119 – Keel, Chilly Magic Power
A vast group of people trod across shallow bodies of water on horseback.
Liszt, surrounded by retainer knights and his gentleman’s valet, was closely followed by Gort, Marcus, and the other officials. Compared to the poor devils he started with, he had a rather imposing ‘retinue’ escorting him now.
In fact, there was no need to have so many people escort him inside the fief.
However, Liszt did it anyway. He really liked such aristocratic conduct. Compared to the count and even his brother Levis, who traveled while under the escort of knight squads, his escort still had ways to go.
It would be best to bring Tremblingwoods and Blessedcurls along – left hand leashing a yellow hound, right hand lifting a grey falcon.
“Sir, the roads in the Flower Town are better traversable than those in the Coral City.” Isaiah admired sincerely, “Every time it rains in the Coral City, it feels like a city of feces, with feces floating on the streets. So disgusting. But in here, there are no feces, not even mud.”
The main road, a gravel road, basically wouldn’t have any mud.
The roads between settlements, dirt roads, would have mud, but not much.
Gort chuckled timely, complimenting: “Without Sir’s sagacity, the Flower Town would not be as beautiful as it is now. Before, I could not understand the benefits of mending the roads, yet little by little, they unfolded before my very eyes. I hope that in the future, every road will be built as a gravel road.”
Liszt smiled. However, there was no smugness on his face. This little bit was nothing. Later, when he produced cement, there would be more instances of amazement.
The sky hadn’t completely cleared up yet, and there was still some drizzle. Riding the pitch-black Blackdragon while draped in a spacious black cloak, this scene was quite gloomy at first glance. However, the handsome, elegant face as well as the several strands of light golden strands of hair on the forehead added some brightness to this scene.
He could probably pass off as a Ringwraith from [The Lord of the Rings].
A short while later, the group arrived at the barley settlement. The deceased woman was a serf of the barley settlement.
The body was still located at her home. Although, according to the Sapphire Gran Duchy’s burial custom, the dead were supposed to be buried right after death, yet due to these several days of heavy rain, the body could not be buried for now.
Of the three children of the deceased woman, two, who were already of age, were led by their wooden father to kneel on the ground to welcome Liszt.
Liszt had a retainer explain their reason for coming here.
With his retainer taking over to explain their purpose for coming, Liszt only had to walk up to beside the body to examine it. Marcus and Gort checked the body first, yet the both of them didn’t manage to find anything out of place. Liszt then examined the body himself.
As this was the first time for him to face a dead body, he was somewhat nervous. However, he restrained himself well, showing no emotions. When observing using the naked eye, he didn’t found anything fishy with the body, but when he released Magic Eyes, he discovered black magic power flashing inside the body.
When he took a closer look, the black magic power had vanished. Liszt chose to believe his eyes and continued to quietly observe. About one minute later, black magic power once more flickered inside the body before vanishing again.
“Sir, have you discovered anything?” Asked Marcus.
“There is something wrong with the body. I can sense signs of magic power from it. She didn’t die from catching a common illness, but from some paranormal thing.
Gort was shocked: “Is there really some paranormal thing? What would it be? If she caught it from the shipwreck, then could it be a Specter? According to legend, there are ghost ships in the sea. Is the shipwreck that we salvaged a ghost ship?”
“Whether it is the case or not, we’ll know after inspecting the ship… That’s right, how should we dispose of the body?”
“We should burn it to be on the safe side.”
Here, there was no such concept as ‘honor the dead’, nor was there such a practice like lighting incense and offering sacrifices at the graves of one’s close ones. After people died, they would just be buried, specially if they were commoners.
After dying, the body would be rolled up in a straw mat and then buried in a deep pit, effectively cutting all ties.
Some commoners weren’t even willing to dig a pit, directly disposing of their relative’s body on a hill or in a river. Therefore, when Gort proposed to burn the body, the wooden husband of the deceased woman had no complaints and instead, was even a bit excited.
Because Liszt instructed Gort to give the other party ten silver coins as compensation.
The paranormal thing brought by the shipwreck was the cause of the woman’s death. Ultimately, it was Liszt’s fault for not letting anyone dispose of the shipwreck.
But as he was the lord, there naturally would be no punishment for him. The ten silver coins served to appease his conscience.
After a while, a fire was ignited, burning the body to ashes.
After ascertaining that the remains had no traces of the black magic power, Liszt heaved a sigh of relief. It turned out that even paranormal things could be burnt to naught by fire.
After disposing of the body, the group hurried over to the oyster settlement before stopping near the shipwreck.
Liszt wanted to go even closer, yet Marcus said to stop him: “Sir, the shipwreck is dangerous, you should keep your distance from it. Let us examine it in your stead.”
Gort also said righteously: “Yes, Sir, you shouldn’t put yourself at risk. Mr. Marcus is an elite Earth Knight, he certainly will be able to cope with the shipwreck.” He stood beside Liszt as he spoke, showing no intention in approaching the shipwreck.
The shipwreck looked like it had been cleansed by the heavy rain. The seaweed attached to its surfaces was in large part washed away, exposing the mottled wood planks and rusted metal frame underneath. The ship was not big, and in fact, it was much smaller than the Flower. Besides, it was also heavily damaged, with the cargo hold being plainly visible from the outside.
Marcus led the members of the knights squad to surround the shipwreck, preparing to enter the cargo hold.
Liszt suddenly said: “Teacher Marcus, there is no need to go through so much trouble. There is something wrong with the shipwreck. In order to avoid accidents, it should be directly dismantled and its planks checked one by one.”
As there was some paranormal thing inside the shipwreck, he no longer intended to use it as a tourist attraction. Therefore, dismantling was the safest and quickest way.
Marcus naturally didn’t refuse. He immediately led people to take the shipwreck apart, dismantling the planks and the iron frame parts one by one and piling them on the beach.
During this process, Liszt periodically released Magic Eyes.
Just as two retainer knights were carrying a severed piece of the keel, Liszt saw black magic power flicker at the severed area of the keel.
Magic power generally came in colors. For instance, fire-attributed magic power mostly appeared red, water-attributed magic power mostly appeared blue. It was particularly apparent when magic power manifested as qi. But there were no absolutes. Some magic power manifested a variety of attributes mixed together and appeared in wondrous colors, some magic power manifested no attributes and also appeared in a multitude of colors.
Even Archwizards, who studied magic to a profound degree, did’t understand the essence and mysteries of magic power.
Although Liszt didn’t know what the black magic power stood for, but what he did know, was that he probably found the root of the shipwreck’s problem: “Teacher Marcus, carefully inspect the piece of the keel. I can sense traces of magic power from it.”
After Liszt's reminder, Marcus quickly picked up the keel with both hands, carefully observing and sensing it. After a moment, Marcus’ eyes lit up. He also could sense the magic power: “Sir, there really is something wrong! I can sense chilly magic power!”
Liszt’s tone was deep: “Smash the keel open! I want to see what’s hidden inside!”