Spice Box

"Spices aren't a problem." Bals laughed and waved his hand. "Captain Colin has already visited several of the major merchants in the city, and I sent people along with him. They should be back soon. A prophet without spices is like a soldier going into battle without weapons—it would be tantamount to throwing his life away."

Before Sart could respond, Bals looked at Alice. "Then, Miss Alice, what are you planning to do?"

"I'm going to cut off the Heretical Cultist's head with my own hands," Alice said coldly.

"I'll enter the sewers with Master Sart, so you can lie down on a soft bed and enjoy a good night's sleep. I guarantee that when you wake up, you'll see his head."

Alice showed no appreciation for the offer. "Only a head taken with my own hands has meaning."

Hearing this, Aaron's mouth twitched again. His fiancée seemed a little too hardcore.

She was the daughter of a wealthy family, a great noble house of the kingdom. She looked like a youthful, energetic beauty, but in reality, was she an Amazon warrior from the jungle?

"Then this gentleman..." Bals looked past Ed toward Aaron. "Sir Aaron, what are your plans?"

"Huh?" Aaron froze for a moment and quickly calculated his options. "Then I'll go along too..."

"This time, we'll be facing a Heretical Cultist at the Silver Tier. It's dangerous." Alice abandoned all noble etiquette and interrupted him directly, giving him a pointed look as well.

Aaron coughed and discreetly signaled Sart with his eyes. "I'll just go and take a look. With Lord Bals there, as well as Master Sart's protection, I don't think there should be any problems, right? What do you say, Master Sart?"

Although Aaron didn't know exactly what Lord Bals was trying to do, he clearly understood his current situation.

On one hand, most of the extraordinary practitioners in the City Lord's Manor would be sent into the sewers to surround the Heretical Cultist from the Crawling Hand. On the other hand, he had already been targeted by the Rat-Face Cult.

He still remembered the incident during the Enlightenment Ritual all too clearly. Rat-Face had declared that they would find him.

He was just a weak, helpless, pitiful Black Iron Tier. What else could he do?

Breaking into someone else's home was fun, but if someone broke into yours, wouldn't you be completely screwed?

The most dangerous place was the safest place. He might as well enter the sewers with Sart.

Sart understood immediately and nodded. He reassured Alice, "Miss Alice, I'll guarantee Mr. Aaron's safety."

That was the greatest difference between him and Alice. He would respect Aaron's wishes rather than reject them.

Well, he didn't understand why Aaron wanted to join in the fun in the sewers either, but agreeing was all that mattered.

"Master Sart, you should understand just how powerful someone at the Silver Tier is. If he goes, he'll only be throwing his life away."

"Throwing my life away is still better than dying at your hands..." Aaron muttered quietly.

"What did you say?" Alice looked at him in confusion.

Aaron hurriedly shook his head. "Nothing. I was just thinking about that guard..."

His reaction was extremely quick. He swallowed the rest of his words and forced himself not to look at Bals.

When Lord Bals had arrived, he hadn't even mentioned the corpse lying on the ground!

He must have been secretly observing from nearby just now. That was the only reason he could have naturally ignored the corpse.

Of course, it was also possible that, being cold-blooded, he simply didn't care about the life or death of ordinary people.

But Aaron would rather consider the situation from the worst possible angle.

In other words, Lord Bals's supposed operation to capture the Heretical Cultist was probably seriously compromised. It was even possible that he hadn't participated in it at all, or that no such plan existed.

What a joke. He clearly knew that the opponent was a Silver Tier Heretical Cultist with numerous means of escape. Yet as a Gold Tier extraordinary practitioner, not only had he allowed the man to escape, he hadn't even hurried after him. Instead, he was standing here wasting time chatting with them?

Regardless of what Lord Bals was planning, Aaron had already placed him in the category of untrustworthy people.

Everyone in the room noticed Aaron's lapse, but their long-standing, lofty attitudes had blinded them to a certain extent. None of them thought deeply about it.

Lord Bals naturally picked up the conversation. "Ordinary people are indeed helpless when faced with extraordinary incidents. That is also why we must wipe out the Heretical Cultists. They don't restrain themselves..."

He pondered for a moment, then said heavily, "As for that guard, I'll compensate his family. It's what he deserves. I'm sorry for his death."

Aaron remained silent. He didn't know what to say and could only do his best to conceal the disgust in his heart.

He was clearly a rough, burly man built like an iron tower, yet his wording was far too official.

"Lord Bals, are you certain you can capture that Heretical Cultist tonight?" Alice didn't care about this matter at all and steered the conversation back.

Bals nodded solemnly and said to Alice, "Of course, Miss Alice. This is our best opportunity to capture the Heretical Cultist. In fact, we've already wasted quite a bit of time here."

At that moment, footsteps came from outside the room. Captain Colin rushed in with several attendants, his head drenched in sweat. He was also carrying a fairly large wooden box.

The wooden box looked rather heavy, and the crisp clinking of glass bottles could faintly be heard from within.

"Master Sart, we finally found you. Could you see whether these spices are suitable?" Captain Colin respectfully handed over the spice box, then wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. "We could have returned earlier, but the lord later said that we should prepare more spices for you. That's why it took so long. Thank goodness, thank goodness..."

Sart nodded, casually placed the wooden box on the table, and opened it after fiddling with it briefly.

The wooden box looked somewhat crude, but its internal structure was extremely ingenious. Once unfolded, it resembled a staircase and was divided into three layers.

The first layer held several differently colored solids. The second contained more than a dozen separated powders. The final layer held colorful gels, while several unknown liquids rested at the bottom of the box.

At first glance, the wooden box looked like a painter's palette.

As the box opened, numerous strange scents mixed together. Aaron, who had leaned over to look, couldn't help wrinkling his nose.

The smell was truly awful.

Sart, however, took a deep breath and said casually, "The Awakening Root powder isn't pure enough. The Dragon Scale Grass juice seems to have been contaminated. The scent of Snake Eye Wood is wrong. As for the others..."

He gave Colin a half-smiling look before turning to Lord Bals. "A warrior wouldn't possibly go into battle carrying a rusty weapon, would he?"

Colin was speechless, his sparse hair completely drenched in cold sweat.

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(I suggest changing the name... kneels down slowly.jpg)

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