Chapter 125 A Sudden Incident!
Rain began to fall from the leaden sky, and it was freezing rain. We had come at an inopportune time, during the worst season in the West—autumn.
The western border has only three seasons: spring, summer, and autumn. Autumn is the coldest, and freezing rain is common.
Poor me, at this moment I am just a black rat, forced to brave the rain and scurry into the palace.
The royal palace in the western region, like the Grand Palace in Bangkok, is full of Southeast Asian charm. But I had no heart to appreciate it; I only hoped to finish my mission as soon as possible.
Upon reuniting with Di Yaruo, we didn't have time to catch up before she assigned me a task: "I would like to ask you to help me obtain the cotton, linen, and spice contracts that are about to be signed between the Western and Eastern territories."
I was stunned. She really treated me like family, expecting me to do things for her the moment we met.
I was about to refuse outright when she said, "If I can get this contract, I will receive a reward of 400,000 gold coins, which I will use to recruit soldiers and horses."
"What does that have to do with me? Why don't you go yourself?"
“If you can help me get it, I will give you 20,000 gold coins and also help you find out the secret of that book.” She had obviously learned from Hya that I had come to the Western Regions. “You can’t find out the secret on your own.”
"I thought you would help me get that book." I smiled; this offer didn't tempt me.
"I can't produce that book, but I can help you find out what's inside," she said, smiling at me.
I don't believe in this kind of empty promise. "Go get that contract yourself, I'm not interested."
"You don't trust me?" Di Yaruo smiled helplessly. "I thought that we, who have been through thick and thin together, would have already established a sense of trust."
"Whether you capture the capital or not is none of my business," my voice turned cold. "You do it yourself."
“Only you can do it,” she said calmly. “The contract will be stored in the safest place in the Western Palace—the Secret Room. No one on the continent can enter without permission; they will be blocked by an invisible barrier. So it’s used to store something very important. But you are from another world, so perhaps there is still a glimmer of hope to cross the barrier.”
She tried her best to persuade me, "I know we're still far from seizing the throne, and I can't sway you. But we still have money. I'll give you 20,000 gold coins, and you can live a comfortable life without having to depend on others. Do you think money comes so easily? Most ordinary people have never seen 20,000 gold coins in their entire lives."
Those words did resonate with me somewhat. I don't know how long I'll be in this other world, and staying here will definitely require money, otherwise how will I eat, wear, and survive? Am I supposed to beg for food? Or are Di Ya Ruo and the others supporting me for nothing? That's impossible. Living under someone else's roof will most likely come at a price or make life uncomfortable.
When I suddenly agreed, Di Yaruo was slightly surprised and said, "I thought money wouldn't sway you, so I mentioned the book first."
I replied, "Then you're really wrong. What moved me was money."
Before heading to the palace, Di Yaruo and I talked for half the night. Perhaps because I was willing to help her, she reciprocated by telling me some confidential matters.
It turned out she had always had a secret intelligence network. What is an intelligence network? It's a secret legion dedicated to delivering messages. This legion doesn't fight; it only relays information. Di Ya Ruo had been supporting this intelligence network with most of her savings, even while she was in prison. The intelligence network used extremely secretive methods to deliver messages to her, sometimes disguising themselves as prison guards, sometimes as rats, sometimes as people visiting other prisoners—in short, all sorts of methods.
Besides her army, she used another portion of her money to support several talented strategists. They were either well-informed, had access to various poisons and medicines, or were skilled in calculation; in short, each had their own strengths.
Di Ya Ruo escaped the Elf Secret Realm by using a dozen or so maids and servants bribed by her strategist and taking advantage of the zombie chaos to sneak onto a ship bound for the main continent.
Although Di Yaruo only described it lightly, I could imagine how thrilling the escape must have been. "It was just killing a few people," she said, her expression revealing a hint of bloodlust. "Just blame it on the zombies."
I'm afraid it's not just a few people. Knowing her as I do, I imagine many people would be willing to do anything to escape.
"Where do you get the money to support your frontline troops and strategists?" I asked this crucial question.
She smiled, leaned closer, and whispered, "My short-lived stepmother thought my father had given her all the money, but in fact, he was always wary of her and gave me the key to his private treasury. This private treasury is far away from the Western Frontier, in a secret place, unknown to everyone."
No wonder she's so rich! I suddenly realized.
“You’re right to do things for money.” She smiled warmly. “It can preserve your dignity and hope when you’re at your lowest point.”
“That’s right.” I nodded.
Money is also very important to me. I'm just treating this as a job to earn money. It doesn't matter who I'm working for. Although there are risks involved, I earn much more than doing odd jobs. The returns are proportional to the risks.
To make things easier, Diya used a spell to turn me into a black rat. I wanted to become something else, but Diya said she only knew how to use spells to turn rats.
In the freezing rain, I darted about in the garden, unable to get into the inner palace. There were many cats in the Western Palace; some were clearly kept by nobles, docile and not very dangerous, so I dared to slip past them; others were clearly mixed-breed cats with fierce eyes, probably kept in the kitchen to keep out mice, so I immediately kept my distance.
There were more native cats than foreign cats. I played hide-and-seek with a few native cats for a while, but we couldn't get into the inner palace.
Just as I was beginning to despair, a group of maids carrying trays of fine wine and food hurried toward the inner palace. I quickly hid under the long skirt of one of the maids, following her step by step, using the skirt as cover to enter the inner palace.
The banquet hall in the inner palace was bustling with activity, filled with the aroma of wine and music. Dancers dressed in revealing outfits, wearing only bras and hot panties, danced merrily, twirling and occasionally sticking out their buttocks. Well-dressed nobles embraced the almost naked beauties, laughing heartily, drinking heavily, and telling risqué jokes.
I rushed across the banquet hall and dance floor, hiding behind a few nobles who looked more elegantly dressed and more civilized. Although these nobles were also with beautiful women, they spoke and drank more politely.
He wanted to find out where the secret room was, but instead he overheard something else.
The person who came to sign the contract this time was the adopted son of the head of the Yod family in the East. I vaguely remember that the Yod family is the third largest family in the East, and is the family of Abdul, the adoptive father of Bernot.
There are three major families in the East. The first family is the Moste family, the family of the current king; the second family is the Durand family, the family of the queen; and the third family is the Yod family.
"I thought it was Prince Bernard who came to sign the contract, but it turns out it's Duke Abdul's adopted son," a nobleman chuckled.
“I also thought it would be Prince Bernard,” another nobleman chimed in. “Prince Bernard has been very popular with the King of the East in recent years. He was responsible for discovering gold mines, conquering territories, and signing some important trade contracts.”
Another nobleman laughed, "Do you think the throne of the Eastern Territory might fall to Prince Bernot?"
The group burst into laughter, seemingly finding it absurd.
“How could a half-blood prince possibly ascend the throne of the East? No matter how capable or hardworking he is, he will only be a stepping stone for the king’s other sons.” The nobleman who spoke first laughed even harder.
Another nobleman added, "The court in the Eastern Territory is in quite a mess right now. I've heard that even the Crown Prince isn't as favored as before, and several princes are fighting tooth and nail for the throne, which is giving the king quite a headache."
"It's good that their court is in chaos; it gives our western borders an opportunity to develop," the third nobleman gloated.
As they chatted about gossip, the conversation suddenly turned to the Crown Prince of the Eastern Kingdom and Bernot's rivalry over a princess from a royal city. This princess was not only young and beautiful, but also possessed a royal city as her dowry, as she was an only child. She originally had siblings, but they had either died of illness, poisoning, or accidents.
"Who won?" a nobleman asked with great interest.
“It should be the Crown Prince,” another nobleman replied. “The Crown Prince’s wife has just died, so he can remarry. But Prince Bernot’s wife is still alive, and the Princess of the Royal City can only be a mistress, or at most the chief mistress. If you were a princess, who would you choose?”
“If I were a princess, I would choose to marry the crown prince and be his lover,” the third nobleman laughed.
The banquet hall is a great place; you can hear all sorts of gossip there, it's a source of news.
Perhaps by acting as a mouse every now and then, one can uncover a great deal of information.
But since I couldn't hear any news about the secret room, I decided to change tables. I tiptoed in another direction, when I suddenly sensed something amiss ahead. Looking up, I saw a beautiful white long-haired cat staring intently at me, its eyes fierce, its body crouched, and its tail held high, seemingly ready to attack.
How can a "foreign" cat be so fierce? It's at least ten times the size of me. I took off running and desperately fled in another direction.
"Meow!" A white long-haired cat charged at me like an arrow. I ran for my life and rushed out of the banquet hall.
In the freezing rain that chilled me to the bone, I ran for my life, with the white long-haired cat in hot pursuit.
Suddenly, a long line appeared ahead. Without thinking, I rushed under the robe of the person at the front—it was the best I could think of; surely a cat wouldn't dare to go against a human?
Unexpectedly, the white cat rushed over and was about to pounce on the man when a net fell from the sky and caught the cat. "I'm sorry to have startled you, Your Highness. This is the cat of King Midan's new mistress," a servant explained in a fluster. He emphasized "King Midan's new mistress," probably to save the cat's life.
But the prince seemed uninterested in cats. Instead, he bent down and gently squeezed something inside his robe, finding a long-tailed black rat in his hand. The servant turned pale. Cats were one thing, but rats too! He immediately knelt heavily on the wet ground, crying, "Your Highness, spare me! Your Highness, spare me!"
I struggled desperately, but the long tail remained firmly in His Highness's grasp.
My eyes followed the long, slender finger that was gripping me upwards, and I was nearly scared out of my wits—it was Bernard!
She had an alluring and stunningly beautiful face, long, curly silver hair, and wore a gorgeous blue robe inlaid with pearls.
How is that possible?! How could he be here?!
“The Westerlands really has a lot of cats and a lot of rats,” Bernard said slowly. “I’ve been thinking about getting a pet lately, so I’ll get a rat.”
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