Act 48: Infiltration

The Dark Dragon was the sworn enemy of the Four Saints during the Holy War, and its feud with Gilt, the King of Flames, was so deep it had led to the downfall of a nation. Although Brando was puzzled by why the witch Babasha would say such a thing, he couldn't agree this time, lest he find himself on the opposite side of the entire World of Light. "The Dark Dragon Odin? I know you witches see him as the guide of dark destiny, but he has nothing to do with me."

He looked at Babasha, only to see the old witch still kneeling on the ground, trembling uncontrollably. Brando paused for a moment, realizing he had gone too far. He had forgotten that people in this world held immense respect for deities and powerful beings, and would not casually show disrespect even when facing an enemy.

As a player, he couldn't fully accept this; the other half of his perspective came from Brando's influence. Therefore, when mentioning these names, he naturally displayed an air of equality.

This equality meant nothing to him, but to Sharr and Babasha, it was a grave disrespect. However, the situation was a little different this time—the old witch Babasha was in deep panic, and Sharr hadn't yet emerged from his previous awe. Thus, this natural demeanor instead sowed more doubt in their hearts.

Brando also realized this and shook his head, "Forget it, think what you will. As long as you don't get in my way, and you're not allowed to go anywhere until the sun rises."

Babasha pressed her forehead to the ground, not daring to move.

Brando gestured to the dazed Sharr beside him, indicating a hidden door beneath the table and telling him to open it. The young man, half-believing, moved the table, lifted the carpet, and pressed down. Indeed, there was only a thin layer beneath—Sharr was already accustomed to his lord's foresight and could only attribute it to things in this world that couldn't be understood by 'human effort.'

He found the handle nearby and pulled it with force, revealing a steep, dark staircase below.

"My lord, are we going in now?" he asked.

"Of course, what else do you want to do?"

"Huh? Is there no other place in the vast Ridenburg to level up?"

"Do you think magical items are like cabbage in the fields, that you can just pick them up?"

"Cabbage?"

"I mean bok choy, you know that thing." Brando smacked his forehead, realizing he had slipped up again. Vonder was somewhat different from the world he was familiar with.

"Of course, but it sounds especially different when spoken by my lord. Cabbage, what a poetic term. I'm sure its root must come from ancient languages, as the pronunciation is similar."

Brando couldn't help but smile at the young man. However, he knew that in Ridenburg, there were at least two more places with hidden side quests and benefits—the underground church and the famous Tower of Wind. But both of these had level restrictions, similar to gatekeepers. And they weren't NPCs like Babasha who could be outsmarted, so after much consideration, he had to give up.

His greatest ambition now was to hone his strength while collecting the treasures he knew of, but his time was extremely tight. His primary goal at the moment was to survive, not to become a statistic. And after the First Black Rose War ended, before the civil unrest in Eluin, Brando would have plenty of time to implement his plans. With the accumulation of experience and the best equipment, he believed it wasn't impossible to become one of Vonder's strongest forces.

Brando never believed that strong individuals didn't need equipment. As a player, the system built by attributes, equipment, and skills was essential in his view.

He casually picked up a box from the side and swept all the Elemental Crystals inside into his pouch: twelve wind elementals, one fire elemental, and only two or three azure water elementals. These Elemental Crystals, also called Elemental Crystals, were the condensation of free elements in the material world. They were originally irregular crystalline bodies, but because they needed to be artificially polished into pointed, equal-sided prisms, each contained one unit of energy.

After looting Babasha's collection, the two, like the most competent of robbers, also took Babasha's candle and entered the tunnel. The witch's candle was also a magical item that could transport people to places within reach of light. This was a life-saving secret known only to witches—and of course, Brando knew it too.

The secret passage of Yusong Castle was about 1.5 kilometers long, and most of it was narrow enough for only one person to pass. In slightly wider areas, three human-sized Poisonous Spiders were kept. Wizards often did such things, raising beast servants to act as guards. Babasha clearly placed them here to please Duke Golan-Elson, but while these things could scare ordinary people, for Brando, they were three creatures yielding a total of 9 experience points.

The other end of the tunnel led to the back of a row of wine racks in the cellar of Yusong Castle. However, since it was a secret passage for escape, it couldn't be sealed too tightly. Brando felt along the wall for a moment and found the mechanism—a device to move the wine rack, which was fitted with iron rails, to the side.

As the two emerged from the tunnel, they both let out long sighs of relief. No matter how good the ventilation was, the smell of accumulated dust in the narrow tunnel was unbearable for ordinary people. After walking for a long time, Sharr almost felt as if his lungs were covered in a thick layer of dust.

"Fifteen minutes have already passed, my lord," he said immediately after exiting the passage, taking out a silver pocket watch from his bosom and glancing at it.

"It's fine."

"Huh?"

"The time I originally reserved for visiting Duke Golan-Elson's treasury will have to be abandoned. However, most noble collections in villas are just art and jewelry, not very useful."

"My lord is truly decisive. Not everyone can remain unfazed in the face of treasure."

"No, Sharr, you misunderstand. I mean we can just grab a couple of items on the way; I'll tell you which ones are genuine later."

"..."

Sharr was surprised by his lord's calm greed, but he didn't know that Brando's thieving nature didn't stem from his personality but was a subconscious behavior as a player.

The two walked up the stairs and stopped talking in unison. Brando extinguished the candle, handed it to the attendant behind him, and placed his hand on the doorknob of the cellar leading outside. Power Burst activated, and the doorknob shattered with a click.

He immediately pushed the door open. Two guards looked over in astonishment, but they only saw Brando's other hand drawing his longsword. The sword light cut through the air in a beautiful silver arc, and before the two guards had even finished drawing their swords, they were sent flying out, swords and scabbards alike, with a clang.

Startled, they realized the intruder was hostile and tried to flee, but Brando couldn't let them go. Without hesitation, he pursued them and ended their lives with a sword strike from behind.

This was the first time Brando had killed someone.

He hadn't thought much about killing the two, not even a blank mind; he felt he was even calmer than usual at that moment. If they didn't die, he and Sharr would certainly be in a deadly situation. It was a fight to the death, and he didn't even think about Romane or Freya; the instinct for survival alone was enough for him to act.

But after killing them, Brando felt an immense sense of suffocation. He tried to calm his breathing, gripping his longsword tightly and standing still, letting the blood drip from the blade onto the stone slab without any reaction.

At that moment, he thought of many things, a jumble of thoughts flooding his mind, rendering his thoughts almost vacant. For a moment, he was lost in thought—initially looking for an excuse, but then simply trying to comfort himself and ease his mind.

"My lord?" Sharr noticed his abnormality.

Brando raised his hand to signal that it was alright. He had originally planned to drag the two bodies into the cellar and hide them, but now he didn't have the mood. His limit was not to look at them; it wasn't that he was afraid of killing, but he couldn't accept the shock at that moment.

What did give him some comfort was that killing didn't yield experience. He didn't know why this comforted him; he should have been urgently needing experience, but Brando thought that if killing also granted experience—he might not be able to accept it.

He thought about it and concluded that he was, first and foremost, still human and couldn't accept the fact of profiting from the lives of his own kind.

"Now we split up," Brando said, taking a breath.

"Just command me."

"I'll kill my way up to trouble that Count. You go to the other side and sound the alarm," Brando said, counting to one hundred in his mind. By the time he reached thirty, he had finally calmed down.

"Sound the alarm?"

"Didn't you forget what I told you? We're attacking from the front, the more noise the better."

"Then we'll return the way we came and retreat through the secret passage?"

"No, we have to fight our way out."

Sharr was surprised. "Why?"

"The guest rooms are on the upper floors of the castle. We only managed to escape from the top of the tower. However, if the White Mane Legion brings archers, you and I will have to pray for Lady Martha's protection."

Sharr nodded and turned to leave. He wouldn't ask for the direction of the alarm bell; if he couldn't even handle a simple task like capturing an informant, he wouldn't be fit to be a squire. Knights and their squires were expected to possess basic combat skills.

However, Brando called out to him, "Wait up, why the rush?"

"What is it, Lord? Do you have any other orders?"

"Of course. Go up the stairs from here, turn left at the end of the corridor. Everything along the way is genuine. Don't hesitate to take anything that's easy to carry and quick to sell."

"..."

Sharr stared at him for a long moment before finally speaking, "I take back what I said earlier, Lord."

"Which part?"

"The very first part. Not everyone can remain impassive in the face of treasure. It should be changed to: indeed, everyone is unable to remain indifferent in the face of treasure."

"No, you don't understand. Look, Sharr, from now on, I'll have to take responsibility for the lives of little Romane and her aunt. This is a man's duty. Making a living is not easy—I have my difficulties."

"You can save that speech for Duke Golan-Elson, Lord. Don't worry, I learned appraisal in Buga. I'll help you pick out the most valuable items."

Brando froze for a moment, then grinned wickedly.

(PS. I had fried rice for dinner and instant noodles for a late-night snack. But why do I feel a bit nauseous after eating the instant noodles?)