Chapter 867: Huntington Countryside Stories

Professor Drake's research materials recorded that he had collected data on citizens who once claimed to have seen the Goddess of the Lake. After excluding those who were obviously making up stories, and combining local legends and folklore, he summarized five laws for being able to see the "Goddess of the Lake."

First, one must appear alone by the lake in the western part of Huntington City; one can have a mount or a pet, but cannot be accompanied by other humanoid intelligent beings;

Second, when encountering the Goddess of the Lake, the sun must still be above the horizon, because no eyewitness experience occurred in the pitch-black night;

Third, everyone who claimed to have encountered the "Goddess of the Lake" or entered the "Lake of Cherub," including Professor Drake himself, was male, and even the protagonists rumored in local folklore were all male;

Fourth, the person encountering the Goddess of the Lake needs to carry items proving their own "courage" and "wisdom," which means needing a book and a weapon;

Fifth, and the most important point, if one is always thinking in their heart about wanting to meet the "Goddess of the Lake," then they definitely won't meet her; only by forgetting their purpose can they possibly turn around inadvertently and see that legendary lake.

The above laws were summarized by Professor Drake himself. Many people had read these materials, and even the local church had obtained these materials from Professor Drake, but no one had been able to see the legendary goddess again.

However, for Xia De, having clues was better than having none, and the professor's summary also seemed very reasonable.

He prepared a notebook, a gun, and a sword, entered the city to visit Professor Drake, who was sitting in a wheelchair, again, talked to him about more detailed content, and ate lunch in the city before leaving the city again to head to the west of the city.

Unlike the vast plains and low hills in the eastern part of Huntington, the western part of the city was mostly wetlands and lakes because it was adjacent to the Pantanal Great Swamp area. Although the terrain was still considered flat, it was not suitable for living because fog and miasma would drift out from the swamp area every summer.

There were a few smaller towns on the edge of the city adjacent to the western part of Huntington, and further west, one could only see small patches of farms and orchards interspersed between the lakes.

The road here was quite difficult to walk; even riding a horse, the hooves would occasionally sink into mud pits on the road. The country dirt roads had no regular maintenance, and coupled with the influence of the Pantanal Great Swamp area, the infrastructure construction here could almost be said to be completely non-existent.

The clues Xia De currently had were not enough for him to directly find the Lake of Cherub, where the Goddess of the Lake was rumored to live. Therefore, he planned to retrace the path Professor Drake had taken years ago, according to the professor's notes from that year.

The first stop was Lower Lu Se Village in the western part of Huntington City. The professor had set off from this village that year, and it happened that there was also an eyewitness of the "Goddess of the Lake" in the village. The origin of the village name was because the village was located south of Lu Se Lake, exactly below Lu Se Lake on the map.

This was a typical small countryside village in Kassenrick. When Xia De, dressed decently, came riding a horse, the villagers cast curious glances but didn't dare to get too close. It wasn't until Xia De stepped on the mud and led the date-red horse into the village that the village sheriff approached cautiously and asked about Xia De's purpose.

Most of the local villagers had heavy accents, but the middle-aged sheriff, who looked sturdy, had a very standard accent. When Xia De explained his purpose in broken Kassenrick and hoped to see Mr. Old Grave, who claimed to have seen the Goddess of the Lake 8 years ago, the sheriff happily agreed:

"Old Grave likes to tell people this story very much. We also liked to listen at first, but later he always repeated it over and over again, and people got tired of it. Sir, you come from a big city and might not understand our countryside life here. Listening to other people's stories in boring days is indeed interesting, but when that story has been repeated for eight years, no one can stand it."

Mr. Old Grave lived quite well in the small village. He fished by Lu Se Lake when he was young, and later dug fish ponds to raise fish artificially. Although his annual income couldn't compare to people in the city, it was at least better than the villagers who scratched for food in the fields.

When Xia De met this old gentleman, he was sitting in a rocking chair, basking in the sun in front of the gray-white earthen wall of his house, with a string of bacon drying on the wall. When the thin old man looked at Xia De, Xia De noticed that there was nothing in his left eye socket.

Because there was some difficulty in communication between the two sides, the sheriff, who was idle and joined in the fun, acted as a translator for both sides.

The content of the conversation was very simple. Xia De asked about the past of Mr. Old Grave, whose hair was gray. This talkative old man spoke with a heavy countryside accent, trying his best to describe the "great adventure" of eight years ago in detail.

The general process was that eight years ago, in the winter of 1845 of the Common Era, because there was nothing to do in winter, on a snowy morning, Mr. Grave, who was 43 years old at the time, carried a fishing rod, a bucket, and a notebook, intending to go fishing in the already frozen Lu Se Lake.

He set off at eight o'clock that morning and found a suitable location on the lake surface at nine-thirty. After breaking the ice, the first cast actually caught a black snake, and the snake spoke:

"I want to kill you—that's what it said."

The old man described it to Xia De very excitedly. When he opened his mouth, Xia De could even clearly count the number of teeth he had left.

People living in the countryside had mostly seen snakes, but they hadn't seen snakes that could speak. In this era where the general level of education was not high and relatively superstitious, the old man was chased by that snake on the ice for more than twenty minutes before finally jumping ashore from the other side of Lu Se Lake. After entering a forest that was bare in winter, that snake disappeared, but a large, furry rabbit jumped out:

"You took the wrong road—that's what it said."

Mr. Old Grave waved his hands, trying his best to imitate the voice of that rabbit from that year, while the middle-aged sheriff was trying hard to hold back his laughter. It seemed that no matter how many times he had heard it, this story was still interesting to him.

That rabbit didn't have any malice toward Mr. Old Grave; instead, it kindly let him leave the forest and told him how to avoid that snake. So, Mr. Grave, who didn't dare to approach Lu Se Lake again, planned to take a detour home, but just after leaving the forest, he encountered a raven that flew from nowhere on the snowy dirt road in the countryside:

"I'm here to tell you where you should go now—that's what it said!"

The old man telling the story became more and more excited, as if he had returned to the "great adventure" of that day, and the wrinkles on his face piled up together with his smile. Xia De kept a straight face and didn't speak, listening to him continue.

Under the guidance of the raven, Mr. Old Grave of eight years ago walked further and further off course. After passing through a strange area of winter wetland shrubs, he actually encountered a small lake he had never seen before.

Mr. Grave at that time seemed to have received a "divine revelation," and without knowing how, he stepped on the frozen lake surface and entered the center of the lake, where he met an old woman with white hair on the island in the middle of the lake.

The old woman on the island in the middle of the lake invited Mr. Grave to go fishing with her. Mr. Grave thought at the time that he couldn't go home empty-handed, so he agreed. He fished from noon until evening. Mr. Grave, who was quite lucky, caught six large carp, while the old woman caught three.

"She said at the time that I won against her, so she allowed me to make a wish."

Speaking of this, there seemed to be light in the old man's eyes; this was obviously the climax of his memorable story.

"Then what wish did you make?"

Xia De asked curiously, glancing at the sheriff, who was staring at him, as if wanting to see what kind of expression Xia De would show next.

"Yes, I wanted her fishing rod!"

Mr. Grave said, raising both hands, and praised Xia De:

"That fishing rod of hers was really good. I've been fishing for so many years, and I've never seen such a beautiful, sturdy, and convenient alloy telescopic fishing rod. The fishing line and the matching fishhook were also goods that could only be seen in big cities. Even if she didn't give it to me, I would be willing to trade my house for that fishing rod, so when she let me make a wish, I agreed immediately!"

"And then?"

Xia De asked curiously.

"And then?"

Mr. Grave was stunned:

"Then I came back with the fishing rod and those fish."

"What about the fish?"

"They were eaten eight years ago; did you expect me to keep them?"

"What about the fishing rod?"

"It was broken by my grandson, the naughty little Louis, three years ago. I was sad for a long time, and later it was bought by people from the big cathedral in the city for 10 pounds."

Because Mr. Grave's story was more like a randomly fabricated fairy tale, Xia De had to look at the sheriff who was holding back laughter on the side. The latter nodded:

"Yes, eight years ago, after Grave came back with that beautiful fishing rod and his story, it did attract people from the city, but people just came to listen to the story. As for that magical lake, Grave couldn't find it again even if he went to look for it himself. I bet he fell into the lake that day and froze his head, and as for the fishing rod, I don't know where he picked it up."

As he spoke, he laughed out loud. Mr. Old Grave didn't get angry but repeatedly explained to Xia De that his story was absolutely true. Although there were some processed components in the details, the experience was absolutely true.

Not only the Orthodox Church and Professor Drake, but many people had heard Mr. Old Grave's story in this village. Most of them were very interested in the "Goddess of the Lake," but no one could find that lake based on Mr. Grave's story.

But no matter what, at least this story was still very interesting, and Xia De felt that he hadn't wasted his time in vain.

He left 1 pound for the old man as a fee for listening to the story. Before leaving the village, Xia De asked the enthusiastic middle-aged sheriff what was going on with Mr. Old Grave's blind left eye. The latter asked strangely:

"Does this matter also have to do with his story? That left eye has been blind for many years."

"What was the specific time?"

Xia De asked again, leading the date-red horse, which was gently eating the forage piled outside the neighbor's house for the winter, causing Xia De to have to pay 5 pennies. It was just that the woman who wrapped her head with a headscarf waved her hand to indicate she didn't want money, so Xia De gave her child a few cubes of sugar.

"I really don't know about this. I was transferred from the next town to be the sheriff here, which was 12 years ago, and his eyes were already blind."

The sheriff walked toward the entrance of the village with Xia De, who was leading the horse, and then shouted loudly to the gray-haired old man who was forging iron with his upper body bare at the entrance of the village:

"Hans, when did Old Grave's eyes go blind?"

"Damn it, how would I know?"

The old man forging iron cursed in Kassenrick, which Xia De couldn't translate, and then said:

"It went blind when it went blind."

The middle-aged sheriff then turned his head and shrugged at Xia De:

"You see, country people have no sense of time. If nothing worth remembering happened that year, it's hard for people to distinguish between 1853 and 1852. However, Old Grave's eyes going blind was indeed much earlier than the start of the story in his mouth."

7017k ===== CHAPTER 868 =====