From Hogwarts to Strixhaven.

Chapter 491 The Whereabouts of the Gold

“So, we have to go to the Upper City again? I’ve lived in Baldur’s Gate for so long, but I don’t have a single memory of the Upper City. But my gut feeling tells me that it smells much better there than the Lower City.” Shadowheart approached, holding a fluffy thing.

That's Minsk's hamster, Xiao Bu. Under Ying Xin's nimble fingers, this mini giant space hamster has turned into a hamster pancake, contentedly squinting its beady eyes.

“This matter requires careful consideration.” Ivy looked into Shadowheart’s eyes. “The immediate priority is the Chosen of the Three Gods of Death, and the Netherstones they possess. Between Gothash and Orin, I prefer to deal with the latter first. The indiscriminate killings of Baal’s Sons are intolerable to all residents of Baldur’s Gate, not to mention she also controls a group of shapeshifters. If those disgusting creatures were to infiltrate our camp…”

Yingxin rubbed her arms sadly; just imagining that scene in her mind gave her goosebumps.

“You’re right, everyone will follow your instructions.” Yingxin flipped the hamster, Xiaobu, over in her hand and scratched its belly with her five fair fingers. “Xiaobu is a good fit for our team, and his pet, Minsk, seems to be quite useful, at least he can help carry some things.”

Shadowheart's description is indeed very apt. Leatherman's purple-skinned bald head doesn't seem like the type with a brain; at most, he retains the brainstem that controls motor nerves.

Ivy looked back and saw that Jasila and Minsk were already arguing. To put it more bluntly, Jasila was bringing up old grievances.

"...This mess has fallen on our shoulders, Minsk. The city is surrounded, and the citizens are being poisoned—if you could put your emotions aside and be willing to listen, perhaps all of this could have been avoided!"

“Your intentions were good, Minsk. But you’ve exposed the city to danger. The cult has spread with your help. And perhaps things will get even worse…” Jasila took a deep breath, a look of helplessness on her weathered face. “You’re forcing me to abandon you.”

“But… that’s what Minsk can’t understand, Jahira.” Minsk looked completely innocent.

"What good is a berserker if he can't rush to his spiritual mentor in a moment of crisis?"

This is a regional tradition of the Leathermans, in that barbarian culture where female spellcasters held a high status and were known as Leatherman witches.

This group of spellcasters includes spellcasters of any form, such as alchemists, shamans, druids, mages, or witches, and even priests of certain nature deities are counted.

When the Witch Leatherman goes on her travels, she often teams up with the Berserker Leatherman to face unknown dangers together.

“Wait a minute…” Karak, who was familiar with the legends of Baldur’s Gate, asked, “Minsk isn’t a ranger, but a berserker like me? Oh my god! I’m so honored!!”

Minsk was always happy to answer any questions about himself, though usually it required a certain level of understanding: "In the past, yes, I was a typical Leatherman berserker, dutiful and serious. But being too focused on myself led to an ambush. The bandits cleaved my head open like a wine sack that had been soaked through by a leak."

"Then Little Bu appeared and became my guide. Together we fought for the great cause of justice! On the path of justice, we met our spiritual mentor Jashira, and many other companions. More importantly, there are you all!" Minsk opened his arms, as if he wanted to hug everyone with a huge embrace.

Minsara and Asderon silently took a few steps back, while Karak, with sparkling eyes (sparks of hellfire), was about to lean on Minsk's arm.

“Calm down, girl,” Jasila said, rubbing her head. “You’ll set Minsk on fire… I’ll tell you again, Minsk. I’m not your witch, you’re not my bodyguard, and this isn’t Leatherman’s Wilderness.”

“Titles don’t matter. Only one thing matters—when Minsk does what Minsk is supposed to do, when he charges into battle and creates chaos—” Minsk said very seriously, “Jashira also has to do what Jashira is supposed to do, and find a way to save our asses!”

"This is so cute! Isn't it?" Karak almost fainted. "Jashira and Minsk are standing together, and I'm even chatting with them! This must be the best day of my life!"

Jashira wore a look of utter despair: "God... I'm fighting alongside an idiot."

“Let’s stop this small talk.” Ivy walked to the middle of the crowd and announced her plan. “The death of Duke Belina Sterme is related to the Baal Order, and another person has died in the Temple of Mercy in Livington. To track down the Baal Order, we must go to Livington.”

"With Gortash's coronation ceremony imminent, the entire Baldur's Gate is under lockdown. However, we've done the guild such a huge favor, they'll definitely be able to get their hands on a few passes to the lower city. We can also take this opportunity to synchronize our intelligence and formally establish cooperation."

"The only problem is that our numbers are too conspicuous. Those Iron Guards will notice us."

"The Lower City is the artery of Baldur's Gate." The Mind Flayer's voice came from all directions. "The Shield Knights' hideout is also connected to the Lower City, so we can go there underground."

“That’s great.” Jasila shook her head. “I knew I never really knew this city.”

It's really not easy to put up with the stench of the Baldur's Gate sewers.

Fortunately, the Bubble Head Spell has always been one of Ivy's most effective spells.

After climbing a downward ladder, the adventurers returned to the underground world. After passing through a short section of pipe filled with poisonous fog, the back door of the guild hall appeared before them.

“The straight-line distance between Elf Song and the Guild Hall is much shorter than I imagined,” Gale remarked. “I’m starting to really enjoy walking underground.”

A cunning rabbit has three burrows; this is common sense for all those who live in the underground world.

Although Baldur's Gate does not have three guild halls, Nine Fingers' territory has more than one exit.

It is extremely difficult to perceive the straight-line distance between two points simply by relying on distance and spatial changes.

But for Ivy, there are shortcuts to take as well.

With the help of the Grimoire of Destruction, the path he traversed could be presented as a three-dimensional model.

If we use magic to assist, we can present the Baldur's Gate sewers to everyone in a more intuitive way.

"So, this large empty space in the middle is Nine Fingers' guild hall?" Evil thought reached out and poked at Ivy's projection magic.

Before entering Nine Fingers' territory, they immediately split up and headed to the Elf Song Tavern and the Settlement House.

Now that they've circled around underground to the back door of the guild hall, a large unexplored area has naturally been left on the projected map. "That's right, it seems Nine Fingers is very meticulous about the security measures for his escape route." Ivy raised her staff and pointed it at the door, and the somewhat rusty lock immediately sprang open.

Behind the door was a small bar, its decor a stark contrast to the dilapidated front door.

The bartender behind the counter was a goblin, who was now looking on in surprise at the adventurers filing out from behind him.

"What's going on?!" The goblin bartender's eyes widened. "It's strange enough that Flame Fist and Harpist were allowed into the guild hall, but what kind of rats did you crawl out of the sewers?"

“They’re friends, Sefern!” The customer sitting in front of the goblin looked up; it was Rugan, the Zantallin Society defector abandoned by Ivy. “Bring them a good round of drinks! It’s on me!”

Alcohol and a relaxed state of mind made the betrayed man much more at ease; apart from his cheeks being flushed red, his tongue was also a bit swollen.

“We’ll talk about it later.” Ivy gestured for the goblin Sefern to relax. “After we finish talking to Nine Fingers about business.”

“Leizel,” Ivy Chongxing Bay Women’s College said again, “You can bring your friend to sit at the bar for a while and introduce her to the local food.”

Leezel's friend was actually Ivy's prisoner, the one who was ordered by Velakis to reveal all his psionic knowledge to the leader of the Gith Yankees.

Hearing the commotion in the bar, Nine Fingers emerged from behind a door guarded by two female bodyguards.

"What the hell?" She glanced behind the adventurers, and Halsin, who was at the very back, politely closed the guild's escape route.

"You've only been in this city for half a day, and you've already found another entrance to the guild's secret passage?" Nine Fingers stared displeasedly at Ivy, who was leading the way. "You shouldn't be a mage lord; bandit leader is a more suitable position for you."

“I’m confident I can handle it.” Ivy pretended not to hear the sarcasm in Nine Fingers’ voice. “However, in order to leave you some room to survive, I’d better continue being my mage lord.”

"Lord Stone!" Following behind Nine Fingers was Yao Xu, the chief banker of the Clearing House. He seemed to be very obedient and actually appeared in Nine Fingers' office.

At that moment, Yaoxu pointed at Minsk in the crowd and exclaimed, "I dare say he definitely knows where all that gold went!"

"Hmph." Nine Fingers raised an eyebrow, a playful smile on his face. "You're done with your petty theft from my vault?"

“Minsk never steals! The Queen of Thieves!” Minsk stood there brazenly, without a trace of remorse on her face. “He always walks in a straight line from boot to backside.”

"You want to kick my ass off the guild chair? I'm ready anytime!" Nine Fingers clearly couldn't understand Minsk's thought process and took his confession as a threat.

“Minsk isn’t interested in your furniture, Nine Fingers—only an evil ass can fill it!” Minsk snorted.

Nine Fingers, like a fish pulled from a lake, opened its mouth and gasped in confusion: "...What?"

“You’ve been a pebble in this city’s boot for far too long. The one who’d stick their finger between Bodyan’s sticky toes and pick you out wouldn’t be the Stone Lord—” Minsk pointed to himself with a proud expression, “but Minsk!”

Nine Fingers turned his confused face to Jasila: "I don't understand what he's talking about at all."

“A Leatherman who has returned to normalcy can be confusing, and I understand that feeling,” Jahira nodded. “He’s back on our side now.”

“I admit I doubted your ability to succeed…” Nine Fingers still couldn’t quite believe his eyes. “Even if you could succeed, shouldn’t it have been a bit more complicated? You’ve only been gone for half a day, and you’ve already turned the Stone Lord who was causing trouble at Baldur’s Gate back into that crazy Leatherman?”

Nine Fingers shook his head: "Well, at least Baldur's Gate has gained another hero. Although it sounds silly to say it like that, Minsk used to be my hero... a hero from my youth."

“You’re lying with that tongue again, Queen Thief. When you were young, when you had ten fingers on your hands, Minsk and Blaise were both stones—a statue in the city square!” Minsk said smugly, having exposed Nine Fingers’ lie.

"Minsk and Bush were once statues in the city square?" Yingxin asked in shock. "I remember that square in the upper city, full of all kinds of small vendors, and a hero statue in the center of the square... Now that I think about it, that statue really was Bush and Minsk... How could this be?"

Evil Thought chimed in, "We heard people talking about this in the Song of Elves. The hero statue in the city square is missing, and the merchant guild that donated it thought someone had stolen it!"

“It’s quite a strange story,” Jasira explained. “A few years ago, a sorcerer’s wild magic struck the statue, and Minsk and Little B have been active in the city ever since. To this day, I still don’t understand whether he is a Leatherman who fought alongside me a hundred years ago, or a statue that has been brought to life.”

"Minsk is Minsk, just as Jahira is Jahira!"

"Enough... Minsk, where did you put my gold?" Nine Fingers raised his hand to stop Minsk's mad talk and asked about the whereabouts of the gold in the accounting room.

Ivy's gaze swept over Shining Beard's face, and he immediately realized that this chief banker was also a member of the guild. Otherwise, how could Nine Fingers be so resourceful as to get the bank manager of Baldur's Gate to agree to his plan to lure the enemy?

"You sent people to place mimicry monsters in the vault, but didn't you think about sending people to keep an eye on the Stone Lord's men?" Ivy retorted. "Or have they not sent any messages back yet?"

Nine Fingers' face darkened: "The second possibility. The only thing I'm certain of is that the gold is still in the sewers."

“Think carefully, Minsk,” Ivy said. “Why would the Supreme God need so much gold?”

"Used for...used for..." Minsk covered his purple-skinned bald head, "...the Zantallinn meeting!"

Ivy glanced back at Rugan sitting at the bar: "This is why the Zantariim have completely sided with the Supreme God, Gold. It's really not surprising at all."

“I can lend you Rugan, Nine Fingers,” Ivy suggested, “but in return, you have to get us some passes that allow us to travel between the Lower City and the Outer City. Baal’s Order has started operating in this city again.”

(End of this chapter)