rbrt

"By the way, will you meet Phoenix during this period?"

Edward changed his mind and transformed into a spirit form:

"Home. -Read-Fengyu Literature^! No\wrong/content^"

In just a moment, he disappeared from the villa. After less than a second of blurriness in front of his eyes, he had arrived at the city of Calderon deep in the spiritual world. The abandoned and collapsed wall not far away seemed to be exactly the same as it would be two hundred years later, with no difference at all.

He quickly looked around, trying to find a small black bird: but unfortunately, he saw nothing.

Is it that it is not here, and has not been born yet?

Two hundred years is a long time for most ordinary people, but for such an ancient city, it seems like just a moment.

"There is no pre-swing when using Destination, and it is not a journey through the spirit world, but a true teleportation. I guess it will not be restricted by the 'No Teleportation', so it is the most suitable for escaping."

"No cooldown, no restrictions - no, the biggest limitation is that you can only use spirits."

After quickly summarizing the experience of using [Home], Edward keenly felt a vague force eroding his body.

He tried to steal this erosion away, but new erosion followed.

Fortunately, this kind of erosion would take quite some time to truly threaten him as a Sequence 4, which was enough time for him to get away from here.

Thinking of this, Edward floated up and quickly rose to a high place in the ancient city. Huge and pale stone pillars appeared in his sight, demonstrating the former grandeur of the city.

As he continued to rise, he once again saw the nearly dried-up river in the darkness, with countless ghosts wandering on the dry riverbed.

"...So the tributaries of the River of Everlasting Darkness were already like this two hundred years ago?"

But who and why caused this result?

Edward suddenly realized that he seemed to have overlooked a problem before: since this place is a tributary of the River of Everlasting Darkness, it means that it is connected to the main trunk of the River of Everlasting Darkness.

So does the drying up of the tributaries mean that the main trunk may also be affected - or in other words, is it because of the drying up of the main trunk that the tributaries become like this?

But, that is the source material!

After a while, Edward shook his head and said, "Forget it. The one who should be worried is the Night Goddess. I'd better take care of myself first."

He took a step forward and returned to the abandoned, collapsed wall. After thinking for a while, he took out his only wand and placed it next to the wall.

Phoenix met with an accident while trying to protect Lilith, and his life or death is unknown.

This is all Edward can do now - if they can meet again in the future, he will give it the resurrection stone ring as soon as possible.

After waiting there for more than ten minutes, Edward's figure disappeared into the spirit world.

Not long after Edward left, the calm tributary of the Ever Dark River suddenly surged with black waves. The wandering souls on both sides immediately looked over and knelt on the ground.

After a long, long time, a ball of black liquid flew out from the dark river, fell to the ground, and then rolled towards the city of Calderon, heading straight for the collapsed wall.

"squeak!"

The moment it "saw" the magic wand, the black liquid made an excited cry and shot over to wrap up the magic wand. Then the liquid quickly solidified and hardened, turning into a black bird egg.

More than ten seconds later, the black bird egg turned into liquid, seeped into the ground and disappeared.

Chapter 462: Looking for a Butler

After returning to Trier, Edward first went to several of Trier's largest newspapers as originally planned and paid to publish a missing cat notice:

"Looking for a black female cat. The owner is very anxious now. Please contact the owner as soon as possible if you have any clues.

Contact: Edward. "

Then he went to Backlund again and published the revelation in several newspapers.

If Lilith saw this notice, she would definitely understand that I was looking for her, but others would just treat it as an ordinary lost and found notice.

But placing an advertisement in a newspaper is just a matter of luck. I got the inspiration from Russell - although the chance is very small, I have to try it anyway.

However, Edward waited quietly for three days and found nothing.

Of course, he did not just sit at home and waste time these two days. After preparing himself mentally, he studied the Elvish language at home almost day and night for two days, as well as mastered several new abilities gained by being promoted to [Spirit Mage].

It was not until the third night that Edward, who had learned so much, suddenly thought of something. He walked four steps backwards to the Source Castle, and then used the "Madman on the Right" to roughly indoctrinate himself with knowledge related to the Elvish language within a few minutes.

Although most of the cost was borne by Sefirah Castle, Edward still felt like his head was about to explode.

Fortunately, this kind of pain comes quickly and goes away quickly.

When he left Sefirah Castle in a daze and returned to reality, and opened the Book of Calamities again, he was already able to read the Elvish language proficiently, and then "eat" the various extraordinary abilities of the Tyrant Path Sequence 2 in the book as he wished.

At this moment, Edward not only regained his sense of security, but also felt that he was extremely powerful. Compared with the Black Emperor and the Red Priest, whose abilities were based on concepts and rules, Storm Path's abilities were simple and crude, and on the surface they looked even more powerful.

Therefore, once the people in the Storm Path reach the level of demigod, they start to behave eccentrically and in a high-profile manner. Wherever they go, there are sparks and lightning all the way, and they dare to confront anyone head-on.

Friday morning,

Edward took the public carriage again and arrived at the market area in the south of Trier. Then he got off the carriage and went straight to the area that specialized in trading slaves and hiring stewards and servants.

Yes, slavery had not been abolished during this period, and most wealthy families kept a group of slaves who worked like cattle and horses. It was not until the "Industrial Revolution" launched by Emperor Roselle swept the world that the emerging capitalists began to advocate the abolition of slavery in order to liberate the labor force for their own profit.

Unfortunately, slavery was not truly abolished until more than a hundred years later, but many nobles were still secretly using and selling slaves.

As soon as you arrive at this area, you can see slaves on both sides, male or female, old or young, locked in cages like animals, tied to pillars, and available for selection.

The slave traders praised their slaves eloquently, saying that they were in good health, able to work and ate little. Some of the people who came to select slaves just went straight to the point of pinching the slaves' muscles and some of them opened their mouths to look at their teeth. It was really no different from selecting livestock in later generations.

This kind of thing is caused by this era. Unless someone reaches the pinnacle of power like Roselle and issues laws from top to bottom, there is no way to solve it.

Edward crossed the slave trading area and came to the employment area. The environment here was much better, but those who applied for servants (maids) were actually not much different from slaves. They all stood on the roadside waiting to be selected.

But the difference is that they have a certain degree of autonomy in their choices.

"I need a reliable housekeeper."

When a man approached him, Edward directly stated his needs. "I just moved to Trier and now live in a villa in the opera district. I need a housekeeper to help me handle all matters, big and small."

"This is easy!"

The man was full of confidence. "This is the most basic quality of a butler. Please come this way."

"certainly."

Edward followed him into a luxuriously decorated hall. People were coming in and out from time to time. He continued to express his demands, "The most important thing is that I hope to have the opportunity to get in touch with and join the upper-class aristocratic circle in Trier. You know, I have been hanging around overseas before. Now that I have finally made some money, I naturally hope to become a real aristocrat."

"This... is more troublesome."

The man frowned slightly. "Let's not talk about Trier's upper class nobles. They are all antiques that have been passed down for hundreds of years. They are very exclusive and difficult to integrate into. It is even more impossible to rely on a butler to achieve this goal."

"As far as I know, there is a ready-made example in Trier... He went from being a declining small noble to becoming the most sought-after person in Trier and even Intis."

"You mean the Son of Steam, Russell Gustav? Oh my god, he is completely different, and his rise is completely impossible to replicate."

The man suddenly thought of something and said, "By the way, sir, you just said that you just moved to the Opera District? But as far as I know, there doesn't seem to be any house for rent or sale there recently."

"Oh, really? I don't understand."

"Sir, may I ask what is the address of your rental?"

"No. 7, Rose Street."

The man paused, suddenly realizing, "Oh, it's that villa, no wonder."

His reaction surprised Edward a little. Is that house so "famous" that anyone he meets would know about it?

"Can you tell me what happened in that villa? I only heard that a murder happened there."

"That's right. The master's family of six, a housekeeper, two servants, and four slaves all died overnight." The man clicked his tongue. "If they were just murdered, that wouldn't be a scary place for everyone. But they...seem to have died in a fight with each other."

"It's just... more than ten people who were originally living in harmony suddenly started fighting each other in the night. In the end, no one was left alive. The most terrifying thing is that everyone had a terrifying and weird smile on their face before they died."

The man shuddered as he spoke, as if he was frightened at the memory.

This description obviously involves extraordinary factors - killing each other? Instigation by the Witch Path? Or being controlled by evil spirits?

Edward raised an eyebrow, "What did the church and the authorities say?"

"In the end, they just announced that it was a murder case. They didn't say the cause or the murderer, and it was left unresolved." The man shook his head. "The guy who rented the house to you was really..."

"Oh."

Edward laughed, "It's okay. I've been through a lot over the years, and I've encountered things that are even scarier than what happened in that villa. I don't have anything to be afraid of." He paused, "Besides, I've been living in that house alone for four or five days. I haven't encountered anything, and I'm living well, right?"

"sharp!"

The man gave a thumbs up and praised, then added, "But there are only a few people in the world who are as brave as you, so if you want to hire a housekeeper who is willing to work there, I'm afraid it's... a bit difficult."

"Difficult?"

Edward said, "Years of experience have taught me that there is no such thing as a difficult task in this world. It's just that the price you pay is not enough."

The man nodded and shook his head. "You are right, but most good housekeepers with experience are not too poor. They will not risk their lives for money. After all, the higher the price you offer, the more it proves that the house is more dangerous. Of course, if you can offer a shocking price that will make people risk their lives, someone will definitely come to try, but... with so much money, why don't you change your residence? Why do you have to live in a dangerous haunted house?"

"I happen to know a few nobles who live in the opera house district. Their financial situation has not been very good in recent years. They are unwilling to rent out their houses just to save face. But this kind of thing is negotiable. Although face is important, they can't just eat the wall when they can't even afford to eat."

Edward finally understood what this guy was talking about. After talking for a long time, he actually started to recommend houses to him. If he could rent the other houses he recommended, then hiring a housekeeper would be a piece of cake. In this way, he could get two payments at once.

He really is worthy of being a businessman who does business with his mouth.

However, his words reminded Edward that if he really offered an outrageous price to recruit a housekeeper for the current house, this behavior was more or less suspicious - just as he said, with so much money, why not change to a better and safer house? Why do you insist on a haunted house? Do you have any intentions for this house?

Thinking of this, Edward readily agreed: "You are right. Next, I would like to trouble you to introduce me to those nobles."

"Well, at your service, sir."

He was very happy and bowed slightly, "By the way, my name is Elland."

Edward shook his hand.

"Well, come this way, please. I will recommend a few good housekeepers to you. If you like any of them, they can help you rent a new house."

"no problem."

"Please sit here."

Elander took Edward to sit in the lounge area of ​​the hall, then snapped his fingers at the maid and said, "Give Mr. Sparrow a cup of the best Southwell coffee. I'll go get the butler's information."

Then he walked away quickly.

Soon, the maid came over with a cup of hot coffee. However, when she was still three or four meters away from Edward, a man suddenly stepped forward and snatched the coffee from the maid's hand. Then he stepped forward and placed it in front of Edward: "Please enjoy it, Mr. Sparrow."

"When talking about Southwell, what people often mention is the beer there. It has clear hops, plenty of malt, and is particularly smooth in the mouth. Even the nobles like it. But the coffee beans there are also very good, with a light caramel aroma. It tastes neither bitter nor astringent, but with a light sweet aftertaste. Only people who really understand coffee know it."

The maid whose coffee was taken away hurried forward: "Sir..."

"It's okay, go ahead and do your work. ^Lan~Lan`wen`茓! *First\post¨"

Edward picked up the coffee and took a sip. "Thank you for your scientific knowledge, Mr....

This man looked to be about thirty years old, with blond hair and blue eyes, and was extremely handsome—almost catching up with Emlyn, the most handsome man in Edward's heart!

He was wearing a well-fitting suit, but the suit was obviously old and looked a little worn, but it must have been carefully maintained and there was not a single wrinkle on it.

He immediately sat down opposite Edward and said, "Let me introduce myself. I am Dubois de Lorraine, the current successor of the Baron of Kumquat in the Kingdom of Intis."

Never heard of it.

"Oh, you may not have heard of it, but what I want to say is that I can absolutely meet all your needs for a butler. Although I was born into a noble family, I have learned management from my elders and know how to be a good butler. In addition, I am also very familiar with the aristocratic circle in Intis, and I can serve as your pathfinder to help you open up the aristocratic circle."

Edward took another sip of his coffee and put the cup down, "Go on."

"Most importantly, I am as brave as you. I am not afraid of the haunted house at 7 Rose Street, so you only need to pay me the normal price."

"But aren't you a noble? Why do you want to be a butler?"

Dubois raised a finger and said seriously, "This is not important. My only request is that you give me the latest suit when I take office!"

"As you can see, this suit of mine is my favorite, but it's too old. As your butler, it might embarrass you if I wear it."

After a pause, he coughed and said, "Ahem, if possible...it would be better to give him a suit of the latest model every once in a while."

Chapter 463 Du Bois

Another one who likes suits?

Edward immediately thought of the brother of the vampire Countess Akasha, but the man in front of him was obviously not a vampire, and Akasha's brother was a pure blooded vampire who had lived for many years.

"Why?"

"Because the suit is my battle uniform. I can live without food and drink, but I cannot live without my battle uniform!"

"No, what I'm asking is, why should I agree to your request?"

Dubois chuckled, "You're looking for a good housekeeper, and I'm looking for a job. We hit it off. How perfect is that?"

"Then you should have heard it just now. I'm asking Elander to find another house for me."

"Please believe me, those nobles really care about their reputation. Even if they want to rent or sell their house, it will take more than a month from contact to negotiation to price negotiation. During this time, will you live in a hotel or your current house?"

Edward followed up on his words and said, "I'm not used to staying in a hotel."

"That's right. So even if you really want to move to another house, you still need a housekeeper. The housekeeper that Alande is introducing to you now doesn't dare to go to No. 7 Rose Street! I dare! And..."

Before he could finish, he was suddenly pulled away. Elder laughed angrily: "Dubois, what are you doing again?"

"Oh, can't you see? Looking for a job."

"Excuse me, Mr. Sparrow is my guest."

Dubois curled his lips and said, "Mr. Sparrow, please think about it again. I'll wait for you outside."

After he left, Elander handed Edward a document and said, "Sir, here are five butlers I have selected specifically for you. They have all served great nobles before and their abilities are definitely beyond doubt."

Edward picked up the file and flipped it open, then casually asked, "What happened to Dubois just now?"

"Oh, a poor little nobleman, but he did have a few years of glory." Alande showed a strange smile on his face, "But his glory, how should I put it, was not a glorious thing."

"Tell me about it."

"Rumor has it that he slept with many ladies and daughters of Trier's noble families."

"???"

After a brief moment of astonishment, Edward believed it, recalling that the other person's appearance was not much worse than Emlyn's.

"Later, when these scandals broke out, this guy became a thorn in the eyes of all the nobles, and everyone was waiting for him to die inexplicably in some garbage dump one day. /Bi·Qi-Chinese/Wang? *Geng?New¨蕞*全￠"

"In the end, I don't know how he joined the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery and became a priest of Trier Cathedral. With this status, even if those nobles wanted to kill him, they naturally had to consider the face of the church."

Huh?

Edward paused while flipping through the documents. "You mean Dubois is a priest at Trier Cathedral? Then why did he come to apply for the position of butler?"

"Because he was kicked out of the church again."

"Why?"

"He comforted a noblewoman who went to church to confess, and comforted her to her bed."

"…"

"Fortunately, he knew his limits and didn't do that kind of thing directly in the church, otherwise... hehe."

Edward asked with interest: "Since he was kicked out of the church, why is he still alive and well?"

"I don't know about that, but he's had a miserable life in the past few years. He's sold everything that can be sold at home, and now he has to work on his own. However, if Mr. Sparrow really wants to enter Trier's aristocratic circle, he must stay away from him."

"Of course. I understand."

But the reason why I want to enter the aristocratic circle is to use it as a springboard to get closer to the Church of the God of Steam and Machinery, and then find Adros.

Edward closed the information and said, "Can I take this information back to have a look? I can't make a decision right now."

"Of course."

"Okay, I'll continue to trouble you with the house. Contact me anytime."

"I'll take you there."

As soon as the two walked out of the hall, Dubois followed them with a smile on his face.

"Mr. Sparrow, what do you think about this?"

"Still considering it."

Edward smiled and turned away.

Elander snorted, "This Mr. Sparrow is determined to join the Trier aristocratic circle. You should give up."

Dubois chuckled and said, "That's not necessarily true."

As he said this, he trotted after Edward, but he was always three or four meters behind Edward. Until they arrived at the slave trading area, he saw Mr. Sparrow suddenly slowed down and immediately stepped forward.

"How many people do you think you need to employ to live in the house at 7 Rose Street?"

"That depends on your purpose, Mr. Sparrow," Dubois said with a smile. "If you really want to join the aristocratic circle as Elander said, my suggestion is a butler, two servants, four slaves, two cooks, two gardeners, two coachmen, a handyman, and a family nurse - of course, these have nothing to do with me, because you certainly won't hire me."

"What if I were to hire you?"

"Same, except that I am the housekeeper now."

Edward smiled, "I think that by hiring you, we can cut these numbers in half."

Du Bois was puzzled: "Why?"

"Because I have a 'celebrity' like you as my butler, I won't have to socialize with the nobles of Trier anymore, and I won't have the chance to invite them back to a banquet or anything like that."

Dubois looked innocent. "Oh! But you rent that house. Even if I'm not here, no one would dare to visit you."

"That's true."

Edward took out 100 Felkins and handed them over. "First, help me find two people who can do the work. I can take my time with the rest."

"At your service, sir."

Du Bois gave a very standard gentleman's salute and turned to leave.

"Du Bois is extraordinary."

Edward flipped the coin.

Numbers on top indicate negation.

"Tsk, he was able to sleep with so many noble ladies and become a priest in the church. Even if he was kicked out, he could still live well. He must have some special skills or some special background."

"Either of them has the potential to be used. My purpose is actually much simpler than when Klein played the wealthy man Dwayne Dantes. I just want to meet Adros and ask him a few questions."

"So, there is still the possibility of taking shortcuts."

...

As soon as he returned to the villa on Rose Street, Edward walked four steps backwards and entered Sephira Castle. Then, he took the hair he had plucked from Dubois and began to divine:

"Hiring Du Bois would be a disservice to me."

The green crystal rotated counterclockwise, indicating no harm.

He then leaned back and entered a dream: "The reason why Dubois took the initiative to find me."

In the hazy dream world, Dubois was kicked out of the hotel, and his luggage and belongings were thrown all over the floor. "I'm sorry, Mr. Dubois, you already owe us a month's rent, so we have no choice but to kick you out."

Dubois was angry: "Just hurry up! If you hurry up, you will push and shove. This is my favorite uniform!"

He carefully smoothed the wrinkles on his suit and picked up the things on the floor. "Oh, no, I have to find a way to make money."

The scene was broken and Dubois arrived at No. 7 Rose Street. He was about to climb over the wall skillfully, but his movements suddenly froze: "How dare someone live here? Tsk, if I break in now to take something, wouldn't it be burglary?"

"But there are still several valuable things in the basement."

The scene was broken and changed. Dubois came to the human resources trading area in the market area. He was wandering around when he suddenly heard someone talking in front of him:

"Sir, what is the address of your rental?"

"No. 7, Rose Street."

DuBois held his chin in thought.

The scene ended here, and Edward opened his eyes, looking surprised: "Are you really here just for the money? It's just that you're not here to earn a salary, but to secretly take away the 'old stuff' in the basement."

This guy's thinking is strange: he doesn't dare to rob a house, but he has no hesitation in sneaking in.

However, if he really wanted to do this, he would be offering himself to Edward for control.

After making sure that Dubois was fine, Edward left Sefirah Castle and returned to reality.

"I hope this guy can really save me some effort."

Edward then went to the basement again and found that there were indeed a bunch of things placed in a mess inside. At a glance at the bottles and jars, he couldn't tell which ones were valuable.