Star Forge Titan

"Just like that... we won?"

In the audience, the stubborn, thick-skinned, reckless, and forgetful Emperor Conrad Karl Drusus Carolingian, who had disguised himself and skipped work again to travel, asked in surprise:

"if not?"

Duchess Catherine Martha Qiunelli Carolingian, who refused to take over this time and also sneaked out of the palace to watch the game, gave her brother a look of disdain.

Then, Catherine's expression became particularly serious as she carefully watched the Beetle crossing the finish line in the distance.

At that moment, pale blue smoke billowed from beneath the Beetle's hood, carrying wisps of magical energy as it drifted upward. This was the exhaust fumes from the incomplete combustion of the alchemical fuel due to its over-excitation. This phenomenon usually only occurred when the fuel was rapidly expelled beyond the limits estimated during fuel preparation.

This also indirectly indicates that the body of the smaller magic vehicle definitely has a monster-level engine that is like a dragon's heart.

"Whether in terms of acceleration or top speed, that car far surpasses the other participating vehicles. Coupled with the quality of the driver..." Catherine paused, an undisguised competitive look in her eyes.

When it comes to driving magical vehicles, the confident Duchess can be said to be very competitive.

But even so, Catherine still recognized Diana's driving skills. Although, the latter was not even a transcendent yet, but just an ordinary person who had never received any promotion ceremony.

"Although I'm reluctant to accept it, that woman's skills are definitely not inferior to mine."

"With a first-class car and a first-class driver, this kind of crushing victory is completely normal." The Duchess concluded bluntly:

"It's obviously made from a converted taxi..." Even a nerd like Conrad couldn't help but look thoughtful at this moment.

"But then again, are you really going to put your chips on this suddenly emerging combination? Those old gentlemen of the Royal Society will be very sad." Catherine's lips curled up into a beautiful but somewhat mocking smile, and it was obvious that she did not have much real respect for the latter.

"Well, although those old gentlemen are old-fashioned and conservative, they still have some abilities. Isn't your new car pretty good?" Conrad shrugged as if he was defending the other party, but the sarcasm in his words was not concealed at all.

"Compared to the one that young alchemist built in a few days..." The Salted Fish Emperor paused and continued with a strange expression:

"Compared to this thing that's probably converted from a taxi, the Royal Society's entry vehicle, the 'Royal Messenger', is truly first-rate in every aspect. But unfortunately, one of the contestants in this competition is that guy from the Temple of Light." Conrad sighed.

"The Wheel of the Father, that chariot truly lives up to its name. It's like the sun chariot of Jupiter, the Heavenly Father, hanging high in the sky. Mortals like us can only kneel on the ground and gaze at its blazing light from afar. Even if we try our best, we can't get even a little bit closer."

At this point, Emperor Conrad's expression revealed a fleeting resentment. He quickly replaced that expression with his usual laziness and frivolity, so much so that even the Duchess, who was so close by, didn't notice.

"So, you need some...variables?" Catherine said with a look of understanding.

"Well, but then again, I was just trying it out. I wanted to reward those two anyway. I could see that despite their humble origins, they possessed the same proud and noble self-respect as the knights in the stories sung by the bards. That's why I wanted to make them accept my gratitude this way." Conrad sighed.

Of course, what he saw was not real.

This might be true for young Diana, but it's not necessarily true for someone who just looks young.

"I just didn't expect them to just…" The Salted Fish Emperor scratched his head with a complicated expression, "They got the tickets to the official competition so easily."

After hearing what her cousin said, Catherine didn't know what to say for a long time.

After a while, the Duchess suddenly slapped her forehead in an unladylike manner. Her slender fingers touched the smooth and plump forehead, making a crisp "pop" sound.

"It's over." Catherine sighed.

"What's over?" Conrad looked at his cousin beside him in confusion.

The Duchess raised her hands to cover her face, pretending that her eyes were filled with tears and she was about to burst into tears.

"My brother probably won't be able to even win a coin guess for the rest of his life. Even if he eats a fortune cookie, the only predictions he'll get are 'high waves and strong winds, making sailing difficult.' These are bad predictions that tell him to stay home and not go out. He might even cry and get a poor, fragile, innocent lady like me into trouble."

"No, not really?" This time it was Conrad's turn to be unable to close his jaw for a long time.

"A random candidate picked up on the street has demonstrated qualities comparable to top-tier players in the industry. Do you think this will use up all your luck for the rest of your life, as well as that of your family?" Catherine rolled her eyes at him and asked unhappily.

"Aha." Conrad smiled helplessly.

Not wanting to hide her inherent laziness and playfulness, this sister would only show this playful side in front of him. Usually in front of outsiders, Her Excellency Duchess Catherine mostly wore a serious and solemn demeanor, a true model of nobility.

After the joke, Conrad's expression became serious for a rare moment.

"Okay, let's get down to business."

"The issues you raised do exist. Two people who could help us suddenly appeared out of nowhere. This is something we should investigate thoroughly."

"We have the beautiful racing girl who came from a downtown orphanage and whose life story is an inspirational role model, but that young alchemist who claims to be from Genoa and possesses profound alchemical attainments needs to be thoroughly investigated by the gentlemen of SI:7."

Conrad spoke realistically in a cynical tone, and he also made no secret of his partiality towards the ladies.

For a moment, it was hard to tell whether this guy was joking or serious.

Catherine glanced at Conrad helplessly. She had long been accustomed to her brother's eccentricities and occasional flashes of brilliance, so she simply offered a few words of advice:

"Be careful, don't let Mr. Dark Horse, who showed up unexpectedly, leave in anger."

"That's right. To help this unexpected dark horse become more agile, I plan to grant them access to the Linde National Library."

"Oh? You mean the Royal Library, which is usually only open to the Royal Society?" Catherine raised her eyebrows but did not object.

The Duchess, who had her blonde hair hidden under a specially made wig, continued with a meaningful smile:

"Those old gentlemen will definitely protest."

"Let them scold me, I don't care!" Conrad waved his hand, showing his thick-skinned and high-defense characteristics.

"But then again, since they and their cars have shown such amazing qualities, surely the other contestants will take action as well?"

"Indeed, when it comes to the struggle for the right to speak in the future of magical engineering, even the most upright organizations and institutions cannot remain indifferent to a powerful opponent that suddenly appears. Perhaps we should provide them with some help." Catherine nodded.

She said it was help, but actually she wanted to say it was protection.

Conrad did not immediately agree with his sister.

"No, no, no." The Salted Fish Emperor shook his finger with an unfathomable expression on his face.

"My clever sister, you never know."

While the two rulers of the empire were talking, or more accurately, arguing, the victorious Beetle, under the control of Diana's superb driving skills, had already drifted and stopped sideways behind the finish line with an extremely handsome tailspin.

"Huh." The girl opened the car door and got out.

She shook her pretty short hair heroically, and in response to the cheers that finally broke out from the audience, a rare smile appeared on her face.

"Won!"

"Yeah, we won." Ivan got out of the passenger seat and leaned against the car, agreeing in a flat tone:

At the same time, the black-haired boy added in his heart:

But the story is not over yet...

Chapter 131 Thieves Guild

Tick.

A drop of turbid sewage fell down from the top of the sewer pipe.

The water drops fell into the muddy stream with floating garbage, spreading ripples in all directions.

The next moment, the flickering flame of a kerosene lamp illuminated the dim sewer. Several shadows quickly passed by the masonry walls on the side of the sewer. Aside from the squeaking of frightened rats, the owners of the shadows made no sound, as if their footsteps were also swallowed by the darkness.

This is a dark place hidden beneath the perfect city of Lutetia. It is a large drainage system built by the early human ancestors who later created the Central Empire of Lind using the underground pipe network left by ancient civilization.

The sheer number of branching pipes alone would be enough to make a person stand upright while traversing the entire city, the Aqueduct Maximus, boasts a diameter exceeding eighteen meters. Its unique topographical structure allows it to harness the power of storms and tides, relying on the intense water pressure generated by the weather to periodically cleanse the entire sewer system and regularly discharge wastewater.

In addition, there are five super-giant vertical shafts in the Lutetia underground waterway, each with a bottomless depth and a diameter of more than 30 meters.

No one knows why ancient civilizations excavated pits of these astonishing dimensions.

After all, even the Linde ancestors who used this relic to create a drainage system could not explain all the secrets hidden within it.

To this day, people living in Lutetia are increasingly wary of this deep "maze" hidden underground.

However, there are some exceptions among the crowd. They use complex drainage systems and underground ruins hidden deeper underground to build secret areas under the surface that are difficult for ordinary people to reach.

These people are the wanderers who walk between the black and gray areas.

The secret area they occupy is privately managed by an industry union.

This guild has a name that is widely known in the gray and black circles - the Thieves Guild.

In fact, the most spacious part of the underground waterway was so spacious that the word "waterway" was no longer enough to describe it. The two crisscrossing main waterways formed a vast underground lake, and in the center of this "lake" lay a sizable island.

The headquarters of the Thieves Guild is built on this underground 'island'.

As for the name of the "island" itself, some people call it the Lake Heart Island because of its simple terrain, while others call it the Gold Coin Island because of the characteristics of the Thieves Guild, but the name that is most recognized by the wanderers is - Rat Island.

Accompanied by the rhythmic sound of oars, a small boat with a lantern dangling from its bow approached Rat Island, seemingly slowly but rapidly. Surrounded by water, access to this island was necessitated by small boats, so the small island was surrounded by a wooden plank road.

The chaotically connected plank roads make Rat Island look like a large piece of floating garbage made of wooden boards from a distance.

Due to the needs of the guild and the occasional wanderers who came here to avoid pursuit or other troubles, simple buildings made of various materials and in a chaotic manner can be seen everywhere on the island. Over time, they collectively built a small town with limited area but intricate roads and terrain.

In the center of the town is the headquarters of the Thieves Guild, a two-story building that looks to be the most neatly designed in the entire "town".

This building has no sign, only a broken kettle hanging on the door, so it is also called the Broken Kettle Bar by wanderers.

Before the boat even reached the shore, the passengers leaped up and nimbly landed on the harbor's plank road. The wanderer, dressed in a dark blue nightgown, ran toward the depths of the island, holding high a silver-white flag embroidered with gold trim, prompting everyone to make way for him.

The gold symbolizes the Great Écu of Gold, and the silver symbolizes the Small Écu of Silver, so this flag has only one meaning to the Thieves Guild.

Big business is coming!

"Hoohoohoo."

After finally running to the gate of the Broken Jug Tavern, the wanderer who came to report the news pushed open the door made of two blackened old wooden boards with rapid breathing.

Then, unlike a quiet wanderer, he shouted: "Big business! The total reward is nearly a thousand gold crowns!"

"I received commissions from seven or eight major 'water sources', all requesting the same information: investigating an alchemy workshop on the outskirts of the city!"

If "water" is like money, then "water source" is naturally the source of money. Therefore, in the codeword of the Thieves Guild, "water source" represents the "employer" who issues various commissions.

The "big water source" of course refers to extremely wealthy employers, who are often not individuals but representatives of other organizations or institutions.

So, upon hearing the messenger's words, the previously quiet Broken Kettle Inn was instantly enveloped by a buzzing noise. Everyone was whispering among themselves. Faced with such a huge commission, every wanderer in the black and gray areas was tempted.

However, as an industry that requires taking considerable risks, there are not many brainless guys among the wanderers, because most of the idiots will lose their lives in the first action, or at least lose one or two fingers, and then have to become beggars.

Therefore, after hearing the news, most of the wanderers just discussed it, but no one immediately stepped forward to accept the commission.

When the guild staff sorted out the commission details and posted them on the bulletin board, the whispering wanderers immediately flocked to the bulletin board.

It's unclear whether any exchanges of skill between the rogues occurred during this overshoot, but judging by the broken fingers and missing purses, it seems likely that many friendly, yet measured exchanges took place.

This little farce, which was common among the wanderers, did not cause any commotion, and soon everyone finished reading the commission content on the announcement.

Then, the wanderers fell silent.

An alchemy workshop that doesn't even have an official name. As long as you sneak in and figure out the general situation inside, you can get a commission of up to one thousand gold écus.

It sounds like a very simple and 'good' task with surprisingly high rewards.

But, to repeat, there were no truly foolish people among the wanderers. Almost every member of the Thieves Guild saw the enormous risks inherent in this simple commission. No one knew what kind of monsters lurked within the seemingly insignificant workshop described in the quest description.

During the long silence, a tall and thin figure in a black cloak suddenly walked forward and took off the commission.

"I'll accept this mission." A hoarse male voice came from under the cloak.

"It's Stuart." Someone recognized the identity of the man in the cloak.

"That blood ghost who is rumored to kill people in every mission?"

"Yes, some people say that he possesses some forbidden things, and he kills people just to obtain the materials."

"That would mean death..."

Without paying attention to the whispers of others, the cloaked man who accepted the commission snorted coldly, raised his chin slightly to reveal a shriveled face like a skeleton. This terrifying appearance made others shut up immediately.

Blood Ghost Stuart didn't say much. He glanced at the whole place and then walked out of the Broken Kettle.

At the same time, Ivan, who had returned to the alchemy workshop, saw Khayon feeding 'Peanut Butter', the little flying squirrel that he had signed a contract with and turned into a magical pet, with a handful of pine nuts.

After dropping him off at the door of the workshop, Diana drove back to the orphanage. In the evening, Mother Teresa and the children in the orphanage planned to hold a celebration party for them, so the short-haired girl went back first.

"How was the result of the game?" Seeing Ivan come in, Ka Yang stuffed his cheeks with peanut butter with pine nuts and asked casually without looking up:

"We won, and the next step is the official competition." Ivan shrugged and replied in a normal tone:

"The orphanage said they're going to have a celebration tonight. Do you want to go?"

"No." Khayon rolled his eyes unhappily.

"There's still quite a bit of mithril in the workshop."

Ivan glanced at the guy sideways, and then asked:

"With your personality, how could you not be prepared?"