Capítulo 1847: Chapter 1846: Red Butterfly’s Help

Shard hurriedly arrived in the night and knocked on the door below Dorothy Apartments. The landlady who opened the door naturally recognized the famous detective from Tobesk standing in front of her. Though she didn’t think highly of the rumored romantic escapades of the detective, she informed Shard about Miss Writer’s whereabouts:

“Luisa returned from the publisher this afternoon and has been in her room ever since. She didn’t even go out for dinner; she’s probably trying to lose weight again. That’s not a healthy habit—young girls these days… Mr. Hamilton, would you like to go upstairs and see her? However, you can only stay until half-past nine.”

This apartment is only rented out to women, and the rule is that men cannot stay overnight. Shard was already aware of this, so he thanked the landlady, who seemed strict but actually took good care of Dorothy.

As expected, when Shard arrived at Dorothy’s apartment on the third floor, he closed his eyes and knew there was no heartbeat in the room, but he still used the Illusion Technique to mimic Dorothy’s voice, inviting himself in.

“Is it Shard? Please come in.”

Then came the sound of the door opening, faked by Illusion Technique. Shard didn’t possess the key to Dorothy’s apartment, but the “Key of the Door” used less Spirit to handle such locks than its recovery speed.

“Good evening, Dorothy.”

He spoke to the empty room and then entered. Shard had visited this apartment more than once. After closing the door, he quickly checked the interior and then saw the manuscript being written on the desk.

The manuscript was interrupted at the word “corpse,” with two letters still unwritten. The arrangement of Dorothy’s favorite chair behind the desk also suggested it was in use:

“Did she vanish on the spot?”

If only Lecia was missing, the Princess should have informed Dorothy through her cross-space communication skills. So Shard had guessed before coming that Dorothy might also be absent.

He took a deep breath and used the Illusion Technique to create an illusion of Dorothy, which accompanied him downstairs. He then explained to the landlady that she was going on a trip for material gathering for a few days.

Since Dorothy had done similar things before, and although Shard’s reputation in private life wasn’t good, the title “Tobesk’s famous detective” only caused discussions about his personal life. So the landlady, as an ordinary person, didn’t doubt and merely reminded Miss Writer to stay safe.

Having thus provided a reasonable explanation for Dorothy’s disappearance, Shard threw the Crystal Shoes and returned home.

“Meow~”

“Mia, I don’t have time to play with you right now; there’s an urgent matter… I don’t know what time I’ll be home tonight, so you’re coming with me.”

Shard said to the curious cat coming out of the bathroom and then quickly scooped it up and headed to the basement. Entering the Hidden Space behind the wall, he took the “Butterfly Summoning Flute” from the rack by the wall.

This was a gift left for Shard by the Thousand-Eye Illusion Butterfly, the Deity of butterflies, from the Fifth Era after the adventure in the Worm Cave. It’s a genuine Divine Creation. The flute itself can summon butterflies through playing and can enhance the power of Arcane Technique and Sorcery related to butterflies. Yet, Shard had always left it with Helen and Grace, aiding them in combating the Whisper Power of the resurrecting relics.

When the Red Butterfly Maidens were preparing to leave Milestone with Granny Cassandra, they returned the flute to Shard for him to conveniently summon them by playing. Shard hadn’t expected it would actually come into use.

With a faint suspicion in mind, he didn’t play the flute at home but rather touched the statue and traveled to Green Lake. Only upon arriving at Green Lake Hotel with the cat, just after emerging from the hidden wall, did he sense something amiss.

“Undead… Space… What’s happening locally?”

He didn’t take the newly opened door in the basement but instead went through the kitchen’s side door and came into the alley behind the hotel. The night was intimidatingly gloomy, and in Shard’s eyes, countless Phantom Souls were swirling in the clouds in the night sky, an astonishing number.

The place wasn’t Midshire Fort, and these souls were extremely ethereal, like projections, and wouldn’t currently affect the city and its residents, but it was still very peculiar:

“What’s going on here?”

Nonetheless, Shard temporarily had no time to deal with this matter, knowing the local church would naturally handle it. He greeted the boy John, who had “returned home,” advising him not to “go out” casually tonight. After that, he went around to the front of the hotel, first inquired with Mr. Soren Green, learned Priest Augustus hadn’t checked in yet, then returned to the third-floor room and played the Silver Flute he held in his hand.

The sound of the flute resonated, and hundreds of Red Butterfly phantoms appeared around Shard, gradually becoming solidified, astonishing the cat on the sofa. But before it extended its paw to pounce on the butterflies, the phantoms congregated in front of Shard, forming the figures of two fifteen or sixteen-year-old maidens.

The red butterflies scattered, and the twins emerged, clutching their skirt hems—the white-skirt black-haired girl and the black-skirt black-haired girl, both appeared before Shard:

“Good evening, sir.”

“Good evening, sir… I sensed a presence of death outside the window, but it wasn’t very strong.”

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They curtseyed with a lift of the skirts and then looked up with smiles at Shard. The youthful girls appeared healthy, their smiles sweet. Shard wanted to smile back at them, but he simply couldn’t muster one:

“Good evening, Grace. Good evening, Helen. We are in Green Lake City, at the Green Lake Hotel. I need help.”

“Please go ahead.”

Overlapping voices spoke, as they noticed Shard’s anxious expression.

“Do you remember the Red Butterfly Pendants you gave me? The two pendants that allow Lecia and Dorothy to meet without actually meeting. Can you locate the current positions of those pendants?”

If they can’t do it, Shard has no choice but to find Luviya. He still has a Special Coin, the Home Coin, which can surely reveal the result through divination.

Grace in the white dress replied:

“Unable to perform a global location search; we didn’t leave any tracking capabilities on the gift we gave you.”

“But if they are in the same city or within a close proximity, sir, we can search for those resonant forces.”

Black-skirted Helen added.

“Alright, help me find the positions of the two pendants now.”

They held each other’s hands and closed their eyes. After a brief moment, they opened their sky-blue eyes:

“Sir… The spatial environment in this area is too chaotic, severely affecting our perception.”

“No problem, try once more. You can channel my power like in Randall Valley. Come, let’s try again.”

Shard placed his hand on their shoulders, and the three of them performed spellcasting together.

“Enhanced Spatial Awareness” maximally aided Grace and Helen, removing the chaotic spatial effects. As the cityscape expanded from the trio towards a larger surrounding area, Shard first noticed the presence of a similar force advancing towards the hotel, just a street away.

The perception continued to expand outward; on a ship on the Duin River, the similar force appeared again. However, that’s not the Red Butterfly Pendant, Crimson Butterfly, which is a Sage-Level Relic, but rather the pendant Luviya gifted to Megan and Audrey this morning.

The proof lies in how the resonant force became obscured as soon as it was sensed, indicating that the Grand Witch detected someone trying to spy on her.

Despite Shard’s maximum spellcasting efforts, the final perception range covered only a small portion outside Green Lake City, not even reaching southward to the Green Lake Shore. But it’s sufficient; the red dot moving toward the Green Lake Hotel clearly signifies one of the ladies Shard is searching for.

Ending the perception, Shard took Mia and headed downstairs with Grace and Helen. Mr. Soren Green, the shopkeeper on the first floor, was quite surprised since Shard went upstairs alone and returned not only with a cat but two teenage girls. This was obviously against the hotel rules displayed behind the counter.

However, thinking of the various ladies around Shard and his relationship with his aunt, Mr. Green merely greeted him with a smile.

Having spent a considerable time in perception with the Red Butterfly Maidens, by the time they reached the first floor and the hotel door was pushed open from outside, Shard immediately assumed it was Dorothy or Lecia arriving.

But then he saw Dr. Schneider entering. The blue-eyed middle-aged psychiatrist noticed Shard descending the stairs, curious about the twins with him but more discontentedly remarked:

“Detective, look at your expression now; seeing me appear makes you so disappointed, doesn’t it?”

“No, I was…”

“Not joking with you. Today, I went shopping at Granny Natalie, recommended by you. That nice old lady then introduced me to buy rare items at the shops outside the city. You would never guess who I met on my way back.”

He stepped aside at the door, letting the somewhat uneasy golden-haired girl enter. Dorothy instantly spotted Shard and naturally noticed his anxiety and anticipation on his face.

“Oh!”

There were other guests dining on the first floor; Shard suppressed the urge to call her name, walked up with open arms to embrace her, and Dorothy hugged him tightly back.

The doctor shook his head beside them, unclear of his intended expression. Mr. Soren Green, behind the counter, watched the scene, tapping his fingers on the table as he recalled how many it had been. Black-skirted Helen poked her sister’s arm, secretly gesturing towards the doctor. Grace nodded cautiously, whispering in agreement to her sister.