Chapter 95: An Unsuccessful Operation, The Fishing Plan

In the central residential district, within the outermost of a two-courtyard compound.

This was a residence with a Byzantine style, blended with a touch of European influence; the house itself was not particularly large, but it possessed a quite spacious courtyard.

It exuded a sense of refinement inside and out.

However, the lush weeds in the courtyard and the moss growing at the base of the surrounding walls indicated that this compound had been abandoned for some time.

In the Imperial Capital, a house of this style was definitely not something an ordinary person could have purchased or lived in previously, as it was a place reserved for the nobility.

Even for the lowest-ranking noble—though, of course, that was before the Bloody Emperor ascended the throne.

In the spacious courtyard.

"Roar!" A shrill roar suddenly rang out, though the voice was clearly lacking in vigor.

This was a troll.

Standing at about two and a half meters tall, it was considered on the shorter side among adult trolls.

The creature was currently bound to a sturdy stone chair, its head twisting incessantly, but its massive body remained completely motionless, save for the occasional reflexive twitch.

This peculiar condition proved that the troll had suffered some sort of severe trauma, resulting in only its head being capable of movement.

"It fell out again. Making such a racket—it’s never good to be heard by people nearby."

Tang Zheng sighed lightly and stepped out from behind the troll, holding two blood-stained bones the size of fists in his hands.

Judging by their shape, they were clearly cervical vertebrae; he had just removed them from behind the troll's neck.

With the cervical vertebrae severely damaged, the troll's inherent powerful regenerative ability would not cause it to die, but it would cause the body to lose control and become paralyzed, leaving only the head capable of movement.

Snap!

Tang Zheng tossed the two cervical vertebrae in his hands casually toward the small evil spirit hound that had been waiting nearby.

"Awoo."

The small evil spirit hound raised its head excitedly and bit down on both bones at once.

"Eat slowly; the next time won't be until five days from now."

Tang Zheng gave the small evil spirit hound a casual reminder, walked forward, and stuffed the tattered rag that had fallen to the ground back into the troll's mouth.

The roaring stopped abruptly.

The regenerative ability possessed by the troll meant that Tang Zheng had to remove the vertebrae again about every five days to prevent the troll from breaking free of its restraints.

He glanced at the small evil spirit hound, which was happily gnawing on the troll's vertebrae and had grown noticeably larger.

With sufficient food, the growth rate of the magical beast was much faster than Tang Zheng had anticipated.

When he left "E-Rantel" a month ago, the small evil spirit hound's head only reached his calf; now, when it raised its head, it was already past his knee.

Its body length had even exceeded eighty centimeters, and it had developed the dangerous aura of a magical beast!

That’s right!

Tang Zheng had left "E-Rantel" on July 18th, and more than a month had passed since he entered the Baharuth Empire.

It was now—the Month of Mid-Fire, August 20th.

The operation was not going well!

The "Rokoburusu" family, to which Renard belonged, had long since driven out the cursed and disfigured Renard.

This matter had some impact in the Empire, and Tang Zheng had originally intended to use the Adventurer's Guild's intelligence network to find Renard's whereabouts.

But!

Even the Adventurer's Guild did not know where Renard was; after being driven out of the family, the other party seemed to have evaporated into thin air, disappearing without a trace.

Tang Zheng could only use the few clues he had to search for a while, but the result was still no harvest; he hadn't even caught a glimpse of the person, and instead, he had wasted half a month in vain.

His purpose in coming to the Baharuth Empire was, firstly, for the "Cursed Knight" class, and secondly, for the "Sage" class.

Renard's whereabouts were unknown.

Fluder, however, had a clear location, but the problem was, what was Fluder's status?

And what was his own status now?

Given the disparity in status between the two, let alone obtaining the other's class, it was impossible to even meet him. The only person in the entire Empire who could easily see Fluder was the Bloody Emperor Jircniv, and even he couldn't see him whenever he pleased.

Such a situation.

Made Tang Zheng realize that he had to change his approach.

Therefore.

During the latter half of the month, Tang Zheng began to produce low-priced alchemical potions and sell them, aiming to make a name for himself as quickly as possible.

And he intentionally spread the rumor that he could manufacture alchemical potions capable of healing any injury!

It was just that, for now.

His "fishing plan" had not yet hooked any real fish.

Tang Zheng left the struggling troll, walked to a nearby stone table, and sat down with a headache-inducing look on his face: "A month has already been wasted; I wonder if this plan will actually work?"

If the fish never took the bait,

Tang Zheng naturally couldn't stay here and keep waiting forever.

=9+Shu_ba

Swoosh!

Suddenly, a figure draped in a black robe vaulted over the wall and entered the courtyard.

After confirming Tang Zheng's position, the figure walked over with long strides.

As they walked!

The black robe opened slightly, revealing brown high-top boots underneath, and a slender figure dressed in the attire of a light-armored scout.

The person's head was covered under a black hood, making it impossible to see their appearance.

"How truly enjoyable, living in such a large courtyard all by yourself." A cold, aloof voice came from the mouth of the slender figure.

"Awoo."

The small evil spirit hound, which had been lying at Tang Zheng's feet, released the bone it was holding in its mouth, immediately scrambled to its feet, and stared at the slender figure with a fierce expression.

"I paid 50 gold coins a month to rent this place."

"A place like this where nobles live is quiet, has a good location, and even has patrolling soldiers."

Tang Zheng glanced at the newcomer and said with a calm smile, "By the way, could you please use the front door?"

Ever since the Bloody Emperor Jircniv ascended the throne and began a massive purge of "good-for-nothing" nobles—not to mention minor nobles, even some top-tier nobles were cleared out—many residences had become abandoned.

Furthermore, due to severe income reductions, some minor nobles could not even support their basic daily expenses, yet to maintain appearances, they ended up in debt.

This meant that although some noble mansions remained under the names of these nobles on the surface, they had actually fallen into the hands of merchants.

"Don't you know that there are many people watching you right now?"

The slender figure retorted unceremoniously, then glared at the small evil spirit hound with a pair of eyes that were clearly quite soft but appeared somewhat fierce due to their long, narrow shape.

"What is wrong with your little Blackie? I’ve clearly been here more than once."

Tang Zheng shrugged and watched with a smile: "Perhaps it dislikes others calling it by its name, or perhaps it simply dislikes you."

"Hmph."

The slender figure let out a soft snort and retorted without hesitation: "I dislike it too."

After saying this, she glared at the small evil spirit hound once more.

This caused the small evil spirit hound to bare its teeth.

Hearing this.

Tang Zheng's mouth twitched; a personality that would even argue with a small evil spirit hound would definitely be labeled as having a "contrarian personality" in his previous life.

As the slender figure walked over, the black robe wrapped around her was pulled off at the same time.

A woman with long purple hair tied in twin tails and a cold expression appeared before Tang Zheng. Most striking were her pointed ears, indicating that she was not human, but a half-elf!

Imina.

(End of chapter)