Chapter 818

"Fairy tale?"

"Yes, the ancient fairy tale 'Water of Wisdom'. My writer friend mentioned this to me."

Xia De nodded, turned his head to raise the portable kerosene lamp in his hand again to illuminate the stone tablet, coughed, and translated:

"The King, the Warrior, and the Scholar found the Wise Man in the Lake, wanting to obtain a method to solve their problems. The Wise Man, who lived alone, took water from the lake with a water bottle and claimed that this was the Water of Wisdom that could give them answers. But everyone had to propose their own problem; only the most difficult problem to solve was worthy of using this treasure."

Xia De paused, and the kerosene lamp in his hand moved slowly downward:

"The King proposed the problem of governing the kingdom, the Warrior proposed the problem of slaying the evil dragon, and the Scholar proposed the problem of cracking the ancient mechanism box. To obtain the Water of Wisdom, the King sent his army to slay the evil dragon, the Warrior swung his sword to smash the mechanism box, and the Scholar proposed the method of governing the kingdom. Everyone gained wisdom, so the Wise Man poured the water back into the lake."

Reaching out to touch the stone tablet to confirm that it was not a relic, Xia De read the last sentence:

【Knowledge is power; extraordinary wisdom is the most precious wealth.】

The last line of text was in ornate ancient letters. Fairy tales usually use this method at the end to summarize the ideas expressed in the story or sublimate the theme—Dorothy believes this is to make the story look more profound than the writers intended.

"Sister, that's all the content on it. Of course, some letters are really blurry, so I guessed the meaning. The details might be problematic, but that's roughly the story."

Stepping back, he stood with Sister Daifulin and looked at the stone tablet:

"In the past few months, I have often encountered situations where the story itself metaphorically refers to things that have happened. Sister, perhaps the King, the Warrior, and the Scholar themselves refer to some kind of split but united power. These ancient fairy tales, once connected with legends, are really more interesting the more you think about them."

Xia De smiled. Folklore, fairy tales, and literature are the keys to the past in the contemporary era, and the Outsider is very interested in this.

The fairy tale "Water of Wisdom" is very famous in this world and is an interesting and educational fairy tale. Not only is it literature itself, but it has also been adapted into various versions of plays and operas. In different versions, the three professions of King, Warrior, and Scholar are also replaced by characters such as gamblers, knights, merchants, and even dragons, but the flow of the story is roughly the same.

In the opera, the three visitors going to the lake are usually listed as one act, the conversation with the scholar as one act, and the final act is solving each other's problems.

This is a more famous local fairy tale than "The Kiss of the Tree". Its exploration of honor, wisdom, and unity still influences contemporary literature in the steam age, and the concept of "Water of Wisdom" representing wisdom that does not exist but tempts people also deeply influences the speculation about wisdom and sin—all the above content was mentioned to Xia De by the blonde writer lady.

Xia De is quite confident that this fairy tale was not brought to this world by himself, the Outsider; this is a local fairy tale.

Sister Daifulin hesitated for a moment and nodded slightly:

"Although the content is somewhat unexpected, at least it is not completely without gain. It seems that the sect needs to find some supernatural beings who are proficient in ancient literature to seek help."

Dorothy and Lei Qianya are both very proficient, but the person Sister Daifulin needs to find is probably more proficient in these fairy tales than them:

"Sister, do you know the 【Light-Guiding Ascetic Society】?"

Xia De thought for a moment and asked, then took a final look at the stone tablet and turned to leave with Sister Daifulin.

The nun wearing the silver eye patch nodded slightly:

"I know. They believe in doomsday and are actively preparing for it. But the Ascetic Society has no public organization, and it is difficult to find them."

"I know a few of them. One of them guards a lighthouse in Coldwater Port and runs a supernatural black market. I will tell you his location, and you can send someone to ask him for advice."

Xia De was talking about Mr. Edmund, the folklorist.

"Okay, there is also a Snake Heart Hospital in the area around Coldwater Port."

Sister Daifulin hesitated for a moment:

"Xia De, you are willing to help the sect, and we will not treat our friends badly. Last Wednesday on the cliff of Mount Xikar, you said you didn't want a reward, just wanted to know the truth. But I also cannot tell you whether the end of the world is real, so what else do you need?"

Actually, the Primordial Fire itself is power, and Xia De didn't need the nun to provide any more rewards. But seeing this nun, who usually spoke in a very cold manner, looking very determined at this moment, he thought for a while:

"Does the Spiritual Cultivation Sect know any true legends related to gods? For example, gods once left power in a certain place, or some evil god sects possess some special items, or saints once stayed in a certain place."

This is preparation for the next drop of divinity. If Xia De can find the divinity sealed in the material world again, such as the divinity in the 【God's Gift Box】 and the merman's golden pearl, then of course he doesn't need to borrow the 【Blasphemous Cross】 to extract it. But if he is unlucky, he probably has to face the gods again.

The nun thought for a while:

"There are many such legends all over the Old Continent, but for the more realistic ones, I can only think of the 'Ice and Snow God Hunting Ritual' in the far north of the Old Continent, the legend of the 'Goddess in the Lake' near Huntington City in Karsenrick in the central Old Continent, and the story of the Forest Spirit in the primeval forest at the southern tip of the Old Continent."

Xia De noted down this information and planned to find Mr. Edmund to ask for advice again. The nun added:

"Although I don't know what you want to do, exploring these legends related to the Great Ones must be extremely dangerous. The sect's library has many books. If you need, you can come here from the entrance of the Midhill Snake Heart Hospital at any time. Xia De, you are a friend of the sect."

She took back the burning fire in the center of the sacrificial site, drew the 【Ash】 long sword, and left with Xia De.

【Ask her one thing.】

The whispering sound rang in his ears, and Xia De suddenly asked again:

"Sister, when you arrived at the lakeside of Lake Bena on Wednesday night and saw my cat—I mean, when you saw Little Mia—did it already have that blood-red ring on its tail?"

"Yes."

Xia De's eyes widened slightly, and he asked again:

"After the Great War of Midhill, did the church find other relics related to the blood-sucking species in Mount Xikar?"

The nun nodded:

"Yes, after that god left, it did not take away the relics used for summoning. Now, these relics have been transferred to different dioceses to prevent them from being aggregated by the blood-sucking species again."

Xia De was finally relieved. The 【Blood-Sucking Species Ring】 appeared on Mia's tail probably because after he defeated the God of Blood-Sucking, the ring happened to fall to the lakeside of Lake Bena and was picked up by the cat waiting for Xia De.

That afternoon, Xia De stayed at the residence of the 【Spiritual Cultivation Sect】, listening to Sister Daifulin introduce the situation of the sect and obtaining a better way to use the Primordial Fire from her.

In the evening, Sister Daifulin sent Xia De back to Midhill. At this time, the autumn rain had just stopped. Although there was a lot of water on the road, it was no longer raining. Xia De took a carriage from the Snake Heart Hospital to the Loranta Manor where Miss Aurora lived.

The matter of the third Chosen One was over, and this great witch was also leaving Midhill. She still remembered that Xia De had promised to attend the banquet she hosted, so when eating dinner that night, she officially invited Xia De to attend her farewell banquet on Wednesday.

Xia De naturally agreed. Although he was very eager to find new divinity, he had decided to put aside other things for the time being and take a break to relieve the fatigue since the beginning of autumn.

It was already eight o'clock in the evening when he returned home from Midhill. Xia De went to the apartment rented by Luweiya. At ten o'clock sharp, he threw the fire from the kerosene lamp into the fire basin Luweiya had found.

Sister Daifulin's avatar walked out of the fire basin, but because it was an avatar that appeared from a long distance, it was approximately a projection and didn't even have combat capabilities. But that was enough; after all, this time it was just for a conversation.

Xia De didn't know what Luweiya and Sister Daifulin said, because he didn't stay but went home first with fatigue, letting Luweiya talk alone. The purple-eyed girl seemed to have some things she didn't want Xia De to know, and Xia De also respected her secrets.

It was just that when he opened the door with his key, the lights were on in the hallway and on the stairs. Xia De hesitated for a moment; he clearly remembered that the lights were off when he left:

"Did a thief break into the house? Who would be so bold as to steal in the Saint Theresa Square neighborhood?"

Holding the cat that came downstairs to welcome him, he went to the second floor and saw Dorothy sitting on the sofa.

Hearing the footsteps, the writer lady stood up from the sofa:

"Good evening, Xia De. I'm here to return the key."

She shook the key in her hand. This was given to her by Xia De on Saturday night, but because many things happened that night, Xia De forgot to ask for the key back.

"Return the key? No need, this key belongs to you."

Xia De said while hanging his coat on the coat rack at the door:

"Don't you often come here to look through the detective records in the study? With this key, even if I'm not at home, you can come in at any time."

He tried to make his tone as normal as possible.

"Belongs to me?"

The blonde girl showed a bright smile, did not refuse, and carefully put it into the pocket of her dress:

"This Wednesday, the first volume of 'Hamilton Detective Stories' will be on sale. I brought you a box of books, and you can give them to your friends. I put those books in your study... but, I passed by your bedroom door just now, why is your bed gone?"

"After Saturday night, it collapsed. Later, Lei Qianya's maid came to clean up the carpet and those flowers and took away the remains of the bed. Lei Qianya said she would pick out new furniture for me this week and redecorate the bedroom."

Xia De said hesitantly, not letting himself show a strange expression.

But the writer lady almost immediately understood what he wanted to express. Her face flushed slightly, and she wanted to laugh but was a little shy:

"Really, Lei Qianya was too excited that night. I'll talk to Lei Qianya tomorrow and let her get a new bed as soon as possible, otherwise, are you going to sleep on the sofa... This one will definitely be sturdy."