Chapter 45: Sinister Corruption!

The appointed time had arrived, and Borne waited quietly for Rodney, fully aware that his meager defensive measures would hardly be enough to stop the so-called "Dossier Scholar."

Just then—

"Hmm?"

Borne's pupils contracted sharply, and a cold sweat broke out all over his body. The drowsiness that had been weighing on him vanished in an instant. The "Nather Scroll," which he'd placed right before his eyes on the table, had disappeared without a trace!

"Spatial transfer? Or targeted teleportation?"

Borne had scrutinized the Nather Scroll when he first obtained it; there should have been no magical markings of any kind. What’s more, after having "read" all its contents, his knowledge of spatial theory had grown by leaps and bounds—he felt he was now something of a "master of space." Reality, however, had just delivered a stinging slap to his face.

"Is this what they mean when they say that with each step higher, the gulf only widens?"

He had already simulated over a dozen scenarios in his mind, considering every possible way Rodney might make his entrance, and had prepared accordingly. Even though he knew he couldn’t possibly stop him, he’d at least hoped to cause some trouble, if only in annoyance. After all, Borne had spent years developing this little place, packing it with an intricate web of magical traps and spatial runes.

Not even his grandfather, Count Iolum, could teleport into this space with precision, yet Rodney had managed to take the item without even appearing in person!

Borne had never anticipated such an outcome.

So, the underground laboratory he’d considered so well-defended was nothing more than a joke in the eyes of a true master! He had once naively believed that even if a high-level spellcaster attacked, he could at least hold his own for a while.

"Heh... I never imagined I could be so arrogant!"

Rodney likely wasn’t even a legendary class yet. Borne had met Director Concinio a few times, who seemed like a vast, boundless sea, while Rodney was more like a suppressed volcano, seething with wild ferocity.

"Could it be…?"

A realization dawned on Borne, his expression clouded and uncertain.

…

When Raymond found Borne, the underground laboratory was littered with discarded sheets of white paper.

He picked up a crumpled one at his feet and unfolded it, finding it covered in derivation formulas he could not understand. Many others had been abandoned after only half a page.

The process for making this white paper was extremely complex; each sheet cost a silver coin. Seeing so many scattered all over the floor pained Raymond a little.

Borne sat at the alchemy table, two quills in hand moving swiftly over the paper by force of will, with more than a dozen sheets already filled and floating beside him.

Raymond looked on enviously at such exquisitely precise magical control.

"You're here," Borne called out, his hands not pausing for an instant.

"Yes, boss, all supplies are ready. We're only missing the Star Sapphire and the Water Opal now!"

"How many are we short?"

"According to the design plans, we’ll need ten of each," Raymond replied.

Borne considered for a moment, recalling that the family vault held a decent stock. "Hmm... I'll take care of the gems."

He raised his right hand, and a stack of papers flew from the table's corner into Raymond’s hands.

"Take a look at this."

"What’s this?" Raymond had a sense of foreboding as he examined the documents. After reading them, he forced a wry smile. "Boss, if you make these changes, the budget will double again. And to confuse the other merchant guilds, we’ve already split up the materials for storage. The city guard has started to take notice."

There was precedent for this: cults often did similar things, building massive sacrificial altars or summoning circles under the guise of construction in crowded cities.

Raymond was only complaining; as Borne’s abilities grew and his knowledge expanded, each breakthrough meant the whole design would be scrapped and upgraded.

"Boss, take a look at this." Raymond produced a letter from his waist pouch and placed it before Borne. "This is something the men have picked up recently. I think there’s something suspicious going on!"

Borne had founded the merchant guild not only to solve his funding problems, but for something even more important: to gather intelligence on Seventon, and indeed the entire Nather Kingdom!

Others who crossed worlds might know the whole plot, every side quest, every hidden opportunity—even the minutiae. Borne, however, knew only the broad strokes of the timeline.

It was like knowing that the Emperor of Qin was named Ying Zheng, and that the dynasty fell after the Second Emperor, but not knowing how, by whose hand, or any of the details.

So each month, he had the guild’s agents collect rumors and tidbits, for those living at the bottom often knew things others did not.

"July 3rd, Old York’s mouth began to wither. He spent a gold coin for healing at the temple, but the symptoms returned afterward."

"The patrol found a corpse—the brain had completely rotted inside the skull. They suspect a deranged killer."

"Doctor Locke has bought a lot of herbs. Lately, many patients have come in complaining of blurred vision, tinnitus, or difficulty breathing."

…

Dozens of reports—someone sick here, someone dead under strange circumstances there. Even nobles had fallen victim, and with spellcasters present, not a trace of the killer had been found!

Borne fell into deep thought, while his internal chip projected the results of its analysis onto his retina.

Evil contamination.

When those two words flashed before his eyes, Borne’s face turned grim.

"What’s wrong?"

He’d had a bad feeling reading through those reports—too many people falling ill or dying unnaturally.

"How many in the guild have shown symptoms like this?"

"Only a few, I think," Raymond replied after a moment’s thought.

"Check—go check immediately!" Borne ordered anxiously. "No, I’ll come with you!"

"Er... all right!" Raymond was momentarily stunned.

The two of them hurriedly boarded a carriage and rushed to guild headquarters.

Within the academy, Borne could cast Flight without a care, but outside—in the royal capital—he dared not be so brazen. The Enforcers of the Lord of Radiance were nothing like the academy’s.

Seeing Borne take personal charge, Raymond needed no further explanation about the gravity of the situation. He produced a bell and began to ring it as soon as they got in the carriage.

A resonance bell.

Made of special materials and always in pairs, when one rang, the other would echo within a certain range. The ringing pattern, of course, was of Borne’s own design.

By the time they arrived at headquarters, Borne had not spoken a word, his face dark and heavy.

Within ten minutes, over a hundred people had assembled in the main hall.

"Boss, everyone’s here except for one missing clerk from the West Market," Raymond reported.

Borne nodded, surveying the crowd. Though there was some quiet discussion, everyone seemed largely normal, and he relaxed slightly.

"Raymond, you go in as well. You’ll understand in a moment," Borne instructed.

Raymond nodded and joined the others.

Borne retrieved a scroll from a cabinet and activated it, tossing it forward. Instantly, a jet-black light burst forth from more than a hundred people standing before him!

The hall erupted in chaos.

"What—?"

"Impossible!"

"By the Lord of Radiance!"

…

Voices of disbelief filled the room. Many, unable to accept what they saw, fell to their knees in tears and prayer, while a few fainted outright.

Even Raymond looked on in shock at the faint black mist surrounding him, unable to believe his eyes.

First-circle divine spell: Detect Good and Evil.

One of the most common, and most troublesome, divine spells. Normally, a person would shine clear; even a murderer would only appear red. Only those guilty of the most heinous crimes, perhaps after slaughtering hundreds of innocents, would glow with darkness.

Of course, as a first-circle spell, Detect Good and Evil could not be perfectly accurate. If an entire world’s morality rested on it, the world would have fallen long ago.

"Quiet, everyone! Listen to me—"

Borne’s magically amplified voice echoed through the hall, and with a modified Hypnotic Pattern, the crowd’s emotions soon calmed.

Borne explained that everyone had merely come into contact with an evil artifact or visited a place steeped in corruption, thus becoming contaminated. It was only pollution; a priest’s Purify or Blessing, or even holy water, could cleanse it.

To reassure everyone, Borne used a scroll of Purify on Raymond, and the black mist vanished. Only then did the crowd settle.

After all, no one wanted to be branded a demon—being discovered was tantamount to a death sentence.

…