Chapter 2240

The second half of the sentence "anything is fine" was said by Tifa in a low voice, and only the two of them could hear it. Clearly, after leaving Tobesk and being away from her master, the maid lady also had her own little thoughts.

Xia De nodded gently and looked around pretendingly:

"As long as you are used to it here, if you have any needs, please tell me at any time. You know, for me, this city is just a carriage ride away from St. Theresa Square. Cough cough..."

He quietly took the hand of the black-haired maid lady. The latter also had a slightly red face, her head lowered slightly, and her eyes lifted upward, looking at him with a certain charm.

"In short, the things here might continue for a long time. Tifa, you have to be prepared to stay locally for a long time."

"Yes, I will communicate with Matilda often. She is also a maid, and we will have many common topics."

They continued to say very boring things sentence by sentence. In fact, the hands hidden in the shadows were pinching each other. Although Xia De knew that the girls' hands were very powerful, just holding Tifa's hand made him feel his palms sweating constantly, a feeling that was also very rare for him.

【Stealing love, after all, is different from properly falling in love with a girl.】

"She" teased with a chuckle, but Xia De ignored this sentence.

【Also, this morning, someone seemed to say they wanted to abstain from desire?】

Xia De still ignored this sentence. It was just holding hands, which didn't count as anything at all.

Because he was thinking of going to see Mr. Bernhardt in the afternoon, Xia De didn't continue to linger on the maid lady's equally sweaty hand for too long.

Of course, before leaving the manor, he didn't forget to say goodbye to Miss Belindell, who hadn't gone out yet, and went to find Emilia again, hoping that she could contact her family and ask if the Moonstream Clan knew about the "Heart of the Oasis."

Making an appointment to meet Mr. Bernhardt that afternoon wasn't a "telepathy" between two gentlemen, but because Xia De received a letter from the vampire Viscount sent by Miss Annie Bonney, the "Princess Trade Partner," when he was at Belindell Manor that morning.

After the heavy rain last weekend, the weather on Monday afternoon was unexpectedly good. When Xia De came to Spider Alley, seeing the sunlight projecting onto the ground through the gaps in the tree shade to form mottled shadows, he realized that it was still summer.

Compared to the good weather, the complexion of Mr. Bernhardt in the Spider Hotel was clearly much worse.

He had arrived in advance. When Xia De sat down, he was flipping through a small black leather-bound notebook the size of a palm.

Between the two was a wooden table soaked in wine stains. A kerosene lamp illuminated the interior of the tavern, which was dim due to the narrow windows. The wine in the wooden cup by Mr. Bernhardt's hand was like horse urine.

"Investigation this week was hard work."

Xia De said. The vampire Viscount also moved his gaze from the notebook to Xia De:

"Compared to you, I'm not hard-working. The dragon roar on the weekend... forget it, don't tell me. The trouble I'm involved in now is already enough."

The bartender walked over and brought new wine glasses. After the two clinked glasses gently, Mr. Bernhardt opened the conversation:

"Although I expected that the progress of investigating local kin wouldn't be smooth, I didn't expect to encounter so many unlucky things.

Do you know how many things I found out? Weapon smuggling, trafficking in illegal drugs, cheating on three people at the same time, and colluding with human sorcerers to sell seasoned tomato sauce disguised as blood products... Oh, I even disguised myself as a beggar to enter the nest of local beggars in the sewer in order to investigate a mysterious kin."

Xia De was very interested in this topic:

"Did you find anything?"

"No, I went undercover for a whole night. Except for rescuing a girl who was abducted, I didn't find anything."

Saying this, he drank heavily with resentment:

"I hope what I did to those beggars didn't make the church feel troubled. I won't say that because I stand on the side of justice, I have the right to use violence, but people always encounter times when they can't control themselves, don't they?"

Xia De nodded in agreement and didn't go to ask what he had done:

"That abducted girl, wouldn't be the vampire kin you were investigating, right?"

"No, no, of course not. I've also read novels with similar plots; I'm very cautious. In short, I have now delineated five key suspects. They all have the possibility of cooperating with the 【Dragon Feast Cult】 cultists."

Saying this, he put the notebook in front of Xia De.

"Also, there's the matter of 【Sorrow of Blood】. Talking about this makes my head ache. I visited the kin who could be trusted locally, but everyone had an attitude of 'This holy relic is actually here?'

I even suspect whether those people from the 【New World Mutual Aid Association】 told us the truth, or whether that sword is in Moon Bay but hasn't been mastered by anyone, and is still lying quietly somewhere waiting to be awakened again."

Xia De nodded. The matter of 【Sorrow of Blood】 wasn't urgent. He already had 【Night Watcher】, so he didn't need a second holy sword for the time being. If he really needed it, letting Luvia consume a coin should be able to find it.

The key now was the information about the vampire cooperating with the 【Dragon Feast Cult】. Miss Belindell had already found the location of the 【Light-Seeking Seminar】, and the witches were also in place. She would soon organize the council to take action.

But the 【Dragon Feast Cult】 was still missing, and standing behind those cultists was a genuine ancient god.

That was also the nameless eldest son of the ancient gods, and the original ancient dragon.

"Including Ptolemy, there are still a few kin locally who can be trusted. The five names in the notebook now have the greatest possibility of being involved with the cultists, but they are also the most difficult to investigate."

"Understandable. There's even a Hou Jue. Mr. Bernhardt, your kin are truly amazing. If you hadn't told me, I would never have thought that this person is a vampire."

Xia De returned the notebook, put his hands together and placed them on the table:

"However, I have a question. Are you sure that the one cooperating with the vampire is just one person? Could it be more than one?"

"This is also what I'm worried about, which is why these five people were left behind without immediate investigation."

Mr. Bernhardt sighed:

"They all have a certain social background. If two or more of them are connected, acting rashly will only let the clues slip away for nothing. The situation now is that these kin who hold wine glasses and stand in high places, only showing their side faces, are very likely to have major secrets.

You and the Countess of Belindell have a good relationship, and Princess Margaret is also in Moon Bay now, so we need to borrow the help of these forces to visit and investigate with legitimate reasons, rather than secret investigations."

Xia De nodded to show understanding:

"Five people, this is a big project. I'm afraid it won't end within a week or two."

"No, no, it won't take that long."

Mr. Bernhardt shook his head immediately:

"I collected some of the blood of the monster in the sewer laboratory, and I also kept the remains of the vampire beast that you killed on the beach.

Relying on these, and with the support of the Willondale Cult, I made a small detection prop that can discover the source of those bloods at close range."

"That is, in the case of being close enough, you can discover who provided the blood for the experiment (Note)?"

"Yes, yes, but at least at the distance of a handshake, to ensure the accuracy of the detection. So we just need to find a suitable reason to approach these suspects."

He looked left and right, confirmed that no one in the small tavern noticed this side, and took out five photos from the notebook, divided into three rows and placed them on the table.

"Among the five people, including that Hou Jue, three will attend Princess Margaret's welcome banquet tomorrow night. Xia De, I need an invitation."

He pointed to the three photos in the first row.

"This is very simple."

Xia De nodded.

"Among the remaining two, this Mrs. Jude is the widow of a wealthy merchant.

She is very wealthy, although not as wealthy as the ladies you know, but wealthier than most nobles. She lives in seclusion on weekdays. Except for taking care of the orphanage she founded and attending the afternoon tea parties of noble ladies, she basically doesn't go out.

But the good news is that I investigated that she will go to the Cassandra Auction House in this city tomorrow morning. I know you have a relationship with this auction house. Xia De, this is our itinerary for tomorrow morning."

He pointed to the photo in the second row again. The lady who covered most of her face with a hat in the photo looked very mature. Xia De had no impression of her. The noble ladies around Miss Belindell were all great nobles, and wealthy merchants were not qualified to appear beside the Countess.

As for the uncommon surname "Jude," Xia De remembered that the antique collector of the 【Scarlet Cult】 he met in Coldwater Port last year had this surname.

"No problem. We will still meet here tomorrow morning."

Xia De nodded again. According to the itinerary, Miss Swift and her party would arrive in Moon Bay tonight. The old witch had no offspring, and as the last apprentice who was heavily cultivated, Miss Swift was basically the next owner of the Cassandra Auction House.

"Then the last one is..."

Xia De pointed to the last photo.

"Captain Rudolf, who has 12 merchant ships under his name. However, he doesn't run the New World route, but travels north and south, doing import and export trade between the two countries."

Mr. Bernhardt pointed to the photo:

"The Captain is not in Moon Bay all year round. Fortunately, he has been here for the past few weeks. This is not a person with a good temper. Although I am kin, he wouldn't be happy to see me.

However, I heard that the 'Princess Trade Partner,' the address you left me, has quite a reputation among the gangs in the wharf area, and seems to be able to help introduce him."

"No problem. It's only two o'clock in the afternoon now. No time to lose, let's set off now."

Xia De said and stood up.

"I admire your character of acting decisively. But don't rush to leave. No, no, I don't mean for you to pay the wine bill. I mean, go to Ptolemy first; he also has new clues there."