Silent Crown

Chapter 305 Stein Chamber

The next day, the weather was fine in the afternoon. It was almost impossible to detect the chaos of last night.

For most people, last night was just a rare earthquake, causing tsunamis and chaos. It caused much shock as well, but after the shock faded, it became a story to talk about after dinner. People talked cheerfully about last night’s unlucky guys. They discussed the magical power that the musicians had shown when they were involved in infrastructure repair and rebuilding.

Only a few sensitive people felt something wrong, but they couldn't tell what it was. Maybe it was the fact that there were more soldiers on the streets, the rangers seemed to be working harder, or maybe there were more musicians in robes standing at the gates. The mysterious unrest in the uptown district was too far away for them to know. It would take a long time before it was brought up again as a strange rumor.

"Yeah, I saw it with my own eyes! What a dragon! It flew in the sky." In the tavern, a young man exaggerated his gestures and drew a burst of laughter.

"Don't be silly. You probably saw things because you were scared out of your mind."

"Dragon? There wasn’t even a dragon’s hair! "

Under the storm of boos, the young man sat down awkwardly and knocked on his brother’s head beside him. "Drink less, don't get drunk."

"I won’t get drunk." His brother lowered his head with displeasure.

"Well, you can drink everywhere, but we’ll miss the boat if we don’t leave now."

Being laughed at, the disgraced young man picked up his brother, paid the bill, and prepared to leave with his bag.

"He’s your brother? He’s cute." The middle-aged bartender smiled and rubbed the little boy's millet-colored hair. The child glared at the bartender discontentedly.

When the bartender came to again, he found that the brothers had already gone. He patted his head awkwardly, only to find that he could not remember how they had left. He could only remember the child's eyes. They were pure gold like gems.

Somehow, the memory began to blur and fade quickly. Soon, he forgot that someone had come and returned to his busy yet peaceful routine.

At the city gate, the long line heading out of the city moved slowly forward.

At the front, the examiner looked at the two brothers before him. "Vladimir, Avjevich... Are you from the Caucasus? It's thousands of miles away."

"A true painter is one who’s willing to give his life to art, right?" The elder brother, known as Vladimir, smiled. His accent was not Caucasian at all. Instead, it was elegant and smooth, like the accent of Anglo’s upper class. "Anglo is just our first stop. We intend to travel to Burgundy, to Asgard by sea, and finally to the Sacred City."

Faint light lit up in the musician's eyes but dimmed when looked at the brothers. He nodded and stamped their passports. Smiling, he handed the passport to them. "Have you seen the murals of the Covet Opera? It's a rare baroque mural. You’re still in the town so you can still go back to have a look."

"I've been there already. What a pity. I didn't know until I got here that it was destroyed by that fire few decades ago," Vladimir lamented. "Anglo truly doesn’t care enough about the preservation of art. Uh, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to—"

"It’s alright." The musician smiled, waved, and signaled to the knights behind him to let them go. "Have a good journey."

"Thank you. I'll definitely come back again if I get the chance." Vladimir smiled, took his brother's hand, and went out of the gate.

Behind him, there were some riders in ominous black clothing. They surrounded the crowd and patrolling with sharp eyes under their hoods.

Soon the distant passenger ship whistled and drove away from the port.

On the deck, the brothers from the Caucasian Federation gazed at the city as if they were unwilling to leave; the fading white city reflected in their eyes.

"What a pity. The members of the parliament are probably being hanged now. I feel a little uneasy about my lack of conscience seeing as I’m the only survivor." In the serene sea breeze, ‘Vladimir’ sighed and waved. "Goodbye, gentlemen. I may not avenge you, but I’ll remember you. You’ll be recorded in my autobiography as an example of failure so that you’ll be remembered forever and your names would be left in history!"

No one responded.

He smiled, drew back his gaze, and looked down to his side. The young boy also looked up at him; his golden eyes were like amber. The pupil inside the amber was vertical, with the cruelty and gloom of a demon.

"Naberius, I'm hungry."

"Be patient, there’s only a moment longer." The dark musician named Naberius reached out and gently caressed the boy's millet-colored hair as if caressing a rare treasure. "Poor little Mordred, let me take you to see the big goldfish, okay?"

-

That same afternoon, a dark carriage drove into the underground square and stopped before the gate of the Jianlan Underground Palace.

Ye Qingxuan stood in front of the huge dusty door, still dressed in the camouflage he wore in downtown. Behind him, Dominic's figure seemed to melt into the darkness.

There seemed to be something wrong. Two minutes later, the princess in a white dress pushed the door and descended from the cart. She cleared her throat and lowered her head in greeting. "You must have waited a long time, Mr. Holmes"

"No, I just arrived," Ye Qingxuan replied quietly. For some reason, the cold princess did not even look at him this time. Did he leave a bad impression? No, after all, he once helped her remove the curse! She should at least be friendly. He did not expect any 'respect', but it should not be ‘coldness’ at least!

But thinking of how he had once experimented upon her Highness, Ye Qingxuan could not help but feel somewhat regretful. Fortunately, the feeling was not ‘hatred.’ Otherwise, he would be done for.

After a short silence, Mary coughed and walked ahead. "Come with me, please." She passed over Ye Qingxuan and gave Dominic an old key. Taking a glance, Dominic nodded and turned to insert the key into the door. It opened with the sharp sound of friction.

Dominic did not lead the way as usual. Instead, he handed over a lantern and glanced at Ye Qingxuan. "What a lucky kid."

In the distant darkness behind the door, the princess clad in white held the lantern and looked back at him. The dazed Ye Qingxuan snapped out of his thoughts and hurried over. The gate rumbled and closed behind them.

In the silence, he heard Mary's footsteps ahead. The maiden lifted the lantern, illuminating the winding steps below. The spiral staircase seemed to extend endlessly.

Every time Ye Qingxuan entered a door, he saw something completely different and surprising every time. He looked around at the cracks in the wall as well as the broken ornaments. It felt like he was in an abandoned castle.

He took a deep breath but could not smell the dust and decay. There was no wind and no other smells. He could only smell the perfume that drifted in front of him.

Well, your taste is quite good, your Highness, Ye Qingxuan quietly praised in his mind.

Mary, walking ahead, seemed to be unaccustomed to such a long silence. She coughed lightly and said, "Mr. Holmes, you don’t seem surprised. Have you ever been to such a place?"

More than just ‘been to; I work here every day. I come here much more frequently than you do. But he could not say that aloud, of course, so Ye Qingxuan just nodded. "To tell the truth, I feel puzzled. Some small places feel different from the outside world. Some feel like black zones, but they are more stable."

Mary smiled softly and said, "The Jianlan Underground Palace is a place where the physical world and aetheric world overlap, so there are so many things that don't quite make sense.

"Because of its special nature, it was transformed hundreds of years ago into what it looks like now, just in case. This is the best vault and seal. You can say it is a natural 'field'.

"Unauthorized personnel can only see two walls behind the door. Only people with a medium and a key can walk into it, but what they see are quite different."

"I see." Ye Qingxuan nodded slightly. The key Mary had handed Dominic was like his librarian's certificate—they were all keys to the path. There was one key for one path, but everyone walked through the same door.

He was bewildered by this distorted spatial relationship, but it actually appeared in many places. The laws of physics that man perceived were often subverted in front of the fickle world, but it all happened for a reason. This had much to do with the music theory of the School of Abstinence which studied aether itself, including the phenomena caused by aetheric interference.

With Ye Qingxuan's current attainment, he could not understand the occurrence of this kind of situation. He could only keep it in mind and ponder slowly.

"Where we are heading now is the Stein Chamber, the core of the Royal Museum," Mary said. "It contains the collections of emperors and precious objects from all over the world. There are even movements that had been rated as natural catastrophes, as well as rare ancient flutes and harps."

She paused and looked back. She looked very solemn. "Therefore, please keep what you hear and see as a secret, Mr. Holmes, or the royal family will be disturbed."

Ye Qingxuan nodded. "I understand."

Mary averted her gaze quickly, as if unwilling to look at him for one more second.

Ye Qingxuan's face twitched a little. His face had been disguised but it was not that ugly, right?

"Due to Mr. Holmes’s outstanding performance yesterday and great contribution to Anglo, I shall answer to Mr. Maxwell’s request. We shall open the Stein Chamber for you to choose any item."

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