The Devil’s Cage

No one had an answer for Luna.

Kieran would only show vigilance against a stranger and ignore their existence.

Starbeck?

He only had Kieran in his eyes most of the time and could no longer fit another irrelevant soul in his accurate sight, being able to show a polite smile at people was the success of his good family background.

Therefore, after waiting for two hours and not finding a chance, Luna chose to leave for the time being.

Why not try to force an entry?

She was just a food critic, her identity had sealed her fate from doing anything rude or improper and aside from that, based on what she saw from Kieran, she dreaded.

‘I won’t give up this easy!’

Luna took a deep breath, encouraging herself when she walked to the entrance of the alley.

In order to make the encouragement more effective, she purposely turned around and faced the restaurant door, ready to pull her fist down but when she turned around…Bang!

The door was slammed shut by Kieran.

Luna clearly saw the expressionless face on him from start to end, and being neglected by that blank face, her fist froze in the air.

Luna couldn’t hold it any longer after the door was shut on her.

“So what if you are rich! Hmph!”

She shouted, looked left and right in panic before she left.

Kieran heard her inside the restaurant, but did not care.

A loser barking like a dog was nothing important.

Moreover, this ‘dog’ was just a puppy without teeth.

He was more concerned about the ‘compensation present’ that Mian Yi had delivered.

He opened the delicate box and saw layers of silk inside it.

After he lifted layer after layer of yellow colored silk, a stone the size of a grown man’s fist appeared. The stone was lustrous, looking like a beautiful jade, even a person who knew nothing about stones would understand how valuable it was based on a look, let alone Kieran, who got the description from the system.

[Name: Water Purity Stone (Small)]

[Type: Wonder Item]

[Rarity: Rare]

[Attack: None]

[Defense: None]

[Attribute: 1. Water Purify; 2. Water Rear]

[Effect: None]

[Prerequisite: None]

[Able to bring out of dungeon: No]

[Remark: This is a magical stone, some say it is the product of ancient alchemy, some say it is from mother nature, but as for its true origin, no one knows until this very day. Everyone seems to use its power just fine though.]

[Water Purify: Purify water, making it sweeter, when used for cooking, the ingredients will be fresher.]

[Water Rear: Put the water into an aquarium (No bigger than 3 cubic meters), the quality of the fish, shrimp, and other aquatic animals will increase with a small chance after 12 hours.]

…

“An item to purify water and boost rearing?” Kieran was rather surprised.

Back in the [Name of Food] dungeon, he heard of similar items before but they were rare and he had never came across one.

Who would’ve known he would get one in this Unique Dungeon.

Kieran swallowed his saliva.

He thought of the rice and soup cooked with the purified water.

Cheese baked lobster, Mala crayfish, abalone sashimi, brandy roasted escargot, Bi Feng Tang crab, fried octopus, snapper cream soup, onion grilled sea cucumber, seafood risotto…

Kieran felt like he saw the sea, the waves crashing in his ear and his nose filled with the smell of the food that he had imagined.

Eagerly, Kieran took the stone and went into the kitchen, his eyes shining in anticipation as he put the stone in Starbeck’s hand.

“[Water Purify Stone]?”

Starbeck was also shocked, then smiled naturally, “Big brother, I bet you want Cheese baked lobster, Mala crayfish, abalone sashimi, brandy roasted escargot, Bi Feng Tang crab, fried octopus, snapper cream soup, onion grilled sea cucumber, and seafood risotto, right?”

“Yes!” Kieran nodded affirmatively.

“Then we will need a bigger aquarium and some rearing tools. The kitchen is a little tight, so I suggest we move the aquarium to the side of the counter, what do you think?” Starbeck asked.

“You call the shots!” Kieran said.

Let the professionals do their work, Kieran always believed in that.

In terms of cooking, Kieran had never seen a person as professional as Starbeck.

Therefore, Kieran and Starbeck brought back a lot of things from their grocery trip. From the necessary aquarium to an oxygen pump to the myriad of fresh seafood.

When Bain came back to the restaurant in an exhausted state, he saw the half filled aquarium beside the counter.

“You like rearing fish too?” Bain asked curiously.

“Em. It’s better if they are edible,” Kieran nodded.

‘What do you mean edible?

Aren’t the fish in the aquarium for display?’

Bain was confused, but he quickly came back to his senses. He saw Kieran show a philistic smile, lowering his voice and said, “Many big things happened around Ai City yesterday night, interested? I’ll tell you everything for just 1 silver coin!”

“Not interested,” said Kieran.

His eyes were glued to the aquarium as he watched the sea creatures swim around, putting an alarm clock beside the aquarium after he set the timer.

“20 copper coins! Are you not interested at all?! It’s about a magical item!” Bain emphasized again.

He knew Song Shi Family of the South had bled their wallet because their young lady had made a mistake yesterday.

Bain wasn’t asking for the compensation they gave Kieran, but if he could make Kieran buy information from him with a little bit of coins, it would be a good choice for him.

He had spent almost every dime in his savings to buy that broken {Vengeful Spirit House].

To Bain’s surprise, Kieran shook his head again.

“No.”

“15!”

“10!”

“5! 5 copper coins will do!”

Bain couldn’t help but reduce the price even more.

“What about 1? You can’t even spare 1 copper coin to buy information?”

Bain pressed his hands on the counter, widening his eyes at Kieran, waiting for an answer and when he saw Kieran nod without any expression, Bain’s energy leaked rapidly, falling limply on the counter.

“Stingy guy!” Bain grumbled.

“Thank you,” Kieran said.

He always treated the comments of him being stingy as compliments for saving money.

Suddenly, the limp Bain sat up straight.

“No! That’s not right! You must have gotten the news through some other channel! The news about Philosopher’s Stone!” Bain looked at Kieran.

Kieran didn’t deny.

What happened last night may be a secret from the start but as the battle broke out, the incident landed in everyone’s ears, it was impossible to even cover it up.

The most the mystical side could do was keep the news from the civilians.

Kieran knew it, so he wasn’t worried. Quite the opposite, after Bain opened the conversation with the topic, he didn’t have to worry about subtly shifting the topic to the Philosopher’s Stone anymore.

“Is the Philosopher’s Stone that magical? Like how it’s rumoured?” Kieran asked vaguely.

He didn’t ask what kind of magic the stone possess, he was aiming for Bain to spill it all out himself.

Vigilant as always, Kieran has to make sure the [Philosopher’s Stone (Shard)] was the Philosopher’s Stone he read before in other dungeon worlds.

“Em. If it really is the Philosopher’s Stone, just like the legend says, it can bring back the dead and can cause a ‘prayer’ in a small area, but… After I listened to what they said, that Philosopher’s Stone seemed a little weird. I don’t know about the details but since the stone ended up in Song Shi Family’s hand, no one else in Ai City would go after it anymore.”

After his intention of earning some extra buck shattered, Bain was exhausted once more, he simply answered Kieran’s question.

“Is that so?”

Kieran replied softly as he looked at a lobster hiding behind some seaweed.

He was very soft, Bain didn’t even hear him, or he did but he didn’t want to explain further.

There were many rumours about the Philosopher’s Stone anyway, those who were part of the mystical side knew about it, simply asking a random John Doe would get the general answer.

There was no response verbally but Kieran’s eyes responded.

The lobster in the aquarium seemed to feel a sense of danger, it swiftly swam to the fake coral and Kieran’s eyes followed tightly.

The lobster moved again, but the catastrophic feeling followed it like its shadow.

Less than 3 minutes later, the lobster was exhausted and stopped swimming around.

“Roye, it seems like it’s dying. Let’s cheese bake it while it’s still fresh!”

Kieran then grabbed the net and caught the lobster.

“Isn’t it still moving? It’s lively!”

Bain couldn’t help but grumble at the lively lobster behind the counter.

“No, you are wrong.”

Kieran shook his wrist and smacked the net on the wooden counter, the lobster then stopped struggling.

Starbeck came out from the kitchen and saw the ‘dead’ lobster in the net, smiling and nodding.

“Leave it to me!” he said.

The curtain at the kitchen entrance was lifted up again, the Elite Hound lying down there started to stick its tongue out.

Of course it wouldn’t get the best bit of the lobster but having leftovers was fine, and once it thought about the delicious meal that Starbeck was preparing, the Elite Hound glanced over at Bain at the behind the counter in a despising gaze.

Bain, who wanted to speak, stopped when he caught the gaze, clearly getting the meaning from the Elite Hound’s gaze. It was scolding him for being an idiot!

“Royan, your dog seems to be despising me,” Bain frowned.

“No, you are overthinking. Like the lobster, you must be too stressed out lately, that’s why your mind is fooling you.”

Kieran said seriously and the seriousness made Bain doubtful.

He was indeed exhausted and stressed out recently.

Carrying out consecutive missions, dealing with sudden occurrences, even if he had a chance to sleep, he wasn’t actually comfortable, he was sleeping on the restaurant floor with a plain blanket.

“Am I really that tired?” Bain talked to himself.

“Em. I would suggest you go home, have a good rest, otherwise you may not be able to deal with the upcoming matters. The place where the Philosopher’s Stone is found needs you,” Kieran nodded.

“I know right, the South Sector suffered a great loss, especially Aison Den. His injuries are serious, it’s impossible for him to recover in a short time. Hoen has taken over control of the South Sector for the time being. Though I really hope Aison Den won’t come back, that pretentious face of his makes me sick,” Bain didn’t hide his own thoughts.

“About that ruin, what do you think?” Kieran asked.

“I guess that Mazmu bastard got lucky, don’t you think?” said Bain.

“Lucky, eh?” Kieran muttered to himself.

The last bit of doubt in his heart lingered, because locating the Philosopher’s Stone in that ruin and taking it away just like that seemed all too easy.

Those who possessed the Philosopher’s Stone, even if it was a shard, would not be some random John Doe, but what about that place?

That place, the ruin where the stone was found, had a trap only effective to normal people and nothing else.

Strange, wasn’t it?

It was like someone put the stone there in a rush, simply put up a trap, and waited for someone to get in whenever the ruin was found.

“You said the Philosopher’s Stone had fallen into Song Shi Family’s hands?” Kieran asked.

“Em. Mazmu was caught by Mian Yi, hence the stone falling into their hands… That’s the Philosopher’s Stone! The legendary item! Even if it couldn’t be used on oneself, selling it for a good price was also a decent choice!, but Song Shi Family…”

Bain sighed in regrets.

Those who weren’t in Ai City wouldn’t know how scary Song Shi Family was.

Those who weren’t in Ai City mystical side wouldn’t know how powerful Song Shi Family was.

The things Song Shi Family sought wasn’t something a mere Herder, like him, could interfere with, even if he knew it, he knew it, that’s all, nothing else he could do.

Kieran, too, remained silent, like he acknowledged Bains’ words.

His true thoughts though?

Only he knew his own thoughts.

After that, Kieran and Bain returned to their daily routines, Bain mumbling gibberish and Kieran turning a deaf ear.

It went on until the aroma of cheese baked lobster came out from the kitchen, Bain stopping his grumbling.

He looked at the kitchen blankly, drooling.

When Starbeck came out with a brilliant red and golden yellow cheese baked lobster on the tray, Bain stood up instinctively.

“Don’t move. It’s mine. Sit down.”

Kieran looked at Bain, warning him, and took the tray.

When Bain watched Kieran dig into the lobster, his spoon scooping the cheese, he couldn’t help but swallow his saliva endlessly.

His eyes then turned to Starbeck, he wanted to ask for something but before he could, he was interrupted by a warning growl.

The Elite Hound at the kitchen entrance stood up, the other Hounds at the corners also quickly gathered around Starbeck.

6 Hounds looked at Bain with subtle hostility, ready to bite his head off if he spoke.

They knew how big the lobster was, the leftovers were only that much, so if the talkative ‘food’ had one, the Hounds would lose one.

Listen to the first master’s order, so that they could eat second master’s food.

The Hounds found it very enjoyable.

Should someone interfere with their happy lives, they would chase him to the end of the world.

“Don’t worry, they don’t bite.”

Starbeck touched the Hounds’ head and assured Bain with a smile.

Bain smiled awkwardly. What else could he say?

‘Yeah, they don’t bite. They wanted to eat me!’

Bain kept quiet, he didn’t want to challenge the Hounds’ bottomline. He watched Starbeck take out another bowl of lobster sauce infused rice.

The rice was poured into the dog bowls and the Hounds ate happily, Bain drooling again.

‘Damn it! It must taste like shit!

There’s no lobster meat left, only some sauce, how good can it taste?

But… it really smells damn good!’