Chapter 96: Minister’s Trophy
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Abandoned Valley of Gods?
It took Benjamin a while to react to Michelle’s statement.
Could such a place exist?
The legendary Abandoned Valley of Gods only existed within the mages’ version of the legends. The version of the "Cain and Abel" story by the Church had never mentioned the location of the final battle, much less the term, ‘the Abandoned Valley of Gods’.
Could the Abandoned Valley of Gods really exist?
Benjamin was doubtful.
That was why when Michelle mentioned the map of the Abandoned Valley of Gods, Benjamin was still skeptical. He suspected Michelle could have been brainwashed by the mages’ version of the Bible and therefore believed such a place existed.
"That is something from the myths though, do you actually believe the Abandoned Valley of Gods exists?" He could not hold back his thoughts.
"Believe me, I was like you, skeptical of the supernatural." Michelle fixated her gaze on the map, with an unusual serious demeanor, "But I believe, Cain and Abel both once existed. Regardless of their relationship, they certainly had the battle and the final battle field — rests in the Abandoned Valley of Gods."
..... Could this be real?
Benjamin was still not fully convinced.
Well, it could not be helped as he was, after all, an atheist and the value of materialism was already deeply rooted in him.
Michelle sighed at the sight of Benjamin’s doubtfulness. She further explained, "You may think that the Abandoned Valley of Gods was a fraction of imagination from the mages’ legend. However, in an internally circulated memo from the Church, they, too named the battle field as the Abandoned Valley of Gods. The Church never let the information leak out. More importantly, the Church has a picturesque painting passed down from generations, describing the battle site. The old painting’s geography is quite similar to the map."
And there’s evidence...
Benjamin could not take this matter lightly now.
It would be hard to replicate an old painting that had been handed down thousands of years. Antiques were not worth much in this world and therefore there was no specialized industry for product imitation. Even if there were to be a replica, the Church would not be inclined to collecting imitated items.
The topographies of the old painting and the map were similar... Someone could have replicated the map after seeing the old painting. That being said, the old painting itself was living proof of the existence of the Abandoned Valley of Gods.
Benjamin was filled with anticipation at the thought of this.
If indeed there was a treasure buried within the valley, surely it would be worth a lot.
Even in the online games, the phases ‘legendary level’ or ‘godly level’ were commonly used on the strongest equipment. The value of the real deal from the legends must be priceless.
After hearing so many stories about the battlefield, Benjamin grew the urge for an adventure.
"Where is the Abandoned Valley of Gods? Is it within the Kingdom?"
He asked with exciting anticipation.
Michelle shook her head, and gave Benjamin a disappointing answer.
"I don’t know." She folded the map as though she had seen enough, "Legend has it that the Abandoned Valley of Gods is within the Kingdom but nobody knows for sure where it is, nor could a similar topography be found. It could be that with the test of time, the place is now a flatland or even a lake. It is impossible to identify the actual battlefield based on this topography."
Benjamin understood that time would do drastic changes to the world as it would with the crustal movement. A valley that was thousands years old might now be no more.
It seemed that the treasure would not be found at this stage. And if he really wanted to, he could look through compilations of ancient literature and books. Even then, there would be no guarantee the treasure could be found.
If this plot were to take place in a book about the realm of the immortals, the discovery of the treasure should come by chance and such chances could not be forced upon.
After a momentary excitement, Benjamin quickly became disappointed.
All that for nothing.
"Can you give me the map? I can let you have something else, in the form of magical instruments. What would you like to have? "Suddenly, Michelle turned and asked Benjamin.
Benjamin was caught off guard by her request.
Michelle seemed to attach great value to this piece of map that was barely worth anything.
But Benjamin did not mind it that much. For starters, the geographic landscape of the Abandoned Valley of Gods differed from the map which would render the map useless anyway. Secondly, he had the System. The System could save the map in its hard drive and could read the map any time.
Most importantly, it was not as if Michelle forcefully wanted it. She was ready to trade it. Benjamin simply could not reject such a win-win request.
"Do you have any magical instruments that could increase the Spiritual Energy?"
He relayed his request after careful consideration.
His weakness in Spiritual Energy was exposed in his battle with the priest. If he were to encounter an even knotty or battle protracting specialized opponent, Benjamin might end up at the losing end.
Although his Spiritual Energy was strengthening slowly with the increase of the magical runes. However, the progress of his improvement was not fast enough.
"Deal." Michelle nodded and took out a cross necklace from within her clothing. "This is from a minister I killed. Although putting it on will not increase your Spiritual Energy, it will increase the recovery of your Spiritual Energy. One can’t tell the origin of this item if it is not carefully examined."
Good idea!
Benjamin’s eyes glittered and happily accepted the necklace.
"Alright, the map’s all yours." Said Benjamin with satisfaction as he put the necklace away.
A magical instrument to increase the recovery of his Spiritual Energy was just what he needed.
In fact, what was more noteworthy was this cross necklace came from the Church. The design was quite similar to the ones given by the Bishop. Wearing it would not raise any suspicion.
Awesome!
Sigh...
Wait a minute.
Just as Benjamin was putting away the necklace, he suddenly had a concern.
Michelle said the cross necklace was from a minister she killed. This made Benjamin recall the priest that he just took down.
One glance at the deceased priest and you could tell he was the filthy rich type. Other than expendable life and protecting equipment, there should be other magical instruments.
"..."
Benjamin felt the urge to weep for his loss.
Why didn’t he rummage through the priest’s corpse?
Why? Why was his attention shifted towards the assassin that attacked the Pope after taking care of the priest; and followed that old man over into a secret tunnel?
He must have been out of his mind!
He felt that he made the biggest mistake in history.
How could he have forgotten to search for valuables on the priest’s corpse?
Fxck...
It was as though he bade farewell to a million bucks.
Within the social class of the Church community, if a Holy Knight was the poorest and the Cleaner, a laboring class; then priests and ministers would be considered the wealthiest. Priests and mages were both sorcerers. Therefore anything a priest could utilize, most mages could make use of them as well.
Surely there were a lot of valuable items on that priest.
Michelle also mentioned that the magical instruments could not be easily identified. As long as one was cautious, no one would identify the magical instruments.
Benjamin was filled with deep remorse.
He quickly made a decision.
No! It was his victory, he killed the priest and whatever equipment that came with it, should be his rightful trophy to claim.
Who would care if the Church was alerted about the incident at Chief Silverfox’s inn and ordered their men to search the inn? Only with high risks, there would be huge returns. How could he back down at this key moment?
Moreover, the Church was currently preoccupied. It had not been an hour since the death of the first Holy Knight. The Church might not have reacted upon it nor ordered their men to check the scene.
He really had to return and rummage through that priest’s corpse!
"I have to go now," he raised his head as he steadily informed Michelle. "I wish you luck on the treasury and the map."
Michelle’s face went unusually blank upon hearing Benjamin.