Mercenary Wars

Chapter 248 Ra's Oracle Chest
A wooden box that looks extremely ordinary.

Like a storage box that any ordinary household might have, it has a simple design, no fancy decorations, and the material looks very ordinary.

But among the many miscellaneous items that have been eroded by time and bear more or less the marks of age, this wooden box is rare in that it retains its bright color and fresh texture, without any signs of fading or decay, and looks as if it was made from fresh wood that was just felled a few months ago.

Looking at the unremarkable box that showed no signs of age, Gao Jiano was taken aback at first, but then quickly realized what was going on.

This is... a divine treasure chest?
Gao Jiano reached out and touched the box, and a few lines of information immediately appeared in his mind.

[Item: Oracle Chest]

[Edict: Ra]

[Oblivion Conditions: Ra and his servants, the named ones of the gods, can obtain the oracle by attempting to break the seal on the box by any means]

[Hidden Item: Unknown before obtaining the Oracle, unobtainable before completing the Oracle]

Ra's Oracle Chest.

Upon seeing the test results, Gao Jiano was initially taken aback.

After all, in the mysticism, Ra and the Hydra, the hydra god, are enemies. Finding a Ra oracle chest in the Hydra's lair does seem rather strange at first glance.

But then he thought about it again and realized that it was actually quite reasonable.

The motive for hunting the multi-headed hydra, besides pure financial gain, may also be to fulfill a divine oracle—like the unknown nobleman who entrusted the oracle to the four of them.

Therefore, it is likely that the owner of the storage ring was Ra and his servants, who were named by God and went to the Valley of Judgment to hunt the multi-headed serpent under God's guidance, but unfortunately failed and ended up being devoured by the serpent.

If that's the case, then it wouldn't be surprising to find a Ra's Oracle Chest in the Ra's believer's storage ring.

Looking at the divine treasure chest in front of him, Gao Jiano pondered for a moment.

For now, the best way to deal with this box is probably to sell it to the client of this mission, that unknown powerful figure. After all, since the other party has an oracle to hunt the Hydra, he might also be a named one of Ra and his servant gods, and the box is "matched in holy name," so it might fetch a good price.

However, Gaucano had another consideration.

Soon he will be able to concoct the Lesser Enlightenment Elixir, and obtaining the Seventh Holy Name will be within his grasp. If he chooses Ra for the Seventh Holy Name, he can use the box himself.

This possibility is not so small as to be negligible.

As a high-ranking deity, Ra usually bestows good blessings, as Gaucano has noticed several times during previous upgrades. Perhaps next time he'll get an exceptionally powerful blessing.

Furthermore, Ra is a benevolent deity with a relatively mild personality, so his oracle chest is not considered taboo and can be sold at any time if desired.

After a moment's thought, Gaucano put away Ra's Oracle Chest.

Then he looked at the other items in the storage ring.

A gilded badge caught his attention. The badge was oval-shaped, engraved with a pattern of wheat ears, and decorated with delicate patterns along the edges.

He picked up the badge and looked at it, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

"In the name of Mosa, Christopher of Menbala is hereby granted the honorary title of 'Apostle of Abundance' in recognition of your contribution to solving the famine—By the Bread Society."

The title badge of "Apostle of Abundance" awarded by the church!
Gaucanor also received honorary titles from the church such as "Breaker of the City" and "Warrior of Nordanron," but their prestige was nowhere near that of the "Apostle of Abundance."

After all, his title was awarded by the local church, while Christopher's "Apostle of Abundance" was directly awarded by the Holy See's Bread House. According to the church's classification of honorary titles, this is considered a "universal" title, which can be respected and treated with respect in any Mossian region.

Looking at the gleaming inscription on the gilded badge, Gao Jiano couldn't help but feel a surge of curiosity about Christopher's life.

The Apostle of Abundance as recognized by the Church...

An adventurer who failed to hunt the multi-headed serpent...

Such a person must have had a rather legendary life.

Aside from the Oracle Chest and the title badge, Christopher's other relics are nothing special; they are just the usual supplies for adventurers: money, loot, equipment, scrolls, potions, and so on.

The only pity is that nearly a hundred years is not a short time, and these items seem to have been affected by the pool water, with some of them already expired or rotten.

The items that hadn't yet rotted, if converted to money, would probably be worth over a hundred gold coins to Gaucano.

The storage rings of warriors and hunters were similar. Although they were relatively poor, since they had only been dead for a short time and their items had not yet decayed, each person's belongings were worth about one hundred gold coins.

With the three people's belongings and storage rings, they had already recouped their investment of 450 gold coins.

The hydra's heads and flesh are pure profit.

Gaucano estimated the net profit to be around three hundred gold coins.

After sorting through his spoils, he went to bed to rest.

Although the trip was quite fruitful, it was also quite tiring. If it weren't for the feigned death technique ensuring he got enough sleep, his only thought right now would probably be to collapse and sleep immediately.

Have a night's rest.

After recovering their energy and strength, the four strolled around Gadgetzan for a while before returning to Arx together through a portal, and then headed straight for the Adventurers' Guild.

As soon as they reached the second floor, the adventure broker greeted them with a beaming smile: "Your mission went very smoothly, and the client's money has arrived!"

He then took out four money bags and distributed them to the four people: "According to the previous Adventure Team Agreement, Adrian gets 1,600 gold coins, and Gaogano, Charlie, and Moreno each get 800 gold coins. Please count them."

The four people took the money bag.

Gideon then asked, "You must have quite a few spoils to sell—like the hydra's cores?"

“Of course,” Adrian said, “but we don’t deal with things like hydra cores anymore.”

Gideon nodded without saying anything.

The Adventurers' Guild has a special place for adventurers to sell their loot, but while it's convenient, it's not very cost-effective. It's fine for dealing with some regular loot, but for rare and high-value items like Hydra Cores, the auction house is obviously a better deal.

Led by Gideon, the four then headed to the loot sale area to sell various spoils.

The auction area is a fairly spacious hall divided into several different sections. The herb section, mineral section, and monster product section are each independent, and each section has a professional appraiser responsible for evaluation and acquisition.

Herbs, ores, and monster artifacts are sold directly at prices slightly below market value, but the process is extremely convenient—you practically throw the item away and receive cash moments later. The appraisers are highly skilled, accurately assessing the value of items through mere observation and simple magical testing. Equipment, however, is more complicated, requiring a "determination of injustice" by church personnel before it can be sold.

The purpose of this was, of course, to prevent adventurers from harming each other and plundering ill-gotten gains in lawless areas.

But it's really just a formality.

A few young priests—or perhaps seminary students working part-time—casually swept their low-level wands across the room, making it look like a routine inspection.

Indeed, this is true. According to Adrian, unless an item is blatantly cursed with something like "ill-gotten gains," the Adventurers' Guild has no way of verifying whether the item's origin is legitimate.

of course there are exceptions.

For example, the apparition of Saint Yves.

This saint of Mosa, known for his impartiality and integrity, sometimes does indeed manifest himself, revealing truths that are difficult for mortals to perceive and upholding justice through means such as possessing those he has named. In such cases, any evil will be brought to justice.

In addition, the church occasionally sends high-ranking clergy to conduct surprise inspections, using spells of at least the fifth rank to verify their identities, which can uncover many unsavory practices.

To avoid this risk, wealth obtained through dirty means mainly circulates on the black market.

Gaucano and his companions, of course, didn't need to do that; their valuables were indeed not a big problem.

After all, the three ambushers were killed by Hydra; they were just collecting the unclaimed items.

Even if Saint Yves were to appear, they could still argue with him and ask Saint Yves to first determine whether the ambush was motivated by malice.

After the four sold off most of their spoils, several young deacons came looking for them.

"Hello, adventurer, please come with me to register your quest information and complete the teammate evaluation," the stewards said.

"Give me a good review!" Moreno said to his three teammates. "I'll give you guys a good review too!"

The four were then led to private areas by their respective stewards.

Gaucano was no exception.

He followed the deacon to a small room. The room was simple, with only two chairs and a small table. The walls were decorated with the emblem of the Mosaic Church and several articles on the evaluation of honesty. The walls around the room were engraved with clear magic circle patterns, emitting a faint magical glow, obviously soundproofing magic circles.

The two sat down, and the steward declared beforehand, "I think you should be familiar with the rules and regulations of the Adventurers' Guild. In the name of Mosa, Saint Yves, and my professional ethics, I will guarantee that what you say next will never be leaked in your name. So I hope you can give an honest evaluation, which will benefit all adventurers."

“Okay.” Gao Jiano nodded.

The deacon bowed his head and wrote something, then asked, "What's your overall assessment of Adrian? Perfect, good, average, poor, terrible. You can choose one."

Gaucano thought for a moment and said, "Not bad."

As the deacon wrote, he asked, "Has Adrian fulfilled his duties as captain? How well has he adhered to the 'Adventurer's Code' and the 'Adventure Team Agreement'?"

Gao Jiano: "He fully complied with the Adventurer's Code and the Adventure Team Agreement, and fulfilled all the responsibilities of a team leader."

The deacon nodded, then continued, "Has Adrian had any arguments with anyone? As a member of the team, is he friendly...?"

After a series of questions and answers, the butler finished recording and finally said, "Thank you for your cooperation. You can check the teammate evaluations you received at the Adventurers' Guild the next day. All evaluations are anonymous."

The two left the soundproof room.

No sooner had they left than four people entered.

Judging from their attire, the four individuals appear to be an adventurer, a deacon of the Adventurers' Guild, a church clergyman, and a military officer. The adventurer appears slightly uneasy, while the other three have serious expressions.

"What's going on?" asked the deacon who was traveling with Gaucano.

“They lost a teammate,” the deacon on the other end said. “We need to determine the cause of death, otherwise we won’t be able to explain it to the governor of security and the church. Of course, what’s even more critical is that the deceased had taken out a huge insurance policy before his death. If we don’t find out the truth, the association will suffer a huge loss!”

The existence of the insurance system provides a certain degree of protection for adventurers and their families, but it also gives rise to some moral hazards, with occasional people deliberately causing accidents for insurance money.

The Adventurers' Guild's insurance auditors may not be interested in fairness and justice, but they certainly have a strong incentive to "reduce payouts."

It concerns one's income and professional reputation, so it's something one must be careful about.

Therefore, in practice, insurance investigators may demonstrate a higher level of responsibility and rigor than sheriffs or clergy when it comes to uncovering wrongful convictions.

Of course, insurance inspectors may also refuse to pay claims due to procedural flaws, thus creating conflict between adventurers and the guild. Not long ago, an insurance inspector was murdered in the street by an adventurer for this reason, causing a wide impact and becoming one of the most serious cases in the central city of Ax.

"Go in." The deacon gestured for the adventurer to enter the soundproof room, and then he and the clergy entered together.

"Bang." The room door closed, shutting out all sounds from inside and outside.

Looking at the closed door and the other butlers coming and going nearby, Gao Gano felt a bit emotional and had to admit that the Adventurers' Guild was more professional than he had imagined.

After leaving the Adventurers' Guild, Adrian and his companions headed to the auction house.

On the way, Moreno kept asking, "What's your feedback on me? I'm giving you all positive reviews!"

“Good reviews, all good reviews,” Adrian said. “In fact, with the exception of a very few really bad teammates, I would rate almost everyone as ‘perfect.’”

"And you?" Moreno asked Gaugano and Charlie.

"We also gave it positive reviews."

"Excellent! Three more perfect reviews!" Moreno laughed.

The four arrived at the auction house by horse-drawn carriage.

Arx has several auction houses, most of which, along with the most important one—Sousse Auction House—are located near the White Agate Opera House, across Kings Road from the Teleport Hall, in one of the busiest areas of Arx.

They went to the Sussard Auction House and consigned several valuable spoils, including the Hydra Crystal Core and the Hydra Heart, for auction. The starting price was a total of three thousand gold coins, with an estimated price of four thousand gold coins.

Of course, Sussaud's auctions are not frequent, and after entrusting someone to an auction, you have to wait for a period of time before the auction will be held.

So the four of them went home, waiting for the last bit of profit to arrive in their accounts, at which point their adventure would be successfully completed.

(End of this chapter)