Chapter 1664 Going Into A Maze
There were no lakes, but a big trench that surrounded the entire central zone. At the same time, there was a huge wall surrounding and lining up this area, with lots of guards standing there, seemingly ready to fight a brutal war at any given time.
"Just stay silent and calm, follow my lead and don't speak with anyone," the merchant by their side said in warning, "this place isn't welcoming just anyone. You have a name for yourself indeed, but no one knows about your identity yet. So stay cool and don't cause trouble."
"What's this place anyway?" The lady nymph was curious to know why this sector was having such special treatment. And even if she had a guess in her mind, she wanted to hear the answer to confirm it.
"It's a place that's only specified for the ruling families of our world," the merchant gave the same answer she and Hye expected, "no one is allowed to enter here without an invitation. And even with one, no one is allowed to go towards a place he isn't led to."
"That…" the lady nymph was surprised by this, yet Hye wasn't. Just from the strict security in this place he could tell how strong the defences were, and how serious these people were about defending themselves.
"Are they afraid of getting robbed or what?"
"No, we save everything in our inventories," the merchant paused, while a few guarding teams came closer to see what they were doing here, "but each central zone is led by one of the main families, one who is destined for a greater position later on."
Hye and the lady nymph got what he meant. The families owning the world were afraid of someone hijacking one of their direct descendants, asking for a scary amount of wealth or perhaps asking for anything else.
As the merchant dealt with these guards, Hye looked towards the walls and the many guards there. He couldn't gauge their power from his spot, but he could tell they were strong.
"What? Don't tell me you want to test your new power with them," the lady nymph chuckled when she noticed his fixed gaze over these guards, "don't! The weakest guard in such a wealthy world will be at stage two or three."
"Stage two?" Hye turned towards her, and she added in explanation:
"Each stage is equal to one entire apocalypse, equal one hundred levels, I told you that already," she rolled her eyes when saying these words. And before he'd ask for more intel, the merchant returned.
"Please follow me, don't wander around, don't ask questions to anyone except for the merchant we are going to meet," he whispered, as if he was telling some sort of a secret. And the other two nodded.
They weren't allowed to enter through the gate without a team of the guards moving with them. Just when Hye was questioning why this merchant warned them against speaking with these guards, the guards took the initiative to speak to them.
"Are you here to do something?"
"You look suspicious to me, what are you here for?"
"I bet an arm they are here for our princess!"
More harsh and mean comments came one after another. Hye got that they wanted to instigate a fight, ending up locking them up. To him, this was a bit weird.
He came here to pay his wealth in return for goods. And on top of that, he came with an invitation from that princess they were speaking about.
He didn't see any point in any of what they were doing. And yet he remained silent, ignoring any direct or hidden accusations, even little offensive comments.
"Sorry about that," as they went inside that area, the merchant led them to the second big building. It didn't have any walls or gardens, just looking like any boring business building, with practical design.
The following guards just kept their company till the gate of this building but didn't enter it. Hye thought they'd get replaced with more guards inside the building, but to his surprise he saw none.
The gate of this building led to a long tunnel, one that seemed to go deeper down the ground. "They are just doing this to see if there is any troublemaker in the ones coming here or not."
"They should have acted in more courtesy," the lady nymph wasn't any less insulted than Hye, "anyone hearing their harsh comments will act hostile in the end."
"That's why people like me are there, to remind and warn you against doing such a violation to our laws," the merchant was acting respectful and apologetic.
"Anyway, what's this place? Where does this tunnel lead us?" Hye shifted the topic towards something productive.
"We are at the main entrance of the Soras family's central auction house," the merchant said in introduction, "to get inside, we have to pass through the right tunnels every time. Or else this will trigger defensive traps."
"Tunnels?!" The lady nymph just questioned his words when they spotted a distant wide space waiting for them. The merchant just motioned towards them, didn't say anything and led them towards a small semi-circular room with around twenty different tunnels, each seemingly leading to a different place.
As they saw these tunnels, the two of them realised what the merchant was speaking about.
"They don't need guards in here as they led us into a maze," Hye said in realisation, and admiration at the same time.
"It's not a crime to be cautious, right?" the merchant smiled faintly, while going towards one tunnel without any hesitation, "this way, please."
"What tells you we won't come later after memorising the tunnels we passed through?" the lady nymph asked after the sixth time they passed through the same gathering area of tunnels.
"That won't do, as the tunnel order shifts after each passing," the merchant said in pride, as if he was the genius behind such a defensive idea. And Hye couldn't help but inwardly sigh about how sickly suspicious these families were about their personal safety.
