Chapter 538 - A Strange Rumor
The next morning, Rhode followed Emily’s lead on the chariot to the silver ore mine operated by the Edward Trade Association. Of course, Rhode had heard from Emily that her father, the Chairman of the Edward Trade Association, would receive him personally and discuss the business trade with her. Rhode wasn’t surprised by this arrangement. Even though his disguise was outstanding and his identity of coming from the Country of Light was a great cover, merchants would always be merchants, and no matter how profane, money-making was their main priority. If Rhode didn’t bring out enough sincerity and attitude, the Edward Trade Association wouldn’t be blindly deceived by him.
“That’s the excavation mine that our Edward Trade Association controls, Miss Seren.” Emily pointed delightfully and Rhode nodded in agreement. He narrowed his eyes and turned toward where she had pointed. The image looked exactly the same as in his memory. Nothing had changed.
“It’s a pity that Miss Celestina is feeling unwell and she can’t come on this trip with us…”
Emily’s words dragged Rhode out of his reverie. He simply smiled and Celia, who was seated beside them, tilted her head curiously and gazed at her Master. It was apparent that this Battle Angel wasn’t convinced of Rhode’s excuse of Celestina not acclimatizing to the environment. After all, Celia knew better than anyone else what her elder sister had been up to.
However, she was rather inquisitive about the exact happenings last night.
Although Celestina was a formidable presence in her eyes, Rhode wasn’t a Master who was easy to deal with. He was smart, decisive, cunning, and sometimes sinister. Moreover, he was never mindful about his pride nor appearance. As a Holy Sword Spirit Card, Celia maintained her self-conscious even when she wasn’t in human form. But she was more like a spectator instead of a participant when she was in her weapon form.
Due to this reason, Celia had observed Rhode’s battle style countless times and frankly speaking, she wasn’t able to accept its cruelty. There were many times when he performed shamelessly and was unregretful after the whole incident. What made her knit her brows the most was that Rhode was different from the humans she had met before. The humans would find an excuse for themselves after doing a bad deed, but Rhode would behave as though he liked to do it. This crazy wildness was somewhat unbearable for a kind, orderly Battle Angel. But she eventually tolerated this point of his because this was her mission and she understood the situation. No matter what, at least he was progressing in the situation and she admitted that there were indeed many situations that couldn’t be resolved by screaming justice slogans.
This was why Celia didn’t believe that Celestina could give Rhode a hard time. But she also didn’t feel that Rhode would do anything to Celestina. After all, they were summoned spirits who had a Master-Slave relationship, where not only did the spirits need to respect their Master, but the Master must also return a certain extent of respect back. Celia observed that Rhode had always treasured his summoned spirits, which was why she felt that even though Celestina was taken advantage of, she would just yell out in fluster and exasperation and everything would return to its usual state.
But this time, the situation was apparently different.
Rhode’s sudden question flustered Edward. Although it was only for a moment, Edward quickly regained his cool. But it seemed that things weren’t that simple for Rhode.
“How can there be any problems, Miss Seren. It’s just that the dirty mine will stain the clothes of a beautiful lady like you. Besides, you are also aware that the miners are a bunch of barbarians who don’t know manners. I’m afraid that they’ll offend you…”
“Are there really no problems at all?” Rhode looked into Edward’s eyes sharply.
Edward shrunk his body unknowingly. He felt her stare was as though a sharp knife puncturing his heart. He let out an awkward laugh and retrieved a handkerchief from his pocket to wipe the sweat on his forehead. “That… actually, I heard from the foreman that they discovered some movements in the deep mine these past two days. Although it didn’t disrupt our daily operations, everyone was rather worried. That’s why… Miss Seren, you’d better not head down for safety’s sake.”
“Oh?” Rhode responded in surprise. He knew that there were no creatures in this mine before the Earth Element creature’s seal was unlocked. But now, the seal was still intact and there shouldn’t be any creatures down there.
Could it be…
A thought cropped up in his mind. “There shouldn’t be any danger since it doesn’t affect the daily operations, Mr. Edward. I would like to personally take a look if it’s possible, to understand the actual situation. If not…” Rhode paused on purpose and he smiled at Edward who was dripping with sweat. “I’m worried that the extraction speed of your Trade Association wouldn’t meet our demands.”
“… Alright then…” Edward sighed hopelessly.
After all, he knew that ‘Miss Seren’ had discovered that something was wrong with the mine, and his Trade Association would be in the short end of the stick if he continued to stop her from entering. Furthermore… That was nothing more than just a rumor, so it shouldn’t be anything problematic…
Edward let out a long sigh.