Chapter 56 - 22: [Twin Moons at the Edge of Night]

Chapter 56: Chapter 22: [Twin Moons at the Edge of Night]

Carrying a brown-yellow lump of mold in its beak, the Demon Crow FLUTTERED its wings and landed on a covered wagon in front of the Bandit Camp.

Samael and Talia nervously turned their heads to look inside the house, then back at the Demon Crow perched on the wagon in front of them. Remaining silent, they waved their hands frantically while trying to keep as quiet as possible, pointing toward a dead tree far outside the camp.

The Demon Crow stared with its blood-red eyes, tilting its head as it watched the two perform their pantomime.

"Idiots." It placed the brown-yellow mold lump on the wagon and CACKLED. "They’re busy. They have no time to pay attention to the outside."

"Shh! Shh!" Samael gestured. "Keep your voice down, old man! They’ll hear you!"

"Your Demon Crow scouts can leave now, Valak," Talia said, snatching the mold lump. "Leave the rest to us... Don’t linger here too long. It’ll only increase the risk of exposing our identities!"

The Feather-crowned Demon Crow strutted proudly on the wagon frame. "I was a bit puzzled at first as to why you two were pretending to be low-level adventurers. Now I understand. There’s a lot of interesting information in the conversations of adventurers—like fallen leaves in the wind, bugs in the soil, footprints in the ruins, and scars on a corpse—they are part of something much more interesting and grand, just like the Rot Root Balls in the great Underground City.

"Pick up a fallen leaf, and you know autumn is coming. Perhaps I should also pay more attention to the adventurers’ conversations instead of just killing them outright. After all, the news of autumn’s arrival is far more important than a fallen leaf." It hopped to the roof of the wagon as it spoke.

"What did you find out?" Talia asked in a low voice.

The Demon Crow’s blood-red eyes quietly gazed at the sky. "Over twenty years ago, when the Adventurer’s Alliance was just formed, a Human Assassin was hired by the Alliance to assassinate me. He failed and became my prisoner. I cherished his talent, so I didn’t kill him. Instead, I allowed him to pledge his loyalty to me and even rewarded him with the chance for Demonization.

"I used a Hanging Demon—a slender, spider-like Magical Beast from the Underground City—as a sacrifice to demonize him into a phantom-like Demonized Warrior. It allowed him to ambush and strangle targets from the shadows of the ceiling just like a Hanging Demon, generate a carapace to protect his body, and assassinate his marks with venom, sharp blades, and a noose.

"However, just half a year later, he betrayed me. He fled my Underground City and hid his identity, vanishing to who knows where. Before he left, he even stole a bag of Crowned Skull Gold Coins from my vault to cover his travel expenses. He fled quite far... Forget it, back to business. Do you see those grain bags inside the house?" The Demon Crow scoffed coldly before shifting the topic.

"I see them. What about them?" Samael peered into the house, making sure the Randall Squad hadn’t noticed the commotion out here.

"If I’m not mistaken, the Alliance’s stronghold, Luojie City, has likely been buying up grain, Split Claw Birds, and other human food at high prices recently." The Demon Crow looked at Samael and Talia. "Because the grain transport convoys were intercepted and slaughtered three times, Ederic’s border won’t be able to provide any more grain for a while. They can only squeeze it out of Luojie City’s reserves."

"Buying at high prices... That’s true. What about it?" Talia asked.

Pointing the tip of its wing at the wheat bags in the Bandit Camp, the Demon Crow continued, "This grain has no wild dogs guarding it anymore. If it’s transported back as spoils of war, the Alliance will still buy it back at a high price and send it to the Underground City.

"The mold I provided is enough to contaminate over a dozen bags. You have to take care of the grain in this camp as well and ensure the fungal contamination seeps in. You’re traveling with this squad of adventurers, so you can conveniently tag along to the granaries in Luojie City and take a look. You must ensure that every single grain transport wagon is contaminated.

"If anything goes wrong in the end, neither you nor the adventurers will be able to escape."

"This is going too far. We helped you deal with the grain transport convoys from Ederic’s border merely to make up for accidentally killing your subordinates," Talia said with some dissatisfaction. "Now you want us to handle the transport wagons in the Luojie City stronghold? We aren’t your underlings..."

The Demon Crow CACKLED softly.

FLUTTER! Two dark silhouettes descended from the sky. It was seven or eight Demon Crows, swarming together to carry two heavy coin bags.

"Divine Era Ancient Coins. Salvaged from the Divine Era Ruins embedded deep within the strata, they are the only currency recognized by the proud, ancient Demon Race." Valak’s Feather-crowned Demon Crow hopped onto the bags and kicked them with its claws, producing a crisp CLINK. "I have always been fair with rewards and punishments. This is a commendation for your excellent work."

"But then again..." Talia hesitated, reaching out to grab the coin bags. "Doing a little follow-up security work... isn’t out of the question."

"Then do it well. Don’t mess it up again." The flock of Demon Crows FLAPPED their wings and departed.

"These two bags... hide them quickly!" Talia subconsciously grabbed the heavy bags and shoved one of them toward Samael.

"Where am I supposed to put a bag this big?!" Samael caught it on reflex. "If I hang it on my waist, Randall and the others will definitely see it!"

The coin bag was the size of a grapefruit, made of scaly black-green leather. Its opening was tied tight with metal wire, and a gold-stamped giant serpent crest was printed on the side.

"Stuff it in your armor!" Talia reached out and grabbed Samael, forcefully shoving the grapefruit-sized bag into the gap between his chest plate and shoulder guard.

CLINK CLANK. Amidst a chaotic jingle, the bag slipped down from his chest plate all the way into his armored boot, rattling with every step Samael took.

"This won’t work!" Samael struggled to fish the coin bag out from the gaps in his armor joints.