Flotz, inside the lobby of the Falling Flower Hotel. Adele, who had just entered not long ago, turned her head. Through her sunglasses, she looked at the half-masked man in front of her with a slightly surprised look and asked curiously.
"You are..."
"This is not the place to talk. Please come with me, Miss. Brioude," the man said with a respectful expression, bowing to Adele. Hearing his words, Adele did not say anything more.
"Alright, lead the way."
After hearing Adele's response, the man nodded silently, then turned and walked towards the interior of the hotel. Adele also silently followed behind him.
Following the man, Adele went up the hotel stairs, ascending several floors. After reaching a certain floor, she turned and entered the floor. After turning left and right, she arrived at a neat corridor covered with a red carpet. When the man reached the end of the corridor, he took out a key, opened the door in front of him, and walked in. Adele followed closely behind, not falling a step.
After entering the room, what appeared before Adele was not a typical hotel room, but a spacious reception hall. Large windows let in ample sunlight, illuminating the room. A carpet embroidered with exquisite patterns was laid on the floor. Vases, sculptures, and other decorations were placed along the edges of the room. A large landscape painting hung on the wall. Comfortable single sofas were arranged in a circle around the center of the room.
At this time, sitting on those sofas were about a dozen different figures. There were men and women, old and young. Some were shabbily dressed and wore ordinary clothes, as if they had been randomly pulled from the street. Some were well-dressed, looking like wealthy people. Others were dressed very flashy, like they had come out of a play. These different people had various expressions, some nervous, some calm, some impatient. When the half-masked man entered the reception hall with Adele, almost everyone's eyes couldn't help but focus on them.
"You're finally back... Is it ready now?"
Looking at the man who walked in, a fat gentleman sitting upright on the sofas spoke impatiently. The masked man immediately responded respectfully.
"Yes, yes, Mr. Dupont, this Miss. Brioude is the last one. Since she is here, we can officially begin."
The masked man said so, then turned to Adele beside him and continued.
"Miss. Brioude, please find a seat now."
"Okay, thank you for leading the way."
Adele, wearing sunglasses, responded lightly, then stepped towards an empty single sofa in the room. After sitting down properly, she began to observe the surroundings silently. Seeing Adele seated, the masked man breathed a slight sigh of relief, then walked to the center of the reception hall. After scanning the people around him, he raised his voice and spoke.
"Esteemed guests with noble blood, thank you for waiting. I am very pleased that everyone could accept my invitation and gather here from thousands of miles away. I am Mr. F, who has been communicating with you through letters all this time. Since the time of my birth, I have been serving the true masters of this country."
'He is Mr. F...' Looking at the masked man standing in the center of the reception hall introducing himself, Adele couldn't help but think thoughtfully in her heart. To be honest, the aura this Mr. F was displaying at the moment was much weaker than she had expected.
"Ladies and gentlemen, regardless of your current situation or how you live, precious blood flows in your veins. This bloodline originates from the people my family has always served, the true masters of this country. A hundred years ago, this bloodline was wantonly trampled and ravaged by the mob. Those ungrateful people forgot the history of Faloro, forgot who saved their ancestors..."
With his hands spread open, Mr. F, standing in the center of the reception hall, began his speech with what seemed like excitement. The many men and women sitting around him had different reactions to his speech. Some well-dressed individuals appeared indifferent or even indignant, while more ordinary people who were not so well-dressed showed obvious impatience. Among them, a gray-clad young man who looked like a hooligan directly waved his fist and spoke loudly.
"Hey! Buddy, stop rambling there, let's get straight to the point. We're here to find the inheritance, not to listen to you brag about our ancestors!"
Interrupting Mr. F's speech, the young man spoke with a disrespectful expression. His words clearly angered an old gentleman. He stomped the cane he was holding fiercely and spoke sharply.
"Where did this rude young man come from! This is a review of the glory of Bourbons and a condemnation of those mobs, and you actually say such things and interrupt at this time!"
"Ah... hey... Old Mr., don't be so agitated. We're all here for the treasure, we just want to speed up the process. It's nothing, since we're all sitting here, we're at least relatives, let's talk properly," the hooligan youth said frankly, shrugging his shoulders, looking at the agitated old gentleman. His words made the old gentleman even more anxious.
"Relatives... Who is related to you! Who is related to a lowly boy like you, I..."
"Alright, alright, don't argue, Mr. Martin, Mr. Lyuk, now is not the time to argue..." Seeing that the situation was slightly out of control, Mr. F immediately spoke up to stop them. After a lot of effort to calm them down, he finally managed to stabilize the order of the scene again, and then continued.
"You are esteemed individuals from various places. We have gathered you here mainly to further unite the gradually dispersed legitimate power in this country. There is a noble connection between your bloodlines, please do not arbitrarily oppose each other and create barriers..."
Mr. F said soothingly. Seeing that the scene had finally completely calmed down, he finally changed the subject and got to the point, talking about the topic that most people present cared about.
"Although the legitimate power of this country still exists, it is already fragmented. And the mission of our family is to find a way to re-condense it. For decades, we have been researching the remnants of Bourbons people and things, trying to find the key point that can unite the power. And this time, the clue to the legacy treasure we found is our greatest discovery and achievement in recent years.
"The existence of this legacy treasure was discovered by our family through long-term research on Bourbons historical documents. The person who left this treasure was Xiaer King, the King of Grand Attire, a King who could make Faloro proud. Throughout his life, he achieved countless great feats, built many great projects, and had myriad legends associated with him. He is one of the most famous Kings of Faloro. This treasure is a very dazzling one among the myriad legends surrounding him."
With a slightly impassioned tone, Mr. F spoke to the crowd around him. After hearing his words, Adele's brows furrowed slightly, and then she asked.
"Among the many folk legends circulating throughout Faloro, almost half can be attributed to the King of Grand Attire. Can the rumor of this treasure be true? For a King, no matter how much wealth he possesses, when death approaches, the main consideration should be to pass the wealth on to the subsequent Kings, right? Why would the King of Grand Attire think of hiding a treasure separately to be found by someone at some unknown time?"
"Heh, Miss. Brioude asked well. It is true that many folk legends in Faloro are currently attributed to the name of the King of Grand Attire, and a large part of them are false, but the existence of this treasure is definitely not among them. The clue to this treasure comes from our family's persistent research on Bourbons documents, not from hearsay.
"Based on some other clues found in the documents, we have already found quite a few related items and sent them to you as evidence. However, the most crucial main body of the treasure is still dormant at this time. According to the clues we have deciphered from the documents, this most crucial main body of the treasure requires pure Bourbons blood to be opened, which is also an important reason why we have gathered you here.
"As for the reason why the King of Grand Attire left the treasure... Perhaps that King had already foreseen today's scene during his reign? This is the insurance he left for his descendants to rise again. This treasure that requires blood to be opened, isn't it exactly the best gift the King of Grand Attire gave to his descendants?"
'A treasure that requires pure Bourbons blood to be opened... Is there some extraordinary mechanism here that uses blood as a medium?' Using Adele's senses, Dorothy, who was monitoring and observing from outside the hotel, couldn't help but think at this moment. Just then, a hooligan youth in the reception hall, whose eyes were already shining with excitement from listening, spoke again impatiently.
"Hey! Stop keeping us in suspense, tell us where that treasure is, let's hurry up and find it and dig it out!"
"Hehe, calm down, Mr. Lyuk..." With a slight smile, Mr. F said slowly. Then, after he snapped his fingers, a door on one side of the reception hall opened, and a waiter dressed somewhat similarly to him walked out, holding a long scroll in his arms.
The waiter came to a wall in the room, hung the scroll on the wall, and unfolded it. What appeared before everyone at this moment was a huge City map, a map of Flotz.
"According to our investigation, we can confirm that the location where the treasure is buried is in Flotz, right here."
While speaking, Mr. F picked up a wooden stick he had prepared beforehand and pointed to the southern part of the map, a place far from the City. An old gentleman present paused for a moment and immediately recognized where it was, then couldn't help but speak directly.
"That's... Temple of Beauty? Are you sure there's a treasure in that kind of place?"
"Please, that's the Temple of Beauty! It was the center of power for the Bourbons Dynasty before, and the revolutionaries have searched it from top to bottom countless times. Is it still possible for there to be a treasure left by Bourbons in that kind of place?" A fat middle-aged man present, seeing the location on the map that Mr. F pointed to, couldn't help but speak frankly, while Mr. F responded calmly.
"The most dangerous place is the safest place. Please don't forget, the Temple of Beauty is one of the buildings built during the reign of Xiaer King, and it is also his masterpiece designed and supervised by himself. It is the most artistic and complex work he has handled.
"Xiaer King is not only a great King, but also a great artist, performer, architect... How could the palace he built for himself be easily completely understood by a group of mobs? Within the Temple of Beauty, there must still be many secrets that have not yet been unearthed... These secrets, under the wisdom of Xiaer King, have been able to mislead the usurping thugs for hundreds of years. Only his truly recognized bloodline can unlock them..."
Gazing at the many remnants of the Bourbons Royal Family present, Mr. F spoke slowly with enticing words. Listening to Mr. F's words, many people present couldn't help but show eager anticipation in their eyes, as if they couldn't wait to go to the Temple of Beauty to search for treasure immediately.
"Temple of Beauty... I was fortunate enough to go there once. It is indeed very large and complex. It would be very difficult for a few of us to find something aimlessly inside..." At this time, the old gentleman continued to speak, while Mr. F waved his hand in response.
"It's not aimless. We also have a hint, a hint from Xiaer King deciphered from the documents." Hearing the hint, everyone present immediately pricked up their ears and listened carefully. At this time, Mr. F continued.
"'Within this palace, I have arranged the three stages of the Seven-Petaled Lotus... Those who can find the three stages will be able to find the treasure I left behind.' This is the hint Xiaer King gave in the documents. If you don't know what to do in the Temple of Beauty, you can try to find where the so-called three stages are?"
'Three stages... It feels like another riddle... But this Mr. F's retelling of the riddle is a bit problematic, the styles before and after are inconsistent. Is he hiding something?' In the carriage outside the hotel, Dorothy couldn't help but think in her heart after hearing Mr. F's words. The riddle's title, spoken from Mr. F's mouth, made Dorothy feel a little strange.
"Even with a hint, it's still difficult to find things in the Temple of Beauty, right? It has always been used as a reception place for foreign guests and a banquet hall for Mr. Councilors, and the guards are very strict. It's difficult for people of our status to get in," the fat gentleman couldn't help but speak with a frown after hearing Mr. F's words, while Mr. F answered confidently.
"Don't worry, everyone, I have already prepared a way to enter the Temple of Beauty. Starting tomorrow, there will be a New Year's gathering aimed at receiving officials dispatched from all over the country. The entire gathering will last for about a day and a half. At that time, the Temple of Beauty will gather many people, and many officials will bring their attendants, making the scene more chaotic than usual.
"I have already prepared a set of fake identities for you here. At that time, you can use these to blend into the Temple of Beauty and begin your search, enjoying the banquet while looking for traces of the treasure. However, be careful not to expose yourselves."
Mr. F said so, and after pausing for a moment and scanning the surroundings, he spoke again.
"Everyone, let us once again venture into the great work left by the noble ones. Let us explore the possibility of Bourbons rising again there."
...
Just as Mr. F was painting various enticing pictures for the Bourbons descendants from various places in the reception hall of the Falling Flower Hotel, attracting everyone's interest, in a carriage on the side of a road outside the hotel, Dorothy was silently sitting on the seat, seriously recalling Mr. F's words from the meeting just now.
"Temple of Beauty? It seems that no matter what, I have to go there..."
"Can treasure really be found in this kind of place? Or rather, is what can be found really treasure?"