Knowing the correct route this time, Angor dived into Shino Trench and soon found the glowing underwater city ahead.
Lloyds was a very impressive creation indeed, but he didn’t expect that he’d come here again so soon.
After getting inside the water-free zone without trouble, he arrived at the Tower of Peace and took out a small card.
There was a line of characters chiseled on the card using a special method—”Ashen”.
Just a while ago, he thought he’d never use this card for real.
He shook his head and walked into the shadow cast by the giant tower, where the Gully Sector was located.
Like usual, this place was the gathering of human filth. However, this was none of his concern right now. He only had to get to the ruins where the Ashen Traders stayed last time.
Using Infinite Reticence, he arrived at his target without a problem.
The ruins didn’t look much different from the last time since it was just ruins. Only that all the slave cages, browsing customers, and the robed traders were no longer here.
With the card in hand, Angor walked around the area but without finding anyone.
“Didn’t Beals mention that someone will stay behind as a contact? Yeah... How could I trust a slave dealer?”
It didn’t matter. This place wasn’t very far from the Land of Revelation anyway.
As for the materials he still needed, he might need to bring Tulu back to the Fey Continent and look around there.
He needed to leave through a narrow alleyway to get out. Before he could do so, however, he saw a light spot at the other end of the path slowly moving closer to him.
There was the sound of footsteps.
The approaching light turned out to be an ember of a lit smoking pipe, while the owner of it was coming to Angor.
Lizard scales and a snake’s eye.
“Greetings, Mister Rossum.” Angor quickly recognized the man who addressed him in the trader camp last time.
“It’s you...”
Rossum was rather excited to see Angor but tried not to show it. He promised that he’d stay here and wait for Angor’s visit in the next ten years. By this, he was ready to waste his time without getting anything in return.
But Angor actually came after only several months!
Angor nodded to Rossum politely and showed the invitation card.
“Welcome, dear guest.” Rossum took it gladly. “Do you need to... purchase materials, perhaps?”
“Yes. I need them really soon, so I thought about asking for your help. If you can’t help, I’ll have to go back to the Fey Continent myself.”
“Of course I can help!” Rossum quickly agreed so that Angor did not back out.
Unfortunately, his eager response got Angor suspicious.
“Ahem. I mean, our team can surely help you find materials as long as they’re something we can buy from the markets.”
“Including the cures?” Angor raised an eyebrow.
“Trust me, we tried our best when finishing Miss Seeley’s order.” Rossum shrugged. “But I have to admit we did not use certain desperate means when helping her. For you, however, we’ll consider.”
“I already found your attitude to be... strangely friendly. Did you know who I am?”
Rossum admitted without a second thought, “No one in the south would neglect the name of Master Angor these days. As a matter of fact, I have several newest magazines in my hand that specifically introduced you using big volumes of words.”
Angor had not been back to the Fey Continent in some time, but he knew something about his fame was happening again when many people showed him signs of it.
“Don’t call me a master. There’s no way I can work like a master yet. Just use Angor.”
The beginning of our friendship! Rossum beamed before he asked, “So which materials are you looking for, Angor? I’ll inform the chief immediately.” Rossum quickly followed up his chance.
“You can contact Mister Beals right now?”
“Yes. We have our own means of communication.”
“So... Can you hear from the other parts of the world? Such as the Fey Continent?”
“Yeah. Do you need to know something? I can provide information for free if it’s everyday news or something like that.”
“What about information about the Abyss?”
“That... depends. It will be free if you simply need to know about that place. However, for anything more important, such as Mister Monkey’s grand plan, I must ask a price for it.”
“Wait, you know that too?” Angor was a little surprised. “No, that’s not what I need. I just wish to learn about my professor’s condition.”
“Mister Phantom? I’m afraid I don’t know the newest intelligence on the front line. Though I can tell you that Mister Sunders has been overwhelmingly outstanding.”
Angor sighed. At least he knew he couldn’t go to his professor for now.
“There’s something I recently heard about Mister Sunders.” Rossum rubbed his chin. “A few days ago, Mister Mask traveled to Abyss Plane in search of Mister Sunders.”
He was referring to “The Masked Man” Sumesh.
Angor was rather depressed to hear about this. He had to rely on Sumesh if he failed to secure the new nightmare domain by himself. It seemed his chance had slipped away.
As for Flora, Sunders once mentioned that her nightmare domain was a special case and was actually controlled by “Little Red”. She couldn’t provide much help.
“It’s just myself then...”
Rossum then invited Angor into the “private stone house” they used last time to confirm their goods. It seemed Rossum placed more furniture and turned it into a small living room.
Angor knew why Rossum stayed here alone just to wait for him, but he chose not to point it out.
“Here.” Angor handed Rossum a piece of note that showed what he was searching for. To be safe, he asked extra portions for each type.
To make zoning crystals, he needed to purchase a large number of void ores, which was still costly in bulks.
Rossum was a bit disappointed when he saw Angor’s list did not have any rare materials. He thought he could at least show Angor the aptitude of their trading association, but that wouldn’t be necessary when they could find everything on the list by spending money.
“There’s not a problem.” Rossum looked up from the note. “I think we have enough of these ready to be delivered from our storage.”
“How long do I need to wait for them?”
Rossum noticed Angor’s impatient look. “If you want it faster, I can tell Beals to come immediately through a plane passageway.”
“Would that be too much of a hassle for him?”
Angor heard it before that creating such passageways was pretty trying. It required a large amount of mana along with many necessary materials as casting mediums. Wizards wouldn’t use this method to travel around unless they were REALLY in a hurry.
“No. He said that he was looking forward to cooperation, right? He’d gladly do it if it’s your request.”
Angor was now fully sure that Rossum was trying to seek association with him just like what Jebra wanted to do. Only that Rossum wasn’t making it too obvious.
He wouldn’t mind. Getting to know wizards who sold good stuff was pretty helpful to him.
“Much appreciated.” Angor nodded. “I’ll cover the expense for the plane passageway later.”
Rossum got the message to Beals in no time, who agreed to bring Angor’s goods as soon as he could. He would still need to take some time to collect them.
Angor decided to spend several days at Lloyds while waiting. In the meantime, Rossum tried to be as friendly and close to Angor as he could, and Angor did not resist his attempts.
Slowly, they began to appear as real friends. At least on the surface.
Angor spent four days fully enjoying every different sight the beautiful city had to offer, and he tried through many nice dishes he would probably never find on the surface.
Even so, he wasn’t actually enjoying anything when Jon’s matter was constantly haunting his mind.
On the evening of the fourth day, Beals finally arrived at Lloyds with everything Angor requested. Probably because Rossum already finished most of the job, Beals simply handed Angor everything without speaking much. Though he did tell Angor to find him again in case of similar situations.
Apart from the goods, Beals also provide a green, apple-like fruit to Angor.
As an alchemist, Angor quickly noticed the fruit as a special ingredient used in a spirit remedy. Obviously, Beals gave him the extra gift because of Eureka.
Angor also knew that Beals meant to give him something to gain an advantage over Eureka. But this was never his plan because Eureka had been rather helpful when treating Jon.
Compared to her, Angor would like to make sure these slave dealers did not hear about Jon’s existence.
After paying Beals for the materials, which was about 50,000 magic crystals, Angor said goodbye and quickly left the city behind.