Chapter 19
As soon as he left the church, he used the portal, and his destination was the farthest point within his sight.
The half-elf seen through the Eye of Insight was far away from the church, almost at the outermost edge of Snow City, at the westernmost edge of the Hillna Forest, and further west was the Isyana Hope Plain.
To cover such a long distance, if one does not use the Anywhere Door or Phantom Steps, even if the magic effect of "Long Stride" is still there, it will take a whole day and night to run.
This does not take into account rest and supplies.
Miel can not only use the Anywhere Door and Phantom Step, but also has almost unlimited magic power. To cover such a long distance, he opened 8 doors in a row and it took no more than 5 minutes in total.
The walls of Snow City can be seen near the destination. They are about four stories high and there are guards standing on them.
Who would have thought that the entrance to the illegal trading point was right under the guards' noses?
——Miel found a manhole cover less than five meters away from the city wall.
The manhole cover was old, but the edges were clean, obviously it was opened frequently.
Miel used the Touch of the Abyss to lift the manhole cover. After a heavy sound of metal friction, a downward metal ladder appeared in his sight.
There is a statue near the well, which blocks the light shining into the well. Even if Miel has dark vision, it is difficult to clearly grasp the situation in the well.
The only thing he was sure of was—
It's such a dark and narrow place. I will suffocate if I go down there. Absolutely.
"Can you do it?" Czulola, who was standing by, obviously knew that Miel was not good at such places. He stared at Miel's perfect profile with his ruby eyes and tentatively gave a suggestion, "For your breathing and my feelings, you wait up there, I'll go down, and just bring the person in the cage up, right?"
This is indeed the optimal solution, but... Miel is unwilling to accept it.
It was clearly his business, but he always relied on the people around him.
Moreover, although Cthulola didn't say it, Miel knew that his current combat power was superior to his.
The great Cthulhu lent him his entire pool of magic power, but Cthulola was just a tentacle of Cthulhu and had limited magic power to use.
It was as if he had lent all his physical strength to others and could only move one finger.
So Cthulola allowed him to use magic indiscriminately, but she herself reserved her magic power and only used it at critical moments.
He couldn't let such a Cthulhu go down alone. Even if the great Cthulhu's body would not be easily damaged, it was hard to guarantee that no accidents would occur if his combat power was insufficient.
Thinking of this, Miel responded: "No, I can do it. Mr. Lola just needs to assist me at the critical moment."
"Since you have decided, then so be it." Czulola did not force it.
So Mier prepared to go down the well.
He first chanted a spell on the family ring on his left thumb: "Light!"
The sapphire on the ring immediately emitted a dazzling light, like a miniature sun.
Then chant the spell again: "Shield!"
A magic shield covered Miel completely, with a dreamy color, which could help him resist magical damage.
Then: "Blade Protection!"
A circle of golden shield appeared outside the gorgeous magic shield to resist physical damage.
Then: "Act faster!"
Improve your body's mobility so that if you encounter danger, you can keep a safe distance from the enemy even if you don't have time to chant the Phantom Step or Anywhere Door spell.
Although he will fall into a coma due to physical exhaustion after the magic effect ends, the magic pool of the great Cthulhu is enough to keep him going until dark.
Finally: "Touch of the Abyss!"
Five black tentacles scrambled to rise from Miel's feet, side by side with the tentacle that had been summoned earlier.
Csulola understood: "Just rush in?"
"Yes, I can't sneak in this environment. In that case, let's just force our way in." Miel said, looking at Cthulola through the light of two layers of shields. "Mr. Lola, I'm going down. Are you ready?"
"Always be prepared, my dear," Cthulola responded.
Miel smiled, then jumped down the well without touching the metal ladder.
The slender elf landed nimbly on the ground, his long silver hair very conspicuous even in the darkness, like a feather falling in the silent night, without making any sound.
The light emitted by the ring illuminated the environment underground. It was an underground tunnel with walking sections on both sides of the tunnel. The sewage flowing in the middle emitted a bad smell.
Miel raised his hands to cover his mouth and nose, and waited for Cthulola to jump down. Then he opened a portal and transferred himself, Cthulola, and the six tentacles to one end of the tunnel.
In the dim tunnel, Miel, with a light on his hand and two layers of shields on his body, had a strong presence and it was hard for him not to be noticed.
“Who is it?”
——It was discovered immediately.
At the end of the tunnel was a roughly 120-degree angle, and a harsh questioning voice came from the other side of the angle. The other party spoke the common language, but not the accent of Snow City.
Miel turned his head calmly and saw two humans transporting something in a cart half the height of a person.
Miel didn't answer their question, nor did he give them a chance to say a second word. Almost at the same time as he turned his head to look at them, he raised his hand and pointed at them: "Touch of the Abyss!"
Six black tentacles changed shape under his control and lashed towards the two men like whips, sending them flying against the wall at lightning speed and knocking them unconscious on the spot.
After confirming that both of them had fainted, Miel walked over to them in a stealthy pace, lifted the cloth on the cart, and looked at the contents inside.
The golden, glowing liquid in the spherical glass bottle is the alchemical fire.
There was so much alchemical fire that it filled the entire cart.
This thing is used in the same way as a flask, it will explode if you drop it.
Then, next to this pile of dangerous things, close to the inner wall of the cart, there was a piece of parchment. Miel carefully pulled it out and examined it.
Should it be called a letter or a power of attorney?
Anyway, the contents of the parchment are as follows:
Dear Mr. Beren, I heard that you've recently made a fortune in the slave trade in Snow City, and even the city lord has become a frequent visitor. First of all, I would like to congratulate you on this. Then, as you know, the situation in the Moon City sewers has been somewhat dire lately, seriously affecting the Zhentarim's underground trade. Therefore, I hope you can send another 3,000 Alchemical Fires. I will pay you 100,000 gold coins in installments as a reward. - From the Underdark, in the Moon City sewers, Bedsam.
Miel read in silence.
Czulola walked up to him and spoke with interest, "It turns out you can be very decisive. I was worried that you would... well, you left someone alive again."
"Really?" Miel raised his hand and snapped his fingers. The tip of the Touch of the Abyss solidified into a hard blade, which pierced through the chests of the two humans cleanly and neatly, destroying their hearts and causing them to silently greet death in a faint.
Miel: "There are no survivors now."
Cthulora: “…”
"What's wrong?" Czulola's tone became serious.
Miel took the "decisive" action as he wished, but instead of applauding and cheering for it, he showed a worried look.
"What's written on the parchment?" he asked.
Miel placed the parchment in his family ring and dictated the contents to Cthulola: "Two pieces of information. First, the Zhentarim are the ones engaging in illegal trade here. These rats who traffic in human beings and dangerous weapons deserve to die. Second, my father... no, the man named Bross, bought more than one slave here."
"That's not surprising," Cthulora responded. "According to current intelligence, Bros needs women to provide him with children who will inherit his bloodline. He considers women consumable. Given that, he'll definitely find ways to obtain them. Compared to deception and kidnapping, directly purchasing slaves is much more time-efficient and labor-intensive."
"What does Mr. Lola think of the slave trade?"
"My opinion? This is a phase that humans are likely to experience after becoming intelligent creatures and expanding and plundering resources. The oppression of humans by humans is quite complex and unique, and I find it very interesting."
Miel: “…”
Miel regretted asking.
It was all because Cthulola was too gentle to him, causing him to almost forget that the Old Ones were neither humans nor elves, so why should they care about the feelings of humans and elves?
If Cthulola was as sensitive to words like "slave," "oppression," and "objectification" as he was, the contract wouldn't have included the phrase "You are my property."
However, just as Miel lowered his eyes in despair, Csulola spoke again, saying, "While studying the causes behind it is interesting and can help me better understand humans, it's not so interesting when it comes to individuals. At the very least, I don't want you to become anyone's slave."
Miel raised his silver eyelashes and looked into Cthulora's red eyes.
Miel didn't know whether the tentacles of the Great Old One were serious or just comforting himself... No, whether it was the former or the latter, it proved that he could actually empathize with humans and elves.
But did he have this ability originally, or was it influenced by himself?
...He actually thinks it's all his own achievement. How self-righteous.
Miel didn't think any more, raised the corner of his lips, and showed a gentle smile to Csulola: "Of course, you are my only master, I belong to you alone, no one else can dare to meddle with me."
After he said this, he turned around and quickly wiped away all the smiles on his face.
"When I find out what my father is up to, I will kill him myself, just as I declared at the beginning."
"Murdering women, kidnapping their children, allowing and participating in the Zhentarim's slave trade—even the excuse of saving the world cannot convince me of the crimes he committed."
The author has something to say:
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The Zhentarim already existed in DND, but there's no need to check it out. In this story, they're only responsible for illegal trade.
The main behind-the-scenes of each chapter of this article is still the ancient gods or races related to CoC, but there is no need to check specifically, because the enthusiastic K will always help introduce them [dog head holding a rose]
Cthulhu:?
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