to age another ten years in an instant; the overlapping wrinkles made his age spots appear starkly clear.
"Are you saying I did something wrong, perhaps even committed a crime, and my wish was for the Lady of the Lake to erase all traces?"
"A conclusion cannot be reached yet, but this guess should be very close to the truth."
Shad paused, giving the horrified Professor Drake time to think.
Once the professor picked up his teacup, Shad asked softly
"Speaking of which, Professor, do you have any antiques in your home whose origin you don't remember?"
The professor recalled
"No... at least I believe not. I remember every item in my home very clearly."
His tone was not very firm; he clearly knew his memory was unreliable.
"Among your collection, is there an arrow?"
Shad leaned forward slightly, narrowing his eyes and lowering his voice, asking again in the book-filled study under the light of the gas lamps lit because of the heavy fog outside.
"Yes, I also collect antique weapons."
The old professor answered quickly. Shad felt his heart leap. His peripheral vision swept across the red-and-gold wallpaper of the study, the old-fashioned gas lamps, and the bookshelves
"Can you describe the specific appearance of the 'Arrow'?"
"I'll just get it for you to see."
The professor started to call for the maid, but then frowned and looked at Shad
"Come to think of it, I really don't remember where that arrow came from."
The old man inside the desk pursed his peeling lips, which had just been moistened by tea. He looked bewildered
"Oh, yes. If you hadn't asked, I wouldn't even remember that I possessed such an item. For these ten-plus years, I seem to have never checked it, yet I am certain I have it. This feeling is truly..."
Kansas Drake looked up from his wheelchair toward the ceiling of the study. The familiar room suddenly seemed to spin; everything before his eyes became blurred. The sensation of the world whirling made him want to bow his head and vomit, but he immediately felt someone supporting him
"Professor, Professor!"
He heard the young man's voice and felt a teacup brought before him, the steam warming his cheeks.
"Quick, drink some tea, Professor, Professor!"
Shad fed the old professor tea infused with Grade 4 Holy Water. The professor's throat struggled to swallow the tea, and then he closed his eyes and leaned back against the wheelchair, as if he had died.
After a long while, he opened his eyes again, and a bit of spirit returned to his aged gaze. His lips moved a few times, and his voice gradually returned to normal
"Yes, I possess an 'Arrow'. Although I don't know where it came from, I remember it is right here in this study."
"Where?"
Shad looked around, searching for traces of hidden compartments. According to the outsider's knowledge of detective novels, a study like this should have a mechanism like "moving a book to open a secret door."
"Here."
The professor struggled to lean down, opened a drawer in the lower left of the desk, and took out a slender redwood box. There was no text on the box; instead, there were spiraling, chain-like patterns.
"Truly... for over ten years, I never once wondered why there was a box in my drawer."
The professor closed his eyes and sighed deeply, handing the redwood box, about one meter long, to Shad.
Shad felt no traces of elements when he touched the box, but when he opened it, the Whisper element immediately surged.
He narrowed his eyes, his grip on the box suddenly tightening. Embedded in the red lining was a golden arrow with bronze patterns on its surface. Its primitive aura indicated it came from ancient times; the heavy sense of history almost made Shad hold his breath.
The patterns climbing the surface of the arrowhead formed a strange script
【Knowledge is Power.】
"The answer was on the face of the riddle. I actually found it here with Professor Drake—the Sage-level relic, the [Arrow of Knowledge of Akenora]."
(End of Chapter)