Chapter 456: The Three Children (Thanks to the “I Have Two Precious Cats” silver alliance)
Fisher walked ahead with a frown, and as he got a little closer, the scenery inside the crimson building gradually revealed itself to their group.
What they saw was quite a spacious courtyard, with the ground paved with gray-blue stone bricks, but on the bricks lay a series of small altars, several in total, with slightly open mouths revealing a hint of blood color inside.
He stepped in and looked at the stacked altars, noticing that the originally closed altars were now half-open, exposing the crimson liquid within.
What was inside was blood.
But this didn’t seem to be the source of the bloody smell they detected.
Just as Fisher turned to search for the source of the smell, Chuan suddenly appeared deep in the courtyard, and Mikhail and Tang Zeming Asuka hurried in, looking towards Chuan’s direction.
“Are you alright?”
To his surprise, lying weakly before him was a golden-haired woman dressed in the style of the Tree Continent.
The woman appeared to be of an older age, around thirty-five to forty, with extremely prominent features and slightly blue eyes, a beautiful face, but through the gap of her golden bangs, Fisher faintly saw a long scar over her right eye, looking like a dark scar inflicted by something scalding.
At this moment, the lady leaned against a stone pillar in the courtyard, her right hand slightly laid at her side, revealing numerous healed knife scars on her pale arms, and among those scars, a fresh wound appeared. In her other hand was the dagger that caused the injury.
Next to her outstretched arm was a small altar identical to the ones Fisher and the others had seen, collecting drops of blood falling from her arm.
“You…”
The woman, looking haggard, heard the call, raised her eyes to Chuan, and then opened her mouth in surprise as if wanting to say something. But Chuan spoke first.
“You’re the elf I encountered earlier. You asked me to help you, so I brought your companions in.”
“Companions?”
The golden-haired woman was briefly taken aback at his words and immediately saw Fisher and the other two standing at the entrance.
As a false companion, Tang Zeming Asuka cautiously hid behind Fisher, who was already preparing a cover story in case she exposed them.
However, after seeing Fisher and the others, the woman shook her head and said, “Yes, they really are my companions. Thank you, Elf Lord.”
Fisher was momentarily stunned, his first reaction being that she had seen through their identities as Trans people, but then he reconsidered.
The woman before them was just an ordinary human, not of Mythical Rank, and she had no items that Fisher could sense, making it unlikely for her to detect the chaos aura around them to ascertain their true identities.
Chuan nodded, showing no suspicion. After a moment’s hesitation, he reached out and waved his hand over the woman’s own, and instantly, the cuts on her body healed back to normal, and all the knife scars disappeared as well.
“I’m called Chuan, just call me Chuan. Why… do you need to bleed and collect the blood? The King keeps you by his side for what purpose…”
Hearing this, the woman smiled wryly and shook her head, saying, “I’m called Margaret, a Trans person not from this world, brought here two years ago as a slave for the Elf King. The Elf King wants my blood, demanding I provide it to him at intervals, so…”
Chuan frowned, looking at the crimson blood in the altar, genuinely puzzled.
“Why does the King…?”
Just then, the Trans person named “Margaret” glanced at Chuan and the others behind him before suddenly speaking in Elvish.
“Lord Chuan, please save me and my companions. I can’t bear this daily blood-draining life any longer. I don’t want to end up like the other slaves. I really have no way out, but there has always been no one else here, only the Elf King…”
“But…”
Chuan seemed to hesitate, but Fisher could see his struggle. As Hela had said before, Chuan was indeed a very unique elf. He was actually pondering how to rescue Margaret and Fisher, even though they had only just met today and had no prior connection.
“But how can I help you? The King is the King. If I take you out, there will be serious consequences. Even now, entering the King’s inner palace on my own is a grave mistake. I have my own kingdom and people; I can’t abandon them just to save you.”
But after a moment’s hesitation, he shook his head again, as he truly had no way to help her.
Margaret fell silent for a moment, then raised her head and said to Chuan, “I have a way that won’t trouble you, and afterward, no one will discover your whereabouts. I want to take you to a place, and once we arrive, you’ll understand. If it’s like that, would you be willing to help me?”
“…Alright.”
Duke Chuan looked at the pitiful, frail woman in front of him and finally nodded, deciding to help her.
He quickly stood up and moved towards the entrance, looking at the empty court outside and saying, “We need to hurry. Lord Bai has taken a doctor to attend to the King, and we don’t know when he will return. If we’re discovered…”
Chuan took the lead out of the spacious courtyard, and Margaret, who had been sitting on the ground, slowly stood up. She truly appeared weak; to Fisher, she resembled little more than a skeleton after long periods of bloodletting, with not much flesh on her cheeks, looking quite pitiful.
Margaret walked slowly toward the gate of the courtyard, turning to look at Fisher and the others still standing there, and asked, “Aren’t you… coming with us?”
Tang Zeming Asuka opened her mouth at this, bluntly retorting, “Margaret, ma’am? You clearly haven’t seen us before, so why…”
Fisher and Mikhail also turned to her, but to their surprise, the frail woman briefly paused at Tang Zeming Asuka’s question, then smiled a little and stepped closer to her.
Just as Mikhail and Fisher tensed, with Fisher gripping the Fluid Sword in his arms, Margaret suddenly spoke.
“Child, how old are you this year?”
“Eh? Huh?”
Tang Zeming Asuka paused for a moment before answering, “Seventeen years old.”
“Seventeen years old, huh.”
In Fisher’s and Mikhail’s surprised gazes, Margaret suddenly reached out to touch Tang Zeming Asuka’s face, then smiled and said, “I once had a daughter, and if she were alive this year, she would be about your age, also seventeen.”
“Eh?”
Tang Zeming Asuka, who had been stepping back, stopped at Margaret’s words, allowing the frail woman’s fingers to slowly brush her cheek.
Margaret examined Tang Zeming Asuka’s height and face carefully, and reluctantly withdrew her hand, murmuring, “I wonder if she would be as tall as you when she reached your age… Well, that’s a bit off-topic; I’m sorry. However, I haven’t seen you before; it’s possible you are other slaves who escaped from the other side. If that’s the case, bringing one more person to escape wouldn’t be a problem, right?”
Other slaves from the other side?
Fisher narrowed his eyes at the outside. So, aside from the Trans person Margaret, there were indeed other slaves imprisoned in the Elf King’s inner courtyard?
Yes, he had heard earlier that the Elf King had developed a taste for offering slaves, prompting many of the elf nobles to follow suit.
And Duke Bai likely angered the Elf King by not offering a single slave, which resulted in him being summoned to Jianmu Palace for a scolding today, only to inadvertently stumble upon Margaret hiding in the Elf King’s courtyard.
In reality, it should have been Margaret conspiring with Chuan to steal the Tears of the World Tree, and Margaret’s promise was fulfilled. Although how it was done remained unclear, Duke Chuan had truly not exposed himself.
After saying this, Margaret struggled to walk outside but found her legs extremely weak, making it difficult even to take a few steps. She could only awkwardly turn back to Tang Zeming Asuka and request, “Um, child, I can’t walk very well. Could you… help me a little?”
“Uh, okay, sure!”
Tang Zeming Asuka was somewhat stunned. After hearing Margaret’s request, she first glanced at Fisher, and upon seeing he was not opposed to it, she pursed her lips and approached Margaret to support her emaciated body.
“Thank you, child.”
“No need to thank me, Margaret, ma’am.”
Tang Zeming Asuka smiled slightly at Margaret, who looked at her many more times before reluctantly pulling her gaze away.
After meeting up with Duke Chuan outside, Margaret pointed out a direction, and the group headed towards where she indicated.
Supporting Margaret’s slim frame, Tang Zeming Asuka glanced at her profile in silence and could not help but ask, “Margaret, you just said if she reached my age, what…”
“Ah, well.” Margaret’s expression darkened for a moment, seemingly not wanting to elaborate but only said, “My child passed away when she was five years old.”
“I’m really sorry, Margaret, ma’am.”
Margaret smiled faintly and shook her head, saying nothing, quietly leading Fisher and the others deeper into Jianmu Palace.
“Why is it so empty in the inner courtyard? There’s nothing here.”
As they went deeper, getting closer to the place where the Elf King usually resided, the surroundings remained barren. Chuan looked at the empty palaces around him and couldn’t help but ask.
Margaret smiled bitterly at his words and replied, “Maybe there used to be, but now there surely isn’t.”
Even Fisher felt it strange that they could walk so freely in the lair of a Nineteen Rank mythical being, like they were at home, which was very bizarre.
The defenses outside the spatial rift were extremely tight, as demonstrated by how they had to go through various means to replace the doctor that Gouwen brought in; but in stark contrast was the emptiness within Jianmu Palace.
There’s an old saying, ‘strange happenings must have their causes.’ Fisher felt there had to be a special reason behind this.
Otherwise, if Margaret said that there were places for storing slave offerings in Jianmu Palace, why was it still so quiet, with not a sound to be heard?
As they ventured deeper, a magnificent door appeared before Fisher and the others.
The door was exceedingly tall and tightly shut, so Fisher could only see the condition of the door itself.
“Behind this door is where the Elf King usually resides. The key to helping me escape lies within.”
As Margaret spoke, she touched the enormous door, turning back to Chuan and saying, “When there were still people in the palace, this door was opened daily by the Elf King’s servants. Since the palace became empty, the Elf King’s comings and goings rely on a certain teleportation method to bypass it. However, because of this, even if we open this door, the Elf King will not notice. Lord Chuan, the method I speak of lies within; I will explain to you once we get inside. Please trust me, okay?”
Fisher looked up at the enormous wooden door and soon discovered its uniqueness.
He noticed that the door seemed etched with three huge, unique petal patterns, with the entire door made of three parts, using three kinds of unique woods. Fisher wasn’t a wood expert, so he couldn’t identify the three types, but he saw that the wood on the left was adorned with many branches blooming with pink flowers.
Those were peach blossoms.
“On this door…”
Chuan also gazed at the giant door, his hands clenched tightly, and his breathing became rapid.
Perhaps even he didn’t expect to act so boldly today.
“This is the ‘Supreme Door,’ the most noble symbol of our race. It is made of three types of wood, representing three great beings, the three earliest-born elf races.”
“Isn’t it said that the Elf King is the earliest-born elf?”
Fisher couldn’t help but ask, but Chuan shook his head and pointed at the three types of wood.
“No, the Mother was initially like the main god, creating the three most heartfelt elves. Moreover, the King is not actually the one who was born first. The first born is ‘Peach.’ Lord Peach is the oldest of all elven races; next is the King, ‘G,’ who possesses the greatest authority. Although he received the least grace from the Mother of the three, he is the most caring and concerned for his kind among all elves, thus being supported by the Mother and accepted as King.”
Then, Chuan moved his finger from the highest piece of wood, pointing to the right again.
“After that is the youngest Lord of the three, ‘Ch.’ But the Lord Ch disappeared long ago and did not, like us, receive a fief or a kingdom. It is said that she could see the end of the future, which is probably why she is different from all of us elves.”
As Fisher listened, his pupils suddenly shrank, looking in disbelief at Chuan beside him.
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(End of chapter)
