Chapter 2504: Bennett and the Haunted Rumor

When the carriage was moving towards the city center, the height was actually constantly rising. And before Xia De was about to reach his destination, the driver signaled his outsider passenger this time to look to the right:

"Guest, do you see that castle?"

A castle did indeed appear outside the carriage window. It was located in the southwest direction of Vista City, belonging to the other side of the hill:

"I see it. Is this the most magnificent building in the city? The Dawn Church we passed just now wasn't as spectacular as this."

The driver introduced with a smile:

"That is the Creekwood Town Music Academy, the school where this city started, and also the best music academy in all of Kassenlik. Many famous young musicians in the country walked out of here. You can go take a look when you have time."

"Was that castle built specifically for the academy? This should have cost a lot of money, right?"

Xia De asked again, but the driver didn't give a very definite answer this time:

"It is said that this was a castle that already existed in the forest. I don't know exactly what it was used for originally."

So this was most likely a building renovated from ancient ruins.

The road to the "Accordion Hotel" needed to pass through the "Golden Music Hall," so Xia De finally saw this concert hall with his own eyes, which was said to be the largest in the middle of the Old Continent.

It stood like a golden palace in the center of the highest point of the city. The flat building adopted a symmetrical structure, and the four large gates facing the four directions were four squares, making it look like a four-leaf clover figure.

The outer wall was carved with beams and painted, decorated with rich and gorgeous reliefs and carvings. Every place was a masterpiece of art. The delicate and complex decorations reflected the brilliance of the early autumn morning sun, and the porch in the style of Baroque that the outsider had seen in his hometown towered into the clouds, and the huge archway seemed to lead to another mysterious world.

Of course, considering that this was also a building renovated from ancient ruins, this sense of mystery and antiquity was not surprising.

To let Xia De take a good look here, the driver even deliberately slowed down when passing by.

Every detail here exuded a thick historical atmosphere, but although it was called the "Golden Music Hall," the outer wall of the building was not actually golden, but white and light tones with quite a bit of classicism.

The driver told Xia De that when night fell and the gas lamps were turned on, the walls would present a golden yellow because of the light of the gas lamps, which was the origin of the "Golden Hall."

The opening hours here on working days were from 9:00 am to 8:00 pm. Besides being a "concert hall," a part of the magnificent building was also a museum. After 8:00 pm, although there were still concerts inside, listeners were no longer allowed to enter, and tourists were no longer allowed to visit.

Now the time was just right. If Xia De didn't have urgent matters, he would actually really want to take a look here. But after all, Miss Danisite's matter was the most important. After finding that lady, he would have plenty of time to look at this forest city.

The elf was right. The "Accordion Hotel" was indeed very close to the Golden Music Hall, and the distance was closer than from No. 6 St. Deran Square to Yodel Palace.

The sign painted yellow was hung outside the window on the second floor. The four-story hotel presented a right-angle shape, occupying the intersecting "Golden Music Avenue" and "Elton Pedestrian Street."

This hotel was the largest hotel in this city. Because it was close to the "Golden Music Hall," the musicians who had performed or sung in the "Golden Music Hall" had mostly stayed here, which made this place even more famous over time.

But also because of this, in the upcoming Moon Dance Festival music concert, when the outsider who stepped into the hotel tried to inquire from the hotel waiter whether there were any vacant rooms, he got a negative answer:

"I'm really sorry, guest. Because the Moon Dance Festival is coming, guests from other places started booking rooms from the beginning of the Thunder Moon. Now it is fully booked."

The lady with a standard appearance said behind the counter, and she was also wearing a silver accordion-style brooch on her chest.

The area of the first floor of the Accordion Hotel was huge, and like the "Three Cats Hotel," the first floor was used as a lobby and a tavern for eating and socializing. Among them, the counter was also right-angled, and there were a total of three ladies receiving guests.

Xia De, who pretended to be very troubled, said embarrassedly:

"Can you accommodate me? I can pay a premium room rate."

"Sorry guest, this really can't be done. However, there should be other hotels in the city, you can go and ask there."

Xia De was not sure if Miss Danisite lived here. Luweiya only divined that he could find clues by coming here. He couldn't even ask "whether a lady named Danisite Gustav lives here." After all, Miss Danisite probably wouldn't use her real name when going out for private matters like this.

Wanting to rent a room was just to get a mailing address for himself according to the convention. Now that there was no room, he had to give up.

So Xia De thanked the female receptionist and left here, then turned into a silver cat in an alley on the side, climbed up the steam pipe wrapped in thermal insulation on the outside of the wall after running a few steps neatly.

It took some effort to climb to the roof. Coming to a strange city, Xia De didn't want to cause trouble, so instead of using illusion to hide himself and then entering the hotel to check if there was a problem, it was better to turn into a cat and check the hotel openly.

He wasn't afraid of getting dirty, and after confirming that the chimney on the roof was not a decoration, he jumped down directly from the chimney. So a few minutes later, the silver cat that shook off the coal ash on its body appeared smoothly in the corridor on the fourth floor of the Accordion Hotel.

The hotel corridor was quiet, but the decorations here were quite good. The oil paintings hanging on the wall were all those well-known musicians. Of course, the outsider had only heard of a very small part of them.

To prevent other troubles, he didn't waste too much time using the cat form to admire those oil paintings, but quickly ran through the fourth floor and then went to the third floor.

During this period, the silver cat bumped into other guests who were going upstairs on the stairs, but the other party only thought this was a pet cat raised by other guests running around, so they didn't care at all. The fourth floor didn't feel any problems, and the third floor was also very normal. Because the second floor was ordinary guest rooms, the rooms were smaller and more numerous, but Xia De still didn't

There were simply too many guests on the first floor, so he remained in his cat form and did not go down, stopping at the top of the stairs to recall if he had missed any details just now:

"The clues wouldn't be in the kitchen, would they? Or in the basement? Yes, this place is even bigger than the Green Lake Hotel; it's impossible for there to be no basement. Perhaps Miss Danister left a clue in the potato pile?"

But no matter how he thought about it, he knew it was impossible.

There was no need to doubt the results of the special divination; Xia De was very certain he hadn't come to the wrong place.

【Perhaps you need to have some patience.】

"She" said in the silver cat's ear. The cat's ears twitched a few times, and he turned his head to look behind him.

【After all, even if you can't find it, isn't there another chance for divination tonight?】

"Yes."

And so, ten minutes later, Xia De, having restored his human form, walked into the hotel again, only this time as a dining guest.

It was just past eleven o'clock. Although it might be a bit too early for lunch according to the customs of this era, the kitchens of such large hotels were always running. Therefore, after Xia De requested the menu, he casually chose a few dishes and then generously gave the waiter a tip of 5 pennies:

"Tell the kitchen to serve the food quickly."

"Very well, sir."

The waiter, having received the tip, was very attentive in helping Xia De urge the kitchen, so Xia De's lunch arrived quickly. It was still the same waiter who came to deliver the meal, and Xia De gave him another tip, asking him to help buy today's newspaper.

Besides the newspapers distributed throughout the Carsonrick territory, the most famous local newspapers in Vista City were the "Creekwood Morning News," the "Voice of Music," and the "Lumberjack Daily." Xia De looked through the local news while leisurely eating his lunch, and then confirmed once again that this city was truly peaceful.

And when he finished his meal and signaled for the waiter to come over to settle the bill, he asked while taking out his wallet:

"I originally wanted to stay here, but there were no vacant rooms, which is a real pity. I am actually a travel writer, and I heard this place was haunted, so..."

"There is no such thing."

The waiter said hurriedly, and Xia De asked curiously:

"But I heard that in Vista City, especially within the original Creekwood town area, don't phantoms or strange sounds sometimes appear?"

This was what he had heard at the black market yesterday.

The waiter shook his head again:

"I am a local, and I have heard such rumors, but those are matters concerning the Old Town area. We are in the New Town area here; you must have heard false rumors. We here..."

He saw Xia De take another banknote from his wallet and press it under his glass. Xia De was not drinking alcohol; he was drinking a "Song of Creekwood" beverage, which was actually locally produced honey water with the taste of apple juice in it.

"If you want to gather material, I only heard that last week, strange sounds came from the broom closet between Room 318 and Room 319 on the east side of the third floor, but nothing was found after an inspection."

The waiter tried to lower his voice, as if afraid of being overheard by others:

"But Boss Bennett doesn't let us talk about it; he's afraid it will affect business. Now is the eve of the Moon Dance Festival, the most profitable season of the year."

Xia De nodded lightly, then suddenly raised an eyebrow, but said nothing more to the waiter.

When he had tidied up his newspaper and stood up, he asked in his heart:

"The mermaid from Moon Bay asked me to find the person who owes her a debt; what is that person's surname..."

【Bennett. And she said you don't need to go to the trouble of searching; the other party will appear before you on their own.】

Now "Bennett" had indeed appeared on his own, and it happened just as Xia De arrived in the "City of Music." He suspected that the mermaid also had powerful prophetic abilities, or perhaps Vista City was simply a place Xia De was destined to come to:

"So, the story of the eighth Chosen One won't really unfold in this City in the Woods, will it?"

Of course, finding Miss Danister was the top priority now; the "Bennett" matter could be put aside for a moment.