Chapter 177: Countless Rats.

The first scream had barely faded when more cries of terror followed—women and children shrieking over the sound of a man cursing.

The members of the Light Team exchanged looks outside the door. Shu Li’s hand hovered in the air. Should he knock or not?

Judging by the screams, things were in chaos inside.

Creak.

A neighbor opened his door, stuck his head out, and complained, “Can’t a man have some peace? Screaming every day—how have you not worn out your throats? I told you to move ages ago, but you stubbornly refuse! Why does your house have rats when mine doesn’t? That blackhearted Ram must have cheated people out of their money and brought down a curse from the gods!”

Having finished his complaint, he noticed the group at the merchant’s door. “Who are you? What are you doing here?”

“Hello,” Ace said politely. “We’re magic apprentices sent by the Magic Association. We’ve accepted the task Mr. Ram posted to clear out the rats.”

“What? He actually managed to hire magicians?” The neighbor counted seven of them and looked even more astonished. Then he sneered. “Ram finally decided to spend some money? Seven at once! That must cost at least a thousand gold coins.”

“Not a thousand,” Budno answered honestly. “The reward for this task is one hundred gold coins.”

“What? He got seven magicians for only a hundred?” the neighbor exclaimed.

“We’re magic apprentices,” Budno explained. “We haven’t advanced to Magician yet.”

To ordinary humans, anyone in a magic robe carrying a staff was a “magician.” They didn’t know the difference between a magician and a magic apprentice.

Budno’s explanation only gave the neighbor the wrong idea.

“Oh, so you’re not really magicians. No wonder you’re so cheap. Looks like Ram’s money is going down the drain again.”

With that, he slammed his door.

The members of the Light Team stood there, thoroughly embarrassed.

“That’s... that’s outrageous!” Disio’s face flushed red. A distinguished Senior Magic Mentor, looked down on like that!

But he was disguised as a magic apprentice and couldn’t reveal the truth.

How infuriating!

Angel hurried to soothe him. “He doesn’t understand. Don’t let him get to you.”

Disio blew out two sharp breaths through his nose, strode up to the merchant’s door, and said to Shu Li, “Let me knock.”

Shu Li stepped aside.

Disio raised his hand and pounded hard on the door.

Bang, bang, bang! Bang, bang, bang!

“Mr. Ram, open up! We’re the magic apprentices sent by the Magic Association!”

Bang, bang, bang!

He knocked for several minutes, but the people inside were too busy screaming and cursing to open the door.

Disio shook out his aching hand, at a loss.

“I’ll do it,” Budno said, stepping forward.

His voice was loud enough to drown out the noise inside.

Disio patted his shoulder. “It’s all yours, brother.”

Budno gave him a reassuring gesture, faced the door, drew a deep breath, and bellowed, “Mr. Ram, open the door!”

His voice was deafening. As one, his friends covered their ears.

Shu Li had warned Ace in advance, so he had protected his ears too.

The neighbors weren’t so fortunate. Doors and windows flew open as people leaned out to see what was happening. Those with shorter tempers started shouting abuse.

“Ram, you crooked merchant! What are you up to now?”

“What idiot is disturbing everyone at this hour?”

“Ram, open the door! The magicians you hired are here!”

The Light Team pulled up their hoods in perfect unison, hiding their faces.

Budno rubbed his nose.

He hadn’t expected one shout to be quite so effective. He had disturbed half the street. Surely the merchant had heard him?

And if he hadn’t?

Budno did not want to shout again. It was too embarrassing!

The Little Fairy agonized over it.

Fortunately, the merchant had heard. A man’s curses drew nearer, and at last the ornate door opened.

“The magicians are here?” A haggard middle-aged man looked eagerly at the hooded group with their magic staffs. Then he paused and frowned. “Why are there seven of you? I’m not paying a single coin extra!”

Stubble covered his face, which had a distinctly mean cast.

Shu Li frowned slightly but kept his tone polite. “Hello, Mr. Ram. We’re magic apprentices of the Light Team, and we accepted the task you posted with the Magic Association as a group. Let me make one thing clear. Magicians are followers of the Light God. We stand firmly against darkness and evil, and we would never sell our integrity for a little profit. Having accepted the task, we won’t ask our employer for a single coin more.”

Without waiting for a reply, he took out the task card and showed Ram the Magic Association emblem on it. His expression turned stern, his gaze sharp.

“Will you invite us in now so we can resolve your problem?”

The boy’s bearing took Ram aback. The sight of the gleaming gold emblem subdued him further, and his tone turned ingratiating. “Please, come in! The rats are out in swarms again. We haven’t had a moment’s peace. We can’t eat or sleep properly—it’s unbearable!”

As long as he didn’t have to pay more, everything was fine. He didn’t care how many apprentices had come. The more, the better.

Shu Li put away the card and turned to his friends. “Let’s go in.”

“Right!” Budno answered heartily.

Ram retreated several steps. He remembered that voice. It was the one that had just shaken the street and drowned out his family’s screams.

He stood aside as the Light Team filed in.

The neighbors watched curiously, murmuring among themselves.

“With this many magicians, they should be able to deal with Ram’s rats, shouldn’t they?”

“Didn’t you hear? They’re magic apprentices. There’s a difference in rank.”

“Maybe, but there are seven of them. Surely together they’re worth one magician?”

“I hope they get rid of those rats. I’m sick of hearing that family scream every day!”

“You and me both. They aren’t the only ones who haven’t had a good night’s sleep.”

“Two years. Two whole years. It’s been miserable!”

“If they don’t fix it soon, I might move away myself. Gods help us!”

The moment Shu Li stepped through the gate, a heavy, oppressive air hit him, mingled with a nauseating smell of decay.

He covered his nose without thinking and frowned.

“Ugh! What is that smell? It stinks!”

Disio and Amanda were less restrained and said it outright. Ram’s face changed. His mouth twitched as though he wanted to reprimand them, but he held back because of who they were.

Squeak, squeak!

Rats roamed the courtyard in plain sight. They ran across the ground and climbed the walls, columns, and railings, treating the merchant’s grand house as their own nest.

They were brazen.

Ram shuddered and edged closer to the apprentices.

“Please... do something! They come out every night and run wild through the house. They steal food and gnaw on everything. I spend enough on repairs every month to buy another house!”

“Then why don’t you buy another house?” Shu Li asked, puzzled.

If living here was so unpleasant, why not move instead of spending money on endless repairs?

Though it would be a shame to abandon a house this beautiful.

“I’d like to,” Ram said miserably. “But... well... I can’t move.”

“Why not?” Angel asked.

Ram shook his head. “There are things I can’t tell you. Your task right now is to find a way to get rid of every last one of those damned creatures! Every last one! I’ve had enough!”

His irritation boiled over. He stamped his foot, his face contorted with anger.

“Ah! Daddy! Help me! I’m scared!” a little girl cried from inside the house.

Ram snapped back to himself. “Hart! What are you doing? Why aren’t you protecting my poor Cindy?”

He rushed toward the house. Rats darted beneath his feet, and he leaped and dodged around them like an acrobat.

“Ahem.”

The Little Fairies and young dragons nearly laughed.

They dealt with wild animals often. Even this many rats didn’t frighten them, though the sheer number crowded together was unsettling.

Shu Li had never liked rats, in either of his lives. His scalp prickled, and he turned to the team’s only human magic apprentice.

“Ace, are you... scared? If you are, you can stay behind me.”

Ace looked at the boy, who was much shorter than he was, and smiled. “Thank you. But I’m not afraid.”

“Oh.” Shu Li blinked. Ace had escaped a bandits’ den alone, faced wild animals in the mountains, and found his way down in the dark. Of course he was brave.

“Sperien, what do we do now?” Disio asked.

“Let’s split up,” Shu Li said.

He and Ace would look inside. Kumandi and Angel would try to learn something from the rats. Disio, Budno, and Amanda would inspect the whole property.

With their assignments settled, the Light Team got to work.

Crying and cursing continued inside. Shu Li frowned. The noise was hard on his ears.

He walked toward the house beside Ace. A dozen or so rats spotted the strangers, scurried over, and squeaked threateningly.

Humans who had come to drive them out before had panicked at the sight. This time, the rats had misjudged their visitors. Neither apprentice so much as flinched, and one even greeted them.

“Good evening.”

Shu Li spoke in the language of the Beastfolk.

That language allowed its speakers to communicate with eighty percent of animals. The rats had clearly understood him. Their eyes widened, and they forgot to keep up their threats.

Shu Li stepped calmly over them. After a few paces, he looked back. Ace was just as unruffled. He glanced down and addressed the rats in the same language.

“Blocking the path like this is rude.”

The rats did more than stare this time. They fled in every direction as if Ace were a deadly predator.

“Your Beastfolk pronunciation is excellent,” Shu Li said.

“My Beastfolk teacher was half Beastfolk,” Ace replied.

“No wonder!”

Still, Ace was remarkably gifted with languages for a human.

Shu Li had needed two years to learn Beastfolk, and much of his pronunciation remained imperfect. After only a few sentences, he would start making mistakes and leaving words out.

No matter what he did, languages would always give him a headache.

They entered the sitting room and found even more rats. Three people huddled on a sofa, trembling. Two children had buried their faces in their mother’s arms.

Ram and two men dressed as servants wielded paddles and wooden sticks, striking at any rat that tried to come near.

When Ram saw the apprentices, he pleaded, “Please, do something! These damned rats bite. They steal our food, and they’ve even tried to gnaw on the children’s hands!”

The family did look pitiful. Shu Li raised his staff and recited a wind spell.

“Great Wind God Wendis Inor, I am Sperien, your faithful follower. I ask you to command the wind elements to gather around me and build a protective wall of air.”

A green light gathered at the tip of his staff. He swept it outward, and the light became a powerful gust. It circled the sofa once, then formed a transparent wall of air that kept every rat outside.

The rats ran around it, squeaking and lunging, but none could break through.

When Ram and his family realized the rats could no longer reach them, the tension finally drained from their bodies. They wept with relief.

“My lord, thank you—”

Shu Li lowered his staff. “There’s no need. It was a small thing.”

Ram dropped onto the sofa, exhaustion plain on his face.

The two children peeked cautiously out of their mother’s arms and gazed at the magician who had helped them.

Magic was amazing. He had spoken a spell, and the rats couldn’t reach them anymore.

“I told you ages ago to hire a magician!” Ram’s wife cried in her shrill voice, pointing at him. “But you wouldn’t spend the money! Look—one magic apprentice can solve the problem, and you dragged it out for two years! The children and I have lived in fear every day. We’re nearly out of our minds! Do you understand that?”

His wife was berating him in front of strangers. Ram’s face darkened, and he waved her off. “Enough, enough! I’ve hired magic apprentices now, haven’t I?”

“Seven of them,” he added, a note of pride creeping into his voice. “For only a hundred gold coins.”

Shu Li: ...

Trust a crooked merchant to keep such a close count of his savings.

“Seven?” His wife was stunned. She hadn’t expected her miserly husband to hire seven magic apprentices for a hundred gold coins. Her expression softened at once. She released the children, drew out an elegant handkerchief, and dabbed at her eyes.

“My lords, you must get rid of these rats today. After two years of being frightened, I’m nearly ill.”

Shu Li’s fine brows lifted. They really did suit each other.

The moment she learned her husband had got a bargain, her attitude improved.

“Then I’d like to ask when the rats first appeared,” Shu Li said. “Were there many at the beginning?”

“Two years ago,” Ram replied with a sigh. “At first there were only two or three. I had the servants put out poison, and they all died. A few days later, a whole group appeared. There have been more and more ever since. Now there are rat holes all over the house. There must be seven or eight hundred of them, if not a thousand!”

Shu Li’s mouth fell open slightly.

That many? Had the rats made the merchant’s house their nest?

He turned to Ace. “What do you think happened? Could the first rats Mr. Ram poisoned have included the rat king, and its descendants came to take revenge?”

He couldn’t think of another reason.

As far as he knew, rats held grudges. Kill one, and a whole nest might come after you.

They bred quickly, too. They could produce litter after litter, multiplying several times over in a year or two. The thought was frightening.

If Ram couldn’t kill them as quickly as they multiplied, no wonder his family suffered every day.

“There isn’t enough information to determine the cause,” Ace said.

Shu Li nodded. “True. We’ll discuss it once Kumandi and the others finish investigating.”

Ace turned to the dejected merchant. “Forgive me for asking, but when we entered the courtyard, we smelled something rotting. Do you know where the smell is coming from?”

Before Ram could answer, his wife said, “Dead rats!”

“Dead rats?” Shu Li looked puzzled. “Don’t tell me you buried them in your own courtyard.”

How many would they have had to bury for the smell to fill the whole place?

Didn’t it bother them, living here?

Ram glared at his wife, then forced out an explanation. “I used to throw the bodies out in the wild. But the next day, they’d be back in the courtyard. No matter how many times I disposed of them, the bodies always returned by morning. I had no choice but to bury them here.”

With so many buried, of course they smelled.

Shu Li frowned. Every detail of this affair was strange. It didn’t sound like something ordinary animals would do.

He had examined the rats with his senses. They were ordinary animals, not magical beasts.

Holding his staff against his chest, Ace stepped beyond the wall of air and surveyed the sitting room. For some reason, the aggressive rats avoided him, scattering wherever he walked.

After making a circuit, he returned and asked Ram, “How long ago was this house built?”

“Two and a half years,” Ram said.

His wife added, “There used to be a run-down house here. We bought the land, knocked the old place down, and rebuilt it. It cost us more than two hundred gold coins altogether.”

Ace nodded. “How long after the house was built did the rats appear?”

Ram thought for a moment. “Two months.”

“Who sold you the land?” Shu Li asked. “Is that person still in town? And were there rats when he lived in the old house?”

“Kehr, that bastard!” Ram cursed. “The old house had stood empty for five years. Kehr lived elsewhere, and after he squandered his family’s fortune, he sold me the house and land. I paid twenty gold coins and thought I’d got a bargain. I had no idea my troubles were only beginning.”

“Kehr moved to another town,” his wife said with a sigh. “He left us here to suffer and be mocked by the neighbors.”

Despite his anger, Ram recalled something else. “When we demolished the old house, we dug a beautiful crystal ore out of the ground.”

Shu Li’s eyes lit up. “What kind of ore?”

“It was black all over,” Ram said. “Shaped like a bauhinia flower, with spikes covering the outside.”

“A dark moonstone,” Ace said.

Shu Li looked at the blond apprentice, eyes shining. “You know what it is?”

How impressive. Ace had identified the ore from a description alone.

Shu Li had studied many kinds of ore, but he had never even heard of dark moonstone.

A hint of amusement flashed through Ace’s green eyes. “Dark moonstone comes from the Woba Grand Canyon. It’s found more than three thousand meters underground and is extremely rare. High-rank magical beasts guard the area around the deposits. An adventuring party would have to defeat seventh- or eighth-rank beasts before it could mine any.”

Shu Li clicked his tongue.

Getting hold of dark moonstone sounded as difficult as obtaining top-grade sunstone!

“What is it used for?”

Ace’s expression turned grave. “As its name suggests, dark moonstone is a product of darkness. It can increase someone’s strength for a short time, but it also makes them vulnerable to corruption by dark power, which can cost them their reason. The beasts that guard its deposits usually have an affinity for darkness. They’re aggressive, vicious, and eager to fight.”

Shu Li’s eyes widened. “So dark moonstone is dangerous!”

He turned to Ram. “What did you do with the stone?”

Sweat sprang up on Ram’s forehead. He faltered. “I... I sold it.”

When he had dug up the crystal ore, he thought he had struck it rich. Without giving it another thought, he packed it in a box and sent it that very night to an auction house in Daoto City.

Just as he had hoped, the ore was valuable. It sold for ten thousand gold coins. Even after the auction house took its commission, he had seven thousand left, and he returned home delighted.

With those seven thousand gold coins, he expanded his business and earned even more.

That was why he refused to move.

He believed the land brought him wealth. If he left, his good fortune would vanish. He could put up with rats as long as the money kept coming.

So what if outsiders laughed at him? Did they earn as much as he did?

A bunch of paupers, Ram thought scornfully.

Shu Li stared at him, speechless. The merchant had seen only the money.

At that moment, footsteps sounded outside. Their friends were returning.

Kumandi and Angel entered first. They took in the scene without asking questions and went straight to the sofa and its wall of air.

“Sperien, we questioned more than a hundred rats and finally learned something,” Angel said. She glanced at Ram. “An older rat told us that Mr. Ram took a treasure from their burrow.”

Kumandi looked directly at the uncomfortable merchant. “Several of the rats’ leaders tried to steal it back, but Mr. Ram poisoned them. The others refused to give up and sent another group. As you can imagine, they were killed too.”

“So it was revenge after all!” Shu Li said.

His earlier guess hadn’t been far off.

“That makes no sense!” Ram protested, waving a hand. “They’re ordinary animals, and I’m a human. I found that dark moonstone, so it belonged to me. What right did they have to burrow into my house and steal it? Who doesn’t try to kill rats when they see them?”

His wife pointed angrily at his forehead. “I told you not to touch it! Someone had clearly buried that crystal ore there. And the statue—you shouldn’t have touched that either!”

“What statue?” Shu Li caught the word at once.

Before she could answer, Disio, Budno, and Amanda came inside. They looked around, then eagerly reported their findings to their captain.

“Rat bodies are buried all over the front and back courtyards,” Disio said.

“There’s a huge pit underground out back,” Budno added. “It’s packed with rat bodies. It’s disgusting!”

“There’s a little building in the back courtyard, too,” Amanda said. “It has a statue inside.”

“The strange thing is, the statue has an empty space where its heart should be,” Disio said.

“There are more rats in that building than anywhere else, including lots of newborn ones,” Budno said. “I think there might be tens of thousands of rats on Mr. Ram’s property.”

“And they stay inside the walls,” Amanda added. “They just move around the grounds.”

Goose bumps rose on Shu Li’s skin. He looked at Ram’s family. They had gone pale and were huddling together.

“So... will you tell us about the statue?” he asked.

Ram rubbed his face, defeated. “Yes. The crystal ore was originally set in the statue’s chest. When I demolished the old house and dug the foundations, we found the statue underground. I assumed the former owner had buried it to protect the house. We Dalians often bury statues beneath our homes for that purpose. The workers told me not to disturb it, but I was greedy. I thought it didn’t matter—I could always replace the statue. So I...”

He let out a long sigh. “You know the rest.”

Shu Li pieced it together. “The old house stood empty for five years. The rats probably made it their nest. Dark moonstone can strengthen magical beasts. Although these rats are ordinary animals, living beside it long enough could allow them to produce offspring with magical power. When you took the stone, you cut off their chance of becoming magical beasts. Then you poisoned several of them. Of course they came to hate you. They want revenge, and they want to drive you away. But for some reason, you’ve refused to leave.”

“So that’s what happened!” Having heard the whole story, Disio no longer felt sorry for Ram’s family.

From the rats’ point of view, the family had destroyed their nest, stolen their treasure, and killed their companions. Those were grave offenses.

“I paid good money for this land!” Ram retorted. “The rats are the trespassers!”

“The rats have made a demand of Mr. Ram,” Kumandi said calmly.

“What demand?” Ram stared at him.

“Move away.”

“Impossible!” Ram rejected it without a moment’s thought.

“Why not?” his wife and children asked.

“Daddy, I can’t stand it anymore. Can we please move?”

“Yes! Let the rats have this place!”

“What do you know?” Ram roared. “If we leave, I’ll lose my good fortune!”

“Your good fortune?” Angel tilted her head and looked at him curiously. “Why would moving make you lose it?”

Ram gripped his hair. He seemed to have aged more than a decade. “Ever since we moved here, I’ve made more and more money. Business has gone smoothly. If I leave, the money will stop coming...”

“That’s superstitious non—” Shu Li coughed and corrected himself. “I mean, good fortune is hard to pin down. You can’t force it. Your business is doing well and you’re earning money. Why not give yourself credit for being good at it?”

“That’s right,” Angel said with a grin. “You may be stingy, but you’re quite good at making money from nothing.”

It was hard to tell whether she meant that as praise.

“If money means suffering like this every day,” Ram’s wife said miserably, “I’d rather have less of it!”

“Me too, Daddy. I want to sleep properly every night.”

“I don’t want rats gnawing on my toes!” one child sobbed.

“Master, we... we can’t bear it much longer either,” the two servants ventured.

Ram’s face darkened. He glared at the seven apprentices. “I hired you to get rid of the rats, not to tell me to move!”

Why else would he have offered a hundred gold coins for the task?

Shu Li cleared his throat. “Of course. We need to understand what caused the problem before we can solve it properly.”

Otherwise, any solution would only be temporary.

“Let’s look at the statue in the back courtyard first,” Ace suggested.

Shu Li considered it. “All right.”

The Light Team left the sitting room, went around the house, and reached the back courtyard. The smell there was far worse than at the front. The stench was overpowering.

Covering his nose, Shu Li avoided the clusters of rats and approached the small building in the corner.

The rats watched them warily, but something seemed to frighten them too much to come closer. They could only look on as the intruders opened the door.

It was pitch-black inside.

Shu Li recited a light spell with practiced ease. A glowing sphere appeared at the tip of his staff, illuminating the room in an instant.

The sudden light sent the rats inside into a flurry. At the sight of so many of them—and broad patches of hairless newborn rats—Shu Li stepped back instinctively.

“Careful.”

His back bumped into Ace’s chest.

“S-sorry.” Shu Li turned, embarrassed.

“It’s all right,” Ace said gently. He took the glowing staff from Shu Li’s hand and entered. The rats retreated before him like water flowing away.

He raised the staff, fully lighting a statue two meters tall.

Shu Li studied it. The carving was strikingly lifelike: a man in magnificent clothes, holding a scepter, his lowered eyes showing neither sorrow nor joy.

As Disio had said, there was a hollow in its chest.

“Who... is this?” Shu Li murmured. Why did the figure look familiar?

Ace stood with his back to him, his handsome face cold.

“It is the Dark God, Milojia Hodehe.”

His voice was calm, without the slightest tremor.

Sharp intakes of breath sounded around the room.

The Little Fairies and young dragons were stunned.

This exquisitely carved stone statue depicted the Dark God, Milojia Hodehe!

Which raised a question: why had a statue of the Dark God been buried beneath a dilapidated house in a remote town?

Had the former owner known?