A mage? A spell engineer!

Chapter 275 Follow the Rules

Count Elgin was a Union Jack nobleman of Old Istani, but one foggy night, he and his coachman disappeared into the alleys near the red-light district.

His "absent-away" once caused trouble for young Elgin's succession to the title of Earl, and it took many years for his family, the Knights, and Her Majesty the Queen herself to acknowledge that old Elgin was indeed dead.

Thus, Stormwind now had two earls with the same title.

Rorschach and his party underwent an inspection by the Earl's guards. These guards were, in reality, just unfortunate coachmen who had fallen into the Shadow City with the Earl, trembling with rheumatism in their knees and rotten teeth as they took on the duties of cook, guard, and servant.

The bony hand patted Rorschach's body; the security check was about the same as a symbolic scan with a mystical metal detector. Apart from the dwarf's hammer being temporarily stored, nothing else was taken.

"Please follow me, everyone." The old coachman hunched over and walked to the next carriage, where the entrance was decorated with a wooden door and red velvet cloth.

Was there no further inspection or guard? Rorschach's experience entering the Shadowlands made him realize that this was no safe place. If he were a genuine earl, he shouldn't have such a weak defense. He couldn't help but wonder if the man he was about to meet could actually help him find someone.

"Sir, they've arrived," the old coachman announced, followed by a lazy reply: "Come in."

As the Earl's mobile palace, this carriage was extremely "luxurious." The front half resembled a reception room, complete with a coffee table, chairs, sofa, and fireplace, with a pot of tea bubbling away on the stove. Through the display case, one could see a curtain leading to a dining table, and then another curtain further inside, which Rorschach guessed was a partitioned "bedroom."

The above furnishings are made of the finest wood and crafted with the best workmanship, but they are pieced together and have received little maintenance. For example, the portrait of an unknown person is faded, and the wooden frame is cracked and has wormholes. The other furniture is similar; although it was selected by the Earl with a noble eye, it is essentially the same as what the Mouse Whisperer dug out of the garbage dump.

Clang, clang, the train started moving.

"Your Excellency, it is so good to see you again! Have you missed my performance?" The poet bowed to the nobleman, making Rorschach look like a silly goose standing there.

Count Elgin noticed Rorschach as a result, and his gaze fell on the boy, who nodded in greeting, "Hello."

"You are a mage."

"You are truly wise! I have made a mage friend." The bard Freddy seemed to have a particular fondness for playing the role of a jester, but he was not doing it to gain the master's approval; rather, he was expressing his mockery with all his might.

Elgin remained half-reclining in the recliner, looking completely at ease: "Anyone who doesn't know manners is either an idiot or a mage."

"That's very brave of you to say that," Rorschach stepped forward. "Greetings, Your Excellency. We've come to request your assistance."

"I never help people."

"Of course, we brought gifts! This humble citizen Freddy offers three pounds of granulated sugar and three bottles of dry red wine, begging Your Excellency to uphold justice for the people." Before Rorschach could speak, Freddy took out the dwarf's bag, along with a paper package and bottles of wine.

Rorschach seemed to hear the Earl mutter softly, "So there's a dwarf too."

If in the past the count would have pretended to accept Freddy's "offering" and then helped him, the poet was confident he had figured out the count's temperament; three pounds of sugar and three bottles of decent wine would have been enough.

But this time the poet failed; the count simply shook his head: "The price has changed; this isn't enough."

It turns out that a ship carrying sugar, tea, and wine had previously crashed into the Shadow City, landing right in the Earl's territory—the Semi-Submerged Zone. What was once hard currency is now utterly worthless in the Earl's eyes: "Too bad, you should have brought tobacco."

"How about gold coins? Name your price." Luo Xia's main selling point now is that he's not short of money; problems that can be solved with money aren't problems at all.

But this is a problem money can't solve. The count shook his head: "Are you new here? Don't you know that money is the least valuable thing in Shadow City?"

The deep-sea area and ancient ruins area are full of tombs and treasure troves, from gold coins of the old empire to gold pounds of Istani, making it a paradise for adventurers. However, the problem that adventurers fear most also exists here - you can't exchange things for cash, and most of the time you have to barter.

"The Marquis once organized beggars to take gold coins to the upper realm to exchange for supplies, but all attempts failed." The Earl told Rorschach about the situation in Shadow City. The Marquis, the highest ruler of this place, tried to get the beggars to spend gold coins little by little and share their commissions, but without exception, none of them returned with the money.

"If a beggar dares to carry gold coins on the street, he will either be robbed or reported and thrown in jail. In short, he will lose both the gold coins and the goods he has been given."

So there was a marquis too. Rorschach remembered the new information he had received; so far, he had been listening and asking questions as much as possible to gather intelligence.

He was quite interested in the "Deep and Shallow Zones" and the "Ancient Sites Zones." After all, this space was so strange that it must have a source of power to sustain it. If he could figure it out, he might gain something from it.

Since the mainstream practice here is barter, Rorschach wondered if he could exchange commissions for commissions.

Click! We've arrived at another station, and the mage and dwarf almost lost their footing. "Excuse me, please help yourselves to the tea." With that, the count slipped off the carriage, and the coachman ran to the front as well.

"They're just leaving like that?" The dwarf was incredulous; now there were only three visitors left in the carriage.

Rorschach offered his suggestion: "Could we exchange a commission for another? We can have the Earl find someone and ask him if there's anything he needs us to do."

"Yes." Freddy nodded first, then shook his head: "But this is a very dangerous thing to do. You must make sure that the Earl doesn't find a loophole in your promise, otherwise you might inadvertently be judged as his subject by the shadows."

The poet gestured to the entire carriage: "Do you know why the count and his servants dared to leave us here? Why does he have no army, only an old man even older than himself to serve him, yet he still manages to occupy a train as a palace?"

Rorschach guessed the answer without even thinking about it: "You said before that there are 'an insane number of rules' here. Is it the rules of Shadow City that are backing him up?"

"Bingo! Spellcasters are really clever." Freddy poured tea for the two of them, as if the Earl's palace were his own home: "He was recognized as an Earl by the Shadow City, and the Marquis correspondingly granted him a semi-submerged district. So in the semi-submerged district, anyone who harms the Earl or trespasses on his property or residence will be punished by the Shadowlands. There are also many other benefits, allowing him to gather a group of people in the semi-submerged district, but they are all from the sewers."

The poet's last line is: "Elgin is just a lazy old man who hides in his territory and never leaves, content to be a long-lived crow."

"What about longevity?"

"Long-lived wise man, sir." The poet used an impromptu performance to mask his panic as he welcomed the count back to his reclining throne.

(End of this chapter)