Relief

[We made it to twelfth place for a while, then got blown back down. So depressing! Everyone, keep voting and saving it—there isn't much of a gap. Let's help Old Moon push back up together!]

Inside the carriage, soft fur pelts had been laid over the wooden seats, making them feel exceptionally warm in the cold weather. Though Merlin did not know much about the prices in this world, he knew that the pelt beneath him was undoubtedly worth a great deal.

Even Merlin, a nobleman's son, could not help but sigh inwardly. What extravagance! Nobles might hold high status, but they relied only on taxes from their territories. In terms of wealth, the Wilson Family was far inferior to the Douglan Family.

Sitting in this ultra-luxurious carriage was indeed enjoyable. Before long, they arrived at their destination, and the carriage gradually came to a stop.

"Alright, get out."

Anson had already begun urging them to get out impatiently.

After getting out, they entered a small shop. The place looked empty, with only a few handicrafts displayed on the shelves.

Merlin was unfamiliar with the place. Even though he had doubts, he did not voice them and merely followed closely behind Anson and Gute.

Anson and Gute seemed quite familiar with the place. They headed directly for the counter, where a young woman in revealing clothes smiled upon seeing them.

"Young Master Anson, Young Master Gute."

The young woman clearly knew Anson and Gute.

"Alright, let us in. I heard your boss got some new goods recently?"

Rubbing his hands together, Anson questioned the scantily dressed woman.

"Yes, our boss recently acquired a new batch of goods, including quite a few fine pieces. I guarantee they will satisfy Young Master Anson and Young Master Gute." As she spoke, the young woman pressed something beneath the counter. Immediately afterward, a wall in front of them began to turn, revealing a dark passage within.

"Xiaolin, let me see whether you've grown up recently."

Gute walked over to the girl named Xiaolin, stretched out a fat hand, and shoved it straight into her neckline, giving her chest a rough squeeze.

"Fatty, hurry up."

Seeing that Gute had not followed, Anson called out from ahead.

"Hehe, coming."

Gute withdrew his fat hand and tossed a glittering gold coin into Xiaolin's hand. He then followed Anson into the dark passage.

The passage was dark at first, but after taking a few steps, they could see firelight. Candles had been placed along both sides of the passage, illuminating it.

Merlin narrowed his eyes and looked ahead. He discovered that the passage sloped continuously downward and had already gone some seven or eight meters underground. This tunnel had been dug quite deep.

After they had walked a hundred meters, sounds finally came from ahead, faintly accompanied by cries of surprise. Anson's pace noticeably quickened, and he soon passed through the passage.

At the end of the passage stood an incomparably spacious hall, roughly the size of two football fields. There were not many people inside, but they stood in groups of two or three, discussing the antiques displayed throughout the hall.

This was presumably the place Anson and Gute had come for.

After entering the hall, Anson looked around. Soon, he saw a middle-aged man in black hurrying over. "Young Master Anson, Young Master Gute, you came rather late today."

Anson's expression changed slightly as he hurriedly asked, "Mr. Nathan, have all the good things been sold?"

The middle-aged man smiled faintly. "Of course not, but there is not much left. Come, Miss Kailisi is examining this batch of new goods up ahead."

"Oh? Miss Kailisi came too?"

A trace of delight appeared on Gute's plump face.

"She arrived not long ago as well."

Before long, the middle-aged man led Merlin and the others into a secluded room. Five or six young men and women were gathered inside, quietly discussing the antiques on the shelves.

"Hi, Miss Kailisi. You came so quickly."

The moment Anson entered, he greeted a woman wearing a green dress, with short golden curly hair.

Gute also hurried forward, staring fixedly at Kailisi.

Kailisi frowned slightly. When she looked at Anson, she forced a smile. "Anson, you came at just the right time. Come look at this new batch. The quality isn't bad."

Kailisi's gaze also fell upon Merlin, but she ignored him immediately. It seemed she was also a woman deeply obsessed with antiques.

Anson crossed the distance in a few strides and arrived before the shelf. It was packed with antiques, almost all of them jade pieces.

For instance, Merlin saw a piece of white jade nearly as large as a palm, carved into a strange figure with a fish's head and a human body, spouting water from its mouth.

There were also monsters with savage faces and bodies covered in spikes, holding iron chains as they whipped people dressed in all manner of clothing. Even Merlin, who knew nothing about such things, found the paintings and carving style strange.

"Tsk, tsk. These are all antiques from the Molta Empire period."

Anson had some knowledge of antiques and recognized their origins at once.

Kailisi was holding a somewhat yellowed piece of ancient jade, also carved into the shape of a monster. Frowning, she asked Anson, "Anson, these antiques are rather unusual this time. Look at their forms—I've never seen antiques shaped like this before. Yet judging by the material and carving style, they really are antiques from the Molta Empire period. That much is certain."

Anson also frowned, clearly puzzled.

At that moment, Nathan, the middle-aged man beside them, spoke. "This new batch came from ruins dating back to the Molta Empire period. Everything found there was quite unusual, but I guarantee that they are antiques from the Molta Empire period."

Merlin was also casually looking over the shelf. He knew nothing whatsoever about antiques and naturally could not join the conversation. These antiques were truly bizarre in form. Rather than sensing any beauty in them, he found them somewhat unsettling.

Most of the items on the shelves were jade objects, which suited the style of the Molta Empire period. Merlin continued looking downward, and in an inconspicuous corner of the lowest shelf, he spotted a somewhat damaged relief.

Yes, a relief. It was clearly something that had been forcibly chipped off a building.

The relief was only palm-sized. It depicted a naked man seated cross-legged on the ground in an extremely strange posture.

Merlin gently picked up the relief and fixed his gaze on its patterns.

Suddenly, Merlin's vision blurred. The relief in his hand seemed to come alive, and the naked man carved upon it began making an extremely strange pose, step by step.

"Whew..."

Merlin was startled. The illusion before him immediately vanished, and he was still holding the strange relief, which had not moved in the slightest.

"Was that just my eyes playing tricks on me? A hallucination?"

Merlin could not help rubbing his eyes. He stared carefully at the relief again, especially at its patterns. Gradually, the illusion from before appeared once more. The relief in his hand seemed to come alive, and the naked man upon it slowly made that exceedingly strange movement.

"Merlin, what's wrong?"

At that moment, Merlin felt someone supporting him from behind. He immediately came to his senses and discovered that it was Anson.

Everyone was looking at Merlin strangely. They had just seen Merlin, who had come with Anson, holding a relief with his expression constantly changing and his body swaying as if he were about to faint.

"Take a look at this relief. What is it?"

Merlin hurriedly handed the relief to Anson. Two hallucinations in a row could not possibly be a coincidence. There had to be something wrong with this relief.

Anson turned the relief over and examined it, then nodded slightly. "This relief is also finely carved, and it is an antique from the Molta Empire period. But it looks damaged, and there should be more than one relief like this. Why? Do you like it?"

Merlin had been observing Anson the entire time and found that he showed no unusual reaction at all. He could not help asking softly, "That's all? Didn't you notice anything special about this relief?"

"Special?"

Anson examined it carefully again, then shook his head. "Its shape is a little unique, that's all. I only like jade items from the Molta Empire period. I don't like this relief."

With that, Anson handed the relief back to Merlin.

Having recovered from his earlier panic, Merlin had calmed down. He knew very clearly that what he had seen earlier had definitely not been an illusion. Yet among everyone here, it seemed that no one besides him could see what was special about the relief.

"Could it be that only I can experience the hallucinations?"

Merlin kept turning the relief over in his hand. Though he did not know what was going on, there was clearly something wrong with it.

"Mr. Nathan, how much is this relief?"

Merlin wanted to buy the relief and study it carefully after returning.

Nathan glanced at Anson and smiled faintly. "Young Master Anson, who is this?"

Before Anson could answer, Gute grinned and patted Merlin. "Hehe, Mr. Nathan, this is Wilson Merlin."

Nathan's eyes immediately lit up. Although he had never met Merlin, the Wilson name was too renowned. There were only a handful of nobles in Blackwater City, so Nathan could not possibly be unaware of them.

"So it is Young Master Merlin. Since Young Master Merlin likes it, we'll charge only the cost price for this relief—ten gold coins!"

Anson also leaned close to Merlin's ear and said quietly, "Not bad. Ten gold coins is a fair price. If you really like this relief, you can buy it."

Merlin naturally trusted Anson, so he nodded. He then took ten gold coins from his pocket and bought the strange relief.