Chapter 1438: Codex and Mining
"That's also possible," Xu Huo nodded. "But before, we might have been chased by guards; now we might be chased by prop people."
Yan Jiayu was quite open-minded about it. She waved her hand and said, "A C-rank instance can't be that simple. I'm worried that more and more players will find ways to enter the castle, and then the Queen won't be in the mood to watch the performance. I'll go find a servant to chat with."
Xu Huo agreed with splitting up. The two walked to a fork in the road and changed directions.
Inside the castle, aside from the guards, the most common people walking around were the maids. Although the people of Gem City were all willing to help others, as a strange man, Xu Huo would attract attention the moment he approached anyone. So he didn't actively start conversations but instead avoided the castle's workers and walked towards the main castle.
Entering someone else's house without an invitation was illegal. Not knowing if the castle's rooms required the owner's individual consent to enter, Xu Huo didn't go inside. Instead, he tentatively used his spiritual power to probe inside.
The ancient castle had no special features in its building materials. Once his spiritual world was opened, the vertical pupil that replaced Xu Huo's eyes could move freely within the range of his spiritual world.
Choosing a suitable position, he followed two cleaning maids into the King's study.
The vertical pupil roamed the room, sliding along the walls to the floor, crossing the spotlessly clean floor, and then climbing onto the desk.
A maid was organizing the books spread out on the table and said, "Oh, the King has written new laws again."
"Not allowed to touch the King's treasure box..." the maid said with a strange look. "Wasn't the gem in the treasure box already stolen?"
Another person leaned over to take a look. "Maybe he's afraid it will be stolen again. But those thieves are really hateful. They came once and then a second time. Not only has the King fallen ill recently, but the Queen is also in a bad mood."
"The Queen is such a kind person. To have to suffer like this because of those damned thieves."
"I really hope they catch those thieves soon and make the Queen and King happy again."
The maid standing in front of the desk closed the thick book titled "Gem City Codex" and put it aside, then turned the conversation to the thief caught by the maid Xiao Si.
"The execution is scheduled for this evening. Are you going to watch?"
"Of course I am. I've already arranged with the head maid for her to cover for me. I'll go outside the castle to watch the execution."
Compared to their worries about the King and Queen's physical and mental health, the maids were full of joy and excitement when talking about the execution. They also said meaningfully, "I wonder if anyone will try to break the prisoner out."
After finishing the cleaning, the two maids chatted and laughed as they left.
Only when the study door closed again did Xu Huo materialize his spiritual power into a flowing black liquid and flip open the codex on the table.
This codex seemed to have referenced a complete set of laws. The earlier articles were written with care and fine handwriting. Although the later handwriting was clearly from the same person, it was obviously not written all at once. The ink traces showed different writing times.
However, this codex also fit the fairy tale background well. The articles were simple and clear, yet strange, and even somewhat nonsensical. Especially the ones written recently: "Not allowed to touch the King's throne without the King's consent," "Not allowed to make loud noises in the castle without the King's permission," "Cannot pick roses," "Not allowed to enter the King's washroom," and so on.
On the surface, they looked like legal articles, but in reality, they were probably the results of players' attempts. Some seemed normal, while others were completely random, such as "Not allowed to touch the Queen's gown" and "Not allowed to wave a toilet brush."
The things written into the codex first were actually some trivial matters. Things that would normally be more important, like the gem box, the codex documents, and some items that seemed more like props, were written at the end or not at all... Xu Huo was also curious about what kind of player would be more interested in a toilet brush after entering the instance.
But this codex had a very obvious personal emotional bias. Perhaps in the King's eyes, some trivial little things were more important.
After roughly reading through the codex, Xu Huo went to the display cabinet next to it. Inside were many dazzling gems. Judging from the rays released by the stones, they were nothing special. The empty box placed in the middle should be the one that held the stolen gem. The box itself was also nothing special.
After making a full circle, Xu Huo shifted his attention out of the study. He avoided the maid Xiao Si, who was coming in from the main entrance, and slipped into the room next door.
This should be a disused lounge. It was piled high with gift boxes and paper documents. After a rough search, although he still couldn't find a map of Gem City, he did find several ore mining contracts. These were employment contracts signed by Gem City, which involved transportation issues.
The main mode of transportation in Gem City was animal-drawn carts. Judging by the time spent on transportation, the mining area was about two days' journey from the transfer town that received the ore. However, there was no clear documentation on how the ore was handled after arriving at the transfer town.
Gem City's gem mines should have been exhausted long ago, which was why the citizens could share the gems equally and achieve common prosperity. Although these mining documents were not dated, judging by the paper and writing traces, they seemed to be recent.
Xu Huo searched nearby again and found many more such contracts. Some of them were interspersed among government documents with dates, which allowed him to estimate the approximate time. Looking at it this way, the mining operation had been going on for quite a while.
Within Gem City, aside from the missing craftsmen and a few people who had gone traveling, there were no job postings. The residents also never mentioned working outside the city, let alone mining.
So, the King had hired people from outside and hadn't disclosed the mining news to his citizens?
The new mine and the gems produced from it were the secrets the King wanted to hide?
Perhaps, as Yan Jiayu guessed, the lost gem was special.
"Are you lost?" Xiao Si's voice sounded in his ear. Xu Huo turned around and said apologetically, "I walked here and didn't dare to go any further, but I waited for a long time and no one passed by."
"You're standing in a corner. It's not easy for passing guards to see you here." Xiao Si said with a smile. "Follow me."
The two walked one after the other back to the side tower. Soon, they ran into Yan Jiayu, along with another identical maid, Xiao Si.
After they met up, the Xiao Si who was with Yan Jiayu nodded to Xu Huo's side and left. The remaining journey was led by the Xiao Si who had stayed.
Their eyes met. Yan Jiayu winked at Xu Huo, then caught up with Xiao Si and struck up a conversation. "You and your sister look so alike. If you performed a magic trick, you wouldn't even need any tools."
Xiao Si pursed her lips and smiled. "Everyone in the castle knows me. Even if I performed, no one would be surprised."
"Lady Liya will see you one hour after lunch. For now, please return to the lounge and have your meal."