This man, only a few years older than Sigurd, probably around 23, stood 1.9 meters tall with a normal build. He had wheat-colored blond hair and wore a brown vest over a short-sleeved red shirt.
His brown trousers resembled leather, and he sported a pair of boots. A pink hat with "I Love Mama" written on it was placed on his head, giving him a completely unique look. Apart from a cowhide bag on his back, he seemed harmless to both humans and animals.
Ed and Sigurd pointed their long knives at the young man with yellow hair, staring dumbfoundedly at the cap on his head for a few seconds before regaining their senses and slowly retreating.
Seeing their actions, the young man first touched the hat on his head in confusion, then shrugged his shoulders. He simply raised his hands, opening them to show he had no ill intentions.
"Don't be so vigilant, guys. I mean no harm. Besides, I was the first one to come in. I just didn't want others to know, so I hid myself. I didn't expect you to be so cautious and to discover me so quickly."
The young man smiled and spoke in a light tone, showing no signs of nervousness despite two people pointing knives at him.
"Your hat is really nice; it suits you quite a lot..." Ed's attention was still fixed on the young man's hat. After hearing his words, Ed blurted out what was on his mind. Seeing him deliver the wrong script, Sigurd immediately coughed to bring him back to his senses.
Ahem!
"Sorry, I mean, what are you doing here? Why are you hiding if you mean no harm?" Ed quickly set aside his embarrassment and, still pointing his knife at the young man, asked seriously.
After all, if the man was merely curious, there shouldn't have been any need to hide. Moreover, being able to hang his entire body under the balcony for more than five minutes and then easily pull himself up without any sign of fatigue was clearly not something a normal person could do—especially while remaining calm with knives pointed at him.
The young man adjusted his pink hat and spoke with a light smile.
"I just overheard some of your conversation. You guys are here to find some valuable stuff, right?"
Hearing this, Ed and Sigurd frowned deeply and took a few steps back again. This meant the man in front of them had known from the beginning that they were here to find treasure.
Of course, it couldn't strictly be called a treasure. It could also be called Touré's relic.
Thinking that their cover had already been blown, Ed saw no reason to hide anything further, so he asked directly, "Do you have any information? If you truly have no ill intentions and know some clues, maybe we can work together."
Hearing Ed's words, the young man simply smiled and then bowed slightly.
"Nice to meet you. I am Jason Files, a well-known, experienced treasure hunter, though you might not have heard of me, as I've just arrived here. May I have the honor of knowing your names?"
Sigurd answered directly, as if he had been waiting for the question. "Sigurd Berg of Golden Wheat Island."
Hearing this, Ed resisted the urge to turn around and slap Sigurd on the back of the head while yelling, What were you thinking?
He could understand giving his name, after all, thinking of a fake alias for a stranger with unknown motives was likely beyond Sigurd's mental capacity, but why did he have to reveal where he was from? Did he want to invite the man home for dinner?
"Sigh. Edward. Edward Darkmore."
Jason nodded as if he had suddenly realized something. He spoke with a look of understanding on his face. "So, you're from Home Island. Then you don't need to be so vigilant. After all, I'm just a treasure hunter, not some vicious, bottom-feeding pirate with no fear of death."
Sigurd sheathed his weapon and patted Ed with a smile.
"Put your weapon away. There's no need for this now."
It seems Home Island still has secrets I don't know about. I'll ask Sigurd about it later. This bastard never tells me everything at once. Who knows how much other important information he's hidden from me? Thinking this, Ed also put away his weapon. For now, he decided to trust Sigurd's judgment; after all, his friend had seen more "rainy days" at sea and naturally knew what he was doing.
"Since you want to exchange information, how about we work together to find this little treasure? Of course, we'll divide what we find equally among the three of us, based on our contributions."
Without waiting for Ed and Sigurd to answer, Jason continued, "To show my sincerity, how about I tell you what I know first?"
Ed thought for a moment and then nodded. After all, he didn't have many other choices at this point. "No problem, carry on."
"I believe there is some information everyone on the island knows, so I don't need to repeat it. Before his death, Alando Touré created his greatest masterpiece at his residence. During that long period, he didn't go out, not even to receive guests. Until one day, he suddenly went out to complete a mission for the navy and helped with researching something. Since he was willing to come out, it means his work must have been successful. But no one knew about it, and no one found anything at his residence."
Ed narrowed his eyes slightly at this information. It seemed there was definitely more information leaked about this treasure than he had expected.
"Okay, it's your turn."
Hearing this, Sigurd turned and looked at Ed. What he knew was no different from what the people on the island knew, and Ed should know more; after all, it was Ed who had dragged him out of bed to find this treasure. Although he didn't want to admit it, his non-blood-related brother had a sharper mind than his own when it came to these kinds of things.
Feeling Sigurd's gaze, Ed looked at him and saw him gesturing with his eyes as if urging him to stop being mysterious and quickly spill the beans.
Don't look at me like that; I know the same things you do! Otherwise, wouldn't we have already dug out the treasure?! Ed shouted in his heart, and his decision to label Sigurd a "pig teammate" became even more solid. But he remained calm on the surface and asked this "Jason" guy,
"How long have you been searching this manor?"
After a slight pause, Jason answered with a disappointed look on his face. "It's been a few days, but I haven't gained anything. Now I'm even starting to doubt whether there really is any treasure in this manor at all. You know..."
"Do you have a structural diagram of the manor?" Ed interrupted Jason, who was telling his sad story of struggle from the past few days, and asked with a serious look on his face.
Seeing Jason's unkind expression at being interrupted mid-sentence, Ed immediately added, "I might know where he hid something, but I'm not familiar with this manor. If I follow your method, a lot of time is going to be wasted."
Hearing this, Jason frowned and pursed his lips. After thinking carefully for a while, he took a deep breath and said, pulling a roll of paper from the backpack on his back and handing it to Ed, "Well, I got one from the Governor's Office."
Ed took it and immediately spread it out, trying his best to hide his excitement. The paper was two-ply: a thin sheet of tissue paper over a sheet of kraft paper.
The drawing showed the manor divided into several blocks, depicting the first floor with a courtyard and the upper two floors of another building.
Ed blinked, and a blue dot of light appeared on the paper. He reached out his hand, touched the paper, and clicked on the light spot. Sure enough, the entry changed.
[ Treasure information: Alando Touré's manor houses the works of the manor's owner from his prime. There are also various "failures" left over from when he was creating his peak work in his secret studio.]
Looking at this information and the light spots on the drawing, Ed saw that the light spot was on the first floor, in a non-existent room. The area drawn on the blueprint was a load-bearing column. Such a small area couldn't possibly be a room.
He put the drawings away and spoke with a smile while walking out of the room.
"Let's go to the first floor. This blueprint doesn't seem to match the area I just visited, and if I'm not wrong, we might be halfway done."
Hearing this, Sigurd immediately followed with joy, simultaneously turning slightly sideways to keep an eye on Jason.
Jason raised his eyebrows slightly. He wasn't blind. He could see that Ed was very young, probably just 18 years old, and from some of his actions, he didn't look like a seasoned treasure hunter at all—more like a young man on his first voyage.
The reason Jason was willing to share information so generously was that he had actually been searching for several days. He had basically given up on this place, thinking that Alando had either not succeeded or that his works had been taken by previous visitors.
He had come here today merely out of a sense of lingering reluctance, not expecting to find anything. However, this unexpected situation piqued his interest; he didn't want to give up so soon. Thinking this, he immediately followed.
Everyone went up the stairs to the first floor. Ed stopped right at the stairs and looked at the two walls next to the corner. He reached out, clenched his fist, and knocked on one while placing his ear against the wall.
Watching Ed's actions, Jason kindly reminded him while shaking his head, "That's solid. It's just the load-bearing column of the building," He had already checked this area using the same method.
Ignoring Jason's words, Ed looked at the handrail close to the wall. According to common sense, there usually isn't a handrail on the side close to the wall, but one had been installed here. He put his hand on the armrest and started knocking.
Following the knocking sounds, he listened to the resonance inside. A smug smile appeared on his face. He twisted the upper part of the armrest column up and down. Finally, he succeeded in turning the middle section. With a clicking sound, a trace of dust fell from the wall next to it.
Then... nothing happened.