OBS Chapter 4235 Merchant Guilds and Treasure Troves
Chapter 4235 Merchant Guilds and Treasure Troves
Chapter 4235 Merchant Guilds and Treasure Troves
"Stealing from the Velendell Mint is no easy feat. The success rate of stealing from there is probably even lower than the success rate of assassinating the king, isn't it?"
Viggo sighed, while Shad was worried about Margaret:
"The mint theft is temporarily unrelated to Arcadia City. I'm wondering if those Zionists will assassinate Margaret after she arrives here? I've encountered royal descendants in many places, and almost every time there's been an assassination attempt."
“Arcadia is my territory, and I will protect her.”
Wei Ge said confidently, then a new question came to mind:
"Speaking of which, are you going to start investigating that 'flower-billed bird' next week?"
“It’s Sparrow. Yes, we’re still waiting for Willendal to send me the forged contact information from Margaret. It’s not a big deal. I’ll just ask Sparrow for information once I find the local Grey Gloves outpost.”
“I can also help with this. One of the important tasks of the Grey Gloves system in this area is to monitor our family. The Astley family also has its own people in the shadows. Although the family’s influence cannot penetrate the Grey Gloves, I can at least help you verify the authenticity of the information you have obtained.”
Besides Shade, Viggo's trip to Grayrock Pass Fortress was also accompanied by her housekeeper, Miss Lorraine, and two maids. The carriage did not display her family crest, and she had not informed Baron Blaze, the fortress commander of Grayrock Pass, of her impending visit, so the group did not attract much attention when they arrived at Grayrock Pass.
Currently, a large comprehensive hospital is being built at the Gray Rock Pass fortress to accommodate wounded soldiers from the front lines. The civil engineering work within the fortress is even more extravagant than the park that will soon host an industrial exposition.
However, that was not the group's destination. The carriage eventually drove into a courtyard and stopped in front of a rather imposing building in the fortress:
"This is it."
Several young figures rushed out of the building to hold umbrellas for the people getting off the carriage. Xia De looked at the white stone building, which resembled a bank, and then turned to Wei Ge with surprise.
"This is where?"
This place is located in the most prosperous area of Grayrock Pass Fortress, and less than two hundred meters ahead is the southern outpost of Grayrock Pass. Although Xia De hadn't seen the sign hanging outside the courtyard, he could tell that this was no ordinary place.
"The Astley Trading Company. In the time of Delineor, this was the prison of the Greyrock Pass fortress, where some of the kingdom's political and economic prisoners were transferred from the capital. After the kingdom's fall, it was abandoned and later purchased by my ancestor, the grandson of the last Duke of Astley."
This place has served many different purposes over the centuries; for a time, it was even rented to the fortress military as a warehouse. It wasn't until my great-grandfather's generation that it was converted into a trading post. However, the weather's bad today, so it looks like there won't be many people around.
Wei Ge was being too modest. From the outside, the place looked grand but rather deserted. But once inside, the double doors that the servants had pushed open revealed out-of-town merchants and business employees bustling about as usual.
The general structure here is indeed similar to a bank, with a warehouse in the basement and three floors above ground containing reception windows, small meeting rooms, a archive room, and a reception room. According to Viggo, her great-grandfather's generation had accumulated enough assets to open a small bank locally, but pressure from a mysterious figure in Willendale—who was actually the royal family—made the family abandon the plan.
This place was originally decorated as a bank, and although it has been renovated many times by subsequent generations, it has largely maintained its original style.
The manager of the trading company was the typical bespectacled, chubby middle-aged man that Xia De remembered. He rushed over to meet Wei Ge, but after being waved away by Wei Ge, he arranged for someone to lead the group down the stairs to the underground.
The merchant guild's underground warehouse had three levels, its interior as complex as a maze. Viggo claimed she needed to check the moisture content of the latest batch of spices shipped from the New World, and told the guild members not to follow. After entering the third underground level, she had two maids guard the stairwell, and then she continued deeper into the warehouse with only Shad and Miss Lorraine.
The carefully kept key was taken out and opened the door to a warehouse three levels underground.
The room is dry and insulated, and has dedicated ventilation, so even underground, it doesn't feel stuffy. This room is specifically used to store cinnamon; resin-sealed oak barrels are stacked densely together, each as tall as Shad's chest.
Pushing aside a shelf in the corner of the warehouse that looked like it hadn't been touched for years, Miss Rowling pressed a button on the brick wall, and then a hidden door opened, revealing the space behind it.
The walls separating the inside from the outside looked thicker than a bank vault, but the boxes in the bedroom-sized hidden space didn't contain the antique treasures that Shad had imagined; there were only a few antique vases that looked somewhat valuable on the floor.
Miss Rowling continued to explore the walls of the secret room for a while, and soon another hidden door in the wall opened, this time leading to a secret passage.
"There's a secret room behind the secret room. Are they being that cautious?"
"This is all arranged by our ancestors; I'm just following the tradition. Let's go; it's been more than half a year since I've been here."
Although this nested chamber design was already quite cautious, Viggo still cast spells to set up some protective rituals within the passageway after taking control. After dispelling the rituals, the three walked a short distance along the secret passage, turned a right-angle bend, and saw the Astley family's true treasure room.
There was no dazzling, glittering light like in the stories, with even the ground piled high with gold coins, nor any strange and powerful relics or alchemical tools. Miss Rowling lit the torches on the wall for illumination, but because the light was too weak, Shad summoned the moonlight instead.
This place resembled a storage room that hadn't been used in a long time. Several boxes were piled up in the corner, and some oil paintings of ancient people that Xia De didn't recognize hung on the walls. On the shelves along the east wall were some jewelry boxes of various sizes, and in front of the wall where the door was located stood three full suits of armor, next to a weapon rack with a sword.
It looked shabby, but it wasn't the only room. Shad saw another door on the west wall, indicating that the space here was quite large.
How does it look here?
Vige asked, and then, without waiting for Xia De's reply, explained:
“Every single item here could be the grand finale of a major auction at Cassandra Auction House. In addition to our Astley family’s collection, it seems that our ancestors also took some royal collections with them when Delineor was destroyed.”
My father left a will stating that unless the family faced a critical juncture, these ancestral treasures should not be sold. Over the years, I've only taken a pair of earrings from here for my own use.
She looked around and sighed softly:
"I wonder if my father said anything similar to what I said when he brought my mother here back then."
Shad then asked curiously:
"Did your mother take any jewelry from here? That could be a clue."
Wei Ge shook her head:
“I don’t know. It’s not written in my father’s diary, and there’s no inventory list here for me to check.”
As she spoke, she took out the pendant that the princess from six hundred years ago had given her:
"Then let's look around and see if there's anything worth noting here. Shad, if you see anything you like, feel free to take it, I don't mind."
Although Vige said that everyone was looking for it together, she actually gave the pendant to her housekeeper and asked Miss Rowling to check the items. Vige then took Shad's hand and introduced him to the treasures here.
The painting features King Deringer, known as a "tyrant," a gold ring that passed down through three queens, the Astley family seal passed down through generations, and the medals worn by the last duke, among other things.
Viggo explained in great detail, and Xia De listened attentively, knowing that she wanted him to understand her background and origins in more detail. There were five secret rooms in total, all interconnected, and the items stored in the different rooms were arranged according to their era.
The most "modern" treasure here is a chest full of gold bars, left by Vige's great-grandfather. Vige has no idea how her family, which didn't have much income back then, suddenly accumulated so much gold.
However, she didn't care much. As a high-ranking witch, wealth didn't mean much to her.
“I’ve seen the pattern of these gold pieces in the Randall Valley.”
Shad picked up one of the pieces and said:
"During the story of the chosen ones of the earth, Iluna and I discovered the funds secretly raised by the old nobles of the Randall Valley in 1124 to resist the army of Kasenrik. The style and patterns on those gold bars are almost identical to these gold bars. (Chapter 1418)"
"1124? At that time, the Randall Valley region on the west coast of the Old World had already been incorporated into the territory of Kasenric, but the Kingdom of Delinor in the east had not yet been touched by Kasenric."
Wei Ge thought for a moment:
"Could it be that the Kingdom of Delinor funded the old nobles' rebellion in the Randall Valley back then? That makes sense. Or perhaps my ancestors simply discovered these gold bars by accident. No, that's unlikely."
Wei Ge felt as if she had discovered a tremendous family secret:
"The old nobles of the Randall Valley disappeared long ago, by the time of my great-great-grandfather. Where did these gold bars come from? Could it be that the Astley family wasn't always obedient after submitting to Carsonrick? But no one in my family has ever told me about these things."
Xia De laughed:
"It's just some gold; you can't deduce much from it. Let bygones be bygones. Since your family didn't pass down these things, don't dwell on them too much."