Chapter 197 – The Butler's Request
"The secret of the Death Witch's diary is definitely hidden here!"
For a moment Saul forgot about the pain and a smile appeared on his face.
He was so close to having a brush with the secrets of this place.
If he could increase his knowledge of the diary, Saul would be able to turn it into his locator faster.
Perhaps even unlock more of the diary's secrets and deduce more ways to use it.
At that moment, a weird feeling of oppression came from behind him once again, and Saul didn't turn around, only staring at the diary tightly.
He stepped forward and began to release his magic power according to the lines depicted on the black pages of the diary.
When several nodes on the formation were connected together, the door on the ground suddenly opened a small slit outward.
A trace of joy flashed across Saul's face, and he hurriedly squatted down to move the gate up in its entirety.
He quickly burrowed into the ground, and the small algae stuck out from the back of his neck and helped Saul close the gate behind him.
Saul had just jumped down when he stepped on a softly textured step.
Looking down, it turned out that what made up the step was the arm of a young girl.
Anyway, he had never seen a man's arm to be so slender and white, and the bones were small.
"Whoever used this as a ladder must be a pervert at heart, right?"
Saul had always been practical above all else, and if it wasn't needed for research, he wouldn't have gotten these scary things.
Of course other people did that, and Saul wouldn't bother with it.
Not to mention that the person who made this ladder was most likely already dead and rotting.
He jumped down the steps in a few steps and looked around this basement.
It could be confirmed that this basement was definitely Ralph Manor's laboratory.
It s just that this lab ... is a little shabby compared to even Saul s lab.
It's not that there are fewer things.
The place was surrounded by all kinds of books and materials.
But upon closer inspection, these materials were either very cheap or very common. And the books placed here were also dominated by ordinary booklets and notes and handwritten books.
In terms of variety and profundity, it wasn't even comparable to the libraries that Saul had come into contact with. Not to mention the tower owner's private collection.
But this place was still stuffed to the brim, the last holdout of the fallen wizard family.
For the time being, it was safe.
Thor let out a long sigh of relief and took out a potion to begin healing his ears.
The wound was not serious, a small sorcery and a potion could fix it.
In this dangerous place, not being able to hear is still dangerous, and if it doesn't work against Victor ... again, he will go deaf again.
He had just swallowed a potion when he suddenly caught a figure out of the corner of his eye.
Saul immediately picked up the scroll that was just placed in his coat pocket, but did not immediately strike.
"Sorcerer-sama." A person walked out from behind the bookshelf.
Sol immediately recognized the other party, "Are you ... Knight Olaf?"
The tall knight, covered in metal armor, walked silently.
The other party was no longer a living person.
Through his body, the bookshelves behind him could be vaguely seen.
Olaf appeared and stroked his chest in a knightly salute to Saul.
"You still recognize me? You remember everything from just now at the castle entrance?"
"Yes my lord."
Saul sized up the situation, "You are just an ordinary person, and your spiritual power does not reach the minimum for a sorcerer, yet you were able to stabilize your spiritual body after death. It was someone who helped you, right?"
The knight saluted again, "Yes my lord. It was an old man here at the manor who helped me. It was also he who knew that I had entered this place for refuge."
"Then it is that old man that you came out to find me?"
Olaf said, "Yes, honored wizard-sama, but it was not in arrogance that he did not come to greet you personally, but he simply could not move. His name is Hant, he is the former steward of this manor, and he has asked you to come over because he wishes to make a deal with you. If you are interested, please follow me."
Not coming out as Saul tries to open the basement door, Saul is about to make a deal as soon as he enters. Rather, he would pick his moment.
Saul looked around, didn't notice any hidden magic fluctuations here, and decided that he'd better go and meet the other party.
Seeing Sol's nod, the knight led the way in front, taking Sol into the depths of the basement.
Here, after walking to the innermost part of the lab, another compartment appeared.
It was just that the door to this compartment had been violently damaged and was lying miserably on the floor.
As Saul passed by, he realized that the door had been smashed from the inside out.
He took in the signs around him and followed Olaf into the cubicle.
The cubicle was small, looking less than ten square meters, and there weren't any encapsulated books here, only notes stacked half a person high, and papers scattered all over the place.
As soon as Saul entered, he stepped on a few papers.
Some of the papers were filled with words, and some were just mindless lines.
He looked around and saw ... an old man's head on an open hanging cabinet in the wall.
That old man had gray hair, thin cheeks, and the whole bag under his eyes was greenish-black, and he looked pale and tired.
"I'm sorry Sorcerer-sama, I can only come to you in this form."
"No need for polite words, who are you? What deal do you seek from me?"
Saul didn't want to talk nonsense with a human head, if there were no clues here, he still had to grab the information of the diary.
The old man's head pursed his lips for a moment, and when he spoke again, he spoke much faster.
"I am the chief steward of this manor, Hunter, and my master is an official first-order sorcerer, Lord Ralph. I would like to use the greatest wealth of this manor in exchange for your help in freeing my master."
"Deliverance?" Sol frowned, suddenly realizing something, "That sphinx worm ... outside is Ralph?"
The butler Hunt's face leaked with obvious sadness, "Yes."
"My master was once seriously injured because he offended a very powerful big shot. We returned to the manor to secretly recuperate, and if all goes well, it will take about five years for my master to regain his health."
"Who did you offend?" A figure surfaced in Saul's mind and immediately pursued the question.
"... It's the Sorcerer Tower Tower Master."
Sol's eyes widened, but in his heart, he sighed that it was true.
So the Tower Lord had silently helped himself once back then?
"You don't have to worry about offending that Lord. My lord has no chance of survival now. We originally wanted to leave this place as soon as Lord Ralph regained his mobility ...," Hant sighed, "but everything is not going well."
"When we first returned to the manor, we purposely opened part of the defense barriers to prevent anyone from disturbing it, and to ordinary people, it was haunted. The first year was peaceful, but in the second year, ten months ago, a sorcerer suddenly broke into the manor. He captured me and said he wanted to give the master a gift."
"Wasn't that man ... named Victor?"
The butler tried to nod, but in the end just blinked, "Yes. But my lord, all I can tell you is that it is not his real name. And I'm under a sorcery ban to reveal his real name."
"When Victor found his master, he directly told him that in his current way, even if he could recover in a few years, he would lose his great power from then on and could only wait for death to come. But he can help the master recover at a faster pace and become even more powerful."
"Ralph agreed?"
"Not really, my master is still in good spirits despite his severe injuries. As soon as he heard it, he knew that the offer had hidden dangers and didn't want to agree, but he had to. Because Viktor played a song that allowed his master to see the hidden dangers in his body. If he didn't do something about it, he would die in a few years. So the master had no choice but to take a chance and try."
"What did Victor do?"
"He gave the master a bottle of potion and then just kept sending people into the manor for the master to devour. At first the master was cautious and the potion was studied over and over again. But then, he suddenly lost control, and while the master was still in his only remaining consciousness, he hid me here, and then stayed in the study on the fourth floor. And Victor continued to bring blood food to the master. But after that, he didn't just deliver anymore."
No wonder Viktor said he never killed anyone, he was just a courier delivering people into the worm's mouth.
But if Ralph had devoured other creatures, the cross-species fusion had probably caused him no end of trouble, so much so that he'd ended up with this man-less, worm-less appearance.
This anthropophilic manor was surprisingly set up by Victor!
I'm afraid this guy isn't as simple as Saul thinks he is.
"Do you know what strength that Victor really is? Can he enter here?"
"No, the master has been meeting with him in the study on the fourth floor and has never let him enter here."
Hearing this, Saul breathed a small sigh of relief.
But just in case, Saul still asked for Morton's opinion in the diary.
However, Morton's words once again put Saul's heart in his throat.
[No, because I cracked it this time, I'm afraid that spell has lost its original energy, and if no one replenishes it, I'm afraid that in an hour or so, it will completely fail.]
(End of chapter)