Free Web NovelChapter 227: Chapter 225: Beaten After Endless Hardship
In Emilia’s tent.
After Hilia and Elina sat down, she placed a magic crystal on the tent flap and activated the runes on the tent.
Hilia immediately recognized it as a sound insulation array, used to isolate the interior from exterior sounds.
For Hilia, such a small array was virtually useless, as the Mage’s Hand could easily breach it.
But it should be able to prevent most people from eavesdropping.
Instead of breaking the array, Hilia had another thought—
Using a sound insulation array in your own camp, who are you trying to guard against?
Such a mystery!
Hilia had a bold idea.
Of course, she decided to implement this bold idea later; for now, she decided to have a friendly chat with Emilia.
After setting up the sound insulation array, Emilia sat down in front of the two, all three at the same table.
"Miss Elina and Miss Hilia, I’ve learned from a friend that you are the two adventurers who explored the relic before me, and I’d like to exchange exploration insights with you."
Emilia looked at the two, quickly getting to the point:
"I don’t know what you encountered, but let me first talk about my experience. After leading my team into the relic, we encountered a three-dimensional maze formed by countless paths. We found 22 treasure chests inside; half were ultra-rare Hearts of the Magic Puppet, and the other half were bowls for holding the Hearts..."
Emilia carefully observed Hilia and Elina’s expressions as she spoke.
The two exchanged a glance, and Hilia said, "Similar to what we encountered, the difference was, the contents of our chests weren’t Hearts of the Magic Puppet but pure magic crystals."
Emilia quickly asked, "Then what happened? Did you put the pure magic crystals in the bowls?"
The two nodded.
Emilia asked again, "Then how did you deal with those two guards?"
The two merely smiled and didn’t answer.
Seeing their expressions, Emilia immediately knew they had passed this stage.
As to why they didn’t say...
Emilia shared how her team gathered the bowls and Hearts of the Magic Puppet and placed them on eleven trays.
After placing them, the two guards’ eyes glowed red, their heads moving, and lasers shot wildly from their eyes, forcing her team to dodge constantly.
Dodging under the guards’ feet was useless; they would lift a leg to stomp.
As the guards moved, the expanded path also merged, leaving her team unable to retreat, forced to withstand the attack.
Of course, Emilia tried to attack, but no matter what attack was used, it had no effect. The guards’ materials seemed to be the hardest stone in the world, impossible to destroy.
The assault continued until the red glow in the guards’ eyes faded and disappeared, finally stopping the attack.
Thanks to Emilia’s elite mercenary team, there were no casualties, but two of their magic puppets were crushed beyond use.
After completing the attack, the path reopened, and they retraced their steps back to their entry point, emerging directly outside the relic through the mist.
Hearing Emilia’s account, Hilia couldn’t help but feel relieved.
Luckily, Rose reminded them at the last moment, otherwise they too would have faced the guards’ fierce attack.
Though Hilia was confident she could manage like Emilia, suffering only minor injuries, spending eight hours without clearing the stage and ending up with a beating...
Thinking about it felt so frustrating!
After Emilia finished speaking, she looked at the two: "Name your price, you two."
Hilia held up two fingers.
Emilia frowned: "Two hundred gold coins? That’s too expensive. I don’t think the entrance trial alone warrants so many gold coins."
Hilia, Elina: "?"
You siblings are quite extreme.
Elina said, "It’s 20 gold coins."
In light of Emilia’s honesty, Hilia didn’t hike up the price for her.
Emilia seemed relieved, nodding without hesitation: "Alright, no problem, I can manage 20 gold coins." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom
With that, she took out a string of gold coins from beneath the table, selecting 20 coins and placing them on the table.
"I love dealing with straightforward people like you." Hilia smiled broadly, taking the gold coins: "The reason you were attacked was because you missed two key details..."
Hilia shared the walkthrough with Emilia, who suddenly realized: "Ah, this relic’s traps are truly...unique."
After listening to Hilia and Elina’s strategy, Emilia’s expression was colorful, experiencing the frustration and disappointment of being so close to success, only to fail completely due to oversight, much like scoring perfectly throughout a road test but losing all points for parking incorrectly.
Nonetheless, after hearing Hilia’s explanation, she regained her confidence.
"In this way, I will be the first to enter the new relic besides you!"
With gold coins collected and walkthrough shared, Hilia and Elina stood to say goodbye and leave.
Before leaving, Hilia remembered her bold idea and asked: "Miss Emilia, I want to ask you something."
"Please go ahead."
"Can I sell this information to your brother Pascal?"
Emilia frowned: "What did you say? I didn’t hear clearly."
"I want to sell it to your brother for 40 gold coins a share."
Emilia’s frown eased: "Of course you can, but you’ll need to wait until after I depart tomorrow to sell. But knowing him, he might not buy."
"As long as Miss Emilia gives her approval, whether he buys it is our concern."
"Alright, I agree, as long as you can make the sale. But I also have a request, which I don’t know if you can fulfill."
"What request?"
"After you sell it, make this clue public so everyone can enter the relic."
Hilia shook her head: "That’s not good, we can’t do that."
"Let me handle it, as long as you consent to it, after I return tomorrow, I’ll make it public immediately!"
Hilia didn’t speak, she looked at Elina.
She was originally offering it for free, and it depended on Elina’s thoughts.
Elina thought for a moment and said: "Hiding it serves no purpose, and soon enough, others will figure it out anyhow, better to make it public."
"Good, thank you for accommodating, thereby also reducing mercenary casualties..."
Not long after Hilia and Elina left, Pascal arrived at Emilia’s tent.
"Sister, did you happen to buy the relic information from them?"
Emilia said calmly: "Yes, so what?"
"Sister, foolish! There’s no need to buy it. You could have pieced together the information from your adventure, or handed it to your brother if you lacked confidence."
"The money’s already spent, why should I go back and demand it from them?"
Emilia got up and left the tent.
Her sleeping tent wasn’t this one; this tent was for receiving guests.
Pascal immediately followed, "Sister, since you’ve bought it, why not share it with your brother? We’ll explore together."
Emilia paused: "I’ll tell you my experience, and then you can figure out how to extract the information on your own."
"What do you mean by that?"
"Though father’s intent is for me to lead you, given the unique nature of this relic, having you tag along would only make you an inconsequential accessory. Why not assemble your own team to enter the relic... If you’re too cowardly, forget what I said."
"I can assemble a team; just give me the intel..."
"100 gold coins."
"Why don’t you just rob me?"
"I am robbing you, aren’t I?"
"You... Fine, Emilia, don’t think that I can’t do it without you. I am a Curse Master after all, watch and see!"
