Chapter 99: 99

Entering the dungeon, Michelle’s nose was assaulted by the stifling smell of mold and the metallic smell of blood mixed together, making her smile a bit. Judging by the fact that she couldn’t hear any screams or groans, Ferdinand was already unconscious, and Kieran and Ivona had already gotten some information out of him. “What did you find out?” she asked when she finally saw the two standing at the end of the dungeon.

“Oh, Michelle,” Ivona was a bit surprised to see Michelle so soon. “Didn’t you say you were going to help Anastasia choose a weapon? Why are you here already?” she asked.

Michelle walked over and glanced into the cell, seeing Ferdinand unconscious and bloodied on the wet and dirty ground, with bruises all over his body. “I see you didn’t go easy on him…” she mumbled. “Anastasia is already sparring with the knights. She chose a weapon quickly, but it’s a bit impractical. I’ll have to think of a way to put it all together before we go to the lower realm.”

“You want to take her with us?” Both Kieran and Ivona were surprised. “But that’s not possible. She doesn’t have spirit energy, so she can’t pass through the barrier you told us about.” Kieran glanced at the bandage on Michelle’s head as he remembered what she told them when she returned with a bloodied head.

Kieran’s words didn’t make Michelle happy, but he was right. At the moment, she didn’t know of a way to get Anastasia out of the Land of Exile. She thought about making Anastasia a Soul Master, in other words, making her cultivate only soul energy, as in Rivenaar’s memories she found out that people like that existed in the heavenly realm, but she wasn’t sure if a Soul Master could pass through the barrier of Heaveny Law. “There has to be a way! I’ll think of something!” she finally said as she turned her attention to Ferdinand. “What did he tell you?” she asked.

So, Ivona started explaining. Ferdinand explained to them, after they tortured him quite a bit, that his great-grandfather was from the upper realm, but his cultivation was too low to achieve anything, so he went to the middle and then the lower realm, but he couldn’t get a good position there, so he ended up going to the Land of Exile where he became the Empire’s founding General.

When the founding General was already old and had many descendants, his younger brother, who still looked to be in his forties, came down to the Land of Exile and ordered him to observe the Sloan family, but, by then, the Sloan family was already accused of corruption, and the time of their execution was set. When the brother found that out, he ordered the Ostrich family to get as many artifacts from the Sloan family as they could, because the Ostrich family in the upper realm needed them. Under the threat of death from the brother, Ferdinand agreed.

Kieran and Ivona also asked him where the brother was at the moment, and how they were planning to bring the artifacts to the upper realm, but he said that he didn’t know. He was just told that the brother would return to collect the artifacts after about a year after the operation started.

Listening to Kieran and Ivona’s explanation, Michelle turned to stare at Ferdinand, her purple eyes deep and profound as she thought about something. “What are you planning now?” she asked as she finally averted her gaze and glanced at Kieran.

“There are two things we can do now…” he sighed as he spoke. “We can either annihilate the whole Ostrich family here and take the artifacts they stole, or we can wait for the brother he spoke about to return for the artifacts and strike then.”

Michelle nodded a bit and turned to stare at Ferdinand again. After a while, she finally spoke again: “He lied about something. Or he withheld some information.”

“I know,” Kieran nodded. “His words don’t explain why the Ostrich family was selling the artifacts to the Dark Lord’s black market. The whole story he told us could be a lie, to hide the truth. Maybe he doesn’t even have family in the upper realm, and he is being ordered by a different family that has connections in the upper realm.”

“No…” Michelle shook her head. “The Ostrich family is from the upper realm…” she said as she leaned against the bars of a cell behind her, not caring that her clothes were getting dirty. “In the upper realm exists a bird called ostrich, but that bird doesn’t exist here, so it’s either a very strange coincidence, or the Ostrich family is really originally from the upper realm. Also, the Ostrich family has a bird very similar to an ostrich in its family emblem.”

“So, you are saying that he withheld something from us?” Kieran asked.

“Most probably,” she said, as she still kept her gaze on Ferdinand, as if trying to figure something out. “Let’s leave this bastard here, and go to the black market. I have a friend who can help us. In the meantime, we can also fool this bastard into thinking that we believe him.” She decided as she pushed herself off the bars behind her.

“You have many friends…” Ivona muttered, with a small smirk, as the three walked out of the dungeon. “Who is this friend of yours?” she asked.

Michelle shrugged a bit. “You both know him, but you just don’t know about his other identities,” she said lazily. “Anyways, you two, go ask Anastasia if she wants to go with us. Then, we’ll meet in half an hour by the main gate.”

Half an hour later, Michelle, Kieran, Ivona and Anastasia all met in front of the main gate, and Michelle summoned Cold Flame. He wasn’t really happy to be used as a mount, since he was a proud White Vermilion Bird, but since Michelle asked for it, he enlarged his body so four people could sit on him and flew them to the slums. There, Michelle led the three into the illegal auction house.

“Michelle, is your friend someone shady?” Ivona asked teasingly.

“You could say so…” Michelle shrugged. “He is definitely suspicious…” she added, as a pretty young lady stopped them at the entrance. When Michelle said she wanted to see the owner, not only the pretty lady, but also Ivona and the other two were shocked. But the pretty lady quickly composed herself and led them to a room, telling them that she would go check if the owner had time for them.

And within the next five minutes, David Elether appeared in the room. “You’ve been looking for me quite a lot lately…” he chuckled when he saw Michelle. “Are these your friends?” he asked as his piercing gaze raked over Anastasia and Ivona. He was a playful person, but when meeting new people, he always carefully observed them for a moment to get an idea of what kind of people they were. He had already met both in the past, but it was only briefly, and since then, they had clearly changed.

Ivona stopped hiding her cultivation, and Anastasia had her memories wiped by Michelle. As for Kieran, David didn’t really need to observe him as Kieran had worked on the case of the Sloan family for quite a while in the Imperial Palace, so they knew each other.

“So it’s indeed true that birds of a feather flock together…” David smiled playfully, which made Michelle arch a brow. “Michelle, why didn’t you tell me you have such beautiful friends?” he asked with a sneer.

Michelle glanced at him, and a cold smile spread over her lips. “Maybe so a pervert like you would keep his paws off them?” she said with a chilly chuckle, but there was no real threat in her voice, and everyone could hear that, so neither Kieran, Ivona nor Anastasia were worried.

“Come on… Now you’ve hurt my feelings!” David exaggerated as he sat on a couch by the coffee table.

Michelle shrugged. “You are thick-skinned, your feelings are hidden so deep beneath your skin that to hurt them, I would need to skin you first,” she scoffed as she glanced at him. “But, now to business.” She finally decided to be serious and put away her smile. “My guess is that after my last visit, you’ve looked into the Ostrich family and their business in the black market,” she said as she rested her head on her palms, her elbows pressed against her knees.

“You want to know what I found out,” David leaned back on the couch. “But why should I tell you? You could say that we are technically friends, but basically, we are still maintaining a strictly business relationship. You help me and I help you, so what do you have to offer in exchange for the information? And don’t forget, the information I provide is top-notch, so the price is high, too.”

“So, you want it this way?” Michelle smiled. “Fine then… let’s talk business…” her eyes narrowed into smiling crescents. “As of now, you and Alexander Terce are here, in the Land of Exile, for a reason you are keeping secret, but it’s clear that it’s something difficult, otherwise you would both have already been back in the upper or heavenly realm…” she started speaking.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep