Chapter 660: Searching
Folozi, north of Farajo.
At night, in the southern suburbs of Florence, the exquisite and magnificent Palace of the Goddess of Beauty was still ablaze with lights. Banquets and dances belonging to the night were being held in various parts of the palace. Although times had changed, the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty was still the best place for the upper-class officials of Florence to enjoy social interactions.
At this time in the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty, men and women were either having secret conversations in the salon or dancing on the dance floor. The scene was filled with peace and harmony.
Compared to the bustle inside the Meishen Palace, the Zunjia Church on the other side of the Huashui Lake, which was located on the edge of the Meishen Palace, was relatively deserted. At this time, a few people were praying in this not-so-big church, and one of them was an old man.
He was an old gentleman with white hair and beard, wearing thick glasses and cotton wool, holding a cane. He was sitting on a bench at the back edge of the chapel. Although he seemed to be praying, his eyes were more focused on the stained glass of the church, paying close attention to every detail of it.
Just as the old gentleman was concentrating on a glass painting depicting a woman tied to a stake and burned, a figure silently approached him from somewhere else, came to his side, and made a pleasant sound when he was not paying attention.
"Oh...isn't this Mr. Martin? Are you looking for clues here?"
Hearing the voice, the old gentleman called Martin was startled for a moment, then turned his head and looked towards the location where the voice came from. What he saw was a beautiful and familiar figure. After taking two glances, his expression immediately became alert.
"You are... that Briuz? Are you here to look for clues as well?" Martin said warily, looking at Adele wearing a ball mask in front of him, while Adele responded with a rather relaxed tone.
"What else? Are we here to pray? Aren't we all here for the same purpose?" Adele, who was sitting not far from Martin, continued to speak easily, while Martin answered without changing his tone.
"In a sense... we are competitors, Miss Briuz. Do you think I will easily share the clues I know with you?"
"Competitive relationship? No, no, no... The so-called competition will only happen when the treasure is finally found. It is inevitable that everyone will have some disputes when dividing the wealth. But the current situation is that everyone has been searching for almost a day, and no one has made any substantial progress. The so-called lotus marks are nowhere to be found. If this continues, it is estimated that there will be no gains for a whole day. When this banquet is over, our work will be in vain."
Adele said this, and Martin couldn't help but be silent for a while. After seeing this, Adele continued to speak.
"So, instead of everyone coming up empty-handed in the end, it would be better for everyone to talk about their gains now. Maybe by brainstorming, we can find some blind spots that have not been noticed before."
Adele spoke softly to Martin. Her words seemed to carry some kind of magic, which somehow aroused Martin's trust. Martin responded after just a little thought.
"Well...what you said does make some sense. For us, the most urgent task is to find the treasure first, and then talk about the distribution..." As he said this, Martin turned his gaze to the stained glass of the church, and after glancing at the countless intricate patterns on it, he slowly spoke.
"I came here to look at the stained glass windows on these churches, hoping to find out if there were any lotus patterns hidden on them. Unfortunately, I didn't find any, but I did make some other discoveries."
"Oh...what did you find?"
"Have you seen the paintings on these stained glass? I'm in the antique business and can tell the age of some objects. It seems to me that most of the mosaic glass paintings in this church are from the same era, at least about two decades old. But the glass painting of a bewitched witch is a little older. It was replaced later. I don't know if the original painting was damaged or for other reasons." He said this while looking at the mosaic glass painting on the side window of the church, which depicted a witch being painfully burned to death. Adele turned her gaze over and spoke curiously.
"Bewitching witches? I remember this also records the story of Lord Bourbon..."
"Yes, it is said that during the War of Succession, Lord Bourbon was bewitched by a witch and nearly turned to the evil path of betraying his Lord. Finally, he came to his senses under the advice of the Archbishop of the Church. Afterwards, Lord Bourbon angrily burned the witch to sever his ties with his past.
"That's the story... Mosaics about this story can be found in many churches in Farajo. It's not surprising that they appear here, but the obvious signs of being turned over make me wonder if there are some secrets hidden in it. However, after analyzing and observing it for a long time, I still can't figure it out..." Martin said this with a slight sigh. Listening to his words, Adele nodded slightly, and then continued.
"It seems... Mr. Martin, you know a lot about the history of Bourbon."
"Of course. After all, I also have Bourbon blood and I'm in the antique business. It's normal for me to know more about this kind of things." Martin continued to speak calmly, and Adele changed the subject and spoke again.
"So, have you ever heard of this treasure of the King of Costumes that we are looking for? Do you think someone deliberately made up such a lie to bring us together?"
Adele looked at Martin with a playful look and asked. Martin paused for a moment and thought for a moment before speaking.
"You seem to suspect that Mr. F is a liar? Haha... Although he is indeed suspicious, the story he told about the treasure of the Costume King, Charles, is not groundless. There are many rumors about the Costume King among the people of Farajo, and the stories about the treasure are endless. In many stories, the Costume King buried the treasure in the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty, and there is indeed a similar saying about the three stages.
"According to my observation, Mr. F must have done some research on the Dressed King, otherwise he would not have chosen to gather us to explore the Mei Palace in these two days."
Martin said this seriously. Listening to his words, Adele raised her eyebrows slightly and spoke again.
"During these two days...is there any special meaning in these two days?"
"Of course there is. You may not know this, but this Spring Festival party being held in the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty has a tradition. This tradition can be traced back to shortly after the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty was built during Charles' reign. From that time on, Charles would hold a large party on these two days in late January every year. The purpose of the party was to invite noble lords from all over the country who had just finished their Spring Festival in their own fiefdoms to come to Flotz to meet him and strengthen his rule. Therefore, this banquet is also called an audience banquet.
"The audience banquet is the largest banquet held by the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty once a year unless there are special circumstances. The banquet lasts for two days, and the second day is the main event. At that time, almost all the lords from all over Farajo will gather in the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty to meet Charles. While Charles entertains them with a grand banquet, he will also perform in the singing hall at dusk. It is said that after each audience banquet, the lords from all over will be more loyal to King Charles."
While looking around, Martin explained to Adele very seriously. After listening to his words, Adele nodded silently and then continued to speak.
"So, the holding of this banquet right now is a continuation of the tradition established by King Charles by the current regime?"
"It can be said that because the audience banquet had a great influence, the current Farajo government continued this tradition after it was established, and it became the banquet being held today. Although the scale is not as large as that during the time of King Charles, there are still some high-ranking figures attending."
Martin continued to respond to Adele's words. After hearing his words, Adele continued to ask curiously.
"A high-ranking person? A high-ranking official in the current government? I didn't see any famous and high-ranking people appearing in the Meishen Palace today."
"Hehe... that's not the right time. Wait a day... especially in the afternoon, there will be some important people present. This also corresponds to the traditional opening act of the audience banquet, the performance time of King Charles. In short, these two days are one of the most important special moments in the annual tradition of the Palace of the Goddess of Beauty. If there is a mechanism in this palace that can only be triggered at a specific time, it is probably during these two days. That's why I said that Mr. F understands the principle here... He is definitely not an ordinary charlatan..."
Waving his hand, Martin said this to Adele, and Adele nodded thoughtfully after hearing it.
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