Since Angor was aware that Irisa was Thewis’ sister, he wasn’t surprised to see Thewis possessing the fake crown at all.
But still, he felt terrible when thinking about Irisa’s alchemy request for him again. It was such an embarrassing record in his career.
“Good. Irisa wasn’t joking,” Thewis said.
“That’s the fully enchanted copy you mentioned earlier?” Eureka moved closer to check the crown.
“Yup.”
“Riiiight... It looks really good, I’d give it that. But are you sure the magic array is also the same?”
“You should ask him.” Thewis pointed to Angor.
Angor considered his words.
“If the picture shown by Miss Irisa was correct, then yes, the magic array is ‘Bloodline Retrack’. I recreated it as much as I could.”
“We’ll just have to compare it with the real one.” Thewis glanced at Eureka and told her to take out the real Crimson Crown.
Eureka handed the crown she stole to Angor without a second thought, but Angor wasn’t sure he should touch it. He already had a hunch that Eureka had this thing with her, but he never planned to ask or get involved with it, because both Sunders and Greya warned that he should avoid Eureka’s business.
“Well?” Thewis raised an eyebrow.
“Mister Thewis, may I know first, why am I here? When I handed the fake one to Miss Irisa, I made it clear that I will not participate in any subsequent matters, and she agreed. Thus no matter what’s going on with these two crowns, I’ll not be responsible.”
Thewis gave him a meaningful look. “I know what you’re worried about. Just chill, I’m not dragging you into anything complicated. By putting you here, I only want to ask you a question.”
“Which is...?”
Thewis took the real crown from Eureka. He was briefly stunned by the mysterious sheen of the item before he quickly looked away.
“Before the question, I must make sure that the magic array on Crimson Crown is ‘Bloodline Retrack’. Are you certain of it?”
Angor glanced at the item, which was undeniably more graceful than the replica he crafted.
“Yes.”
“Pretty much expected...” Thewis pondered. “Since we are sure of it now, can we do something to erase the bloodline connection?”
The magic array allowed the original owner of the crown to sense its exact location no matter how far it was taken. This was why Eureka had to be constantly on the run to evade Goman King’s men.
Since Angor was here, Thewis would like his help to remove this mechanic.
“No?” Thewis grew disappointed when Angor did not respond for a long time.
“Have you heard of the Astute King, sir?”
“Naturally.” Thewis nodded. “An infamous Grand Demon dwelling in the Abyss. What has he got to do with us?”
“If you know the Astute King, you must also know the Libation of Blood he introduced, right?”
Libation of Blood was a special means of sacrifice. An item that went through such libation could be fully attuned with someone’s bloodline, which allowed the item’s user to better unleash the item’s potential while preventing others from using it. “Libation of Blood” was considered to be a stronger version of a magic pact.
However, accepting Libation of Blood also meant that the user offered their name at the mercy of the Astute King. The demon wouldn’t care about random believers who borrowed such power, but it would get a lot more dangerous if the said user gained more fame and strength as to draw the Astute King’s attention.
“I know.” Thesis nodded.
“Bloodline Retrack has a similar effect as Libation of Blood.” Angor continued, “Once an item is bound by it, the connection cannot be lifted unless the adherent is killed.”
Thewis frowned. Angor just denied a perfect plan he just came up with.
But he still had a workaround. Earlier, he and Irisa concluded that it was unlikely for someone as crafty and careful as Goman King to use his own blood to establish the connection, because allowing the crown to be destroyed would inflict a terrible backfire effect on the owner of the bloodline.
This was why fewer and fewer people would use Blood Retrack to keep their possessions, and such a technique was almost forgotten in this world.
If the Crimson Crown was bound to someone other than Goman King, they might find this person and kill him, which should be a lot easier than dealing with Goman King himself.
“Can we switch the ownership of the crown if we dispose of the owner of the blood?” Thewis quickly asked.
“The magic array has a failsafe mechanic protecting it, sir. If the previous owner is dead, the array will blow up on its own. A pretty strong one, mind you. Even though the crown is a Mystery item, I’m not sure it can remain intact in the explosion.”
“We don’t have to kill the owner, right?” Eureka suggested. “We find him, take him away, and make him into a mindless puppet or something, while we still keep the crown. Isn’t that the same?”
Delighted, Thewis looked at Angor in the eyes. “Can we use this magic array to find our target?”
...
A moment later, Angor stepped out of the manor hall with a grim look.
Even though Thewis claimed that he wasn’t planning on dragging Angor into the crown’s business, Angor knew he would still get into some trouble by answering Thewis’ questions.
Thankfully, he still had the choice of staying away from the matter from now on.
He planned to visit Jon again today, but he changed his mind later on. Too many bad things had screwed up his mental peace. He didn’t wish Jon to see him like this.
Frustrated, he returned to his bedroom, cast Dream Enkindle on himself, and entered the dream wasteland.
He heard children yelling up ahead. In the plaza area not far from him, a group of kids, including Alda, was forcing Daruk into playing a hide-and-seek game called something like “the scarecrow and the crows”. Meanwhile, Sunny was quietly sitting on top of the “treehouse pub” while looking at the noisy children with a disdainful look.
There were adults standing around the plaza talking to each other while checking the environment curiously.
A young man with a brave look saw Angor’s arrival and asked, “You another newcomer, I guess?”
“Newcomer?”
The young man pointed to Daruk, who was now acting as a “scarecrow” by standing completely still. “See that? I told him to keep away from the naughty little imps, but he didn’t listen. Now there he is.” He continued without minding Angor’s response while pretending that he was “experienced”, “Name’s Labor. That running brat with a red scarf over there is my little brother, Lador. We both got some kind of plague that’s going to kill us for sure. But Mister Dison brought us here and saved us. God bless him!
“What about you? What mess did you escape from?”
Instead of speaking, Angor looked in another direction, from where Freud was quickly running to him, while those who saw Freud all bowed their heads politely.
Labor also jumped down from the balcony he was sitting on and saluted Freud.
Freud told the others to be on their ways and turned to Angor. “Sir! You came.”
Astonished, Labor watched as Freud and the “newcomer” walked away.
“Who’s that?”
“You’re such an idiot, you know that?” Sunny somehow appeared right next to Labor and was sneering.
Labor wasn’t going to get serious with a little girl who looked a lot smaller than him.
“You know that guy?”
“Keep your eyes peeled, alright? That’s the true owner of this new world we’re in. He’s everyone’s master.”
Even though Sunny didn’t quite like Angor, she still knew that Angor saved her from the sad fate of turning into an undead wraith AND found Freud a new home. She was willing to explain Angor’s good side to others, as long as Angor wasn’t here to hear her.
“The-the master of our world...” Labor muttered, dumbfounded.