118 – s.h.i.+pwreck, Paranormal Thing

The rainstorm arrived in such a fierce fas.h.i.+on that he Flower Town swayed in the strong wind and sand flew all over. Suddenly, for a moment, the entire world became quiet.

Then, as if pouring from a basin, bean-sized raindrops slammed into the castle's spire roof in a cacophony of pitter-patters, splas.h.i.+ng everywhere.

From the kennel came Tremblingwoods' loud barking.

In a room downstairs, Blessedcurls also cried out ‘tweet', ‘tweet'.

Outside and inside the castle were two distinct worlds.

p.r.i.c.king up his ears, Liszt could hear the servants chat in the kitchen's dining room down stairs. They had nothing else to do due to the strong rain.

Mr. Carter was going up and down the stairs, wandering around incessantly, as he inspected the castle. When Mrs. Mawson, who was inspecting whether the maids cleaned well, and Carter met, they seemed to have exchanged a few sentences, evaluating the performances of the maids and servingmen. The butler and housekeeper were very diligent.

The fifteen servants didn't always get along that well.

Thomas' att.i.tude towards the servingmen was rather bad. However, as he was Liszt's gentleman's valet, his status was very high and therefore, they didn't dare to talk back.

Not only did he often give the servingmen a hard time, meting out some sarcastic remarks from time to time, but at times, he wasn't even that respectful towards Carter.

Carter couldn't understand why Liszt would put up with the nasty character of Thomas, who continuously undermined the feelings of camaraderie between the castle's servants.

As Carter and Liszt had different statuses, their perspectives were also different.

Carter strove to achieve harmony in the castle. 

Liszt, however, didn't want that to happen. If the servants were united, then he, as the master, would be ill at ease. For instance, if a servant made a mistake and, because of their camaraderie, the other servants helped them to conceal the truth, then they could hoodwink Liszt any way they pleased.

Without Thomas, this t.u.r.d in the punch bowl, the servants would become more and more indulgent.

Only with Thomas breathing down their necks and giving them a hard time at all times,, would the servants do their work in fear and trepidation.

Those on top always placed a few trusted aids amidst their subordinate organization for this precise reason. Even the teachers in schools, they also knew that they had to foster a few of the students adept at snitching.

After choosing not to eavesdrop on the servants, Liszt's expression turned a bit solemn and his mind wandered off: “Are there actually Specters in this world?”

In his childhood, his predecessor had listened to bedtime stories with Specters in them. According to legend, after a person's death, their soul would continue to exist outside of their body. In a state of unconsciousness, the soul would wander aimlessly.

Practically no one had ever seen a Specter.

After going through all of his predecessor's memories, there seemed to be no mentions of Specter sightings on the Coral Island. Among the over one hundred knight novels he had recently read, a few of them had Specters mentioned. Most of the small-time mobs, like Specters, Vampires, Werewolves, Mine Jiangs.h.i.+ and the like were fairly unpopular, rarely appearing in novels. [1]

Previously, when reading about these mobs, he just smiled, not taking them seriously.

But now, because of the smoke mission, Specters once more came to mind.

“Mission: although it has been warm, but whenever fishermen pa.s.s by the old, worn-out s.h.i.+pwreck, they often feel a chill on their backs, like there is something watching them from inside the s.h.i.+pwreck, making them afraid to come near it. Please find the reason behind this. Reward: a broken bone.”

After retrieving the five treasure chests, Liszt didn't let anyone take the s.h.i.+pwreck apart for firewood.

Feeling like the s.h.i.+pwreck could barely be regarded as a tourist attraction, he placed it in the oyster settlement to add some historical gravitas to it. Also, when there was time, he intended to have people restore the s.h.i.+pwreck.

Unexpectedly, the s.h.i.+pwreck still concealed a secret.

“What might there be inside the s.h.i.+pwreck? Previously, patrolmen had already turned the s.h.i.+pwreck inside out while looking for anything of value. Besides some cloth, cereal remains, and the five treasure chests, there was nothing else… Or, there was something, something which could not be easily perceived?”

It was easy for him to make the connection – paranormal thing, s.h.i.+pwreck, ghost s.h.i.+p, and lastly the legendary existence known as the Specter.

RUUUUUMBLE!

A bolt of lightning, followed by a thunderous rumble, flashed outside the castle.

The howling of wind and the pitter-patter of raindrops resumed, isolating the castle from the outside world.

Liszt walked up to the window, took down a plank, and looked at the curtain of rain outside. A sense of melancholy overcame him as he felt isolated from the world. A feeling of loneliness welled up inside him and it suddenly dawned on him that it had already been half a year since he came here, since he came from a world of science and technology to this world of magic and qi.

He couldn't tell whether it was good or bad.

In his birth place, although the standard of living was higher, but he had merely been a hardworking office worker working overtime.

Here, although the standard of living was fairly poor, but he was an aristocrat with supreme authority. Moreover, there was still qi strengthening his body, making him immune to all kinds of illnesses.

“Comparatively speaking, I prefer the present life. I like having maids busy themselves in front of me…” His lips curled into a light smile, no longer feeling that tangled inside.

His thoughts quickly returned to the smoke mission.

“If there really is a Specter in the s.h.i.+pwreck, then it must be eradicate as soon as possible so as not to endanger the lives and safety of the fishermen… Is the mission reward, the broken bone, related to the Specter?”

He really wanted to go to the s.h.i.+pwreck now, to find out the reason behind this phenomenon and complete the mission.

But the rain was too strong to go outside. Therefore, he could only stay inside the castle and wait idly.

The wait, however, lasted three days.

The heavy rain flooded the entire town. Fortunately, a town-wide repair of houses had been carried out in advance. The patrolmen, who braved the rain to patrol, didn't find any collapsed houses. The worm stalks were also safe and sound, and even the most vulnerable black nightshade sprite worm's worm stalk, because of the protective measures in place, was still intact.

However, there were two deaths during the three-day-period of heavy rain.

An old serf went outside to pick some vegetables, accidentally slipped on the ground and fell, never to stand up again. A mother of three braved the rain and went to the beach to gather some cowrie, fell seriously ill upon her return, and died.

“She went to the beach to pick up some cowrie?” As he listened to Gort's report, Liszt mused: “Is it related to the s.h.i.+pwreck?”

He asked at once: “Teacher Gort, has the body of the deceased woman been examined? Was there anything wrong with it?”

“Examine the body? Sorry, Sir, I have't examined the body. I thought that it was just a serf who died of illness. This kind of thing is very common.”

Perhaps Liszt was too sensitive, however, he still decided to personally examine the body of the deceased woman: “Teacher Gort, you have to be more perceptive. Recently, there were some fishermen who had found the s.h.i.+pwreck quite strange, as if there was some paranormal thing. I suspect that the death of the woman might be related to the s.h.i.+pwreck.”

“The s.h.i.+pwreck?” Gort was doubtful.

Although he hadn't heard anything of the sort, but since it was Liszt who mentioned it, he had to take it seriously. He believed that Liszt had many informants in the Flower Town and that nothing could escape Liszt's attention.

“In that case, Sir, I'm going to do the arrangements. Do you want to go examine the body together?”

“Yes, let's go together.”

[1] – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jiangs.h.i.+