Chapter 37: Death of The Poet (2)

Chapter 37: Death of The Poet (2)

Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng, the two foreigners who had yet to familiarise themselves with life in this new place, had to wander around the city for a long time before they found the residence of the first customer Little Jack No. 27 Shell Street.

It was a very small room, with a tofu-size plate engraved with the room number hung on the door. If it were not for Tang Cuos sharp eyes, they might have missed it altogether.

There was no one there, but the moment Tang Cuo carried the bamboo basket into the room, the Ding sound came ringing in their ears. After looking into the Mission panel, the progress of the side mission was now displayed as (1/3).

Jin Cheng: It seems this mission is really that simple.

Tang Cuo put down the bamboo basket on the only table in the room, totally not believing this wicked set up. Jin Cheng actually didnt believe it either, and he glanced over a picture frame on the nightstand. The picture showed a pair of mother and son, both clad in the most commonplace linen clothes. The mother was wearing an apron, while the son had red-brown curly hair and many small freckles on both sides of his nose, carrying a small cloth bag across his shoulders. They were both smiling happily.

Perhaps this was Little Jack.

Little Jack seemed to have a dream of becoming a musician.

Tang Cuo found a small harp in the wooden box under the bed. It seemed very old but very well maintained. Even the box containing the harp was spotlessly clean.

Under the harp, there was even a music score whose corners had turned yellow and the handwriting on it had begun to blur. It should be rather old-aged. Tang Cuo couldnt understand the score, but he recognised the name of the composer Lancelot.

Lancelot, the most popular bard in the whole continent.

So this Little Jack is a fanboy of Lancelot? Jin Cheng said and handed Tang Cuo a newspaper. Look at this.

The front page of the newspaper was about an organisation called Greenvines Alliance, its headline saying Madam Catherine accepted the honour from the Greenvines Alliance and became the alliances 13th arbitrator.

Recently, the Luo Island Headquarters of the Greenvines Alliance announced that they had officially awarded Madam Catherine the position of arbitrator, code-named Order of Life, in recognition of her great contribution to the July Rose Incident.

The Watchman His Excellency Roger Reeds stated that the Greenvines Alliance would continue to monitor any news surrounding the Rose Sect.

It was reported that Mr. Lancelot had donated all the proceeds from his July performance to the victims of the July Rose Incident. Lets praise the eternally benevolent and upright Mr. Lancelot.

The newspaper was called Dodo Daily, dated July 30th, 1228 of the Sicilit continental calendar.

Tang Cuo looked through the other content but beside a few new place names, he found nothing worthy of attention. He asked: What date is it today?

Jin Cheng: September 1st.

Little Jack had the habit of keeping dates. On the date grid drawn by him, he would draw a cross for each passing day. But on September 1st, there was no cross, rather, a red circle was drawn and there was some writing beside it that said: Flower Festival.

Apart from that, there was no other useful information in the room, so Tang Cuo and Jin Cheng took their leave and went to the next customer.

Aunt Anna lived two blocks away and her living conditions were slightly better than those of Little Jack. But her room seemed stuffier and lots of laundry was piling up in the corner. There were clothes of both men, women and children, most of them made of hemp and some made of cotton this might be her job.

There was also a pile of half-washed clothes at the door.

Although the room was crammed, everything was so neatly arranged that people would know where things were at one glance.

Tang Cuo looked around but found nothing, so he eventually turned his eyes to the pile of clothes. But as he was about to stretch out his hand, Jin Cheng handed him a magic wand that he took from the magic store earlier.

At certain moments, Jin Cheng would suddenly develop this thing called obsession with cleanliness.

Tang Cuo took the magic wand with an expressionless face and used it as a stick to rummage through the pile of clothes. As he turned and turned them over, a few things indeed dropped out. With a cling, a badge fell out from one of the pieces.

Jin Cheng picked it up, looked at it and said: The silver moon symbol may be a family crest or a token. I think theres only this one small city in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight, so this must be the seal of the royal family or the lord. And dont you notice, weve walked all the way here but except for white roses, there arent any other flowers? The roses must be related to all this.

Bushes of roses were blooming everywhere in the city. There were roses on the bakerys window, on Little Jacks eaves, around the tower and even inside the gaps of the city wall. They were encircled in thorny vines and it was difficult to tell where they came from. But one thing was certain their roots were not here.

The entire Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight was paved with large blocks of stone and bricks, its soil road hardly even seen. There was no way the roses could grow out of bricks.

You mean, the roses must have something to do with the strangeness of this city? Tang Cuo asked.

Probably. Jin Cheng said as he picked a rose that poked through the open window, then raised his eyebrows slightly: Im just curious about why it is a Chinese rose Refers a type of rose that is native to Southwest China, with the scientific name Rosa Chinensis.

, not a common rose.

A common rose?

Havent you seen it before? Oscar Wildes The Nightingale and The Rose? The ring on your hand is called Nightingale.

I am illiterate, thank you.

Tang Cuos sharp eyes saw red blood dripping from the broken petals.

Crack. The vines snapped the metal arrow into two pieces as though it was just a fragile stick.

Run! Jin Cheng made a decisive call, then he pulled Tang Cuo and hurriedly ran in the other direction. Tang Cuo was half a second slower than him, but he also ran without even looking back.

Creepy.

The roses around the entire palace had come alive, hundreds of thorns and vines flying over them like a whip. If that whip caught them, they would be dead on the spot or at least their skin would be peeled off.

The only good thing was that the roses in other places hadnt moved, otherwise this game wouldnt be easy to clear.

Swish! Several vines came together and slashed the corner of Tang Cuos shirt as he was jumping over a roof. With a lean whif, his shirt was instantly ripped.

Jin Cheng shielded him in time and the two quickly fled. They finally escaped upon reaching about a kilometer away from the palace.

The vines retracted, and the pure white flowers went back to quietly embrace the palace as though protecting a sleeping lover.

Tang Cuo took a deep breath and looked around first, paying no mind to his torn clothes. They were originally in the west of the city, but now they had run to the south. The layout of the city in the south was almost the same as the west, and as they looked at the front, a small square was in sight.

At this moment, the sun was about to be swallowed by the golden sea of sands, twilight was looming in and the exquisite moon was ascending in the distance.

We cant go to the palace for now, I cant even take those vines down with my arrows. I think we still need to find some other hidden items in order to clear this game. Jin Cheng, the one who had trained in the arts of clearing dungeons, declared. He glanced over the bronze ring on Tang Cuos finger and said: Why do I feel that something is missing from your ring?

Tang Cuo raised his hand: What is missing?

Jin Cheng: A gem perhaps.

Tang Cuo took a closer look and the spot where the pattern was engraved indeed looked a bit empty. But even if a gem was meant to be here, it must be a very small gem. Where could they even find it?

He couldnt help looking at the moon again. The skill attached to this ring was called Moonlight Tide, and he wouldnt know if it had anything to do with the real moonlight. There was no moon in Yong Ye City, so if they wanted to verify, it could only be done in the dungeons.

Perhaps they could use Moonlight Tide to blast open the palace gate?

No, the risk was far too big.

Tang Cuo temporarily gave up this idea, and the two continued walking along the street until they reached the square.

The square was really small, no more than 10 meters in diameter, with a bronze statue in the middle a young man sitting cross-legged on the ground with a small harp in his arms, singing with his eyes closed.

Tang Cuo rarely saw a statue that sat on the ground. The man was wearing a shirt, a waistcoat and boots, a dagger hanging from his waist and a fedora hat with its brim rolled up on his head. A beautiful feather was pinned on the hat while his hair was neatly tucked behind his ears, revealing a gorgeous face.

He was smiling broadly, with a white dove squatting at his feet and flowers stacking up in front of him of course, these were also made of bronze.

Jin Cheng knelt down in front of the bronze statue and saw [Nightingale] on his right hand. The statue replicated the ring very well, and on this ring, there was a very small gem at the spot where the pattern was.

Apart from that, there was a keyhole in the heart of the statue. Tang Cuo tried putting in Cecilias key, but it didnt match.

Jin Cheng somehow wasnt focused on these, because he suddenly remembered an old incident from many years back: I remember that I used to play a small Irish harp at the bonfire party when you first entered the camp. Everyone cheered for the instructors, but you werent there. Where were you back then?

Tang Cuo didnt want to admit that he actually listened to Jin Cheng playing, but he was sitting in a corner that Jin Cheng couldnt see. The other instructors could play, at most, a harmonica, but Jin Cheng held a harp and got all the attention, giving the others no chance to show off.

I was in the toilet.

Tsk.

If Jin Cheng had something to be unhappy about this disciple, it was that he had zero artistic cells. His bluntness truly destroyed the atmosphere.

Tang Cuo didnt want to talk more about this, so he changed the topic: The Well of Time.

Jin Cheng understood: Time magic?

Tang Cuo: In the side mission, today is the Flower Festival, so Cecilia wants to go to the Well of Time to fetch water. The time in the Kingdom Hidden In The Moonlight seems to no longer flow and will always stop on the day of the Flower Festival. All thats left behind is dead.

Jin Cheng: Except for those weird roses.

In the entire city, or perhaps the entire kingdom, there wasnt a single living thing except these roses. There werent even any other trees.

Flowers must be rooted in the soil and nourished by water. If the roses grew from the water in the Well of Time and the Well of Time held the magic of time, everything could be explained.

The question was Where was this Well of Time?