CHAPTER 734: 576 THE LOCATION OF ANCIENT RUINS

Sinyale, Sunset Tavern.

In a room located at the top of this intermediary that mingled with both the underworld and the lawful, Reiger and Liz unexpectedly found themselves here.

By all accounts, Reiger shouldn’t have been here.

The owner behind the Sunset Tavern was connected with the City Lord Sgranot, something Reiger had known since his first day in Sinyale.

Now, this outsider, who had inflicted serious injuries on the City Lord of Sinyale and had razed the City Lord’s mansion to the ground, was daring enough to take refuge in the Sunset Tavern associated with the City Lord, which was quite contemptuous.

However, after leaving the City Lord’s mansion, Reiger chose this place as a temporary refuge nonchalantly, seemingly considering the most dangerous place to be the safest.

Of course, when moving in, Reiger had used the Illusion Technique to alter both his and Liz’s appearance, so as not to let the people at the Sunset Tavern recognize them.

Although it certainly wouldn’t fool the Sunset Tavern, which also dealt in the trade of selling information, and they would sooner or later suspect him and notify the people at the City Lord’s mansion, Reiger had no intention of staying long.

By the time the Sunset Tavern realized something was amiss, he might have already left openly and honorably with Liz.

Thus, Reiger and Liz were together in this room, one sitting down, the other standing by his side, exuding the attitude of a devoted maid.

"Master."

Liz then handed a thick stack of parchment papers to Reiger.

"Is this the intelligence you found in the City Lord’s mansion’s secret library?"

Reiger took the stack of parchment, speaking as he cast his eyes upon it.

"Yes," Liz nodded repeatedly, exclaiming with the look of someone who had accomplished their mission, "I briefly looked through it, and these pieces of intelligence all mention the ’ancient ruins of Sinyale’ without exception, so I brought them all back."

"Good," Reiger smiled at Liz, "You’ve worked hard."

"No, it wasn’t hard," Liz said, twisting her fingers and speaking in a voice as soft as a mosquito’s, "The one who truly worked hard is the master."

Indeed.

She had just sneaked into the City Lord’s mansion’s secret library and taken this stack of parchment, which was effortless, while Reiger alone had faced off against everyone in the City Lord’s mansion, including Sgranot, which was unmistakably more taxing on him.

Fortunately, Reiger hadn’t been injured, nor had anything happened to him, otherwise the little princess might truly have felt so ashamed that she would cry.

Unaware of Liz’s thoughts, Reiger just smiled again, and then he picked up the stack of parchment and began to read through it.

Seeing this, Liz didn’t disturb Reiger and sneakily moved to a corner where the tea station was, clumsily brewing tea for Reiger.

In the entire room, the only sound that remained was that of Reiger flipping through the parchment papers.

Reiger quickly scanned through the content on the parchment papers ten lines at a time, discovering that most of it was actually useless.

Indeed, as Liz had said, without exception, all of them mentioned "the ancient ruins of Sindale."

However, these matters consisted either of records of someone secretly exchanging information about the ruins, touching upon the taboo of Sindale, and then being silently dealt with by the infuriated Sgranot, or of records related to the knights of the City Lord’s mansion arresting people who had violated the taboo. To Reiger, they were mostly useless.

Of course, some parts were quite useful.

For instance, Reiger was now seriously reading an old, damaged parchment that recorded the entire process of how the ancient ruins of Sindale were discovered.

"`In the year XXXX, on the XX day of XX month, an ancient ruin emerged from the desert near our city’s territory.`"

"`At first, people passing near the ruins thought it was nothing but a mirage and did not pay it much attention.`"

"`However, as time passed, someone did eventually pass by the ancient ruin, discovered its true existence, and realized it was not a mirage.`"

"`This was reported to the City Lord’s mansion on the XX day of XX month of the year XXXX, and on the same day, the news spread into the territories of the Kingdom of Ginas and the Leiblu Kingdom.`"

"`Half a month later, the City Lord Sgranot Bayard decided to lead a team personally, mobilizing ten Oasis Knights and a hundred of the elite knights, to explore the ancient ruin.`"

"`The day after, City Lord Sgranot Bayard returned, but none of the Oasis Knights and elite knights who had gone with him came back, having all been sacrificed.`"

"`Seven days later, the Kingdom of Ginas dispatched several knights and court magicians to Sindale.`"

"`On the same day, a delegation from the Leiblu Kingdom also arrived in Sindale.`"

"`City Lord Sgranot Bayard received the envoys from both countries and held an hour-long meeting, during which intense conflicts arose between the three parties. City Lord Sgranot Bayard sternly refused both countries’ requests to explore the ancient ruin, and the meeting ended without resolution.`"

"`The next day, the delegations from both countries left Sindale but did not return to their nations. Instead, through another channel, they learned the location of the ruin and, disregarding the obstruction of City Lord Sgranot Bayard, headed to the ancient ruin in the desert.`"

"`Afterwards, ten more days passed, and both countries once again sent representatives, claiming that the two exploration teams they had sent to the ruin had lost contact.`"

"`A second meeting among the three parties ensued.`"

"`This time, City Lord Sgranot Bayard had no choice but to agree to the request to explore the ruin, and accompanied the representatives of the two countries deep into the desert.`"

"`Another day passed, City Lord Sgranot Bayard returned to Sindale gravely injured, while only a handful of the representatives from the two countries survived.`"

"`Since then, the third meeting took place, and ultimately it was decided that the ancient ruin in the desert belonged to Sindale, and the Kingdom of Ginas and the Leiblu Kingdom would no longer interfere.`"

"`The representatives of the two countries departed, and City Lord Sgranot Bayard immediately declared the ancient ruin as taboo, forbidding anyone in Sindale from mentioning the ruin.`"

"`The location of the ancient ruin was also sealed off by City Lord Sgranot Bayard’s men, setting up various magical mechanisms, causing the ruin to vanish from the desert.`"

Looking at these records written on the worn parchment, Reiger furrowed his brows.

"Is this ruin really that dangerous?"

Sgranot Bayard had gone to the ruin twice, once losing many subordinates and fleeing in a sorry state, and the other time returning gravely injured, nearly having perished there.

The Kingdom of Gennas and the Leiblu Kingdom were both among the four great nations of the Akasha Continent, and yet, the delegation sent to explore the ruins met with complete annihilation during their expedition, losing all contact. They suffered severe casualties, with only a handful of survivors making it back.

Following that, regardless of whether it was Xinyele, the Kingdom of Gennas, or the Leiblu Kingdom, they all tacitly gave up on the ruins, as if avoiding it like the plague.

Especially Sgranot who, whether he had been scared out of his wits or not, went as far as to completely seal off all information related to the ancient ruins and made it taboo, no longer allowing anyone to touch upon it.

All of these actions were nothing but a message to others that there was something fishy about the ancient ruins that appeared out of nowhere.

Even Sgranot, the seasoned Sword Saint who was just one step away from Level 8, had ventured there twice only to return in disarray both times, which was enough to prove that there was great horror within the ruins.

If Reiger decided to head to the ancient ruins during this trip, it was very likely that he would encounter dangers so fatal that even he might be powerless against them.

This...

"It somewhat piques my interest..."

Far from retreating, Reiger felt an inexplicable surge of excitement.

It couldn’t be helped.

Danger?

Adventure?

Peril?

Fatal?

With Reiger’s penchant for seeking thrills, how could he not be exhilarated by this?

"I really want to see what’s inside."

Reiger, suppressing the slight excitement that was beginning to bubble within him, started reading the rest of the information.

Fortune favors the bold, and as he flipped to the last few pieces of parchment, Reiger saw a map.

It was a topographical map of the area surrounding Xinyele.

The map meticulously outlined the terrain around Xinyele, marking various roads, and at the end of one road, there was a straight red line that culminated in a large ’X’. The blood-red mark was practically screaming to everyone that there was something wrong with this place.

"Liz did well to find this and bring it back."

Reiger marveled in admiration.

Without any mention of ’Xinyele’s ancient ruins’, an ordinary person who saw this map would never associate it with the ancient ruins unearthed near Xinyele.

Liz, however, had brought it back.

The reason was simple: this map was found in the deepest part of the library, placed together with the record Reiger had just read, inside a box.

Liz believed if this map was placed together with that record, it couldn’t be completely unrelated to the ancient ruins excavated near Xinyele, so she conveniently took it with her.

"So, it’s right here, isn’t it?"

Reiger, looking at the spot marked with the red ’X’, memorized the route to that place before carefully putting the map away.

"Master, please enjoy your tea."

At that moment, Liz had already prepared the tea and brought a cup of black tea over to Reiger, gently setting it on the table.

"Thank you."

Regaining his senses, Reiger thanked Liz and then picked up the teacup.

"No need, this is what I should do."

Liz beamed with a smile, clearly delighted that Reiger didn’t find fault with the tea she had made.

Reiger really wanted to say that this wasn’t something a Knight should be doing, right?

What is an Attendant?

They are enforcers who have signed a contract with a Magician, not servants to pour tea and water.

Attendants stand by their masters to act as their guards, not as maids.

Yet Liz treated such a task as something an Attendant should do, which really didn’t make sense.

But with the example of Marilyn before him, Reiger didn’t quite want to categorically dismiss it, so he simply chose not to argue.

"I know the location of the ruins now."

Reiger said just that to Liz.

"Is that so?"

The smile on Liz’s face faded.

"Shall we go?"

Reiger, watching Liz’s expression, asked softly.

Liz was silent for a moment but eventually nodded with determination.

"Yes!"