Overlord: Start from the Goblin Lair.

Chapter 259 "The Fourteenth Book of the Dead"

"He claimed that he got it at an auction. It was an underground auction, and all the goods had unspeakable origins," Elden shrugged. "The appraisers at the auction didn't know the value of the gems, so they just sold them as ordinary magic items. Henry got a bargain because of this."

"Dean Eldon, may I bother you for a moment?" Sylvia's voice suddenly sounded from behind the crowd, "Is there any other name for this 'Henry Robertson' you mentioned?"

"Other...names?" The moment Elden turned around, he was startled by the face of the vampire in the dim environment, but he quickly calmed down and said, "I have never heard of this. He is the participant with the lowest social status in that exchange meeting. Even if he has some pretentious titles, I think he would not dare to show them in front of us."

The dwarf glanced at his two students intentionally or unintentionally, and Gordon and Shiva lowered their heads quickly. They were also spellcasters with "pretentious titles", and unfortunately, their dean heard about it.

"I've heard of this before," Gordon glanced at Elden's face and spoke carefully, "My major includes courses on necromancy. I once attended a lecture by Mr. Henry, who called himself the 'Fourteenth Book of Necromancy.'"

Ron noticed that Sylvia's body trembled violently and then froze in place.

"There are only thirteen core theoretical books of the School of Necromancer, and he wants to be the fourteenth?" Elden sneered disdainfully, not noticing Sylvia's abnormality. "But he still has some shame in not claiming to be the 'zeroth book' - when my lover and I were traveling around the world, we met such an ignorant human who claimed to be the 'preface to illusion'."

"And then?" Ron gave Sylvia a reassuring look, "Your lover is a true master of illusion."

Elden nodded with satisfaction, obviously enjoying Ron's compliment. "Of course, she couldn't tolerate this kind of guy ruining the good reputation of the magicians of the Illusion School, so when he cheated again, she used a little trick to make him look bad in public:"

"He was demonstrating his crude tricks to wizards from other schools, and my lover made him think that he had finished the performance and was in a hurry to relieve himself. In the setting, he hurried to the toilet after seeing off the audience; but in reality..."

"He took off his pants in front of everyone and shit a huge load on everyone!"

This joke was a bit too much for other races, but it was just right for dwarves. Even Elden himself, who was suffering from depigmentation, couldn't help laughing when he mentioned this old anecdote.

As for the others, his two students' smiles were quite forced.

Who would have thought that his respected dean had made such a bad joke when he was young? And he still enjoys it now! Fortunately, he has lost most of his sense of humor, otherwise their college atmosphere would be...

Think about it again, if the dwarves were not troubled by fading disease and had a long lifespan that could easily rival that of the elves, what would the Elden Academy, created by an Elden who did not fade, look like?
Ron also laughed along, but his focus at the moment was almost entirely on Sylvia. The dhampir had mentioned the "teacher" who abused her several times, and if Ron was not mistaken, the necromancer was most likely named Henry Robertson.

"My benefactor, I am going to take a leave and leave the Land of Delusion for a while."

Sure enough, a few days after they sent Elden and the other two away, Sylvia knocked on Ron's door. The dhampir seemed a little absent-minded, and the wording on the note she handed over was confusing and illogical.

"I, uh, I got some clues about my biological father. I want to go find him and see if I can get anything out of him." Sylvia forced a smile on her face. "Please rest assured, I have no intention of leaving your command. This place is like home to me. Regardless of whether this matter has any result in the end, I will be back soon."

"That's not a very good excuse," Ron shook his head and put the note aside. "We spend most of our time together exploring. Where did you get this clue?"

"It's a passing merchant—"

"Or let me ask a few more questions: Do you still remember where your home is? Your mother was transformed during pregnancy, so how can you know the identity of your father?" Ron sighed, "Sylvia, we are companions, we have been through a lot together, you shouldn't hide anything from me - it will only hurt you, me, and Victoria, and there will be no benefit - speaking of this, have you mentioned this to them?"

"No, I don't want them to..."

"You're simply putting me on the spot," Ron shook his head. "What am I going to say when they ask me about this? 'I let Sylvia go back alone to seek revenge'? You keep calling me 'beneficiary, benefactor', but this is not the way to repay a favor!"

"But..." Sylvia smiled bitterly, "This matter must be resolved. Henry Robertson, that scum, must pay the price for his brutality! I am no longer the same person I was before. I can -"

"Defeat him in his own workshop or wizard tower? Sylvia, you are a spellcaster yourself, and most of my knowledge is passed on to me by you. Do I need to explain to you how difficult it is to do this?"

"You mean, no?" Sylvia's eyes revealed disappointment and even despair. "But you can't do this! You said that I am no longer anyone's slave. I am free. I think I have the right to put an end to my past!"

"Henry is not a very powerful wizard. My current strength is close to his. I will definitely find an opportunity to kill him outside the Wizard Tower!"

"I'll be back soon, I promise!"

Ron motioned for Sylvia to sit down first, then took out a stack of straw paper and began to write and draw on it: "Sylvia, even if you can really find and seize this opportunity to kill Henry, have you ever thought about what you should do afterwards?"

"Although Carolina has slavery and slave trade, it is not a lawless place. Especially for a spellcaster like your teacher, if he is murdered, it will inevitably cause a series of chain reactions. He even has a large number of guards and bodyguards around him. Your plan is more likely to end at the very beginning."

"Calm down and think about it. What is the success rate of your so-called plan? What is the success rate of escaping?"

"I guarantee your freedom, but not to let you 'freely die'! Escaping from the hands of the slave owner and then delivering yourself back to the other party? This sounds like something Sera would do."

"Sera," Sylvia said, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Don't say that. Sera just doesn't want to use her brain. She doesn't know how to..."

"Like you—even the northern barbarians wouldn't do such a stupid thing, you see."

"Okay, but is this matter over?" Sylvia clenched her fists. "That scum will live the rest of his life in peace without any retribution?"

"Of course not." Ron's pen tip moved quickly on the paper. "Like I said just now: we are companions. Rather than assassinating alone and getting burned together, a better solution is to commit the crime as a group."

"Carolina signed a truce with us not long ago. Now that Mindatis is dead, the conflict between us should also come to an end."

"What do you think of me visiting Carolina as a delusional land lord? I want to make some exchanges of interests with them. Even if that's not possible, as a spellcaster, it's always reasonable for me to want to meet the famous 'Fourteenth Book of the Dead', right?"

(End of this chapter)