Relief

Inside the carriage, soft plush animal fur cushioned the wooden bench, making one feel very warm despite the bitter cold weather. Although Merlin was not very clear on the pricing of this world, he knew that the fur beneath his backside was definitely worth a pretty penny.

Even as a young noble, Merlin could not help but sigh in his heart at how extravagant it was. While nobles held high status, they relied purely on taxes from their territories; in terms of sheer wealth, the Wilson Family fell far short of the Douglan Family.

Sitting inside this ultra-luxurious carriage was truly a pleasure, and before long, they arrived at their destination as the carriage gradually came to a halt.

"Alright, get out."

Anson urged impatiently to disembark.

After stepping out, they arrived at a small, unassuming shop. The store looked completely empty, with only a few handicrafts displayed on the shelves.

Unfamiliar with the place, Merlin kept any doubts to himself, following closely behind Anson and Gute.

Anson and Gute seemed thoroughly familiar with the routine as the two walked straight toward the counter. A scantily clad young woman stood behind it, her face breaking into a smile the moment she spotted Anson and Gute.

"Master Anson, Master Gute."

The young woman evidently recognized Anson and Gute.

"Alright, let us in quickly. I heard your boss managed to get some new merchandise recently?"

Anson rubbed his hands together and asked the revealing woman.

"That's right, our boss recently brought in a fresh batch of goods, including quite a few fine pieces. I guarantee they'll satisfy Master Anson and Master Gute." As the young woman spoke, she pressed something underneath the counter. Immediately afterward, a wall in front of them actually began to rotate, revealing a dark passageway inside.

"Xiaolin, let this young master see if you've grown at all recently!"

Gute approached the girl named Xiaolin, thrusting a chubby hand directly into the collar of her dress and giving her a vicious squeeze.

"Fatty, hurry up."

Seeing that Gute had not followed, Anson urged from the front.

"Hehe, coming."

Gute withdrew his plump hand and tossed a gleaming gold coin into Xiaolin's palm, then followed closely behind Anson into the murky corridor.

It was somewhat dark at first inside the passage, but after walking a few steps, firelight came into view. As it turned out, candles lined both sides of the corridor, illuminating the way.

Merlin squinted ahead and noticed that the passage sloped downward, already plunging seven or eight meters underground. This tunnel was dug deep enough, indeed.

After walking a hundred meters, sounds finally drifted from ahead, faintly accompanied by gasps of surprise. Anson's pace quickened noticeably, and he soon passed through the tunnel.

The end of the corridor opened into an incomparably spacious hall about the size of two football fields. Not many people were inside, but they stood about in twos and threes, critiquing various antiques displayed across the hall.

Presumably, this was the destination Anson and Gute had come for.

Stepping into the hall, Anson cast his gaze around before spotting a middle-aged man in black walking briskly over. "Master Anson, Master Gute, you two are a bit late today."

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

The middle-aged man smiled slightly. "Of course not, but we're almost there. Come, Miss Kailisi is up ahead admiring this new batch."

"Oh? Miss Kailisi is here too?"

A trace of delight surfaced on Gute's chubby face.

"She only arrived a short while ago."

Before long, the middle-aged man led Merlin and the others into a quiet chamber. Inside this small room, five or six young men and women were gathered around antiques on the shelves, murmuring amongst themselves.

"Hi, Miss Kailisi, you all got here fast."

As soon as he entered, Anson greeted a young woman wearing a green dress and short, golden wavy hair.

Gute also hurried forward, his eyes locked fixedly on Kailisi.

Kailisi frowned slightly. Glancing at Anson, she forced a smile and said, "Anson, you've come just in time. Take a look at this new batch; the quality isn't bad at all."

Kailisi's gaze drifted to Merlin as well, but she directly ignored him. Evidently, this was a woman utterly obsessed with antiques.

Anson took two steps in one to reach the shelving unit. He gazed at the packed racks of antiques, which were almost entirely made of jade.

For instance, Merlin saw a piece of white jade roughly the size of a palm carved into the bizarre shape of a fish's head on a human body, spewing a stream of water from its mouth.

There were also grimacing monsters covered entirely in sharp spikes, wielding iron chains as they lashed out at various figures in strange attire. Such imagery and carving style made even an outsider like Merlin feel rather creeped out.

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

Anson possessed some expertise in antiques and instantly recognized their origin.

Kailisi cradled a slightly yellowish piece of ancient jade, also carved into the shape of a strange beast. She frowned and asked Anson, "Anson, these antiques are somewhat special. Look at the design—I've never seen antiques shaped like this before. Yet judging by the material and the carving style, they are indeed relics from the Molta Empire period, that much is certain."

Anson frowned as well, evidently harboring doubts of his own.

At that moment, Nathan, the middle-aged man standing by, spoke up. "This new batch comes from a ruin of the Molta Empire period. The items discovered there are each quite peculiar, but I guarantee they are authentic antiques from the Molta Empire."

Merlin casually browsed the shelves as well. Knowing nothing about antiques, he naturally could not chime in. These artifacts possessed truly bizarre designs; in his eyes, not only did they lack any sense of beauty, but they actually felt rather unsettling.

Most items on the shelves were jade products, which matched the style of the Molta Empire period. Looking further down, at the lowest tier of the shelf in an inconspicuous corner, Merlin spotted a somewhat fractured relief carving.

Yes, a relief carving, one that clearly had been forcefully hammered off a building.

The carving was only the size of a palm, depicting a naked man sitting cross-legged on the ground in an extremely bizarre posture.

Merlin gently picked up the relief and locked his gaze on the patterns carved upon it.

Suddenly, Merlin felt his vision blur. He saw the relief in his hand seem to "come alive," as the naked man depicted upon it began executing an extremely bizarre posture step by step.

Hah...

A shock jolted through Merlin's heart, and the illusion before his eyes vanished instantly. He was still holding the strange relief in his hand, without the slightest movement whatsoever.

Was my vision just playing tricks on me? An hallucination?

Unable to help himself, Merlin rubbed his eyes and stared closely at the relief once more, focusing especially on its carved patterns. Gradually, the previous illusion reappeared; the naked man on the carving seemed to "come alive," performing that very same bizarre movement with extreme slowness.

"Merlin, what's wrong with you?"

At that moment, Merlin felt someone supporting him from behind. Regaining his wits immediately, he discovered that Anson was the one holding him steady.

By then, everyone was casting strange looks at Merlin. Just moments before, they had watched Merlin—who had come in with Anson—hold a relief carving while his facial expression shifted erratically and his body kept swaying, as if he were about to faint.

"Take a look at this relief. What do you make of it?"

Hurriedly, Merlin handed the relief to Anson. Experiencing hallucinations twice in a row meant it was certainly no coincidence; there had to be something wrong with this relief.

Anson turned the relief over in his hands, looked it over, and nodded slightly. "This relief is carved quite exquisitely and is indeed an antique from the Molta Empire period. However, it appears to be damaged, and there should be more than one piece like this. What? Do you like it?"

Merlin had been observing Anson the entire time and found nothing unusual about him. He could not help asking in a low voice, "Is that all? Didn't you notice anything special about this relief?"

"Special?"

Anson looked it over carefully once more before shaking his head. "Just that the styling is a bit unique. I only like jade pieces from the Molta Empire period; I've got no taste for this relief."

With that, Anson handed the relief right back to Merlin.

Having recovered from his earlier panic, Merlin felt entirely calm by now. He knew very well that those visions just now were by no means mere hallucinations, yet aside from himself, no one else here seemed capable of perceiving the uniqueness of this relief.

Could it be that only I experience these hallucinations?

Merlin kept turning the relief over in his hands. Though he still had no idea what was going on, it was abundantly clear that there was a problem with this piece.

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

Wishing to buy the relief and study it closely upon returning, Merlin made his inquiry.

Nathan glanced at Anson with a slight smile. "Master Anson, who is this?"

Before Anson could reply, Gute grinned broadly from the side and patted Merlin's shoulder. "Hehe, Mr. Nathan, this is Wilson Merlin."

Nathan's eyes immediately lit up. Although he had never met Merlin, the Wilson name carried too much weight; with only a handful of nobles in Blackwater City, it was impossible for Nathan not to know it.

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

Anson leaned close to Merlin's ear and whispered, "Indeed, ten gold coins is a very fair price. If you truly like this relief, you might as well buy it."

Trusting Anson naturally, Merlin nodded and immediately drew ten gold coins from his bosom, purchasing the bizarre relief.