The most shameless alchemist in history

According to more traditional views, this person was simply courting death.

However, not only did this person not die, but Jelf also ordered that no one should approach or disturb him.

Of course, Lance and Kelly don't belong to anyone's category or anything like that.

This is not only because of their special status and identity, but also because they originally had a deep friendship with that man.

"For Dure, the person who died must have been a very special person, otherwise he wouldn't be so heartbroken."

"Huh? Is she special? I just looked into it before. It seems she's a dancer from the Flower Country who's only known Dure for a few days. They shouldn't have a deep relationship, right?" Lance scratched his head, genuinely puzzled by this question.

“Friendship between people isn’t judged by the length of time. Many of our classmates from Maple Leaf Academy have been friends for quite some time, almost 10 years now, but how many of them do you still remember?” Kelly asked rhetorically.

“It seems there aren’t many, but I’m really worried about Dure because of his condition,” Lance said with concern.

“Don’t worry, he’s Dure. This kind of thing can’t bring him down. He’ll get through this soon,” Kelly said softly.

“That makes sense. He’s Dure, my brother.” Lance thought about it and agreed.

Just as the two of them were talking quietly, Du Lei, who had been standing not far away for three days and three nights without moving, finally turned around slowly.

His actions immediately caught the attention of Lance and Kelly. Lance wanted to go to meet him right away, but Kelly stopped him.

Lance was somewhat confused and didn't understand why Kelly was doing this, but he still obediently stayed where he was.

Du Lei's steps were unsteady, his face was expressionless, and he looked rather gloomy.

“Durey…” Lance couldn’t bear to see him like this. He had known Durey for so long, but he had never seen him show such an expression before.

"I'm fine," Du Lei said, shaking his head slightly and forcing a smile.

"It's good that you're alright. So... do you want to go back and rest now? Or would you like to eat something first?" Lance asked.

"No need for that, let's get down to business first." Du Lei shook his head slightly.

“But you haven’t eaten or slept for three days. How can your body function like this?” Lance was still somewhat worried.

"Understood. I'll arrange your meeting with Jelf now. He should be waiting for you by now."

Kelly knew Dure's style; she nodded and left first.

Lance wanted to say something, but seeing Dure's distraught appearance, he couldn't bring himself to speak.

He followed Du Lei and the other man as they walked slowly through the misty drizzle.

They hadn't seen each other for a long time.

"Lance."

"Huh? What?"

Do you think it's possible for people to travel back in time?

“Going back in time? That’s impossible, isn’t it?” Lance shook his head.

"It's impossible. Mistakes can't be undone, and the dead can't be brought back to life. If only we could go back to the past."

Dure shook his head, glanced back at the heavy rain, and finally left.

()

905 Seven Stone Slabs

With Kelly's arrangement, Dure soon met with Jelf. They met not at the Duke's mansion in Jester, but at an old castle.

The castle appeared very quiet, surrounded by lush greenery, and looked especially serene in the misty rain. Several servants were cleaning inside, indicating that no one had lived there for a long time. A guard was stationed outside the castle, as the situation was still unstable. Zeref, as the king of the Rain Kingdom, was currently seated in the north; if anything happened to him, things would be very difficult.

After all, not all nobles would accept Zeref in a short period of time, and there were quite a few people who wanted to assassinate him.

Even though Jelf's chief guard advised him to consider his personal safety and not to show his face in public, Jelf still waited at the castle gate early on.

When he saw the two men slowly walking towards him, he went over immediately.

He had met one of the two men before, Lance, because Lance had been helping him recently. Lance played a crucial role in his rapid pacification of the north and made invaluable contributions.

As for the other man who looked somewhat thin and frail, he had never seen him before, but although he had never seen him before, he knew who that man was.

"You must be Mr. Dure, right?" Jerf was very young, looking no more than twenty years old. He and Jester had some similarities, but compared to Jester's sinister nature, he had more tolerance and authority.

"Yes." Dure nodded slightly.

"Then Mr. Dure, please follow me." Jelf personally led Dure into the castle.

“This castle has been passed down through generations of our family. About 200 years ago, we were not the royal family of the Rain Kingdom, but just a noble family in the northern lands. Our ancestors lived in this castle for hundreds of years until they moved to Sky City in the south, and this place gradually became deserted.” As he led the way, Zeref explained in detail the history of the castle and the origins of his family.

Dure nodded slightly without replying. About ten minutes later, Gilf led them into a small passage, opening several mechanisms along the way. It was clear that this was a hidden secret room.

“This secret room was designed by our ancestors to provide a refuge for our family should the castle fall during wartime. However, this refuge passage was never used for a long time until the Azure Thunder Empire disintegrated, at which point we obtained something,” Jelf continued to explain.

"Is this... the stone slab?" Du Lei had already guessed, and asked softly.

"Mr. Du Lei, you are right. The Azure Thunder Empire originally possessed a total of 7 stone tablets, which were held by Lord Lin Ye, the founder and actual leader of the Azure Thunder Empire. However, Lord Lin Ye later went to the Eastern Continent and never returned. It was precisely because of the loss of Lord Lin Ye that the Azure Thunder Empire gradually declined and eventually collapsed and dissolved at its peak. When the Azure Thunder Empire dissolved, the several member states of the Azure Thunder Empire, at the initiative of the kings, decided to divide up most of the Azure Thunder Empire's assets."

"Among them are the seven stone tablets left behind by that Duke of the Far East, right?" Dure asked softly.

“Yes, Mr. Dure, you guessed right. It includes several countries, right? Seven member countries, each of which received a piece. Our Rain Kingdom’s piece is stored in the secret passage of the family’s birthplace castle.” Zeref nodded and explained.

"So, what exactly did you call me here for?" Dure stopped and asked Jelf about his purpose.

“Durey, let me explain this to you. Do you know an organization called Purgatory?” Lance asked.

"Purgatory? I'd heard of it back in the Snow Country. It's a very low-profile and mysterious organization," Dure said after a moment's thought.

“Durey, think back carefully. You actually had dealings with this Purgatory organization before,” Lance reminded him.

"We crossed paths a long time ago, when are you referring to?"

“It was on your way to the Mountain Kingdom that I heard it from Leopard Tail, who had gone to the Mountain Kingdom with you. He said that you encountered people from Purgatory in Harrenburg,” Lance explained. He hadn’t been part of the guard team back then, but Dure was.

“Hrenburg…they?” After a brief recollection, Dure quickly remembered his encounter with Harrenburg nine years ago.

At that time, they encountered a cult that was secretly smuggling arms, and the buyers were a few oddly dressed people, three of whom Dureh remembers looking like.

Moreover, his memories are not limited to this; these three people and two others he knew were from the same organization.

These are the two people he met in the hot spring village: Night Raven and Red Sparrow!

“That’s right, they are the people from Purgatory!” Lance said with certainty.

"Then what does this have to do with Purgatory?" Du Lei was not clear about the affairs of the Azure Thunder Empire, but now it seemed that the seven member countries of the Azure Thunder Empire were very clear about the inside story.

“Purgatory has been searching for those seven stone tablets recently, trying to gather them together to find the temple sealed by the Duke of the Far East, in order to obtain the ancient power hidden within,” Zeref explained.

“Isn’t this very similar to what Jester did?” Dure frowned.

"To be precise, my uncle was bewitched. He tried to obtain the power of the seal to realize his so-called ambition, but he didn't even know that he had become a tool to be used by others," Zeref said with a sigh.

"Is it the Spectre? Is he from Purgatory?" Dure quickly remembered the Spectre.

"He's just an outer member of Spectre, not a core member." Zeref seemed to know a lot about Spectre.

“I see, Lance, what’s the story behind that stone tablet you sent me before?” Dure asked about the stone tablet.

According to Jelf and Lance, these seven stone tablets should belong to the Azure Thunder Empire. After the Azure Thunder Empire disintegrated, the stone tablets should have been divided among the seven countries and should rightfully belong to the royal families of the seven countries. However, Lance was clearly not a member of the royal family, which made Dure feel extremely strange.

“This stone slab was given to me by my grandfather,” Lance explained.

“Lance, your grandfather?” Dure frowned.

“Yes, actually this stone slab should be in the possession of the royal family of the Swamp Kingdom. My grandfather was a guard of the previous king, so he was entrusted with its safekeeping. I only learned about this after I returned to the Swamp Kingdom,” Lance explained.

"So, Lance, the stone tablet you gave me is actually the same stone tablet that the Swamp Country possesses, right?" Dure asked again.

“That’s right, exactly.” Lance nodded.

"But how did this stone slab end up in your hands, and then you gave it to me?" Du Lei still couldn't understand this question.

“This…” Lance didn’t know how to answer Dure for a moment.

Lance has always been a very straightforward person, but his current hesitant and stammering manner is something Dure rarely sees.

“Let me explain this. Lance’s grandfather was attacked by people from Purgatory and has passed away.” Kelly, who was standing next to him, saw Lance’s predicament. She knew that this was not a good memory for Lance, so she stepped forward to answer the question for him.

"What? How could this be?" Du Lei was also somewhat surprised.

"When I got home, I saw the people from Purgatory besieging Grandpa. I never thought Grandpa was so powerful. He could fight against three King-level magic users all by himself. He's much stronger than me. I always thought he was just a drunken old man who loved to drink. I never expected him to be so strong." Lance scratched his head and smiled as he spoke.

He was a person whose emotions were written all over his face, and he was also very bad at pretending. Anyone could tell that Lance was very sad at this moment.

"Then why did you hand the stone slab to me?"

"Because at that time I discovered that I was being targeted by the people of Purgatory and was being chased all the way. Under such circumstances, I had no way to properly safeguard the stone tablet, so I asked Messiah to give it to you, Dure. I think if it were you, Dure, you would definitely have no problem safeguarding the stone tablet," Lance explained.

"I see." Du Lei finally understood the whole story.

By this time, they had reached the end of the corridor, where a large, secret room lay before them. There were torches nearby, as well as stored water and food, enough to shelter dozens of people for a period of time.

However, the function of this place is no longer to provide refuge. Led by Jelf, Dure arrived at the end of the secret room.

At the end is a wall, with four statues on either side.

“These statues represent our ancestors; it was through their efforts that our country was created,” Jelf explained.

Dure nodded, his gaze fixed on the object in the center of the statue.

This is a stone slab, exactly the same as the one Lance gave him before.

"Is this the stone tablet that the Land of Rain keeps?" Dure's stone tablet belongs to the Land of Swamps.

This piece belongs to the Land of Rain.

“Yes, this is the stone tablet our ancestors obtained when the Azure Thunder Empire disbanded, and it has been kept here for many years,” Jelf nodded and said.

"So now you've brought me here, what exactly is this...?" Dure hesitated, not quite understanding what Jelf meant.

“I would like to entrust this stone slab to you, Mr. Dure, for safekeeping,” Jelf said earnestly.

"What? Me?" Du Lei was somewhat surprised.

“Yes, the people of Purgatory are now eyeing the stone tablet covetously. In fact, if it weren’t for this stone tablet, they wouldn’t have instigated my uncle to openly rebel. So this stone tablet has brought disaster,” Zeref said seriously.

"Then why give it to me?" Du Lei was still puzzled.

Because if Zeref wanted to get rid of the stone slab, he should have had many ways to do so.

“Because currently, among our seven countries, only you, Durei, have the ability to handle the stone tablet issue effectively. Moreover, you have excellent relationships with all the countries, and we all trust you. Nowadays, the activities in Purgatory are becoming more and more frequent; they have emerged from the shadows. If we don’t do something, I have a premonition that darkness will one day engulf the earth, and my people will certainly suffer in this catastrophe. This is the only thing I want to avoid no matter what,” Zeref said earnestly.