Mystery: The New Dark Emperor Arrives

Chapter 573 Stingy Klein
The reason why Hobert is only now looking for partners is that the brand effect of the "Earl's Light" light bulb is already there, at least it is a household name in Backlund.

At the same time, because the light bulb was a very new thing, major media began to rush to report on it, and there was no need for Hobert to spend money on new publicity.

Many nobles and wealthy people in other cities are also looking forward to using electric lights as soon as possible.

Then the negative public opinion of Longtail Island has been resolved, and Hobert is not short of money. When seeking cooperation at this time, Hobert can occupy an absolute dominant position.

The officers in the club all knew that Bulb made a lot of money, but they didn't know exactly how much they made. Today they found out that they actually made so much!
As of today, the light bulb has been on sale for 11 days. Although it only received more than 3 orders on the first day, the number of orders gradually decreased after that.

But now that Hobert says that "Earl's Light" is worth 300 million pounds, no one dares to refute it. There must be a premium for shares with such good prospects.

After learning more about the situation, everyone expressed their willingness to buy shares of "Earl's Light".

Hobert added: "There is one thing I need to tell everyone. This industry was not profitable at the beginning. Although I have a huge amount of cash in my hand now, I want to use it to build power plants and lay wires, and I cannot give people money." Let’s all share the dividends!”

The construction of this kind of infrastructure is quite expensive for a company, and it is actually more appropriate to build it according to the will of the country.

However, it was not known that it would take until the Year of the Monkey to lay out the wires for the power plant built in Lun, so Hobert decided to build these supporting facilities himself.

No matter how much money you have, invest it in this!
Hobert has roughly calculated that the money in his hand is enough to build a dozen large power plants, but it can't be just a power plant without wires!
If all this money is used to lay wires, it may be possible to completely cover two or three cities including Backlund.

Therefore, in terms of infrastructure construction, individual power is very limited.

However, Hobert believes that his goal has basically been achieved now. After all, Backlund has a population of 500 million. Even if only one fifth of the people understand the "Earl's Light" light bulb, 100 million people can use it. The light bulb is associated with Earl Hobart.

If you advance to Sequence 3, generally a feedback scale of 10 people can meet the needs of the ceremony. A feedback scale of 100 million people is more than enough!

Although Hobert said this, everyone could see how promising the light bulb was, so everyone was almost scrambling to buy shares.

After roughly determining the share to be purchased, the reception ended in a warm atmosphere.

Returning to the Earl's Mansion, Hobert took a short rest and used "travel" to reach Duke Bowen's manor in the suburbs.

The manor was silent at this time, and only one room in the huge villa had a light on.

Hobert "distorted" the distance and arrived "in a few steps" at the corridor of the lighted room on the second floor.

In the long corridor, there was a man in his thirties, wearing a black knight uniform, standing in front of the door: "Hello, Earl Hobert."

Hobert nodded: "Hello."

He guessed that this should be the person protecting Duke Bowen.

The man knocked on the door, and a feeble voice came from inside: "Please come in."

The other party opened the door politely and said to Hobert: "Please."

Hobert walked in, and by the light of the gas lamp, he saw that Duke Bowen had gray hair and was as thin as a stick. He seemed to be several years older than the last time he met.

He was covered with a blanket and seemed to be unable to get up: "Young man, come and sit by yourself."

"Okay." Hobert agreed, but he just stood opposite Duke Bowen and stared at him for more than half a minute.

The Duke's spirit body seemed to be covered with a thin layer of black mist. There seemed to be some black thread-like things in the black mist, tightly wrapping around the already weakened spirit body.

At present, the black mist and black threads have spread to the chest. If the entire spirit body is entangled in the black threads and covered by the black mist, it will be announced that the Duke's death has come.

Just like Hobert's last judgment, this is a very typical appearance of a spirit being haunted by a curse.

Hobert tried "twisting" it. As one of the demigods mentioned in the information, "twisting" and "chaos" had no effect. It seemed that they could not cut off the connection between the duke and the source of the curse. .

Hobert took a deep breath and sat opposite Duke Bowen.

There are two aspects of this curse that Hobert has never figured out. The first aspect is that according to the data, this curse has been going on for more than a year, but it has not killed the Duke yet.

This is very strange. Generally, curses that span a long time are because the caster's ability is too low, and it takes many rituals to curse the target to death.

But such a curse can be easily solved.

The second is, what is the medium of this curse?
Unless you are cursing in person, you definitely need a medium to curse in secret!

And if the curse had been made in person, either Duke Bowen would have been dead long ago, or he would have already found a way to resolve it.

Because that kind of curse is very offensive, it will either kill the Duke on the spot, or it will definitely be defended, at least it will be noticed by the people protecting Duke Bowen.

The problem now is that we don’t even know what the medium of the curse is!
The seven demigods had tried many methods before, but they could not cut off the connection between the curse and the source of the curse, nor could they find the medium of the curse.

Duke Bowen knew that the young man in front of him was thinking about the problem, so he did not speak, as if he was quietly waiting for his trial.

Hobert thought for ten minutes before suddenly smiling and asking: "Many people should have asked about this, but I still want to confirm."

He asked: "Are you feeling any discomfort now?"

"Cold, weak, and stiff muscles." Duke Bowen smiled helplessly: "It is very easy to get sick, and the organs seem to have failed. It seems that this body is becoming more and more unfamiliar to me."

Hobert nodded slightly, which was indeed in line with the reaction after being cursed.

Generally speaking, there are two main types of curses. One is to use fate as a way to curse. For example, it will make a person very unlucky, and he may even be so unlucky that he may fail to go to the toilet.

Or you may be so unlucky that the fate of your loved ones around you will also be affected, and you will watch your loved ones die one by one in front of your eyes.

The other is to use the spiritual world as a way to curse. Hobert even talked about this issue with Helen a few days ago. The general theory seems to be to use the spiritual world as a way through some bonds to directly attack the spirit represented by a certain internal organ. body part.

This will separate the internal organs from the spiritual body, expose them to the spiritual world, and withstand the erosion of the spiritual world without protection.

The specific manifestation is that the attacked internal organs will rapidly fail, seemingly dying of some disease.

For example, if it attacks the heart, it will look like death from a heart attack, and if it attacks the lungs or trachea, it will look like death from suffocation.

For a "chronic curse" like Duke Bowen, the spirit body still has some protection for the internal organs, so the external manifestation is that it is very easy to get sick.

"This seems to be an unsolvable problem." Duke Bowen smiled and said: "Young man, just try your best. There is no need to force yourself."

Hobert glanced at the Duke: "You are quite open-minded."

"The pain and torture of the past year has made me understand a lot of things." At this time, he no longer had the majesty of a duke, but looked like an old man who was on his deathbed and could only sigh about life.

He said: "To be honest, I would like to thank the person who cursed me for not letting me die immediately.

"In the past year, I have discovered how arrogant and arrogant I used to be! Even in my 50s, I didn't even bother to support my son who inherited the title.

“I also realized that I had missed out on so many truly precious things in life.

"After a year of preparation, I have no regrets. For me, death is just that."

The Duke smiled and said: "Sometimes I feel that death should come sooner to end my current pain."

Hobert wanted to tell him that Death had fallen for more than 1000 years.

Thinking of this, an idea flashed in his mind, and he smiled and said: "Sure enough, philosophers are all born out of pain."

Hobert stood up and came to Duke Bowen and stretched out his hand: "But it is rare to find an open-minded nobleman like you."

He looked like he wanted to shake hands with Duke Bowen because he admired him.

Duke Bowen stretched out his hand weakly, and was about to encourage Hobert a few words, but suddenly realized that the young man's handshake was too strong!

"Sorry." After shaking hands a few times, a smile crept onto Hobert's face: "I may have to pull you back from death."

Duke Bowen looked at Hobert for a few seconds, and then said: "If this is possible, it is not impossible."

"Then, please ask the Duke to ask the servants to bring all the items from the Southern Continent here. If it is inconvenient to carry them, you can take them to see them." Hobert said seriously: "If you don't find what I'm looking for here, I have to go to other mansions to find things."

Duke Bowen nodded and asked the man standing guard outside to call the butler.

Soon, the entire manor seemed to be awakened, and the servants went to search for items from the southern continent with bleary eyes.

Most of these items are gold jewelry, all gifts to the Duke of Bowen.

Hobert touched them one by one and searched for more than 20 minutes. Then he suddenly looked towards the door.

A servant was delivering a beautiful cane in the style of the Southern Continent.

Hobert dropped the jewelry in his hand and took the initiative to take the cane: "That's it!"

He asked the Duke of Bowen: "Do you often use this cane?"

"It was used frequently for a while." Duke Bowen thought about it for a moment: "But that was probably two years ago, and it doesn't match the time of the curse."

"It's not a curse at all," laughed Hobert.

He paused and then said: "I have found what I was looking for."

Duke Bowen understood and asked the butler to take the servants back. Only he and Hobert were left in the room: "Young man, can you tell me what's going on?"

"Of course." Hobert stood the cane aside: "I guess this cane must have been 'blessed' by a certain god."

Hobert spread his hands: "I don't know whether the person who gave you the cane did it intentionally or unintentionally, but not every god's 'blessing' is good.

"For example, this cane, if I guessed correctly, you should have used extraordinary abilities while holding it. This is equivalent to your spirituality activating the 'blessing' and making you marked.

"Although the connection between the cane and the god is very weak, and you no longer use the cane, your spirit body is still slightly contaminated and gradually moves closer to the underworld.

"Because it is a pure pollution to the spirit body, and it is very slight at first, so you don't notice it at all until the pollution causes disease in your body!"

Hobert crossed his hands and extended an index finger: "This is a very clever trap, because it looks too much like a curse, whether it is the appearance of the spirit body or the manifestation of your disease." So everyone paid attention. All the efforts were focused on how to block the curse connection, but of course there was no gain. "

If Mr. Azik hadn't given Hobert the mark, he wouldn't have been able to confirm it.

In the conversation just now, when Duke Bowen mentioned the God of Death, Hobert had an idea and wondered if this could be a curse from the underworld?

Extraordinaries of the "God of Death" path also have the ability to curse, but their curses are more like attacks like "Whispers of the Dead" and are easy to distinguish.

But many underworld creatures also have the ability to curse, and their curses are all kinds of strange.

That's why Hobert took the initiative to shake hands with Duke Bowen and used Mr. Azik's mark to test the black mist and black lines.

As a result, his spirituality immediately felt a familiar "touch": artificial death!
After encountering the feathered serpent on the original island, Hobert could immediately distinguish the "touch" of the "artificial death", and he immediately realized that it was slightly contaminated by the "artificial death".

Because the contamination spread so slowly, the Duke of Bowen did not develop the telltale symptoms of yellowish oil-stained feathers.

Hobert replied again. Although seven demigods came to diagnose the duke, there was no demigod with the "god of death" path among them.

Moreover, even a demigod of the "God of Death" path, without Mr. Azik's mark, may not be able to tell that this is a "blessing" from the "Artificial God of Death".

All that's left is to find the way in which Duke Bowen's spirit body was contaminated. Since the "Artificial Death" is most likely an item that came from the Southern Continent and was used frequently at least for a period of time.

According to the professional ethics of aristocratic butlers, there is a high probability that such a thing will be in the manor where Duke Bowen is. What if the Duke wants to use it again?

As a result, after searching like this, he found the cane.

Hobert could not explain these logics and ideas very clearly to Duke Bowen. He could only roughly explain the ins and outs of the matter.

Duke Bowen looked at the cane, and his expression changed from solemn to sad. After a while, he said: "That is, that is a gift given to me by Aqil when he returned from the Southern Continent."

Hobert recalled that the heir to Duke Bowen was named Achill.

He now truly believes that Duke Bowen really did not pay attention to cultivating an heir before he became "sick", which should make Achill feel very insecure.

Then Hobert recalled the list of political opponents and enemies provided by the Duke of Bowen. The final result made that list very ridiculous.

Hobert asked Duke Bowen: "With such a result, can you still maintain your previous open-mindedness?"

If it was before, he definitely wouldn't ask this.

But now, with such a question, he seems like a "devil".

Duke Bowen stroked his chest for a long time before saying: "Young man, my heart can't withstand your 'beating'."

After a while, he took a deep breath and said, "Please help me keep this secret."

The Duke looked at the cane: "I will take it to my grave."

In other words, he had no intention of not making it public.

This is the most likely choice that the nobles will make.

"I will." Hobert smiled: "But I think this and the cane are not suitable as burial objects."

He found that his words seemed to be ambiguous, so he simply explained: "It may cause certain changes in your corpse."

Duke Bowen nodded: "I understand."

Then he asked: "So, can you treat the pollution on my body?"

Once the Duke's "illness" is cured, his heirs will definitely be able to detect something, but this can be covered up with some lies. For example, the "illness" is cured but the source of the "illness" is not found.

"I can give it a try, but I can't guarantee it." Hobert said.

He had just imagined using the mark given to him by Mr. Azik to mobilize part of the power of the underworld to see if he could suck the pollution into the underworld.

You can also perform corresponding rituals to pray for strength from the underworld and eliminate pollution from the spirit body.

However, the underworld is not a "country of disorder" after all. Hobert is not sure that the underworld can give a response that meets the needs. It would be interesting if Duke Bowen's spirit body is directly sucked into the underworld and cannot be retrieved.

Duke Bowen seemed to have returned to his previous calmness: "Please."

Hobert stood up again, came to Duke Bowen's side, pulled out the rapier hidden in his cane, held the Duke's hand with one hand, and opened a "gap in the underworld" with the other hand.

The whole room suddenly became cold, and even the flame of the gas lamp turned green, which covered everything around him with a green light film.

Duke Bowen felt like his soul was like a piece of paper floating in the air, helpless and might drift into the cold abyss at any time.

This caused the man who was protecting Duke Bowen to come in immediately. He was surprised by the "spiritual gap" in front of him. After Duke Bowen made a difficult gesture to show that he was not in danger, the man closed the door and stared closely. Hobert's operation.

Hobert used Mr. Azik's mark to mobilize part of the power of the underworld and sucked away the black mist from Duke Bowen's spirit body according to his intention.

Then, Hobert drove an evil spirit to grab the black thread on Duke Bowen's spirit body.

Duke Bowen immediately seemed to have his throat twisted, his eyes turned white, and his limbs twitched involuntarily.

Soon, under Hobert's order, the evil spirit dragged the black thread back to the underworld.

Duke Bowen's spirit body has become pure enough again, but the slight pollution over the past year and being tortured by the underworld have made the spirit body look a little weak.

It takes a period of rest to fully recover.

Hobert checked and made sure that all the pollution had been sucked away, and then waved his rapier again to close the "gap in the underworld".

Duke Bowen was buried in the sofa, breathing heavily, as if a drowning man had just been rescued ashore.

Hobert found a bottle of strong liquor in the wine cabinet and poured two glasses. One drink was given to Bowen, who was unable to control his limbs, and the other was drank by himself.

He let out a cheerful "Ah~" and felt as if a fire was burning in his stomach.

Duke Bowen also felt a lot better: "Just now, was that the underworld just now?"

The man guarding the door was slightly startled, because the Duke's voice sounded more powerful than before.

Hobert put the glass down: "Yes. How do you feel?"

Duke Bowen moved his arms: "It feels like he has taken off his heavy armor."

"It seems the problem has been solved." Hobert put away his rapier: "If you still have any problems, you can send someone to find me.

"Oh, by the way, I remember that the Church of the Goddess of the Night has a potion that can quickly restore damage to the spiritual body."

"Thank you!" Duke Bowen thanked him very sincerely.

Hobert smiled slightly: "Goodbye, gentlemen!"

He took off his hat slightly with one hand and stepped into the illusory space.

After Hobert disappeared for a few seconds, Duke Bowen asked the man guarding the door: "Am I really okay?"

"So far, your problem has indeed been solved."

"Hobert." Duke Bowen read his name again and asked, "How do you feel about him?"

"He is a very powerful extraordinary person, and he also shows a very knowledgeable side."

……

The next day, June 6, the officers who had attended the cocktail party at the club yesterday all arrived at the Earl's Mansion in Hobart, where they signed a contract to purchase shares.

After seeing off the officers, Hobert welcomed the queen's messenger.

The queen once again gave Hobert many rewards, but she did not explain why the rewards were given.

At noon, after having lunch, Hobert prepared for the afternoon tea party in the study.

Suddenly, he felt something spiritual and saw a figure wearing a complicated and gorgeous black dress and holding four heads in his hand appearing in the study.

One of the heads held a letter in his mouth, and the letter landed lightly in front of Hobert.

Hobert immediately realized that this was Klein's messenger.

He was about to open the letter when he suddenly noticed that the messenger was still at the desk, so he asked, "Is there anything else?"

From left to right, each of the four heads spoke a word, forming a sentence: "The person who delivers the letter...the reward is...one...gold coin."

Only then did Hobert remember that there was such a thing, which made him couldn't help but praise Klein: "What a stingy person!"

You are already a millionaire in Backlund, but you are still so "frugal"?
He searched through boxes and cabinets for a long time, but couldn't find a single gold coin: "Can paper money be used? You can go to the spirit world to find other spirit world creatures to exchange for it."

The four heads of the messenger shook together: "No,... there is no... bank in the spiritual world."

Hobert had no choice but to call Dophis and ask him to find a gold coin to pay the messenger, and then the messenger left.

Hobert opened the letter and read it in a bad mood. It turned out that it was Klein who asked him to meet him at the river bank where they met before in the evening.

He thought about it for a while, and they should be discussing sneaking into St. Mussel's Church.

　Thank you [Book Friend 20220923193549982] for the reward.

　　Thanks to [High Lord Tal'darin] for the reward.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)