Chapter 240 - Bait Biting

After the magic apprentice gave the old parchment to Dalton, Dalton had to consider if the whole thing was real even though he was not fully convinced.

The parchment was apparently ancient, and the words on it awed Dalton as they were written in Ancient Elvish.

Only three people in all of Hollevin knew Ancient Elvish.

Two of them were elsewhere, and only the last was in the capital.

Touching the parchment, Dalton said to the magic apprentice excitedly, "Come to Master Irwin's manor with me."

The magic apprentice was delighted. "As you wish."

Getting into the carriage with some simple but considerate gifts, Dalton visited Master Irwin.

Irwin was not a professional, but he was one of the nobles.

In this dark feudal society, only the offspring of the nobles and the big merchants were qualified to learn how to read.

Not everybody could pay a tuition fee of one gold coin for a hundred words.

Arriving at a mid-sized manor in the rich neighborhood in the north of the city, Dalton got off and informed the guard of who he was.

The guard soon returned with the butler.

Politely, the middle-aged butler invited Dalton and the magic apprentice into the manor.

Then, Dalton met an old man with a white beard in a side room at the manor.

This side room was essentially Irwin's study. It was rather big, but it was nearly filled with shelves that were laden with books.

Some of the books were in parchment, some in papyrus, and some were even in the white paper of the elves.

As a result, the room smelled funny.

But Dalton did not really care. Nobody would.

For them, it was the fragrance of knowledge.

Irwin was studying something in front of a big desk where an assortment of books and paper had been piled.

Noticing the presence of newcomers, he raised his head. His long beard seemed disproportionate to his slim body.

"Welcome to my study, Mr. Dalton." Irwin rose and slightly bowed. "How may I help you?"

Dalton smiled. "I'm just here to have a chat with you, Mr. Irwin."

Irwin was naturally unconvinced.

As a minor noble, he was only appreciated by the grand nobles for his extraordinary knowledge, but not very much.

Unless they encountered something they couldn't understand, those grand nobles would barely visit his study that was filled with a weird stink.

After all, few of them had even invited him to dinner.

"Sorry, Mr. Dalton, but I have important studies to work on, so I'm afraid I don't have time for chit-chat."

Looking at the skinny Irwin, Dalton smiled and said, "I'm indeed here for something. Here's an elvish book that my man found, I'm hoping that you could translate it for us."

Irwin seemed delighted. "A book of the elves? Give it to me."

He was very excited.

Dalton gave the old parchment book to him.

Irwin opened it quickly, his eyes glittering.

"It's indeed Ancient Elvish, but there are a lot of uncommon words that I don't recognize."

"This is the biography of a female general named Cocoyala. Well… I think I saw the name somewhere before."

"Wait, the content of the book changed."

As he turned the pages, Irwin's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"The latter half of the book is about the life of an elven captain who was promoted to be a ranger commander."

"Hiss. Magic equipment with special powerful abilities?"

"A necklace?"

"I think I've read it somewhere before."

Irwin scratched his head hard. "The uncommon words are really a headache, Mr. Dalton. Can I have the book for a while and give it back to you when it's fully translated?"

"Not a problem." Dalton nodded and was about to leave.

He was already half convinced.

"Wait! I remember it now!"

Irwin slapped his thigh and jumped to his feet. He ran to a bookshelf and found another parchment book.

This book looked quite ancient too.

Irwin opened it softly. It was written in Ancient Elvish too.

"In this book, a female general named Cocoyala gave the Mind-Calming Necklace, her favorite magic equipment, to a ranger commander. It seems that those two books are connected. Mr. Dalton, can I keep your book to crosscheck them?"

"Not a problem."

Dalton nodded and left with the magic apprentice.

Irwin studied the newly-acquired Ancient Elvish book in fascination until midnight.

He had some snacks and returned to his bedroom. He found a young man in a black robe sitting inside.

Irwin was not scared or nervous at all. He slowly sat down in front of the young man.

"You are a good actor, sir."

Irwin chuckled. "Whoever has lived more than seventy years will be good at acting."

"Actually, Dalton returned three hours ago and observed you with Secondary Stealth. I noticed him, but I didn't dare to approach him."

The man in black was Husseret.

Every Archmage had innate spells that could be triggered, and it was difficult to assassinate them. Husseret only managed to discover Dalton because he was better at stealth and the Rogues were sensitive.

However, he couldn't simply assassinate Dalton. The guy was much stronger than him, and he would only alarm him.

Irwin smiled. "I guessed it."

That was why Irwin had been staying in his study as if he were deeply immersed in the new book.

"This is the reward that we promised."

Thirty gold coins were put on the table.

Irwin nodded.

Husseret then jumped off from the window and disappeared in midair.

Most Rogue players had chosen the skill build of Stealth-Treasure-Hunting-Theft-Pillage-Hidden-Door-Localization-Unlocking, which focused on individuals.

But Husseret was different. He had chosen the skill build of Stealth-Advanced-Stealth-Anti-Stealth-Advanced-Anti-Stealth-Trap-Searching-Trap-Eloquence for dungeon raids.

Walking in the darkness, few people noticed him.

It was not until he approached the stone building in the wood that Margret spotted him.

Dragons' eyes were naturally endowed with True Vision, allowing them to see through most stealth skills.

Margret only peeped at Husseret, then ignored him.

Andonara was the second to find Husseret. Her level was high, and as a Great Swordsman, she had better hearing. She noticed Husseret when he was ten meters away.

Roland was the last.

The field of Roland's mental power had a radius of around five meters when he was fully relaxed, allowing him to vaguely perceive Husseret's arrival.

Then, Husseret suddenly appeared before them.

None of F6 were scared, but Brazil's contracted leopard jumped back in fear and growled with raised hackles.

It didn't relax until Brazil petted and reassured it.

Accepting the skewers that Betta gave him, Husseret looked odd. "Roasted locusts?"

Betta nodded quickly. "Yes. They're quite delicious."

Over the past few days, Betta had been a bane to the creatures in the woods. He roasted everything he caught.

But the food was all very delicious. It was hard to tell where he got all the seasonings.

Husseret shook his head. He took a bite of the roasted locusts, only to find that they were greasy and tasty.

While having a roasted rabbit, Roland asked, "How did it go?"

"The bait has been released," Husseret said with a smile. "The guy is very interested too. Now, it's time to let him see the bait."

Andonara was eating roasted meat like a lady. She asked, "Would Dalton send someone to check it out?"

"As a cautious man, he certainly would."

"But there are no tomb guards in that cave, and none of us is capable of dark magic." Andonara looked around.

Husseret smiled. "It doesn't matter. All we need to do is to let his scout see the equipment being moved out of the cave."

F6 immediately understood what Husseret was up to, but Andonara had to think for a while before she found the answer.

Obviously, she was not as smart as them.

As for Margret, she had no response at all, as she was too busy eating the food. She had the smallest body size in her human form, but she ate the most.

She had finished at least fifteen kilograms of roasted locusts from morning to dusk, but she did not seem satisfied.

All the insects had been caught by her in person.

She couldn't refuse the food after tasting it for the first time.

In the headquarters of the Association of Mages, the magic apprentice rushed into Dalton's study and said, "Sir, the mercenaries are gone. I asked the city guards. They left the city in a hurry."

"It seems that they realized that we might compete with them." Dalton nodded. "Don't worry, I've sent someone to follow them."

The magic apprentice was deeply relieved.

As the chairman of the Association of Mages, Dalton had a lot of men at his disposal.

Some of the city guards were his spies. They had been hiding very well, and Antis couldn't find them out.

If the whole thing was real, they would report it back very soon.

Soon, Irwin's butler visited Dalton with the new translation in the evening.

According to the Ancient Elvish words, the necklace that Cocoyala gave the ranger commander was a piece of epic equipment that could store tremendous magic power for future usage.

Why would a ranger need tremendous magic power?

But Dalton immediately remembered that elves were natural-born magicians, and that whatever class they were, they could use some spells.

The magic power that was tremendous for the elves must be stupendous for human beings. Could that be stored?

At this point, his spy at the city gate arrived and reported, "Sir, they're fighting amongst themselves. That piece of magic equipment is real. It's really good."

Dalton rose and asked earnestly, "Tell me the details."

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