Treasures? A mysterious alley, a strange old man, and ancient ruins of unknown origin… Hooked by Agatha’s words, Helos felt her interest instantly pique.
These kinds of places often hid all sorts of unexpected treasures. This was practically a classic treasure-hunting plot for a novel’s protagonist!
According to the usual tropes, these mysterious shops could hold lost recipes, powerful items, or even a hidden expert!
Given Helos’s adventurous spirit and intense curiosity, she was never going to let a place like this pass her by.
“Let’s go!” She made the decision instantly, her eyes sparkling with the light of an explorer. “Take me there right now!”
“You bet!” Agatha was clearly full of interest herself, and she excitedly agreed immediately.
Watching the two girls reach a consensus to go “treasure hunting” in the blink of an eye, Eleanor felt a headache coming on.
She wanted to step in and talk them out of it, but she found that Helos and Agatha were already holding hands and rushing toward the deeper alleys of the commercial district.
“Hey, you two…” “Wait for me!”
Eleanor sighed helplessly and could only pick up her pace to follow. Gavi followed silently behind them, still vigilantly observing their surroundings.
The structure of the central commercial district was far more complex than Helos had imagined. The main roads were wide and bustling, but going deeper was like entering a massive maze.
Countless narrow, winding alleys intersected like a spiderweb, connecting various areas of different styles.
Agatha had clearly been to this kind of place before. Relying on the vague information she had gathered earlier, she led Helos through a series of twisting alleys.
These alleys were a far cry from the bright and glamorous main streets. Light was blocked by the towering buildings on either side, making the atmosphere somewhat dim.
The air was thick with the scent of damp stone, occasionally mixed with exotic spices wafting from nearby eateries or the smell of strange reagents leaking from an Alchemical Workshop.
Although the buildings on both sides looked slightly old and the walls were somewhat mottled, most were structurally sound and made of high-quality materials, still hinting at their former grandeur.
Figures dressed simply but walking in a hurry hurried through the alleys.
Occasionally, a few young people wearing Apprentice robes could be seen running past while carrying materials. There were also suspicious figures draped in cloaks leaning against corners and talking in low voices.
“Agatha, are you sure it’s this way?” Helos watched the surroundings become more and more secluded and couldn’t help but feel a bit doubtful. “It doesn’t feel like a place where ‘treasures’ would be.”
Rather than a place hiding treasure, it felt more like a “slum” where filth and corruption would hide.
That being said, if a slum in the Imperial Capital were placed anywhere else, it would probably count as an upper-middle-class area.
“…It should be this way, right? I think… probably…” Agatha scratched her head, looking a bit uncertain. She pulled a crumpled piece of paper from her pocket and carefully squinted at the scribbled route in the dim light.
“The seventh alley behind that tavern with the red lanterns at the three-way junction, turn left then right… Look, there’s the red lantern tavern up ahead!”
She pointed excitedly toward a building not far away with a narrow storefront and two worn-out red lanterns hanging at the entrance.
The three of them quickened their pace, passed the tavern entrance where the smell of cheap alcohol lingered, and turned into an even narrower and darker alley.
This alley was almost completely obscured by the tall buildings on both sides, making it difficult even for sunlight to reach. The ground was uneven and even a bit slippery.
“Seventh alley… left turn… then right…” Agatha muttered to herself as she walked, trying her best to identify the directions.
Eleanor followed behind, watching these two clearly unreliable “explorers,” and felt her temples throbbing. She even started to regret why she hadn’t stopped them more firmly just now.
This place was a mixed bag. What if they ran into danger?
Just as Helos was starting to wonder if she had been fooled by Agatha and was preparing to turn back, Agatha’s footsteps suddenly stopped.
“Found it! This is the place!”
She pointed toward an extremely well-hidden corner, her voice filled with excitement.
Helos followed the direction of her finger.
There, at the intersection of two small alleys in a nondescript, recessed corner, a very worn-out wooden door was actually hidden away.
A crooked, equally old wooden sign hung above the door.
There was no text written on the sign. Instead, it bore some strange patterns resembling Magic Runes drawn in an incredibly distorted and bizarre style.
Helos had never seen these patterns in any alchemy book or runology class. They seemed to contain some kind of chaotic and disordered power; just looking at them caused an inexplicable sense of palpitation.
What was even more peculiar was that some unknown blue mineral was embedded in the lines of these Runes. Even in this dim alley, those minerals emitted a faint blue glow, flickering on and off as if they were breathing.
This eerie sight added an unsettling, mysterious color to the dilapidated storefront.
“Wow, it really is quite mysterious.” Helos rubbed her chin, her eyes full of curiosity. She felt that this sign was neither pure magic nor the alchemy she was familiar with.
Agatha couldn’t wait any longer. She rubbed her hands together and was the first to push open the creaking wooden door.
“Let’s go, let’s go! Let’s head inside and see!”
Helos followed close behind, stepping into this legendary mysterious shop.
However, just as Eleanor was about to follow them in, her footsteps came to a sudden halt at the doorway.
Her gaze landed on the sign flickering with that eerie blue light. Her brows furrowed slightly, and a look of confusion and unease appeared on her face.
For some reason, ever since they approached this place, a strange feeling had been lingering in her heart.
She couldn’t exactly call it danger… it was more like a sense of dissonance.
It was as if some aura here was producing an extremely faint repulsion against the holy light flowing through her body. It was like a harsh note suddenly intruding into a beautiful hymn; though faint, it made her feel instinctively uncomfortable.
The feeling was subtle, yet it made her entire body feel out of sorts.
She subconsciously grabbed the arm of Gavi, who was following behind her, and lowered her voice to ask.
“Gavi, do you feel it… is there something wrong with this place?”
Gavi quietly sensed the surrounding aura. In her pure perception as a golem, other than the air being a bit dirty, there were no abnormal fluctuations.
She shook her head gently.
‘Even Gavi can’t feel it? Is it just my imagination?’
Eleanor looked at the pitch-black doorway that seemed to swallow all light, her heart filled with hesitation.
She felt that something she couldn’t understand was hidden behind this door—something that was diametrically opposed to the light she believed in.
But Helos and Agatha had already gone inside.
She couldn’t possibly leave her sister alone in such a strange place.
Ultimately, Eleanor took a deep breath and suppressed the unease in her heart. She offered a silent prayer, feeling a bit of comfort as the holy light circulated through her body.
Then, she steeled herself and followed them into the mysterious shop filled with an unknown and eerie atmosphere.