nagpurpolice Chapter 115 Bloodline Purification Meeting
Chapter 115 Bloodline Purification Meeting
After talking for a long time, Kane watched Mrs. Ella leave, then quietly left the room and went downstairs.
The tavern was still lit by dim, magical lamps, and the faint sounds of mercenaries drinking and whispering could be heard.
Another waiter nodded to him.
Kane didn't say anything and walked straight to the corner booth.
Soon, a fine glass of wine was served.
He held the cool ceramic cup, the wine frothing with tiny bubbles and emitting a faint sweet aroma.
This is characteristic of Sussard wine, but Kane felt like he was drinking diluted cologne and unconsciously frowned.
Just now at the Brotherhood's stronghold, he used the name of the Spiderblade family to temporarily appease Mrs. Ella and allow the cooperation to continue.
But he knew that the task Mrs. Ella had given him had not been completed at all; finding the mastermind behind it all was the key.
The word "Lady Dream" kept replaying in his mind as he began to think.
He closed his eyes and recalled the book "The Ritual of Abyss Worship" that he had read at the demon cult's stronghold.
The book mentioned many demons related to dreams: Fallen Demon, Sleep Demon, Dream Devourer... one name after another went through his mind.
The most troublesome of them is the Dream Devourer, which is said to require several fourth-tier professionals to barely deal with.
However, in the material plane, there are already few fourth-tier powerhouses, and it is even more difficult to find one in Twin Harbors.
"The Dream Eater is unlikely."
Kane muttered to himself and shook his head. Considering the ether concentration in his current material plane, it would be a complete loss for such a high-level demon to come down.
The demon who called himself "Lady Dream" had been operating in Twin Harbor for half a year, always acting cautiously.
She only secretly collects souls and body fragments, never making any major moves.
This is unlike the style of the Dream Eater.
"Then it must be a Fallen Demon or a Sleep Demon," Kane's eyes darkened.
These two types of demons have no physical form and belong to the Lomara Dream Demon race.
If summoned by a demonic cult, it might possess an ordinary person and hide in the city, making it difficult to detect.
But it's not entirely hopeless...
Kane already had a preliminary plan in mind.
But right now, he needs to find that person named Teresa and get some clues.
However, the Finafine family's attitude was ambiguous. They insisted on waiting for him to find conclusive evidence before taking action, saying they were afraid of giving their political enemies a handle to use against them.
"Looks like I'll have to hire someone myself."
Kane sighed softly, finished the rest of his drink, and got up to leave.
Just then, a whisper from the table next to him made him pause.
Two half-elf mercenaries sat at the next table, one fat and one thin. The fat one said in a low voice:
"Did you know? Something strange is happening in the savanna."
"Savannah?" Kane's heart skipped a beat.
When he first arrived at Twin Harbor, he originally planned to go to the Sparse Grasslands to wipe out bandits and improve his strength through missions.
As a result, a series of things delayed my trip, and I haven't been able to go yet.
He calmly sat back down, pulled his hood down further, and listened carefully to their conversation.
The skinny mercenary glanced around warily and answered in a low voice:
"How could things not go wrong? All the bandits over there have vanished—not a single one is left."
"Disappeared? Or are they all dead?"
Kane was puzzled. If he was dead, why wasn't there even a body?
He thought of the ghouls he had encountered before.
But then I thought about it again. There are many types of demons in the abyss that are related to corpses. Necromancers often use corpses for rituals, and the limbs of corpses may also be used as alchemical potions, so it may not necessarily be related to ghouls.
However, it's never a bad thing to know more.
Kane was listening when the two mercenaries seemed to realize something.
The fat man coughed and stopped talking, while the thin man also looked warily toward Kane.
Kane decided to stop hiding, got up, walked to their table, pulled up a chair, and sat down.
With a flick of his finger, a silver coin landed on the table with a "clink".
"I'm very interested in what you just said," he said calmly. "Consider this payment as an intelligence fee."
The fat mercenary stared at the silver coins, his Adam's apple bobbing, greed flashing in his eyes, but he still hesitated.
Kane flicked his finger again, and another silver coin fell, saying, "That's all. Give it back if you don't like it."
The fat mercenary couldn't resist any longer and grabbed two silver coins, stuffing them into his pocket.
He exchanged a glance with the skinny mercenary, and seeing that the other did not object, he cleared his throat and whispered:
"We've taken the money, and here's the intelligence for you."
He recounted the details of the bandits' disappearance once more.
The skinny mercenary added:
"This is all very strange. I went to the Mercenary Guild to check the mission log today, and the mission to clear out the bandits in the Savannah is still listed, but there's been no activity at all."
"What's so strange about that?" Kane pretended not to understand.
The fat mercenary explained:
"Your Excellency is unaware that such extermination missions are mostly issued by local councils or nobles."
"We mercenaries do the work, and the credit goes to those lords. But this time is different. The bounty has been up for so long, no one has claimed it, and the mission status hasn't updated. Maybe... the council itself is secretly investigating."
Kane nodded: "What do you think is going on?"
The two exchanged a glance, and the fat mercenary said in a deep voice:
"We suspect there's a conspiracy behind this. Those bandits wouldn't just disappear for no reason."
"Disappear..." Kane frowned; the word made him feel uneasy.
The skinny mercenary sighed:
"You should know that the Susas Elven Court punishes 'death' very severely. So many deaths that cannot be made public are ultimately counted as 'missing.' This appeases the public, and the sheriffs and nobles also avoid holding each other accountable."
Kane understood; this was indeed typical of the Elven Court.
But before he could think about it further, the skinny mercenary shook his head again and said with certainty, "However, I think this matter is most likely related to bloodline purification."
"Bloodline Purification Society?" Kane frowned even more. He really didn't know about this kind of small organization. It sounded similar to Nord's underground forces.
The fat mercenary chuckled, glanced instinctively at Kane's hood, and then said:
"Susas places great importance on bloodlines, and pure-blooded elves have far more power than mixed-bloods."
Therefore, many people want to purify their bloodline.
He continued:
"Some people seek to mate with elven nobles whose bloodlines are close to pureblood, hoping to increase the blood concentration of their offspring. But the purer the bloodline, the harder it is to have children, and most of the time it's all for nothing."
They started talking about other things.
Kane tapped the table impatiently: "Get to the point, what exactly is the Bloodline Purification Society?"
The fat mercenary quickly became serious and said, "The Bloodline Purification Society is a secret organization with a history of over a hundred years. I've heard that their purification methods originated from the Elven Royal Court."
"People from the Royal Court?" Kane asked, puzzled. "The Royal Court is full of pure-blooded high elves. Their bloodlines are already pure enough, so what's the point of purification?"
That's what they say, but there are always those who can't control themselves.
The fat mercenary lowered his voice, with a hint of mockery, "A hundred years ago, one of the top three heirs of the royal court had a relationship with a half-elf maid and gave birth to a mixed-race child with a very faint bloodline."
Kane remained silent, and the fat mercenary continued speaking.
"Therefore, the heir was stripped of his inheritance rights and exiled to another country, never to return. The maids and children were driven out of Sussas and left destitute."
Kane was somewhat surprised: "Kick him out? What if that half-breed is used by an enemy nation—like the Kingdom of Nords—to fight back under his banner?"
"You're overthinking it," the fat mercenary chuckled.
"Susas only cares about bloodline. A mixed-race person with a very weak bloodline is of no value even if used by an enemy country. In the eyes of the Elven Court, mixed-race people are no different from humans and are not worthy of posing a threat."
That's why the mother and child survived.
He paused for a moment, then continued, "But I heard that the maid later died of grief. When that half-blood child grew up and learned about his true parentage, he vowed to take revenge on the Elven court."
"Revenge? Against the entire royal court?" Kane said in a low voice.
"No, what he wants to fight against is the bloodline system of Sussas—the contempt and oppression of mixed-bloods by purebloods."
The fat mercenary's tone turned somber. "I heard he obtained a strange ritual from elsewhere. As long as you get the corpse of a dead half-elf or pure-blooded elf, you can extract pure blood from it."
Finally, by fusing and consuming these bloodlines, purification can be achieved.
"Corpse, bloodline purification, public disclosure of the death is prohibited..."
In an instant, all the clues connected in Kane's mind.
He finally understood why Twin Harbour prohibited burial and insisted on cremating bodies and scattering their ashes in the floating cemetery.
This is in light of the reasons why the Elven Court has strict regulations on death.
The so-called "maintaining the port's reputation" may only be one aspect; prohibiting the use of corpses in this bloodline purification ritual is another.
The fat mercenary, oblivious to Kane's odd behavior, continued:
"Later, that mixed-race person made the ceremony public. As a result, many organizations were established, the most famous of which was the Bloodline Purification Society."
I heard that they once slaughtered all the half-elves in the town and then framed the Kingdom of Nord, which directly triggered the war between Susas and Nord.
As for those families that purified their bloodlines through rituals, whether they became elven nobles, no one knows.
"However, the Elven Court later realized the threat and began a vigorous crackdown on the organization."
The skinny mercenary added, his tone somewhat wistful.
"Many core members were killed, and the rest went into hiding."
Ultimately, the history of the Elven Court is also a tangled mess, but it's not just them; which of the six kingdoms on the continent doesn't have a history filled with intrigue and bloodshed?
Kane nodded.
The Susas Elven Court may appear to be a kingdom of pure-blooded elves, but in reality, half-elves have long made up the vast majority of its population.
It was through interbreeding with humans that they were able to preserve their country amidst war.
Even now, with bloodline purification rituals, purifying the bloodline of a pure-blooded elf often requires sacrificing the entire population of a small town, making it a losing proposition.
No wonder the Elven Court was determined to eradicate the Bloodline Purification Society.
Seeing Kane's calm expression, the two mercenaries assumed he was satisfied and went on to recount many more rumors.
Most of them talked about how much money one would have after bloodline purification, and what good equipment one could get, their tone full of envy. They also said that these rumors were only half true and no one had verified them.
Kane listened quietly, pondering his next move.
If you dig deeper, the Bloodline Purification Society might be part of a series of side quests.
Completing this will likely earn you a significant amount of skill points and experience, and you might even obtain legendary wealth and equipment.
But he has something more important to do now—to find out the true identity of "Lady Dream" and stop the demon cult's plot.
The Demon Cult is the real threat to the material plane.
If they are allowed to develop and form a demon army, the entire continent will suffer, and no one will be able to escape.
In comparison, matters concerning the Bloodline Purification Society must be put on hold for now.
Having made up his mind, Kane stood up, said "Thank you," and turned to leave the tavern.
But he didn't know that as soon as he left, the two half-elf mercenaries exchanged a glance, their eyes revealing greed.
They quietly got up and followed.