The Broken Halo

’Could this thing lead to the Forest of the Black Witch?’

The thought remained in Simon’s mind as he stared at the Wayfarer’s Knot.

The Forest of the Black Witch was somewhere in the southern region of the demon realm. Lucien had not given him an exact location, but Simon knew that House Mercer possessed influence in the north and that Lucien had encountered the forest after travelling far into the south.

Velmora City was nowhere close to that region. It was located in the northeastern part of the Darkness Kingdom, close to the kingdom’s eastern border. Even with a fast carriage and safe roads, travelling from Velmora to the far south would take a long time.

As for the Dreadfall Sea, it stretched across a massive portion of the western demon realm. The Silent Trench was located deep within its central-western waters, far away from both Velmora and the southern region where the Forest of the Black Witch was believed to be.

South. Northeast. Far west.

The three locations were separated by a terrifying distance, and that made the two objects inside the shell even more suspicious.

If the knot truly led to the Forest of the Black Witch, then somebody had carried a Fleshwood seed from the south to the Dreadfall Sea. Another possibility was that they had used the knot to travel in the opposite direction before losing both objects near the submerged ruin.

It could be anything at all.

However, the knot might not lead to the Forest of the Black Witch at all. Mother Fleshwood had scattered seeds across the realm, and Lilith believed that other Fleshwoods might still be hidden or hibernating. The destination could be another forest, ruin, burial ground, or region where a different Fleshwood existed.

Simon could not confirm anything without activating the Wayfarer’s Knot, and activating it blindly would be foolish.

Once one of the knots was loosened, it would open a path to a location he knew nothing about. It might send him into a safe region, or it might drop him in front of a Fleshwood that had been starving for thousands of years.

Simon had no intention of taking that risk without preparation.

”Do you recognise them?”

Orvek’s voice pulled Simon out of his thoughts. Simon looked at the cutter, then at Yara. Both of them were watching him carefully, especially Orvek, whose attention occasionally returned to the strange knot.

He was more interested in the Wayfarer’s Knot than the Fleshwood seed because the knot looked more unique than the seed which looked... well... like a dried up walnut.

Simon shook his head.

”No.”

The lie came out without hesitation. Orvek looked slightly disappointed, but his curiosity did not disappear.

”In that case, you can have them appraised by the pavilion,” he said. ”We have appraisers who specialise in ancient artifacts, lost crafting methods, medicinal objects, and items recovered from ruins.”

Simon remained silent, so Orvek continued.

”Unknown objects like these are important. Even if they are not powerful, they can teach us about the demons who lived before us, the methods they used, and the places that have disappeared from history.”

The way he spoke made it clear that his interest was not only about the value of the items. Cutting abyss shells was Orvek’s profession, but he also studied old relics and the history behind them. After seventy-six years of opening shells, every preserved object was a piece of the past to him, and the Wayfarer’s Knot was something he had never seen before.

”The appraisal can be done privately,” Yara added. ”If you are worried about information spreading, the pavilion has a way of making sure that such a thing would not happen.”

Simon shook his head again.

”That won’t be necessary. I have my own way of appraising them.”

Orvek frowned slightly.

”Some ancient items can be dangerous when handled wrongly. It would be better to know what they are before using or storing them carelessly. I can ask one of our senior appraisers to examine them without charging you.”

”I understand, but no.”

Simon’s tone was calm, but the refusal was final.

He reached into the opened shell and picked up the Fleshwood seed first. The seed felt dry and cold in his palm. It did not move, but UnholyRegeneration reacted the moment he touched it, causing the black star to tremble once again.

Simon sent it into his spatial ring, then picked up the Wayfarer’s Knot. The folded space around the white bead remained stable, and none of the knots loosened beneath his fingers before it also disappeared into his spatial ring.

’If my spatial ring was not sturdy enough, the ring and the Wayfarer’s knot would have been destroyed the moment I attempted to store it.’

Orvek watched both objects vanish and released a quiet sigh.

”If you change your mind, ask for me. I would like to know what that knot is, even if you don’t tell me everything.”

Simon looked at him for a second.

”I’ll keep that in mind.”

It was not a promise, and Orvek understood that. Simon had already refused more than once, and Yara had made his connection to Korran clear from the beginning. Offending a customer was bad, but offending a customer personally favoured by the Iron Examiner was worse.

Yara finished recording the results of the six shells. She gave Simon a copy of the cutting record along with the receipt token, then ordered workers to remove the worthless remains from the room.

Simon made sure that everything had been properly recorded before looking at Yara and Orvek.

”Thank you both.”

Yara smiled professionally.

”It was our pleasure. I hope your first experience with the Abyss Shell Pavilion was satisfactory.”

”It was rather... interesting.”

Orvek gave Simon a small nod.

”Come again when you have more shells to open.”

Simon did not say whether he would.

Yara led him out of the private room and across the third floor. Some demons looked at him again, probably wondering what he had obtained, but the private room had prevented them from seeing anything.

The formation on the stairway opened for them, and they descended to the first floor. As they walked, Yara occasionally glanced at Simon’s back because a suspicion had formed in her mind.

When Simon entered the third floor, he had ignored the largest, most expensive, and most popular abyss shells. He did not wander around like a first-time gambler, nor did he ask her to recommend anything. Instead, he walked directly to the quiet corner and stopped before the shell from the Dreadfall Sea.

It had been the first shell he seriously inspected and the first one he decided to purchase. He had not even hesitated after hearing its price, and now, that same shell had produced two unknown objects.

Yara did not believe it was completely a coincidence.

Perhaps Simon had an appraisal ability that the pavilion’s formations could not detect. Perhaps he had recognised something about the shell’s surface. Or perhaps he had come to the pavilion already knowing it was there.

Unfortunately, she had no proof. Without proof, suspicion was only suspicion.

Yara remembered the way Korran had granted Simon access to the third floor and given him a twenty percent discount without hesitation. The Iron Examiner was not known for generosity, and that meant Simon held some value in his eyes.

If she reported Simon without evidence or tried to investigate him on her own, she might offend Korran and ruin her position in the pavilion. Her curiosity was not worth her livelihood, so Yara kept her thoughts to herself.

At the entrance, Simon gave her a final nod before walking past the two Minor Greater Demon guards. The noise of the rock gambling district surrounded him once again.

Without looking back, Simon left the Abyss Shell Pavilion.