Mage's Profound Truths

Chapter 8: Relief

Inside the carriage, soft fur pelts were laid over the wooden benches, providing great warmth in the cold weather.

Although Merlin wasn’t familiar with the prices in this world, he could tell that the pelt beneath him was certainly quite valuable.

Even as a noble himself, Merlin couldn’t help but sigh inwardly at the extravagance.

Although nobles held high status, they mostly relied on taxes from their territories. In terms of wealth, the Wilson family was far inferior to the Douglan family.

Sitting in this ultra-luxurious carriage was truly an indulgent experience.

Before long, they arrived at their destination, and the carriage gradually came to a halt.

“All right, get off quickly.”

Anson was already urging them impatiently.

After getting off the carriage, they entered a small, low shop.

The shop looked empty, with only a few crafts displayed on the shelves.

Merlin wasn’t familiar with the place, and though he was curious, he said nothing and simply followed closely behind Anson and Gutt.

Anson and Gutt seemed well-acquainted with the place and headed straight for the counter.

Behind the counter stood a scantily dressed young woman who smiled upon seeing them.

“Young Master Anson, Young Master Gutt.”

Clearly, she recognized them.

“All right, hurry up and let us in. I heard your boss got some new items recently?”

“Indeed, our boss just got a new batch. Some of them are real treasures—sure to please you both.”

As she spoke, she pressed something beneath the counter.

A wall in front of them began to rotate, revealing a dark passage.

“Xiaolin, let me see if you’ve grown lately?”

Gutt approached the girl called Xiaolin and shamelessly reached into her collar with a fat hand.

“Fatty, hurry up.”

Seeing that Gutt wasn’t following, Anson called out impatiently.

“Heh, coming.”

Gutt withdrew his fat hand, tossed a shiny gold coin to Xiaolin, and followed Anson into the dark passage.

The passage was dark at first, but after a few steps, firelight became visible — candles lined both sides of the corridor, illuminating the way.

Merlin squinted and looked ahead, discovering that the passage sloped downward the whole way — by now, they must be seven or eight meters underground. It was impressively deep.

After walking about a hundred meters, some faint sounds could be heard up ahead, along with the occasional cry of surprise. Anson noticeably quickened his pace and soon passed through the corridor.

At the end of the corridor was a spacious hall — nearly the size of two football fields. Though not crowded, people gathered in small groups, examining various antique items on display.

This, no doubt, was the place Anson and Gutte had come for.

Anson looked around the hall and quickly spotted a middle-aged man in black walking briskly toward them.

“You’re a bit late today, Young Master Anson, Young Master Gutte,” the man said.

Anson’s expression changed slightly as he asked urgently, “Mr. Nason, are all the good items already sold?”

Nason gave a faint smile. “Of course not. But most are already gone. Come, Miss Kelys is currently examining the latest batch.”

“Oh? Miss Kelys is here too?” Gutte’s plump face lit up with delight.

“She just arrived not long ago.”

Before long, Nason led Merlin and the others into a secluded room. Inside were five or six young men and women, gathered around some shelves, speaking in low voices about the displayed antiques.

“Hey, Miss Kelys! You got here so quickly,” Anson greeted cheerfully as he walked in.

Gutte also hurried over, his eyes fixed greedily on Kelys.

Kelys frowned slightly. She forced a smile at Anson and said, “Anson, you’re just in time. Come take a look at these new pieces — the quality’s not bad.”

Her gaze passed over Merlin without stopping — clearly, she was one of those who cared only for antiques.

Anson strode quickly to the shelves, where rows of antiques were neatly arranged — almost all of them made of jade.

Merlin noticed a palm-sized white jade piece carved into a strange creature with the head of a fish and the body of a human, spewing water from its mouth.

There were also grotesque monsters with fierce faces and bodies covered in spikes, wielding iron chains and whipping people dressed in various costumes.

Even someone like Merlin, with no background in antiques, found these images bizarre and unsettling.

“Tsk tsk, these are all antiques from the Morta Empire era.”

Anson had some knowledge of antiques and quickly identified their origin.

Kelys was holding a slightly yellowed piece of ancient jade, carved in the shape of a strange beast. She frowned slightly and asked Anson, “Anson, these antiques are rather unusual. Just look at their shapes—I’ve never seen ones like these before. But judging by the material and carving style, they’re definitely from the Morta Empire.”

Anson also frowned, clearly puzzled.

At this moment, the middle-aged man Nathan spoke: “This batch of new items came from a Morta Empire ruin. Everything we found there was strange, but I assure you they are authentic Morta antiques.”

Merlin casually looked around the shelves. He knew nothing about antiques, so naturally didn’t join the discussion. The strange shapes of these antiques didn’t feel artistic to him—instead, they made him uncomfortable.

Most of the items on the shelves were made of jade, in line with the Morta Empire’s style.

Merlin continued scanning downward. On the bottom shelf, in an inconspicuous corner, he spotted a damaged bas-relief.

Yes—a bas-relief. It looked like it had been forcefully chiseled off a building.

It was only palm-sized, and depicted a naked man sitting cross-legged in a bizarre posture.

Merlin gently picked it up, focusing on the engraved patterns.

Suddenly, Merlin’s vision blurred. The bas-relief seemed to come alive—the naked man began to perform a strange sequence of movements, one step at a time.

“Phew...”

Startled, Merlin snapped out of it. The hallucination disappeared. The relief in his hand remained still.

“Was I imagining things?”

He rubbed his eyes and stared at the relief again, especially the patterns. Slowly, the illusion returned—the carved man resumed his strange, slow movements.

“Merlin, what’s wrong with you?”

At that moment, Merlin felt someone supporting him from behind. He immediately came to his senses and saw that it was Anson holding him.

At this time, everyone was looking at Merlin with strange expressions. They had just seen him, holding the relief, his expression constantly changing, swaying as if about to faint.

“Look at this relief—what do you think it is?”

Merlin quickly handed the relief to Anson. Having experienced the illusion twice, he was sure this was no coincidence; this relief definitely had something unusual about it.

Anson turned the relief over and examined it, nodding slightly. “It’s finely carved and also from the Morta Empire period. Though it looks damaged, there are probably several pieces in total. What, do you like it?”

Merlin had been observing Anson carefully and noticed he showed no signs of abnormality. He couldn’t help but lower his voice and ask, “That’s all? You didn’t notice anything strange about it?”

“Something special?”

Anson carefully examined the relief again, then shook his head. “Just a bit unique in shape. I only like jade pieces from the Morta Empire. This relief isn’t to my taste.”

With that, Anson handed the relief back to Merlin.

Having recovered from the earlier confusion, Merlin had now calmed down. He was certain that what he saw wasn’t a hallucination. Yet it seemed no one else here noticed anything special about the relief.

“Could it be that only I can see the illusion?”

Merlin continued to fiddle with the relief in his hand. Though he didn’t yet know the reason, it was clear that something was wrong with it.

“Mr. Nason, how much is this relief?”

Merlin wanted to buy the relief and study it further back home.

Nason glanced at Anson, then smiled. “Young Master Anson, this gentleman is…?”

Before Anson could reply, Gutt grinned and patted Merlin’s shoulder. “Hehe, Mr. Nason, this is Wilson Merlin.”

Nason’s eyes immediately lit up. Though he had never met Merlin before, the Wilson name was too prominent. In Blackwater City, with so few nobles, there was no way he wouldn’t know it.

“So it’s Young Master Merlin. Since you like it, we’ll sell it at cost—ten gold coins!”

Anson leaned in and whispered to Merlin, “Not bad. Ten gold coins is a fair price. If you really like this relief, you should buy it.”

Merlin trusted Anson, so he nodded and pulled out ten gold coins from his pocket, buying the strange relief.