CHAPTER 56: NEW FINDINGS

The sun had set hours ago, leaving Skyreach bathed in artificial light, and with the night descending, the lively city became more alive than it had been during the day.

Vlad navigated the quiet streets of the mid-tier residential zone until he arrived at the familiar two-story stone-and-glass house.

He knocked twice.

The door opened moments later, revealing Noemi, golden hair tied back simply, pale eyes clear but shadowed from a long day. She smiled with polite warmth.

"Sir V. You’re here so late... is there something you need?" she asked politely, though a slight tension strained her voice.

"I have acquired the Moon Wolf fangs, and that is what I am here to deliver," Vlad said, his tone level. Hearing it, her eyes went wide, her mouth agape with shock.

"You... what?" she blurted, and after a long pause, she followed, her voice unsteady. "But I received no message from the guild."

"That’s because, by the time I was free, you would have already returned from your work," he said. "So I decided to deliver the fangs to you myself and collect the reward another time."

"Oh... okay," she said, trying to stay composed though she stayed on guard.

Skipping the guild that was responsible for verifying the asked product was exactly how shady adventurers scammed the other party with fake items.

"I didn’t have time to extract the wolf fangs," Vlad said. So, if it’s not a problem, I would need to extract them here. Your garden should be suitable for the job."

"Huh... You... oh."

"Y-yes, of course," she said, collecting herself. "Forgive me, I was just surprised. Moon Wolf is an elusive beast, and every part of its body sells for quite a lot of money, and the fresher it is, the higher the quality and so the price."

"Please, come in," She said after a moment of hesitation.

She smiled, quickly turned and led him through the main corridor to the back wing, where tall wooden doors opened into an indoor garden.

The garden was as spacious as a large room, with rows of flowers and even fruit trees arranged in elegant symmetry. Warm, artificial sunlight poured down from mana lights embedded in the walls, casting a gentle glow over the foliage.

Vlad stepped into the garden, opened his inventory, and dragged the massive silver-furred wolf out into the open.

The Moon Wolf’s body dropped onto the grass with a heavy thud, its pristine fur still shimmering like woven silver, even in death.

Noemi gasped softly, stepping forward with awe in her eyes. "What a magnificent beast..."

Vlad knelt by its head, adjusting the angle. "Soon, the market’s going to flood with Moon Wolf parts, so their price will drop significantly, and knowing this, I will feel bad taking the entire reward you offered for the fangs."

"I will only take the two hundred fifty gold coins and leave you the daggers you promised as a reward," Vlad said as he took out a white snakeskin dagger and began to remove the fangs.

"Flood?" she blinked. "Why would that happen?"

"Because it’s a hidden boss monster from the Field-type dungeon, the Frostveil Expanse. Now that everyone knows, players will try to make it spawn every unique cycle."

"It won’t just become common, but it will be easier to find first Rank Moon wolf materials, and with more and more flooding the market, their rarity would drop," Vlad said.

Noemi stepped through the line of flowers, her eyes frozen with amazement, and bent down to touch the beast.

"I’ve never heard of a hidden boss in Frostveil dungeon." She said slowly.

"No one knew about it until yesterday," Vlad said without looking up, "because I was the one who discovered it and revealed it to the world."

She fell silent, staring at him with a stupefied expression, and knowing this was his chance, Vlad spoke.

"Lady Noemi," he said smoothly, "I understand you want to forge the fangs into a cold-siphoning trinket for someone very special, but, if I may, who is it for?"

Noemi hesitated, a reluctant look flickering across her face. Her lips parted as if to speak, then closed again.

When she finally spoke, her voice had lost its steadiness. Now, it was threaded with a distant sorrow that slipped between her words like fog.

"He’s... my lover," she said quietly. "A terrible illness has afflicted him. Something... unnatural. His body has gone cold, unresponsive, and he has been in a deep comatose state for the past four months."

"Where is he?" he asked after seconds of silence and quickly clarified his intention. "Maybe I can help."

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head too quickly even. "No, we already had Kyle seen by the best doctors in the capital. We even went to the Sun Capital, but unfortunately, there is no cure for his condition."

"The only person in the Empire who could cure him would be the Gold Saint," she said, her eyes beginning to well with tears, which she quickly wiped away before they could fall.

She took a deep breath, folded her hands together, and forced a smile. "So while I appreciate the offer... you can’t help."

Vlad arched an eyebrow. Her answer didn’t sit right.

Vlad was not a wandering nobody. He had proven his competence first by stopping a world event and then by capturing an elusive beast within just a day.

There was no logical reason for her to resist his help, even if the chance of him being helpful was little, unless she did not want his help or, worse, could not get it.

Vlad knew something was not right, so he decided to press further.

"There is no harm in me seeing him," Vlad said, his voice tinged with genuine concern, "If nothing else, maybe one of my guild contacts has something. Or, in one of my future expeditions, I might come across a cure, an artifact, even a high-tier potion," Vlad reasoned.

But before he could speak again, Noemi forced a small smile, trying to end the conversation.

"I wish you could help," she said quietly. "Sir V, you are a kind person, and I don’t want you to be burdened with finding a cure, and more than that, I don’t want to cling to false hope."

She met his gaze, and her voice barely held. "I’ll bring you some hot tea. I make a very good one. You’ll like it."

Vlad said nothing. His instincts weren’t at a level where he could feel the subtle signs of lies, but he didn’t need that.

She was lying, and it was as clear as day to him. Sure, Hope was a heavy burden, but unless she had truly given up on her lover, even a fragile hope was better than none.

Vlad didn’t need logic to tell him she was lying, her emotional state was proof enough for his experienced eyes.

Now, the question was why she didn’t want his help, and the answer was also clear to him.

’She’s not hiding because she doesn’t trust me,’ Vlad thought, narrowing his gaze. ’She’s hiding because she can’t speak about it, and that could only be out of loyalty, or she is likely under oath.’

In both cases, there could only be one possibility.

’If she is unable to speak of this someone special, then he must be tied to the noble house of Aetherwing.’ Vlad reasoned, understanding that with Noemi’s status as a palace maid, the person she was talking about had to be someone from the house of Aetherwing.

’Someone with power. A direct descendant, too important or influential to have their condition known to the world,’ Vlad’s mind raced, calculating the probabilities.

’It is unlikely to be the Duke because, as a Duke, he could get help from the king, though it would come at a great price depending on the severity of the condition,’

’Unless, for some reason, he would not want to reveal it to the royal family,’

’But, It’s unlikely that the person suffering from the unknown condition is the Duke simply because Noemi seemed to personally take care of him and seemed very close to him,’

’Unless she is Duke’s hidden bedmate, it’s unlikely that it’s Elarcrest,’

’So, Celestyn Aetherwing? It’s possible, but why would Noemi call her him? She is not in a weird relationship with her, is she?’ Vlad’s mind raced, going through each possibility, no matter how absurd.

’It could be one of her children’s, and if that’s true, then everything about the Deceiver becomes so clear,’ Vlad thought, the broader picture becoming clear to him.

It was possible that Celestyn employed the Deceiver and funded his work to find a cure for her child, not Duke Elarcrest.

If this was true, it would be good news for Vlad because he wouldn’t have to fight the Duke’s forces to reach the Deceiver.

However, this discovery also did not prove that Elarcrest was not involved because, as a Duke, few things could be hidden from him.

Why Elarcrest or Celestyn did not ask for help from the royal family and were willing to trade with an evil alchemist? The only possible reason was that either there was really no cure, or if they did, it would spell disaster for their household.