BXBX NOVEL Chapter 97: The Lost Treasure of Emperor Serpent
It was an indeterminate amount of time later when Charles finally awoke.
"Master, it is now nearly noon. Should you choose to continue sleeping, our first day at Rock Fortress will be entirely squandered."
Medusa remarked with a smile, addressing Charles.
Medusa\'s tone held no hint of reproach. In Medusa\'s perspective, whatever the Master chose to do was inherently right.
Charles glanced out the window, indeed, the sun was already perched high in the zenith of the sky.
"You are right. We should promptly investigate the situation within Rock Fortress." Charles stated as he dressed at lightning speed.
Upon exiting the room, Charles and Medusa encountered Little Green in the corridor.
"Master, Eck and Johann have already departed. They informed me they would likely return by nightfall." Little Green reported calmly to Charles.
Charles nodded in acknowledgment.
"Let them attend to their own affairs. We need not concern ourselves. Both of you, accompany me on a casual exploration of Rock Fortress. Hopefully, we can gather some information worth noting." Charles instructed.
Charles subsequently led Medusa and Little Green out of the inn.
As they passed by the innkeeper, the man deliberately shrank into a corner, seemingly intent on avoiding Medusa\'s notice.
Medusa, naturally, paid no attention to an innkeeper, she simply followed behind Charles as they stepped onto the bustling streets of Rock Fortress.
Though they had seen few pedestrians when they arrived yesterday, today the streets of Rock Fortress were suddenly teeming with people.
"It seems we arrived a bit too late yesterday. Had we come earlier, we might have gleaned some useful information from the passersby."
Charles remarked with a touch of regret.
Their tardy arrival the previous day was, of course, due to the delays caused by Eck and Johann.
If not for the hindrance of those two individuals, Charles and his companions would have moved much faster. However, without Eck and Johann, Charles\'s subsequent actions would also become far less smooth.
Overall, taking Eck and Johann along presented both gains and losses for Charles.
As soon as the trio stepped onto the streets of Rock Fortress, they quickly attracted numerous gazes. After all, both Medusa and Little Green possessed exceptionally high levels of attractiveness.
By the standards of any race\'s aesthetics, Medusa and Little Green could be considered top-tier beauties.
"You two certainly draw enough attention. Walking around the streets with you both, I almost feel a bit of risk."
Charles remarked, turning back with a smile to look at Medusa and Little Green.
He was merely joking, but the expressions on Medusa and Little Green\'s faces indicated that they were somewhat annoyed.
"I belong to the Master. If the Master wishes, I will kill anyone who looks at me."
Medusa stated calmly, her words brimming with murderous intent.
After Medusa finished speaking, Little Green also nodded in agreement.
"Indeed, as long as the Master gives the command, I would kill every living being within Rock Fortress!"
Upon hearing their words, Charles\'s expression turned slightly awkward.
"I was merely joking with you. Besides, if you kill every living being in Rock Fortress, how would we gather intelligence from them? We can\'t exactly resort to necromancy, can we?"
Medusa and Little Green indeed had the ability to use necromancy.
However, frequent use of necromancy would certainly draw the attention of the Land of the Dead. Accidentally attracting the notice of The God of Death would place Charles in immense danger immediately.
"Alright, no more jokes. Let\'s hurry and gather some useful intelligence from others. You two can start by casually asking the passersby on the street, they might just provide you with very valuable information."
Charles mentioned this method casually.
To his surprise, Medusa and Little Green actually returned with extremely significant information.
The reason there were so many people in Rock Fortress today was that it was the monthly gathering day. Serpent people from the surrounding villages would come to Rock Fortress to exchange their goods.
The items brought by the Serpent people were incredibly diverse. There were rare fruits that Charles had never seen before, as well as weapons obtained from human Overlords by some Serpent people.
"It seems that many human Overlords have been killed by the local Serpent people after descending to the otherworldly continent." Charles noted as he observed numerous weapons that belonged to human Overlords.
The presence of these weapons naturally indicated that those human Overlords had been slain by the Serpent people. However, Charles wasn\'t overly concerned about the deaths of these human Overlords.
Since they had descended to the otherworldly continent, human Overlords had to compete with the local races. If they lost in this competition, there was naturally nothing to complain about.
The most crucial piece of information Medusa brought back was that someone had informed them the reason for the numerous Serpent Empire guards in Rock Fortress. It was because the Serpent Emperor had lost a highly precious artifact.
No one knew exactly what the lost artifact was. People only knew that it was extremely important to the Serpent Emperor.
After pondering for a moment, Charles turned to Medusa and asked.
"You should know what this artifact, which is so important to your sister, is, right?"
Medusa shook her head. "My sister possesses many treasures. But as far as I understand her, she doesn\'t truly care about any single artifact. She is only concerned with her rule over the Serpent Empire."
Medusa seemed to be quite displeased with her sister.
Although Charles knew that the Serpent Emperor was his enemy, he also thought that it wasn\'t unreasonable for the Serpent Emperor to be most concerned with ruling the Serpent Empire.
Charles himself was very concerned about his own territory as well.
"Even though we don\'t know exactly what artifact the Serpent Emperor lost, we can at least be a bit more relaxed. These guards from the Serpent Empire shouldn\'t be here to target our territory."
Charles finally alleviated his greatest concern.
Therefore, he wasn\'t in a hurry to gather more intelligence. Charles decided to spend the remaining half-day exploring Rock Fortress thoroughly.
Although Rock Fortress wasn\'t a very large town, its terrain was quite complex. Additionally, Rock Fortress even had an underground section.
As Charles and his group wandered through Rock Fortress, they unexpectedly came across Eck and Johann.
Eck and Johann were at the administrative office of Rock Fortress.
When Charles saw them, they were in the midst of a heated argument with the Serpent administrative officer of Rock Fortress.
"I\'ve told you already, the military portal is off-limits to you human Overlords! Unless you obtain special permission from His Majesty the Serpent Emperor, I absolutely cannot authorize your transport to other regions."
The Serpent administrative officer\'s tone was exceedingly firm.
Charles could understand the officer\'s stance, given that after the Serpent Emperor lost a highly valuable artifact, all members of the Serpent Empire were under immense pressure.
In such a sensitive time, it was natural that the Serpent administrative officer couldn\'t easily use the military portal to transport human Overlords.
"We can offer you a substantial amount of gold coins, and if you prefer skull coins, we can provide those as well." Eck persistently suggested to the Serpent administrative officer.
Upon hearing this, the expression on the Serpent administrative officer\'s face turned exceedingly grim.
Not long ago, a general of the Serpent Empire had been executed by the Serpent Emperor for collaborating with human Overlords. The entire family of that general had also been put to death.
"I\'ll tell you one last time, I will not allow you to use the portal here! If you continue to cause trouble, don\'t blame me for being harsh!"
The Serpent administrative officer gave a signal to the two guards nearby.
The two Serpent guards immediately pointed their weapons at Eck and Johann.
Eck and Johann were momentarily seized by panic.
At that moment, Charles\'s voice resonated, "Please wait a moment. My two friends here mean you no harm."
Eck, Johann, and the Serpent administrative officer all turned their gaze towards Charles.
"Regardless of who you are, and whether your friends mean me harm or not, I want you all to leave here promptly! I have no desire to get entangled with human Overlords!"
The Serpent administrative officer bluntly addressed Charles.
Charles held back the Medusa behind him and nodded with a cordial smile, "Of course, I will take my two friends and leave immediately."
Charles then pulled Eck and Johann aside.
"It seems we won\'t be able to use the portal to leave. So, why don\'t you both rest here in Rock Fortress for two days? After that, we can continue our journey together."
Eck and Johann could only nod reluctantly, realizing that this was their only option for now.