Chapter 293 Missing Clues

——Ritual formation.

Sherlock's heart tightened.

He had anticipated this before—when he looked down at Eagle Point Village from above and saw the neat circle, he had begun to suspect it. But now he finally confirmed it.

The entire Eagle Cape Village is a large ceremony of unclear meaning.

But here comes the problem.

——What is the purpose of this ceremony?

If it were placed somewhere else, it would obviously be related to the abnormality here.

But the problem is that there are too many "abnormalities" in this haunted village.

The King of the Wild Hunt, abnormal time sequence, abnormal life span, strangers emerging from the swamp, goblin caves...

Sherlock rubbed his temples. Countless possibilities kept combining in his mind, burning his brain.

He then asked, "Uncle Magnet Hammer, you said yesterday that Sister Haina's biological father suddenly left because he was 'possessed by some evil spirit.' What did you mean by that? And he's been away from Eagle Cape for so long and hasn't returned. Did he die out there?"

If the original Sherlock had asked such a direct and almost unreasonable question, the other party might have turned his face away.

But now it's just right - I'm a child, so it's normal for me to be ignorant. It's reasonable to speak frankly. You can't hold it against me, right?

The dwarf Magnet's expression was also a little subtle.

But he was silent for a moment, glanced at Haena's mother's back, and finally looked at Haena, lowering his voice and answering softly: "Actually... I think he might have escaped."

"escape?"

Sherlock also lowered his voice, a look of childish astonishment on his face: "Why? Is it because of those undead?"

Haina next to her also became excited.

It wasn't that Sherlock's strangled voice disgusted her... but she was genuinely interested in the answer. She'd asked her mother many times when she was little, but she'd always brushed them off. Back then, she'd actually been a bit afraid of her father, who was a bit rude and looked completely different from her, so her relationship with Magnet wasn't particularly close.

And now she gradually reacted...

It seems that the one with the problem is his own mother.

This dwarf father, who has no blood relationship with me and has only started taking care of me since I was a few years old, is actually more normal.

"They're not undead. Although I was quite frightened when I first arrived, these undead generally don't hurt people. So I gradually got used to them."

Magnet Hammer lowered his voice, reeking of alcohol as he leaned his head closer to Sherlock's face, his forehead against his. "There's a rumor that... he saw something he shouldn't have seen, and that's why he went crazy."

"Something you shouldn't see..."

Haina murmured, "Could it be that Grandpa Jacob has done some evil research?"

"Ah, that's not the case..."

Magnet Hammer waved his hands repeatedly: "Your grandfather Jacob stays at home writing books every day, what kind of research can he do...

"Actually, it was because he seemed to have seen another version of himself. A few days before he left, he was noticeably uneasy. His master asked about it, and he said he seemed to have seen another person who looked exactly like him. Then, a few days later, he disappeared... When I first arrived, this rumor happened to be circulating in the village, so it left a deep impression on me."

"So, what happens next?"

Sherlock tried his best to look frightened. "After he left... was that 'other self' still there?"

"No. That's why I called it a rumor."

The magnetic hammer returned to its normal volume and laughed heartily. "Think about it, if there really was an 'other self,' then he shouldn't have disappeared at all. When he disappeared, shouldn't he have been replaced by that 'other self'? That way, no one would have even noticed he was missing."

"Old William also investigated the matter at the time and asked his colleagues to help investigate. However, they were unable to find any trace of him. Even in Bagpipe Town, there was no record of him leaving by train.

"But then... about two years later. Before Haena went to school in Bagpipe Town, her mother received a letter. It was from her bastard father, saying he'd been living on Glass Island for a long time and hadn't been able to contact home. He finally finished a big project and had a vacation. He'd come back to visit when he had time.

"But he never came back. He didn't leave his address, so we couldn't send a reply letter.

"Hayana's mother can also read, and she confirmed that it was the other person's handwriting. The village priest also confirmed it, and the handwriting is correct. So he's probably not dead. At least not for more than ten years ago... But he hasn't sent a letter in so long, either he forgot or he's dead."

“That’s right…”

Sherlock smirked.

But he and Haina looked at each other silently, and his heart sank.

--wrong.

The problem here is that Haena's father disappeared suddenly.

The villagers and dwarves may not know, but Sherlock knows it - if a person wants to disappear, it is actually not that easy.

Unless he could change his appearance, it would be easy for him to leave traces. The Supervisors were very good at tracking down traces... Haena knew this too.

If a person lives in another place, he or she will at least need money, and if he or she wants to make money, he or she must engage in work that he or she is familiar with.

No one mentioned that he absconded with the money when he left, which means he didn't leave much money behind. Furthermore, he was just an apprentice blacksmith at the time, unlike Magnet Hammer, a true master blacksmith. He couldn't make much money either.

In this case, it is basically impossible for him to leave on his own will without leaving any trace.

There are actually only two possibilities.

Or, he was kidnapped or killed, and there was another person helping him track his whereabouts, which means he had an accomplice.

Or, he simply disappeared—like being teleported away or falling into a swamp.

But he was able to send the letter a few years later, and the handwriting confirmed that it was sent by him. As for whether the letter was written a few years ago, Sherlock believed that the magnetic hammer should not be so stupid.

So, assuming her father is still alive after disappearing for several years, and doesn't want the villagers to know where he is, there is another possibility...

——The "father" who suddenly disappeared was actually the replica. Because he was composed of rituals or spells, he disappeared silently without leaving any trace.

In fact, the real body had already gone to Glass Island with the help of others.

If "copying a person" is the effect of the ritual, then the person who helped him should be a powerful ritualist.

Is there such a ritualist in Eagle Point Village?

It really does exist.

That was Aiwass's grandfather, Jacob Alexander.

Although Sherlock didn't know his exact energy level, since two fifth-level Noble Reds failed to kill him directly, Jacob was at least at the fourth energy level, or possibly even the fifth energy level.

Did he go to the Glass Island specifically to help Jacob arrange some rituals remotely?

After all, Jacob was being hunted by Noble Red at the time, and it was not convenient for him to go to places where there were many people.

And a few years later, he completed that ritual.

……etc.

etc?

Sherlock's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

——A few years later?

He thought of something and went through the timeline from the beginning -

When Sherlock was investigating Aiwass before, he found out that his grandfather died of "an occasional cold" when Aiwass was about four years old.

Haena is four years older than Aiwass, so that would have been when Haena was eight years old. This roughly matches Haena's experience of learning to read from Jacob.

——And little Jack is eight years younger than Haina.

In other words, a year before little Jack was born, his biological father disappeared; six months later, the Magnetic Hammer arrived at Eagle Point Village; and less than a year later, Jacob died. After his death, his belongings were somehow stolen by the Noble Reds, but they didn't find the one thing they wanted most.

Then, someone sent an unidentified threatening letter. They killed Julio's niece Lisa and mentioned in the letter that Aiwass's father, Julio Alexander, "did not do what they said" and threatened to kill Aiwass.

Aiwass's biological parents were killed and he became an orphan. However, he later ended up in an orphanage and was no longer hunted.

Then Haena's father sent a letter back... saying he had been living on Glass Island for a long time. Then he really disappeared, and he didn't come looking for her until Haena graduated from college and was in the newspaper.

During the time between Haina's father's trip to Glass Island and the time he sent the letter back, did anything special happen on Glass Island that only a ritualist could do?

——It exists.

That was the day Sherlock told Aiwass that Eagle Point Village was Haena's hometown. That day Sherlock overheard Bishop Mathers explaining to Aiwass why he was away that day... The answer was that the curse of the red-handled sword was accidentally revealed the night before.

Sherlock was still asleep at the time, so he didn't have time to argue. When he woke up later, the topic had already left his mind and he couldn't go back to it - but he kept remembering it.

Because he felt something was wrong at that time.

The seal of the red-handled sword was imposed by Merlin.

Although he hated that guy, Sherlock knew that Merlin's skills were very good. How could that thing be leaked so easily?

Not to mention a leak, even if it was induced to be unblocked, it would require a top-level ritualist to do it.

It had only been leaked once in all these years, and it happened to be on that day.

Sherlock doesn't believe in coincidences.

It was very likely that Haena's father was on Glass Island, remotely assisting Jacob in performing the ritual, which caused the seal of the red-handled sword to be leaked!

——So far, the time, ability, and perpetrators are basically consistent.

But then it got even stranger.

The question that puzzles Sherlock is...

Why did Aiwass's grandfather plan to kill Aiwass's parents before he died?

Sherlock remembered that the person who killed Aiwass' parents was a curse master from the desert who operated the Iron Hook Demon. This person should not be Jacob's man.

But it was Haena's father who had caused them to arrive at Glass Island and not be able to find Bishop Mathers, because he had caused the Bishop to be away that day.

Or, did Jacob not intend to kill Aiwass' parents, but something went wrong with his plan?

Could it be that the curse master was also one of Jacob's men? That's why Aiwass was not hunted down further.

But what is the purpose of this...

"strangeness……"

Sherlock tugged at his hair.

There is no way to explain it here.

He instinctively realized that he was missing a crucial clue in this final part of his reasoning. He only needed one last step to connect the truth, but he was missing that crucial sentence.

"hateful!"

Sherlock subconsciously punched Haina beside him and planned to find Aiwas first to share some information.

Update completed!

(End of this chapter)