Chapter 72 Prisoners' Bloody Ritual
Theodore opened the door for them.
What appeared before them was a bare stone wall and several slender stone pillars as high as waist. In the circle of stone pillars was a circular magic circle with deep ravines. There was a golden plate in the circular groove in the middle.
"Is this the place where I can get the treasure?" Hawkins resisted the urge to rub his eyes.
He saw nothing with his eyes. Apart from the golden plate in the middle, there was not even a copper coin here.
"Yes, it's here." Theodore smiled at him. "Let's get started now."
"Oh ok, wanna do something?" Hawkins said.
"Just follow me," said Theodore.
Darien said nothing, but silently observed the entire room that was violently carved out of the stone wall. The whole room was irregular, and the walls and the floor were uneven. It was only after he walked to the formation that it became slightly flatter.
But what kind of formation is that on the ground?
He followed Theodore and Hawkins, and stopped when he reached the edge of the formation, lowering his head to look at the sharp marks.
I have never seen it before and I don’t understand it. Why can’t I understand some familiar symbols when they are connected together?
Darien frowned.
Sewell looked down as he did, his frown forming the same curve as his.
On the other side, Hawkins was brought to the golden plate by Theodore. When he was about to continue asking Theodore questions, Theodore pulled out a sharp dagger from his waist.
A bright cold light flashed before his eyes, immediately frightening this magician who was more adept at theory and research, causing him to scream, "Ahhhhh! What are you doing! Don't come over here!"
Darien immediately looked up at Hawkins, who was crawling towards them.
"Mr. Theodore, what are you doing with the knife?" Darien narrowed his eyes and looked over.
"Help, help me!" Hawkins rushed behind Darien and Sewell like an agile mouse, grabbing the hem of each of their clothes with one hand, and then shrank like a frightened quail.
"Please stay calm." Sewell took a deep breath and said.
Theodore, who was in the middle of the formation, tilted his head in confusion, still holding the dagger in his hand. "Are you talking about this? This is a necessary ritual, Mr. Hawkins. Are you afraid of the pain?"
Hodgins popped his head out from behind Darien. "No way! You're scary!"
The knife flashed and it looked like it was going to make several holes in his body!
Theodore glanced at the knife, then at Hawkins, and suddenly realized, "You're afraid of this. This is a necessary part of the ritual. If you need money, you must exchange it with blood. Not just your blood, but mine too. I can go first."
Hearing this, Darien frowned.
In his many years of experience, most of the rituals that required blood were not good things.
Theodore stopped talking, but the dagger fell, and the sharp blade cut his wrist.
Drip, drip, the blood gathered from drops into a stream, hitting the golden plate, and then flowing into the grooves carved in the stone.
His blood was golden, like brilliant gold.
But there was no blood on the blade of the dagger in his hand. The golden blood seemed incompatible with anything in this world.
Darien looked at the blood and asked, "Are you a goblin?"
Theodore smiled and said, "Yes, I am the Golden Fairy. Hawkins, it's your turn."
Hawkins looked at Darien: "Should I go?"
Darien said, "Go, and you will have the wealth you desire."
Hawkins looked back every few steps as he walked past.
Sewell leaned closer to Darien and whispered in his ear, "What is a golden goblin?"
Darien's ears were tickled by the hot breath he exhaled. Before answering the question, he pushed Sevier's chest away with one hand: "Stay away from me first."
Sewell straightened up a little, but didn't move much away from him: "Good master."
Darien said, "Golden goblins are very long-lived creatures. This is the first time I've seen them. They're not those winged goblins, but rather ordinary humans. Records say that gold is precipitated in the blood of golden goblins. Long ago, they were kept in captivity and hunted extensively as alchemical consumables. They should be extinct by now."
"No wonder the Hawkins elders don't reveal too much information," Sewell said.
Darien said, "Are they keeping Theodore in captivity? I don't quite understand. I think no one keeps golden retrievers anymore, so Theodore should be able to get out of here."
Hawkins walked slowly to Theodore's side, closed his eyes and stretched out his hand: "Come on!"
Theodore's other hand was still bleeding. He comforted Hawkins: "Don't be afraid, it won't hurt."
The dagger slashed down again, Hawkins' wrist went numb, and bright red blood fell into the plate, merging with the golden blood and filling the ravines of the entire formation.
"Is this all right?" Hawkins asked tremblingly, stretching out his hand.
"Just wait until all the blood fills this formation." said Theodore.
Hawkins' eyes rolled back and he was about to faint.
"Even if both of you had all the blood in your bodies, it might not be enough to fill this place." Darien frowned.
The smell of blood spread, and the golden blood squirmed as if it had life, carrying the red blood to various deep ravines, lighting up the formation on the ground bit by bit.
"It can be filled." Theodore's expression was still gentle, but his hands were moving very fiercely.
He cut his wrists twice more.
"I feel like I'm going to faint." Hawkins' face turned pale due to blood loss. The wound on his wrist was still bleeding, and his bleeding hand became a little cold.
"I brought a healing potion. You can drink it before you faint." Darien said.
"Thank you, Darien. I knew that bringing you here was the best decision I ever made." Hawkins shook his head, trying to keep himself awake.
The blood filled the gully faster than Darien had imagined. Before long, Theodore said, "Alright, Hawkins. Now please tell me how many gold coins you need."
Hawkins was dazed. He turned to Darien and asked, "How much do I owe you?"
Darien said, "Twelve thousand gold coins."
Sewell corrected him: "Twelve thousand three hundred and four gold coins."
Hawkins turned to Theodore and said, "I need twelve thousand three hundred and four gold coins, thank you."
Theodore said, "You're welcome."
The next moment, there was a slight vibration under their feet. The blood filling the ravine seeped down, but the blood in the golden plate rose higher and higher, and suddenly a gold coin appeared.
Crackle, clackle——
Then more gold coins came out of the plate like a fountain, and soon piled up at Hawkins' feet.
Hawkins's wound had not been treated yet and was still bleeding from his fingertips. The bright red blood dripped onto the dazzling gold coins, leaving a mottled bloodstain, as if reminding him that all this money was exchanged for blood.
Darien walked over, opened the healing potion and poured it into Hawkins' mouth.
Hawkins drank all the potions in a daze. The skin on his hand quickly healed to form a pink scar, but his face was still pale. The lost blood could not be compensated by the healing potion.
Darien looked at Theodore's hand again and found that the wound on his wrist had closed, leaving only three thin golden lines.
Theodore smiled at Darien and said, "Don't worry, I will recover soon. In a few hours this place will be back to normal. Now you can take these gold coins and leave."
Darien said, "Now that there are no golden retrievers out there, don't you consider leaving here?"
Theodore said, "No, I can't leave here."
Darien looked down at the formation beneath his feet and the golden plate completely covered by gold coins, and said, "Is it because this formation can't let you leave, or is it because of something else?"
Theodore said, "This is the agreement between Daphne and me. I will stay here and give wealth to her descendants."
Hawkins's head was still dizzy, but he felt he had to say something: "Well, as a descendant of my great-great-great-grandmother, I feel I have a say."
Theodore said, "Go ahead."
Hawkins said: "As her only surviving descendant, I think it would be nice for you to get away and take a short vacation. You can always come back, right? Your garden and house are well maintained."
Theodore was silent for a moment, then said, "Thank you, Hawkins. But I really can't leave here."
Hawkins said, "I think you can. How do you know if you don't try? Let's go. I'll take you outside to see."
Theodore didn't say anything more, but helped him pick up the gold coins on the ground.
Darien didn't really want the money anymore. It would be uncomfortable to have such money in his pocket.
On the way back they encountered a little trouble.
Darien originally wanted to push the door open and return to the tower, but the connection of the gorse door was rejected here. No matter how any door here was pushed, it would remain the same after being opened, and he could not reach the tower at all.
They have to walk back on their own.
Hawkins was still optimistic: "The journey back is just a little longer. If we work harder, we should be able to catch up in time for afternoon tea."
"I hope so," Darien said.
Theodore had not been outside his room and garden for many years, and was somewhat indifferent to Hawkins's persistence. He did not say much, but packed some bread for them to take with them on the road.
Then they set off.
The troll guarding the garden gate saw them coming out and moved his huge body to come over: "You can't go out, Theodore, you can't go out."
Hawkins said, "Stupid, he's just out for a while. We're friends, right? I promise he'll be back soon."
The troll was having trouble wrapping his head around this: "We are friends... we can't go out... friends... we can't..."
While it was still thinking, they walked past it and all went out.
They headed towards the cave exit.
Along the way, Hawkins tried to act as a fusion agent to make the atmosphere more relaxed and cheerful, but Darien found it a little difficult to understand his jokes. Sewell rarely spoke except when talking to Darien, and Theodore was still as gentle as ever, and would smile gently at anything he said.
The atmosphere was really strange, so Hawkins kept his mouth shut for the rest of the journey.
Finally, after who knows how long, the light from outside finally appeared in front of them.
"We're finally here." Hawkins' tone was a little excited.
"It's still a long way to go." Darien sighed. "I really hope there's a door outside right now so I can go straight back to the tower. Long journeys really don't suit me."
"Dear master, I can take you back the same way we came here," said Seville.
They walked out while talking. When they walked out, there was no illusion as when they came in. Darien walked out steadily, and when he turned around, he saw the cave entrance that Hawkins had seen.
They all walked out of here, but Theodore stood at the exit of the cave, where the sunlight could not reach, just standing there quietly, with no intention of coming out.
"Come on, Theodore, you've come this far, just two steps away, come out quickly." Hawkins called him quickly.
Theodore looked at him, then held his hand out into the sunlight.
Darien didn't blink, so he saw clearly that as Theodore's hand was extended into the sunlight, the flesh and blood melted away. The skin and flesh of the hand faded away into thin air, leaving only the bare white bones.
Hawkins fell silent.
Theodore withdrew his hand and said, "I can't get out of here. I've lived longer than all the golden goblins, so perhaps I should have died long ago. It's only because of this cave that I'm still alive."
Darien suddenly asked, "How many years have you lived?"
Theodore said, "I should be 782 years old. Golden goblins can only live to 300 years old."
Hawkins hesitated to speak, and finally said dryly: "I'm sorry, I really didn't know. I shouldn't have insisted on persuading you to leave here. I should have listened to you..."
Theodore shook his head. "It's okay. I actually want to try this step myself, but... but I'm timid. Even if I stay here and live a boring life day after day, I dare not die."
Darien said, "It's not cowardice, you just want to survive."
Theodore smiled. "Thank you, Darien. You are very comforting."
Hawkins thought for a moment, mustered up the courage to say, "Theodore, if you don't mind, I can come visit you every week. I can share my notes and recipes with you. As long as you also fall in love with potion research, you won't feel bored staying alone!"
Theodore smiled gently, and this time his smile was clearly filled with emotion. "Thank you, Hawkins. I'm glad you think so. I welcome you. If possible, please bring me some flower seeds. I love flowers."
Hawkins nodded: "Of course I will!"
Darien didn't interrupt them, but let them talk for a long time until they said goodbye to each other.
It's time to go back.
When they returned to the tower, Darien wanted to go back to his room to rest, but Leon stopped him.
"Darian, there's a letter for you while you were away."
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