The God of Jesters
Chapter 314 - 5.12.2 The third level.

Chapter 314: 5.12.2 The third level.

"It’s dangerous, we better remain close to each other." Buckling together again to not get lost, the trio soon entered the expanded ruins that were in front of them. And although they kept up their guard, taking each step with acute caution, the surroundings around them told a different story altogether.

There were whispers mixed in the cacophony of chirpings. Making one feel as if the market was alive and well. And if not for one’s eyes, the trio might have believed that they were surrounded by a crowd in the distance.

"Don’t you feel this is a real adventure?" Crow spoke, causing both Henry and Sheva to look at him with concern.

Although nothing dangerous has happened besides the weird thing in the tunnel. It would take someone bizarre to consider all of this an adventure.

But before Sheva could say it, the door of one of the shops on the side got wide open, startling the trio with Sheva and Henry backing off, leaving only Crow, who looked inside the gate with some curiosity.

"Don’t look, Crow." Considering these places were considered forbidden for a reason, looking toward unexplained events might just lead to corruption. But Crow paid no heed to the warnings and replied. "But I already did, and you should too." He said, urging the two to look at the opened door.

And in front of Remira’s eyes, she did see it, a small piece of jade surrounded by trees. "A gift from the ruin."

"A jade stone?... all I see is a stone plaque," Henry spoke as if, in his eyes, instead of a forest with jade stone in the middle, it was a marble room with a stone plaque inside it.

"In my case, it’s a glass Jar," Crow spoke some lies, as the thing in front of his eyes was not something he could speak of freely. "Why don’t we see if you can obtain it?" The ruins were famous for artifact acquisition in the olden days, and from the looks of it, this was what it meant by item acquisition.

The ruins gave the item directly to you.

But Sheva shook her head and pointed toward the similar board he had seen before. "Take some, lose some." With similar handwriting, they had seen before."

And when looking around, there were similar words on the door of other shops around the area.

"Piece of heart, piece of your soul."

"Price of blood, for the piece of life."

Different stores with different words, each seems to convey something.

"You need to pay something to gain something." This was the answer that Sheva concluded, before shaking her head. "We don’t need to pay any price, let’s just keep moving." As they moved, a few more shops opened, beckoning them to choose one item after another.

But Sheva didn’t bother with any of them, nor did she let the two kids behind her dally for any longer.

"This might be the first area... the real area," Henry spoke, after seeing all of this. While Crow on the other hand asked a much more important question. "Who left all of these words for us?" Crow asked, checking the ink on the board and saying, ’Yes, it’s old.’

"Its like cheating." He said, feeling that some of the mystery from the place was stolen by the creator of all these boards. But Sheva on the other hand appreciated all of this. These boards had acted as a warning, in turn saving her time and probably her life. Because even with all those translations, she didn’t understand what sort of payment all of these things inside the rooms required.

"Let’s go down." Entering the temple which was much larger in size than before, the trio started to look around for similar blood stains like before.

They checked the floor, then the walls. And before long, their eyes fell on the painting of a lush field with the setting sun.

"Blood." Crow was the one to find it once again, he pointed toward the sun and said. "There is some blood on it," he said, touching it and finding that the blood was not as old as he might have expected. "Guess, we are not too late." He said, smiling.

And Sheva nodded, readying her arm to use as a key. But Crow was one step ahead and had already put some of his blood on the painting, which gladly absorbed all of it. "Wonderful." He spoke like a child in a country far away.

"Seems like these things don’t hold much value," Sheva said, taking off the buckle, knowing that the chances of being lost in these places were not as high as she had thought before. Henry nodded at her, but Crow remained silent on this part, as his mind was still looking outside, towards the shop with some envy and desire.

’This is no time for it... I need to enjoy this as much as I can.’ he then also took off the buckle, following the duo, and then under the lead of Sheva, he entered the path opened on painting, while still remaining on the back of Henry.

"Isn’t it fun? This time, the path is illuminated even." Crow asked Henry, who seemed tense after looking at so many weird things.

"Are you actually enjoying it?" He asked, confused and a bit weirded out by Crow’s emotions. Didn’t it seem like he was depressed that he had to come here? So why such a sudden change?

"Got to make the best of a situation, you don’t experience something as bizarre every day."

At Crow’s words, Henry nodded after some thought.

’Yes.’ he thought, it’s not every day he gets to experience a forbidden ruin for himself instead of stories he had heard in his childhood. He even had the thought that this place was not as dangerous as they might have expected. But soon shook his head.

’Be attentive.’ He thought, knowing that if he were to show some greed before, things might have gone bad in the ruin earlier.

As for how bad? He can’t say, nor does he want to find out.

"These are not fresh, they were lit up not too long ago." Sheva came close to one of the lanterns and checked the wick in it. "The wax is still melting."

"Then we are close... should we wait it out so that we gain some distance?" Henry asked, but Crow said. "And let them get it on their own? Why don’t we try to win this game?" Or so Crow wished to say, but in reality, his reply was a lot tamer. "We are no enemies and knowing my boss, he probably won’t do a thing due to Miss Sheva. He might even go on to protect her if we were to close in on him."

Crow gave a sound excuse that Henry couldn’t deny after learning that there was some background between Miss Sheva and Crow’s boss.

But Sheva didn’t like this at all, she knew how much misery Jara had caused in order to protect her, and how many sacrifices he had made in order to do so. And she doesn’t wish to see it. "We wait."

Hence she made a decision that the duo can’t deny.

"The path is so narrow, won’t the oxygen burn out if these lanterns remain lit?" crow asked at the two-minute mark of their waiting, but Sheva only shook her head and said. "You saw an entire new world before this, and you are worried about oxygen?" She asked and Crow couldn’t retort.

And after a bit of back and forth, the group moved again, with everyone’s face filled with a slight smile after the little banter.

As for Crow, he also had a smile on his face. "The pulsation is stronger than before." He said, looking at the meaty wall that surrounded him.

If the dark path before was the intestine, then the current path seemed more akin to a blood vessel that was closing in on the heart.

’Should have come here sooner, better yet alone as well.’ Crow thought before his eyes fell on Henry. But he didn’t say a thing after it, like a golem, he just followed Sheva’s steps, unaware of the danger ahead.

Nor did he care actually, as in truth, he wanted to see what was at the other end of the tunnel, what these people were after and why so much drama over it.

"We are here," Sheva said, looking at the door ahead of her, with another board hanging on its side. "Harvest." It said with simple letters, confusing the trio, before Sheva paused and asked Henry. "Considering the earlier room, this one might be more dangerous. Are you sure you wish to move with us?" She asked again, this was her last time asking this question.

And Henry actually contemplated it as well. He was not blind, it was easy to know that things wouldn’t be so simple the further they go. And after much contemplation, he asked. "Is this tunnel safe?"

"I know as much as you do, less in some cases.’ Sheva replied before saying. "But the temple before it should be safe."

"Being together is safer... so I would choose to follow you.’

"Henry, you don’t need to go so far, it seems this is ending anyway."

"Don’t worry, I can handle myself... I am a better fighter than you anyways."

"I am not as bad as before, you can give it a try."

"Sure, but after this all is over."

The two talked, before nodding toward Sheva. Who in ruined pushed open the door and got ready to see a bigger ruin in front of her.

But what appeared in front of her was neither the ruin nor any temple.

"Weeds?" She asked, seeing an open field of grass with no end in sight.

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