Chapter 2196: Contradictory Commission

Chapter 2196: Chapter 2196: Contradictory Commission

Shard suspected that Mia understood the word "cat" said by Miss Eles, because she struggled even more fiercely.

"That black cat... So, Miss Eles, your appearance here is because..."

Before the question was finished, Shard felt the silver anchor in his pocket heating up, as the blue-eyed lady continued to walk with him towards the depths of the cemetery:

"Mr. Watson, please lead the way, the fourth task is about to begin."

Miss Eles did not specify where to go, so Shard led the way, following the position recorded on the note, to find the grave of Mr. Harry Gilot, who was killed in the Roder Card Casino.

It’s referred to as a grave, but it is actually a niche in the wall for the urn in the Underground Cemetery area. It was funded by the Church out of humanitarian concern, thus the urn is quite simple, and the nearby inscription only briefly notes the name and birth and death dates.

At least beside the urn, there are two slightly wilted white jasmine flowers, indicating that even criminals received the due respect of the deceased.

The Underground Cemetery is exceptionally cold, but neither Shard nor Miss Eles showed discomfort. Shard certainly did not expect to find the possibly existing Roder Card under the urn; even if that card was with Mr. Gilot back then, someone would have taken it already.

He originally wanted to use necromancy to inquire, but he hadn’t mastered the high-level technique of necromancy with ashes. Fortunately, the spirit of the deceased merchant was here, and when Shard and Miss Eles entered the mausoleum, Harry Gilot’s spirit was expressionlessly standing in front of the wall filled with urns, looking at the two after Mia "roared" at him once.

Shard knew Mia was able to see ghosts, so he wasn’t surprised. He just looked at the ghost, and after making eye contact, the latter realized he had encountered the legendary Transcendent.

The ghost seemingly retained a fair amount of wisdom, and after a slight consideration, understood why they came:

"You came here to search for the Holy Sword?"

"Holy Sword?"

Shard was surprised and initially thought of the Chosen One Ceremony, but this time he thought too much.

"[Holy Sword: Dragon Slayer]."

The ghost calmly said:

"Except for me, no one knows where it is. Help me with one thing, and I will tell you where I hid it before I died."

"But you see, now that I can see your spirit, I naturally have ways to make you speak the truth."

Shard said this, and did not casually agree to such a request just because Miss Eles was next to him; Shard knew what he wanted:

"You want me to help investigate the cause of your son’s death and help avenge him, right?"

The tobacco merchant’s ghost nodded:

"Yes, complete the things I didn’t finish in life. You don’t need to investigate; the casino I broke into before I died is the real culprit. Find the person who killed my son and bring him to me."

He did not doubt Shard’s ability to force him to speak:

"You didn’t destroy me immediately upon seeing me, or interrogate me right away, which means you are a good person."

"Because I’m a good person, do I have to help you?"

"No. [Holy Sword: Dragon Slayer] is buried in front of my son’s tombstone. Before making the final decision, I left it there. Dig up the iron box, and inside is that card. I have no other children, and I knew my last action was likely to lead to death, so I sold my assets to buy what he liked most for him. Now that card belongs to you, will you help me?"

Though retaining wisdom, the spirit spoke with a flat tone.

Shard smiled:

"Because I’m a good person, you directly give me the reward first and assume I will definitely take the reward and fulfill the task, is it?"

"I am just a weak spirit, and I have no other options."

The tobacco merchant replied, Shard looked at the lady beside him, Miss Eles still had a smiling expression:

"This is your matter, it has nothing to do with me, handle it yourself."

Shard didn’t tell the tobacco merchant whether he would help but returned to the surface with Miss Eles. Harry Gilot’s son was also buried in this cemetery, but as it was arranged by Mr. Gilot, it had an independent grave.

After sneaking into the cemetery chapel to find information, Shard and Miss Eles found that scenic grave under the trees at the southeast corner of the cemetery. On Friday afternoon, there weren’t many people in the cemetery, Shard didn’t even need to use Illusion Technique, he just squatted down and dug twice with a small shovel, and indeed unearthed the not-so-deeply buried iron box.

It was originally a cookie tin, and after opening the box, it indeed contained a Roder card, but only one card. The card face depicted a dragon fallen in the valley, with a longsword embedded in the dragon’s head:

[Holy Sword: Dragon Slaying Sword], Suit: Flower 13. When drawing this card, guess the suit of the next card in the deck. If guessed correctly, you can adjust the points of this card, choosing between this card and the next card. Move the next card out of the deck.

"Is it genuine?"

[Yes.]

"She" said gently, while Miss Eles beside her inquired curiously;

"Is this card very valuable?"

Shard immediately nodded, standing in front of the tombstone, gently caressing the card’s surface with his fingers:

"The older the Roder Card, the more valuable it is. The initial Roder Card was the [Genesis] series, and its value is beyond monetary description. In the early days of the Roder Card release, the series themes were not as closely related to life as they are now, choosing fairy tales, urban stories, machinery, scenery; most early Roder Cards were related to older legends. Demon Series, Holy Sword Series, Angel Series were all released during that era."

"Yes, for those who are not familiar with Roder Cards, a price of 20 Krone per card is certainly high, but if this card, which only appears in Prophet’s Society records and hasn’t been seen by anyone in hundreds of years, were to be auctioned, I think the price would be even higher. The money father spent was worth it. Even if I were alive, I would support him."

Shard then looked at the young man who spoke, or rather, the soul of the young man. Mr. Gilot stood beside his own tombstone, looking somewhat enviously at the card that Shard held. He knew very well that he was already dead and could not even touch such a physical object, so he didn’t hold much hatred or resentment because Shard took the card:

"Was it your father’s spirit that informed you of the card’s location?"

"Yes, your father is not far under our feet. Won’t you go and see him?"

Shard asked the slender young man who was only 16 when he died.

Mr. Gilot shook his head regretfully:

"I am bound here, unable to leave more than 5 feet away from my corpse... This is his reward to you, so did father send you to take revenge?"

Shard glanced again at Miss Eles, who was still standing with a smile and saying nothing. If it weren’t for both Mr. Gilot and now Mr. Little Gilot looking at her, Shard would even think that she was a phantom that only he and Mia could see:

"Yes, indeed. Although I’m quite a helpful person, I prefer to help the living rather than avenging the dead. But your father is very wise; he directly gave me this."

Shard swung the valuable divination card in his hand:

"If you take something from someone, you owe them a favor, unless I’m willing to give this up."

Of course, that was impossible. Even Shard wasn’t sure how long it would be before he encountered another Special Card from the [Holy Sword] series. As for the [Demon] series, equally ancient, he had only ever obtained the [Demon: Soul Stealer Bishop] from the demonologist Sean Asmon.

"Your father entrusted me to find the killer and bring him to him. If you hadn’t appeared, I probably would have set off by now, but now it seems you have different ideas?"

Shard asked the frail soul, the latter nodding, his voice echoing faintly despite being so close:

"Father wants to avenge me with his own hands, but please don’t let him do that. I’ve become like this..."

He looked at his own transparent hands:

"Though I don’t quite understand what a soul is, I do know that in our state, killing someone means there’s no turning back."

"Yes, especially since your father wouldn’t simply kill someone."

Shard agreed with his view, prompting Mr. Little Gilot to continue his request:

"I don’t mind you taking a card that I can no longer touch, but please don’t let my father kill."

"So your father used this card to hire me, and you’re using it to stop your father from hiring me?"

Shard asked, but it wasn’t a question requiring an answer:

"This indeed is a contradiction. I can’t fulfill both requests simultaneously. But you’re lucky, there’s something more valuable here than this card."

He turned and asked Miss Eles:

"So, my fourth task is to smoothly handle this matter?"

The blue-eyed girl smiled and replied:

"Yes, there is no specific task objective, just handle the outcome to my satisfaction."

Shard nodded in understanding and then looked up at the sky’s sun:

"It’s getting late; going into town now to search for the killer, pretending to be a detective, then... alright, I am a detective. Acting as a detective and then kidnapping someone, there’s not enough time. I originally planned for tonight..."

He then asked the spirit in front of him:

"Regarding the murderer who killed you, I assume you also have some guesses in your mind. Whether or not we bring the murderer to your father, at the very least, I doubt you’d mind if we help you take revenge."