Leimer, abandoned by his own organization, had spent nearly all the savings he had accumulated over the years trying to solve the problem. Though he had not even managed to learn the true name of those relic Mermaid Statues, a friend had introduced him to a supposedly very capable fortune-teller, who had given him some advice.
"Pirates?"
Shade sat in his chair, staring at the words in his notebook in surprise.
The fortune-teller had sought Guidance of Destiny through divination, and what he had seen were pirates. Those Mermaid Statues would become connected to pirates, and perhaps the method of breaking the curse was related to pirates as well.
Unfortunately, Leimer never had the chance to verify whether the fortune-teller, who had taken 300 pounds in cash from him, had truly seen destiny.
Leimer had accumulated a considerable fortune over the years through illegal smuggling. Unfortunately, he had spent a great deal of gold on divinations to break the curse, while the rest had gone toward purchasing relics capable of dispelling curses. That was why Shade had found so little cash here.
Leimer had carried that relic with him, so it had presumably sunk with him to the bottom of the sea. Therefore, apart from the cash, Shade's gains this time consisted only of the old book Windy Abyss and that Second Ring Warlock's notebook.
Suspecting that there might be hidden compartments here, he used Blood Echo to inspect the room again. Though he did indeed find some concealed Spellcasting Materials behind the bookshelf, most were worthless and inconvenient to carry, so Shade had no intention of taking them.
All in all, this trip had not yielded much. Including the notes and books, selling everything would probably earn around 100 pounds. Since it had all come for free, Shade did