Chapter 319: The Cursed Girl

"I want to buy currency-type relics, any danger level is fine."

Looking at the sea from the towering cliff felt completely different from looking at the sea while standing on the coast. Xia De could even see the black smoke rising above ships the size of Mia in the far distance. He thought that if he had time to bring Mia to see the scenery here, that cat would definitely be scared by the sea.

"I don't have such things on hand for the time being. But I can help you keep an eye out."

Mr. Edmond said. Although Xia De had good luck in the tavern, it wasn't that simple to get another one.

"Alright then."

He shrugged, not disappointed.

"Mr. Watson might come to find you himself in the future; he can be considered introduced by me. I came today, actually, because there is also a matter."

Miss Princess said, her eyes looking at the distant sea level. The weather was still overcast when Xia De came here in the morning, but it had completely cleared up by the afternoon.

"Mr. Edmond, you've heard about the Sage-level relic 【Mermaid's Dream】, right? I want to buy a 【Relic】 from you that can temporarily suppress this curse. I know you definitely have such things on hand. If there's any way to suppress the curse in Coldwater Port, besides the Church of the True Gods, it must be here with you."

"You've come into contact with a mermaid statue?"

Before Mr. Edmond could speak, Xia De asked in surprise.

"Yes, is it strange? Oh, I seem to have forgotten to tell you."

The blonde girl didn't look at Xia De but continued to look at the distant sea surface, her voice disappearing into the rumbling sound of the water:

"That was a few weeks ago. At that time, the matter of the curse hadn't broken out yet. I learned about the three mermaid statues through a friend's channel, so I got one, and then unfortunately became infected with the curse."

There wasn't much frustration in her tone:

"Originally, I thought the curse would take at least half a year to break out, and the Church had also found a way to break the curse at that time. I didn't expect that in just a week and a half, I would already be dreaming of the deep-sea palace in my dreams."

"This is already the late stage of the curse; how come it's so fast?"

The old man guarding the lighthouse was also surprised:

"You've already seen... in your dreams..."

"No, I just fall into the deep sea in my dreams, my consciousness is drawn into the abyss, and I see the terrifying and twisted giant stone architectural complex outside the undersea temple. I haven't seen that huge mermaid corpse in the palace."

Even though he had heard the warehouse dispatcher describe the scene in the dream a few weeks ago, listening to the sound of the waves and hearing about that dream brought on by the curse again at this moment, Xia De still felt uneasy.

He looked at Miss Princess with quite a bit of worry; he didn't expect that the female sorceress he met by chance today had actually encountered such a terrifying thing.

Mr. Edmond frowned and thought for a moment, then said:

"You're in luck; there is indeed a relic here that can counter the curse. Although it's Document-level, it's very expensive."

"How much money?"

Miss Princess asked. Xia De listened from the side, thinking that if the other party didn't have enough money, maybe he could lend some.

"One thousand three hundred pounds, no bargaining. The value of this kind of 【Relic】 that counters curses is not something that ordinary Document-level relics can compare to."

Xia De subconsciously gasped, but Miss Princess hummed, as if she were laughing:

"I thought it would be five digits. It seems that the money I prepared in advance was completely my own overthinking. No problem, but is a bank draft okay? I can't go out with so much cash."

This lady's wealth far exceeded Xia De's imagination.

"A bank draft is certainly okay."

Mr. Edmond, who guarded the clock tower, glanced at Xia De. Seeing that the female sorceress didn't mean to have him stay away, he talked about the specific situation of the relic:

"Document-level relic, Saint Laurent's Ring. The origin of the relic is very clear; it's the ring of the Great Witch Roland, the divine attendant of the Old God 【Light Demon Wolf】 of the Fifth Era. In the Fifth Era, this was a very famous and powerful alchemical product. After transforming into a relic, it can endow the wearer with extremely strong curse resistance. It is useful against any curse; even if it cannot make the wearer completely immune to the curse, it can slow down the effect of the curse."

"Is it stolen goods?"

Miss Princess inquired.

"No, the ring fell into my hands a year ago. Its original owner went to the New Continent to explore and unfortunately encountered an accident. The companion brought the ring back to Coldwater Port and sold it because they were in urgent need of gold."

Mr. Edmond said. The blonde girl considered it and nodded:

"Okay, but I want to inspect the goods. Also, do you have any other news about 【Mermaid's Dream】? The ring cannot completely eliminate the curse, and I can't count on the Church to find a solution as soon as possible."

"Do you know about the deep-sea mermen summoned by the ritual who shot and killed people?"

The old man asked. Xia De, who was on the side, looked up at the seagulls above his head, not wanting to get involved in this kind of conversation.

It seemed that everyone in this city knew about the "mermen shooting and killing people" incident.

"Of course I know."

Miss Princess smiled:

"That was already last week's matter. I also know that the Church is investigating along this line of thought, but it seems to have hit a dead end, as if that deep-sea mermaid summoned by the ritual had turned into a human and disappeared."

Xia De had his hands in his pockets, kicking the stones under his feet into the sea cliff, looking very bored.

"'Sea Return'—do you know it? It's said to be a ritual related to those statues."

The old man said again, and then said one step ahead of Miss Princess:

"Even if you've heard this news, you've definitely only heard of it and don't understand the full meaning of it. Only a folklorist who has lived in Coldwater Port for many years and knows the local ancient customs, like me, can interpret the meaning of that nursery rhyme."

The old man who called himself a folklorist smiled and twisted his fingers at Miss Princess, who said indifferently:

"Let's settle the bill together in a while. If there's any news, can you say it all at once?"

"Alright. Nursery rhymes mostly have their own origins, and the origin of 'Sea Return' is actually the sacrificial ritual of the local fishing village in Coldwater Port at the beginning of this era to a certain Evil God. Let me analyze it for you; the main body of the nursery rhyme is four sentences."

He stretched out four fingers:

"The mermaid's singing drifts over the harbor—the appearance of mermaid rumors locally represents the Evil God's totem;"

Even the blood-stained pirate ship lowered its sails—the servants of the Evil God appeared in the guise of pirates to participate in the ritual;

"The red ocean surges with waves—after the above two steps are completed, a signal symbolizing the ocean turning red will appear;"

"That beautiful girl walks toward the deep sea—sacrificing a young girl."

After finishing, he smiled and shook his head:

"Folklore is just that interesting. As long as you know how to interpret it, you can see many different things in just four short sentences. The Church of the True Gods should also have scholars who can reach the same conclusion as me based on local folklore and legends, but they definitely won't be faster than me."

The old man was very proud of his knowledge.

"This ritual... how does it sound like it's summoning something..."

Xia De, who had heard the conversation in its entirety, suddenly said. Miss Princess also nodded hesitantly:

"Mr. Watson is right. If the mermaid statues were deliberately placed in the dock warehouse to let them scatter, then behind this matter, is there an evil cult group wanting to summon something?"

"I don't know about this point. Now mermaids have indeed appeared in Coldwater Port. If there are unusual pirates appearing within a few weeks, we will know the answer."

Mr. Edmond said. Xia De, who had just experienced the Evil God's descent event more than a week ago, asked nervously again:

"May I ask, which deity is this nursery rhyme related to?"

"The small fishing village in Coldwater Port has disappeared for more than a thousand years. The only available information points to three deities. The 【God of Deep Sea Drowning】, who dominates the dead in the sea; the 【Lord of the Scarlet Spiral】, the protector of the terrifying merman race in legends; and the God of Storms 【Fury Storm】, who was defeated by the True God 【Father of Peace】 as recorded in some secret cult classics."

The old man answered, paused, and added:

"These three are all Evil Gods."

Xia De was quite familiar with the first one, while the remaining two had only been seen in books. The merman race mentioned among them belonged to a humanoid intelligent race. But unlike the image of the beautiful girl who is good at singing in stories, the mermaids in this world are brutal creatures that like to eat human flesh and are good at various evil curses and rituals.

At this moment, facing the sea and hearing the names of three Evil Gods in succession, even Xia De felt inexplicably cold.

The current evidence was not enough to prove what would happen next. But more and more clues indicated that the appearance of those mermaid statues in Coldwater Port was definitely not a coincidence. ===== CHAPTER 320 =====