Chapter 1293: Unintended Target, Coming To A Close

’The Valkoryi? I’ve never heard of them. Though given they went extinct more than a thousand years ago, I suppose it’s not too surprising. Any records related to their existence must be incredibly scarce. If the Valkoryi are the race who created Arcane Scripts, anything related to them could be a potential clue on how to reach the higher levels of an Arcane Script Runemaster. It’s a good thing she decided to visit the auction today. Otherwise, this information may have stayed buried forever.’

Izroth had examined the Transforming Rebirth’s Embrace using Divine Appraisal. However, there was no mention of its creator or clarity regarding its origins. Therefore, he had no way of telling if Hyrell’s thoughts were correct or not. But, given Hyrell’s overall nature, Izroth believed that she must have had more than a sneaking suspicion.

"It is an interesting theory. If what you say turns out to be true, perhaps it’s better to go one step further. The Transforming Rebirth’s Embrace came from a Serva Stone at the Golden Treasure Hunt. I’ll inquire about the location of where the Serva Stone was found. It’s possible that there are clues in that place about the Valkoryi or Arcane Scripts." Izroth commented.

"I see our thoughts are aligned. It is possible that I can obtain the information if I were to go through official channels. But, the current state of the Formation Master Guild is pathetic, putting it lightly. It will be much easier to acquire if the request is made by the Fourth Pavilion’s Supreme Elder, who has some ties with the Golden Treasure House." Hyrell said with a lighthearted smile.

"I’ll be sure to take care of it. On a separate note—have you figured out who placed a curse on the badge?" Izroth inquired.

During his time at the Formation Master Guild, Izroth was given a badge by one of its elders, Arden, that allowed him access to the Formation Master Guild Library.

The badge was set to automatically teleport Izroth outside the Formation Master Guild building once he finished; however, he was accidentally pulled into the magic formation left behind by Hyrell. It was thanks to this that the powerful curse embedded within the badge did not activate. Though, according to Hyrell, the person cursed would have exploded and perished.

Since Arden had no reason nor benefit to harm him, Izroth did not believe that he was the one behind tampering with the badge. Nevertheless, a curse powerful enough to avoid the detection of his Divine Appraisal meant that its caster was someone incredibly skilled and well versed in curses.

"Unfortunately, the trail led to a dead end. Whoever it was, they covered their tracks well. I did manage to find out the one responsible for allowing the badges to be tampered with. But, they only received a promissory note along with a letter that contained instructions to temporarily disable the security magic formations in place at the badge storage room. The letter itself was destroyed after it was read. As for the promissory note, the holder is listed as the Silver Serpents. But, since it’s just a copy, anyone could have gotten their hands on it." Hyrell explained.

’Silver Serpents... They’re one of the three organizations that rule over the underground of Danaharpe City and run several illegal gambling dens. It’s not an organization that has the power nor the connections to employ someone capable of creating such a powerful curse. Looking at the entire picture, it’s likely that the person in charge of the badges had some unresolved debt to the Silver Serpents due to gambling. And, whoever left the copy of the promissory note along with a letter of instructions must have offered to clear away their debts in exchange for disabling the badge room’s security magic formations. But, the timing doesn’t align.’

If Izroth was the target, it meant that whoever planned it had to somehow know that he was headed to the Formation Master Guild. But, those who were aware of that information could be counted on one hand alone. And, all of them were trustworthy individuals.

Since they had no idea that Izroth would be visiting the Formation Master Guild, it meant that they would have had to make their move sometime when he was first arrived the Formation Master Guild and was turned away.

However, that would have involved contacting the person in charge of the badge room, disabling the security magic formations without anyone noticing, placing a curse on the badge, and somehow getting that badge into Arden’s possession. All this would have had to take place in less than half an hour, which Izroth found highly unlikely.

With this information at his disposal, Izroth came to a new conclusion.

"Perhaps I was never the intended target for that badge." Izroth revealed.

"Hm... I also found this entire situation strange the further I dug. Based on the information you shared with me, no matter how I thought about it, the timing was too awkward for you to have been the intended target. If your arrival was unanticipated, it means that Arden was supposed to hand that badge over to someone else visiting the Formation Master Guild. And, seeing as how it was the only cursed badge I found after sweeping the entire Formation Master Guild, the ones responsible must have been confident that he would hand it over to that person." Hyrell said with a thought expression as she placed her thumb and index finger on her chin.

"If we can find out who was supposed to be visiting Elder Arden, we might uncover the missing pieces." Izroth commented calmly.

"Hmph, how dare they mess with my Formation Master Guild and sweep up my student in their schemes. When I find the ones responsible for this, I will make sure they know the heavy price of their misdeeds." Hyrell said seriously.

"I have a request. If you find the person who placed the curse and it’s possible, capture them. There are a few things I’d like to ask them." Izroth mentioned.

’Curses are too unpredictable. It wouldn’t be bad to learn a thing or two about them.’

The curse was hidden well enough that it evaded Izroth’s Divine Appraisal, Deep Insight and Energy Vision Sense.

Unlike most other magic in RML, information regarding curses was severely limited. This had to due with the fact that curses were relatively easy to counter compared to other types of magic once someone knew what kind of curse it was. Therefore, the most powerful curses were also some of the best kept secrets.

"Since it’s a request made by my precious student, I will do my best to keep it in mind." Hyrell replied with a light smile.

As Izroth spoke with Hyrell, he had never let his attention leave the ongoing bid.

’The bidding has slowed down quite a bit. It seems the end is close.’

"47,100,000 gold coins..!" Burake uttered as he grit his teeth and tightly clenched his fist.

He then lashed out, "Bidding on an item at one of the establishments under your organization—does the Golden Dragon Association have no shame?!"

At this point, the only two groups left bidding were Burake Duvelle and the representative from the Golden Dragon Association. However, every time Burake made an offer, the representative from the Golden Dragon Association would immediately step ahead of them. Naturally, this caused an endless wave of frustration to wash over Burake.

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