Chapter 225: Chapter 223: Clouds of Suspicion Rise

"Would 20 Gold Coins be too much?"

"What 20 Gold Coins? It’s 40 Gold Coins."

"Ah, are you, are you serious?"

Elina gasped.

Earlier, when Hilia stopped her from continuing to speak, she handed the stage over to Hilia. Who would have thought Hilia would change the agreed 10 Gold Coins, directly raising it to 20 Gold Coins.

And not just that, she even wanted 40 Gold Coins!?

Gold Coins!

Even a large Mercenary Corps can’t gather such an amount in a short time, right?

Seeing Elina’s doubts, Hilia waved her hand: "You underestimate the rich too much, it’s only 40 Gold Coins. If I wasn’t still unclear about the rivalry between that Pascal and his sister, I would have asked for 100 Gold Coins!"

Elina: "..."

Humans are terrifying.

Elina felt that her bargaining and pricing for ruins’ information trading had a kind of innocent beauty in comparison...

Elina said, "But, Hilia, how can you ensure that the Royal Mercenary Corps will pay 40 Gold Coins for the information? We only have a half-baked understanding of the ruins right now, we still don’t know what the ’Initial Trial’ of the ruins is like, whether it’s a unified labyrinth or different traps."

"We’ll know once the first batch of mercenaries enters and explores the ruins." Hilia giggled: "Judging by my observations of this ruin, it’s also one of those ruins replicated into numerous Mirror Worlds, which might be a bit different from other trap-solving type ruins."

"What do you mean by ’a bit different’?"

"Other trap-solving ruins had someone bury the treasure inside and set up numerous traps to prevent anyone from entering. This castle labyrinth... pure malice, like intentionally creating obstacles for people. I suspect it was deliberately made by a powerful mage, the purpose... unknown, definitely not anything good."

Saying so, Hilia laughed: "Maybe after all our hard work, what we get in the end isn’t treasure, but a prank note from the ruin’s owner."

Elina also chuckled: "It’s impossible, who would waste so many resources to create a ruin just for a prank."

The two exchanged smiles.

...

Hilia and Elina, who were the first to enter, returned smoothly. Although no one knew if they gained anything, it sparked countless people’s interest in exploration, making the temporary camp very empty that night.

Most people were adventuring inside the ruins, almost no one came back.

Until near midnight, there was a commotion from the direction of the ruins.

The news of someone emerging from the ruins quickly spread to the temporary camp, prompting all watching mercenaries to rush towards the gate of the ruins.

Alarmed, Hilia and Elina also headed over.

They soon learned about the situation of the mercenary corps that went in and came out.

It was the second team that entered, the Royal Mercenary Corps, led by Pascal’s sister.

But right now, the state of this team wasn’t good. Except for the leading girl, everyone else was covered in wounds, staggering with trembling steps, supported entirely by Magic Puppets, as if they would collapse at any moment.

The state of the Magic Puppets was even worse, barely able to crawl.

Even the leading girl wasn’t in good condition; her expensive mage robe was torn, she leaned on a Magic Staff, one hand resting on a Magic Puppet as her body trembled and she gasped.

Pascale, who greeted Hilia and the others in the evening, came forward from the crowd, concerned, asking, "Sister, are you okay? Let me heal you."

Hilia noticed that although he seemed concerned for his sister, he couldn’t suppress the curve at the corners of his mouth.

The girl also noticed the curve at the corners of his mouth, and pushed away the reaching hand, saying calmly, "No need, I’m not at that level yet, go heal the others."

Other members of the Royal Mercenary Corps staying behind quickly swarmed forward and carried the adventurers back to the camp.

Other mercenaries watched them leave, talking among themselves.

"What’s going on with this ruin?"

"Didn’t those two come out without a scratch earlier in the day?"

"Tsk—the distinguished Royal Mercenary Corps, are they not better than two solo mercenaries from who knows where?"

"Not necessarily, what if those two just went in for a quick look and came out?"

"I really want to know what happened in there."

"The Royal Mercenary Corps came out, the others should be coming out soon too. We can ask them and find out."

"..."

Listening to the commotion among the mercenaries, Hilia and Elina exchanged a glance and tacitly opted to leave, quietly following behind the people from the Royal Mercenary Corps back to the temporary camp.

Elina said, "Hilia, wait for me outside, I’ll sneak in and see if they encountered the same as we did."

Hilia said, "No need, I can hear from outside."

"I can’t hear."

Saying this, Elina climbed into the Royal Mercenary Corps Camp, sneaking inside.

Seeing this, Hilia had no choice but to go to the back of the camp, leaning against a tree, she closed her eyes pretending to meditate, but actually had already turned her Spiritual Power into a Mage’s Hand, forming several mental tendrils, probing into the tent where Pascal’s sister was.

Inside the tent, a priest was healing her injuries.

However, cold sweat was continuously streaming down the priest’s face.

Pascal’s sister frowned, "Can’t handle such minor injuries?"

The priest wiped the cold sweat from his forehead, "Lady Emilia... Commander, sorry, the curse on you, I... can’t purify it. This peculiar curse is different from the common hexes now, very hard to purify."

"What about others?"

"Others... are even worse, everyone the same. This ruin’s curse is peculiar, seemingly targeting the Holy Court’s Purification Skill, using it can’t dispel it, I’m sorry."

Pascal’s sister frowned, ready to get angry, but shook her head, "Forget it, it’s not your fault, this ruin is indeed very special."

With that, she waved her hand to dismiss the priest, and called for someone, saying, "I remember yesterday someone from the Eternal Night Mercenary Corps was also cursed, and a mysterious elf helped him dispel the curse, go find those two people for me."

"Yes!"

Observing secretly, Hilia shook her head at the other party’s reaction and chose to observe other tents.

Pascal’s sister seemed to just want some peace and refused to talk.

In other tents...

Pascal seemed to want to understand the situation of the ruins, but other injured personnel were in no condition to answer his questions, lying on the beds groaning.

Helpless, he called for someone: "Go get the elf that treated the Eternal Night yesterday."

"Yes."

As the subordinate mercenary left, Pascal suddenly thought of something, frowning slightly, "Those two... are they the two elves who treated Eternal Night yesterday?"