The Shepherds Are Dense – Chapter 292

Chapter 293
The Missing Clue
—The Ritual Array.
Sherlock’s heart tightened.
He had had a premonition before. When he looked at Eagle Cape Village from a height and saw the orderly circle, he had already begun to suspect it. But now, he finally confirmed it.
The entire Eagle Cape Village was a large ritual of unknown purpose.
But the problem arose.
—What was this ritual for?
If it were in any other place, it would obviously be related to the abnormalities here.
But the problem was that there were simply too many “abnormalities” in this damned village.
The King of the Wild Hunt, abnormal time sequences, abnormal lifespans, outsiders appearing from the swamp, the Fey Cave…
Sherlock rubbed his temples. Countless possibilities pieced together in his mind, burning his brain until it ached.
He then asked, “Uncle Magnetic Hammer, you said yesterday that the reason Haina’s biological father suddenly left was because he ‘fell into some evil,’ what did you mean by that? And since he left Eagle Cape Village so long ago and never returned, is he dead somewhere outside?”
Such a direct and almost unreasonable inquiry, if the original Sherlock had asked, the other party might have given him a black face.
But now, it was just right—I’m a child, it’s normal not to understand. Being outspoken is reasonable, you can’t blame me, can you?
The dwarf Magnetic Hammer’s expression was also somewhat subtle.
But after a moment of silence, he glanced at Haina’s mother’s back, and finally looked at Haina before lowering his voice and quietly replied, “Actually… I think he might have run away.”
“Run away?”
Sherlock also lowered his voice, with a look of childlike astonishment, “Why? Was it because of those Und?”
Haina, standing nearby, also perked up.
It wasn’t that Sherlock’s voice, which sounded like he was pinching his throat, was disgusting… but she was also genuinely interested in this answer. She had asked her mother many times when she was a child, but her mother had always brushed it off. And at that time, she was a little afraid of this somewhat rough father who looked completely different from her, so her relationship with Magnetic Hammer wasn’t very good back then.
And now she was gradually realizing…
It seemed like her own mother was the one with the problem.
This dwarf father, who had only started taking care of her since she was a child and was not related by blood, was actually more normal.
“Not the Und—although I was quite scared when I first arrived, these Und generally don’t hurt people. So, I gradually got used to it.”
Magnetic Hammer lowered his voice, smelling of alcohol, and brought his head close to Sherlock’s face, forehead touching Sherlock’s forehead, “There’s a rumor… that he saw something he shouldn’t have seen, and then he went mad.”
“Something I shouldn’t have seen…”
Haina murmured, “Did Grandpa Jacob do some evil research?”
“Ah, no, that’s not it…”
Magnetic Hammer waved his hands repeatedly, “Your Grandpa Jacob stays home writing books all day, what research could he do…
“It’s because he seemed to have seen another him. A few days before he left, he was obviously restless. His master asked him, and said he seemed to have seen another person exactly like him. A few days later, he disappeared… When I first arrived, this rumor was popular in the village, so I still have a deep impression of it.”
“Then, then what happened?”
Sherlock tried his best to put on a scared expression, “After he left… was that ‘other self’ still around?”
“No more. That’s why it’s called a rumor.”
Magnetic Hammer returned to his normal volume and laughed heartily, “Think about it, if there really was ‘another self,’ then he shouldn’t have disappeared at all—when he disappeared, shouldn’t he have been replaced by ‘the other self’? Then no one would have realized he was missing.
“Old William investigated this matter at the time and asked his colleagues to help. But they couldn’t find any trace of him, not even any record of him taking a train from Windpipe Town.
“However… about two years later. Haina hadn’t gone to Windpipe Town to study then, and her mother received a letter. It was from her bastard father, saying that he had been living on Glass Island for a long time and had not been able to contact his family. He had finally finished a big job and could take a vacation. He would come back to visit when he had time.
“But he never came back in the end. He also didn’t leave his address, so we couldn’t send a reply letter.
“Haina’s mother can read, and she confirmed it was his handwriting. The village priest also confirmed it, the handwriting was correct. So he’s probably not dead. At least he wasn’t dead more than ten years ago… But since he hasn’t sent any letters back for so long, either he forgot, or he’s dead.”
“Yeah…”
Sherlock chuckled awkwardly.
But he exchanged a silent glance with Haina, and his heart sank.
—Not right.
The problem here is that Haina’s father disappeared suddenly.
The villagers and the dwarf might not know, but Sherlock understood—if a person wants to disappear, it’s not that easy.
Unless he can alter his appearance, it’s easy to leave various traces… Supervisors are very good at tracking various traces… Haina knew this too.
If a person lives in another place, he at least needs money. And if he wants to earn money, he must engage in work he is familiar with.
And no one mentioned that he eloped with money when he left, which means he didn’t leave much money with him. And at that time, he was just a blacksmith’s apprentice, not a master blacksmith like Magnetic Hammer. He couldn’t earn much money at all.
Under such circumstances, it was basically impossible for him to leave according to his own will without leaving any trace.
Then there were only two possibilities.
Either he was kidnapped or killed. Someone else helped him cover his tracks, meaning he had an accomplice.
Or, he disappeared suddenly—for example, he was teleported away, or fell into the swamp.
But he could send a letter a few years later, and the handwriting was confirmed to be his own. As for whether the letter was written years ago, Sherlock believed Magnetic Hammer wouldn’t be that stupid.
So, assuming her father was still alive a few years after his disappearance. And if he didn’t want the villagers to know where he was, another possibility could be deduced…
—The “father” who suddenly disappeared was actually the clone. Because he was formed by a ritual or spell, he could disappear without a sound and leave no trace.
The real body had already gone to Glass Island with the help of others.
If “cloning a person” was a ritual effect, then the person who helped him should be a powerful Ritualist.
Were there any such Ritualists in Eagle Cape Village?
There was indeed.
It was Eivass’s grandfather, Jacob Alexander.
Although Sherlock didn’t know his exact Energy Level, since two Fifth Tier Noble Reds couldn’t kill him directly, Jacob was at least Fourth Tier, or even possibly Fifth Tier.
Did he specifically go to Glass Island to help Jacob set up some rituals remotely?
After all, Jacob was being hunted by Noble Reds at the time, and it was inconvenient for him to go to crowded places.
And a few years later, he completed that ritual.
…Wait.
Wait?
Sherlock’s heart suddenly thumped.
—A few years later?
He thought of something and reviewed the timeline from the beginning—
When Sherlock investigated Eivass before, he had found out that his grandfather died of “catching a cold” when Eivass was about four years old.
Haina was four years older than Eivass, so it was around when Haina was eight years old. This roughly matched Haina’s experience of learning to read from Jacob.
—And Little Jack was eight years younger than Haina.
This means that the year before Little Jack was born, his biological father disappeared; then, half a year later, Magnetic Hammer arrived at Eagle Cape Village; then, less than a year later, Jacob died. After his death, his belongings were stolen by people from Noble Red in some way, but they didn’t find the one thing they wanted most.
Immediately after, an obscure threatening letter was sent. They killed Giulio’s niece, Lisa, and mentioned in the letter that Eivass’s father, Giulio Alexander, “did not do as they said,” threatening to kill Eivass.
Eivass’s biological parents died, and he became an orphan. But he was later sent to an orphanage and was no longer pursued.
Then Haina’s father sent a letter back… saying he had been living on Glass Island for a long time. Then he really disappeared, and didn’t come to look for her even after Haina graduated from college and appeared in the newspaper.
During the period when Haina’s father went to Glass Island and sent the letter back, did anything special happen on Glass Island that only a Ritualist could do?
—It existed.
It was the day Sherlock told Eivass that Eagle Cape Village was Haina’s hometown. That day, Sherlock accidentally overheard Bishop Mathers explaining to Eivass why he wasn’t there that day… The answer was that the curse of the Red-Hilted Sword had accidentally leaked the night before.
Sherlock was not yet awake at the time, so he didn’t have time to retort. After he woke up, the topic had already moved on, and it was not convenient for him to go back—but he had always remembered that incident.
Because he had felt something was wrong at the time.
The seal on the Red-Hilted Sword was placed by Merlin.
Although he disliked that guy, Sherlock knew Merlin’s skills were excellent. How could that thing leak so easily?
Let alone leak, even if it were induced to be unsealed, it would have to be a top Ritualist.
It had only leaked once in so many years, and it happened to be that day.
Sherlock did not believe in coincidences.
It was highly likely that Haina’s father remotely assisted Jacob in Glass Island to perform the ritual! Inducing the leakage of the Red-Hilted Sword’s seal!
—Up to this point, the time, ability, and perpetrators were basically consistent.
But then it became even stranger.
The question that puzzled Sherlock was…
Why did Eivass’s grandfather design to kill Eivass’s parents before he died?
Sherlock remembered that the person who killed Eivass’s parents was a Curse Master from the Desert who operated the Hooked Demon Jack. This should not be Jacob’s subordinate.
But the person who prevented them from finding Bishop Mathers in Glass Island back then was Haina’s father. Because he made the Bishop unavailable that day.
Or, Jacob didn’t intend to kill Eivass’s parents, but his plan had some problems?
Was that Curse Master also Jacob’s subordinate? That’s why Eivass was not pursued afterward.
But what was the point of all this…
“Strange…”
Sherlock tugged at his hair forcefully.
It made no sense no matter how he tried to explain it.
His instincts clearly told him that he was missing a crucial clue in the last part of his reasoning. He was only one step away from connecting the truth, but he was missing that vital sentence.
“Damn it!”
Sherlock subconsciously punched Haina beside him, intending to find Eivass first to share information.
Update complete!