Ye Chui and Debbie squatted on either side of the lifeless body of the divine envoy Jamil, who had died with his eyes wide open.
“His clothes look like they’re made of fine material, probably worth quite a bit, right?” Ye Chui said, fingering the sleeve of the envoy’s robe. As a divine envoy of the church, Jamil wore specially crafted garments imbued with blessings, certainly not ordinary items.
“This Bible is the real treasure. The Bibles used by church officials are blessed in front of the church’s sacred statue. I’ve heard they’re highly sought after on the black market,” Debbie said cautiously, picking up the Bible.
Watching the two prepare to strip Jamil of all his valuables, Gilga, standing nearby, couldn’t hold back. “Miss Debbie, Mr. Ye Chui, please show some restraint. I think we should at least show him some basic respect…”
“Wow, a purple gold coin card!” Debbie’s exclamation cut Gilga off. She had pulled a peculiar card from Jamil’s body. The card was purple with faint golden patterns and a row of numbers in the centre. Ye Chui didn’t recognise it, but Debbie clearly did. “This is a gold coin card used by the Goblin Bank to store gold coins. The purple ones have a limit of ten thousand gold coins… look at these numbers, wow, there’s over eight thousand gold coins in here!”
Debbie’s face lit up with joy, as if she’d struck it rich.
Gilga, who had been about to protest, faltered and instead exclaimed, “Over eight thousand gold coins, that’s a lot of gold!” As a gold-obsessed swordswoman, whether in life or as a heroic spirit, gold held an irresistible allure for her.
Ye Chui, curious, took the gold coin card and asked strangely, “They even have gold coin cards here? What’s the deal with the Goblin Bank?”
“The Goblin Bank is a bank spread across the entire continent, founded by the goblin race in ancient times. After the goblins went extinct, humans took over the bank, and it’s been passed down ever since,” Debbie explained briefly. She continued rummaging through Jamil’s belongings, her face beaming. “This envoy was carrying such a huge sum. We’ve hit the jackpot this time. This is the thrill of adventuring, you never know when you’ll stumble upon a windfall.”
Ye Chui couldn’t help but remind her, “I think what we’re doing right now is more like robbery than adventuring…”
“Same thing,” Debbie said, casually equating the two. It seemed the girl had a natural talent for banditry. She continued, “But the Goblin Bank only operates in big cities. To cash out this gold coin card, we’ll need to go to a nearby major city.”
“Then Windrock City, the closest to Stan Town, should do,” Ye Chui nodded. Windrock City was three or four hundred miles east of Stan Town, one of the few large cities on the Elf Plain. He thought of something. “Can you just withdraw gold with the card? Isn’t there any identity verification or anything?”
“Identity verification? What’s that? Of course it’s not that complicated. They only recognise the card, not the person,” Debbie said, shaking her head. “Some large merchant groups use gold coin cards directly as currency.”
“Fair enough…”
This world was different, after all. The gold coin card was somewhat like the silver notes of ancient China. Ye Chui stored the card and the Bible in his storage space, then found a few more gold coins on Jamil, but nothing else of value.
As for Jamil’s clothes, Ye Chui wasn’t mad enough to strip them off.
He stood up and waved to Dragon Treasure nearby. “Put him to rest.”
Under the black dragon flame, Jamil’s body turned to ash and vanished without a trace.
Gilga couldn’t help but comment from the side, “Killing, robbing, and burning the body. It’s a shame you lot aren’t professional bandits…”
“Next time, you’d better find me a stronger magical beast to devour. This kind of weakling does little for my growth,” Dragon Treasure’s hoarse, muffled voice complained to Ye Chui, unimpressed with the opponent this time.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you get to devour something worthwhile next time,” Ye Chui said with a smile, patting Dragon Treasure’s large head.
With a roar, Dragon Treasure vanished.
Next, Ye Chui and Debbie gathered around the corpse of the flying magical beast Dugo. Their eyes sparkled. This was a real prize, delicious, far more tempting than the finest steak, and packed with nutritional value that could greatly boost human magical power and immunity. With Gilga’s help, they carved up the beast into pieces and stored it all in Ye Chui’s storage space.
For a long time to come, they’d be enjoying delicious magical beast roasts…
This place was about a hundred miles from Stan Town. The carriage they’d arrived in had completely fallen apart, and even if it hadn’t, they probably wouldn’t want to endure that nauseating speed and thrill again.
So they decided to walk back, hoping to catch a ride along the way.
But luck wasn’t on their side. They hadn’t gone far when the unpredictable weather of the plains showed its might. Fierce winds began to howl, and a storm was about to pour down.
Ye Chui and Debbie panicked for a moment, but fortunately, a village soon came into view.
The village wasn’t abandoned. Outside, Ye Chui saw patches of golden wheat fields.
The village was small and seemed quite old, with a few simple, rundown farmhouses clustered together, a narrow path winding between them. Ye Chui and Debbie sent Gilga back to the heroic spirit world and entered the village. They soon encountered a villager hurrying along, clutching some bundles. The wind-whipped sand nearly caused him to collide with Ye Chui.
“Oops, you’re outsiders? I don’t know what’s going on today, but people keep showing up one after another,” the middle-aged farmer exclaimed in a slightly odd accent. “This blasted weather, you two better come with me to the cellar to take shelter. You’ll be in trouble if you stay out in this wind and rain.”
“Thanks, we were out travelling and didn’t expect this weather,” Ye Chui said quickly. He’d heard from Los about adventuring experiences, knowing that in bad weather, the best option was to take shelter in a nearby village. Most villages surviving in the wilderness had cellars built to weather disasters.
And the villagers were usually simple and kind to outsiders.
“You’re from Stan Town, I bet? That’s a good hundred miles from here,” the farmer said through the howling wind, leading them to a house. He lifted a slanted board, revealing a staircase descending below.
Faint light flickered from within, and the air felt stuffy. Voices could be heard inside.
Ye Chui, recalling the farmer’s earlier words, asked curiously, “You mentioned others have come besides us?”
“Indeed, some big shots from Windrock City,” the farmer explained as he led the way. “They’re said to be personal guards of Lord Kevin, heading to Stan Town for some business. Got caught in this awful weather, so they had to take shelter here.”
Lord Kevin’s personal guards, heading to Stan Town?
Ye Chui and Debbie froze, exchanging a glance.
Could it be about Mayor Cass?
Cass had secretly been involved with Lord Kevin’s daughter, Windsor, but Lord Kevin disapproved of him. He’d made Cass mayor of Stan Town, claiming it was to let him prove himself before marrying his daughter. But secretly, he’d sent the shadow swordsman Tumu to spy on Cass and kill him. Now that Tumu was dead, their trip to Stan Town seemed to have an obvious purpose.
The cellar was spacious, dug out by the village to shelter from weather disasters. Nearly the entire village of over a hundred people was crammed inside, making it stiflingly hot. The cries of a few children added to the irritation. In one corner sat five finely dressed individuals, surrounded by an empty space, clearly kept clear by the other villagers. The five wore expressions of impatience and disdain.
Noticing Ye Chui and Debbie’s arrival, all five turned to look at them warily.
