The world controlled by dice [Western Fantasy]

July 5th, Saturday.

At noon, Siles left the Historical Society, and then went to Atherton Square, the restaurant where he used to make reservations when he met with the businessman Langmeer and the publisher Benton.

This time, he still wanted to meet the two businessmen.

Not long ago, he received a letter from Ranmier, in which Langmier mentioned that he had already investigated a lot of information about what Siles was interested in, and the recent events in Land of Never Embers.

And Langmeer also heard that Siles wrote to Benton not long ago, asking whether it is possible to adapt the novel into a play.Langmeer therefore wrote, in his joint name with Benton, inviting Siles to have a meal with them at noon this Saturday.

Presumably he will talk about these things during the dinner.

Siles naturally had no objection.Also, being able to talk to both of them at the same time, rather than inviting each one individually, was a boon for Cilleus' busy schedule.

In the past two weeks, his life has been ordinary—or even so ordinary that he is not used to it.Compared with the past, his schedule in the past two weeks even seemed a little looser, almost all the daily life and work.

Meals and meals a day with Jeando—who, by the way, finally found time to weave her a new hair rope—classes, clubs, lesson preparation, homework, writing novels, historical society research projects, and friends their parties and so on.

Nothing happened with the May serial killings, and neither did things north of the Never Embers.Siles thought it was the calm before the storm at first, but within two days of getting nervous, he resolutely made himself less sensitive.

Everything was indeed at a standstill, he realized.But he didn't need to ask for trouble for this matter, and let himself be upset all day long.

In short, in the past two weeks, he basically spent his time on ordinary affairs, and even Qin Duo felt that his life was peaceful during this time.

... This tranquility means that there are no dream bubbles in the deep sea dream that require him to go there.

Siles even began to wonder whether the pointers of these plants growing on the isolated island, after knowing the time frequency of Mr. Ghost's appearance, deliberately choose to enter the dream when Mr. Ghost is not there.

He doesn't quite believe that people like Garrett Gielgud, Hurd Dreyson, and Garland, who love dream scenes so much, choose not to enter them; Stay in the dream for a lifetime.

……never mind.He secretly reflected on his state of mind, and reminded himself not to be trapped by work and business, and to relax a little when it was time to relax.

For at least the past two weeks, he has read several books that he was interested in but didn't have time to read.

However, Langmeer's letter obviously broke the silence and calm.He realizes that his life is going to be turbulent again, and this week is likely to be busy... even until the end of May?

...Hope his premonition doesn't work on this one.

However, there will indeed be a lot of things happening in the first half of May.

Bishop Elizabeth and Ms. Heidi, astrologer, will both arrive in Ramifa City; there will also be some investigation results on the "female factor" in the May serial murder case;

Siles was mentally prepared for this.

He left the Historical Society.In the morning, he continued to study the [Flowing Wind] ritual with Aneulin in the research department.

In the past two weeks, this topic has indeed achieved some breakthroughs.

Through biophotographing technology, Grenfell has given two solutions to the problem of leaf preservation.

One is a metal blade with a relatively special material. The cold wind and the hot wind each correspond to a metal blade. Put it into the potion bottle and it will automatically blow out the wind.

The advantage of this solution is that the cost of the time track is not high, and the process is not too complicated; the disadvantage is that the mouth of the potion bottle must be opened, which will speed up the volatilization of the potion, and it can only be used for about a week.

The second is to use the special glass made of the same material as the potion bottle to make a leaf-shaped container. The size is about the height of the palm, which is much larger than ordinary potion bottles.As long as the potion is poured in, the bottle can "generate" wind out of thin air; similarly, cold wind and hot wind correspond to different bottles.

The advantage of the second solution is that it can be maintained for a long time (there is no long-term test yet, but it can be maintained for at least half a month), and the disadvantage is that it costs more.

Glass in this era is a rarity, not to mention they had to make it into leaf-shaped bottles, which was a challenge for the factory.

But the second option is indeed a better choice, and it is easier for residents to use it at home.

However, the first one seems to be quite suitable for temporary carrying and use when going out.But I'm afraid not many people would be willing to do this, after all, the convenience also means that the consumption of potion will increase exponentially.

Now Grenfell is mainly researching the second solution, and he wants to find a more suitable and cheaper material.At the same time, this can obviously also change the material of the potion bottle, which will further reduce the price of the potion.

It wasn't until this time that Siles realized that a considerable part of the price of the potion was provided for the potion bottle.

According to Grenfell, some people would specialize in collecting or making potion bottles, and then curry favor with some potion masters, and then directly purchase finished but unpackaged potions from them, pour them into potion bottles, and then Sell ​​at a lower price than the market.

Of course, this kind of non-compliant potion, although there is nothing wrong with the potion itself, due to various omissions in storage and packaging, it is easy to cause some accidents.

"Potions are quite delicate liquids." Grenfell explained on this matter, "Any slight change may cause changes in the properties of potions.

Sirius nodded understandingly.

Now for their subject, Grenfell seems to be the real developer, while Siles and Aneurin are the testers.They are responsible for testing the effectiveness of the plan given by Grenfell.

In any case, they did get some results.Today, Siles's office is lined with a row of leaf glass bottles, all of which were the first batches of the second plan to be produced.

It is now May and the weather is getting hotter.So every time they came to the office, they would pour a little potion into each glass bottle, which would cool the room down almost instantly.

Aneulin lamented that this thing makes people feel happy, and at the same time it is very convenient to carry.

Rich people can buy more and put them all over the house; less rich people can also buy one, and put the glass bottle wherever they stay, so that life is not so uncomfortable.

The weather in Lamifa City is very difficult in summer and winter; the summer is sultry and the winter is cold, which is not very suitable for life.But people have to survive here after all.

All in all, this topic has made good progress.

When Siles walked through the avenue of Atherton Square to the restaurant they had agreed upon, he saw the lush trees and even felt a subtle feeling.

After all, in the past few weeks, he has literally picked up countless leaves from these trees.

While plants may not have self-awareness, it did give him some weird insights into the trees.For example, Celes now knows quite well which tree in the row of ornamental trees is shedding the most leaves.

...kind of like people worrying about their hair loss.There was a flash of dumbfounding in Siles' heart.

Soon he was in Atherton Square.

An astonishing change was that people in Atherton Square gathered in twos and threes, and from time to time let out an exclamation or two.There are about six or seven such small groups, scattered all over Atherton Square, and new members join from time to time.

... They were playing Noel.Obviously.

Of course, no one knew that the young man walking past them at this moment provided the idea for this card game.

People are not interested in the creator of Noel Solitaire.Rather, they may not even know that "Noel" refers to a person.If asked, they might swear, "Noel must be a factory that produces playing cards!"

However, it can be seen simply from the dividend draft sent by the Jillini family that the card business is getting better and better.

They have actually launched many other games based on fate cards, and many of them have won the favor of the market.But I don't know if it's because of the promotion of the Noel card contest that the residents in Lamifa City still like Noel cards.

As for the Noel Card Contest, with the spare no effort to promote it, the businessman Lanmir has also gained more and more attention.

It's already early May, and the poker tournament is approaching the final.Not long ago, Langmeer wrote in the letter to Siles that the final game of the card game was scheduled for the evening of Saturday, May 5.

...it's the date again.Siles couldn't help feeling the coincidence.

For the Historical Society, the final of the group arena will also be held on May 5rd.In other words, the final innings of both games collided.And that's a date in late May.

Based on some inexplicable intuition, Siles felt that many things might happen on this date, and many things would be decided.But it was difficult for him to express this feeling to the outside world—Qin Duo agreed with his thinking, and became vigilant about this day.

It is not necessarily a coincidence, but inevitable that it happens by the side of Siles.

Because of this, Siles is also looking forward to the party at 18 Housewell Street this afternoon.Eric may have found something from the files.Siles thought that would help.

While thinking about it, he had already arrived at the restaurant they had agreed upon.Ranmeer and Benton were already sitting there waiting for him, and they had the same smiles on their faces.

Siles took a seat opposite them and said, "Good afternoon, I'm a little late."

"Not at all, Professor Noel." Ranmier said with a smile, "You came just in time, we are discussing what to eat at noon. We often come to this restaurant, and some new dishes have been released recently.

"It's a pity that Middleton's seafood may not be available for a while."

"Because of what happened to the north of the Never Embers?" Sirius asked.

"Yes." Ranmier nodded, and then said, "I have been paying attention to this matter for a while. There was a lot of trouble in those places, and some... completely unrelated people were also involved, and they were thrown away. killed."

Benton didn't know anything about the Everlands, so he looked over curiously.

They ordered, and while waiting for the meal, Langmeer told them some of the information he had investigated.

Langmire first recounted to Benton what happened in the north of Never Emberland: "Someone found star dust on an isolated island in the sea. It’s pretty dissatisfying.”

Benton listened with great interest, and then asked, "However, why would someone go to an isolated island?"

Ranmeer wasn't too sure about the answer to that question.

Siles replied: "This isolated island seemed to be shrouded in fog at first. Last year, the fog dissipated. After a period of time, people wanted to go to the island to find out. Maybe they were just curious about the situation on the island. "

Only then did Benton suddenly realize, and he said, "It still sounds quite risky."

As a publisher, Benton has naturally come into contact with quite a lot of travel notes, newspapers, etc. Even though he himself has not carried out expeditions in the Land of Embers, he has heard some related stories.

Siles nodded too.This, he thought, was indeed a problem.

He suddenly realized that the fact that Stardust was discovered seemed quite strange.An isolated island, the fog on the island has just dissipated for a few months, does anyone dare to go to the island to explore?

It was an island, after all; not quite the flat, endless wasteland of the Everlands.If you encounter something on the island, it may be too late to escape, and there is nowhere to escape.

Furthermore, even if there is star dust on the isolated island, it must be buried somewhere, very hidden; is it really that easy to be discovered?

He had this confusion because in the final analysis, the discovery of Stardust on the isolated island caused the chaos in the north of the Eternal Land at this moment.This element is fairly straightforward.

But, does star dust really exist on the isolated island?In other words, was the stardust on the isolated island really accidentally discovered?Could it be that someone deliberately set up a situation?

Combined with the habitual practice of "Shadow" believers, Siles thinks this conjecture is not impossible.

However, if this is the case, then the discovery of Stardust on an isolated island in December last year must have made corresponding preparations earlier.

...Earlier then...at least a month or two?

Siles admits to thinking about the fall of Hales House at the end of October last year.After that, the mysterious Mr. Dreyson seems to have gone to the sea to the north.If the star dust on the island is what he planned to do, it is not impossible.

Even earlier, maybe when Brewer Darrow died last August, this group of people already had some plans?

This is his current guess based on the timeline.Communication is inconvenient in this world, which leads to protracted viewing of the occurrence time and prelude preparation of many things.

Siles was distracted for a moment.

And within a short while, Ranmier had already talked about some of the things he had investigated: "It is said that the star dust excavated there and the potion made there have driven many people crazy.

"The people who first came to the island, they quickly sold off the star dust. What's worse, when many people sold the star dust, they didn't even say that their star dust came from the isolated island in the north. Got it.

"Even if some people became vigilant later, in order to make money, many people still kept silent about the source of the star dust. Therefore, the explorers of the Everland are now in danger, and no one knows whether they will buy the north face. Star dust from that isolated island.

"Therefore, the church of the past intervened at this time."

When Siles heard about the "Church of the Past", he couldn't help but startled.He immediately came back to his senses and listened intently to what Ranmir said.

Benton asked in surprise: "But, didn't the Church of the Past never get involved in the affairs of the Everlasting?"

"Who knows." Ranmier said with a smile, "Maybe he saw an opportunity to take advantage of it, or maybe he felt that he needed to take control of Never Embered... So, it just happened.

"The Church of the Past is gradually taking over the potion business in Everland, taking advantage of the time when people don't trust those potion dealers."

Benton said uncertainly, "Is this...a good thing?"

Ranmir shrugged: "Who knows. Personally, the price of the potion from the Church of the Past may be more expensive, but at least it is quite safe. As for those private potion dealers... After what happened this time, Who can trust them?"

"Indeed," Benton said.

The harmless image of the church in the past is almost deeply rooted in the hearts of the people.Of course, as far as the actual situation is concerned, the church in the past has never done anything shady.People basically have the most basic trust in the church of the past.

Of course, this refers to ordinary people.

"...But it's just the potion business." Ranmir said, his tone suddenly became a lot deeper, "Most of the enlighteners, they don't really care where they buy the potion, as long as they can buy the potion, then Will suffice.

"But the things in the north are directly related to their interests. Many people want to go to the island to dig for star dust. Maybe one star dust is worth their annual income.

"No one can resist this kind of benefit. As for the Church of the Past, they are strong enough, rich enough, and popular enough, and now they are suddenly participating in the affairs of Everland.

"So, some people started to worry—I'm not sure how many potion dealers here are fishing in troubled waters, but there are indeed some people who are worried. They think that the Church of the Past wants to monopolize the mining of stardust.

"...Actually, many people know that most of the star dust in the world is monopolized by the Church of the Past. It's just that people don't know about it. After all, they just swallow the potion, and they don't need to know what's in the potion. Where does the stardust come from.

"So, we can't blame them for thinking in that direction."

Ranmir shook his head, sighed, and rarely showed a trace of subtle emotion.Probably after being separated from his identity as a businessman a little bit, he can also understand people's desire for wealth.

But it was only for a moment, and he quickly showed a little smile, and said: "Of course, Stardust is a pretty good business, I have to admit this. It's a pity that the situation in the north is too chaotic, and I can't avoid it.

"It is said that the merchant's caravan also... had some bad things happen because of that stardust. I am glad that I did not take the risk. It is a very dangerous thing, especially when it involves the old gods and the fog..."

Ranmir showed a slightly terrified expression.

...To tell the truth, he was probably terrified by what happened at Hales House last year. "The Curse of Stardust" might become his nightmare in this life, even if it didn't really happen.

Therefore, this businessman who originally liked to do business in the Land of Embers has basically stayed in Lamifa City honestly for the past six months, studying the business within the city and between countries.

Benton didn't laugh at him about it, but just patted him on the shoulder and said in a low voice, "Old friend, you're not too young, it's time to settle down. You've made a lot of money, but in the end, You've lost a lot, too."

Ranmir was stunned for a moment, then he shook his head and said, "I know about it... Now that I think about it, I was able to get acquainted with Professor Noel because of my useless son."

Siles could not help turning his thoughts to Ranmeer's son.

He had just been thinking about the old church that Ranmeer had mentioned.Based on the information he had learned, he was able to draw a more definite conclusion than Langmier—he thought that the Church in the past probably wanted to take this opportunity to investigate Fuliouhai.

Of course, they may not choose to be too reckless, based on the reminder of Bishop Elizabeth.But after all, this is an opportunity.

However, now the north of the Never Ember Land, and even the entire Ever Land, have become chaotic.Siles very much doubted whether the actions of the church in the past at this time would add fuel to the flames.

Ranmere's words made Sirius's thoughts break away from the church in the past.He thought of Ranmere's son.

Until now, he did not know the young man's name.However, shortly after he came to this world, he bought Friedman's travel notes from the young man, and also got Langmeer's business card from him.

Langmeer sighed, and he said to Siles: "You have seen him too...he is a not very obedient boy. I wanted him to go into business with me, but he was not very interested in it." , fooling around with his group of fox friends and dog friends all day long.

"His mother can't control him, and I'm not at home all year round. In my memory, he was still a child who could be picked up with one hand, but now..."

Ranmir shook his head with a wry smile.It seems that this big businessman also has a lot of headaches about children's education.

Benton laughed: "He is already taller than you!"

Ranmir seemed to want to smile wryly, but he couldn't help laughing at the end. He sighed and said, "Yes, time..."

The middle-aged man laments that his child has grown up.It just so happened that the meal they ordered came up at this time.The emotion in Ranmier's heart was interrupted, so he looked at Sirius and said, "I almost forgot, there is a very young professor here!"

Siles smiled helplessly.

Langmeer did not discuss the meaning of raising future generations with Siles.He turned to say: "About the Everland, that's about it. However, these are basically news from a week or two ago.

"We are in the city of Ramifa, so we don't know exactly what the situation in the Land of Embers is like right now. I hope this matter won't make a big fuss, after all, I'm still counting on the seafood from the sea in the north."

This is already the second time he mentioned seafood today.

Benton said with some surprise: "Is the seafood really so delicious?"

"I ate it once, and it was really delicious." Ranmier showed a longing expression.

However, the reactions of Siles and Benton were very indifferent, and Benton even opened his eyes wide to look at Langmire.

Ranmir asked a little uncomfortably, "What?"

"Uh, old man, do you remember the Grayson incident?"

Ranmir: "..."

His complexion fluctuated, and finally, he laughed dryly twice and said, "I just...uh...just thought it was delicious."

Obviously, he also began to doubt his mentality.

Siles thought about this because he thought of Heard's performance in the dream.After all, if the island whale is the paradise of Temiafa, the god of gluttony and lust, then this old god seems to have something to do with seafood.

... Of course, you don't need to tell Ranmeer about this.

Benton laughed too.Instead of teasing his old friend, he turned to chatting with Siles about something serious.

He talked about the publication of the collection of novels The Dreaming Adventures of Miss Garland.About the beginning of June, this novel will be finished, but that is the end of the newspaper.

Before that, Benton still wanted to preheat the publication of the full book in advance, and finish the publication of the full book when the finished article in the newspaper was released, or even earlier.

The response of Siles' novel in La Mifa City is not bad, especially among young children.When the adults read the newspaper, they are occasionally happy to tell the story to the children.

And the children spread Miss Garland's story to each other, so some adults who were not interested in related newspapers turned to subscribe to this newspaper in order to tell the children at home about the development of the story.

If the newspaper happens to have a section that adults are interested in, then such a subscription will naturally turn into a long-term one.It's a pretty good virtuous cycle.

Therefore, after Benton mentioned the publication, he also took the opportunity to ask Siles about his plans for the new novel.

Silles paused for a moment, and then said very sincerely: "I don't have any ideas yet."

Benton was deeply sorry, but he didn't mean to urge.

But in fact, Siles not only has no idea about new novels for the time being, he also doesn't plan to continue serializing novels in newspapers in the future.

When he was serializing Miss Garland's story, he also fell into an unprecedented busyness. Finding time every week to conceive and write the content of the novel did consume a lot of his energy.

In addition, as he gradually discovers the truth of this world, he has a hunch that this kind of busyness will not disappear in the future, but will intensify instead.Therefore, he may not be able to shift his attention to how to create a novel, especially serialization, in a short time.

He might be able to finish a novel slowly and without a sense of urgency, but forget about serialization.

Benton then talked about adapting Miss Garland's story into a screenplay.He said there was no problem with that, of course, but he specifically asked if Siles would like to entrust this matter to a certain theater company, or to adapt it himself and select actors, etc.

The dramas in Lamifa City, including dramas, musicals, dance dramas, etc., have a good audience, especially for people in the East City.Siles and Cindo would occasionally go to see popular plays when they were dating.

Therefore, the city has a mature system of theaters, troupes, repertoires and so on.Siles could indeed entrust everything to them, and he was only responsible for providing the original novel.

But after thinking about it for a moment, he realized that if he wanted to use this to further grasp the power of Akamala, then he might really have to participate in it himself.

So he sighed in his heart and said, "I see, I will participate."

"Then I'm waiting for your good news." Benton said with a smile, "If you have adapted the script, then I can recommend some suitable troupes and theaters for you."

Ranmeer added: "If you're interested in this, my son may be able to help. He likes to hang out with those underachievers."

Siles was surprised to learn this.Seeing his interest, Ranmeer explained something about his child in depth.

His son was named Carlos Ranmier.It's an exotic name.

When Langmeer was doing business abroad, he negotiated a big deal with a foreigner, and it happened that his wife got pregnant news; so he named his child with the typical name of this country.

But perhaps because of the origin of this "business", Carlos is not interested in business at all.He is very fond of those cultural arts, especially theatrical performances.

But he himself has no talent for acting, and the friends he knows—according to Langmire, friends who are friends—are also young actors who have no ambitions.

Carlos is a very ambitious young man; he is not willing to accept his father's sponsorship, and is determined to rely on his own ability to be famous in the city of Ramifa.He used his pocket money to buy a small abandoned theater, where his favorite plays were staged.

But most of the repertoires he likes are very niche and not very popular with ordinary audiences; occasionally when he is short of money, he will keep up with the trend and stage some well-known and popular repertoires.

The worse situation is the scene where Siles once met Carlos - he will take out some unnecessary things at home and sell them.This was of course his parents' default, but Carlos was a little uncomfortable doing it.

...In general, this is a young man who still lives under the protection of his parents.

Langmire mentioned that he had greeted some well-known theaters and troupes in the city and asked them to make it easier for Carlos Langmire; otherwise, Carlos would not have known so many young actors and even let them come to his Performances in small theaters.

As he spoke, Ranmier showed a little thoughtfulness: "However, Professor, I can trust you. If you can really put my Carlos on the right track and at least learn to recognize the reality, that would be great But that's all."

Siles was noncommittal.Ranmeer is a very realistic businessman, and he naturally hopes that his children will inherit the family business.But Carlos is obviously unwilling.Siles didn't think it was necessary for him to get involved in such a family dispute.

Ranmere said: "I'll let him write you a letter, perhaps. At any rate, he knows more about the drama in town than we all do."

Siles thanked Ranmere.

They then stopped talking about business and concentrated on eating and chatting about everyday things.

After lunch, they bid farewell to each other.Benton smiled and said, "Professor, the publishing house is already sorting out your manuscript, just waiting for an ending."

Siles: "..."

He nodded slowly, and said in a low voice, "I see."

In a different world, he still couldn't escape the fate of being urged to write.novelist.

He quickly put the matter behind him.Walking from Atherton Square to 18 Howesville Street, it was evident to him that the weather was much more gloomy in the afternoon than it was in the morning.The air seemed a bit stuffy, and people were in a hurry.

Maybe it will rain tonight.he thinks.

But this is the summer in La Mifa City, with uncertain weather, cold and warm intertwined.People have to carry an umbrella with them when they go out, just in case.

When Siles arrived at the party, his companions had already arrived, but today he was the last to arrive.

When Siles entered, they seemed to be chatting about some trivial matters of life.Eric mentioned that he now lives at 13 Milford Street, where his wife helps as a landlady.

He talked about the couple in the middle bedroom on the second floor, because their wife was pregnant, so they were planning to find a house that was more suitable for a family of three.This topic led them to talk about family, marriage and other things.

Apparently, Mrs. Fuller could pick up the conversation easily on this topic, while Angela and Darrell just stared at each other like they were listening to something funny.

The arrival of Siles sets the stage for their conversation.

"Sorry, I'm a little late." Siles apologized to them.

"It's nothing, Professor." Mrs. Fuller said, with a mixture of pleasure and worry, "Eric found some useful information, and we are planning to discuss it when you come."

Siles looked curiously at the few pieces of paper on the table in front of them, and then sat down.

Eric briefly recounted his findings: "After the incident 21 years ago, the revelators in the second corridor did investigate the relationships around the deceased.

"The name of the deceased was Neil Atherton. Mr. Atherton was a man of the right age, so he dated many young girls, but none of them succeeded in establishing a stable relationship."

There was something old-fashioned about Eric's statement.

Eric also said: "These young ladies basically only had a relationship with Mr. Atherton once. As for the others, the only women that Mr. Atherton can come into contact with in his daily life are the teachers in the conservatory. , a colleague of Mr. Atherton's.

"I looked through the file carefully and found the name of the conservatory. Coincidentally, there is a young Enlightenment student studying in that conservatory in the second corridor..."

Having said that, Eric paused, as if recalling the young man's name.

Siles looked at the papers thoughtfully, and whispered, "Larry Lampson?"

So Eric looked at Siles in surprise, and he said, "Yes! Professor, you actually know?"

"He once participated in my previous experiment on the subject." Siles explained, "and he has a good relationship with Alva."

The other people present also knew about Alva, after all, they knew how popular Noel Solitaire was in Ramifa City.But this coincidence did make them feel a little surprised.

"I do know that he praised the 'self-reappearance' ceremony, but I didn't expect him to have participated in your experiment before." Eric exclaimed, "This is really a coincidence."

Siles nodded, he did think it was quite a coincidence.At the same time, he also suspects that there may be other coincidental elements in this file.

After marveling for a moment, Eric turned the topic back to business: "Anyway, I asked Larry some questions about this college, especially Mr. Atherton's colleagues mentioned in the file.

"Some are still teaching in the college, and some have retired. They didn't show any abnormalities. Larry also specially helped to investigate several of the teachers and confirmed that they are living normally now."

Siles nodded and said, "So, the women around Mr. Atherton are fine."

Eric hesitated, then said, "I'm not sure if this is useful, but I thought I'd mention it to you. I looked more closely at the conversations the investigators had with the people involved during the investigation, and they seemed both at the same time