Chapter 9 : Chapter 9
Chapter 9: Exploring Roland Manor
"Kaff actually lied to me? And what was with that protective urge he felt? Could it be a skill of a Deceiver?" Lin Qi wondered as he lay in bed.
After promising his uncle that he would stay away from Kaff, they had retired to their rooms to rest.
Lin Qi was staying in his usual room at Roland Manor, while Elaine had been arranged in the room right next to his.
Before leaving, Alden had mentioned with a mysterious air that no one else lived near their two rooms...
Honestly, what kind of person did he take me for?
Lin Qi stepped out of his room and knocked on the door next door.
Click— The door opened to reveal a bleary-eyed Elaine.
"What is it? I am so sleepy," Elaine asked, rubbing her eyes in her pajamas.
Lin Qi swallowed hard. To be honest, it was hard to tell when she wore her usual clothes, but Elaine was surprisingly well-endowed.
"I plan to search the manor for secret records regarding the history of the Roland family. Do you want to help me?" Lin Qi asked.
"No, I am going to sleep."
"You know, I have been an illegitimate son since I was a child. Regarding the history of the Roland family..."
Looking at Lin Qi’s feigned pitiful expression, Elaine sighed. "I understand. Wait a moment while I change my clothes."
OK, plan successful. He intended to check the study first; those books bound with iron locks had been weighing on his mind.
Books actually locked to the shelves with iron chains—that behavior was far too strange.
Then he would check the murals in the hall depicting the family history to see if there were any leads. Just as he was thinking this, the door opened again.
Elaine walked out of the room dressed in casual attire.
"Let us go." The moonlight from the corridor window shone on her silver hair, giving her a serene aura. On her jade-like arm sat that bracelet, which he suspected was a Forbidden Object...
"What are you staring at? Let us move," Elaine called out again, seeing Lin Qi dazed on the spot.
"Oh, right. Coming."
Dammit, it was all Uncle’s fault for buzzing in his ear about marriage and children; it had left Lin Qi’s mind in a bit of a mess. Being a teenager made it far too easy for his thoughts to wander.
The two made their way to the study on the second floor.
They stealthily pushed open the study door.
With a flick of Elaine's palm, an oil lamp appeared in her hand. Was this the ability of the bracelet Forbidden Object?
Is this not just a system inventory? No wonder Elaine had no luggage despite having so many outfits.
"Is there something in here?" Elaine asked from behind, holding the oil lamp as Lin Qi fumbled along the bookshelves.
"I do not know what is here, but the fact that these books are all secured with locks caught my interest."
Lin Qi did not look back as he picked up one of the locks to examine the keyhole closely.
He activated his Gravity Thread on the lock. The invisible thread entered the keyhole, and with a soft click, the final barrier preventing Lin Qi from inspecting the book vanished.
Lin Qi pulled the book out from the shelf. Before he could even look at it, a chime rang out.
[Obtained Transcendent Knowledge: Life Pathway: Nature Sequence: Sequence 9 Wood-Shepherd]
[Unlocking Method: Personally create a life, a single item containing vitality, and three different types of hair.]
???
This book contained Transcendent Knowledge?
And it was the Nature Sequence? The unlocking method for the Nature Sequence seemed ridiculous, but it was actually quite simple.
For example, "personally creating a life" simply meant planting a potato... or anything else, really. As long as you planted a seed and waited for it to mature, it counted as creating a life.
For an item containing vitality, most players simply chose a life potion from the player shop...
The three types of hair were even easier: human hair and the hair of two other types of animals.
If this one book was the Nature Sequence, then did that not mean...
Lin Qi looked at the remaining eleven books on the shelf, feeling as though he had fallen into an ice cellar.
Uncle couldn't have collected all twelve orthodox sequences, could he?
Could his uncle be some kind of obsessive collector? If he discovered I possessed a hidden sequence, would he frantically torture me to make me hand it over?
"What is wrong?" Elaine asked, curious why Lin Qi had frozen after picking up the book without even opening it.
"It is nothing. Let us go to the hall," Lin Qi said, snapping back to reality and placing the book back on the shelf.
"Eh? Is looking at just one book enough? And you did not even seem to open it."
"They are just adventure stories I read when I was a kid."
"Adventure stories?"
"The story of an ancient wolf demon launching a war against the sheep demons of the Green-Green Grasslands to increase its power."
......
As their voices drifted further away, the door Lin Qi had casually closed behind them creaked open just a crack from the inside.
Having reached the hall, the two began to study the history of the Roland family by the light of the oil lamp.
This was Lin Qi’s specialty. Do not forget that his panel currently listed a Level 3 Painter sub-class. As far as Lin Qi knew, Isaris had never studied painting; this skill must have been brought over from his own transmigration.
When it came to murals, Lin Qi was a professional.
The murals began with three elders sitting at a round table for a meeting. All three wore cloaks, and Lin Qi noticed that the pattern on one elder’s cloak was a rose.
This should be the representative of the Roland family. The patterns on the other two elders' cloaks were a pentagram array and a lion with a mane shaped like flames.
The second part depicted a chaotic battle between two armies. One side was a three-family alliance with roses, lions, and pentagrams painted on their armor. The other side bore the image of a massive black axe on their armor.
Lin Qi recognized that axe!
The national flag of the Ironwood Federation—the Jungle of Steel and Military!
Had there been a war between the Ironwood Federation and the Viridian Kingdom before?
This was another event Lin Qi was unaware of, but it made sense upon careful thought.
As the primary nation where players were active in Version 2.0, the Ironwood Federation was a heartless war machine.
The entire nation was incredibly bellicose, like a honey badger of countries—if you crossed them, they fought; if you couldn't kill them, they’d kill you.
The third part showed the victory of the three-family allied forces.
The fourth part was a map—specifically, the current map of the Viridian Kingdom!!!
What was going on? Was the history of the Roland family really this ancient?
"What... is wrong?" Lin Qi turned his head and found Elaine staring intently at the first part of the mural.
"Are you certain this is the history of the Roland family?" Elaine asked, her eyes fixed on Lin Qi with a serious expression.
"Of course. These are the murals of Roland Manor; naturally, they tell the story of the Roland family. That rose is the emblem of the Roland family," Lin Qi said, pointing to the rose on the cloak of the elder in the first section.
"Then why does the Morning Star family's emblem appear in a mural of the Roland family?" Elaine asked.
"What?"
"That pentagram... is the crest of the Morning Star family," Elaine said, her voice dropping.
Lin Qi froze. Had the Morning Star family and the Roland family collaborated in history?
How was that possible? In the background lore, Elaine’s Morning Star family was considered a prominent noble house of the kingdom, with a fief in the flourishing city of Serafino. Meanwhile, the Roland family was merely a noble house in the impoverished Kissmark Town.
Two families with such a massive disparity had actually collaborated before?
And which family did that lion represent?
Why had the Roland family fallen to such a state?
Lin Qi felt as though he was being dragged into a terrifying vortex of conspiracy.
"Tomorrow, I must make Uncle Alden tell me the entire history of the Roland family."