Hearing the earl's question, Shade immediately denied it:
"No, no, I'm just a writer, not a Detective. Besides, even a Detective couldn't possibly discover an ancient Graveyard from before the epochs so easily. What I wanted to ask was, when was the Granger Family's current Graveyard established?"
Great noble families with such a long Inheritance usually had their own family Graveyard, or reserved a separate area within a Public Cemetery for the family's tombs.
Earl Granger considered it:
"The current family Graveyard is together with the Randall River Valley Public Cemetery. Both were established around Common Calendar 1500, so they have a history of roughly three hundred years. The previous family Graveyard was destroyed by the famous Randall River Valley Earthquake of 1498."
Shade had also heard of that earthquake while investigating local legends. It had been the most severe earthquake in local recorded history. However, given the region's status as the Material World Earth Center, such an earthquake should not have occurred. Therefore, what happened three centuries ago was very strange.
"We used to have our own family cemetery. Even I don't know how far back the history of that old cemetery can be traced. But the earthquake destroyed everything. Yes, absolutely everything."
"Not even any ruins remained?"
Shade asked. The earl shook his head regretfully:
"That place is very far from the current urban district. I've never been there myself. But my grandfather went there once, and according to him, the place has been completely abandoned."
As he spoke, the earl stood and pointed out the location of the former Granger Family Graveyard on a map hanging in the study. It was northeast of the city. Though it was not in the mountains and lay on the outskirts of the river valley plains, it was still far enough