From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 483 The Way of the Rat
Evil Thoughts' old friend was a dagger with a blade that snaked and twisted like a snake's tail, and the handguard was engraved with Baal's emblem, indicating the owner's identity.

Faced with such a deadly weapon, its entire body laced with poison and the sweet scent of blood, Rugen couldn't muster even the slightest thought of resistance.

"Take it a little further away! I'll answer your questions! But not because of your threats, but because of our friendship!" Rugan tucked his chin in as much as possible to keep his carotid artery away from danger.

"I didn't expect you to be so eloquent." Xie Nian smiled, twirled the blade with her prosthetic arm, and put it back into her sleeve. "Speak."

"..." Rugen looked bewildered until Xie Nian reached for his knife again, at which point he quickly spoke, "You should at least ask first, otherwise how am I supposed to know what you want to know?"

"Oh." Xie Nian suddenly realized, and said with a hint of apology, "Sorry, I'm not very familiar with this kind of business. I usually put the knife in the other person's body first, and then ask questions. Uh... what should we ask?"

“Let me handle this, young man.” Jashira shook her dreadlocks and stood in front of Rugen. “Who is the Stone Lord? I’ve never heard of that name in the city.”

"They say he's a tall, solid man, but nobody knows what he looks like. His spies have only been active in the city recently. I only heard about it after I returned to Baldur's Gate." Rugen said almost nothing, because he himself didn't know anything about the Stone Lord.

"The Zantalin have a grudge against the Stone Lords?" Jahira frowned.

“Uh…” Rugen scratched his stubble and answered with a slightly embarrassed tone, “Actually, we’re allies… This operation was just following orders, but after seeing you guys, I decided to give them a hard time.”

“I never knew members of the Zantalin Society would be so kind,” Jahira said, glancing sideways at Rugen.

The spy who had transported goods for the Zhentalian Order from Eltugad was still wearing the same black leather armor, the hardships of the journey bringing the equipment to the brink of ruin. Logically, for such a difficult mission, Rugan, as the primary executor, should have received a substantial allowance; the Zhentalian Order, an underground smuggling organization, wasn't sustained by faith. However, Rugan's appearance showed no sign of wealth; rather, he resembled the kind of used rag that was discarded after being used.

"They saved my life from the jaws of the gnolls! The members of the Zantalin Society know how to repay kindness!" Rugan rolled his eyes.

"Rugen! Are you alright?" came the question from the small boat of the Zantari Society. "What's going on? How are we going to explain this to the boss? All of the Stone Lord's spies are gone!"

"I'm fine!" After receiving Jahira's permission, Rugen leaned his upper body out of the boat and greeted his companions below. "Don't ask so many questions! Just follow my instructions! I know what to do!"

"This isn't the place to talk. Or are you planning to go to the Grey Harbor docks for inspection by Flamefist and Iron Guardians?" Rugen turned around, having regained his composure. "Although your group has both Flamefist and Harpist, I bet you're not with 'Lord' Gotash, are you?"

"Gotash has blockaded the Grey Harbor?" Ivy asked.

This was not good news. They had originally planned to land at the busy port, which would at least give the Gotash people some time to pinpoint their location.

“It’s not exactly a blockade,” Rugan replied. “However, the Steel Guardian foundry, the accounting office, and the like are all near the docks, so it’s always good to strengthen the guard. But I suspect there’s something more important at the docks, otherwise he wouldn’t bother sending ships to patrol the port.”

“Rats have their ways, and of course we have other routes into the city.” Rugen seemed to see the adventurers’ predicament and said considerately, “But those aren’t exactly the routes that respectable people take.”

After exchanging a glance with Jasira, Ivy nodded: "Lead the way, we're not exactly respectable people right now."

“Very good!” Rugen looked up at the Flying Dragon Pass Bridge above, where they were passing under it. “We haven’t passed our stronghold yet. Turning around in the Chongsa River isn’t an easy thing.”

Leaning out from the gunwale again, Rugen waved to the crew in the small boat: "Lead the way! We're going to the snake's den!"

Upon receiving the instruction, the lightly loaded boat immediately accelerated and soon caught up with the large ship, leading the way.

The Flamefist soldier at the helm, following Floric's instructions, turned the rudder south and followed the Zantalin Society's small boat.

“Now we can have a proper chat about what’s been happening in town.” Rugen seemed completely relaxed. “Do you mind if I find you a place to sit?”

Wearing tattered black leather armor, Rugen walked through the fully armed adventurers and soldiers, sat down on a wooden crate, and comfortably stretched his legs: "Damn it! The ship they gave us is too small, I can't even stretch my legs out!"

"Stop talking nonsense. Get to the point." Jasira crossed her arms and leaned against another pile of boxes.

Ivy then conjured up a velvet armchair, giving her backside a rare treat.

“Lord Gotash, the Stone Lord, the Zantalin Order—they’re all connected to a cult called the Supreme God.” Rugan held up three fingers. “I suspect that the goblins who attacked the Woking Hibernation Grounds and kidnapped Duke Ravengard are also connected to this cult.”

“Your guess is correct,” Ivy confirmed Rugan’s statement. “Even those gnolls who attacked your caravan were sent by the Supreme God.”

"I knew it! That makes sense!" Rugen slapped his thigh. "No wonder Gotash was able to rescue the Duke; the kidnapping and rescue were all a staged act by him! And he even pinned the blame on us!"

Rugen loosened his collar: "I almost ended up on the gallows!"

"We just got back and found that the Zhentalian Society in the city had a new management team, and they dumped us on the Iron Guard in the blink of an eye." Rugan sounded indignant. "What reason did they use? To seek justice for the caravan and the kidnapped Duke! To clear our names, we even blew up the stronghold behind the Woking Hibernation Ground, but we were still the ones who kidnapped the Duke!" "Your tongue hasn't turned blue and long yet, so something must have happened again, right?" Jahira was unsurprised by this internal strife within the Zhentalian Society.

“That’s right.” Rugen finally unbuttoned his collar, as if freeing himself. “I was frantically trying to pull strings in prison, but those Flame Fists guarding us were unyielding. I’ve never seen such dedicated Flame Fists before. It would have been better if they hadn’t misdirected their efforts. The day before we were to be taken to the execution ground, ‘Lord Gotash’ returned with the High Duke, and was preparing to be crowned Grand Duke.”

"So we criminals became the entertainment for his coronation," Rugen said angrily. "It's said that he will personally issue the execution orders for us 'kidnappers' after taking office. I guess the kidnapping of Duke Gao is related to him because the Flame Fist guards who guard us have been replaced with the kind of people we know best. I spent a lot of money to buy a few scapegoats from Lingang Hospital, otherwise you wouldn't be seeing me."

Lingang Hospital, located in the Brampton district of the city, is a public hospital built with funds raised by all citizens to cope with a major epidemic that once broke out at Baldur's Gate.

However, over the years, Lingang Hospital has inevitably become a place that discriminates against patients. Patients who are short of money will only be given to interns, and most of them will end up as corpses in the basement, becoming expendable material for cultists practicing necromancy in Baldur's Gate.

That's why it's become the easiest place to buy a life. Since many people are going to die anyway, they might as well make some money for their families before they die, rather than squandering their family's money.

As for Brampton, it is a large slum near Cliffgate and Dust Eagle Mountain, where dockworkers, the poor, smugglers and illegal immigrants are the most common people.

“If I were truly the criminal who kidnapped the Duke, I wouldn’t have been released from prison so easily, not even with bribes,” Rugen complained again. “Now I’m just another nobody in the Zentalin Order, toiling away for a few coins. Our latest order is to receive the goods from Rasven with Lord Stone.”

"You finally escaped with your life, only to turn around and go back to the criminal organization that betrayed you?" Even Jashira, who had been in the quagmire of Baldur's Gate for so long, had never seen such a thing.

“That’s why I’m helping you.” Rugen shrugged. “I still have people to rescue. My boss, Zaris, is still locked up in Flamefist’s cell, waiting to be presented as a gift to celebrate Gotash’s coronation as Grand Duke. I can’t come up with the money to bribe Flamefist, but I do know a few good jailbreak guys. By the way, I haven’t asked your names yet.”

“Ha, it seems you really have nowhere else to turn.” Jahira’s expression softened. Although Rugan was a criminal, he was at least a criminal with some sense of justice. “But there’s one thing you haven’t said yet: how did you know about the Zantariim, the Stone Lords, and the connection between Gotash and the Supreme God?”

“If you were in the city, madam, you would understand just as quickly as I do.” Rugan shrugged. “The Stone Lord has close ties with the Church of the Supreme God, the Zantalin sent me to help the Stone Lord, and the Iron Guard of Gotash completely ignores the mess the Stone Lord has made!”

"Honestly, if Zaris weren't still in jail, I would definitely be your enemy too. Thinking about the Shield Knights who have completely disappeared, and the guild that is barely surviving under the onslaught of Gortash and the Stone Lords, I can actually understand the new management of the Zantariim Guild's actions, but I just can't accept that they betrayed their own people!"

Jasira and Ivy exchanged a glance and nodded slightly in agreement.

Ivy rested her elbows on the armrests of the chair, her ten long, slender fingers interlaced, and asked, "How do you plan to get us into Baldur's Gate?"

If it were just Ivy alone or with adventurers, she could bypass the city walls and Gotash's spies using the flight spell that comes with [Air Elemental Summoning]. But with Flame Fist and Harpist added, it wouldn't be a one-trip mission. Without finding a suitable place to stay, so many people couldn't simply hide in plain sight.

“We have a smuggling depot at the foot of the cliff. We can take you to the Brampton area in small boats after nightfall.” Rugan stood up from the crate and looked towards the southern cliff, where a short wooden dock jutted out from a section of beach behind the rocks. “Oh, we’re almost there.”

"The docks?" Ivy frowned. If they disembarked at the docks in the Grey Harbor again, they would still have to face the steel guards of Gotash.

(Grey Harbor is the collective name for Baldur's Gate Harbor, which faces many different districts, but they all belong to the Lower City.)

“A cave hidden in the mountainside,” Rugen explained, “through the lower city.”

The so-called lower district refers to the intricate drainage system of Baldur's Gate.

Thanks to the excavation and utilization by guilds, the Zentradi, the Knights of the Shield, and various gangs, all sorts of secret passages were connected to the massive sewer system, thus creating the underground city—a place of activity for smugglers and gang members that existed only in slang.

Since we didn't appear openly under the Iron Guard's nose, there's no problem.

Ivy nodded: "Then we won't go to your smuggling den. We'll just take the big ship to your base on the other side of the river. I'll put invisibility magic on the whole ship."

Rugan was dumbfounded. He had seen spells and potions that could make a person invisible, but magic that could make an entire ship invisible was something he had never heard of. However, he still wondered, "What about the spray from the ship's movement...?"

Ivy glanced at Gail, who wisely raised his hand: "I'll handle this with illusion magic."

Invisibility is essentially an illusion, a kind of magic that uses illusion to conceal one's form, but it doesn't necessarily have to limit the target of invisibility to individual living beings.

Without interacting with other targets, Ivy can easily extend the range of her invisibility spell using ascending rings, potentially covering the entire ship. With the addition of a [Persistence Spell], she can even achieve continuous invisibility. However, the larger the target, the more noticeable it becomes, and the harder it is to conceal its impact on the environment.

Even if a carriage becomes invisible, it will still leave tracks; similarly, a sailboat will leave traces of waves even if it becomes invisible. If these traces cannot be erased, the invisibility spells used on such large objects are essentially useless. Using them for secretly deploying troops is absurd; they are far less practical than spatial spells like teleportation.

“That works… I already know the flight path.” Rugen hesitated for a moment, but still agreed. “However, should we pick up my men from the small boat first? Don’t worry, they’re all as reliable as I am. Anyway, you’ve already taken care of all those ruthless spies under the Stone Lord.”

“Alright.” Ivy nodded in agreement.

(End of this chapter)