Author: 冬瓜茶仙人 / Winter Melon Tea Immortal
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 76
It was hard to say whether the Duke of Brandenburg’s luck was indeed extraordinary, but after absorbing nearly a whole basin of liquor, the black Pluto Owl’s limbs spread out, showing signs of coming back to life.
It was difficult to explain what exactly was happening—whether this rare bird was mistakenly mixed into a batch of dried bats being sold cheaply as medicinal material or that it actually absorbed several times its own volume of liquor and truly regained elasticity. Both scenarios were astonishing.
If it wasn’t for Dwight, who purchased it, this precious animal’s fate would most likely have been to end up boiled in a pot with other bats (and it probably wouldn’t even have softened properly), eventually being discarded as waste in a ditch.
That said, even the Duke himself hadn’t expected his impromptu idea to actually rehydrate this dried little creature, and using expensive liquor for its bath wasn’t something just anyone could manage. Before it was even certain that the Pluto Owl could be awakened, the gold coins Dwight had spent had already made Eugene feel physical pain.
Regardless of everyone’s curiosity, the cast-iron basin was moved into the Duke’s room—nobody knew whether this creature would imprint on the first person it saw upon waking, and Dwight decided not to take any chances.
During this time, apart from Hasting, few were allowed into his room, but for some reason, the rabbit-headed shopkeeper again became an exception to the rule.
Even Charlie himself was surprised by this, as Dwight’s interest in and care for the Pluto Owl was obvious. He had thought this serendipitous treasure would at least let the Duke incubate it quietly in his room for a few days. So when Hasting came to invite him, he briefly wondered if he had inadvertently done something recently to irritate the Duke.
The conclusion was that he had not.
The rabbit-headed shopkeeper wasn’t one to hesitate. Since the Duke had requested his presence, he entered the room openly, already having prepared his speech to persuade the Duke to meet his sister in some city along the route of the slow-moving Earl’s caravan, and not to get involved in the complicated no-man’s land of White Bridge—it wasn’t worth it.
The Duke seemed to have sensed his thoughts and didn’t immediately discuss this matter.
Charlie’s journey on the Doran continent was supposed to have ended theoretically when Columbus was laid to rest in the castle, and so far, this man hadn’t revealed any unfinished desires or destinations in front of everyone.
Thinking about it, he had lived with a rabbit’s head for several years. Even Dwight couldn’t guess what price might tempt this “salted fish*” to make an effort again.
*Term used for someone who is lazy and unmotivated, lacking ambitions.
However, after considerable thought, the Duke also didn’t want to send him back to Pennigra. He had previously reached an agreement with the rabbit-headed shopkeeper, asking him to help resolve Priscilla’s difficulties within his capabilities.
But “capabilities” was a bit ambiguous, and Charlie wasn’t Eugene. It was difficult to compel him with wealth or authority to do something he didn’t want to, so Dwight had recently concluded: dealing with a rabbit required a less direct approach because of their wide field of vision, and reckless moves were likely to come up empty.
One must be circuitous.
Charlie watched as Hasting set up a tea table with orderly precision, even pouring him a cup of hot apple tea, which made the hair on the back of his neck stand up a bit in alert.
However, Hasting didn’t join their conversation, leaving the room after setting up, giving the rabbit-headed shopkeeper a moment to glance around. He noticed the large iron basin with the Pluto Owl was hidden behind a screen, and judging by the Duke’s cautiousness, he might have even surrounded it with a circle of baby curtains.
“At the moment, there are no signs of the Pluto Owl waking up.” Seeming to read Charlie’s thoughts, the Duke relaxed, crossed his legs, and stroked the gem on top of his cane. “I guess besides alcohol, it needs another catalyst.”
“You could try consulting the Mage Association, or perhaps the old professors at the Comprehensive Academy who specialize in biology. They usually have some insights not shared with the public,” Charlie casually suggested. “Or you could ask Shivers to inquire with Yitzfa again. Although it’s an academic issue, I believe they would find a way to answer your questions if the reward is right.”
The Duke looked up at him, ignoring this digression.
Did this guy think he didn’t think of these things?
But the traces of the Pluto Owl had been lost for decades, and to describe this creature as merely “rare” no longer sufficed. Dwight didn’t want to leak the fact that he possessed this treasure on someone else’s territory. Honestly, he already had enough troubles.
“I’m not here to discuss this with you.” The Duke found that if he was too roundabout, the other person could stretch the topic to the ends of the third continent, so he took out a booklet from the drawer and handed it to him.
The rabbit-headed shopkeeper took it skeptically and found it was the catalog for the Wolf annual auction.
Just as he had suspected. Everything about this auction targeted at the elite spared no expense. The edges were gilded with copper, the purple-red cover featured no text but was covered with gold foil inlaid with a wolf’s head.
The edges of the parchment were neat and sharp, flawless, and with lifelike illustrations of the auction items inside, this level of craftsmanship indeed had the merit to attract collectors to spend big.
Holding the catalog, Charlie gave the Duke a strange look.
He had never hidden his distaste for the Wolf family, and with the Duke’s perceptiveness, it was impossible not to notice—could it be that he wanted to tempt him with the treasures in the catalog to go to White Bridge?
This somewhat underestimated his willpower. Besides, everything at the Wolf auction was an heirloom fetching astronomical prices. Although he couldn’t say he was penniless, spending all to acquire a single treasure wasn’t his style.
Hm?
He considered a possibility. Charlie’s ears twitched slightly, but he quickly suppressed the urge to perk them up.
Could the Duke be intending to pay his way as a form of companionship compensation?
This was the Wolf auction, where the starting price of any item was a figure ordinary civilians wouldn’t even dare dream of. Did he really need him to accompany him that badly?
The rabbit-headed shopkeeper, who had resolved never to step onto the prairie of the wolf’s territory, was inexplicably swayed.
This was, perhaps, a bit too generous.
Charlie looked up at the Duke, who hadn’t noticed how wildly his thoughts had fluctuated in that minute, and instead leisurely sipped his tea.
So, he turned back to browse the catalog.
Because of the large scale of the auction, the catalog only included the most sensational items from each category, making it not too cumbersome to browse, but Charlie’s movements slowed as he flipped through the pages.
The reason was simple. The content of the catalog somewhat exceeded his ethical threshold.
Due to his aversion and rejection, he had never paid close attention to the well-known Wolf auction, mostly learning about it from public gossip, like when a king’s private collection of magical items fetched a shocking price at one auction, whose purpose was merely for a bedroom toy, and other such rumors.
This was his first direct encounter with the auction, and he discovered that in this event, the line between “creature” and “item” was terrifyingly blurred.
Apart from jewelry, potions, and magical items, the auction’s disregard for life shocked Charlie.
In the [Magic] category, potential clients could see various races available for selection—his page-turning halted.
Dwight set down his teacup, finally looking at him squarely.
Charlie stared at the page he was holding, expression unreadable.
“When did you find out?” he asked quietly.
The Duke’s gaze also fell on the opened page.
As he expected, the other had found it difficult to skip over the [Magic] section and had read through the entire catalog.
“Last night,” the Duke said. “I wasn’t interested in the items and hadn’t unsealed it. After sunset, when the Pluto Owl stopped absorbing, I got bored and picked it up, and I came across content you might find interesting.”
Charlie took a deep breath.
The catalog in his hand was flipped to about a third of the way through, and the page was clearly written in cursive:
One of the Three Great Astrologers – Kurt
Mentally stable, no fatal injuries, recoverable
The illustration was of a man of medium stature sitting on a wooden armchair, dressed in a gray robe, with gaunt cheeks, an ordinary appearance, and an expressionless face.
Besides this, there was no other background.
If this image hadn’t appeared in the Wolf auction catalog, many people would laugh it off and casually toss it under the table. “This is Astrologer Kurt? You could grab a dozen men like this in any city’s bookshop.”
Only those who had really met Kurt knew what the legendary astrologer looked like, and unfortunately, the two people in this room had both met him.
“I’m giving you this not just because of Priscilla, but because of him,” the Duke said.
Honestly, he too was surprised the first time he saw this page because the last time he had seen this man, he was well-hidden in the Green Forest, a place so secretive that not even a bird could enter without permission. He couldn’t imagine how the Wolves had the capability to storm in and capture the astrologer.
“I thought the Green Forest was safe enough,” the Duke said.
He didn’t explain to Charlie that he had never disclosed the astrologer’s location to anyone. He believed the other wouldn’t doubt him on this point.
Because the Duke of Brandenburg had no reason to do such a thing.
Indeed, Charlie nodded.
“The Green Forest is flawless as a hiding place, but it’s not a place humans are allowed to stay for long,” he said. “My deal with him is over, and now it’s no harm telling you—he sought a safe place from me, just for three years, which was the maximum duration I could negotiate with the Heart of the Green Forest. When I took you to visit him, it was the last winter of those three years.”
Dwight stared at him without speaking.
Sometimes, the information revealed in Charlie’s casual remarks made him ponder repeatedly.
Before entering the Green Forest, the Heart of the Green Forest was more of a spiritual symbol among the people, an enigma, including for Dwight, the Lord of Lemena.
Yet, the rabbit-headed shopkeeper could communicate and even trade with such an entity, which was more intriguing than his connection with the astrologer.
Charlie understood what Dwight’s look meant, but he wasn’t planning to elaborate.
He knew his business seemed mystical to many, but really, it wasn’t hard to understand.
Besides gods, any being with a will had desires and limitations, and he was merely an intermediary. Many deals utilized the powers of his clients, and in this respect, the Heart of the Green Forest and Kurt were no different to him.
“With his capabilities, he should have been able to find another hiding place after our deal ended,” the rabbit-headed shopkeeper said softly, his gaze falling on the line “mentally stable”, showing some impatience as he closed the catalog.
Those annotations weren’t describing Kurt’s health but indicating that Kurt’s abilities as an astrologer hadn’t been overly diminished—because astrologers primarily relied on their mental strength to perform, the more stable their mental state, the closer to reality their predictions would be.
On that page, ‘Kurt’ didn’t exist.
If not for the need to differentiate him from the other two existing astrologers, even his name wouldn’t appear in this catalog.
The author has something to say:
The term “magic” refers to nu li*; the items in this category of the auction bid on their mastery of magic or racial talents.
*Term in Chinese referring to great effort to strive to try hard.
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