After the decree was communicated to the visiting powerhouses, the hunt for the mysterious treasure officially began. However, none of those participating was foolish enough to believe that the Empire’s rules would bring about fairness. Although the Emperor had stated that the Empire was not going to get involved in the hunt, the Capital City was still under his rule, so if the royal members joined the fray, they would still receive some hidden support from the Empire and enjoy the home advantage over the visiting powerhouses. That would vastly increase their chances of acquiring the mysterious treasure.
After all, the Emperor would not be able to save face if the treasure got obtained, right under his nose, by a random visitor. If Baiyi had not already known that the mysterious treasure was actually the Book of Servitude, he might have just turned his back instead of playing a part in the Emperor’s political game.
However, he found it amusing to see a horde of people rushing into the city even though they had no idea what the treasure was. Even the Emperor had pretended to abstain from joining the hunt as he called for fairness from all sides. When Baiyi thought about all this, he felt like bursting into laughter.
The sky darkened, but the royal vacation house was still bustling with activity. Even without leaving his room, Baiyi could hear the restless movements from outside — the susurrus of secret plans… The powerhouses had already begun to discuss strategies. Some had even slipped out of the manor to scour the city all through the night. The Emperor had imposed a night-time curfew until further notice, and only a fool would be oblivious to the real reason why the Emperor had not specified a date that the aforementioned curfew would end.
As some others succumbed to their excitement and anticipation, Baiyi sat quietly at a desk in his room. He had a quiver in his hand, with which he was using to write a letter.
The content of the letter had nothing to do with the treasure hunt, at all; it was about his upcoming Academy.
There were many procedures involved for one who wished to establish an academic institution. One of them was obtaining approval from the Emperor.
Since Baiyi had planned to obtain the Book of Servitude right in the Emperor’s Capital City, he was worried that the Emperor may choose to refuse to grant approval for his academy.
Baiyi was still very relieved that he had decided to build his academy in that small realm, as this would, at least, prevent him from being burdened by bureaucratic procedures in the future. Furthermore, he had already solved many other matters related to his future academy; for starters, he had already acquired a permit which officiated his ownership of that small realm, and he had acquired a Power Level certificate. Therefore, once he obtained this approval, the Emperor would have very little power over his academy.
Besides, if Baiyi needed to acquire some other documents from other organizations, they would attend to him even faster than they would the current emperor because, by then, the Book of Servitude would be in his possession.
Baiyi had decided that there was no need to rush off in search of the book; he alone would not be enough to find it. Brawn had yielded little effects on this expedition; two things that were more important than it was manpower and good luck, and Baiyi was already at a disadvantage in both.
The Archmage must have known about this, too, yet he still sent Baiyi on this journey, hence the Fifth Walker decided to go with the flow and resolve some less urgent matters first.
Baiyi was soon distracted by a knock on his door; someone had come to pay him a visit. When he opened the door, he saw a bald head that was so shiny, his room seemed to lit up. It was someone Baiyi already knew — the Great Sage “Baldy” Kris.
“Great Sage Hope! You’re here too,” Baldy Kris greeted Baiyi, with a smile.
“I didn’t know that there were others from the Doors of Conundrum interested in this,” Baiyi replied. He took a step back and invited the man into his room.
“The pulses of that frequency was too strong and terrifying to ignore,” Baldy Kris replied as he sat on a nearby couch. “Three other Great Sages from the executive branch also answered the calling and now, including you and me, there are a total of five people from the Doors of Conundrum here!”
Being in the executive branch meant that those three Great Sages had more strength than was required to lift books and flip pages, but their combat power was still limited. Although they were able to defeat those weaker than they were, in a serious battle with someone slightly stronger than they were, the Great Sages would have no hope of coming out victorious.
This was the reason why Kris had come looking for Baiyi. The members of the Doors of Conundrum there had more faith in Baiyi’s battle prowess than they did their own.
“What do you wish to gain from this?” Baiyi asked.
“Nothing much,” Baldy replied, with a coy smiled. This made Baiyi realize that he did not know the extent of their battle capabilities and their roles. “We don’t suppose we will actually get our hands on the secret treasure, but it would be an honor to take a look at it and analyze it for a bit.”
“How much information about this secret treasure have you acquired, so far? An item that could emit such a wide frequency must have been recorded in the archives within the headquarters, right?” Baiyi asked with feigned ignorance.
Baldy Kris shook his shiny head sideways. “Not a clue. Mind you, a lot of sages have begun turning the archives inside out, just to find any information that might be useful, but it would probably take a bit of time before we get any information from them. Does Great Sage Hope have any lead we can share?”
“No luck here, either,” Baiyi shook his head sideways, in pretense. “From what I could gather, no one knows what the treasure is; even the master of this city, his Majesty the Emperor, has no clue. I would have even less chance of knowing what it is!”
Although Baiyi had spoken nonchalantly, he knew he had less time to find it, seeing as the Doors of Conundrum were already scouring their archives for information; it would not take long for them to find information about the book. If the information then becomes public knowledge, the situation would change drastically.
At that time, no one would be able to resist the allure of such a power treasure, and this was sure to attract those who were especially ruthless and would stop at nothing to obtain it.
“Do you have any plans, Great Sage Hope? We’ll do our best to provide,” Baldy Kris said.
“No concrete plans. Frankly, this treasure isn’t even the main reason why I am here,” Baiyi replied as he walked over to the desk. He took the half-finished letter and passed it to Baldy Kris.
” ‘Permission to establish an academy, which will employ a holistic, comprehensive education method, on a small realm’ …” Baldy skimmed through the title of the letter and looked up quickly. “You have plans to build a school, sir?”
“Yea; I came to the Capital City to obtain his Majestic’s approval… Only to get caught in the middle of all this,” said Baiyi.
“Ah! It is always great news when another institution that seeks to dispense knowledge is established. My heartfelt congratulations to you on you,r institution in advance,” Baldy exclaimed earnestly. He was not surprised at Baiyi’s revelation, neither did he find it strange. This was because a lot of great sages from the Doors of Conundrum often ended up becoming principals. In many institutions, most of the important staff members were alumni of the Doors of Conundrum. This was understandable because the Doors of Conundrum was a titan of the academic world.
“Well, I still have many documents pending. This is only the beginning,” Baiyi replied as he took back the letter. I would even have to visit the headquarters at some point; I hope it will go smoothly.”
“Hahaha! Please! You don’t have to worry about the headquarters, at all. As long as you go there in person, whatever you need will be done very quickly.” Baldy Kris smiled.
Just like that, Baiyi had successfully changed the subject of discussion from the treasure hunt to his academy. Night soon arrived, and Baldy Kris decided to take his leave.
After he left Baiyi’s room, he realized that they had spent a long time talking about academics, instead of the elusive treasure!
“Sigh. It’s not like we have much to talk about at the moment. Most of the information still eludes us…” Baldy Kris rubbed his shiny bald head before returning to his room.
Shortly after the Great Sage Kris’s departure, Baiyi heard another knock at his door. When he opened the door, he saw another bald, shiny head, but it was not Baldy kris’s. His visitor wore a paladin’s silver knight armor.
The visitor seemed to be from the Church.
‘The hell is with me and bald heads today. Likes attract… is that the reason? That cannot be; I have a headful of lush black hair, so how come I keep attracting these eggheads?’ Baiyi thought to himself.
Outwardly, he asked, “State your intention.”
“Well, it’s good to see you again, Master Hope!” The visitor grinned as he greeted.
Baiyi had to rack his memory to remember this person; it was the fella he had met only once, for a very short time, back in Mia’s hometown. His name was Charlie or Charles or… something. Why had he even shaved his head? Was it so that he would be able to perform a “Serious Punch” 1 ?
“Well met,” Baiyi said, and led the man into his room. As soon as the man came in, Baiyi began to probe. “I didn’t know that the Church was interested in such worldly affairs.”
“To be honest, we aren’t here for that mysterious divine treasure; we’re here because there are legitimate concerns that the heretics may make an appearance here, causing harm to the innocents. So, as per his Most Eminent’s decree, we were dispatched here to maintain law and order,” the paladin replied. “But of course, if it was revealed that the treasure does indeed have a history with the Church, we won’t stand idle, either.”
‘It started with a pretty respectable intention… Then the last sentence came,’ Baiyi lambasted silently as he sat down. He began to chat with the paladin about the recent development.
It seemed that the Church had dispatched many of their men to Capital City; they were already 300 of them stationed within the city, and more were on their way. The caliber of soldiers that were sent made evident how serious the Church took this incident. They had sent paladins, crusaders, and priests. It had even dispatched 50 of its most power Templars, temporarily relieving them of their duties as the guardians of the Holy City.
The entire team was being led by the Paladin Grand Cross, Sir Roland, and the paladin with Baiyi was one of the low-ranking superiors. He had only come to say hello to Baiyi because he had met the Fifth Walker’s acquaintances before.
Baiyi believed that to be the case, as he saw no reason why the Church would be interested in seeking his aid, seeing as they already had such a heavy presence in the Capital City. Thus, Baiyi could only conclude that the Church sought to inform Baiyi of their intentions because of the friendship he had with them.
‘Looking at their heavy presence in the city, anyone would suspect that it isn’t all just for Godsfall cult; some of it just has to be for the treasure. Furthermore, after looking at the amount of manpower the Church deployed here, doesn’t the Emperor doubt their intentions?’
As though he could read Baiyi’s mind, the paladin went on the say: “It’s much more different this time. We are facing one of the murkiest battles ever since the forces of different factions — including legitimate factions, underground factions, local factions, and global factions —rushed over when the word got out. Even the North sent over many of its finest men… Thus, in order to combat this, we need this much manpower.”
“Right, right,” Baiyi replied, nonchalantly.
By the time Baiyi saw off the paladin, it was already too late in the night for him to receive any more visitors, so he took the chance to finish his letter.
The next morning, the Fifth walker went to the royal palace and submitted his letter to a chief of the royal guards. He revealed his identity to the chief and requested that his letter be sent to the Emperor immediately.
As Baiyi’s name was a household name, the chief processed his request very quickly.
Baiyi left feeling satisfied. On his way back, he bought a simple newspaper from a hawker, who was selling them by the street, because he was curious about the happenings that had occurred due to the recent development.
The headline read: “Conflict ended with blood!”
‘Seriously? Which one of these good fellows started a fight?’