Chapter Ninety-Nine: Mutton Fat

Faced with Aemya's confusion, Qin Le offered no lengthy explanation. The reasons were too tangled, even he could not untangle them.

All he knew was this: if this dark sorcery could truly extend life at a low cost, then the consequences would be endless.

Human life, at times, was worth less than nothing.

With a grave expression, Qin Le said to Aemya, "Aemya, this is my personal request. Please help me keep this quiet for now, and do not tell anyone else."

"Huh? What's there to hide?" Aemya's confusion only deepened, but seeing how unusually serious he was, she nodded in agreement. "Fine, no problem. Still, once this thing leaves the Dawn Kingdom, anyone with a bit of power can get it from the black market anyway."

"Then let us keep it hidden for as long as we can," Qin Le said. He did not expect to keep it secret forever; he only wanted to seal off the information for a little while. It was enough if only those few above knew about it.

Not a database entry for hundreds to see.

As long as those few were informed, they would surely recognize the danger and devise a sound plan, one far steadier than anything he could manage alone.

In the end, the corpse had completely rotted away, leaving only a heap of black dust.

The forensic doctors in charge of the dissection began cleaning up the remaining ash.

Qin Le and the others left the tent and returned to the castle, heading straight for the cellar.

On the way back to base, Aemya found an excuse to send Olina away.

By then, the entire cellar floor had been pried open, revealing a three-meter-long hidden door before them. It was rectangular in shape and made of some kind of brown wood.

It gave off a dim, ancient air, as though a demon were sealed behind it.

A soldier was trying to saw through the wooden door with a chainsaw, yet to everyone's astonishment, the door remained utterly unharmed.

Qin Le stepped closer and asked, "What's going on?"

The soldier turned and replied, "Report, sir. For some reason, we can't seem to make contact with the door at all."

As he spoke, he again pressed the chainsaw toward it. The whirring blade seemed to have reached the wooden surface.

Yet upon closer inspection, it had only come infinitely close.

Qin Le lightly stamped the door a couple of times. It felt no different from stepping on the floor, yet the sound was not like wood at all.

It was just like an invisible wall in a game.

"This is some sort of isolation spell. You can't touch it," Aemya said, stepping forward. Qin Le tactfully moved aside.

At the same time, he asked, "So you came here for this?"

At first, Qin Le had only been trying his luck, assuming the cellar must hide some secret, perhaps even a noble's treasure vault. He had not expected to actually uncover something. One could only say that the shameless elf truly never moved without profit in mind.

Thinking of her former line of work, Qin Le suddenly found the door less surprising.

"At the beginning, I only wanted to steal... ahem, borrow the nobleman's private savings. Since he's dead, keeping it would be useless anyway," Aemya said as she crouched down slightly and pressed a hand against the invisible wall.

She closed her eyes, and her spiritual sense slowly spread outward, entering the spell corridor beneath.

"This spell corridor is really crude. Whoever made it must not have much of a brain," Aemya said, opening her eyes and turning to Qin Le with a foxlike smile. "Qin Le, this counts as an extra service."

Qin Le nodded very straightforwardly. "The valuables are yours. Everything else belongs to the Arcane Order."

He had long since grown used to this elf's greedy nature, and her abilities were genuinely formidable. The Order did not mind letting her take a little more profit. Mutual gain was the long-term way.

"Uh... are you really that easygoing? What if there are a lot, a lot of coins down there?" Aemya grew a little embarrassed at his bluntness.

"What could a mere viscount possibly have?"

"Fair enough."

Once the promised reward was secured, Aemya's enthusiasm immediately soared. She pressed both hands against the invisible wall, a flash of light glinting in her eyes. Then, a crisp crack rang in everyone's ears.

Crash!

Like breaking glass, the invisible wall vanished, and Aemya's hands touched the wooden door.

"Can we go in now?" Qin Le asked.

Aemya gave a slight nod. "This binding is extremely rough. It's basically just a twist lock, something anyone with hands could manage. But I should warn you: if I'm not mistaken, what's below should be a production workshop. I suggest you prepare yourselves."

"A production workshop?"

"The black market calls it a Lamb Processing Plant. What you uncovered in the royal capital before was, in part, one of these."

Qin Le took a deep breath, already forming some guesses in his mind. "This world seems far darker than I imagined."

"No, this is the norm. The Dawn Kingdom is the exception," Aemya said with a faint shake of her head, her eyes lowered and flickering with a strange light.

"Even the elven race is filled with this filth. The only difference is that the old geezers wrap it in lofty words. Sacrificing one's life for the elven race really does sound noble..."

A few minutes later, five spearsmen in full gear arrived in the cellar, and the wooden gate slowly opened.

It revealed a staircase, pitch-black, as though leading straight into the abyss.

Led by Aemya, the spear squad entered below, while Qin Le remained above to await news.

Time passed by the minute. No one knew how long had gone by before the entire spear squad returned. No one was injured, but each of them wore a somewhat unpleasant expression.

"No danger whatsoever."

Even the spearsmen rarely showed emotion like this. It seemed the place below was even more "spectacular" than he had imagined.

Escorted by the spearsmen, Qin Le descended the stairs with a heavy heart. After about three minutes, he saw a faint light.

Inside was a rather spacious room, meticulously kept and spotless, with not a trace of rubbish on the floor.

The air was equally clean, carrying no foul smell at all.

Directly ahead stood a giant cauldron, where a sickly green flame boiled the water within until it seethed and roiled.

Heads kept dropping and bobbing up again, while the surface that rose to view was a pale, fatty little lamb.

From the ceiling hung gleaming inverted hooks, on which objects called lambs swayed back and forth.

Their reflections, under the dim light, stretched and lengthened and twisted endlessly.

Qin Le forced down the discomfort rising in his chest and moved to the right wall, where a huge wooden rack stood, lined with one exquisite box after another.

He picked up one of the boxes. Elegant, refined characters were engraved upon it.

[Lamb Tallow]

He opened it. Inside lay a perfectly square, crystal-clear pastry.

"Heh. It's really made beautifully."

...

Levi's domain, Levi City, night.

The city, built against a towering mountain range, rose in layered terraces, with beautiful, lofty buildings leaning against the ridgelines.

At the highest point stood a palace-like castle, with a sloping hanging garden spilling outward, where exotic flowers and rare plants bloomed in profusion.

Under the pure silver moon's gentle radiance, the nobles in their splendid attire followed the music and danced among the flowers.

The three members of the Daina family had already blended into high society. Wearing clothes even Count Daina himself did not possess, they smiled with polished elegance, glasses of wine in hand as they conversed with the surrounding nobles.

"Countess Daina, your husband's valor is truly admirable. He is worthy of his noble status indeed," said a strikingly beautiful lady, lifting her glass in praise.

The Countess Daina looked a little flattered. "You overpraise us. This is only what our family ought to do. Count Levi is the truly wise and formidable one, governing such a vast domain so well and building such a magnificent palace."

Her words were filled with envy.

The scene before her was something she had never even dared to imagine. It was almost like a dream.

"Heh heh heh. If you like it, you may stay a few more days," the glamorous lady said with an elegant laugh, then took out a delicate little wooden box and handed it to Countess Daina.

"This is just a small gift from me."