The next morning, the castle dining room lit up with normal lights for the first time.
At least, that was what Isolde thought.
She sat at the head of the long table, a cup of black tea placed before her.
Lia stood behind her, holding the menu, her eye visible outside the bandages carefully scanning the words.
“My Lady, today the kitchen can provide: rye bread, bacon, stewed mushrooms, carrion platter, breath-bug egg custard, live snails—”
“Stop,” Isolde said expressionlessly. “Cross those last ones off the menu.”
Lia nodded. “Yes.”
Isolde had a bit of a headache. She hadn't paid much attention to her diet over the past few days, but seeing this today, it seemed the castle's dining system needed a major overhaul. Great, now she had to add “filtering recipes” to her to-do list whenever she went out.
A bell chimed outside the door. Isolde looked up and saw the wandering merchant, Ur, walking in.
He still wore that old cloak, its edges hung with copper plates, small bottles, and tiny bells. With his movements, those trinkets clinked gently, making soft noises.
At first glance, one might mistake him for a dark-themed Christmas tree. Ur took off his top hat and bowed slightly.
“Good morning, esteemed castle owner.”
Isolde looked up. “Good morning, shrewd wandering merchant.”
Ur quickly chuckled. “You are truly amusing.”
“Thank you for the compliment.” Isolde picked up her cup and took an elegant sip.
Ur sat at the other end of the long table.
A faceless servant placed a dining plate before him.
The lid was lifted, revealing a piece of toasted, fragrant rye bread, a dish of bacon, and a small bowl of mushroom soup.
Isolde's gaze softened slightly; it seemed there were still normal recipes available.
The next second, a grayish-white eyeball popped out of the mushroom soup, slowly turning toward Ur and blinking at him.
Isolde: “...”
Ur looked down, then looked up at her. “The castle's hospitality etiquette is quite unique.”
Isolde cleared her throat. “...This is the style left behind by the former landlord.”
She looked at Lia, who walked forward stiffly, intending to take the soup away.
Ur, however, picked up his spoon, pulled back his mask with his right hand to reveal his mouth, and naturally scooped up the eyeball with the spoon and popped it into his mouth.
What kind of mouth was that?
It was like an abyss, like a black hole.
Embedded in his thin, bony chin, it seemed as if even the surrounding light could be swallowed up by it.
“Mmh, very delicious.”
Seeing him eating happily, Isolde shifted her gaze away from him and waved Lia back.
She had almost forgotten that most creatures in this world could not be treated with normal human logic.
Perhaps those menu items that seemed disgusting might actually be incredibly delicious existences to some creatures.
Ur put down his spoon, his white-gloved hands folded on the table, his tone cheerful.
“Noble lady, have you decided on the details of your after-sales service?”
Isolde gently rubbed the rim of her cup with her fingertip and spoke.
“I have decided.”
Ur leaned forward slightly. “Please, do tell.”
“I want you to help me complete the Mooncrown Unicorn's Echo of Last Wishes.”
Ur paused for a moment. “Noble lady. Are you sure?”
Isolde picked up her teacup, not looking at him. “Did you not understand?”
“Of course I understood,” Ur chuckled. “It is just that this matter is a bit troublesome. The returns are not stable enough, and the risk is very high. It is not worth taking the risk.”
Isolde sneered. “Was it not because you failed to notice the risks when you accepted the goods? Now that the risk has been transferred to me, you are trying to wash your hands of your own responsibility.”
She deliberately emphasized the words “failed to notice.” This unscrupulous merchant Ur probably knew about the existence of the Echo of Last Wishes from the very beginning, but he had kept it hidden.
If it had been Valen—a brainless lump of rotten meat—once he paid the balance, whatever happened next would have had nothing to do with him.
But he hadn't expected to meet Isolde, a smart person who actually read contracts, and who had even detained him here.
Ur's low chuckle leaked from behind his mask. “You are indeed a smart person. In that case, I will also do my best to cooperate and provide you with some useful information.”
Isolde took a sip of tea. She looked at Ur opposite her and continued.
“Then tell me, how exactly did the Mooncrown Unicorn die?”
Ur took a roll of parchment from his cloak. He let go of his hand, and the map floated in the air, gently unfolding.
One of the buildings in the northeast was marked with a flowing red ink.
“Here is a branch church managed by the Holy Court—the Grey Dove Monastery.”
The name “Holy Court” was something Yu Lingye had heard too many times in her past life.
That was the church of faith of the Holy White City.
In the mouths of most players, it was the banner of the Light faction and the justice that fought against darkness.
In her past life, she had also fantasized about what would happen if she could escape one day and meet people from the Holy Court.
Would those white-robed believers reach out to save her? Would they tell her that her suffering was finally over?
Unfortunately, she had never met them.
Later she understood that the so-called light usually first shone upon those who were qualified to stand under it.
And grains of sand that were too insignificant could not even hope for a deity to look down at them.
But such a grand and righteous Holy Court had killed the Mooncrown Unicorn.
This answer was more ironic than she had expected.
A holy beast like a unicorn was naturally close to the holy light, capable of suppressing the undead, corruption, and dark magic.
Logically speaking, they should have stood on the same side as the Holy Court. How could they have ended up in such a miserable state?
Ur seemed to see her confusion and continued.
“On the surface, the Grey Dove Monastery shelters wounded soldiers and refugees, but in reality, it is a transit point for the Holy Court to process holy beast remains and traffic humans.”
“Most of their clan's horns, bones, and manes are first sent there to be purified and cut, then distributed to holy artifact workshops to be polished into priceless holy artifacts.”
Isolde looked at the map, and after a few seconds, suddenly laughed.
“Are you sure you are talking about the Holy Court, and not some slaughterhouse cloaked in white robes?”
Ur shrugged. “The name is not important. As long as the account books are clean enough, a slaughterhouse can also be called a relief home.”
The smile on Isolde's face faded. From her memories yesterday, she had thought the ones persecuting the unicorns were some extremist churches, but she hadn't expected it to be the Holy Court itself.
This answer was too absurd—so absurd that her first reaction was to suspect Ur was lying to her.
“The evidence?”
Ur's voice was unhurried. “Noble lady, I am currently fulfilling my after-sales obligations. My information can be expensive, it can be incomplete, and it can carry a bit of a merchant's rhetoric, but it cannot be fake within the scope of the contract.”
He raised his hand, and a golden contract light floated on the edge of the parchment.
“Otherwise, I would lose very badly.”
Isolde stared at that golden light and did not argue further.
Believers of the God of Contracts indeed found it very difficult to lie within the scope of a contract.
This made it even more troublesome.
If the Holy Court was truly the instigator of this matter, the chain of interests behind it could be imagined.
She couldn't challenge the entire Holy White City by herself, can she?
Isolde suddenly felt her palm burning slightly.
That gray-blue mark seemed to breathe under her skin, reminding her that now that she had stepped onto this path, she could not easily back down.
She lowered her hand expressionlessly, feeling a bit mentally exhausted.
When she talked about collecting debts last night, she thought she had taken on a debt-collection mission.
Looking at it now, this debtor had a bank, royalty, a church, and a full security detail behind them.
She, a new hidden boss who had just inherited the castle less than two days ago, was directly facing off against the Holy White City's belief system.
This speed of development could be said to lead straight to the grand finale.
Isolde sighed in her heart, slowly leaning back against her chair, and came to a final conclusion.
“So, the target of revenge that the unicorn truly wants is the Holy Court and the Grey Dove Monastery?”
Rate on N.U.
