Chapter 2137: True Memory
Seeing the two hesitating, Shard blinked again:
"If you don’t want to gamble with me, you can reveal your third card now. If I’m not mistaken, your cards aren’t ordinary either, right?"
"Are you assuming you’ve certainly won against us?"
Viscount Gla asked, flipping over his third card, which indeed was another special rule card:
"Star 7, [Words of the Era: Terael River Gazette]. Roll a 20-sided die, if the result is 5 or lower, you may adjust the card to twice the dice result."
Picking up the ivory dice from the corner groove of the table and tossing it casually, unfortunately, the result was 14, not satisfying the special card’s effect activation. Viscount Gla pursed his lips:
"Sorry, I fold. Sometimes caution is a virtue; I concede this round. Though I won’t gamble special cards with you in the future, I look forward to meeting you at the card table again."
He displayed his total of 18 points in cards.
Shard then looked at Herman Wood, who hesitated for a moment, then exaggeratedly tossed his third card onto the table, as if hoping the motion would change the card contents.
It was also a special rule card and his stake for this round:
[Ancient Fairy Tale: Mermaid Princess], Suit: Moon 1. If this card is the second last, then during the point calculation phase, roll a 20-sided die. If the dice result is greater than the total points, the total points can be increased by one.
Herman Wood promptly revealed his first card, with three currently totaling 17 points.
"I noticed, you haven’t declared you’re done drawing cards."
Shard said with a smile, his finger still on his hole card:
"Mr. Wood, want to take a gamble and continue drawing? Although there’s a risk of a blowout, it also means [Ancient Fairy Tale: Mermaid] has a chance to activate; or maybe I’m bluffing, I’ve already blown out, and you could win by doing nothing. Though I didn’t activate any special rules earlier, maybe that’s just a trap."
Mr. Wood shook his head:
"No need for psychological tactics, since Viscount Gla thinks you’ve surely won, I bet you’re bluffing as well, you bust, right?"
Saying this, he was about to declare he stopped, but hesitated again. The Baron Wood, sitting aside, shook his head helplessly, and said to the other two Counts:
"He’s been like this since he was young, hesitating over everything. Caution is fine, but there’s no clue worth analyzing with a hand like this, just choose what you think is right."
Mr. Herman Wood seemed to think his father was criticizing him, so he gritted his teeth and said:
"I will fold, I’m stopping now. Reveal your card, let’s see if you were bluffing."
Shard nodded, arranging Star 12 and Flower 4 side by side, just about to reveal the third card, Miss Belindel pressed his hand and revealed the card herself.
Everyone leaned forward to see, it was Sun 4 in suit.
"Sorry, 20 points."
Shard said, Viscount Gla showed a predictable expression, Mr. Herman Wood covered his face, while his father Baron Wood sighed beside them, making it evident he was quite disappointed with his son.
The game ended, the victorious Shard took Star 7’s [Words of the Era: Terrariel River Gazette] from Viscount Gla and Moon 1’s [Ancient Fairy Tale: Mermaid] from Herman Wood. Coupled with Miss Belindel’s gifted Flower 4 [The Fool’s Tale: Thunderstruck Madman], Shard’s number of special cards had jumped to 34.
Considering the deck totaling 54 cards, Shard was one step closer to the dream of a complete special rule deck.
Of course, aside from the joy of winning, Shard hadn’t forgotten the night’s main task. After the game, the two Counts and Baron Wood had things to discuss, while Shard seized the chance to talk alone with Mr. Herman Wood in the corridor. He didn’t even need an excuse, for Herman Wood had originally planned to separately discuss with Shard and Viscount Gla about rumors of three extremely precious Roder Cards appearing locally, hence Shard was the one invited for a solitary conversation.
In the remaining time that night, Shard couldn’t find another opportunity to talk alone with Miss Belindel. And by eight-thirty, when the gathering finally ended and everyone left separately by carriage, Shard took out the lady’s pistol inside the carriage:
"It’s settled, the hidden memory is right here, the method Ciris provided was effective."
He said with a smile, his finger spinning the cylinder around:
"Herman Wood was completely unsuspecting of me. I froze his time from behind, then shot to drain his memory with the Holy Emblem. When the ritual was over, he had no awareness that his life was three minutes shorter."
The consumption of "Adel’s Time Stasis" is immense when it comes to Circle Sorcerers and Supernatural Items, but for ordinary people with no time resistance, a three-minute stasis only requires Shard to drink a sip of Pink Essence afterward.
"Your time stasis power is truly impressive."
The Witch sincerely praised him, and after returning to the manor with Shard, they planned to watch the erased memory together in the study.
The curtains were tightly closed, and the indoor lights were turned off. Shard raised the gun’s barrel toward the wall and pulled the trigger. A nearly transparent light bullet shot out from the gun’s barrel, forming a somewhat blurry image on the wall.
Apart from Shard and Miss Belindel, Maid Matilda was also present. All three saw the memory image from Herman Wood’s first-person perspective. In front of him were two servants holding oil lamps, and beside him were Georgia Black and the familiar Freeman Hawthorne.
The Deceased, drained of blood, was also next to him. Of course, at this time, she was still alive. The woman clung to his arm, speaking in a rather affected tone, and the sound from the image was as blurry as the image itself.
"Although the memory was extracted, it was previously erased, so the quality isn’t great. It’s not the Relic’s fault."
Shard explained, and the Witch frowned at the glowing image on the wall:
"From the surroundings, are they in the sewer?"
"It seems so."
The group walked and talked, the originally blurry voices echoed in the sewer, making them harder to discern. Yet Shard still heard Georgia Black directing the servants to lead the way to show their two friends something "interesting."
The memory wasn’t long, so they quickly approached their destination. A deep, oppressive sound emanated from the image, followed by another glow appearing ahead in the sewer.
In the hidden section of the sewer, the people guarding the secret approached and confirmed identities with Georgia Black and her group, but didn’t allow the woman, Wood, and Hawthorne to follow:
"Mr. Black, you know the rules."
Feeling offended, Georgia Black took a few banknotes from his pocket, which granted the group permission to proceed. As they moved deeper, Shard and Miss Belindel saw the modified, prison-like hidden part of the sewer:
"How many things are hidden in the Moon Bay City’s sewer system?"
The Outlander couldn’t help but ask, but even the locals were unclear:
"Moon Bay is just too ancient."
The memory image became even blurrier here, even though there were more torches and oil lamps for lighting, the noise and blurred light and shadows still made further information difficult to discern.
The memory concluded with Georgia Black turning triumphantly to Herman Wood and Freeman Hawthorne:
"This is something not everyone can see. Come over here, if you’re scared and wet your pants, I’ll definitely laugh at you."
A door next to them opened, and then bright yellow slit-pupils filled the memory image completely.
For a moment, Shard was very puzzled about how the memory’s owner was so close to these eyes, but when the Blonde Witch beside him suddenly stood up from the sofa, he realized that the slit-pupils were not part of the memory at all.
"Memory countermeasure, no worries, let me handle it."
The Countess said leisurely, as the slit-pupils on the wall became increasingly real, as if they were about to emerge from the wall, she took a glass bottle containing black powder from the hands of the Blonde Maid beside her.
She poured the powder into her palm, and then blew it forward fiercely. The dancing powder burned in the air, swiftly adhering to the slit-pupil. With a muffled pop~, the slit-pupil exploded on the spot, some blood-red liquid flew from the image into the real study, and the memory came to an end.
"Don’t move for now. They set up tracking measures after erasing this memory. It seems the other side has a Diviner too, but probably just a clumsy one."
The Witch murmured another incantation softly, but didn’t summon the Ring of Fate or Golden Stairs. She casually flicked out six cards, forming a cube in the air, as if enveloping some invisible object.
"It’s done. Afterward, I’ll attempt to mislead their Diviner to obtain false information. If luck is on our side and they send someone to investigate, we might gain new clues."
She was quite confident in her anti-divination methods, and Shard did not doubt the professionalism of the Great Witch of Destiny. Thus, the maid went to turn on the study lights, and Shard sat back down on the sofa:
"Tonight, we made an important step forward in the investigation, even though the memory was brief, it contained plenty of information. Miss Belindel, I wonder if you noticed that eye at the end, it looked like the eye of a Dragon Beast."
"Dragon Beast" can refer to all Half-Blood Dragon Clan except for Pureblood Great Dragons, of course, if anyone dares to use this term to describe a Dragonborn Circle Warlock, they should be prepared for a beating.