Chapter 2323: Chapter 2324: A Twist of Fate
"Did you find any clues?" Frode quickly asked, "Did you find out who they were sacrificing to?"
According to what Frode learned from Little Sam, at that time, it wasnât just the landowners who were conducting the sacrifice; many nobles in the town were involved as well.
This is a typical collective sacrifice event, primarily involving human offerings, filled with a primitive style. In the historical records of the Wizardsâ Realm, in similar situations, there is a high probability that the object of the ritual was an Evil God from the Otherworld, using the name of sacrifice to deepen their connection to the Wizardsâ Realm and thus enter it.
This kind of situation is quite common in the primitive tribes on the Feran Continent, so every once in a while, various witcher organizations would issue tasks for subordinates to clear out such sacrifice events in Feranâs primitive tribes.
Drue shook his head, "We still donât know who they were sacrificing to."
Frode frowned slightly, "Then the clues you found are...?"
Drue looked slightly awkward, "The clues found by the Knightsâ Order, we still cannot confirm if they are related to the collective sacrifice event, but based on some speculation, there might be a connection weâve yet to discover."
"Oh, what do you mean?"
Drue adjusted his reading glasses, suggesting Frode enter the castle first.
As they walked into Star Lake Castle, Drue began to recount the clues the Royal Knights found in Dawn Town of the Silver Heron Duchy.
Drueâs account was clear and concise, and Frode quickly understood the gist of it.
The matter began with the Knightsâ Orderâs investigation into the landownersâ sacrifice.
Because the Silver Heron Duchy is a subsidiary state of the Central Empire, the Silver Heron royal familyâs Knightsâ Order enjoys a prestigious status there, along with special enforcement rights. Therefore, the Knights went to investigate the landownersâ sacrifice, using their status as leverage, quickly identifying the nobles in Dawn Town involved with the sacrifice.
Unfortunately, the Knights did not find much in the hands of these people. Their sacrifice seemed to come out of nowhere, and questioning them led to no clear answers.
The Knights suspected that it might be that some Otherworldly powerful entity used a memory interference ability; it would probably require an Official Wizard to uncover the clues.
Thus, the Knights first reported this information to Neya.
Because the matter of sacrificing to an Evil God could be either significant or trivial, some Evil Gods are purely curious, while others harbor malevolence towards the Wizardsâ Realm. Regardless of the scale of this sacrifice event, Neya promptly reported it to Hurricane Tower, hoping that they could dispatch an Official Wizard.
Whether an Official Wizard would come, or when, was uncertain for the Knights, so they decided to use this opportunity to continue digging into the secrets of Dawn Town to see if other clues could be found.
However, no issues were found when investigating the noble families and their related enterprises. Many members of the noble families didnât even know someone from their family had participated in the Evil God sacrifice.
At a loss, a knight suggested investigating the slave market.
Since offerings are needed for a sacrifice, they must use living people.
Many nobles participated in the sacrifice, and there were few like Little Sam; most nobles didnât want to make a big issue, so the offerings they used were bought from the slave market in Dawn Town.
As for using servants as offerings, the nobles were unwilling to do so because servants are skilled and trained in etiquette.
Sacrificing a servant who took so many resources to train? Thatâs madness. They are not high-ranking nobles from the dominion who can easily afford it; training a competent servant is time-consuming.
The Knights thought that investigating the slave market might lead to something, so they decided to follow up.
Over the next few days, the Knights conducted a comprehensive investigation of the slave market in Dawn Town, and eventually, they did find some hidden clues.
However, the clue was not directly pointing to the nobility of Dawn Town.
Because this clue related to an incident that occurred thirteen years ago.
The reason they dug up an incident from thirteen years ago was mainly due to its connection with a "Transcendent incident."
According to a staff member of the slave market, thirteen years ago, quite a few slave ships sailed from the Outer Sea to the nearby Dawn Port, around ten or so in total.
At that time, people from Dawn Townâs slave market also went, hoping to acquire some high-quality slavesâtypically, overseas slaves are pricier than local ones, and from overseas, there are also some humanoid race slaves that cater to the peculiar tastes of some nobles, hence their price is even higher.
They indeed found quite a few impressive slaves, but they managed to get only a handful. The vast majority were bought by another secretive buyer.
And this buyer was the one pointed out by the clue.
This buyer was quite strange, spending generously, even offering high prices for many worthless slaves. This naturally made the slave ship merchants willing to sell to him rather than the Dawn Town slave market.
Because of being outbid, the slave market staff paid extra attention to this buyer.
Then they discovered something peculiar: this buyerâs slave selection criteria were quite bizarre.
He wasnât interested in the slaveâs talents, beauty, or illustrious status but rather... their physique and height.
The slaves he purchased all fell within a particular height range; he did not want slaves who were too short or too tall. Even if those slaves were more valuable, he wouldnât even glance at them.
The staff member who discovered this secret began to scheme, thinking their slave market also had many height-range slaves, many of which were slow movers, and selling to this person sounded appealing?
Later, upon further contact, the buyer indeed agreed to purchase them.
During the transaction, the staff member engaged more with the buyer. At the time, nothing seemed amiss; it just seemed like the buyer had a unique fixation on height.
But one time, when a staff member delivered slaves to the buyerâs temporary residence, they discovered that the previously delivered slaves had all disappeared. They clearly hadnât seen the buyer leave, and the disappearance of a large number of slaves should have left tracesâyet there was none.
Additionally, the staff member saw a strange symbol at the buyerâs residence...
"A symbol?" Frode asked, "What symbol?"
Drue shook his head, "I donât know; the staff member forgot."
Frode furrowed his brow. So far, Drueâs story didnât provide any tangible value, and there was nothing related to the so-called "transcendent element." So what was the point of Drue telling this story?
As Frode pondered, Drue continued, "The symbol was odd. The reason the staff member forgot it was not that he wanted to but because his memory was tampered with."
"Oh?"
"According to that staff member, he thought the symbol might have some meaning, potentially leading to the buyerâs identity, so he tried to memorize it to investigate later on."
"However, the symbol itself is not complicated, but whenever he feels like heâs memorized it, the memory of the symbol vanishes the moment he closes his eyes to recall it."
"Itâs as if thereâs some mysterious force within the symbol that prevents it from being remembered in oneâs mind."
Upon hearing Drue say this, Frode felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity in his heart: the symbol that cannot be remembered, isnât that quite similar to...
"Does he have no memory of the symbol at all?" Frode asked.
Drue thought for a moment: "Not entirely. According to him, he can remember the frame around the symbol, but the details inside the frame are completely forgotten."
Frame? Frodeâs eyes lit up, and he quickly asked: "What does this frame look like?"
Drue: "A set of concentric circles, and what seems to be a hexagon."
Frode was stunned for a few seconds, then rapidly turned his head: "Do you have pen and paper?"
Drue nodded, somewhat puzzled, and took out a pen and a small handbook he carried with him.
The handbook was titled "Druâs Handbook," a record of Drueâs experiences with Extraordinary Power, filled with countless tiny words. But Frode had no interest in it, skipping over it directly and flipping to a blank page, where he swiftly drew a symbol with the pen.
What Frode drew was a symbol with concentric circles on the outside, and a standard ceremonial hexagon inside.
Frode asked, "Is the frame of the symbol like this?"
Drue looked at it and nodded, "Yes."
Upon hearing this answer, Frode seemed to understand something, exhaling a long breath.
Drue curiously asked, "Does Master Tyson know this symbol?"
Although it was an incident from thirteen years ago, this symbol is related to Extraordinary Power and might be linked to collective Sacrifice events, so Drue was quite curious about the symbol. If Hurricane Tower sent Official Wizards for investigation, he could provide them with relevant clues.
Frode nodded: "Iâve seen a similar symbol, but I donât think this symbol is related to the collective Sacrifice event. The buyer probably has no connection with the subsequent sacrifices of farmers and others."
"What is Master Tysonâs basis for judgment?" Drue wondered: "Is it because the event happened too long ago?"
Frode shook his head: "No, this symbol, if nothing unexpected, is related to Quest World. And the staff you mentioned, the reason they canât remember the symbol is because it contains the encryption lock of Quest World."
Quest World!
Although Drue was just an apprentice, he had been in the Wizardsâ Realm for decades and knew a few things about Quest World.
It is the plane of Souls!
It exists in a dimension beyond the Material Realm, enduring forever.
Currently, only three immensely powerful Soul families in the Southern Domain can enter or connect with Quest World.
The Sacrifices of the farmers and those in Dawn Town by the nobles were merely minor skirmishes. Such primitive human Sacrifices could only contact Wild Gods from the Otherworld, far from connecting with the ancient dimension of Quest World.
At this point, Drue finally understood why Frode was certain that the event was unrelated to collective Sacrifice, as the levels were worlds apart.
"So, the buyer who has that symbol is a wizard from one of those three Soul families?" Drue speculated.
Frode did not respond, suggesting Drueâs speculation was likely incorrect.
The buyer purchased a large number of slaves with similar heights, possessed a symbol from Quest World, and all this happened over a decade ago... It was similar to the altar in the cave!
In that cave, there were three hundred and sixty small caverns, with each cavern containing a sitting skeleton, each skeleton having a similar height and build.
This was a Sacrifice ritual, and the ritual required strict standards. The height range was one of the crucial conditions for Sacrifice.
And on the altar in the cave, there was also a symbol that, based on memory, was impossible to remember. The framework of this symbol also featured concentric circles and a hexagon.
These coincidences led Frode to strongly suspect that the clues the Knightsâ Order discovered this time were unrelated to the farmersâ Sacrifice event, but rather closely related to the Sacrifice in the cave!
Frodeâs eyes slightly narrowed: Unexpectedly, by a twist of fate, clues to the cave were found.
It should be known that from Frodeâs perspective, the Sacrifice by the farmers was insignificant, while the Sacrifice in the cave related to Quest World was of greater importance.
While Frode was contemplating, Drue continued lamenting: "However, the event was thirteen years ago, and even if the buyer was indeed from a Soul family, they likely have already left."
Frode casually responded: "Yes, so this clue can be temporarily ignored."
Drue nodded: "I thought it was an important clue, but oh well..."
Frode: "The top priority now is still the farmerâs Ghost."
Frode proactively steered the conversation back to the farmerâs Ghost, and Drue, unaware, also considered the farmerâs Ghost more important than this ethereal topic: "Indeed."
"The farmerâs Ghost is already at the foot of the mountain, and Lady Neya is on her way... Do we need to make any additional arrangements?" Drue asked, "Or should we move Little Sam?"
Frode shook his head: "No matter where we move Little Sam, the farmerâs Ghost will find him."
Little Samâs constitution destined him to be "favored" by undead for his entire life.
So, hiding wonât help; itâs better to solve it early.
"The farmerâs Ghost hasnât rashly climbed the mountain; thatâs a bit strange. I suspect it might be a Special Undead," Frode said.
"If itâs a Special Undead, then thatâs troublesome." Drue showed concern. Even ordinary undead are hard to deal with; Lady Neya finds it difficult to completely eliminate them, unless thereâs a dedicated means to deal with undead. However, such methods are usually specific to the Soul Sect, and those from other sects must practice cross-dimensionally to learn them...
Even ordinary undead are challenging to confront; if itâs a Special Undead, itâs even tougher.
Frode, however, was not concerned about this aspect, as he had the Samsara Overture in his possession. Even if it were a Special Undead, it would be settled in a shot or two.
What concerned him was, if the opponent is a Special Undead, what kind of Special Ability would it possess?
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