Chapter 208: You’d Better Be Real

It’s a well-known fact that the inability to stand on one foot with eyes closed for an extended period is the greatest affliction of every adult man.

But now, Lu Wei had completely solved this problem.

Time passed, the sunlight softened, and the sound of Bai Ya hammering nails outside the window grew intermittent.

But he remained standing steadily on one foot on the bed, perfectly still, without even the slightest sway.

He looked like a psychiatric patient mid-episode.

Or a flamingo sleeping on one leg.

“Terrifyingly impressive.”

After a while, feeling as if he could stand like this until the end of time, Lu Wei finally put his other foot down.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he observed the black feather in his hand for a while longer. He now had three main questions.

1. Hess only went to the river to fetch a rock, but ended up bringing back a Rare accessory with a Value of 25 gold coins. Isn’t that a bit… sloppy?

2. What the hell are “Pupil Color” and “Hair Color” checks?

3. And what the hell is this Dusk Shadow Association?

‘This morning, all my dice rolls were under five, yet my luck is this good.’

‘Something just feels off.’

Toying with the feather in his hand, Lu Wei mumbled to himself, leaning against the headboard and sinking into thought.

First of all, “casually finding a treasure on the side of the road” was something that could certainly happen.

It was just like winning the grand prize in a lottery, or finding a girlfriend who was gentle, virtuous, beautiful, rich, and loyal all in one.

The odds were low, but it wasn’t absolutely impossible.

Especially in a Fantasy World where even sows could climb trees.

But the problem was, whether it was winning the lottery, finding the perfect girlfriend, or stumbling upon a treasure, all of them clearly required an insane amount of luck.

If Mirana were still around, with the bonus from her Aura of Good Fortune, this would have been understandable.

But Mirana had long since left the group, and had even become an enemy of the Mushroom Squad.

So…

‘Could it be that Hess is just lucky?’

‘Or was this just a complete coincidence?’

‘But that’s too much of a coincidence.’

‘This is a Rare accessory worth 25 gold coins, not some Ordinary piece of junk worth one or two gold.’

Mulling it over for a good while, Lu Wei still felt that something was off.

And it wasn’t the “this is too good to be true” kind of feeling.

It was an inexplicable sense of unease.

How should I put it…

It was like, in his past life, finding a black bag full of blood-stained cash on the side of the road.

You’d want to keep it, but you’d also know the money would most likely bring trouble.

‘Maybe this is why I couldn’t even roll a 6 this morning?’

‘Screw it, finders keepers!’

After another moment of thought, Lu Wei tucked the feather into the inner pocket of his top and decided to stop scaring himself.

As a Crafty Merchant, asking him to part with a Rare accessory worth 25 gold coins was tantamount to killing him!

To hell with the Dusk Shadow Association!

Even if it were a token from the devil, he had to keep it!

‘Worst case, I’ll find a chance to sell it later.’

‘Dusk Shadow Association…’

‘Sounds pretty impressive. It probably won’t be hard to offload.’

“Dusk Shadow Association? Hmm, I’ve never heard of it.”

「A few minutes later, in the front yard.」

Bai Ya was crouching on the ground, smearing mud into the cracks of a wooden trough. Her sleeves were rolled up, revealing several muddy streaks on her fair forearms.

She used the inside of her wrist to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear and shook her head, indicating that she’d never heard the name.

It was true she was a “walking encyclopedia,” but all of her knowledge came from books.

If something wasn’t recorded in a book, then of course she would have no way of knowing it.

‘This must mean the Dusk Shadow Association is a rather secretive organization… and one with considerable Power.’

‘Otherwise, they wouldn’t be using such an expensive accessory as a token.’

“Fair enough…”

Lu Wei glanced at the wooden trough, which looked surprisingly decent. “You know how to do carpentry?” he asked, a little amazed.

“Not really, but it’s just a trough. How hard could it be?”

Bai Ya lifted her chin proudly. “You just nail the boards together, that’s all there is to it.”

“So the mud is to prevent leaks?”

“Yep.”

“And this mud…”

“Oh, I just dug up some dirt and mixed it with water.”

“Uh…”

Hearing this, Lu Wei’s jaw went slightly slack.

He was no expert in masonry, but he had a strong feeling that mud mixed this way would be completely useless.

‘Shouldn’t she be using clay?’

After a moment of silence, Lu Wei decided against telling her what to do. Instead, he just mumbled,

“So how much longer until you’re done?”

“Just a sec, just a sec… There!”

Bai Ya carefully stuffed the last little crack full of mud, then stood up, very satisfied.

“Now we just have to let it dry, and it’ll be ready to use!”

‘Will it really be usable?’

‘Highly doubtful.’

Lu Wei pursed his lips. “Hurry up and get cleaned up,” he urged. “We need to go.”

“Mhm!”

Happy to have finished another job, Bai Ya cheerfully skipped over to the well to wash her hands.

Then she remembered something and turned back to ask,

“Oh, right, what about that feather? Did you figure out what it is?”

“It’s just a Cloak clasp.”

“Oh! I thought so. The craftsmanship is really exquisite. It’s just a shame it’s so black. It’s not very pretty.”

Bai Ya looked away, a little disappointed. “Otherwise you could’ve given it to me. I was just thinking about buying a new clasp for my Cloak.”

‘Tch, women!’

‘Can’t she just use the wooden clasp the Cloak came with?!’

‘So vain!’

“Quit dawdling and hurry up. I’m going to go pack Hess.”

Muttering to himself, Lu Wei went back into the house, emptied a backpack, and stuffed Hess, who was sleeping on Bai Ya’s bed, inside.

After all, it had rendered a great service today.

Rewarding it with a drink was only right.

Besides, Hess couldn’t hold its liquor, so it wouldn’t cost much.

“I’m all ready! Let’s go~”

Soon, by the time Lu Wei had packed Hess, Bai Ya was also ready.

The two of them led the donkey to the backyard to hide it, put a symbolic lock on the gate, and then headed for the west side of town. Their figures gradually Merged with the dusk, leaving only the whisper of the wind rustling the roadside weeds.

The last wisp of sunset still lingered on the horizon, a faint smear of color where light met dark.

A flock of birds skimmed over the staggered rooftops, draped in the fading light of the sunset, finally landing on a small balcony with several pots of fresh flowers.

SCRITCH, SCRATCH…

In the study, just a door away from the balcony, Freya was hunched over her desk, writing something.

A moment later, she put down her pen, placed the note she had just finished into an envelope, sealed it with wax, and handed it to Cersei, who was waiting behind her.

“Go back to Kalin Port now. Give this letter to my father, then hurry back immediately.”

“Yes, Miss.”

Cersei took the envelope with both hands, bowed slightly, and turned to leave the room.

Before long, the sound of galloping hooves, CLIP-CLOP, CLIP-CLOP, rang out from outside the window. The sound faded into the distance, quickly Merging with the clamor of the main street.

Freya stood behind the window, calmly watching Cersei’s retreating figure, her thoughts inevitably turning to the events of midday.

Lu Wei’s high-and-mighty attitude had undoubtedly infuriated her.

But beyond her anger, it also gave her pause.

Yesterday, after repeated consideration, Freya had determined that the possibility of Lu Wei being a member of the Dusk Shadow Association was less than one in a thousand.

Today, however, after she had humbled herself and approached him, his continued, blatant arrogance made her doubt her own judgment.

In Freya’s view, there were only two kinds of people who would so brazenly display their arrogance—

Either they were irredeemable fools.

Or they truly had the right to be.

Considering that Lu Wei was most likely not a fool…

Then…

‘It will be clear once Cersei returns.’

‘Father should know what a token from the Dusk Shadow Association looks like.’

Drawing the curtains, Freya walked back to her desk and sat down quietly.

Her neck and fingers were bare. The silver necklace and emerald Ring had, at some point, been removed.

And as she thought of that impossibly stupid little gray donkey, Xiaohui, her eyes grew as cold and bleak as a winter fog.

“You’d better be the real thing.”