Whispering Poems

Chapter 4080 The Sisters' Whereabouts

Flora spoke as she took the letter out of the furnace and handed it to Vigo. The recipient's name was clearly written on the envelope—

[To my daughter Vige and her descendants]

"It's my mother's handwriting!"

After the series of startling news brought by Shad last week, Viggo was no longer emotionally affected by new clues about her mother. Or rather, she was now more concerned about the silver cat that Flora had "kidnapped," so she calmly opened the letter, read it carefully, and then handed it back to Flora.

Shad the cat, who had just climbed onto Flora's shoulder, also craned its neck to look over—

[The Perfect Child is divided into four, one of which is kept at the birthplace of Nicolas Flamel. When you touch that skin, the craftsman with whom I had a pact will appear in Arcadia and guide you to the place of your sister/elder; the skin is the proof of your retrieval.]

The letter contained only these words; there was no signature or date.

Flora frowned:
"Nicolas Lemaître is your mother, but this doesn't refer to her birthplace, but rather to that leather item. One-quarter of your sister's family is in the [Leather Collection]?"

Shad the Cat shared this view. Shad had already told the tall girl about the [Furry Shop] when he went to Grayrock Pass with Miss McDonald that afternoon. Miss McDonald then said:

"Teacher, after you left Fragrance Mansion this afternoon, I received news that there were indeed traces of what appears to be the [Leather Goods Guild] in the area."

Vige glanced at the cat craning its neck to read the letter:
"Everything is interconnected. When I open the first box, I will not only get the ring related to the [Truth Society], but the reappearance of that leather item will also attract that sage-level relic. My mother made some kind of agreement with that relic. It seems that I have to take the leather item to the guild hall to retrieve my sister. My mother really knows how to find places to hide things."

"If you really want to enter the [Leather Goods Hall], you should tell the Speaker first. She won't let you go there on your own."

Flora reminded her, and Viggo nodded:

"I don't dare to go by myself."

She took the letter back and carefully put it away. Looking up again at the cat perched on Flora's shoulder, she saw it gazing at her with concern, and her mood inexplicably improved.
"Everyone, disperse and inspect this laboratory. You might find something else."

Flora then took the doll out of the furnace, muttering to herself about the specific techniques for using hair and dolls together to create misleading scams, but she was actually speaking to Shad.

"That lady Flamel's alchemy skills are indeed impressive, but in the face of real death, they are just tricks. I won't fall for it next time."

She muttered to herself, and after Viggo agreed, she put the doll away, intending to take it back to study it. The doll looked exactly like the Madame Lemaître in the photograph that Viggo had shown to Shad, and Shad inexplicably thought of the little doll, Miss Felicity.

However, compared to Miss Felicia's exquisite doll, this doll in front of me was obviously much rougher.

The subsequent search yielded little result; aside from a batch of alchemical materials that had expired more than twenty years ago, Viggo found some books and alchemical notebooks on the bookshelf. This laboratory was likely Peggy Nicolas Flamel's early local lab, as it was used for research on the Philosopher's Stone.

Ms. Lemaître completely abandoned the research project in the later stages, so the laboratory may have been abandoned for longer than imagined.

However, Vige found a mystical book on the bookshelf called "The Flame of Life". Although the book did not explicitly mention the term "Flame of Life", its abstract description of travelers who had lost their life force regaining it clearly hinted at this special power related to the ancient gods.

"It seems that Mother knew about the fire a long time ago."

Viggo was holding the book. Flora wanted to say a few words of comfort to her, but suddenly paused, looking towards the direction of the tomb they had come from, along with the cat on her shoulder:
"Is this really such a coincidence?"

All valuable items in the laboratory were packed up and taken away, and the passageway would be resealed later. While Miss McDonald and her followers carried out this work, Flora and Vigo temporarily left and returned to the catacombs where the Nameless Ones rested.

They continued deeper into the cemetery, and soon came upon a large, open chamber where the lid of a coffin resting against the wall was trembling incessantly. There were at least hundreds of coffins in this chamber, and the trembling one was unremarkable, but the Great Witch of Death had made a remarkably accurate assessment:
"In a place where the aura of death is so dense, the sudden appearance of such a distinct life force is truly strange. I think this must be the corpse you described that was resurrected due to the distorted life force? I'm very curious about what kind of existence this is."

"Be careful. Although this thing isn't very strong in combat at first, it's much more agile than a normal corpse."

Viggo reminded her, but did not stop the eager Flora. She simply said that for safety reasons, she took Shad the cat off her shoulder.

Vige couldn't remember the last time she had touched a cat. She suppressed the urge to smile and hugged the cat to her chest. When she reached out to touch Shad's beautiful fur, she felt something hard. Then she pulled the spark from the cat's fur.

Flora had already opened the coffin lid, and the corpse inside leaped up. The body, which had long since decomposed, now looked as if it had just been buried, with even a rosy blush on its cheeks. Unfortunately, the clothes could not be restored by the fire, so only tattered pieces of cloth remained of the elderly woman's garments.

These resurrected corpses are attracted to the life force of the living. Originally, it should have attacked Flora, who was closest to it, but after the corpse leaped out of the coffin, it bypassed Flora and rushed directly towards Vigo. Then it was frozen in place by Flora's corpse control spell.

“It’s very interesting that even though it’s a living corpse, it can still be affected by the magic of controlling corpses.”

Flora said, while Vigo intently stroked the grumpy-looking Shad the cat:

"Did it bypass you because it thought you were a corpse too?"

"Yes, I deliberately concealed my life force just now, and I didn't expect that it really couldn't recognize me. Concealing one's life force seems to be a good way to avoid these kinds of monsters."

Flora then conducted a brief examination of the corpse, but drew no further conclusions than those currently known to the church. The spark within the active machinery was not suitable for infecting humans, but the spark on corpses and living people was highly infectious to flesh and blood, so Flora did not leave it behind.

"Vege, I want to try and see how pure death power suppresses the spark. You have a method to contain the spark, right?"

"Yes."

"Alright, when you have a chance, pack them up before the fire dissipates, otherwise something similar will appear here again later—Miraculous Technique: Death Finger!"

Flora first released her control over the corpse, and as it lunged at Vigo again, she put her right middle and index fingers together and pointed at the corpse's forehead.

In the darkness, a hoarse voice seemed to murmur. After a flash of black light, the corpse fell straight down, and then, specks of fire appeared on the surface of the corpse.

"My power of death is not enough to extinguish the world's calamities, but at least it can allow this poor soul to rest in peace once more, forcing the embers to separate from the corpse—Miraculous Technique: Death Finger!"

She cast the spell again, this time targeting the scattered sparks of fire. The "distorted life force" dimmed considerably, and Vige's expression changed. She quickly threw out the "Fire Source," allowing it to spontaneously absorb the unclaimed sparks.
"Your death power is causing the spark of life to dissipate even faster, which is not a good sign. It seems that only 'Withering' can clearly suppress the spark of life at present."

"That's because I'm not strong enough. If I were also at the thirteenth rank, hmph~"

Flora didn't continue speaking, watching as the burning flame's eye absorbed the scattered crimson light.

“If someone uses the ‘Spark’ against me, I will be in a very passive position.”

She herself admitted that Vige reached out and took the AllSpark, causing it to revert to its metallic eye state:
"So, you shouldn't stay here any longer. You've already done a great service by helping me find my mother's old laboratory. You should hurry back and think about how to face the enemies who possess the AllSpark in the future."

"Oh, you want me to leave now, without even paying for dinner?"

"Of course not. You can stay for dinner if you want, or even stay overnight, but you must leave tomorrow. Yes, I need to make room for my future apprentice."

"Don't you have enough rooms in your house?"

After returning the body to its original location, they left while bickering.

Flora was one of the witches who was closest to Vigo. Vigo had promised Flora to paint her portrait before she died, and Vigo herself truly admired Flora's many achievements in art.

Shadcat couldn't leave for the time being, and after exploring the cemetery near Grayrock Pass, he could only return to Fragrance's Mansion with the witches. Flora and Vigo rode in the same carriage, and Miss McDonald was also invited to travel with the great witches.

She was the one who brought Shad the cat in at first, but she couldn't get the cat back in the carriage. Flora mentioned to Vigo in the carriage that "although this cat is very resilient, it can't be touched by you for too long," and then took the cat back from Vigo.