76 Revelation (1/2)
Chapter 76: Revelation
Translator: Kris_LiuEditor: Vermillion
Leaving the paper ball on the table, Lucien took out the letter from the crate. Within his expectations, a few lines of words just emerged.
”It seems like you received our gift already. The three fingers are just a warning for you. Don’t do stupid things, or we’ll have no choice but to kill Joel and his family. We can see you, and we’re way more powerful than you think. The ball is called Scene. Crumble the ball, and you’ll see what you want.”
Lucien already sensed the magnetism of the small ball, which should be able to function like a camera. Thus, without hesitation, Lucien destroyed the ball with his hand.
Dark smoke came out from the ball, and the smoke gradually took the shape of a black and white screen, showing Lucien a short moving scene.
In the video, Joel, Alisa and Iven were sitting around a wooden table. Iven’s eyes were half closed, looking rather sleepy, while Joel and Alisa looked very worried, with their hands swathed in bandages. From the window of the log cabin, Lucien could tell it was late at night. Few dim stars were hanging in the sky, and the silver moon was shaded by the clouds.
The moving scene lasted for a minute.
On the letter, new sentences emerged, ”Mr. Evans, now you see they are still alive. We’ll send you more scenes when the weather changes. We believe that the weather, the stars and the silver moon can provide you with enough information to tell the different dates. You see, we always value our words.”
”That is a good relief to me,” wrote Lucien, ”What shall I say if John comes back?”
While Lucien was asking, he was picturing in his mind the sky that he just saw from the ball. What he was trying to do was to tell what stars they were based on the stellar map drawn by the witch in her notes. Combining the season, the arrangement and the brightness of the stars, as well as the angle that Lucien was observing the sky through the window, Lucien was confident he could find some valuable information from this one-minute moving scene. After all, Astrology was his speciality. From the several apprentice meetings that he attended before, Lucien already had a solid understanding in apprentice level Astrology, and as a college student crossing over, his knowledge in Astrology was relatively more advanced compared with the ancient system.
The letter replied, ”Just tell him honestly. We don’t care about a knight squire, and we bet he wouldn’t dare to risk his family’s lives. And you, Mr. Evans, be careful when you go to Ratacia Palace tomorrow.”
Every Tuesday and Thursday, Lucien was scheduled to go to Ratacia Palace to meet the princess and discuss music with her. If the princess had extra need, she would summon Lucien at any time, and there would also be an extra pay for him.
The words on the letter gradually disappeared one by one. Finally, the paper returned to normal blank. Folding the letter and wrapping up the three fingers, Lucien put them back into the crate.
...
On his way to the Musicians’ Association, Lucien’s mind was fully occupied with the stars.
”I made my request yesterday, then the ball and the fingers arrived today. So first of all, uncle Joel and his family should still be somewhere close to Aalto. A village, small town, or even a forest… all possible.”
Lucien’s brain was working hard. By comparing the stellar maps in his spiritual library and through lots of calculations of the coordinates of the stars, Lucien identified the few stars that he saw from the scene. Looking up the star list in the spiritual library, Lucien targeted one of the stars and found out its detailed record.
”The log cabin should be… about 20 kilometers west of Aalto. That is to say…” Lucien was looking up a simple map of Aalto and its surroundings stored in his own library, ”the cabin is deep within Melzer Black Forest!”
Drawing a circle on the map, Lucien was very excited. Although he still couldn’t accurately locate where uncle Joel and his family were, and he was also not sure about how powerful the heretics were, knowing that Joel, Alisa and Iven were not far away from him provided him with a bit comfort.
Lucien hoped that the next time he saw the scene the log cabin would still be there. Then he would be able to narrow down the range further.
Trying to calm himself down, Lucien sighed silently, ”Every step is so tough.” He knew that, currently, he was still not prepared to save Joel and his family.
...
The two ladies who were on duty today in the association’s lobby weren’t familiar to Lucien. One of them stood up and bowed slightly, ”Good morning, Mr. Evans. Your personal office has been assigned by Mr. Hank. Please go to Mr. Hank’s office when you have time.”
Lucien was about to find a quiet practicing room. Now it was a surprise for him to have his own office, which was great for his plan.
A while later, being led by Mr. Hank, Lucien entered his own office on the third floor.