Chapter 1454: Different Angles on the Background Story
The outsiders repeatedly claimed this was the consequence of their deception, threatening the king with death or seizing his relatives to force him to reveal the location of the most beautiful gem. But Moon City had never possessed such a gem, so the king could only face his death.
Many people died at that time. The king's lineage suffered a severe blow, and the outsiders only left in a fury after failing to extract any information.
The successor was the sixth-generation king, and the sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth kings all repeated the final experience of the fifth-generation king, with the intervals growing shorter and shorter.
"No matter what method we use, we cannot earn the trust of the outsiders. Whether we give them a white gem or not, the royal family always suffers a massacre," the young king sobbed. "Tomorrow, someone will surely snatch that white gem. Perhaps the very person who steals it tomorrow night will return to kill me..."
A large number of letters confirmed the truth of what the Moon City king had recounted. In the tense atmosphere, Xu Huo picked up the last letter of the third-generation king, looked at the drawing of the most beautiful gem on it, and asked, "Did the attendant who returned back then ever mention the size, weight, or other characteristics of the most beautiful gem?"
"Most of the attendants who followed the third-generation king died during the search for the gem. The last one who returned to Moon City fell ill with a fever and passed away two days later," the duke replied on his behalf.
"Are you certain that the gem borrowed from Gem City was the most beautiful gem?" Xu Huo pressed on. "No one in Moon City has ever seen the most beautiful gem."
This stumped the people of Moon City. After a moment, the duke said, "We asked those who had seen the most beautiful gem, and their descriptions matched."
"Matched the one you borrowed from Gem City?" Xu Huo raised an eyebrow.
"Yes," the duke said. "I believe it was because Gem City didn't have a gem with that white, flowing luster that they considered it the most beautiful. That gem was not the one the third-generation king lost."
The two sides had different accounts. One of them must be lying.
"How was the most beautiful gem returned?" Xu Huo paused and asked.
"To show our sincerity, we also sent a guard to Gem City and delivered it into the castle," the duke said. "Both sides signed and sealed the documents. If we hadn't returned the gem, the people of Gem City would never have let us come back with that paperwork."
Xu Huo nodded. "That's true."
The letters showed no signs of being artificially aged. The account of the most beautiful gem likely matched what the Moon City people described. The problem was that the Moon City people didn't know what the third-generation king's "most beautiful gem" looked like, or whether it matched the one from Gem City. The descriptions from those in Gem City who had seen the most beautiful gem were similar to what the Moon City people had seen.
On the other hand, the Gem City king was vague about the most beautiful gem. Normally, the player who took the gem from Moon City should have returned it to Gem City, but instead claimed to have been deceived by Moon City. This suggested that Gem City had confirmed that the white gem from Moon City was not the most beautiful gem. The Gem City king had seen the returned gem multiple times, yet when he proposed going to Moon City to demand the most beautiful gem, he didn't clarify the matter and even provided misleading information—if the white gem truly shone with such brilliance as described, it would indeed be different from all the gems in Gem City, and anyone with eyes could tell.
"Do you know anything about Gem City's origins?" he asked instead.
Moon City's perspective on Gem City's emergence was another angle.
The Gem City king's claim that the city's residents were transformed from puppets was indirectly corroborated. According to Moon City's understanding, Gem City had appeared suddenly, with a large population migrating in, bringing immeasurable wealth. They had so many gems that they had no place to store them, so they used them to build the city and houses.
However, their version of the dragon legend differed. The so-called dragon was actually a band of thieves who roamed around robbing homes and occupying mines, amassing considerable wealth. The surrounding countries couldn't deal with them and even proposed that whoever killed these thieves could claim their wealth—a suggestion recognized by several troubled nations.
Later, of course, the thieves suddenly vanished, and not long after, Gem City appeared.
Putting two and two together, it was likely that the people who built Gem City had killed the thieves. But Moon City never imagined that those thieves would have so many gems, such beautiful gems, far surpassing what Moon City and others had painstakingly gathered. The only one that could compare was probably the white gem found by the third-generation king.
At this point, Xu Huo suddenly asked, "How many people did the third-generation king take with him to search for the gem?"
"About a hundred, including maids and attendants," the duke replied.
"Did the third-generation king ever mention any other gems besides the most beautiful one?" Xu Huo asked again.
"No," the duke nodded.
A hundred people dying until only one attendant remained was unusual, even if they had repeatedly encountered large wild beasts. Moreover, if the losses had been severe along the way, the king should have sent someone back for reinforcements. Searching for gems in the forest with only a few people was not a wise decision.
"Did the third-generation king always entrust the white gem and letters to merchant caravans?"
"Yes. According to the caravan members, the round trip would delay their journey considerably, which is why the king entrusted the task to them."
Outside the instance, a normal person wouldn't entrust such an important item to a merchant caravan. But in this fairy tale world, the integrity of the caravans was recognized. Given that the third-generation king couldn't spare the manpower, this was understandable. Moreover, there was nothing wrong with the initial delivery of the letters.
"Can I take a look at the third-generation king's belongings?" Xu Huo said after a moment of thought. "In exchange, I can step forward tomorrow and take that white gem."
"Really?"
"Really!"
Two voices of disbelief came from the king and the duke. They had said these things to previous outsiders, but many didn't even listen to the end before starting to demand the most beautiful gem. They had thought Xu Huo would at most leave Moon City voluntarily, but they never expected such a pleasant surprise!
"I knew someone would believe us!" The king jumped up from his throne and ordered his people to quickly retrieve the king's belongings stored in the warehouse. He also offered to personally take Xu Huo to the study and living quarters, as many items there had been used by successive kings and hadn't been replaced. Some reading notes and casual jottings hadn't been sorted out either.
Although they couldn't fully trust him yet, the duke and others had already lowered their guard considerably. One of them even said, "It's rare to meet such a reasonable outsider..."
(Chapter End)