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[The Next Day]

After waking up energetically and cleaning himself, Sollivan dressed in his extra set of clean clothes and wheeled his chair toward the door. After a brief moment of hesitation, he grabbed the old handle and opened the door. The intense winter cold rushed in, slightly ruffling his messy hair. With indifferent eyes, he looked at the familiar alley and observed the few familiar faces glancing his way.

He left the safety of his home and checked the heater one last time before firmly locking the door and pushing his chair over the sticky ground.

Noctis hid in the shadow of his black chair, making it invisible to the general public. Unlike usual, Sollivan wheeled his chair with confidence, feeling somewhat secure knowing Noctis was nearby. He observed his familiar surroundings, and suddenly his eyes fell on two similarly built men emerging from a house slightly larger than his. One of the men had a short, dirty beard that extended slightly below his eyes, with thick, bushy eyebrows and a large nose reddened by the cold.

As for his companion, he also had a very short, slightly groomed beard and a thick mustache that was beginning to gray, while his skin was wrinkled. Both men covered their heads with dirty woolen hats and wore two layers of worn-out clothes to mitigate the cold.

After the two men closed the door, one of them turned and his eyes met Sollivan's. At that moment, he frowned in anger and spat on the ground in disgust.

Sollivan didn't pay attention and turned to look at the road ahead. As he wheeled his chair indifferently, he remembered why these people hated him. 'Damn scoundrels, their faces are so thick I can hardly believe it. Not only did they steal Devlin's house, but they also hate me for saving him from death. What cruelty!'

Despite his internal monologue, he felt no sadness or anger, just a bit of resentment. He was well aware of human cunning and malice. These people were just a small handful of the many scoundrels he had encountered in the past six years.

In the past, he was the sole heir of a noble family with deep roots and considerable power in the empire, treated like a prince. Even the guards and residents had to think twice before saying anything to him. But now, he was just a poor disabled man who had been betrayed, robbed, bullied, and scammed in many situations, especially when he was searching for a cure. How many gold coins had been wasted just because of the lies of some charlatans?

A faint smile appeared on his face, and his resentment faded as he thought about his ability to crush the gang of thieves at any time. Not personally, but Devlin had become capable of doing so. After training and teaching him, he had turned him into a new person. Their relationship could be considered that of a master and disciple, with Devlin being the product of his teachings.

Currently, Devlin had reached the fifth level of body strengthening, even though he was only thirteen years old. His level could be compared to that of children from powerful noble and merchant families. If it weren't for his desire to avoid drawing attention, he would have let Devlin take his revenge long ago.

'Thinking about it, they were beaten up by Ellis's acquaintances when they blocked my path three years ago. Have they forgotten the taste of a beating?' In the past, two of the homeless gang dared to bully him, knock him out of his chair, and kick him. Because of this, he missed work for several days. When the news reached Ellis, he was furious and complained to a friend who sent his men to beat up all the homeless. Since that incident, they hadn't dared to stare at him for a long time.

Because of this, Sollivan's respect for Ellis grew, and he began to hold him in high regard. For the first time in a long while, he felt grateful to someone.

A wave of old memories passed through his mind, and before he knew it, he had arrived at his workplace. When he realized this, he looked at the familiar street and the large shop, observing the people and guards who were fewer than usual. He pushed his chair and entered the library, which emitted a pleasant warmth.

He raised his head and looked at the kind man sitting at the reception desk, noticing that he was so engrossed in his book that he hadn't heard him. He smiled and said loudly, "Back to work, this isn't reading time."

Ellis shuddered in surprise and quickly raised his head, staring at Sollivan. But as soon as their eyes met, he felt a bit of relief and scolded, "You scoundrel, how dare you reprimand your boss?"

Sollivan raised his finger and gestured for him to be quiet, saying softly, "This is a library, respect its sanctity."

Sigh!

Ellis shook his head in annoyance and calmed his mood. Then, he showed a surprised expression.

"Wait, you look very happy. Did something happen?" A look of curiosity appeared on his wrinkled face.

Sollivan smiled lightly and didn't deny it.

Ellis's eyes narrowed, and his curiosity grew. "Really, tell me what happened. I haven't seen you this happy since you caused the mayor's son to fall off his horse."

Laugh!

His smile widened as he remembered that incident, showing a mysterious look. Half a year ago, the mayor's son came to their library, and because of a delay in serving him, he insulted and scolded Sollivan arrogantly, calling him a useless cripple. Because of these insults, Sollivan felt intense anger and planned his revenge.

In those days, the mayor's son would occasionally ride his horse around town. Sollivan used his knowledge of this and spent half a gold coin to buy a rare and obscure herb that caused horses to become agitated. With Ellis's help, he threw the herb in the mayor's son's path as he passed by, causing his horse to go wild and throw him off violently in front of the public. Since then, he had resorted to riding a carriage.

He suppressed his evil laugh and looked around suspiciously. "Hey, lower your voice, someone might hear us."

Ellis also laughed as he remembered the details that only they knew. "Calm down, the place is empty. But really, did something happen? Why do you look so happy?"

"Nothing really, just a small personal matter, but it's good. It's enough for you to know that my situation has improved somewhat."

"Oh, really? That's good and comforting. Well, I hope things get even better. And also, you know I don't need to say this, but if you need anything, I'm always here."

Sollivan felt a deep warmth inside and gave Ellis a gentle look. After his blood changed, he had gained a strange ability he didn't fully understand—the ability to sense the nature of people's feelings toward him. This had happened on several occasions. He didn't know how it worked or why it only activated with certain people in specific situations. But now, he felt genuine happiness emanating from Ellis.

'This man really... sigh.'

After the wave of emotions subsided, he stopped looking at Ellis and scanned his surroundings for a moment before asking suspiciously while thinking to himself, "Why is the place so empty? The alley also seems quieter than usual."

'My ability to sense others' emotions might require certain conditions to activate, like the depth of the emotions. Maybe I won't feel someone's hatred toward me unless it's extremely deep. Or perhaps the amount of interaction I have with someone determines it. But that's not possible since I felt Sabrina's malice before I even saw her. Wait, I didn't actually feel Sabrina's hatred, but her malicious intent toward me. I just interpreted it as hatred.'

While lost in his thoughts and questions, Ellis answered him in astonishment. "Haven't you heard?! Ah, you haven't left your house during the snow, so the news wouldn't reach you."

Sollivan stopped thinking and raised his head in surprise. He stared at Ellis with curiosity and suspicion, asking in a strange tone, "Did something happen?! The borders?!"

"No, no." Ellis denied his thoughts. "There's been no movement on the borders, and the Cold Sun Empire hasn't made any suspicious moves in this area recently."

Since their city was a border city, the first thing that came to mind when mysterious movements occurred was war or small-scale border conflicts that happened from time to time. When this was ruled out, his confusion grew, and he asked suspiciously and cautiously, "Then what's happening?!"

Ellis noticed the sharp change in his expression and tone and felt a bit surprised by it, answering, "How to explain it... It seems the mayor found a very old secret treasury in the Black Death Forest and tried to keep it for himself. But the news leaked to the state judge, who sent two jurors to oversee the extraction of the treasures and take them to the capital."

Sollivan's mouth opened slightly, and he felt a void in his head. He had thought of dozens of possible scenarios and leaned toward some out of fear, but he hadn't expected things to be this absurd. He calmed himself and regained his composure, asking in a relaxed tone, "Huh, it seems the mayor shot himself in the foot. He'll definitely be punished, and most likely the support he receives from the capital will be reduced."

While gloating over the mayor, he remembered something. "Did they extract the treasures? But how did they find the treasury? You realize how dangerous the forest is, so no one would have time to search for treasures because they'd be busy protecting their lives." He paused for a moment and scoffed. "Rather, who's crazy enough to bury their treasure there?"

The Black Death Forest was so vast that no one knew its full size, and so dangerous that people could die inside without knowing the cause. It wasn't just home to powerful monsters but was also filled with toxic pests and evil plants. Several infectious diseases had spread from it over the ages, like the Blood Plague and the Famine Flu, which killed most of the empire's animals and caused a famine among the common people. Because of all these unknown and hidden dangers, it was called the Black Death Forest or the Forest of a Thousand Poisons.

The forest was located at the center of the three empires: the Golden Lion Empire, the Cold Sun Empire, and the Celestial Pearl Empire. Due to its danger, its borders were very secure. It wasn't under the control of any of the three powers. None of the emperors were crazy enough to send their armies to die, and they themselves trembled at the mention of the forest, due to a legend that a powerful monster ruled the forest as the emperor of beasts.

Ellis paused for a moment and organized all the information he knew before sitting down and starting to explain. "Well, actually, the treasury was discovered a month ago."

"All this time?!"

"Yes, listen to me now and don't interrupt. The important thing is, a month ago, an honorary guest and old friend of the mayor arrived. His name was, umm... Tesk, I don't really remember. All I recall is that he's from a powerful family in the empire, and it's said he's special because he has a contracted beast."

Sollivan's eyebrows rose in surprise when he heard that, as people with contracted beasts were extremely rare. Although he was similar to them, his situation was very special. 'He must be a prominent figure. Why would he come to meet the mayor of a small city like this?! Who would believe they're friends?' He stopped his thoughts and continued listening to Ellis.

"According to rumors, this important guest, along with the governor, headed toward the edges of the Black Death Forest in search of some rare medicinal herbs. While searching... Ah, I forgot to tell you that the contracted beast of that person is the Golden Lick Mole."

"Huh, what are you saying?" His eyes widened, and he couldn't suppress his shock. "Do you know how rare the Golden Lick Mole is?" Contracted beasts were divided into several types, some specializing in defense or attack, while others were support types. The Golden Lick Mole fell into the scout category.

The Golden Lick Mole had no offensive or defensive abilities, but it made up for its lack of strength with its extraordinary senses, capable of pinpointing targets accurately. But what distinguished it most was its extreme sensitivity to gold. It could find gold buried deep underground or hidden behind thick walls. 'That explains everything!'

Ellis stopped talking and felt puzzled by Sollivan's surprise, saying, "You reminded me, my friend told me the same thing. Is it really such an amazing beast?!"

Sollivan laughed foolishly and shook his head. "It's truly amazing, but not that useful. What makes it special is its rarity. Are you sure you don't remember the name of its owner? He must be someone from one of the fourteen ruling families, or at least an important guest in one of them, or even a follower of the three noble clans."

Ellis's body involuntarily trembled upon hearing how important the mole's owner was. After a brief moment of silence, he shook his head in disappointment. "Unfortunately, I don't remember the owner's name. Actually, not many people saw him, and his presence was only known after the news leaked."

"Huh." A look of gloating appeared on his face. "It seems it's been a busy few weeks for them. But from the tone of your speech, I doubt they actually extracted the treasures."

"You're right. For some reason, the mole couldn't pinpoint the location of the treasure. Based on its reaction, they estimated the amount of gold to be very large..." Ellis suddenly fell silent, and both he and Sollivan turned at the same time to see a customer entering the shop.

They quickly changed the subject and warmly greeted the customer, and after guiding him to make his purchase, they waited for him to leave in silence before continuing the conversation. Ellis said, "I heard the treasury is surrounded by some kind of formations, and the mole couldn't pinpoint the location accurately, leaving the mayor confused due to the vast search area."

"Hmm."

"You know that buried treasures belong to the empire, and if someone finds them, they must report it. But the mayor didn't do that and started the search directly. However, the bad weather and accumulated snow disrupted the operation."

Ellis paused for a moment and looked toward the door before lowering his voice and saying cautiously, "When the news leaked, the mayor hurriedly issued an uncertain announcement, claiming they suspected the existence of an ancient treasure trove on the outskirts of the forest."

Sollivan narrowed his eyes upon hearing this and said in a surprised tone, "He shifted the responsibility away from himself. Maybe his plan will succeed, and the jurors won't investigate him. As you know, he has a good excuse, and their inability to find the treasure might be considered evidence that he didn't want to send false news to the capital and disturb the higher-ups with a treasure that might not even be real."

Ellis nodded in agreement and continued, "Yes, currently the search operations have been suspended until the teams are organized and the relevant authorities are informed, and they will resume the search the day after tomorrow with more troops."

Sollivan listened to everything Ellis said with intense curiosity and analyzed the situation calmly, but he still couldn't determine what kind of treasure might be hidden in the Black Death Forest. He asked suspiciously, "In your opinion, what kind of treasure might be buried in the forest? Even if it's just an area on the outskirts that isn't too dangerous, doing something like this requires a lot of effort."

Ellis waved his hand and scratched his chin. "You know, your question is exactly what's been bothering everyone. The relevant authorities have conducted several researches and reviewed records to find an answer, but the result they got shocked everyone."

Sollivan's eyes widened, and Ellis's words captured his attention. Without hiding his surprise, he urged him to reveal the nature of the treasure.

"Tell me what it is."

"One of the lost treasuries from the time of the Great Empire."

Upon hearing this, Sollivan's eyes widened further, and his mouth opened involuntarily. He wanted to laugh and mock the absurdity of what Ellis was saying, but the serious look he saw on his face made him swallow the sarcastic denial he wanted to utter. After a long moment of silence and processing, he leaned back in his chair and exhaled a long breath.

"If what you're saying is true, things are going to get very chaotic."

Ellis showed a slightly sad look and sighed as well. "Yes, maybe a small war will break out again over that treasury. The borders that have been stagnant for years will be soaked in blood again. Damn it, what's wrong with them? Every time they find a hole in the ground, they soak it in our blood and take the spoils for themselves."

Sollivan shook his head in sorrow. "Don't worry, the conflict won't be big. All eyes are still focused on the Star Union Kingdom."

Ellis exhaled all his frustration before agreeing with him. They continued their discussion for a very long time, and due to the lack of customers, they weren't interrupted much.

Their topics varied, but Sollivan focused on learning about the recent situation in the region, as he had missed several important news after staying at home for so long. When the sun was about to set, they closed the shop and each headed home.