The most shameless alchemist in history

At the same time, it was precisely because of Dure's appearance today that many nobles who were originally undecided made up their minds to continue to be loyal to Messiah, because the River Reach region originally had the strength to rival the capital.

Once we gain the support of the Land of Snow, and even the Land of Mountains and the Land of Rain, our defenses will be impregnable!

"Dure, thank you so much. If it weren't for your help, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to handle the situation." After all the guests had left, it was already late at night. The moonlight was cold and clear. After seeing Machiru off, Messiah and Dure walked on the street outside the Duke's mansion.

She spoke with heartfelt gratitude, because she had received considerable information beforehand that several nobles were planning to find fault and exert pressure.

Because the Reach region is a huge piece of fat, and once the Duke of the Reach changes hands, this piece of fat will definitely be divided up, and everyone with a knife and fork in hand will want a piece of the pie.

However, with the appearance of Du Lei, this group of people hesitated and no one dared to act rashly before figuring out the details.

"Actually, I didn't do anything special. Messiah, you're so young and you've taken on such a responsibility. That's truly remarkable." Dure waved his hand. He wasn't just flattering Messiah; he knew that Messiah had always been very hardworking and serious.

“Since we made a promise, we have to work hard,” Messiah said, winking at Dure.

She deliberately only spoke half of what she said, revealing Du Lei's clean profile in the moonlight.

"An agreement? Messiah, you really take things from your childhood seriously," Dure said helplessly.

"Of course I took it seriously. How could I not? Besides, I was a child back then, but you, Dure, are not. We clearly made a promise. Are you going to go back on your word?" Messiah said reproachfully.

"Alright, I give up. It's so late now, I should probably head back." Dure had barely recovered from his seasickness when he rushed off to the Duke's mansion to support Messiah. He was already incredibly sleepy.

“By the way, Dure,” Messiah suddenly called out to him.

"What's wrong? Is there something you need?" Du Lei asked her in return.

“It is something, something Lance gave me before,” Messiah explained.

"What happened to the things?" Du Lei naturally remembered this, after all, he came to River Bend City for this very reason.

“This is it. Take it back and study it first. Anyway, I can’t understand it.” Messiah took a black package from the hand of the head guard, Bill. The package was flat and looked rather heavy.

"Don't understand?" Dure frowned, not immediately grasping the meaning of Messiah.

"Anyway, you'll know once you take it back. I've completed the task Lance gave me. So, Dure... you're not going to leave after you get the item, are you?" Messiah was more concerned about how long Dure would stay in River Bend City.

"It's not that bad. Anyway, I don't have anything else to do recently, so I can stay in River Bend City for a while. Besides, given the current situation in River Bend City, if I leave and something unexpected happens, it will be troublesome," Du Lei said, shaking his head.

"Will you stay? That would be wonderful. But Dure, can't you stay at the Duke's mansion? Why do you have to stay at the inn?" Messiah asked curiously.

"It's better to stay in a hotel. If I stay at the Duke's mansion, it will cause a lot of unnecessary trouble," Dure said, shaking his head.

"I never knew you, Dure, who's always been fearless, had something you were afraid of?" Messiah said with great interest.

"I guess so. Anyway, I'm going back now. Just have someone let me know if anything comes up." Dure simply couldn't handle this Messiah type, so he could only say goodbye and leave in a hurry.

"Understood. If anything happens, Bill or Zelen will come looking for you. Goodbye, Dure. Get some rest when you get back." Messiah said goodbye to Dure and watched him walk away.

The moonlight was still, and so was the water.

Everything was quiet.

Du Lei, who had been feeling a bit sleepy, suddenly became wide awake after returning to the hotel.

Because at this point he had already opened the package that Messiah had given him, or more precisely, the package that Lance had Messiah pass on to him.

Inside the package was a stone slab, or more precisely, a broken piece of a stone slab. The slab was square, no more than three feet in length and width.

But it is clear that this is only part of a huge stone slab.

So that's what was inside the package. No wonder it was so heavy.

Ancient characters and patterns were carved on the stone slab. The lines on it looked very historical, at least several hundred years old or even longer. Dure didn't recognize these characters. He had previously worked at Frost University for a period of time.

Of course, he taught alchemy during that time, but he also had the opportunity to communicate with many university professors, including several experts in ancient script research, and he learned about several methods for identifying ancient scripts.

However, the recognition methods he had learned were not applicable at this time, because he discovered that these characters seemed to be even older.

"Is this the thing Lance is going to give me? I wonder where he got it from, an ancient stone tablet... and what is the information recorded on it..." Dure frowned and thought carefully.

He knew that besides its common function of paving the ground, stone slabs also had another historical function: recording events.

In ancient times, without paper and pen, people would carve information on stone out of an ancient and solemn sense of mystery.

This method of disseminating information is ancient, but very useful because it still exists even after hundreds or thousands of years.

“Deciphering the text using common methods might be difficult, so the only option is…” Just as Du Lei was finding it very difficult to decipher, which was beyond his capabilities, he suddenly became alert because he sensed that several people were approaching from outside.

Realizing this, he immediately put the stone slab away and placed it under the table.

Although he didn't know what the stone tablet recorded, Lance insisted on showing it to him, so there must be a reason. He believed that the stone tablet was very precious and absolutely could not be damaged.

Then he blew out the candles in the room, and soon the room, which had been fairly bright, became pitch black.

A faint moonlight could be seen shining through the window, but it was not enough to illuminate the entire room.

But Dure clearly heard a "whoosh whoosh whoosh" sound coming in; someone was firing crossbow bolts into the room!

However, the crossbow bolts were frozen solid the moment they entered the room and fell to the ground.

But besides the crossbow bolts, shadowy figures also pounced in like shadows. These shadowy figures were well-trained and coordinated very well with each other.

They launched an attack on Dure, each strike aimed at his vital points; it was clear they intended to kill him!

If they were attacking someone else, that person might already be infected. In fact, as well-trained assassins, their success rate is quite high.

Strictly speaking, they have never failed in any mission they have carried out so far!

However, things changed after he encountered Du Lei. Du Lei had gone through countless life-or-death battles to get here, and these assassins couldn't do anything to him. He easily caught the sharp blade that the other party was slashing at him.

After seizing a long sword, he slit the necks of three people in the blink of an eye.

Four people rushed into the room, meaning he left one survivor.

"Who sent you?" Du Lei asked coldly.

By the dim moonlight, you could see that the other person was masked and dressed in black, so you couldn't see his face clearly. But you could see his fear in his eyes, a fear of helplessness and despair!

Because they misjudged the target's capabilities; the target's abilities far exceeded their own!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh." Just then, several more arrows shot in through the window.

However, unlike the crossbow bolts used to kill him earlier, this time fire arrows were fired, and flames quickly spread.

The flames immediately roared and spread out of control, turning the area into a sea of ​​fire.

This was especially clear from the outside. A group of masked men watched the burning inn from afar. Only after confirming that their target had been burned to death did they return to report.

The moonlight was cold and chilly; it was a very long night, at least for Halden.

He had originally planned to propose to Messiah tonight, and he was very confident about the proposal, after all, the Octopus family was the second-ranked family in the River Bend region and had a great influence.

Messiah's position is now unstable, and the capital is very worried about her, plotting to get rid of her.

Moreover, even the Octopus Family received a secret letter from the capital.

Now the Octopus family faces two choices: one is to help the capital and serve a certain prince. If they succeed, they will become the largest family in the River Reef region and obtain the title of Duke of the River Reef!

However, there is an uncertainty here, because there are two princes in the capital, William and Henry. This means that they must choose one of the two princes. If they choose correctly, their future will be limitless, but if they choose incorrectly, it will be tantamount to destruction.

Therefore, the Octopus family had to be more cautious when faced with the secret letter from the capital.

They had another option: to abandon the capital and choose the Duke of River Bend, also known as Messiah. They keenly sensed that Messiah's current situation was extremely dangerous, and that the slightest mistake could lead to utter ruin.

Therefore, if the Octopus family stands up and clearly supports Messiah at this time, then the latter's position will definitely be further consolidated. Conversely, if the Octopus family stands up against Messiah, then Messiah's situation will be even worse.

They could easily use this to get the Messiah to agree on a common interest with their octopus family.

In other words, allowing Halden to marry Messiah would be a win-win situation for both of them.

()

868. Visiting someone's home

For the Octopus family, once Halden and Messiah are married, the throne of the Duke of the Reach will be theirs for the taking.

After all, the Messiah was just a woman, so when Halden and the Messiah's child was born, it would surely be their child who inherited the title.

Therefore, compared to investing in the capital, this is undoubtedly the only option that can maximize returns.

The Octopus family believes that Messiah will agree to the proposal, because this is the only path she has.

This made Halden very excited, because everyone knew that Lady Messiah was a famous beauty in the Swamp Kingdom.

Although he was surrounded by many beautiful women, they were all just superficial and ordinary girls.

A duchess like Messiah is not only young and beautiful, but also holds a prestigious position. This sense of accomplishment is something that superficial women can never match. So, before Halden left, he had already instructed his family to prepare for the wedding.

Of course, besides having no other choice but to choose their Octopus family, the Messiah was also very confident in his own abilities.

After all, he received an elite education from a young age, and he was confident that his appearance and temperament were impeccable. In fact, he was never short of girls pursuing him, which made him a little arrogant, believing that no one but him was worthy of the Messiah.

The Messiah must have been captivated by him at first sight, right? He clearly harbored such wonderful aspirations.

But who knew that a kid from the Snow Country would suddenly appear out of nowhere? If he were just an ordinary person who posed no threat to him, he could easily crush him. But the other person was not only not an ordinary person, but also had quite a background.

What Halden found most unacceptable was that the kid was clearly far inferior to him, whether in height, temperament, or appearance. Messiah looked at him with such a gaze that it made him feel a flame burning fiercely in his heart.

So he didn't even have time to maintain his composure, and before he could even state his purpose for coming—proposing marriage—he had already left in a hurry!

He had never experienced such a setback in his entire life!

"That wretched brat, how dare he offend my son... How utterly foolish!" Halden said indignantly as he waited inside the villa. He harbored a deep resentment towards that guy named Dure.

Just then, standing at the window of the villa, he saw a group of men in black rushing back from outside.

The guards at the door immediately let them in, recognizing them as their own men.

Upon witnessing this scene, Halden rushed over, desperately needing an answer.

"How's it going with your business?" Halden asked anxiously.

These assassins were dispatched by him not long ago. He was very familiar with their abilities, because he had already used them to eliminate many enemies before, without anyone noticing. They were like ghosts in the night, the Grim Reaper of fear.

"Reporting to the young master, the matter went very smoothly. We have set fire to the inn and burned it to the ground!" the lead assassin said confidently.

"Burned? Where is the person? Was the person killed?" Halden was still more concerned about the boy's life or death, and asked repeatedly.

"This man should be dead by now, right?" the lead assassin said uncertainly, glancing at his accomplices around him.

"What did you say? Should? I asked you to go out and do something, and you're telling me it's your duty?" Halden was clearly very dissatisfied with this answer.

"Well... because a patrol came over, we sent someone in to kill him, then set fire to the house to cover our tracks, and then we left." The assassin said somewhat awkwardly, after all, this was River Bend City, not some other place.

In other regions they might be able to run rampant, but in River Bend City they have to be more restrained.