Coiling Dragon

by welyjesch

  “Lin….Linley…” Alice’s current emotions were extremely complicated.

  She stared at the introductory text on the side.

  “The sculptor of this sculpture is named ‘Linley’. This year, he is seventeen years old, a graduate of the Ernst Institute, and a seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank. In this day and age, he is, without a doubt, the number one genius magus in the entire Yulan continent, and even if we look at the history of the Yulan continent as a whole, he is still the number two genius magus in all of history.”

  “But Linley isn’t just a genius magus. In the field of sculpting, he also has made amazing accomplishments. Although only seventeen, this sculpture of his, ‘Awakening From the Dream’….”

  Seeing those lines of words, Alice was dumbfounded yet again.

  “It’s Linley. It’s Linley.” Alice stared at the placard unbelievingly. “A dual-element magus of the seventh rank? He’s already a magus of the seventh rank? But…but just last year, he was just a magus of the fifth rank.”

  Alice had no idea that before they had broken up, Linley had become a magus of the sixth rank. Only…Linley had never been given the chance to let her know.

  “Awakening From the Dream. This sculpture is called, ‘Awakening From the Dream’.” Staring at the five female figures in the sculpture, especially that last one with the slight aura of heartlessness, Alice suddenly understood the true reason why Linley had given this sculpture the name, ‘Awakening From the Dream.’

  “The dreamer…has awakened?” Alice felt that her mind was a total mess.

  As the first man she had ever truly cared for, in the bottom of Alice’s heart, there was always a special place reserved for Linley. But when she discovered that Linley had given this sculpture the name, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, she suddenly felt as though something had disappeared from her heart.

  That sort of feeling…was very difficult to bear.

  Alice suddenly noticed that by her side, Kalan’s fists were knotted, and an extremely unpleasant look was on his face. His veins were bulging out, and his face was terrifyingly grim. His eyes flashed with dark light as he stared a deathly gaze at this sculpture.

  “Big Brother Kalan!” Worried, Alice called to him.

  But Kalan paid her no mind.

  “Linley, you…you go too far.” Kalan was filled with boundless, fiery rage. In the past, Kalan was rather well-disposed towards Linley. But in the depths of his heart, Kalan somewhat looked down on Linley. As far as Kalan was concerned, no matter how hard Linley worked, he could never be able to match Kalan’s clan.

  After all, his clan was hitched to the enormous war machine that was the Dawson Conglomerate.

  But in what, just five months?

  His Debs clan had been abandoned by the Dawson Conglomerate. And Linley? Out of nowhere, he became a seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank. What’s more, he was acclaimed as the number one genius magus of this age.

  Even in the long history of the Yulan continent, there was only one person slightly better than Linley.

  “A seventeen year old dual-element magus of the seventh rank, and a sculptor approaching the level of the Grandmasters.” Kalan suddenly felt enormous pressure.

  This person was simply too incredible.

  But shortly after, Kalan only felt boundless fury.

  Because the inspiration for this sculpture was his fiancée!

  “Hey, take a look. Isn’t this girl really similar to the woman in this sculpture?” A voice suddenly rang out within the hall of the masters, and instantly, over ten heads turned to stare at Alice. The hall suddenly became a hotbed of commotion and discussion.

  Linley’s sculpting abilities were simply too amazing. He had totally captured Alice’s grace and charm in this sculpture.

  From their very first glance at Alice, those viewers had the feeling…that the girl in front of them and the female carved into ‘Awakening From the Dream’ were incredibly similar. In fact, they could totally be considered the same person. That unique gaze. That slightly sharp, arched nose.

  “Miss, dare I ask what your relationship is with Master Linley?” An old man with a head full of white hair, at least a century old, asked very courteously towards Alice.

  In the field of sculpting, Linley had already reached the level of master.

  Linley’s skill in sculpting was enough to cause these collectors who had decades or centuries of experience in sculpting to prostrate themselves in admiration. Respectfully addressing him as ‘Master’ was something which came from their hearts. Based on this old man’s century-plus years of experience in appraising stone sculptures, he naturally could tell that the woman carved into the sculpture was most likely a person whom Linley had shared a period of turbulent love.

  Alice felt rather awkward, and couldn’t help but turn to look at Kalan.

  “Oh, Kalan, you are here as well.” The old man looked at Kalan. Old people naturally being as sly as a fox, the old man naturally could tell that Kalan and Alice’s relationship was not a simple one. “Kalan, who is this young lady?”

  Although Kalan felt extremely unhappy, he still modestly bowed and said, “Milord Duke Berner [Ba’na], this is Miss Alice, my fiancée.”

  “Fiancée?” Duke Berner cast a meaningful glance at Kalan and Alice, then laughed, asking no more.

  ….

  Pulling Alice by the hand, as through running for his life, Kalan quickly fled back to the Debs clan’s manor.

  The leader of the Debs clan, Kalan’s father, Bernard, stared at his son in disbelief. “What did you just say? The inspiration for that sculpture being exhibited in the Proulx Gallery is Alice?”

  Bernard was generally rather doting towards his son.

  When his son said he was going to marry Alice, Bernard didn’t object. But just a few days after his son had firmed up his relationship with Alice, the Dawson Conglomerate had suddenly decided to break off relations with the Debs clan for no apparent reason at all. With regards to this affair, Bernard had been constantly begging to meet with the upper level management of the Dawson Conglomerate for a meeting.

  Over the past few months, Bernard had been busy dealing with this issue, and was so busy that he hadn’t even had the free time to bother going about to viewing the sculptures at the Proulx Gallery.

  “Alice. The inspiration is Alice?” The expression on Bernard’s face immediately grew ugly.

  Kalan nodded. “Yes, father. Although Alice and I haven’t yet gotten formally engaged, once we do, Alice will be formally introduced to many of the nobles in the Holy Capital. That sculpture of Linley’s, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, will definitely make us the laughingstock of the city.”

  Bernard was silent for a while, and then frowned as he asked Kalan, “How bad is it? Is there anything shameful or degrading about this sculpture?”

  “Father, in the past, between Linley and Alice, they had a period of…” Kalan explained in a fuzzy manner. “And this sculpture is about the affairs of Linley and Alice.”

  Bernard no longer spoke. He only began to frown severely.

  After a while, Bernard said to his son, “Kalan, if I ask you to give up Alice, would you be willing?” Kalan resolutely shook his head. After all, he was only eighteen years old.

  Bernard nodded slightly. “Don’t worry about Alice. I will handle this matter. You don’t need to worry about it.”

  Kalan nodded, then suddenly he gritted his teeth. Staring at his father, he said, “Father, Linley is definitely unhappy at the fact that Alice and I are together. What’s more, Linley’s potential is too great. I think…that we should perhaps consider if we can figure out a way to kill Linley?”

  Book 5, The Godsword, Bloodviolet – Chapter 14, The Auction

  Within the private reading room of Bernard, leader of the Debs clan.

  “What? You failed?” Bernard stared at the woman in the red robes. “Even if you failed, why can’t you continue making further attem
pts? Since when did the Bloodrose organization give up so easily?”

  Bernard was extremely dissatisfied.

  When he went to ask for the help of the Saber organization, he was refused. He successfully enlisted the services of Bloodrose, but Bloodrose was only willing to agree to destroy the sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’. As for killing Linley, the price they demanded was far too high, as high as the price for an assassination of a Cardinal! Such an astronomical price, the Debs clan was unable to pay.

  Per the words of Bloodrose, assassinating Linley would cause them to simultaneously offend both the Radiant Church as well as the Dawson Conglomerate.

  What’s more…

  Nowadays, Linley was a master sculptor. A master sculptor held an exalted societal status, and many people with rank and power esteemed master sculptors. Killing Linley meant killing a master sculptor, which would generate a degree of hatred towards Bloodrose amongst those sculpture aficionados.

  This was why the cost they demanded to assassinate Linley was actually on par with the cost to assassinate a Cardinal.

  “We are no longer willing to accept this assignment. We are willing to return the compensation you gave us.” The red robed woman said, her face cold.

  “Can you tell me the reason why?” Bernard had no idea what was going on.

  The destruction of a sculpture shouldn’t be too difficult. How could they give up after failing just a single time?

  “If we tell you the reason, then we will no longer return the fees you provided to us. Do you agree?” The red robed woman said calmly.

  An assassination organization was also a type of information broker. They were willing to sell information as well.

  “Done.” As the leader of the Debs clan, Bernard could be magnanimous.

  That red robed woman said softly, “I can tell you this. Amongst the admirers of that sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, there is a person whom our organization definitely does not wish to offend. And this person is not someone whom your Debs clan is able to offend either.”

  “Alright. My report is complete.” With a smile, the red robed woman immediately departed.

  Bernard was incredibly angry.

  This red robed woman wasn’t even willing to disclose the identity of this person Bloodrose didn’t wish to offend. But Bernard understood one thing: Someone capable of causing trepidation for Bloodrose was definitely an incredible person. A report on such a person would definitely also be incredibly expensive.

  ……

  Year 9999 of the Yulan calendar, April 21st. Within the dedicated auction hall at the Proulx Gallery.

  This auction hall was split into three levels. The first level had ordinary seats, while the second level had stand-alone booths which only major nobles and extremely wealthy people were qualified to enter. The price to enter those booths was terrifyingly high. As for the third level, it was just a single, extremely large hall, also decorated very lavishly.

  At this moment, the hundreds of seats in the first level were beginning to get filled up, despite the fact that the price of each seat here was a hundred gold coins. As for the ten or so private booths on the second level, based on the locations of the seats, the prices varied from a thousand to ten thousand gold coins.

  But the third level? That wasn’t opened to the public at all.

  The fame of this sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, was extremely resounding now. Many of the people currently in the auction hall were some of the wealthiest, most powerful noble families in the Yulan continent. But precisely because there were only so few seats while there were so many nobles present, these standard seats, which supposedly cost a hundred gold coins each, were being sold by scalpers outside for a ridiculous sum of money.

  The Debs clan, as a local clan, had a special relationship with the Proulx Gallery, and were able to acquire seats in the private booth with the poorest positioning.

  In truth, aside from the Debs clan, all of the others who were present in the second level booths belonged to extremely famous and wealthy clans throughout the Yulan continent. They were far more powerful than the Debs clan, for example…the Dawson clan of the Dawson Conglomerate. Even they were only on the second level. But of course, the representatives of the Dawson clan here were not members in the direct line of descent and succession.

  “Alice, walk on the inside.”

  This time, six people had come from the Debs clan. Alice was walking between Kalan and Kalan’s mother, and was even wearing a hat that was pressed down on her head. Very quickly, the six of them reached the second level.

  Within this second level were the greatest clans of the Yulan continent.

  Upon seeing who was in the second level hallway, Bernard, leader of the Debs clan, immediately began to modestly greet everyone present. Here, the Debs clan meant absolutely nothing. It was like the evaluation Yale had once given them in private; they were a ‘minor clan’.

  Right. In the eyes of these clans whose influence spanned the entire Yulan continent, if a clan’s area of influence was limited to a single kingdom, then that clan was nothing more than a minor clan.

  The six people from the Debs clan entered their booth.

  “There will come a day when my Debs clan will be like those clans. No; we will be even stronger.” Kalan said to himself.

  For the Debs clan, during this trip, failure was not an option.

  No matter what, it was better to have this sculpture located within their own manor, rather than the manor of an outsider. After all, in June, Kalan would be having his engagement ceremony with Alice, and by then, many people would know that Alice was becoming a member of the Debs clan. But even though ‘failure was not an option’, in reality, their financial ability to succeed was a major issue as well.

  “Big Brother Kalan.” Alice took a seat next to Kalan.

  In a place like this, surrounded by hugely powerful clans, Alice, too, felt rather constrained and pressured. After all, in this place, even the Debs clan counted for little, much less a minor noble like Alice and her clan.

  “Don’t worry. Inside this booth, the people below won’t be able to see you at all. That Linley really has gone too far. He actually…” Whenever Kalan thought of that sculpture, ‘Awakening From the Dream’, he would burst with rage. Anyone with some understanding of sculpture would be able to guess that Linley and Alice had a romantic history together.

  After all, if they hadn’t shared a period of true love, how could Linley have produced such a godly work of art?

  If Kalan were to really marry Alice, there would most likely be many people who would secretly speculate about what the relationship between Alice and Linley was like. For someone of Kalan’s social status, how could he bear such embarrassment?

  ……

  The third level of the auction hall.

  Inside, there were only four people. The Proulx Gallery’s Managing Director Maia, Austoni, Linley, and Yale.

  “Haha, Director Maia, which one is Linley?” A loud, exuberant laugh boomed out.

  Leaning on his cane, Director Maia went over to welcome the man, while Linley and Yale both immediately went to welcome him as well. “Your Majesty!”

  The person who had come was the king of the Kingdom of Fenlai. He was the pride of the kingdom; the Golden Lion, King Clayde. Being both the king of Fenlai as well as mighty warrior of the ninth rank was indeed something worthy of admiration.

  Linley carefully inspected this Clayde.

  This king was built extremely muscularly, and his head of long, golden hair billowed about him wildly, giving off the aura of a lion with enormous explosive power. His entire person naturally radiated a domineering aura that made hearts quail in fear.

  Clayde looked at Linley. “If my guess is correct, this one must be Master Linley.”

  “Your Majesty, please, just call me Linley.” Linley immediately said.

  As a matter of fact, Linley felt quite helpless. Ever since the sculpture ‘Awakening Fro
m the Dream’ had been put on display, many people, upon seeing Linley, would humbly address him as ‘Master Linley’. This was not feigned courtesy. Even Marquis Jebs of the Lucas clan, who really was not willing to part with the warblade ‘Slaughterer’, was still filled with the utmost admiration for Linley.

  “Good enough.” Clayde was extremely blunt. “And this must be Yale, right? Yale, how’s your father doing?”

  “My father is doing very well. Unfortunately, he isn’t currently within the Holy Union, as if he was, he definitely would’ve come in person.” Yale said modestly.

  Clayde nodded slightly.

  “Director Maia, who else has come today?” Clayde called out casually.

  Director Maia smiled. “Let’s wait a while longer. I expect that Cardinal Lampson [Lan’pu’sen] and Cardinal Guillermo will be arriving as well.”

  Generally speaking, the third level was only used for welcoming guests which the Proulx Gallery held in the highest regard.

  The windows of the third level were made with a special type of glass. Those on the outside were unable to see inside, but those on the inside could clearly see the outside. This sort of glass was specially designed and produced by alchemists, and was extremely expensive. Most places weren’t able to afford such materials.

  “Lords Guillermo and Lampson have arrived.” Director Maia’s position allowed him to see the outside hallway.

  Linley, Yale, and even King Clayde all went to welcome these two men with great warmth and enthusiasm. In a group, they went to greet these two Cardinals of the Radiant Church. Cardinal Guillermo and Linley had met once before, while Cardinal Lampson was rather pudgy. When he laughed, his eyes turned into a thin slit. He seemed very adorable.

  “Linley. Right?” Lampson immediately gave Linley a big, warm hug.

  “Lord Lampson.” Linley said respectfully.

  And then, the seven people within the third floor, being Cardinal Lampson, Cardinal Guillermo, Maia, Yale, Austoni, King Clayde, and Linley all sat down together, peering out of the windows at the spectacle below.