Chapter 35: 7. Is this bead authentic?

Chapter 35: 7. Is This Bead Genuine?

"Where have you all been?"

The stall owner, prostrate on the ground, stammered, "My Lord, we have returned from the Tarantula Coast of Lucetia."

Darcus nodded understandingly, picking up a Lucetian-style staff and twirling it around.

"Hmm, not bad. Pachacoco should like this."

After handing the staff to Wote, he picked up a necklace from the stall to examine it. It was called a necklace, but it was actually just a very long fang strung on a dark red cord; it looked particularly auspicious, and holding it in his hand gave off a strange sense of power.

"Where did these things come from?"

"My Lord, they were obtained from a very powerful lizardman. It attacked us in the jungle; it took two of our squads to finally slay it."

Darcus had no interest in stories; he was here to scavenge, not to listen to tales. He held the fang horizontally against his chest and found that its length exceeded his expectations. It wasn't something he could carry given his current build; forcing himself to carry it might cost him his life. He gripped the fang again, closing his eyes to feel its power.

Darcus could clearly sense the violent emotions within his heart, as if at any second he might stand up, draw a weapon, and throw himself wholeheartedly into a whirlwind of slaughter.

"This should be a Tyrant Fang, a Tyrant Necklace? Useless."

Despite calling it useless, he still handed the necklace to Wote. Darcus then noticed a hand drum sitting beneath the stall owner's buttocks. Looking at the drum, he dazed for a moment; he felt as if he had traveled back in time, back to some pseudo-antique ancient town, though this hand drum was double-sided.

Coming back to his senses, Darcus said, "Pass that drum over. Tell me the story of this drum."

"My Lord, we found this in the ruins of an abandoned Lucetian city."

"You just said you went to the Tarantula Coast of Lucetia?"

"Yes, My Lord."

Darcus mused to himself, "It couldn't be that... war drum, could it? What was it called? It can't be that much of a coincidence, can it?"

He picked up the drum and began to beat it, looking at Wote. "Do you feel anything peculiar?"

Wote looked at Darcus with a blank expression. After hesitating for a long time, he said uncertainly, "My Lord, I feel... stronger?"

Darcus then turned to the stall owner and the other Duruchi prostrate behind him.

"My Lord, I also have this peculiar feeling!"

Darcus seemed certain. This drum was the War Drum of Zhahita, the Drum of Echoes. He suddenly thought of the "Banquet of Bliss" from the Legend of the Cat Demon, where the Xuanzong distributed drums.

"Elegant! So damn elegant! I should have worn a hairpin just now; perhaps this is also a way to approach the God of Love and Art."

Darcus pulled out twenty sovereigns and placed them on the stall.

He walked toward the War Hydra. The horse was extremely resistant, refusing to move forward no matter what. Darcus stood in place watching the War Hydra; at this moment, the beast seemed full, and its five snake heads were all lying on the ground napping.

The War Hydra was a massive monster of the mountains, one of the largest beasts in all of Nagaros. Its bad temper and gluttonous nature undoubtedly turned many victims into mere scraps of flesh. Taming a War Hydra was an incredibly difficult task; a beastmaster's whip had to be steady, accurate, and fierce, otherwise, they would be eaten. Furthermore, the multi-headed serpent was quite hard to kill, not only because its scales provided protection, but also because it could rapidly regenerate injured parts. The only chance to kill it was to swiftly decapitate all heads; if even one remained, the others would quickly regrow. Alternatively, one could use war machines like the Reaper Ballista or magic for high-frequency attacks.

To summarize: eight meters tall, five snake heads, a body, four legs, and one snake tail. It can only walk or run, cannot fly, and has an incredibly strong regeneration ability. The third head is not named Sanlang; it is the core war machine of the Duruchi.

"Truly beautiful, a perfect war machine!"

Wote suddenly said boastfully, "My Lord, do you know the legend of the North? The Laima Beast!"

Darcus was speechless. Of course he knew. Far to the north of Nagaros, a legend circulated about a massive War Hydra. This monster never aged, and as the years passed, its size grew even more immense, its scales became denser, its teeth sharper, and its claws longer. Every time the House of Hell's Calamity heard rumors, they would send beastmasters to find it, but they achieved nothing except fighting with Kalonde Karl's beastmasters. Through sacrifices, the beastmasters had received a response from Aens Laima: the monster did indeed exist.

The two walked to another weapon stall.

Darcus looked at the dazzling array of Zhadian-style weapons on the stall: sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, crescents, forks, and crooks. With a look of confusion, he took a Golden-Winged Phoenix Halberd off the rack. It was about 2.8 meters long, with a thick wood shaft encased in iron, a pointed tip, and a body likely forged from Nangao iron, weighing about five kilograms.

He struck the tip against the ground, gripped the shaft, and gave it a shake. After playing with it for a while, he put it back and took out a Three-Pointed Double-Edged Saber to twirl.

Darcus pointed and said, "This one, this one, and that one too. I'll take them."

He wasn't actually interested in these weapons; in his view, they were of the same lineage as the Duruchi halberds. He didn't have a system, so he didn't know if his DND exotic weapon talent had activated, nor was he looking to duel generals immediately.

In this life, it would be enough to master the halberd, halberd-and-shield, spear, saber, and saber-and-shield.

Besides, wearing a set of 15th-century Gothic armor, wielding a Golden-Winged Phoenix Halberd, and then shouting, "A true man is born between heaven and earth!"... erm, the aesthetic would be all wrong.

Wote struggled to lean down and pick up five differently styled dragon-head heavy crossbows from the stall.

Darcus began hanging the crossbows on the horse's saddlebags, saying as he worked, "They look quite interesting. I'll take them apart to study them when I have nothing to do this winter."

After walking a bit more, they came to a jewelry stall. A black pearl caught Darcus's attention; the pearl was incredibly black and massive, set within a pendant.

Darcus picked up the bead and toyed with it, smiling sinisterly, "Is this bead genuine?"

The stall owner was a peddler, with two Duruchi acting as thugs behind him. As the three Duruchi knelt on the ground, the peddler said urgently, "My Lord, it's genuine, it's genuine!"

"Where did it come from?"

"My Lord, I collected it in Gorond."

Darcus then picked up an inverted triangle copper pendant inlaid with a blue, flowing cat's-eye stone, holding it up to the tomato-like sun.

"And this?"

The peddler quickly looked up and then immediately lowered his head, saying, "My Lord, this one too. Both were sold to me by a sorceress."

Darcus weighed the black pearl in his left hand and the cat's-eye stone in his right, scanning the other jewelry on the stall. "Is all of this stock from Gorond?"

"Yes, yes, My Lord. This is all stock leaked from the Dark Sorcery Monastery. My sister practices there, and I collect it through her channels."

Darcus then grabbed each piece of jewelry, closing his eyes to sense them. He felt that two of them were not ordinary items.

"You two, step back!"

The two Duruchi thugs immediately crawled backward. Darcus scanned the surroundings; the other stall owners were also prostrate on the ground.

Darcus asked softly, "How many times have you moved goods like this?"

"My Lord, this... this is the third time."

"Lift your head!" Darcus scrutinized the peddler. "What route do you take?"

"My Lord, a military transport unit from Nagalond and Gorond. As long as I pay enough sovereigns, I can follow them. After reaching Nagalond, we take a boat through the Undersea to reach here via Haig Grave."

"Won't they just arrest you and make you a slave? Or find a secluded place to sacrifice you to Cain?"

The peddler whispered, "My Lord, the things you mention happen often. But there is no choice. My sister needs sovereigns to cultivate in the Dark Sorcery Monastery. Perhaps one day I will disappear, or my sister will disappear. My brother has already disappeared."

Darcus teased the peddler, "You're lucky. You're even luckier today. I'll take all this jewelry." Having said that, he beckoned to the city guards in the distance.

The captain of the city guards ran over quickly and knelt on one knee three paces away.

Darcus tossed the captain a sovereign and said, "I have a task for you. Tomorrow morning, bring him to Takaya Manor in the Noble District."

They walked for a while longer, but Darcus still could not find what he was looking for. He shook his head in disappointment.

Darcus handed the cat's-eye amulet to Wote and said, "This is a gift for our meeting."

"My Lord, this?"

"If this thing is real, it should block a fatal attack for you. You understand."

Wote replied gratefully, "Thank you, My Lord."

"It's getting dark. Let's head back."

With that, he spurred his horse into a gallop.

*There might not be an update tonight, everyone, don't wait.*

*(_(:з」∠)_*

*The pacing is a bit slow right now, but it shouldn't be filler; even that incense burner is useful.*

*The City Guard is from the 4th edition of Dark精军书.*

*(End of Chapter)*