Before opening the wooden box, Lex had imagined it might contain a pile of gold bars, some magical item, books recording mysterious knowledge, extraordinary materials, or even terrifying dried internal organs.
But after the box was opened, Lex was stunned. Inside was a compass, which was completely unexpected.
If there was anything special about it, it was probably that the compass's casing was gold, and there was a Feathered Serpent pattern on the lid. But Lex couldn't feel any spirituality from it, meaning it was unlikely to be a magical item.
Most importantly, it seemed to be broken, with the needle spinning continuously.
"I don't quite understand this. The most important burial item is actually a compass."
Lex looked at the coffin lid again: "The deceased inside was searching for something during his life. Could it be that this compass is the key? Did the deceased believe this compass could lead him to something important?"
Thinking of this, Lex put the compass away. Even if there was no ultimate gain, he could keep it as a memento.
Next, Lex restored the iron coffin, picked up his torch, and left the altar.
This cave, and these people from the South Continent, must have harbored some secret. Unfortunately, these secrets, along with their deaths, would likely be very difficult to uncover.
Just as Lex passed a stone house, suddenly, a knocking sound came from the doorway.
Knock, knock, knock—
In this quiet cave, inside a stone house containing coffins, the sudden knocking sound, this scene and atmosphere, immediately reminded Lex of horror movies he had seen in his previous life.
He immediately raised his hand, and a fiery red glow surged, condensing into a fireball.
Knock, knock, knock—
The knocking sound came again, followed by a foot extending from the tightly closed door. Then Lex saw a tuxedo, white gloves, and Osweld's headless butler.
The messenger has arrived!
Only then did Lex breathe a sigh of relief.
You almost scared me to death. By the way, you are really polite; you never appear directly. You always appear where there is a door and always knock first. Lex dispelled the flames in his palm and rubbed his cheeks. He didn't use the 'Thousand-Faced Traveler' to transform into the Duke's face.
However, looking at the messenger's headless figure, Lex felt it didn't make much difference whether he transformed or not.
The headless messenger walked forward, placed his hand on his chest, bowed slightly to Lex, and then took out a letter.
Lex had seen it before; the envelope was signed: Osweld.
"Please give my regards to Osweld for me." Lex put away the letter, not intending to read it in this gloomy cave, and politely said to the messenger.
The headless butler began to retreat, seemingly intending to leave. Lex suddenly remembered something and called out, "I want to know, can you help me send letters?"
"For example, send it to Backlund?"
The headless butler stopped, reached into his Huai, and took out a notebook and a fountain pen. He quickly wrote in the notebook and then presented it to Lex.
"There's a fee, depending on the distance. For Backlund, calculated from here, it would be at least 1 pound."
Good heavens.
You offer this kind of service? Is this a side job? But what would a messenger need pounds for?
"No problem. If I need to send a letter, can I summon you?" Lex nodded.
The messenger quickly wrote another line in the notebook and presented it to Lex again.
It read: At your service anytime.
Very service-oriented.
This time, the headless butler truly left. He walked back through the door and disappeared into the house from which the knocking had just come.
Lex walked out of the cave, looked back, and then departed.
After catching a few pheasants with traps, Lex knocked them out, tied them together, but didn't immediately take them back to the beach. He found a shady spot under a tree to sit down and took out the letter Osweld had sent via the messenger.
Tearing open the envelope, he took out a folded letter, and Lex immediately smelled the ink.
He unfolded the letter and read the words on it.
"Dear Duke, congratulations, you have a job."
"We recently discovered strange customs on some Sea Islands. You should know that whether it's the Rorsted Archipelago, the Gargas Archipelago, or other Sea Islands."
"These Sea Islands all have local beliefs, and what they believe in are nothing more than Sea gods or similar conceptual entities imagined by the local natives."
"But strangely, on some Sea Islands, some of our investigators have found that the local natives do not believe in gods of the Sea, but rather gods of other concepts."
"And in our interactions with these natives who hold non-Sea god beliefs, we found that they Admirally believe that the gods they worship left behind some kind of Treasure Trove. If only the natives on one or two Sea Islands believed this, it wouldn't be surprising. After all, on the Sea, legends related to Treasure Trove are abundant."
"But if residents of five or six Sea Islands all believe this, then it's not simple. We suspect there might truly be an ancient ruin, which was once discovered. After that, those who knew about it, for some purpose, spread the information."
"After a period of fermentation, the original information became imbued with a mystical color, gradually evolving into the current statement."
"Now, I need you to search the Sea for this information and verify our ideas. If a Treasure Trove truly exists, then as the Antiquities Protection Society, we absolutely cannot let those lovely things remain buried in dark, damp underground places, or in the unknown depths of the Sea."
"There is no specific time limit for this mission. Any information you collect, no matter what kind, can be compiled into a report and sent over by the messenger. I will provide corresponding remuneration and contribution points based on the information you provide."
"If you feel there is danger, you can request support or terminate the mission."
"Currently, Sea Islands with similar legends include Skye Island, Orkney Island, Ramsey Island, and Windmill Island. You can start your investigation from these Sea Islands."
"Hope to receive your report as soon as possible."
After reading it, Lex burned the letter along with the envelope and then went down the mountain with his prey.
Osweld's mission had no time limit. Since he would be active on the Sea anyway, he could just look for opportunities to investigate.
A day passed in the blink of an eye.
The next day, under the pretext of hunting, Lex ran up the mountain again, found a secluded corner, and summoned the 'mystical book.' He wanted to appraise the compass and the items left behind by the vengeful spirits.
"Eye that sees everything."
"God that Oversees All Things."
As the incantation was uttered, the colors of the surrounding mountain forest became exceptionally vivid. Feeling the heavy sensation in his hands, Lex looked up and saw the faintly glowing, illusory tomes appear in his hands.
He didn't rush to appraise them. First, he turned to the message board page, looking at the message requesting modern weapon data and the replies below it.
'Magic Night Wind: Can't find it, next one, goodbye!'
Ah, this...