Chapter 1316: The Key of the Earth

Hearing the Count's question, Xia De immediately denied:

"No, no, I am just a writer, not a detective. Besides, even if I were a detective, it would be impossible to easily discover that kind of ancient tomb from before the era. I want to ask you, from what era was the Granger family cemetery established?"

Such great nobles with a long heritage usually had their own family cemeteries, or set aside separate areas in public cemeteries to place the mausoleums of family members.

Count Granger thought for a moment:

"The current family base is together with the Randall Valley public cemetery, and it was established around 1500 of the General Calendar, with a history of about three hundred years. The previous family cemetery was destroyed by the famous Randall Valley earthquake in 1498."

This earthquake, Xia De had also heard about when investigating local legends. It was the most serious earthquake in the local area since there were historical documents. However, because of the local status of "the center of the material world's earth," logically, there shouldn't have been such an earthquake, so that matter from three hundred years ago was very strange.

"We used to have our own family cemetery. I don't even know the history that old cemetery can trace back to. But the earthquake destroyed everything, yes, everything."

"Not even the wreckage is left?"

Xia De asked, and the Count shook his head regretfully:

"That place is very far from the current city area, and I haven't been there myself. But my grandfather had been there, and according to him, that place had been completely abandoned."

As he spoke, the Count stood up and pointed out the location of the former Granger family cemetery to Xia De on the map hanging in the study. That place was located in the northeast of the city. Although it didn't enter the mountainous area and belonged to the plain, it was far enough from the city, but fortunately, it was not farther than the Night Temple truly located in the mountains:

"That land still belongs to our family now. I remember it is..."

Because there were too many fields, he really couldn't remember clearly, so he called the old butler to inquire, only to know that the woodland was now the family's forest farm, supplying firewood for every winter, and the excess wood would be sold far away to the Kingdom of Delarion along the waterway, northward along the west coast of the Old World.

"If you are interested, I will write you a letter, and you can give it to the forest farm guard. He won't mind you walking around. Hearing you say this, my great-uncle did indeed have the possibility of leaving traces there. Of course, if you are interested, you can also try hunting there. In the woodland of Randall Valley in winter, rabbits often appear."

The Count said with a smile, because of the matter of Xia De sending the two family badges, his attitude towards Xia De was quite good.

"No problem, if I can find further clues, I will inform you as soon as possible."

Xia De promised, but in fact, Mr. Thomas Granger's skeleton was now lying in the coffin, placed in the Forgotten Church. He planned to return the skeleton to the Count after everything in Randall Valley was over, so that it could be buried with his family, which could be considered fulfilling his promise:

"Also, I want to purchase an antique from you, which will also be helpful for my investigation."

He took out the photo he got from the auction house again. On the photo was that antique metal key.

The Count didn't remember this antique, and after careful recollection, he remembered that this was something he bought on a whim back then. So he didn't talk about the price with Xia De, directly agreed to Xia De's offer, and let Xia De follow the butler who held the key to the manor's basement to get it, while he had to receive the next guest.

Count Haigel Granger, 39 years old, he was really busy.

The brass-colored antique key collected by Count Granger, Xia De felt that this metal item was absolutely extraordinary the first time he saw the genuine product.

The length of the key was about the same as Xia De's palm and it was quite thick. It was a key that only very old locks would use. Of course, although it was old, the Count's servants seemed to know quite well how to maintain this kind of metal product, so there were only some imperceptible rust marks on the surface of the key.

This was not a special item, nor did it have any elemental reaction. On the key, only straight, orthogonal horizontal and vertical lines were used to carve extremely fine patterns on the surface.

Xia De was quite sure there were only horizontal and vertical lines. Judging from the level of craftsmanship, this was simply incredible.

There was no evidence, but the inspiration was prompting Xia De that he had really obtained an incredible item this time. So in excitement, Xia De took the key and returned to the Wilde Opera House, but Miss Bernice and Miss Lassus were not here because they went to find the safe house of Mr. Lassus in the cemetery, so Xia De studied in the troupe leader's office on the third floor for a whole afternoon.

By the time the last ray of dim sunset disappeared from the horizon and the street lamp poles surrounded by snow piles began to flicker with light one by one, the two leaders of the Golden Dawn returned to the Opera House.

When Miss Bernice pushed open the office door, Xia De was at the window, holding the key high against the moon.

She smiled and leaned against the door frame and said to Xia De:

"The girls I just met all said that you walked into the Opera House bouncing this afternoon."

"Is it that exaggerated?"

Xia De turned and asked, and then saw that Luvia also appeared at the door.

"Just happened to meet them, so we came together."

The four people went to eat dinner together. After returning to the Opera House, Xia De mentioned the matter of the key.

The key was checked by the three ladies in turn, but just like Osenfort's statue and the vase in the statue art gallery, no abnormality could be checked, but Xia De was very sure that this was the item he was looking for:

"Remember why we thought this key might be related to the Heart of the Earth?"

He asked, and then answered for himself:

"This antique key was discovered in 1800 of the General Calendar, that is, 54 years ago. The place of discovery was an underground temple in the northeast of Randall Valley."

"Yes, similar to the Moon-Worshiping Relics you discovered near the Osenfort Manor, as well as that Night Temple in the mountains, they are all temples of the Ancient Gods of the ancient era. Currently, it is unclear who that temple belongs to, but it should also be an Ancient God related to the earth. And this key came from that temple."

Miss Bernice said, and Luvia also took over:

"The data I searched in the local association shows that the temple might even directly belong to the oldest Earth God, that is, the Ancient God 【Earth Mother God】, but there is no evidence to prove this point. According to the church's inspection and confirmation half a century ago, the temple itself and the many items discovered inside were all just ordinary items."

"The church was not the first group of people to discover that underground temple. Some thieves' skeletons were also discovered in the temple, and those skeletons even some did not belong to the Sixth Era. This key was discovered on one of them, so it is unclear whether it belongs to the temple itself."

Miss Lassus made the final supplement:

"At that time, the person in charge of the excavation and inspection work was the local Peace Church. According to the regulations, they left the items discovered in it for ten years of static placement. After confirming there was no problem, they let the safest items flow into the ordinary people's market one by one. So more than ten years ago, the key appeared at the auction, and was noticed by my father."

"But what is it exactly? Xia De, what did you discover this afternoon?"

Luvia asked, and a smile appeared on Xia De's face:

"No matter what Spirit Rune I used to stimulate it, it had no reaction. I even tried to destroy this key, but didn't expect to succeed. However, no matter how it was damaged, it only broke along the surface patterns, but could not be melted or deformed. That is to say, the key can only be disassembled, not completely destroyed."

Luvia patted Xia De lightly, blaming Xia De for consuming his lifespan again.

"But besides that, in the end, I still discovered its wrongness. I am sure this is related to the Heart of the Earth, so following this line of thought, finding the appropriate power will definitely be able to trigger resonance with it."

"I remember you don't have an Earth Spirit Rune."

Miss Bernice said, and Xia De nodded:

"But I have this."

He took out the Earth Rune Stone that could enhance "Healing Aura" obtained from 【Plague Merchant】. The Rune Stone contacted the key. At the contact position, the earthy yellow light flow flowed along the horizontal and vertical patterns on the surface of the key, as if some power in the Rune Stone was poured into the key.

In just half a minute, the entire key was completely "lit up." When Xia De separated the two, the key had already attached quite clear miracle elements, and even when he let go of the key, the glowing metal actually floated directly above his palm.

After a full five minutes, the light disappeared, and the elemental reaction on the key also disappeared:

"Look, that's it."

"Why do you always get these strange things? Last winter, I remember you asked me to come to your house at night to see some flying stone slab."

Luvia said with a smile and took the key, trying to divine with that obsidian pendulum she obtained on the night of the Eldron Lake incident.

Miss Bernice said:

"Since it is proven that this key is extraordinary, what is its use?"

"A key, of course, is used to open a lock."

Xia De said quite surely:

"There must be a lock locally that can be opened by it. And if I guess correctly, behind that lock, there should be the answer I am looking for."

The witch raised her eyebrows:

"So, the search continues."

"But I can feel that this is already approaching the end."

"Next is to find a lock or a door... What are you going to do? Are there any clues now?"

"Of course there are. Miss Bernice, Miss Lassus, and Luvia, have you discovered that most of the clues I have obtained so far about the Guardian, about the legendary Heart of the Earth, and even about the Chosen One are related to the Granger family?"

The three ladies nodded suspiciously.

"You don't think that Count Granger is the person hiding at the end, and after you find the door, he will jump out with a paper party popper and tell you all the truth, right?"

The three ladies nodded suspiciously.

"You don't think that Count Granger is the one hiding at the very end, who will jump out with a party popper after you find the door and tell you the whole truth, do you?"