bookandnovel Chapter 168 The Peacock's Enemy
Chapter 168 The Peacock's Enemy
Chapter 168 The Peacock's Enemy
Looking at the dazzling array of herbs in the cabinet, Gebu couldn't help but feel overjoyed, but he didn't show it on his face.
Garin grass, dragon's breath rose, star thorn moss, ice lotus — is this colorful mushroom a fairy fungus umbrella?
With these materials, Gebu's herbalism skills can reach a new level, and potions that were previously only imaginable can now be made. For example, Dragon's Breath Potion and Underwater Breathing Potion.
Gebu took out his bag and was about to gather the contents into his clothes when the halfling shopkeeper grabbed his arm and stopped him.
The halflings looked at each other, and the middle-aged man opposite them had a slightly wary expression.
"Is this really what Madam wanted?" He raised an eyebrow and asked suspiciously. "By the way, I've never seen you before."
"You haven't had a reason to see me until now," Geb replied calmly. "I'm here specifically to help Madam resolve her worries. You don't want Madam to worry, do you?"
The man remained wary, but seemed taken aback by Gebu's composure, and said in a low voice, "What can I do for you, Madam—"
"You can start by giving me these herbs," Gebu said with a smile, looking at the man's hand on the cabinet. "What, you don't believe me?"
"No, it's not that I don't believe you, but Madam always specifies the exact herbs when she takes medicine; she never takes them all at once."
Gebu's smile vanished. He stared directly into the man's eyes, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of threat, "So you're saying I'm lying?"
"I—" The man hesitated for a moment. Gebu's gaze drifted to the ledger he had hidden. The two stared at each other for a moment, and the halfling quickly grasped Gebu's meaning.
"If Madam asks—"
"If Madam asks, you're finished," Geb said bluntly. "But I'm here for something more important, and I don't want to waste Madam Peacock's time and energy because of your little mistake—you do me a favor, and I'll do you a favor in return."
The halfling looked refined and wasn't stupid. He quickly understood what Geb meant: this was being blackmailed because they had been caught red-handed.
Upon hearing Gebu's words, the middle-aged half-man stopped him and turned his head away, pretending not to see him.
Now that Gebu had pointed it out, he stopped hiding it and took the account book out of its hiding place. He put the real account book inside his chest and put the fake one back in its original position.
"You've taken the stuff, so we're in this together. You have to cover for me in front of Madam, or else you'll betray me—don't worry, I understand." Gebu chimed in, continuing, "Do you have any Cold-Hearted Deer Vine needed to make intermediate-level healing potions? Get me plenty—the more the better."
Gebu swept everything in the cabinet into his dimensional bag, estimating that he could make at least seven or eight bottles of various intermediate-level potions.
That is, a harvest of seven or eight hundred gold coins.
Thank you, old lady Xie, for the bag of rare herbs! Lady Peacock is so generous!
At this moment, the man returned with a bundle of cold-weather deer vines: "This is all I can give you—any more and the shop will run out of stock, and then even you won't be able to keep it a secret."
Gebu took the deer vine from the man's hand, counted it, and found it was enough to make five bottles of intermediate-level healing potion.
"Alright, something is better than nothing," Gebu said. These herbs were a pleasant surprise; his main purpose was to get some information out of this person.
Gebu carefully put away the dimensional bag and said casually to the person in front of him, "I've heard some rumors circulating in the city recently about the Madam. I hope you're not foolish enough to believe such rumors, let alone spread them."
"————Of course, even if I had a hundred lives, I wouldn't dare to spread rumors about Lady Peacock."
"However, between you and me, I must say, the rumors lately have been getting increasingly outrageous." Geb looked around mysteriously, leaned closer to the halfling, and whispered, "What, the lady's vault was stolen by magical goblins—and so on."
"That rumor can't be true!" The man quickly interrupted Geb, as if afraid that Geb would be overheard if he continued. "How could the lady be schemed against by some goblin?"
"But I heard that the Kingdom Church has recently been massacring goblins across the country, two silver coins for each head. Do you think it's because the goblins have learned magic, and the Church is afraid they'll threaten humanity, so they're eliminating them completely?" Gebu mixed a few bits of truth with a bunch of nonsense, fabricating a conspiracy theory. "Today they dare challenge the Gray Raven Society, tomorrow they dare oppose the Church. Don't you think these goblins are going to fly to the heavens?"
"I've never heard of such an outrageous rumor." The middle-aged man rubbed his nose and interrupted Gebu somewhat unhappily.
"You haven't heard about it? Neither have your men? There's no smoke without fire; these rumors always spread by mouths, don't they?"
"What are you implying?" the man asked nervously. "I specifically told my men not to listen to what those people outside are saying—I've worked for the Madam for so many years, how could I not know the rules?"
"Who did you hear say what?" Geb seized on the loophole in the man's words and pressed him aggressively.
"I—I didn't hear anything." The halfling realized he had let something slip and immediately denied it.
Gebu gave him no chance to escape. His face darkened instantly, and he pretended to put his hand on his waist as if he were about to draw a weapon.
"I was just joking earlier, but I'm serious now—what did you hear, you old rascal?"
The man swallowed nervously.
"I—I just heard that the herbalist Harden sought revenge on Lady Peacock—he hired a goblin assassin to poison her, making her age hundreds of years overnight, and she can't even get out of bed—some people even say that she has—that—"
Upon hearing this, Gebu was shocked—had the peacock been poisoned?
It's highly unlikely that another goblin and a peacock could form a feud in such a short time; it's too much of a coincidence.
The so-called goblin assassin refers to someone whose words were repeated three times, causing the story to become increasingly outrageous. However, it's likely true that Peacock was targeted.
"Serves you right, all you do is research poisons every day," Gebu thought to himself with a smug grin.
"—Of course, I know all of this is just a rumor. Lady Peacock is coming to Martina tonight, and this rumor will surely be disproven." The middle-aged halfling wiped the sweat from his brow and quickly added.
Seeing the nervous look on the person in front of him, Gebu thought for a moment. The old lady was so cunning and shrewd that these people would never dare to do such a thing under normal circumstances—but how loyal could a group of gangsters be?
It seems that after news of the peacock's poisoning spread, her subordinates started making underhanded moves—hmm—there's always a loophole to exploit.
"Of course, we could handle this ourselves, but Madam came in person to demonstrate that these rumors are just rumors. However, rumors are often more damaging than the truth. Someone is maliciously slandering Madam Peacock; there must be a conspiracy. Have our competitors made any moves during this time?"
How could Gebu know who Peacock's competitors were? It was pure deception—but wherever there is profit, there will always be struggle.
If the peacock shows weakness, other forces will surely come to invade her territory—these are the forces that Gebu can unite and utilize.
"Of course not!" the halfling replied without hesitation. "Everything is as usual. Who would dare to oppose the Madam?"
Gebu narrowed his eyes, and the person in front of him averted his gaze for a moment. Gebu stared at him for a while, then the gloom on his face vanished, replaced by a wide smile.
"That's good." Gebu stood up and patted the man on the shoulder. "You did a great job, keep it up. I'll put in a good word for you with the lady."
The middle-aged half-man secretly breathed a sigh of relief, watching Gebu leave the shop. After Gebu had gone some distance, he quickly closed the door, left the shop through the back door, looked around to make sure no one was following him, and then disappeared into the alley in an instant.
After the man slipped away, Gebu poked his head out from the other end of the alley.
"Big Eyes, follow him."
The magical pet, in the form of a raven, darted between rooftops. Gebu quickly switched between the magical pet's and his own field of vision, following the halfling in the apothecary towards the city's higher ground.
If someone claims to have suppressed the peacock's enemies solely through their own abilities—that's likely boasting. If they complain about their shop's shrinking market share, or even say they can't continue operating, that might be the truth. But if they say everything is normal, what does that mean?
This can only mean one thing: he was working for the enemy.
Gebu followed the guy through the streets and alleys, but the man knew the way well, using narrow passages and back alleys to hide his figure. If it weren't for his magical pet watching from the sky the whole way, Gebu would have lost him long ago.
After passing through the lower city, Gebu followed the halfling to the harbor area—it was a little after 10 a.m., a busy time of people coming and going, unloading and loading cargo.
Upon arriving in Gebu, they watched as the figure disappeared into the bustling crowd. Two port laborers were carrying a door panel as they passed by, and the half-man vanished behind the panel.
Ok?
Gebu asked in surprise, and quickly chased after him. He looked around and found that there was nowhere to hide. How could this guy have disappeared in an instant?
Have we been discovered?
No, impossible. Gebu was once an excellent scout; he wouldn't have lost his specialty—tracking prey. He calmed down and carefully observed the spot where the man had disappeared.
There was nowhere to hide, in front, behind, left, or right. Had it flown into the sky?
Gebu looked up at the sky, and a drop of water fell from the eaves, pattering onto the ground.
The water droplets shattered, and Gebu looked at the manhole cover on the ground and suddenly realized what was going on.
It didn't go to heaven, it burrowed into the ground!
As soon as Gebu entered the city, he noticed that Matiana had a very sophisticated drainage system. The city streets were arched in the middle, sloping towards the curbs on both sides, with drainage ditches and drains next to the curbs for rainwater to drain naturally.
It seems the members of the Gray Raven Society have learned to utilize the city's sewer system.
Gebu scratched his head. This was a tricky situation. He was unfamiliar with the area and couldn't rely on his magical pet to get a bird's-eye view from above. The sewers were a complex terrain; it would be easy to lose track of them. Losing track was one thing, but if they were discovered and ambushed, they'd have nowhere to run!
Is it possible to track them from the ground without going through the sewers?
Following the street's contours and the location of the drains, Gebu imagined where the sewers beneath his feet would lead—this was the harbor area near the docks, the lowest point in the entire city, with the sea just across the street.
Going downhill, the sewers flow directly into the sea—this guy must have gone uphill.
Gebu followed the path of the sewers uphill along the street. He knew he was not far from his final destination—if the sewers were easy to navigate, he would have gone straight through them as soon as he left the house, instead of wandering around the streets for so long.
Everyone knows that sewers smell bad, so they must have been nearing their destination and chose a hidden entrance through the sewer to avoid being noticed.
Gebu followed the sewers all the way to the end of the street. There, the street connected to a small square, where a statue of a maiden surrounded by roses stood. Water cascaded from the floral crown on the white stone statue's head, flowing down the perforated bricks into the ground—judging from the square's layout, there must be a huge reservoir beneath. The sewers branched off here, leading to several streets connected to the square.
There were too many forks in the road here, so we couldn't continue.
Gebu stopped, rested his chin on his hand, and examined the buildings surrounding the square.
Houses, houses, houses — a theater?
A flashy sign caught the goblin's eye.
The fluffy cotton balls were cut into the shape of dandelions, and beneath the white balls, the words "Dance of Dandelions" were written in intricate cursive script.
Beneath the signboard, a notice hangs on the old, mottled brick wall.
A timeless classic from a thousand lakes!
The valiant goat rider, a lone goat and his ram, embarks on a legendary adventure, overcoming countless obstacles to rise from a frail youth to the lord of a city!
Battle, passion, betrayal, love!
Martina's best theater company, Dandelion Dance, brings you:
The Secret of the Cloud Sheep
Tickets cost 1 gold coin, seats are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.
The theater reserves the right to final interpretation of its rules and regulations. Tickets are non-refundable and non-exchangeable once sold.
Minors must be accompanied by a parent or guardian to enter.
Pickled cucumber juice is not allowed in the theater.
Pickled onions are not allowed in the theater.
No pickled food is allowed in the theater!!!
Wait a minute—Dandelion Dance, does that name sound familiar?
Oh right, isn't that dark-skinned half-elf in this theater troupe?
She and that big guy were members of the Gray Ravens, as was the halfling from the quack shop. This couldn't possibly be a coincidence.
Could it be that the dark-skinned half-elf and the peacock's enemies are in cahoots?
Geb recalled that the letter in the half-elf's hand had a "rat tail" mark, not a peacock mark—was it possible that the owner of this rat tail mark was another "rat leader" of the Gray Raven Society, and happened to be an enemy of the peacock?
It seems I really need to have a chat with this dark-skinned Yvette.