Chapter 138 Ash Seal
"Exactly. And if I'm not mistaken, these white ashes can also determine the degree of threat posed by the enemy. When I didn't use the silver eyes, even if I released the killing intent, I could only summon small and medium-sized white beasts. But when I turned on the silver eyes, I could attract seven giants at once. This means that my silver eyes are a huge threat to it." Eisna replied.
"So, these ashes are really the Demon Lord's body?" Isidor said in surprise.
"Even if it is not the original body, it must have a huge connection with the original body. During the time when it became a statue, I have no idea what happened outside. But before that, the Demon Lord's form was still complete. Although I knocked off a lot of feathers, the overall form was still maintained. So I guess that Taimur may have overused his strength like me, causing his form to collapse to this extent." Esna replied.
"Anyway, we have to find a way to clean up these ashes. If we don't, it will be troublesome if it is resurrected." Isidor said worriedly.
"Then how do we clean them up? Rely on stimulating murderous intent to continuously kill the white beasts? This would indeed deplete the ashes' vitality, but we would have to kill them over and over again many times. This place is too big, and we can't kill them all with just the three of us." Emmeline said on the side.
"There is no need for that. It is impossible to completely kill the Demon Lord - at least not now. Even Isidor can only deprive the Demon Lord of his immortality and destroy his body. So what we have to do is to seal him up." said Esina.
"Seal? How to seal it?" Isidor asked, scratching his head.
"For this, I have to ask your all-knowing little dice girl - can you tell us this level of information? After all, it is something that has happened once in history." Esina asked, staring at Isidor's pocket.
"I can only provide the principle of sealing. The specific method cannot be conveyed smoothly." Little Dice Girl crawled out timidly and answered.
"That's enough." Esna reached out and hugged Dice Girl to chat for a while, then began to set up the magic circle, while Isidor built the necessary materials on the side. In less than a day, the two of them set up more than 30 magic circles in the White Zone. This time, no matter how much killing intent was released, no more white beasts would be generated.
"You're amazing, Esna. I feel like I don't need to think anymore after having you. It's like I have an external brain." Isidor said with emotion.
"You'd better think about it yourself, otherwise I'll sell you out without knowing it." Aisina said with a smile.
"No kidding, now that the problem of the Demon Lord has been solved, what should we do next?" Isidor asked.
"There are three things to do next: find the dark elves and vampires to expand our combat power, retrieve the Cup of Babylon, and heal Emmeline's arm. These three things are very important, and we must complete all three so that we can have the confidence to go north to the old capital of the elves and decipher the final spell. As for which one to start with, it's up to you to decide." As Esna said, she drew a schematic diagram of the three things on the ground with a stick.
"Eh? You want me to decide? This kind of thing should be left to you, right?" Isidor said with some surprise.
"Is it strange? Now you are the strongest one among us, and the truth of the Cup of Babylon is also inextricably linked to you, so I think you are more suitable to be the decision maker of this team now - of course, I will also assist you from the side." Esna said with a smile.
"I feel like the burden on my shoulders is so heavy." Isidor smiled, but did not refuse. He looked at Esna's diagram, thought for a moment, and then analyzed: "The two things of finding companions and healing the arm are undoubtedly to increase our combat power. And finding the Cup of Babylon may mean a battle with the Demon Lord. After all, Taimur came for the Cup of Babylon, and the Thousand-Handed Demon Lord was also summoned by the Cup of Babylon. We have reason to believe that the Demon Lord has the ability to sense the location of the Cup of Babylon."
Aisina said nothing, but nodded with an approving look.
"So, this matter should be left to the end. After all, we don't have enough chance of winning the battle against the Demon Lord now. And the information about finding the lost companions should probably be asked from the Dice Girl." Isidor said, looking at the Dice Girl in Esna's hand.
"Dice Lady doesn't know where they are." Dice Lady replied.
"Ah? Don't you know everything? How did you know it when you were looking for Esna?" Isidor asked.
"Dice Lady, I know everything. But I can only provide limited help. I cannot tell you the reason. Even if I tell you the restricted issues, they cannot be conveyed smoothly. Also, it takes a lot of effort to find out what the master wants to know from what I know, so I am going to sleep... snooze..." After Dice Lady finished speaking, she actually fell asleep on Esina's chest.
"I knew it would be like this - then let's prioritize helping Emmeline recover her arm. It just so happens that my construction can create powerful explosive arrows, and when combined with Emmeline, we can unleash a combat power that even the Demon Lord would be troubled by." Isidor said.
"Then we have to go to the Kingdom of Piedmont in the south of the continent. There is the most advanced magic technology in the world. Most of the materials needed to restore the arm can be purchased there, and the equipment can also be customized by expert craftsmen. More importantly, one of the materials can only be obtained there." said Esna.
"What material?" Isidor asked curiously.
"It's okay to tell you now: that thing is called 'Marrow of Life'. It is said to be the original thing left over from the beginning of life. It has the magical power to transform inorganic matter into organic matter." Aisina said.
"It sounds really powerful, but does it require the ability to turn inorganic matter into organic matter to heal the arm?" Isidor asked doubtfully.
"Let me be frank. Emmeline's arm has already died. Even gods cannot revive a dead thing. So what we need to do now is to create another arm for Emmeline to connect. If we want to make the arm that does not belong to us merge perfectly with our body, only the Life-Resilience Marrow can do it." said Esina.
"Sister, do you really know what you are talking about? The Marrow of Life is a national treasure passed down from generation to generation in Piedmont! It is even considered by the Holy See to be direct proof of God's creation of all things. How could they give it to us so easily? I don't think we need to pursue perfection. Being able to pull the bow and control the line is enough." Emmeline couldn't help but interrupt.
"What are you talking about? How can my sister be used as a tool like a puppet? Don't worry, I also went to school there in my early years for the sake of knowledge, so I still have some connections there. And part of my assets are also stored there. Since the luggage is lost, we also need some working capital, right?" Aisina smiled confidently.
Chapter 139: The Kingdom of Piedmont
After the discussion that day, Isidor summoned the ghost bird and took Esna southwest to Piedmont.
After crossing the towering and long Death Mountain Range, the climate gradually became milder and the population on the ground gradually increased. In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Isidor put away the ghost bird and hired a carriage to continue his journey.
Following Esna's instructions, the carriage headed south. The closer they got to Piedmont, the more prosperous the surrounding villages and cities became. When the three finally arrived at the border of Piedmont, Isidor could not help but be surprised by the wealth of the country.
Here, even in the villages on the border, you won't see ragged civilians. People are neatly dressed and radiant. There are huge windmills and waterwheels in the village, all of which are engraved with magic runes. Even on the houses, you can see magic runes with the function of reinforcement or protection against cold and heat.
"The nickname of Piedmont is the Land of Magic. Magic here is not something high and mighty, but has become popular in people's lives. My teacher once commented that 'even breathing smells like magic'. I didn't expect that after not being here for a while, it seems to have developed even more prosperously." Esna said with a smile.
"Have you studied here before?" Isidor asked curiously.
"Of course I have, but the Piedmont School of Magic only accepts humans and subhumans, and other races are prohibited from admission. In order to study magic, I disguised myself as a subhuman and bribed the examiner to sneak in. But I only took classes from those professors, and no one else was qualified to teach me. The rest of the time I spent reading books in the library, and I did this for about 30 years." said Esna.
"Wait, you haven't graduated in 30 years. Have you been repeating a grade?" Isidor asked.
"You can't stay for thirty years even if you repeat a grade, right? Except for the preparatory classes for minors, formal academy students need to submit their research results starting from the third year, and the instructor will judge whether they can graduate. If they fail, they will stay in school for another year, and the maximum period cannot exceed six years. If they still cannot graduate after six years, they will be expelled from the academy. So in order to stay here and study magic, I changed my identity and re-enrolled every three years. When I was expelled, I had a total of nine graduation certificates - he didn't give me the last one." Aisina smiled.
"You're such a genius in magic, but he didn't even ask you to stay as a professor or something? I really don't understand the principal's train of thought." Isidor said indignantly.
"Actually, I don't blame him. He is an old Piedmontese, more than 140 years old. The war when Piedmont gained independence is history to others, but it was a personal experience to him. A hundred years ago, the humans who founded Piedmont were slaves of the Fungus like some other races. The Fungus had very strict control over them. Humans basically couldn't get decent weapons and equipment, and due to long-term malnutrition, they lacked sufficient combat power even if they wanted to resist. So some ambitious people began to concentrate on studying magic and taught it to other human companions. Eventually, they organized a magic legion to resist the Fungus and liberate slaves of various races." Esna narrated.
"But in that case, the Piedmontese would only be rebelling against the Fungus. Haven't other races also been slaves to them?" asked Emmeline.
"I'm more curious about what the Fungi are? Mushroom people?" Isidor asked curiously.
"I don't know much about the Fungus Tribe. I only know that they are a race that lives underground and only come to the surface to live under very rare circumstances. In short, humans and slaves of other races rebelled against the Fungus Tribe together in the beginning. Because the Fungus Tribe has almost no resistance to magic, they were beaten back step by step. But just when victory was at hand, disagreements arose within the coalition. Slaves of other races believed that human mages hid in the back and used magic safely, but were given the best land and spoils of war, while other races charged forward and fought bloody battles, but in the end they did not get as much benefit as humans. In order to mediate the conflict, the leader of the human race personally led the legion to attack the underground fortress of the Fungus Tribe. Although the progress was smooth at the beginning, other races were worried that humans would be too powerful, so they interrupted their supplies, resulting in the almost annihilation of the human expeditionary force." Esina sighed.
"Ah? So miserable! These races are such trash! How can they force mages into close combat? And without human mages, they won't be able to resist the Fungus!" Isidor said indignantly.
"That's right. When humans heard the news, they were also very angry. The trusted human leader pretended not to know the news and invited leaders of various tribes to discuss countermeasures. During the meeting, he detained all of them and sent troops to raid the territories of various tribes. In this battle, except for a few sub-human races that followed humans, all other alien races were slaughtered, and the fungus race was permanently sealed underground. In order to commemorate this leader, people made him king and named the kingdom after him. This is the origin of Piedmont. By the way, he was also the first principal of Piedmont Magic Academy, so now you know why they banned non-human races from enrolling, right?" Esna continued.
"So it's the distrust of foreign races, no wonder. But after all, that old guy is still a bit old-fashioned - so is it okay to be a half-elf?" Isidor said to Emmeline beside him.
"Emilynn is half human, and her father is also a Piedmontese, so there's no problem. And apart from the older generation, other Piedmontese people won't be so serious. After all, when I introduced Emlynn to the school, I made a one-time donation equivalent to half a year's income of the school." Esna said with a smile.
"How inhumane!" Isidor sighed.
Along the way, I listened to Esna telling the story of Piedmont, and before I knew it, the carriage had arrived at the royal city. The walls of Piedmont were tall and solid, and they were neatly repaired everywhere. There were all kinds of magic mechanisms set up on the walls. Compared with this, the defenses of Ravenstern City were just like toys.
"Welcome to the most powerful nation of mankind, Piedmont, my lord." Esna said with a smile.
"Stop teasing me, let's go and get the Marrow of Life - by force or by words?" asked Isidor.
"How about martial arts? How about literature?" asked Esina.
"The force method is that we just go up and rob them directly. The polite method is that you try to trick the things out of your hands. If you fail to trick them, I will rob them later." Isidor replied.
"Hahahaha, am I a liar in your heart? Don't worry, although I was expelled from school, I have done a lot of business in the 30 years here. I still have some face. Let's go talk to the king and ask him to sell the national treasure to us." Esna said with a smile.
"You said it's such an important thing, will they really sell it?" Isidor asked doubtfully.
"Don't worry, I will offer them a price they can't refuse." Esina said with a cunning smile.
Chapter 140: Simply withdrawing money
After the three of them entered the city, Esna was not in a hurry to find the king, but came to the tall and luxurious bank in Piedmont.
"One of the reasons why Piedmont can become the most powerful kingdom of mankind is that their coin minting technology is extremely sophisticated and difficult to counterfeit, so that the gold and silver coins minted by them are circulated all over the continent. The government even opened a bank that provides deposit and loan services." Esina walked into the bank's door and explained to Isidor.
"Why don't we go see the king first? There's no rush to get money. Although it takes more effort to make precious metals, the gold and silver I have built are enough for our expenses." Isidor said.
"Times have changed. When Emily entered school, the king here had already been replaced. Even with the original king, I didn't have much dealings with him. It would still be a bit troublesome to meet him directly." Esna said.
"Then what do you think we should do? Do we have to do a few deeds in the city to raise our status and qualify for an audience?" Isidor asked.
"Of course we don't have that much time to waste. Since the king is not easy to see, let him come to us on his own initiative." Esina said as she came to the counter.
"Miss, what may I help you with?" the girl at the counter asked with a smile.
"Withdraw the money." Esna said briefly.
"Sorry, we only accept large deposits and withdrawals here. For small deposits and withdrawals, you can go to the branch or the magic vault at the door." The girl at the counter looked at the three people dressed as adventurers and spoke politely.
"How much is considered a large amount?" asked Esina.
"The starting price is one thousand gold coins." The girl at the counter said with a smile.
One thousand gold coins is indeed not a small number. Some smaller baronies may not be able to collect a thousand gold coins in taxes throughout the year. Even if Piedmont is quite rich, one thousand gold coins is definitely not a small amount.
"Then take three hundred first." Esna said calmly.
"I'm sorry, maybe I didn't explain it clearly. The head office counter only accepts large deposits and withdrawals. If it's 300 gold coins, there's a magic vault at the door. You can draw your magic mark on the sensing stone slab. If you have any questions, you can ask the staff outside for help." The girl at the counter still smiled politely, but there was a hint of impatience in her tone.
"I'm sorry, I didn't make myself clear. What I meant was: take three million gold coins." Esina said the number word by word.
"Three million...million? Are you kidding? This is an amount at the national budget level!" Upon hearing this exaggeratedly large number, the counter girl's smile finally froze.
"That's right. Can't your bank take it out?" asked Esina.
"You can take it out, but do you really have so much savings?" the girl at the counter asked with a helpless look.
At this time, the armored guard in the bank also noticed something unusual and slowly approached, apparently mistaking Esina for trouble.
"Of course, take out the sensing slate," said Esna.
Seeing this, the younger sister had to take out the sensing slate for verification. Aisina's hands moved like shuttles, drawing an extremely complex magic mark at a dizzying speed.
Everyone's magic power is slightly different, and the slate used by the Piedmont bank can detect this unique difference and allow customers to record it in the form of magic marks. This mark is a bit like a password, usually three or five strokes, enough for the slate to verify the basic texture and uniqueness of the magic, but Esna's mark is as many as 192 strokes, which is jaw-dropping.
The girl at the counter took the slate and inserted it into the groove of the table in front of her. This table was connected to a large magic stone that recorded magic data, and the magic mark on the slate could be used to verify whether the corresponding account was valid.
In less than a minute, the result came out. When the girl at the counter saw the amount in Aisina's account, her face turned green.
"What do you think? Do we need to drive them away? These are foreign adventurers who have just registered to enter the city. No one will say anything if we drive them away." The guard asked in a low voice.
"No, prepare to withdraw money for this lady - please wait a moment, I need to report this amount to my superiors." The girl at the counter looked at Esna with awe, bowed slightly and ran to the back hall.
After a while, the guy who seemed to be in charge came down with someone and wanted to invite Aisina to the VIP room for a detailed discussion. But Aisina was unmoved and just waited there to ask for cash immediately.
The person in charge of the bank was helpless. This industry was all about credit. If they refused to honor the debt, the bank would not be able to continue. Although the bank's assets were definitely more than three million gold coins, many of them had already been used for loans. How could they prepare so much cash?
However, Esna insisted on not changing her mind, so the person in charge had to order people to take out the money from the vault, and then urgently go to various branches in the city to withdraw gold coins. After emptying the bank vault of the entire royal city, there was still a big gap. In the end, they had to use silver to make up for the difference, and finally they collected three million.
Because counting was difficult, Esina agreed to measure the amount by weight. Even so, the bank was busy for a whole day before delivering gold and silver worth three million gold coins to Esina.
Looking at the full box of gold and silver in front of her, Esina reached out and grabbed a handful of silver coins, went to the road to hire a dozen carriages, and had people load them all on.
"How much balance do I have?" asked Esina before leaving.
"There are still million gold coins, of which 12 million are fixed deposits and can only be withdrawn after another 15 years according to the agreement. The rest can be withdrawn at any time." The person in charge said, wiping the sweat from his head with a handkerchief.
"Very good, the Piedmontese are really trustworthy in business. I'll give you a week to get the remaining 5 million. I'll come to pick it up at this time next week." Esna said this, and got on the carriage with Isidor and Emmeline, and headed straight for the most luxurious mansion in the city. Many people gathered along the way, and Esna grabbed a handful of gold and silver coins and threw them on the street, attracting many people to grab them. No one chased the carriage until it entered the gate of the mansion.
After Esina left, the entire bank went haywire. Although the Piedmont Bank was financially strong, it was not impossible to collect million gold coins by transferring money from branches across the country, but this would inevitably drain the reserves of many branches and even the head office. If other depositors could not withdraw their money, the bank's credit would collapse in an instant.
What's more, Esina took away three million gold coins today with great fanfare, drove a carriage loaded with gold and silver through the city, and even threw coins on the street. This has already spread throughout the city, and it is impossible to suppress this matter.
"Since the problem cannot be solved, then solve the person who raised the problem." A vice president suggested with a serious face.
"This... isn't good, right? We are businessmen after all, and the bank has shares owned by the royal family. How can we do such a thing? Besides, it's an elf, it will definitely be difficult to deal with." The president said worriedly.
"We have to test whether it's easy to deal with or not. And this job is naturally not for us to do. I have a way to invite many experts. There are only three of them. Even if they are good at fighting, I'm afraid two fists can't beat four hands. What's more, they are unintentional and she can't defend herself!" The deputy president said, stretching out his hand and making a gesture of wiping his neck.
Chapter 141: Kindness and Severity
"I never thought you had so much money. If I were to construct something with my imagination, I would definitely do something similar." Isidor lay on the big bed in the mansion, looking at the mountains of gold and silver in the room, and couldn't help but sigh.
"Piedmonton has a stable political situation and is very suitable for doing business. When I was studying here, I used the pharmaceutical technology I developed to invest in and run a number of industries. The banks here are also reputable, and half of my cash is deposited here." Aisina said with a smile.
"But sister, since they have a good reputation, why do you still make things difficult for them?" Emmeline couldn't help asking.
"I'm just withdrawing my own money. This can't be considered a problem. The real problem is still to come." Aisina said with a smile.
"Oh? What bad tricks have you come up with?" Isidor asked with interest.
"I can't tell you that until tomorrow," said Esina with a smile.
Isidor didn't ask any more questions. After all, Esina was taking care of the matter, so he didn't bother to think too much. The carriage was bumpy all the way, and he was a little tired, so he lay down on the bed and fell asleep. In the dimness, he only heard Esina calling the waiter to ask for some things, and then she lit the magic lamp and fiddled with something in front of the table.
The next morning, when Isidor got up, he found that Esina had just arranged the things on the table and stuffed them into a gift box along with a few scrolls.
"You didn't sleep all night?" Isidor asked.
"There is still a lot to do, how can I sleep?" Esna yawned, stood up and called Emmeline in.
"Emmeline, you haven't been back to the academy for a long time, right? I called you out in a hurry, and you probably didn't have time to say goodbye to the teacher properly. I have prepared some gifts. Take them to the academy and distribute some to the teachers and classmates. If anyone asks, just say you bought them from Miss Weir." Esna said, handing the heavy gift box to Emmeline.
"Actually, I don't have much friendship with those teachers and classmates, but since it's my sister's suggestion, I'll go back to the academy." Emmeline took the gift box, held it in her hand easily, turned around and left the room.
"You're such a nice person - that's impossible! What did you give me? Poison? A bomb? And who is Miss Weir?" Isidor asked in rapid succession.
"Humph, I wouldn't use such low-level means. What I sent were just some magic scrolls and alchemical potions. But the level is far beyond the technology mastered by the Piedmontese." Esna laughed.
"Oh? What's your intention in sending these things? It can't be out of kindness... Wait, I get it! You want to show off your presence. There must be a lot of people with a strong thirst for knowledge in the academy. When they get these incomprehensible things, they will definitely try to find the owner of the things and try to obtain the technology in them!" Isidor suddenly slapped his forehead and said loudly.
"Keep your voice down, your voice will almost reach Rodria. But you are right, I want to attract them to come to my house." Esna said, taking Isidor's hand and sitting down beside the bed.
"And then? What's the point of attracting these nerds? Aren't we going to see the king?" Isidor asked.
