novelonline Chapter 2824 The Fifth Painting and Hoy's Treasure
Chapter 2824 The Fifth Painting and Hoy's Treasure
Chapter 2824 The Fifth Painting and Hoy's Treasure
After yesterday's heavy rain, Vista Woodland looked more bleak than usual on this Friday in late autumn and early winter. Most of the trees in the forest had lost their leaves, and the bare forest was quite different from when Shade arrived in early autumn.
It didn't rain today, but the temperature dropped dramatically. When Shade pushed open the door and walked into Miss Danister's room in the hotel, he found that not only the red-haired girl and Miss Bell had changed into thicker dresses, but there was even a heater in the room.
"The city of Vesta has started to provide centralized heating. To me, steam pipes and centralized urban heating are the best inventions of this era."
The owl flapped its wings and turned back into the witch with gray-black hair. She also changed into the early winter outfit, and the style was still dark as before:
"Did you read the newspaper on the way here? Director Kant and his family have been arrested. The newspaper said that he was considered to have committed treason and had been secretly cooperating with the Deringor Restorationists."
Xia De didn't bring Mia with him today, and he didn't read the newspaper on the way here, but after entering the city, he talked about this topic with the coachman:
"Compared to his other sins, treason is the least of his crimes."
The red-haired girl who heard some news from the academy explained:
“The Bronte family was just arrested for that reason last week. If another big family is arrested for devil worship a week later, the church is worried that this will cause panic among the citizens of Vista.
Of course, the most important thing is that the government of Vista City may be considered untrustworthy. That is why only the crime of treason was announced, but when the trial comes, other charges will be inevitable. "
As she spoke, she motioned for Shade to pay attention to Flora. Shade thought he hadn't noticed that the witch had changed her hairstyle or worn new jewelry today, but when he saw Flora walk to the easel, he realized that the fifth painting had been completed:
"Is it the Silver Wolf under the Moon?"
As he spoke, he walked over. The artist put her hands behind her back and nodded in a reserved manner, then motioned for Xia De to go and see the picture himself.
Like the previous four oil paintings, this one is still not completely realistic, but is appropriately artistically processed based on Flora's own feelings.
In the picture, a huge wolf head appears in the air, as if made of flames and smoke, giving people a sense of majesty and power. The wolf's eyes are glowing red, and it looks very oppressive as it stares forward. The background of the wolf's head is a huge full moon hanging high in the night sky, and the lingering clouds make the moon look dim.
The forest below is surrounded by flames, and the orange-red light of the fire reflects the trees in the forest fire. The tones of the oil painting are mainly the contrast of blue, orange and red, showing a fantasy scene under the flames and moonlight.
Moreover, Shad also noticed that at the bottom of the picture there was a figure wearing a cloak and holding a long staff, standing at the bottom edge, looking up at the giant wolf in the sky, looking very small but determined.
Although the addition of this character enriches the composition at the bottom of the picture, giving the scene a sense of strong power contrast and making the entire painting more beautiful with an epic conflict, it is clear that the characters in the picture, like the previous "owl", are all the witch's private goods.
"how do you feel?"
Flora asked with some anticipation, and Shade nodded slightly:
"If I didn't know it was describing my story, I would have thought it was describing a plot from a myth. It's very good, but you draw me too fiercely, Flora."
The witch smiled reservedly. She just felt that Xia De looked the most handsome when he looked fierce.
Anyway, the demon business was over, and it looked like Shad had nothing important to do before the rest of the weekend arrived.
However, Flora had to arrange accommodation for others and see how to communicate with the innkeeper, Mr. Bennet, to rent a whole floor. Miss Danister was dealing with Emilia's affairs. After the elf girl arrived, Shade planned to let her live in the inn instead of on the ship.
What she needs to face this time is a test, and an absolutely safe environment will not help her to remain vigilant.
"Then I'll go out by myself today."
After Shade finished looking at the painting, he said, Miss Danister asked curiously:
"What are you going out for?"
"It's still about the Hoy family. Didn't I meet with them yesterday to find out about the deal between the Hoy family and the devil? As a result, that family wanted me to save them and even told me where their property was.
The so-called treasure of the Hoy family is real. I want to go and see whether the devil took the money after the fire three hundred years ago, or left part of it in its original place. "
Seeing that both ladies showed worried expressions, Xia De added:
"Don't get me wrong, I'm not interested in this money. I'm not a greedy person. In the past three hundred years, everyone who coveted this 'treasure' has had a bad ending. If I can find it, I will keep a part of it for myself and donate most of it. This coming winter will not be easy for most people."
"I'm not worried that you've been cursed by the devil, but you said the treasure is outside the city?"
Flora was a little worried:
“Will you ever encounter that tree again?”
"If I was worried about this, I wouldn't have to come to Vista Forest again. Don't worry, if that tree could attack me at any time, Vista City would have ceased to exist. Its appearance must be conditional. If we don't take the initiative to contact its power, it shouldn't take the initiative to cause trouble to me."
Xia De did not save the Hoy family in the past time and space yesterday. On the one hand, he did not want to disrupt the order of time and space, and on the other hand, he thought there was no need to rescue people who worshipped the devil.
As for the location of the money, it was not sealed in the Hoy Manor or the Hoy family cemetery, but was hidden deeper in the forest. This is why no one has found it for so many years.
In their heyday, the Hoy family virtually controlled the local logging industry, and therefore knew many secret areas of the woods.
When they traveled through time yesterday, they described the location of the treasure in great detail in order to save themselves. Therefore, after starting from the city center, Shad headed west. After going deep into the woods, he opened the "Forest Trail" and turned into a silver wolf. He hoped that he had not scared the squirrel standing on the dead branch at that time.
Although Vista Woodlands is generally a flat terrain, there are also small hills. The treasure of the Hoy family is hidden in a cave on a hill in the western part of the woodlands.
Even after hearing the detailed description, it took Shad a whole morning to find the place.
After confirming the almost invisible marks on the bark outside the cave, Shad used the "echoes of the past" to confirm that no one had been here in recent days, and then entered the cave.
Although the Hoys described the location, they did not mention the traps they set here. However, those traps were of no importance to Shad. After all, he could now catch bullets with his bare hands and smash a building with one punch. Even if a steam bomb exploded in his hand, he would only be slightly injured.
The most dangerous thing in the cave is actually the trap set by the demon. Fortunately, with the demon itself being destroyed, these traps that require its own power to maintain are no longer very effective.
The black demonic fire was quickly extinguished, and the vengeful spirits that had revived after sensing the breath of the living were also sent away. After Shade used "Fossil to Mud" to dissolve the stone door, he saw the boxes piled deep in the hill cave.
Compared to the somewhat shabby boxes in the Hoy family's secret room three hundred years ago, the boxes here were almost stacked into a small mountain.
Xia De opened the boxes only after he was sure there were no treasure chest monsters. The silver light ball cast moonlight on the treasure that had been sealed for many years. Except for one box that contained the account book, the other boxes all reflected golden light. Xia De stretched his head to look and saw neatly stacked gold bricks:
"That's true. Director Kant was attracted by these things. It's not hard to understand why he was tempted."
Even foreigners who don't care much about wealth nowadays couldn't help but be amazed.
There were only one or two pieces of gold left in two of the boxes, which had obviously been used by someone. However, Xia De no longer knew what the story was.
This gold is not the "devil gold" that the demons use to fool mortals, but real gold. Even Shade could not estimate the value of these precious metals. Anyway, this amount of money would be envied even by the nobles of Willendel and Tobesk.
But this gave rise to a new problem -
"But where do they make so much money? Even if they control the logging industry in a small town, do loggers make so much money? Isn't it said that the only characteristic of the logging industry is that logging is tiring?"
If so much gold could be accumulated from logging alone, Creekwood would not have developed until the musicians arrived.
Fortunately, those account books gave Shade the answer. Most of the contents in the account books were about the Hoy family's support for the Kingdom of Derinor at that time.
Although the Derinor region was the last southern kingdom to be annexed by Carsenrick one hundred and fifty years ago, in fact the war between Carsenrick and Derinor began long ago, and in each war Carsenrick gradually occupied more territory of Derinor.
One hundred and fifty years ago, Margaret's ancestors went to war with Draerion in the north and Drinor in the east at the same time, and then captured the capital of the Kingdom of Drinor in one fell swoop under tremendous pressure. The "Battle of Misty Mountain" that laid the foundation for victory is still talked about by people today.
And three hundred years ago, the United Kingdom of Carsenrick had basically unified two-thirds of the southern region, and the conflict with the Kingdom of Derinor was also intensified.
"The devil has been stirring things up since then, but where did the money come from?"
PS: This chapter's picture is "The Fifth Oil Painting: Silver Wolf in the Fire"