Passing through the snow-swept streets, Aqima once again stepped into the castle district of Neverwinter.
Although it was unusual for her to be summoned after nightfall, she trusted Wendy and agreed to come, leaving Doris, who wanted to come along, at home.
In case something... unexpected happened, at least it wouldn't affect her companions.
Standing outside the castle gate, Aqima couldn't help but tighten her collar.
"Cold?" Wendy looked at her with a smile. "Don't worry, you'll be taking it off soon after we go inside."
Wait... off?
Could it be that what His Majesty wants to talk about is—
"Please come in, Lady Wendy." While she was in shock and suspicion, the gate slowly opened to both sides. The guards saluted the two of them and gestured for them to enter. "His Majesty is currently in the room. I have duties to attend to, so I won't take you there."
"Thank you for your hard work," Wendy nodded, took Aqima's hand, and led her into the castle.
In an instant, a warm breeze dispelled all the cold and enveloped her whole body.
So... this is heating.
Although she knew that high-end houses were equipped with such new heating equipment that could maintain warmth without open flames, she was still a little shocked when she actually experienced it.
The servants walking back and forth in the castle were all wearing beautiful and light summer clothes. Single clothes and long skirts could be seen everywhere, and in a corner of the dining room, many witches were even barefoot, running around on the carpet. Compared to the scene in autumn, it was now more like summer, which made her suspect her guess again.
He really built Neverwinter City here for enjoyment!
Wendy, who was on the side, had already taken off her coat and winked at her, "If you don't take it off, you'll sweat soon. If you go out again at that time, it will be troublesome if you catch a cold from the cold wind."
"I... I know."
Aqima stiffly unbuttoned her clothes and couldn't help but glance at the other party's chest—hers wasn't small, but it was still a big gap compared to Wendy's.
If His Majesty really had that kind of idea... how could he possibly look for her?
With this self-deprecating thought, she followed Wendy up to the third floor and entered the Lord's room.
"Your Majesty, Aqima is here."
"Greetings to Your Majesty."
Aqima bent down, scanned the people in the room with her peripheral vision, and finally landed on a gray-haired man behind the desk.
The person opposite was the King of Graycastle, she realized. When she was still under the Sleeping Spell, she only saw him from afar at the banquet. Now, this was her first close-up observation, and the first feeling that came to her mind was: The King of Graycastle is too young.
Being able to defeat other brothers and sisters, thwart the church, and directly and neatly incorporate all the kingdom's territory into his own hands before the age of thirty, is this really something someone his age can do?
She could openly disagree with Tilly, but she couldn't deal with him in the same way—once she left Neverwinter City, the Sleeping Spell would no longer have anything to do with them, but unless everyone fled Graycastle, they would be under the control of this man in any part of the kingdom. Even if she alone was not afraid of authority, she couldn't help but think about Doris and the others.
"No need to be so polite," the King's voice sounded very peaceful, "In fact, I've wanted to meet you for a long time. Choosing to do so at night is also a matter of urgency, because your ability is of extraordinary significance to the kingdom. Now that the time is right, I don't want to wait another day."
"..." Aqima raised her head in surprise, "You mean, you want to recruit me?"
And it seems to be a special recruitment—the Witch Union often asks for a higher price for work that requires the use of abilities.
But what does he mean by the time is right...?
"That's right, a fixed contract, and the remuneration is also very considerable," Roland raised his teacup and took a sip, "Two gold royals per month until you complete the task, and after it's done, another fifty as a reward. What do you think?"
Aqima's heart
couldn't help but skip a beat. Not to mention the reward, the salary of two gold royals per month was already on par with the Sleeping Spell's subsidy. With this income, she could not only solve her living expenses independently, but also help her companions in return! As for the final payment of fifty gold royals, it would be a good choice whether to use it as capital to leave or to let Bai Li and the others, who had found their relatives, buy a larger house.
This recruitment came at just the right time!
However, her long-term wandering life also made her clear that there is never a free lunch in this world, and using benefits as bait to lure people into traps is a favorite trick of nobles. Even if the other party is the ruler of this kingdom, she can't relax her vigilance because of it. "The salary is indeed considerable, but I have to know what you want me to do before I can give you an answer."
Her ability is most useful in the wilderness. Finding water sources, beast nests, and fruits are all her forte, but Neverwinter City doesn't seem to be lacking these things.
"It's very simple, help me find a kind of stone," Roland took out a box from the drawer, opened it, and placed it on the table, "This shouldn't be a problem for you."
"Can I see it?"
"Of course."
Aqima walked forward and held the object in the box in her palm—it was about the size of a thumb, in the shape of a thin slice, with a smooth and cold surface, and had obviously been carefully polished. Rather than a stone, it looked more like a special coin. In addition, it was gray-black, and it was impossible to see any outstanding features, making it difficult to imagine that this thing would arouse His Majesty's interest.
She hesitated, "If it's just a stone, I'm afraid it will be difficult for me to find the source you want. When I was on Sleeping Island, a chamber of commerce once commissioned me to find the source of gems, but my ability guided them to the Scorching Fire Islands—there was nothing there except for dry and hot Shuo Stones. For this, the Sleeping Spell also paid a sum of travel expenses."
"I guess those should be alum soil, from the composition, it can indeed be regarded as the source of gems." Roland smiled lightly, not taking it seriously, "As for whether you can find what I want, you can try it now."
Those black lumps and gems are the same thing? Aqima suppressed the doubts in her heart and used her ability on the stone in her hand as instructed—instantly, an extremely dazzling green light burst out from her hand, almost occupying half of her vision! The brilliance of its light was no less than the lights in the castle!
And the King's table also bloomed with a green light—
She couldn't help but be stunned in place.
Only she could see the light. It could not only indicate the direction of the source, but also show the degree of enrichment of the source. Most of the time, it was like a firefly, densely distributed in the surrounding world. According to the constantly merging instructions, she could find the next gathering point from one gathering point.
It's not strange that the other party hid the other part of the stone in the table. This was just a simple test to confirm whether her ability could work. But what surprised Aqima was the intensity of the light column—this meant that the unremarkable stone in her hand, and the one still hidden in the table, were both at the source level!
This was the first time she had seen such a small source level!
But... how is that possible?
Before going to Sleeping Island, she had accidentally obtained a gold royal, and at that time she had thought about using her ability to find more inadvertently lost coins—although this idea ultimately failed, after all, there were very few unclaimed treasures, and most of the indications came from other people's pockets. Even if she knew, there was nothing she could do, but it also allowed her to explore the nearby source.
At that time, the most intense reaction was undoubtedly the underground vault of the Lord's Castle, but even compared to that kind of light, this green light was not inferior!
Could it be... is the rarity of this thing hundreds of times higher than gold?