“I want to buy currency-type relics, any danger level is fine.”
Looking at the sea from a towering cliff was completely different from standing on the shore. Xia De could even see the black smoke rising from Mia's tiny boat in the distance. He thought that if he had time to bring Mia to see the scenery here, that cat would definitely be scared to death by the sea.
“I don't have anything like that on hand right now. But I can keep an eye out for you.”
Mr. Edmund said that although Xia De had good luck in the tavern, getting another one wouldn't be that simple.
“Alright then.”
He shrugged, not disappointed.
“Mr. Watson might come to you himself later; he was introduced by me. I actually have something to discuss today.”
Princess said, her eyes looking at the distant sea horizon. When Xia De arrived here in the morning, the weather was still gloomy, but by the afternoon, it had completely cleared up.
“Mr. Edmund, you've heard about the sage-level relic, the Mermaid's Dream, right? I want to buy a relic from you that can temporarily suppress this curse. I know you definitely have something like this. If there's a way to find a method to suppress curses in Coldwater Port City, besides the Orthodox Church, it must be here with you.”
“You've come into contact with the Mermaid statues?”
Before Mr. Edmund could speak, Xia De asked in surprise.
“Yes, is that strange? Oh, I think I forgot to tell you.”
The Golden-haired girl didn't look at Xia De, but continued to look at the distant sea, her voice disappearing into the rumbling sound of the water:
“That was a few weeks ago, when the curse hadn't broken out yet. I learned about three of the Mermaid statues through a friend, so I got one, and then unfortunately contracted the curse.”
There wasn't much frustration in her tone:
“I originally thought the curse would take at least half a year to break out, and the Church had also found a way to lift the curse at that time. I didn't expect that in just a week and a half, I was already dreaming of a deep-sea palace.”
“This is already the late stage of the curse; how did it progress so quickly?”
The old man guarding the lighthouse was also very surprised:
“You've already seen it in your dream—”
“No, I just fell into the deep sea in my dream, my consciousness was pulled into the abyss, and I saw the terrifying and twisted giant stone architectural complex outside the undersea temple. I didn't see that huge Mermaid corpse in the palace.”
Even though he had heard the warehouse dispatcher describe the dream scene weeks ago, hearing the sound of the waves and hearing about the dream brought on by the curse again, Xia De still felt a little uneasy.
He looked at Princess with great concern, not expecting that the Sorceress he met by chance today had encountered such a terrible thing.
Mr. Edmund frowned and thought for a moment, then said:
“I'm lucky; there is indeed a relic here to combat curses. Although it's Document-level, it's very expensive.”
“How much?”
Princess asked, and Xia De listened from the side, thinking that if she didn't have enough money, he might be able to lend her some.
“Thirteen hundred pounds, no bargaining. You understand that the value of such a relic against curses is not comparable to an ordinary Document-level relic.”
Xia De subconsciously gasped, but Princess snorted, as if laughing:
“I thought it would be five figures. It seems the money I prepared in advance was completely overthinking it. No problem, but can I use a draft? I can't possibly carry that much cash with me.”
This lady's wealth far exceeded Xia De's imagination.
“A draft is certainly acceptable.”
Mr. Edmund, who guarded the clock tower, glanced at Xia De. Seeing that the Sorceress had no intention of making him leave, he began to explain the specifics of the relic:
“Document-level relic, Saint Roland's Ring. The origin of the relic is clear: the ring of Great Witch Roland, a divine favored one of the Old God, the Luminous Demon Wolf, from the fifth epoch. In the fifth epoch, this was already a very famous and powerful alchemical product. After transforming into a relic, it can even grant the wearer extremely strong curse resistance. It is useful against any curse; even if it cannot make the wearer completely immune to curses, it can slow down the effects of the curse.”
“Is it stolen goods?”
Princess inquired.
“No, the ring came into my possession a year ago. Its original owner went to the New World for an adventure and then unfortunately met with an accident. His companion brought the ring back to Coldwater Port and sold it because he urgently needed gold.”
Mr. Edmund said, and the Golden-haired girl nodded after considering it:
“Okay, but I want to inspect the goods. Also, do you have any other information about the Mermaid's Dream? The ring can't completely eliminate the curse, and I can't rely on the Church to find a solution quickly.”
“Do you know about the deep-sea mermen summoned by the ritual who shot and killed people?”
The old man asked, and Xia De, standing beside him, looked up at the seagulls overhead, not wanting to participate in such a conversation.
It seemed that everyone in the City knew about the “merman shooting people” incident.
“Of course I know.”
Princess smiled:
“That was last week. I also know that the Church is investigating along that line of thought, but it seems to have hit a dead end, as if the deep-sea merman summoned by the ritual has turned into a person and disappeared.”
Xia De put his hands in his pockets and kicked the stone under his feet off the sea cliff, looking very bored.
“Do you know 'Sea Return'? It's said to be a ritual related to those statues.”
The old man said again, then preempted Princess, saying:
“Even if you've heard this news, you've certainly only heard it and don't understand its full meaning. Only folklorists who have lived in Coldwater Port for many years and know the ancient local customs, like me, can interpret the meaning of that nursery rhyme.”
The old man, who called himself a folklorist, smiled and rubbed his fingers at Princess, who said indifferently:
“Let's settle the bill together later. What news do you have? Just tell me all at once.”
“Okay, nursery rhymes usually have their own origins, and the origin of 'Sea Return' is actually a sacrificial ritual to a certain Evil God by local fishing villages in Coldwater Port during the early part of this epoch. Let me analyze it for you; the main body of the nursery rhyme consists of four lines.”
He held out four fingers:
“The Mermaid's song drifts over the harbor. The appearance of Mermaid rumors locally represents the Evil God totem;
Even the bleeding pirate ship lowers its sails. The Evil God's dependents appear in the form of pirates to participate in the ritual;
The red ocean ripples. After the above two steps are completed, a signal symbolized by the ocean turning red will appear;
That beautiful girl walks into the deep sea. Sacrificing a young girl.”
After speaking, he smiled and shook his head:
“Folklore is just that interesting. As long as you know how to interpret it, in just four short lines, you can see many different things. The Orthodox Church should also have scholars who can reach the same conclusion as me based on local customs and legends, but they certainly won't be faster than me.”
The old man was very proud of his knowledge.
“This ritual sounds like it's summoning something—”
Xia De, who had heard the entire conversation, suddenly spoke, and Princess also nodded hesitantly:
“Mr. Watson is right. If the Mermaid statues were deliberately placed in the dock warehouse to be scattered, then behind this matter, is there a cult group trying to summon something?”
“I don't know about that. Mermaids have indeed appeared in Coldwater Port now. If unusual pirates appear within a few weeks, we'll know the answer.”
Mr. Edmund said, and Xia De, who had experienced the Evil God's descent event just over a week ago, nervously asked:
“Excuse me, which deity is this folk song related to?”
“The small fishing village of Coldwater Port disappeared over a thousand years ago, and the only available information points to three deities: the God of Drowned in the Deep Sea, who dominates the dead in the sea; the lord of the scarlet spiral, the patron of the terrifying merman race in legends; and the god of storms, raging storm, recorded in some secret cult texts as having been defeated by the Orthodox God, father peace.”
The old man replied, then paused and added:
“All three of these are Evil Gods.”
Xia De was somewhat familiar with the first one, while the other two he had only read about in books. The merman race mentioned among them belonged to a humanoid intelligent race. However, unlike the beautiful singing girl image in stories, the Mermaids in this world were brutal creatures who enjoyed eating human flesh and were skilled in various evil spells and rituals.
Facing the sea at this moment, and hearing the names of three Evil Gods consecutively, even Xia De felt an inexplicable chill run down his spine.
Current evidence is not enough to prove what will happen next. But more and more clues indicate that the appearance of those Mermaid statues in Coldwater Port City was definitely not a coincidence.