Chapter 2715: Detective

On Sunday morning, when Xia De handed the umbrella in his hand to Miss Bell and sat down on the third floor of the Accord Hotel, the gray-black-haired witch immediately leaned forward and made a sniffing action.

Miss Bell inserted the umbrella into the umbrella stand and stopped talking, wanting to remind her teacher that doing so was very indecorous. And Miss Danister, who was putting down the book in her hand, had already adapted to Flora Winster's childishness in some aspects:

"How is it, Flora, what did you smell on Xia De?"

The red-haired girl also smiled at Xia De.

"The breath of the forest."

The witch admitted, and then looked at Xia De suspiciously:

"Did you take a bath this morning?"

This is a very private question. Before that dream at Love Lake, the witch would not have mentioned it, but now this question is commonplace for her.

"Of course, as long as the time is not too tight, I will wash a little early in the morning."

Actually, he only does this when the girls stay overnight at home, but considering that there always seems to be someone at home recently, it is not wrong to say it is a daily habit.

Flora nodded, and her golden eyes sized up Xia De carefully again, without continuing this topic:

"In my performance at the Golden Music Hall tonight, that is, the Harvest Festival performance, according to the order of appearance, I will appear around 8:30. No matter what plans you have today, don't forget this. Aren't you trying to figure out the secret of the Temple of Time?"

"I won't forget this kind of thing. However, there are indeed things to do today. My friend has already looked at that black fire seed, and he said that it is the power of the demon's split, but compared to the essence sealed by the church three hundred years ago, the one last night was really inferior. The demon's condition is not very good now, and its power has definitely not recovered to its peak."

Xia De briefly talked about the doctor's conclusion last night, and mentioned that it was because he used sin when sealing Bront's soul that he attracted the other party's action:

"Miss Bell, the location where the bodies of the Hoy family were buried after the big fire, can it be determined now?"

The young witch apprentice nodded immediately:

"After we confirmed the demon's information with the church in the black market last night, we also confirmed the situation many years ago from the church. According to the information provided by the Church of Nature, after the 'Forest Hunter' sealed the demon back then, the follow-up team that arrived locally was responsible for dealing with the things related to the demon that happened in Creekwood Town. That was a special unit under the Church of Nature specifically for dealing with demon events."

"They basically determined that the big fire in Hoy Manor was related to the demon, so they dug up the bodies that had been buried for three months for inspection. Although they didn't get too many conclusions, the church Ring-warlocks of that year still followed the process to exorcise the bodies, and then burned the bodies and treated the ashes harmlessly."

Although this sounds a bit too cautious, past lessons show that when facing things related to those ancient evil spirits, no matter how cautious you are, it is not too much.

Xia De had already guessed this result when talking to the doctor last night:

"All the bodies were treated? Nothing was left?"

"According to the information provided by the church, this is the case. If the demon didn't seem to be active again, these materials should have been permanently sealed. In fact, if it weren't for your reputation, I think the church shouldn't have fully believed that the demon was active again before confirming the situation inside the 【Ice Magic Box】."

Miss Bell said, so Flora suggested:

"Do you want to go outside the city to see those burning trees? Perhaps, we can infer some clues through the distribution of those trees."

Xia De shook his head:

"Flora, come with me to Hoy Manor first. The goods obtained from the auction last night haven't been taken yet."

Although the fire last night was sudden, in fact, the fire was quickly controlled, so when Xia De came to Hoy Manor again, he could only see the window on the west side of the third floor burned pitch black from the outside, and it looked like the fire only affected that one room.

Today is Sunday, so Chief Condor, who is the police chief, expressed his apologies again to the guests who came to take away the auction items in the manor.

Flora is not familiar with this local police chief, but Chief Condor is very enthusiastic about her and wished her performance tonight to go smoothly.

So 《Creekwood Town and the World Tree》 and the "Elvish antique arrow" came into Xia De's hands. There is no problem with that arrow, it is the arrow that the elf girl entrusted Xia De to look for. And according to the police chief, he bought it many years ago, and he couldn't remember exactly where he bought it.

Xia De interpreted this as "This antique's origin is not right, so I can't say."

"Does he have a time curse on him?"

After leaving the manor, Flora asked again, and Xia De immediately shook his head:

"I observed it last night. Whether it is this chief or other members of the Condor family present, there are no traces of time curse. Of course, the beacon acorn also didn't detect any time travelers."

The two boarded the carriage waiting for them to return to the city center, but soon the owl flew out of the carriage window with the cat. The two stood on the side of the road and watched the carriage carrying the phantom gradually walk away:

"Since there is no problem, then take me to see the antiques in the secret room."

To go to the secret room under the house, Xia De still chose to go through the ventilation window in the well in the back garden of the manor. He can turn into red butterflies, and Flora, who is proficient in transformation, can also turn into small birds.

Those boxes were still in the secret room. It seems that no one has come here since Xia De left last night. Flora opened the boxes and checked them. Although she is not a master of antique appraisal, thanks to her understanding of oil paintings, she saw things that Xia De didn't see:

"These antiques are genuine. This point is no problem. But the problem is that they are too new."

"What does this mean?"

Xia De walked behind her, so Flora pointed to the portrait 《Girl with a Pipe》 in the box, which is an abstract painting that Xia De couldn't appreciate:

"This painting is framed for protection. You see, this frame is also a style from three hundred years ago, and there are the initials of the craftsman who made the frame by hand and the completion time in the lower right corner. Although the oil painting is protected, the frame is in direct contact with the air."

She pinched the wooden frame and leaned closer to see if there were cracks in the wood, and finally checked the metal parts on the back of the frame:

"Although the style is a style from three hundred years ago, it doesn't have the texture after being washed by time. Or simply put, the degree of oxidation is not enough. But apart from the frame being too new, other aspects don't look like fakes. Do you understand what this means?"

If it were elsewhere, Xia De would still need to hesitate, but here there is no need:

"These antiques, wouldn't they be taken directly from three hundred years ago?"

Flora was very cautious, stepping on high heels to check other antiques:

"It can only be said that there is such a possibility, but it does not rule out that someone has mastered special maintenance techniques, or the owner of these antiques entrusted Ring-warlocks to maintain this batch of goods."

But since there is a train of thought, it is easy to prove whether these antiques have experienced three hundred years of time to reach the present, or skipped three hundred years to reach the present. Xia De used the strange art 【Time Return】 learned from Adele, which is specifically used to send away things that do not belong to normal time.

It's just that in order not to attract the attention of the owners of these items, Xia De did not choose to send back single items, but pulled out a nail from behind the frame and flicked it lightly with his finger:

"Time Return."

The nail disappeared in front of the two. Xia De raised his eyebrows and heard "her" voice in his ear:

【The time point when the nail returned is January 29, 1546.】

"Oh?"

After hearing Xia De finish the date, Flora, who seemed to be unconsciously playing the role of "detective," looked up at him in surprise again:

"But if I remember correctly, the information provided by the church says that the date of the Hoy family fire was also January 29, 1546. Although the information did not mention a more specific time, it was at night."

"The specific time when the nail returned was 8:38 PM on the 29th... This batch of wealth was taken from the night of the Hoy Manor fire to the present?"

This was a bit unexpected, but judging from the local situation, it seems more reasonable:

"So, was the big fire three hundred years ago set by Chief Condor in 1854? To eliminate the Hoy family, so that he could occupy this batch of treasures three hundred years later?"

Xia De made a guess from this, and even began to imagine what role the demon played in this.

Flora put the painting back:

"But you didn't find a time curse on Chief Condor. Regardless of whether this matter has anything to do with this police chief, it shows that at least there is a tree hollow leading to 1546."

She asked Xia De:

"Three hundred years ago, this is the oldest time we have come into contact with so far. Did you notice? The things we deal with locally, each one has a longer time span."

"It would be best if we could deal with things related to the Fifth Era sometime."

Xia De reached out and moved the air, using strange art to let the stirred dust return to its place. And the witch laughed. She knew what Xia De meant, and she actually wanted to see those legendary Witch Emperors very much:

"Then how to deal with this matter? There is this batch of treasure and a suspicious police chief family in the city, and burning trees outside the city. What are your thoughts? Handle it yourself or report it to the church? As long as we report it, the Condor family will definitely be arrested because of the suspicion of being related to the demon."

"Don't tell the church for now."

This is not because he is worried that the church cannot handle this matter, but because he is worried that the church can remedy and handle this matter.

The doctor still needs this demonic power. If the church really successfully seals the demon this time, the doctor's third core spirit rune will have no place to fall. ===== CHAPTER 2716 =====