Chapter 147: The Mysterious Letter

Since Xia Duo had already completed the task quota of at least 400 Gold Coins, his mindset at this moment was vastly different; if he could investigate the murderer, that would be for the best, as he could complete more of the quota.

And if there were ultimately no results, it wouldn't be a loss either; Lady Patti had promised there would be remuneration even without results, just not as much as if the murderer were found.

But Kaili was different; the investigation into the cause of death had already been snatched away by Xia Duo, or rather, had already been abandoned by Lady Patti, so he could only cling to Lady Patti's previous guarantee and get as many Gold Coins as possible.

When checking the hidden compartment, Kaili reached out directly to grab that stack of Parchment Document; as for the Gold Coins and that inconspicuous Small Wood Carving, he did not take them to heart.

At least they were not more valuable than the Document inscribed with text.

Seeing Kaili so proactive, Xia Duo felt like laughing; he didn't know how much value those Parchments had, but he recognized that Small Wood Carving.

He had once possessed one too, which he had swiped after killing Lao Nier, and eventually sold for 500 Gold Coins, and those 500 Gold Coins were certainly not its true value.

Since Kaili was going for the Document, Xia Duo would go for the Small Wood Carving.

……

Bringing the wood carving up to his eyes and facing the light from the window, Xia Duo squinted to observe the edges of the carving; sure enough, there was a thin layer of silvery radiance.

It was the same material as the Small Wood Carving he had obtained before!

Although the styling was different from the previous one, it could still be seen as an heroic and extraordinary woman; the carving technique did not seem very exquisite, and the facial features were somewhat blurry, but those eyes were exceptionally vivid.

Xia Duo had a particularly deep impression of those eyes, and this time he recognized them at a glance, but what he couldn't figure out was, if one could carve such vivid eyes, why not carve the other parts better?

Was it the carver's perverse sense of humor? Or was there some other reason?

Xia Duo knew that, besides the middleman Tena who used a leather shop as a fence, the masked person he had encountered during the Moon Festival previously all recognized this kind of Small Wood Carving.

Now, seeing this kind of Small Wood Carving again in the hidden compartment of Feierbosi Villa, was there some connection between them?

Thinking this way, Mage Kaili had already finished reading the stack of Document; seeing Xia Duo lost in thought while holding the Small Wood Carving, he assumed Xia Duo had found some clue, and his heart tightened, "Hey, Xia Duo, let me see that wood carving."

Xia Duo signaled for him to bring the Document over; Mage Kaili looked reluctant, but still handed them over. Xia Duo took the stack of Document and then very casually tossed the Small Wood Carving over.

The Small Wood Carving itself had no clues; if Xia Duo didn't know there was another Small Wood Carving, and that it had passed through many hands and was sought after by a mysterious masked person, he would probably have focused on these secretly stored Document materials first, just like Kaili.

In fact, when Kaili saw Xia Duo toss the Small Wood Carving over so casually, he regretted it, because he had actually already found a clue in that stack of Document; although it might not necessarily point to the cause of Feierbosi's death or the murderer, having a clue meant he could exchange it for money!

Thus, Xia Duo saw Kaili run out of the Study as soon as he caught the Small Wood Carving. At that moment, he didn't understand what Kaili meant, but when he saw a certain page in the Document, he understood.

This stack of Document was not something like a land deed or contract, but just a stack of ordinary letters, except for a few sheets of geographical data about the Green Pearl Forest pressed on top.

Behind them were cost estimates for development; it looked like after the Orc nest was cleared, the Savile Territory was about to welcome a major development.

But that wasn't the point; the point was the letters behind them. They seemed to be daily greetings and trivial family matters, but Netheril was not Earth. People on Earth might write a letter for some trivial matter, but in Netheril—

If it were just within the Savile Territory, it would be fine, but if it were sent to another Territory, it would generally only be delivered with the help of a caravan guard.

Not to mention whether it would actually be delivered, the price was quite beautiful, and few people had the need to send letters to other Territories.

These letters of Feierbosi were sent from other Territories; just for some trivial matters? And he even went to the trouble of having a hidden compartment to store them?

Regarding this, Xia Duo's first reaction was that this guy might be a spy, and then somehow he was killed, perhaps because he leaked some secrets and was then finished off by his master.

While checking these letters, Xia Duo was mentally filling in a spy drama, until he flipped to this one—

"Grego, my friend: If I feel that my body is getting worse day by day, perhaps I will soon head to the Kingdom of the Lord of Radiance. The **** you mentioned before, I have tried for a long time, but it has had no effect. Is it *****? I am not questioning, just the ramblings of an old man longing for youth..."

The handwriting seemed to be Feierbosi's, and there were traces of corrections on it; he didn't know if it was a discarded draft, or if the person died before he could send it out.

Continuing to look below, Feierbosi mentioned in the letter that he entrusted his old friend to help take care of his son, but he wanted to leave his property to Lady Patti.

"Tsk tsk—"

Xia Duo couldn't help but sigh; what kind of love potion did this Lady Patti feed Feierbosi, to the point that neither of his two wills left any property to his son.

But combined with Lady Patti being so anxious for revenge after Feierbosi's death, he seemed to understand something again, and could only sigh and continue reading.

The content that followed was some memories, especially memories of Lady Patti, but the final content was somewhat horrifying—

"The **** my old friend sent me has expired. I can no longer resist their control over me. They want ******, but I will not yield."

"I will *******"

"My Lord! In the end, I have betrayed your path!"

Large sections of the handwriting were crossed out. At this moment, it felt as if a dozen cats were scratching at Xia Duo's heart; seeing it end at the critical part was truly agonizing.

This letter was very important; no wonder Kaili had to rush out just now.

Just as he was thinking this, the sound of footsteps came from the direction of the stairs—thump, thump, thump. Judging by the sound, it was indeed Lady Patti.

Going upstairs for a while, downstairs for a while, and then upstairs again; it was really hard on her. Xia Duo thought she might want to see the letters, so he walked a few steps toward the door.

"Master Xia Duo, I—" Lady Patti's breathing was a bit rapid, her eyes fixed tightly on the stack of letters in Xia Duo's hand.

"I've read them all, take them!"

Lady Patti snatched the letters and flipped through them one by one, until she reached the one written by Feierbosi. Lady Patti's tears fell again, "It's him! It's him! Thank you, Master Xia Duo!"

"……"

This time Xia Duo clearly saw Kaili roll his eyes, and Lady Patti also reacted quickly, turning to thank Kaili, and only then did Kaili's complexion improve a little.

"Lady Patti, I don't know what you plan to do next. I have a critical experiment to do at the Mage Tower and cannot be delayed."

Xia Duo was preparing to withdraw. Although he was very curious about who "they" were in Feierbosi's letter, this matter clearly exceeded Xia Duo's expectations.

He had originally thought it was just an ordinary Merchant being killed, but later discovered the state of the body was suspicious, with suspected traces of Spell; for the sake of the Gold Coins, Xia Duo had stayed.

But now, it seemed there was an organization and premeditation behind this matter, and Xia Duo did not want to participate anymore.