Turning Chapter 728 (Patreon)

Chapter 728

Indeed. For the first time, the woman blinked and showed a reaction. A hint of emotion flickered in her distinctly southern, dark eyes.

"Who told you that?" she asked, her accent harsher than that of Aton.

Yuder, realizing he had successfully engaged her in their imperial tongue, smirked slightly. "Your leader, who suffered a beating at my hands before you did," he replied.

"...Sir Aton?" she questioned in disbelief.

"Exactly."

"That's impossible."

"Why? You also lost to me without laying a hand on me."

This left the Southern merchant speechless.

Yuder, gripping the merchant's collar tighter, leaned in, his eyes as dark as the night sky. The woman's eyes trembled as if uncomfortable under his gaze.

"What does it mean to create a land of the black moon by the repercussions of imbalance? What do your Wolf’s Eyes want, and what outcome does this crack bring?" Yuder demanded.

The woman remained silent, lips tightly sealed. Yuder considered interrogating another merchant when Yergin, his companion, suddenly made a curious noise, having discovered something.

"Yuder, sorry to interrupt, but can you look at this? I found something odd among the belongings we took from her."

Yuder released the merchant, turning to see what Yergin had found - an old cloth pouch with a small, palm-sized box inside. Opening it, Yuder found another pouch filled with white powder, which gave off a musty, rotten smell. Yuder immediately recognized it as the counterfeit drug they had swapped in the West.

‘Why carry around spoiled drugs?’ he wondered, pocketing the pouch. As he was about to close the box, Yuder's eyes flickered in recognition, ‘…The shape of the inside of the box looks somewhat familiar.’

"The powder's identity is unclear, but it reeked terribly once the box was opened. Could this be their weapon?" Yergin speculated.

Yuder, pondering whether to disappoint his comrade with the truth that it was merely rotten illegal drugs, ultimately shook his head.

‘Hold on,’ he thought, intrigued by the comment that the box emitted no smell when closed. He opened and closed it repeatedly.

‘This is no ordinary box,’ Yuder realized, his expression changing. He began shaking the small box next to his ear, prompting Yergin to ask quizzically, "What are you doing? Is this some new training method?"

"No," Yuder replied, still shaking the box. Though he wondered what she thought of him, discovering the secret of this box was largely thanks to her. Yuder opened the box again and briefly expressed his thanks.

"Thanks to you, I found it."

"What did you find?"

"The hidden compartment in the box."

"The hidden... what?"

Yuder, instead of explaining, fiddled with the inside of the open box with his fingers. It seemed plain to the eye, but when touched, a catch was revealed.

It was the key to a new space, secretly hidden beneath the box's bottom.

Yuder had seen such a secret double-bottomed box before when he was pretending to be Kishiar's lover in Tainu. He had received a lapis lazuli cigarette case of the exact same structure as a gift while surveilling suspicious individuals under the guise of buying rare goods from the crowded streets.

Despite initially refusing such a box, thinking it unnecessary, Yuder had stored a flower folded from candy paper, given by Kishiar, in its secret compartment, hidden in the depths of his wardrobe. It seemed the only appropriate place to keep it safe and out of sight.

Had he not had the experience of opening and closing the box a few times before, he might not have discovered its secret compartment. Fortunately, despite differences in form and material, the opening mechanism was similar.

Yuder twisted the part he felt with his fingertips forcefully. The bottom opened, revealing the hidden space and its contents. Yergin applauded in admiration.

“Wow! That's amazing. As expected of Baron Aile.”

Though Yuder had no significant rapport with Yergin in the previous life, he could clearly sense that she was a highly competent member of the excessively bloated Cavalry. He sent her a frown, suggesting she keep it down, and carefully picked up the hidden object.

"No, don’t you dare!"

The southern merchant, having seen what Yuder was doing from inside the pit, thrashed about, growling. Of course, no one here was really going to stop because of such words.

"How did you know that was hidden there?"

"If a box is sealed well enough to contain a rotting smell, it's likely more expensive than it appears. It's odd to store only rotten powder in such a box. Plus, when I shook it, I heard something rattling."

"Hey, I hadn't thought of that. I'll learn from this."

Yuder, letting her words go in one ear and out the other, examined the object he had picked up closely in midair.

'A jewel? No, a magic stone?'

It was an opaque black stone. It looked like a raw gemstone, but faintly emitted a weak magic energy, suggesting it might be a magic stone.

Small in size, but definitely worthy of further investigation.

'I should send this to Kishiar.'

Just as Yuder was about to put it back in the box, a loud shout came from the pit.

"You fools above the desert will never understand what this is!"

"..."

"The more you meddle, the more the balance will be disturbed beyond repair. You've lost."

That was as much as Yuder could understand. The woman, muttering in a mix of southern language, took a deep breath and then shouted in pure southern tongue.

"Inia! Kta Inia!"

After the shout, there was a gruesome sound from inside the woman's mouth.

"Oh? What...!"

Startled, Yergin dove into the pit, but soon reemerged, her face a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"My God. She's killed herself! What kind of people are these, to take their lives so easily..."

"Yuder...!"

"Yuder!"

Then, calls for Yuder began simultaneously from all around. They were from the Cavalry members, each guarding a southern merchant.

"Come quickly! This guy's about to kill himself...!"

"Why, why is this happening? Suddenly acting crazy...!"

Yuder regretted not having gagged them earlier, gathering his strength in haste. He tried to enhance and use the powers of earth and wind, but could not prevent the deaths of the remaining southern merchants.

In an instant, four corpses lay before Yuder. He, pale-faced, searched the bodies for possessions and weapons in place of the other stunned members. Each had the same item as the first woman who died – a secretive box, and a similar stone was found beneath the hidden compartment of these boxes.

There were no other items to identify them, and all their weapons were ordinary.

'What were these people planning to do with these?'

While Yuder was lost in thought, the remaining members nearly subdued all of Star of Nagran’s members. They all thought the situation would resolve without any harm to allies or damage to surrounding buildings.

Unaware of the merchants' deaths, they were concluding the battle amidst their mixed emotions.

"...Yuder!"

Hearing a faint call, Yuder reflexively raised his head while pondering over the corpses.

'Kishiar?'

Almost immediately after, something fell from the sky, crushing the four corpses completely. It landed so close that it would have hit him had he not lifted his head in time.

The impact shook the ground, startling everyone into screaming. Yuder, rolling backward, instinctively wrapped himself in the power of wind to offset the shock and quickly got up to look ahead.

"What, look at that!"

"A monster...! It's a monster!"

A ghastly form, slowly rising above the crushed corpses, loomed ominously. Its thin, fragile-looking legs and disproportionately swollen body, topped with oddly sturdy wings, made for a grotesque sight.

It was a monster, as large as a carriage.

As it raised its head and its hollow eye sockets began to move, identical forms started falling from the sky in succession.

Thud, thud. Thud…

In this unimaginable, nightmarish scene, even the seasoned Cavalry members were flustered, staring blankly at the sky.

"Uh... uh..."

"..."

Yuder, watching the monsters rain down like a downpour, quickly drew his sword. Though he didn't understand the situation, his instinct as a seasoned monster fighter who had faced death countless times kicked in.

At the same time, a familiar scent rapidly enveloped him.

Kishiar, having somehow run there in no time, stared at the monsters with unsmiling eyes, sword in hand, and asked,

"...Did anything like this happen in the previous game?"