Chapter 2226: Black Dragon Scale

Chapter 2226: Chapter 2226: Black Dragon Scale

"What? Sorrow of Blood?"

That evening, when Shard returned to Belindel Estate, he happened to meet the Witch coming back from City Hall. Since he was still uncertain, Shard didn’t mention that John Flynn claimed to be the Chosen One, but only brought up the Holy Sword of the Vampire Kind, which still shocked the Countess:

"First you wanted to find the Hope Diamond, then it was the Sole Existence I already obtained, and then there was that Dice Story Collection when we met. Now, there’s another Sage-Level Longsword. When did Moon Bay gain so many High-Level Relics?"

"I can’t answer that question, but since we’ve determined that the Chosen One this time might use these Holy Swords to pull out the weapon left by the Ancient God, we must investigate. I will handle this matter, but I would like you to perform divination."

"Of course, but don’t hold too much hope. Even for me, it’s nearly impossible to easily divine a Sage-Level Relic."

So before dinner, Miss Belindel performed a formal divination ritual in the basement, which turned out to be ineffective as she had predicted. This was quite remarkable for her, considering she didn’t suffer any backlash from the divination.

Nevertheless, although the divination yielded no results, she did determine the recent hiding place of the Vampire Beast based on the remnants Shard provided.

Since the divination was very precise, Shard, thinking to avoid future complications, fed his cat at home before heading to the Prophet’s Society to invite Luviya for an evening meeting. He then returned to Moon Bay for an adventure in the sewers with the Witch and maids.

In short, they entered Moon Bay’s underground from the coastal city sewage pipes and followed the long-abandoned ancient sewers to locate the Vampire Beast’s former lair.

The lair had little of value, just three female corpses drained of blood, suggesting the Church’s victim count was actually underestimated.

Afterwards, Shard used the metal divination card and Luviya’s compass to smoothly discover the secret chamber buried deeper beneath the Vampire Beast’s lair.

Much like the secret chamber in the tree hole of Whisper Hills, this chamber was protected by a peculiar force. When Miss Maid used spellcasting to open the chamber’s passage, a surge of cockroaches, maggots, ants, mosquitoes, and unknown insects burst from below, causing Shard to retreat rapidly. The scene reminded him of his adventure with the Time Key in the Worm Cave.

The insect shells were quite hard, most exceeding the hardness of steel. Upon emerging, they didn’t scatter away, those capable of flying and jumping lunged at people’s faces, while those without such abilities quickly climbed people’s shoes, attempting to go higher.

"That’s disgusting!"

The Witch complained, pulling Shard’s arm as she stomped downwards, using repulsion to bounce the little insects away. Then she called everyone to join forces to summon flames and burned the insects in the poorly ventilated sewer pipes for a full 20 minutes until they were completely eradicated. Once confirmed the chamber would no longer spew out insects, the air quality at the scene... Shard didn’t care to recall.

He only remembered that not only were his own face and those of Miss Belindel and the maids turning black, despite everyone holding their breath, mere contact with the air made their skin feel uncomfortable.

Of course, such a hefty "cost" was naturally not without gain. After Miss Belindel summoned bubble shields with the Basic Sorcery "Bubblehead Curse" to cover everyone’s heads, they began exploring the chamber.

Situated deeper beneath the lair, the chamber wasn’t large. After clearing the insect nest and the mother bug that had not crawled out of the hole, they found several fragmented ancient documents related to the Leck Family. From the document contents, in the Early Era, the Black Family also had Circle Sorcerers. But this was not the key point; the real focus was on the chamber floor’s center, embedded with a Black Dragon Scale that seemed to emit a profound glow in the dark.

The compass’s needle rotation and the divination card’s vibration, were all sourced from this Black Dragon Scale. Miss Matilda tried to remove it, but was caught off guard and nearly propelled by the repulsive force. Even the Great Witch of Destiny felt a curious repulsion preventing her from touching the scale.

With her brows knitted tight, the birthmark red between her brows trembled slightly:

"The last time with the Golden Dragon Scale, we didn’t encounter such a situation... Maybe only a descendant of the Black Family can access it?"

"Let me try."

Shard said, putting on Fiona’s glove to grip the scale, then swiftly plucking it from the indented floor. Once removed, the scale lost its repelling force on others.

In Shard’s palm, the dragon scale quivered, the strange yet profound black light gradually receding. The dense Miracle Elements closely resembled that of the Golden Dragon Scale, so Shard and the Witch knew what it was.

(Mia running...)

"Luviya, you wouldn’t believe how fast Miss Belindel and the maids drove the carriage to get back to the estate and shower after coming out from the sewer."

At eight thirty, Shard exited the washroom while toweling his wet hair. Luviya’s voice came from the kitchen as she washed fruits:

"Actually, your return alone was enough for Mia not to want to approach you, already indicating how bad the odor really was."

Saying this, she carried a fruit basin filled with apples to the living room. Glancing over Shard, freshly bathed, she then nodded in satisfaction:

"The Black Dragon Scale belongs to the Black Family?"

"Yes, according to those stone tablets, a Circle Sorcerer from the Black Family believed that keeping the scale within the family was no good for the descendants of ordinary people. He studied the scale, finding that its radiating power was enough to cause mutations in the bodies and souls of ordinary people, but it would subtly strengthen creatures that already had power. The ancient trees of Whisper Hills, the spirits within the trees, the female werewolves, the black cat in the small sewer, and that vampire beast all received the radiation from the scale’s power.

Therefore, the ancestors of the Black Family sealed the scale and left a message that only a Circle Sorcerer could understand. However, either the message was lost, or there hasn’t been another Circle Sorcerer in the Black Family for over a thousand years, so the scale remained in the sewer all this time."

Shard bent down to pick up Mia, the cat who loved the scent of Shard after he’d bathed immediately rubbed its head against Shard’s shoulder. And sensing the increased warmth from Shard’s body post-bath, the fluffy cat looked visibly happier.

"Also, the reminder the black cat gave me before it left was correct. The location of that dark room is just 200 meters diagonally below where the black cat’s remains were found."

"That cat..."

Luviya recalled the little story Shard had shared and sighed gently, initially wanting to mention that she felt someone had performed divination on her today, but then she thought it was just a trivial matter:

"It’s still unclear what the dragon scales of the Seven Great Families are used for, but try to collect them if you can. However, the ’Sorrow of Blood’ is more important. I have a suspicion that the current holder of that sword is one of the Chosen Ones of Light candidates."

"What about John Flynn?"

Shard bent down to take an apple:

"I can’t confirm if he’s telling the truth, but at least the ’Sword of the Wind King’ is real."

"Most likely he is one of the candidates, but I need to see for myself. However, from your description, this person’s character and methods are much more normal than those of the previous Chosen."

The purple-eyed girl said, then asked about another person:

"What about Miss Eles? She hasn’t appeared today, right?"

"I don’t know why either. Let’s wait patiently; she’ll show up eventually."

He took another bite of the apple, tilted his head, and looked at the gas lamp on his wall before suddenly asking:

"Tomorrow is the King’s birthday and Draleon is a holiday, is the Prophet’s Society taking the day off?"

"Of course, the Society is right opposite Yordle Palace. Even if we wanted to work, out of respect for the King, the president couldn’t open the Society."

Luviya laughed and asked:

"Why, are you thinking of asking me out tomorrow? That’s a no-go, you should focus on preparing for the evening banquet. After all, it’s another ’big day’ for Dorothy and Lecia."

"Oh, Luviya~"

Shard took her hand, gazing into those smiling purple eyes:

"I was thinking, I asked Lecia to prepare an invitation for you; how about joining the Yordle Palace banquet tomorrow night? Lecia, Galina, and Dorothy will all be there. If you’re the only one not there, it would feel strange. Plus, we can find a time to talk with everyone about the current issues in Moon Bay and the news of the ’Sword of the Wind King’ and the ’Sorrow of Blood.’"

"Do Dorothy and Lecia know you plan to discuss these things tomorrow night?"

She asked with a smile, then nodded lightly:

"Then I’ll prepare a dress during the day and get my hair done. But tomorrow night is your time with Dorothy, so I won’t accompany you as your partner. Let Princess Angelina send me an invitation instead; she used to come to the Prophet’s Society for divination games and is fairly familiar with me."

The beautiful purple eyes gazed at Shard, knowing what he meant:

"Don’t invite me just because they’re all there and I’m not. I don’t mind such small things. Shard, I will always feel your affection for me, so you don’t need to strive for this balance."

Shard wanted to explain, but he reconsidered and simply leaned in for a kiss. Luviya smiled and closed her eyes to welcome it, and then... at least Shard remembered to turn off the living room light and draw the curtains.