Chapter 173: Fur in the Tunnel

Chapter 173: 173: Fur in the Tunnel

Deepwell Spring rose at last.

The clear water in the stone basin began to lift in slow rings. At first, the movement was gentle. Then the center of the spring bulged upward, and cold mist spread across the hollow. The gathered mages held their breath. The nobles stopped whispering. The guards tightened their hands around their weapons.

Everyone had waited for this moment.

A young mage near the front held a crystal bottle with both hands. Another group lowered a silver tube toward the water. Several servants prepared sealing boxes. None of them moved too close, because the old man still stood above the spring with his hands behind his back.

He had said he would take ninety percent.

No one dared argue.

The spring water rose higher.

But the old man’s eyes narrowed.

The water was clean, but it was not clean enough. It carried mana, but not the deep cold purity he had been waiting for. This was upper spring water. Good water. Valuable water. But not the hidden deep water that could push a mage’s rank if taken at the right moment.

One of the nobles did not notice the problem. He saw the water rising and shouted, "It is here!"

The old man raised one finger.

The noble became silent at once.

The old man looked down at the spring.

"Something is missing," he said.

No one moved.

The old man slowly lowered his hand into the water. The surface did not ripple around his fingers. Instead, the spring seemed to open for him. His mana entered the basin and sank deep below the stones.

The gathered mages waited with stiff faces.

After several breaths, the old man’s calm expression changed.

Only a little.

But everyone saw it.

The young mage who had spoken earlier swallowed. "Senior?"

The old man did not answer him.

He lifted his foot and stepped down.

The surface of Deepwell Spring sank under him like clear glass bending. He pressed one hand toward the center of the basin. The water split apart. It did not splash. It parted in a round hole, showing stone walls, roots, and a dark lower channel beneath the spring.

Gasps spread through the crowd.

The old man’s hand turned.

The ground shook.

Stone cracked around the lower channel. Mud rose. Roots snapped. Water lines that had been hidden for centuries opened one by one under his power. He was not digging with a shovel or spell circle. He was forcing the earth to show him the truth.

The spring groaned.

The gathered people stepped back in fear.

A crack opened on the western side of the basin.

The old man looked there.

The lower water line had been touched.

Something small had entered before the rise. Something had reached the purest water before it came to the surface. The thief had not taken the upper water. The thief had taken from below.

The old man’s fingers moved again.

A small white fur drifted out of the opened crack and landed on the water before him.

The hollow became silent.

The old man picked up the fur between two fingers.

For the first time, his eyes opened fully.

"A puffer rabbit."

Several mages looked at each other in shock.

One of them whispered, "A beast stole the deep water?"

The old man looked at him.

The mage immediately lowered his head.

The old man stared at the white fur. Then, slowly, he smiled.

It was not a kind smile.

"It seems someone climbed under my bowl while I watched the table."

No one dared laugh.

The old man closed his hand around the fur. Mana gathered around his fist, soft and white at first, then sharp as a needle. The fur lifted from his palm and spun in the air. It burned without flame, leaving behind a thin silver thread.

The thread pointed west.

The old man stepped off the spring.

"Senior," a noble servant said carefully, "the water..."

The old man did not turn back. "Take your ten percent if you can fight for it."

The moment he said that, the hollow exploded into movement.

Mages rushed forward. Guards shouted. Noble servants pushed one another. Bottles, tubes, and sealing boxes went toward the spring at the same time. The old man ignored them all. To him, the water left on the surface was already trash compared to what had been stolen.

He followed the silver thread.

Several people saw him leave and froze, but none followed. Whatever had stolen from the old man was now the old man’s problem, and only a fool would place himself between a strong senior and the thief he had decided to find.

Far away from Deepwell Spring, Puff sat on a flat stone with its swollen cheeks glowing faintly.

Cedric knelt in front of the rabbit with both hands raised near its face. A crystal shell still covered the pouch. The pure water inside shone like cold moonlight through soft white fur. It looked beautiful. It also looked unstable.

Elowen stood a few steps away, holding the old map and watching with nervous eyes. "Can it hold the water much longer?"

Cedric did not look away from Puff. "A little longer."

"That sounds bad."

"It is honest."

Lucard stood nearby, listening to the mountain.

They had moved farther from the pressure hollow after Puff returned. Cedric wanted to divide the water at once. Lucard refused. The first place was too close to the tunnel. The second place had too many loose stones. The third place had old bird marks. Only after reaching a narrow cave between two ridges did Lucard agree to stop.

The cave was dry, hidden, and deep enough to block ordinary sight.

Not enough to block a real master forever.

Lucard knew that.

Cedric knew it too.

That was why both of them worked quickly.

Cedric placed two crystal vials on the ground. Each vial was long and narrow, with silver caps and sealing runes carved around the neck. "One for you. One for me."

Lucard looked at the vials. "Equal size."

"Yes."

"Equal sealing?"

Cedric smiled faintly. "You do not trust me."

"No."

"Good. I do not trust you either."

Lucard cut his fingertip and drew a small blood circle around both vials. The circle did not touch the water. It only measured the amount that would enter each container.

Cedric watched closely. "If your blood enters my half, the pact breaks."

"If your crystal changes my half, your rabbit dies."

Puff made a small offended sound.

Elowen rubbed her forehead. "You two are impossible."

Cedric said, "We are careful."

Lucard said, "He is careful. I am correct."

Cedric looked at him. "That is the most arrogant way to agree with someone."

Elowen almost smiled, but fear stopped it before it could form fully.

Cedric gently touched Puff’s head. "Open."

The rabbit’s cheeks trembled.

The crystal shell around the pouch opened a tiny line. Pure water rose out in a thread. It did not fall like normal water. It moved like a living ribbon, cold and bright. Mana gathered around it so thickly that Elowen could feel her skin prickle from several steps away.

Lucard’s blood circle measured the first flow.

Cedric’s crystal spell guided it into the first vial.

Half.

The water entered smoothly, and the vial glowed from within.

Then the second thread moved into the other vial.

Lucard watched every drop.

Cedric watched him watching.

Neither blinked much.

When both vials were filled, Cedric sealed his with a crystal cap. Lucard sealed his with blood spell lines outside the silver cap, careful not to let blood touch the water inside.

The pact circle between them flashed once.

The agreed division had been completed.

The pact was now weak.

Not gone completely, but weak enough that betrayal would soon become possible.

Both men knew it.

Elowen knew it too.

She stepped back slowly.

Lucard took his vial and studied it. The pure water inside was not much, but the quality was high. Not enough by itself to push him through several levels like the Blood Pit, but it could strengthen his Blood Mage Vessel, refine mana absorption, and perhaps help the unnamed blood bug after its mutation finished.

Useful.

Cedric placed his vial inside his coat and picked up Puff carefully. The rabbit looked tired now. Its cheeks had returned to normal, and its ears drooped.

Then Puff suddenly shook.

A tiny white hair fell from its chest.

Lucard’s eyes moved to it.

Cedric saw his gaze and stiffened.

The white hair did not fall normally.

It floated.

Elowen whispered, "Why is it floating?"

A thin silver light wrapped around the hair.

Cedric’s face changed. "Trace spell."

Lucard moved at once.

A blood thread shot forward and burned the hair before the light fully formed. But the silver thread had already touched the ground.

The stone under their feet hummed.

From far away, something answered.

Cedric cursed under his breath. "The old man must’ve found the fur in the tunnel."

Elowen’s face went pale. "He found us?"

Lucard closed his eyes for one breath.

His blood-sense spread through the stone. At the edge of his range, something sharp and old moved across the mountain with frightening speed. Not running. Not flying exactly. Moving with earth and water under its feet.

The old man was coming.

Lucard opened his eyes.

Cedric looked at him. "We split?"

"If we split, he follows the rabbit."

Cedric held Puff tighter. "Then I dislike that plan."

"If we stay, he reaches us."

"I dislike that too."

Elowen gripped her cloak. "What do we do?"

Lucard looked at the two vials, the rabbit, Cedric, and the narrow cave around them.

Then the silver light appeared on the cave wall.

A thin line pierced through the stone from outside and pointed straight at Puff.

The cave became cold.

An old voice came through the rock, calm and almost amused.

"Little thieves, did you enjoy my water?"

Cedric’s face became stiff.

Elowen stopped breathing.

Lucard looked at the silver line pointing at the rabbit.

The old man had found them.