The black sun hangs high

Chapter 80 The House is Full of Traces
When Hughes approached the housekeeper, there was almost no sound in the hall.

When he uttered his name, all the sounds were like ice cubes beginning to thaw, and the soft whispers were like water droplets falling from the ice, dripping onto the hotel lobby floor.

Curious, confused, disdainful...

The young nobles present displayed a variety of distinct expressions and gazes in a short span of time. They did not consider that Hugh might be a spellcaster, so they whispered and discussed among themselves.

However, for Hugh, who was already able to control his magic and had more acute senses, these deliberately suppressed words were extremely clear.

He could hear two young men to his left rear asking each other in confusion who this was, and he could also hear several young nobles to his right rear chuckling softly. They clearly recognized the name and were expressing some unpleasant opinions about it.

At a table a little further away, two guys busy playing Dragon Tooth were paying more attention to the "City of Seren" that Hugh had mentioned. They were discussing the current situation of Seren and commenting on each other's decks.

In the opposite corner, two young ladies were whispering to each other. Their tone was completely different from the others. Hugh paid a little attention and found that they were discussing something that made his scalp tingle.

For example, the plot of a work, the release date of a new work, and... one's own clothing and appearance.

"She certainly has a very unique aura!"

He heard that sentence and then promptly shifted his attention away.

Just then, the female housekeeper in charge of the hotel lobby came over and respectfully handed over an exquisite gift box, then placed a delicate key inlaid with a magic crystal on top of the gift box.

"Mr. Hugh, please forgive my rudeness."

The housekeeper's etiquette was impeccable: "I have only started serving the family in the last two years, so I have never met you before. I am very sorry... According to the manor's arrangements, Mr. Hugh, you will be staying at the manor hotel for the rest of the week."

"With other people?"

"To be precise, it's with other gentlemen and ladies of similar age to you."

Seeing that Hugh had accepted the gift box and key, the housekeeper continued to explain, "You've just returned, so you may not know... Several of the main residences in the manor have recently undergone important renovations and inspections, which is why you've had to rest here."

"What about the rest?"

"You mean..."

"People other than us young people."

Hugh smiled and said, "To be honest, I haven't seen my father and other elders for a long time, and I miss them very much."

“I don’t know about that, Mr. Hugh, but I think it shouldn’t be too long, since the winter festival is coming soon and everyone will be coming to the manor.”

Neither the housekeeper nor the bodyguards who had been by his side held a very low status in Ernst Manor. Hugh knew it was unrealistic to try to extract any useful information from them, so he nodded and headed toward the elevator with the gift box containing the unknown contents and the key marked with the room number.

Soon, as the elevator doors closed, Hugh's figure disappeared into the hotel lobby.

Thus, the conversation that had not yet ended began to ring out again. These young nobles, who all belonged to the Ernst family, were always full of curiosity and imagination about everything around them, and the appearance of Hugh Ernst undoubtedly brought them some new topics of conversation.

Although this hotel in Ernst Manor is not as luxurious as the Adlon Hotel, it is still an excellent hotel in Borden. Unlike the Adlon Hotel, it has a much less "commercial atmosphere". The decorations everywhere exude elegance and culture. According to Hugh's simple observation, the oil paintings hanging in the hotel corridor are actually masterpieces that could be auctioned.

With just a quick glance, Hughes had already spotted the signatures of several incredibly valuable painters.

"That's outrageous... This corridor alone is probably enough to buy up the shops on three streets in the Leland district."

Hugh made a simple assessment in his mind, and then, guided by a waiter, he arrived at the door with the sign for room number 309.

“Mr. Hugh, the butler has already told us about your situation… Because you have been away from the manor for a long time, we have not had time to prepare clothes for you, but please rest assured that meals, daily necessities and everything you need will be sent to you.”

The waiter explained in great detail: "Later, a tailor from the family will come to your home to take your measurements. If you have any different needs regarding clothing, please just let us know then."

"okay, I get it."

Hughes nodded, opened the door, and said, "I need paper and a magic ink pen, some magic crystals... ordinary quality is fine, not too many, and then please prepare dinner for me."

"Walter flavor?"

"It can be a little lighter, and also prepare a pot of herbal tea, some ash grass and incense for me."

The waiter nodded and then left.

The door closed, and Hugh stood in the unfamiliar room, letting out a long breath. Then, following the procedures that Verine had instructed and reminded him of, he began a detailed inspection of the hotel room.

The sprinting rat was summoned by Hugh. As soon as it landed, it began its exploration along the edge of the room. At the same time, several simple magic runes were quickly combined in Hugh's mental world, and then a basic "trace detection" trick was applied to the room.

The "trace detection" trick is the most basic of all magic spells that can reveal and display subtle traces.

As a basic magic trick, all it can do is tell the caster whether there are traces of magic in a certain area, but the condition of these traces and where they are hidden are entirely up to the caster to judge.

Hugh had intended to tidy up his belongings while the magic trick was going on and Sniggy was inspecting the room, but just as he took off his outer garment, a crisp sound came from his mental world.

It was as if a pebble had hit the glass.

That was the message conveyed by the "trace detection" trick.

"Huh? There really is one?" Hugh was stunned for a moment, then he immediately stopped what he was doing.

Before he could even conduct a physical inspection, several crisp sounds rang out in his mental world. Subsequently, the "trace detection" trick, which was in operation, lost its effectiveness due to the excessive frequency of anomalies detected.

"Not only do they exist, but there are quite a lot..."

Hughes frowned and immediately gave the order. Sniggy then ran even faster and quickly squeezed behind the wardrobe, which was inaccessible to humans.

Out of caution, Hugh immediately took out the bullets that were placed with the revolver. He quickly loaded them before turning around and going to the other side of the room. Presumably because most of the guests who had come here in the past were foreign envoys and businessmen, these hotel rooms had specially reserved a comfortable work or reading area.

In this area, Hughes once again performed his "trace detection" trick.

As expected, he heard several more warning cracking sounds.

"strangeness……"

Hugh had actually prepared himself for the presence of strange magical traces in the room. After all, he was destined to be a sensitive figure to the Ernst family, and being followed and monitored was a very normal thing under such circumstances.

But the current situation is clearly not quite right.

Hugh believed that if the Ernst family wanted to monitor him, they would definitely be able to set up a sufficiently sophisticated magical ritual here, or use some other method to eavesdrop. But now, the dense traces in the room, which even a simple beginner's trick could not hide, shrouded the matter in mystery.

"This is probably not the work of the Ernst family... If the people in the manor could do something like this, then the Ernst family should have been wiped out long ago."

So Hugh began to repeatedly perform the "trace detection" trick, deliberately choosing the locations where he would release it, from the center of the room to different corners, and then to the desk and bookshelves...

Before long, using these detection spells that spread outwards according to specific patterns, Hugh successfully "located" his first suspicious person in the room.

“Snich, over here…”

He called out and then pointed to the bookshelf next to the desk.

The bookshelf is very tall, with only the lower half used to hold books. The upper half has been converted into display cases to hold small animal sculptures.

The sprinting rat immediately darted out from behind the wardrobe. It nimbly jumped onto the desk, and then, using the desk's height, leaped onto the bookshelf. After a rapid climb, Sniggy finally stopped at the very top of the bookshelf.

Using the senses of a running rat, Hugh quickly found a rather unusual target among the exhibits.

It was a sculpture, a wooden carving modeled after a giant eagle of the plateau.

When it blends in with other sculptures, it doesn't stand out much. However, upon closer inspection, one will find that this wood carving is quite different from the other "similar" ones next to it. Not only is the workmanship rough, but it also looks rather old, and there are even obvious traces of glue on its surface.

Hugh didn't rush to touch it, but instead cooperated with the running rat to begin a new round of inspections in the room.

He discovered that the person who set up those magical items was clearly not very professional. Although he had tried his best to "integrate" the items into the overall environment of the hotel room, the traces of magic were still there. Moreover, in the originally very harmonious interior environment of the hotel room, these forcibly replaced items were extremely conspicuous. Once the general direction was confirmed, they could be easily found.

“The paintings on the wall, the wood carvings on the bookshelf, an ordinary magic fountain pen... the replaced clock, and the inexplicable potted plant and sculpture in the bathroom.”

Hugh's brow furrowed: "What are they trying to do? These things don't look like reliable magical artifacts. They can't even be put together to form a complete ritual. Under magical perception, their shapes are also very chaotic..."

"I don't understand it. It's like smashing magic crystals and forcibly kneading them into these inferior items."

Even though he had already identified the source of the unusual traces, Hugh became even more puzzled because he simply couldn't understand why these things were placed in the room.

There was a knock on the door, and after Hugh opened it, two waiters brought in what he needed, along with his dinner.

However, at this moment, Hugh had lost his appetite.

If he had indeed found some pre-arranged magical rituals in the room, that would be fine. After all, logically speaking, responding to each move is a very simple and direct approach. But now, these traces, which seem to be a test and also seem to have ulterior motives, instead arouse suspicion.

The feeling was like finding a bunch of cameras in every corner of your own home. This should have been a terrifying and infuriating thing, but the strange thing is that these cameras were really just cameras. They weren't powered on and were even broken!
"..."

Hugh thought about it carefully, then sat down at the table. He devoured the dinner as quickly as possible, and after calling the waiter to clean the room, he left with the key.

He planned to go down to the lobby to check the situation and decide on his next move.

Once again, Hughes took the elevator to the lobby and found that many of the young members of the Ernst family who had gathered there earlier had left. Only a few people were still drinking and chatting. The two young men who were addicted to Dragon Tooth cards were among them, but they had moved from their original seats to seats near the edge of the lobby.

Hughes hesitated for two seconds, then walked toward the two people playing cards.

He recalled that the two men had discussed the situation in Seren City briefly, and given that Dragon Tooth was a very popular and accessible card game, these two young men might be more friendly than the average nobleman.

Before Hugh could even get close, the two men who were busy shuffling the cards looked up. The young man on the right, with a few freckles on his face, greeted Hugh: "Good evening, Mr. Hugh! I am Dietrich, son of Count Oliver, and this is my brother, Nils."

Good evening, gentlemen.

Hugh nodded to the two enthusiastic and friendly young men: "We've met before, haven't we?"

"Ha, I should have seen it before, but it seems to have been seven years ago during the Winter Solstice?"

After shuffling the cards, Niels Ernst looked up. His face also had some freckles, and his appearance was quite similar to Dietrich's. The young nobleman had a warm smile on his face: "Coming to the hall at this hour must be boring, right? How about we play a couple of rounds of Dragon Tooth?"

(End of this chapter)