OBS Chapter 3951 The Underground Palace of the Mansion
Chapter 3951 The Underground Palace of the Mansion
Chapter 3951 The Underground Palace of the Mansion
When Shade and Vige returned to Fragrant Manor from the Candlehold Library, it was still early, and the girl injured by the mysterious collaborator of the Emerald Alchemy Guild was still recovering. Vige also had some matters to attend to at Grayrock Pass, so she told Shade to rest or take a walk around the manor as he pleased.
"I'll definitely be back in an hour."
After arranging for the maid, she left in a hurry. However, Shad did not actually wander around other people's houses. Instead, he stayed in the study, took a book from his bookshelf, and spent the afternoon in leisure.
During his month-and-a-half vacation, he didn't just spend all his time dating girls. His diligence and studiousness during this period also led to significant improvements in him. For example, he made great strides in exploring the nature of March.
Wei Ge didn't return until 4 PM, well over an hour later. She was about to apologize as soon as she entered when Xia De immediately stopped her:
"In the two days since I met you, the words you've said to me the most are apologies. I'm the one who's bothering you by being a guest here. If you have important things to do, go ahead and do them. It's okay for me."
He shook the star-blue book in his hand, causing it to scatter into specks of light and disappear into the air:
"I spent the whole afternoon reading, and it was very fulfilling. The maids here are also very good at making tea, and I really enjoyed the afternoon tea snacks. Next time I can bring my cat to eat here."
Wei Ge, who had seemingly rushed upstairs, immediately shut her mouth in guilt, then coughed violently a few times. This time it wasn't faked; even with Xia De's blood brew, she wasn't suited for such strenuous exercise right now, unless she drank Xia De's blood directly again, like when they first met.
Nothing major seemed to have happened at Grayrock Pass. Viggo simply explained to Shad that some contraband related to important figures in Velendale had been found on the train passing through the pass. During wartime, important passes like Grayrock Pass had even stricter controls on supplies, but the goods of certain important figures were clearly an "exception."
Vige didn't say much, but Xia De understood. He wanted her to rest first, but Vige only sat down and drank a cup of red tea with three drops of blood wine added before getting up again to take Xia De to the basement to check on the follower's condition.
“I have some things to do tonight, so I won’t keep you for dinner. It will probably be dusk by the time I finish checking on Laura’s condition. Would you like me to arrange for you to dine at a restaurant in town? Although I can’t accompany you, Eve can go. I don’t need to make reservations at any restaurant in town.”
After all, her student had said yesterday that he would definitely help her, and the injured girl's name was the same as that of Bishop Laura Fisher of the Music Order.
Shade shook his head:
"No need, I'm going to see some friends tonight, I'll just go have dinner by myself."
Yesterday, no one was home, which is unusual for this time of year. Shad doesn't believe that tonight, apart from Mia and Winnie, no one will be home either.
The basement of Fragrant Mansion can be accessed directly via stairs. While descending the stairs with Shad and the maids, Viggo explained the situation of the basement to Shad:
“Old houses like ‘Fragrance House’, which have existed since the time of Delineor, usually have basements that are much larger than the ground floor area, and the same is true for the old houses in Velendale.”
But Velendell is on a plain, while this place is mountainous. You never know how large the underground area of a house extending into the mountainside really is. My house used to belong to my teacher, and we even had the help of the previous generation's Space Witch. The area of the underground space is almost the size of an entire palace.
The actual basement where spices were stored was just a cover; the alchemical lab, meditation room, training grounds, cells, and more were all located underneath.
The basement connected by the stairs was indeed only used to store spices, but at the end of the basement, after the accompanying maid flipped the light fixture on the wall, the wall opened with a rumble, revealing a very familiar-looking elevator.
The group continued downwards via an elevator until they arrived at a place that resembled the entrance to an underground palace. However, since this was a private area, a map was provided at the entrance. The entire underground palace had two levels, and they were currently on the top level. Each level had a similar structure, with long corridors flanked by rooms for different purposes, varying in size.
The maids led their master to the third room on the right side of the first floor of the underground palace. As soon as the door opened, a blood-red light immediately seeped out, and Shad was stunned, almost thinking he had returned to the "Stained Blood Factory".
Fortunately, the red light wasn't very strong. Once inside the room, Xia De saw that the light was coming from the gaps between the closed stone coffins. The small room contained twenty stone beds, with three stone coffins placed on each bed.
This scene looks very strange and easily reminds people of scenes from vampire novels.
"You should know that witch followers accept the power of the great witches. The power of different witches varies, and some can even affect people who were originally normal."
This effect is not obvious on the witch followers of the positions of Balance, Earth, and Light, but it is very obvious on the witch followers of the positions of Darkness, Death, and Chaos.
'Death' suppresses death through powerful natural shapeshifting magic; 'Darkness' is an elder who has long since mastered the art of controlling her power, and naturally wouldn't allow her followers to undergo overly obvious changes due to her power.
Vige pointed to herself; the wall lamps were lighting up one by one, but they weren't gas lamps; they were some kind of alchemical lamps. The warm yellow light clearly imitated the effect of gas lamps, and in its glow, her face showed apology to her followers.
"Due to my physical condition, I not only failed to suppress the erosion of the 'chaos' power on normal people, but also shared my essence affected by the [Jade Record] when I shared the power with them."
Therefore, after the girls under my command become followers, they all need to lie in the stone coffins here for further power adjustment; otherwise, they will gradually become weak and sickly, just like me.
This was the first time Shad had heard of such a thing. Although the power systems of the other witches' followers were similar to those of the witches themselves, there were indeed no examples of them being affected by the witches' negative traits.
"Actually, sharing one's own power with followers is a technology that was only developed in the Sixth Era. After all, in the past, witches were not limited to the thirteen members of the council. Ahem, let's get back to the main topic. This kind of treatment device is effective against any flesh mutation. Judging by the time, this round of treatment will be over in five minutes."
Then Vige remembered something else and said apologetically to Xia De:
"Could you please leave for a moment? The girl in the treatment device isn't wearing any clothes."
"Oh, sorry."
Xia De turned and walked towards the door.
However, Shad didn't have to wait long before he heard the heavy sound of a coffin opening outside the door. A moment later, the witch called him in. At this time, a coffin on the east side of the room had been opened, filled with glowing red liquid, and a girl in a white dress, supported by a maid, was weakly talking to Vigo.
The other woman's hair was wet, and another maid was drying it for her.
Seeing Xia De approaching, Wei Ge said to her followers with great concern:
“Laura, this is the Mr. Watson I was talking about. He provided me with a way to temporarily recover my health. Mr. Watson, this is Laura Rowling, who used to be the housekeeper of this house. Her injury is not related to external wounds. I tried having her use Star Dewdrops as well, but it had no effect.”
"Good afternoon, Mr. Watson. Thank you for your help to the master."
The blonde girl looked even weaker than Viggo had been at the beginning, and Shad quickly stopped her from bowing.
"If I can help, I will do my best. Let me find out what happened first. What exactly happened to the injuries? Vige said she can only explain it clearly when she sees you."
The witch looked at her follower, who nodded, his face pale:
“It’s alright, Master. Since you trust him, I’m willing to trust him too.”
“Alright, Mr. Watson, please come closer.”
Miss Rowling, supported by her maid, turned around, and Shad noticed that her back was bulging. Viggo, feeling somewhat sorry for her, simply tore off the back of her dress, revealing what was hidden beneath the fabric.
"Sigh~"
Xia De frowned slightly. He noticed that the upper part of the girl's originally exceptionally beautiful fair back was now bulging with an irregularly shaped grayish-white area, and within that white area was clearly a face with its eyes closed.
"Laura led a group to investigate the group of outsiders who had contacted the Jade Alchemy Association, but they were discovered and a fight broke out between Laura and her team and the strangers in the outer city. At first, Laura and her team had the upper hand, but later the other side used special means to release a noise similar to a baby crying."
My followers immediately felt their own spirits cease flowing, so they retreated. Laura covered their retreat. When they returned, Laura initially showed no abnormalities, but she grew increasingly weak, and the abnormal area on her back gradually expanded from the size of a sesame seed to this.
"Didn't anyone else show any unusual behavior at the time?"
Xia De asked, and Wei Ge shook her head:
"I checked carefully, and there's nothing there."
She then added:
"This white area is constantly absorbing Laura's life force. I've tried to dig it out directly, but when I do, it only causes the white area to suddenly and rapidly expand. Currently, the only good treatment is to use the sarcophagus device to suppress its growth and supplement it with some magical potions. If you hadn't shown up, I might have asked the Speaker for help the next time I see her."