The rebuilding of the Coral Cup Terrace went more smoothly than expected.

The Belen lich and ghost mages who once served the old wizard Hylast, following the orders of their new master, collected all sorts of things from the treasure vault of Hylast-

The sculptures and famous paintings created by the artists of the ancient elf royal court are all heirlooms that make the elf nobles of Yongju Island spend a lot of money.

Ancient books that have been out of print hundreds of years ago, even the monks of Candlefort who have worked tirelessly to collect books are willing to trade their rare ancient books.

Silver, gold, mythril, and adamantite, precious metals that are extremely scarce in the surface market, are melted and cast into ingots, and piled up with various raw gemstones, as if they were just worthless stones.

In other secret rooms, strange ores from many elemental planes and Heavenly Mountain, Elysium, Bato's Nine Hells, and the Endless Abyss were piled up into hills.

For example, the Red Dragon Steel, a specialty of the Earth Elemental Plane, is a hard, cold metal that does not melt even in the Red Dragon's flame breath, and has always been regarded by dragon slayers as the best armor casting material.

Another example is the dark red Abyss Blood Steel, which is one of the famous products of the Endless Abyss. Since the demons never stop fighting each other, a large amount of demonic blood and abyssal magic precipitated and coalesced, forming this ore with strange powers, which is also the best material for demon lords to forge weapons.

For example, the Mourning Purple Gold, a beautiful purple gold ore with its own divine powers, can be used against the undead without the need for priests to cast blessing spells, and the Belen Lich is a little unhappy when they mention this ore.

Of course, the most numerous are all kinds of magic items - the wand of sculpting, the Blessing Necklace, the crown of wisdom, the treasure of the Dharma, the Endless Medicine Pot, the Lucky Ring, the Transgender Belt, the Charm of Confusion, all the treasures with the sorcerer's mind and evil taste, can be found on the list of the Liches of Belen.

There is no doubt that Helast's collection over the past thousand years is enough to dwarf even the most greedy dragons, and the Great Tomb of Nasalik, which was once used by Wei Ye as the raw material of Dingyuan Heaven and Earth, is far inferior in terms of wealth compared to - except for the so-called "world-class secret treasures" that have been condensed by the relics of heaven and earth.

But for Xia Yuan Taiyijun, those ancient secret treasures that were enough for magicians to snatch their heads were just chicken ribs. A magic robe can turn a mage apprentice into a powerful mage in an instant, but for a lost god, a hooded robe is no more comfortable to wear than a Qingxi robe.

"Well done statistics, gentlemen. Looking at the list submitted by the former elven court mage, Xia Yuan Taiyijun nodded happily, "The former Skull Harbor was crowded with adventurers who wanted to make a fortune in the leyline maze. But from now on, this thousand-year-old dream of fortune can come to an end. Gather everything in groups, and they should do more than a rusty and moldy pile in the basement. ”

"And about the commission of the Builders' Guild—" the former court mage asked, "is it paid in gems?"

At the voice of the Belen lich, a quill with two small legs hurriedly jumped into the inkwell, dipped in the ink, and quickly listed the latest prices in the Waterdeep gem market on another payout sheet.

"No, don't use gemstones. Physical trading is always subject to supply and demand, and the influx of large quantities of gemstones and precious metals into the market will only bring about depreciation. The Cinnoré family's treasury is now at our disposal, and the funds are drawn from there first. ”

The former court mage gestured for the quill to record as he picked up another document: "Volunteers sent by the Wandering Court have arrived, most of them adventurers, and only a few are priestesses serving Elistra. ”

"The Wandering Court is the most special temple in the vicinity, after all, they are always facing the cultists of the evil gods underground. Didn't the Temple of Tyre send their temple guards? let the ladies and the servants of Tyre mix into a patrol, and if any of them weren't fit for the job, they would be sent back to their temples, the Coral Cup Terrace was not a shelter for troubled children. ”

After a pause, the owner of Newport asked a seemingly unrelated question: "What is Mr. Varro up to?"

"Walking through the ruins, chatting with skeletons, returning to Waterdeep's fine dining restaurants, it's always been like that. ”

......

.........

"Can I do it for you, sir?"

"A pan-seared lamb chop with rosemary, orange wine and white fish salad, soft-fried buttered mushrooms, and Waterwater-style oyster soup. Expertly ordering, the famous travel writer patted his big shy belly, "After a hard day of exploring, this is the best reward." ”

The waiter in a black silk dress quickly recorded the menu, and then looked at the travel writer's bodyguards with a hint of defensiveness, "What do these two gentlemen need?"

"Spore bread, ground with the spores of a large blue-capped mushroom and baked. Hokun said.

"I'm sorry," the waiter frowned slightly, "The Captain's Hall doesn't offer special food from the dark region, can you change it to knight's bread?" ”

He was answered by a pair of bright purple eyes, like a winter wolf watching his prey.

But the atmosphere was quickly interrupted by Varro: "No, there is no need for knight's bread, I admit that this whole wheat bread is fragrant and nutritious, but when it cools, it is hard like a mace." Didn't the minstrours of the Cormier kingdom sing the praises of the 'knights of the five bread baskets'? these retinue cooks wield knights' bread to open the heads of the evil priests of the Santarin!

At the writer's gag, the Drow brothers stopped talking, and faced in silence the table of local delicacies that Varro had ordered for them.

This atmosphere of silence and gloom was not like that of the brothers whom Varro knew—apart from their ebony skin and the occasional drow, the brothers who cared for each other were like the usual mercenaries on the surface, not good, but not evil, and could accomplish the tasks they had been given as long as they could get the benefits.

Protecting Varro Temple is an easy, well-paid task, and Hokun and Colan are not resentful, even occasionally admiring the writer's jokes. But at some point, this relaxed atmosphere was replaced by a somber one, and there was no smile on the faces of the Drow brothers.

Scooping the oyster soup little by little with a small silver spoon, Varro gave up on keeping the atmosphere alive, but the guests who dined in the captain's hall kept their eyes on their table.

The Captain's Hall is a well-known fine dining restaurant in Waterdeep, but the Captain's Hall rarely (or none) hosts Drow guests, and if it weren't for the fact that the restaurant manager knew that Varro Temple was an old friend of the Lord of the Black Rod, he would never let them in.

But even if the manager of the captain's hall allowed the "writer and drow" combination to dine here, he couldn't stop the curious eyes of his guests.

Finally, at the adjacent dining table, a white-bearded old man in a robe beckoned to Varro: "Mother of Mysteries, if I am not mistaken, you are Your Excellency Varro Tempp, the best friend of the Great Sage of the Valley of Shadows!"

The title of "Friend of the Great Sage of the Valley of Shadows" was clearly very much to the appetite of the travel writer, and Varro put down the spoon, walked up to the white-bearded old man, and happily replied, "It's contemptible, but I have never seen you......"

"I'm just an ordinary wizard who was once instructed by the Great Sage, and I'm not worth mentioning. The old man, whose white beard almost reached the ground, replied so modestly, "And as a wizard, I would prefer to devote my limited time to the infinite study of the mystical arts, fierce adventures, dangerous monsters, which are too terrible for an ordinary wizard like me. ”

"But—" The old wizard stared at Varro's shiny face, but with a youthful glow, "to be able to learn about the dangers and dangers that heroes have endured in your magnum opus is enough for an old man who stays in the research room. ”

"Your praise is a contemptible honor. Varro nodded, and guessed, "Maybe this old wizard will pull out one of my books and ask me to sign it—"

And just as he had expected, the shriveled old man churned out of his long white beard, and out of it fell out of it a carved wooden lion with a lame leg, glasses with broken lenses, amber lumps wrapped in small worms, uneaten hairy sausages, and all sorts of rags.

Finally, the old man took out a small white porcelain vase and sent it to Varro: "This is the best invention I have spent most of my life inventing, I call it 'the Great Wishing Ink', as long as you make a wish on this little inkwell seriously......"

"Could there be a djinn who knows how to make a wish?" Varro, who had seen a lot of mages' strange inventions, couldn't help but interrupt.

"It's even better than that!" the old man seemed to be unable to hear the cold tone of the travel writer's words, and dangled in front of Varro with a small porcelain vase, "just lift the lid ......"

As he spoke, he used his thin fingers to twist the porcelain bottle cap, but the bottle cap did not understand the slightest bit, and the old wizard smiled apologetically at Varro, and then said, "I wish this inkwell opened by itself-"

Before he could finish speaking, the cap of the inkwell let out a "bang" and slammed into the ceiling of the captain's hall.

At the sound of everyone's amazement, a fountain of black ink sprang out of the inkwell, and in the blink of an eye, it doused Varro even darker than Hocquin and Cologne.

Feeling as if he had fallen into an asphalt pit, the famous travel writer Varro Tamp could only pick up a napkin, wipe the ink off his face, and ask angrily: "This is the greatest invention you have spent half your life in?"

"It was just a mistake. The white-bearded old wizard replied with a natural, "every spell works where it suits, and so does the inventions of despicable people." ”

"The laundry must love your invention. The travel writer, blackened by the ink, retorted, but the old wizard was unmoved: "The inks will not have any harmful effect on you, because they will be absorbed by your skin very quickly, and the moisturizing effect is like a milk bath." ”

As if to confirm the old wizard's words, the discomfort of the ink-stained body soon disappeared, but Varro looked down and saw that his hands had completely turned the color of ink.

"Marvelous invention, I will sue you for 'magical negligent injury' unless you remove the ink from my body immediately. ”

"I can't take it off, I can't take it off. The old wizard spread his hands with a rogue expression, "The ink will remain on your body for a while until their mission is complete, otherwise you will still be like this." Trust me, though, adventures and adventures always come quickly, and you won't be the same for long......"

However, these words were not taken to heart by Varro Temp, and the well-known writer threw away his napkin and left the captain's hall in a rage.

As bodyguards, Hokun and Coren followed closely behind their protectors, while the manager of the captain's hall unhappily blocked the old man playing with ink.

"Dear Sir, do you have anything to say about the fact that your magic show has had a detrimental effect on the guests of this restaurant?"

"Put all the bills for the damage in the name of the Sindore family, and the Dragon's Lair Tower will be paid compensation to the Captain's Hall. With these words, the white-bearded old wizard put his long beard on his shoulder, and disappeared in front of the restaurant manager after taking a few steps.

(End of chapter)