Master of Kaidan-Chapter 155 The Starting Point of the Story

Listening to Jessica’s question, Feng Xue shook her head:

"Miss, please use your brain before asking a question, and then you will realize how laughable the question you’re asking is."

"What do you mean?" Jessica’s face turned slightly sour at Feng Xue’s obvious taunt, but considering the "rarity" of the person in front of her, she didn’t snap back immediately. Instead, she started to think about what could be wrong with her question.

Then, she realized her mistake—

The self-proclaimed "Trader" demon in front of her, as well as the one called "Cooking," both had one thing in common: neither had exhibited overt desires. Instead, they seemed more inclined to induce desire in humans.

So if there really was a Wrathful demon, its modus operandi should be to "incite anger," not like a religious terrorist who goes around bombing churches.

Thinking this way, the church bomber indeed seemed much lower in status, no wonder the other party got prickly upon hearing the question.

Though a rich heiress, Jessica had wandered around for several years and knew how to interact with people. She promptly apologized:

"Sorry, my question was indeed thoughtless."

"No problem," Feng Xue waved his hand dismissively. However, he noticed that the woman seemed to be inadvertently thinking of Seven Deadly Sins. Once tied to such grand themes, it became exponentially more difficult to become noteworthy Kaidan. So he immediately made a nonchalant gesture and added—

"By the way, ’Cooking’ and ’Trading’ are not professions; they’re hobbies. After all, we’re all peers here. It’s like a bunch of journalists creating nicknames for each other—they wouldn’t use ’journalist’ as a nickname, would they?"

"I see," Jessica said, recalling something about the "demon chef" in the rumors, something about "eating something good after work."

Does that mean they’re not the Seven Deadly Sins?

Slightly disappointed but subsequently feeling it made sense, Jessica readjusted her attitude and continued:

"You say these are hobbies, so you mean, Mr. ’Cooking’ enjoys cooking, and you enjoy making deals?"

Feng Xue didn’t respond, but Jessica took his silence as an agreement and went on:

"Can you tell me then, why did you distribute those ’inferior imitations’ you spoke of before?"

"Because the power held by the authentic ones can be easily abused," Feng Xue replied matter-of-factly. Remembering she had to keep silent to the extent of leaving her clothes change half-undone earlier, Jessica nodded in agreement but simultaneously sneered internally—this didn’t sound like an answer a demon would give.

However, she didn’t voice this thought, as she remembered he seemed not to like being called a "demon."

Gathering her thoughts, Jessica started to ponder if there was a more explosive topic.

After all, the content she had inquired about so far, although secretive, wasn’t enough to pique readers’ "interest." In this information age, it was no longer like a century ago when publishing a royal recipe in the newspaper would captivate readers.

She needed something with more impact!

Unfortunately, the story of the Demon Coin itself, apart from occurring in reality, is not much different from those tales of righteous thieves and assassins, and in terms of event propagation, is even less widespread than the fictional stories.

Of course, as an exclusive interview with Mr. Demon, there would certainly be interest, but she could not prove that she had actually conducted an interview rather than simply conjured up a "setting" out of thin air.

"Wait, a hundred years ago?" Jessica suddenly sat upright. She recalled what the other party had said before.

The several lines engraved on the authentic coin’s numeric face—weren’t they the maxims of some organization that had existed for a century?

"What was that organization you mentioned before? Does it still exist?"

Hearing Jessica’s question, Feng Xue finally breathed a sigh of relief. She picked up the porcelain cup that looked quite valuable and took a sip of water. Then clasping her hands together in front of her, she spoke with a tone that suggested, "I have a story, do you have the wine?":

"’Libra,’ you can call it that. As for whether it still exists now... that’s something I want to know too. That’s why I spread those replicas. Unfortunately, it seems they have indeed vanished."

"Libra... never heard of that organization." As someone born into a Victorian noble family, Jessica had learned of many hidden organizations from her father and brothers and during her various adventures, heard many secrets and legends from fellow adventurers. Yet she had never heard this name. Without a doubt, though, it was related to the Libra on the Demon Coin, with one side gold and the other side a heart.

"This was an organization... well, you could consider them an ’assassin’ group. Although I’m reluctant to use this term derived from narcotics (referring to Assassin), the organization indeed specialized in the trading of lives."

Feng Xue eloquently told the story she had prepared, which was initially intended to be disseminated on the internet after the "New Coin" was released. However, appearing in the press could lend a different weight altogether.

Listening to Feng Xue’s deep tone, Jessica’s interest was piqued. She positioned herself to listen attentively and even checked her recorder to make sure it was still functioning properly.

Feng Xue did not keep her in suspense, but slowly began in a tone that resembled a "Victorian-style legendary narration" (akin to the feel of the openings for The Lord of the Rings, Dark Dungeon, Elden Ring):

"Over a hundred years ago, an archaeological team discovered a site from ancient Saragon that was far larger than they had imagined. Back in that era, archaeology wasn’t much different from grave robbing. To beat both the officials and their peers in a race against time, they chose to hire a group of laborers for the outer excavation."

At this point, Feng Xue’s mouth curled into a taunting arc:

"Of course, you, as a young lady of high birth, may not understand what those laborers represented at the time."

"I also studied history!" Jessica immediately retorted. "The laborers you’re talking about are what we call ’near-slaves,’ who during the Colonial Era were deceived and trafficked from underdeveloped countries and colonies under the name ’Contracted Labor,’ right?"

"That’s right," Feng Xue nodded lightly but did not elaborate on the issue of laborers, instead continuing his story—

"During the digging, one squad uncovered a severely weathered metal box with a Libra pattern on it. Inside the box was a palm-sized metal plate engraved with ancient Yan language, ancient Saragon language, and Azkec language..."

"You see, the composition of laborers was quite complex. There were poor peasants and fishermen from Yan Country, Azkec survivors from Columbia, and of course, the native Saragonians...

"Those who posed as middlemen agencies but were in fact slave masters would mix together laborers from different regions and countries to inhibit communication among them, making it difficult for them to interact.

"In such circumstances, the relationships between laborer squads were often quite estranged. Naturally, there would be no understanding between them, and even if they discovered some treasure, they wouldn’t be able to communicate or share the spoils. This was why the archaeological team dared to entrust the digging work to the laborers."

At this, Feng Xue suddenly paused her story to take a sip from her porcelain cup, but Jessica was somewhat impatient and asked eagerly:

"Did that squad manage to keep the secret? Did they hide the find?"