When the plot-skips players into the game world

Chapter 383: Chapter 291 Missing Clues Chapter 383: Chapter 291 Missing Clues ——Ritual Array.

Sherlock’s heart tightened.

He had anticipated this from the beginning—when he looked down at Eagle Cape Village from above and saw that neat circle, he started to suspect.

But only now had he confirmed it.

The entire Eagle Cape Village was a large-scale ritual of unclear purpose.

But that raised a question.

——What was the ritual for?

If it were anywhere else, it would obviously be related to the anomalies here.

But the problem was that the “anomalies” in this damned village were just too numerous.

The Wild Hunt King, abnormal timelines, unnatural life spans, outsiders appearing from the swamp, Fairy Hole…

Sherlock rubbed his temples.

An endless array of possibilities continuously pieced together in his mind, burning his brain with slight pain.

He turned and asked, “Uncle Magnet Hammer, you said yesterday that Hayna’s biological father suddenly left because he was ‘cursed by something.’ What did you mean by that?

And since he never came back to Eagle Cape Village after leaving for so long, is he already dead out there?”

Such a direct and almost unreasonable inquiry might have caused the other person to take offense if the real Sherlock had asked it.

But now it was just right—I’m just a kid, after all.

It’s normal not to understand.

It’s more reasonable to speak bluntly, and you can’t hold it against me, can you?

The Dwarf Magnet Hammer’s expression was somewhat subtle.

But after a short silence and a glance at Hayna’s mother’s back, he finally looked at Hayna and answered in a lowered voice, “Actually… I think he might have run away.”

“Run away?”

Sherlock also lowered his voice, showing a childlike look of astonishment, “Why?

Was it because of those undead?”

Hayna, standing nearby, perked up as well.

It wasn’t that she was disgusted by Sherlock’s squeezed voice… but rather, she was genuinely interested in this answer.

She had asked her mother many times as a child, but she had always been fobbed off.

Back then, she was somewhat afraid of this somewhat crude father who looked nothing like her, so her relationship with Magnet Hammer wasn’t too good.

But now she was beginning to realize…

It seemed that her own mother was the one with issues.

This Dwarf father, who had no blood relation to her and started taking care of her only when she was a few years old, was probably more normal.

“Not the undead—although I was scared enough when I first arrived, these undead generally don’t harm people.

So I gradually adapted.”

Magnet Hammer’s voice dropped lower as he moved his head closer to Sherlock’s, their foreheads touching, “There’s a rumor that… he saw something he shouldn’t have, and that’s why he went mad.”

“Something he shouldn’t have seen…”

Hayna muttered, “Could it be that Grandpa Jacob was conducting some evil research?”

“Ah, that’s not it…”

Magnet Hammer waved his hands repeatedly: “Your Grandpa Jacob sits at home writing books all day, what kind of research could he do…

“Actually, it’s because he seemed to have seen another version of himself.

In the days before he left, he was clearly restless.

His master had asked about it, and it seemed like he had seen another person who was exactly like himself.

A few days later, he disappeared… I had just arrived at that time, and this rumor was popular in the village, so I have a strong memory of it.”

“And after that?”

Sherlock tried to look afraid, “After he left… did that ‘other self’ still exist?”

“No more.

That’s why it’s said to be a rumor.”

Magnet Hammer resumed his normal tone and laughed heartily, “Think about it, if there really was ‘another self,’ then he wouldn’t have disappeared at all—he would have been replaced by ‘the other one’ when he went missing, and nobody would have noticed his disappearance.

“At that time, Old William also investigated the matter and had his colleagues help with the investigation.

But in the end, they couldn’t find any trace, not even a record at Flute Town of him taking a train to leave.

“Later, about two years after… Hayna hadn’t gone to Flute Town for school yet, her mother received a letter.

It was from her no-good father, saying he had lived on Glass Island for a long time and couldn’t contact the family.

He had just finished a big job and could take a vacation.

He said he would come back when he found the time.

“But in the end, he never returned.

He didn’t leave his address, so we couldn’t send a letter back.

“Hayna’s mother can read, and she confirmed that it was his handwriting.

The village Priest also confirmed it, without any doubt in the handwriting.

So he’s probably not dead.

At least he wasn’t dead over a decade ago… But since he hasn’t sent any letters back for so long, he either forgot or he’s dead.”

“That makes sense…”

Sherlock smiled awkwardly.

But as he and Hayna silently met each other’s eyes, their hearts sank.

——Something’s not right.

The problem here was that Hayna’s father had disappeared suddenly.

The villagers and dwarves might not know, but Sherlock understood—disappearing wasn’t easy if you really wanted to.

Unless he could change his appearance, it was easy to leave various traces.

Inspectors were very skilled at tracing such signs… Hayna knew this too.

If a person were to live somewhere else, he would at least need money.

And if he wanted to make money, he would have to engage in work he was familiar with.

No one mentioned him running away with money, which meant he didn’t take much with him.

And at that time, he was just an apprentice blacksmith, unlike Magnet Hammer who was a true master blacksmith.

He couldn’t have made much money.

In such a case, it was almost impossible for him to leave of his own volition without leaving any traces.

There were only two possibilities.

Either he was abducted or killed by someone.

Someone helped him cover his tracks, meaning he had an accomplice.

Or he had disappeared abruptly—such as being teleported away or falling into a swamp.

But he was still able to send a letter years later, and the handwriting was confirmed to be his own.

As for whether the letter was written years earlier, Sherlock believed the Magnet Hammer would not be so foolish.

Then, assuming her father was still alive after disappearing for several years and did not want the villagers to know his whereabouts, there could be another possibility…

—the “father” who disappeared suddenly, was actually a clone.

Because he was made by a ritual or a spell, he vanished without a trace or any clues.

The real body, in fact, had already gone to Glass Island with the aid of others.

If “cloning a person” was the effect of a ritual, then the one who helped him must have been a powerful ritualist.

Did Eagle Cape Village have such a ritualist?

Indeed, it did.

That was Aiwass’s grandfather, Jacob Alexander.

Although Sherlock didn’t know his exact Energy Level, since two individuals of Fifth Power Level from Noble Red had not been able to kill him outright, Jacob must have been at least Fourth Power Level, if not Fifth.

He had specifically gone to Glass Island; could it be to assist Jacob in setting up a ritual remotely?

After all, Jacob was being hunted by Noble Red at the time, and he was inconvenienced to go to places crowded with people.

And several years later, he completed that ritual.

…Wait a minute.

Wait?

Sherlock suddenly felt a jolt in his heart.

—Several years later?

He thought of something and reviewed the timeline from the beginning—

When Sherlock was investigating Aiwass, he found that his grandfather had died from a “sudden cold” when Aiwass was about four years old.

Hayna was four years older than Aiwass, which roughly corresponds to the time when Hayna was eight years old.

This could roughly match the time when Hayna learned to read from Jacob.

—And Little Jack was eight years younger than Hayna.

This means that the year before Little Jack was born, his biological father disappeared; after half a year, the Magnet Hammer came to Eagle Cape Village; and within a year, Jacob died.

After his death, his belongings were stolen by people from Noble Red through some means, yet they failed to find the very item they most desired.

Immediately thereafter, someone sent a threatening letter that made no sense.

They killed Giulio’s niece, Lisa, and mentioned in the letter that Aiwass’s father, Giulio Alexander, “did not do as they said,” threatening to kill Aiwass.

The biological parents of Aiwass were killed, leaving him an orphan.

But after he was cast into the orphanage, he was not pursued further.

Then Hayna’s father sent a letter back…

saying he had been living on Glass Island for a long time.

Then he truly disappeared, until Hayna graduated from university and appeared in the newspapers without coming to find her.

During the time Hayna’s father went to Glass Island and sent letters back, had anything special happened on Glass Island that only a ritualist could accomplish?

—It did exist.

It was the day Sherlock told Aiwass that Eagle Cape Village was Hayna’s hometown.

That day, Sherlock inadvertently heard Bishop Mathers explaining to Aiwass why he was not there that day…

The answer was that the night before, the Red-Handled Sword’s curse had unexpectedly leaked.

At that time, Sherlock hadn’t fully woken up yet, so he missed the opportunity to object.

Once he was fully awake, the topic had already shifted, and it didn’t seem appropriate to go back to it—yet he always remembered that incident.

Because he instantly sensed something was wrong.

The seal on the Red-Handled Sword had been placed by Merlin.

Although Sherlock found him annoying, he knew Merlin’s techniques were very good; how could the sword’s seal leakage happen so easily?

Ignoring the fact that it was inadvertently unsealed, it had to be a top-tier ritualist to induce it.

The only time it leaked over many years was precisely that day.

Sherlock did not believe in coincidences.

It was highly possible that the ritual Hayna’s father was assisting with from Glass Island, the one that led to the leaking of the Red-Handled Sword’s seal, was Jacob’s doing!

—Up to this point, the timeline, capabilities, and suspects all seemed to align.

But things became even stranger after that.

The question that puzzled Sherlock was…

Why did Aiwass’s grandfather, on his deathbed, plot to kill Aiwass’s parents?

Sherlock recalled that the person who killed Aiwass’s parents was a Cursing Sorcerer who controlled the Hook Demon, from the desert.@@novelbin@@

That shouldn’t have been Jacob’s man.

But the one who made it impossible to find Bishop Mathers on Glass Island was Hayna’s father, because he made sure the bishop was not there that day.

Or perhaps, Jacob didn’t intend to kill Aiwass’s parents; his plan just encountered some problems?

Could it be that the Cursing Sorcerer was also Jacob’s man?

That’s why Aiwass wasn’t pursued any further afterward.

But what was all this for…

“Strange…”

Sherlock tugged at his hair forcefully.

No matter what, he couldn’t make it all make sense.

His instincts sharply told him that he was missing a very crucial clue in the last part of his deduction.

He was just one step away from linking everything together, but he was missing that pivotal sentence.

“Damn it!”

Without thinking, Sherlock punched Hayna beside him and decided to go to Aiwass first to share the information.