Chapter 191: The ravens

After Musa runs away from Ian's wrath, they overhear the table close to them, talking about a weird sugar cane forest. Kyrie puts his index finger on top of his lips as his companions quiet down.

"Sugar cane forest? There is such a thing in this drought?"

"It has to be that there is a massive spring underneath! Don't you remember that we are actually above the alchemist queen's tomb!"

"Don't you think it is ridiculous? The entrance is so far away from the actual forest! I thought sugarcane needed tons of water! Maybe people are bluffing…."

"No, no! I went there two days ago, and the forest exists!"

"What? You went there?!?!"

"Not inside because some friends warned me!"

"What? That's a waste of a trip then!"

"I was too scared! Haven't you heard the rumors about that place?"

"No…. What about it?"

"There seem to be weird creatures roaming around. Those who have gone deep into the forest never came out! The reason why we know it's because a group got split, and one group has ended up walking back outside. Then, the group that wandered out got a call of screams for help in their communication device! The survivors said that their other members were most likely eaten alive based on the sound."

"Did they go in to look for them?"

"They waited until sunrise to look for them, but it's like they have vanished."

The demon with one horn huffs, "Did you just hear what you said? You said they entered again at sunrise and came out safe?"

"Aiyah! I am just telling you what I have heard!"

The horse demon places the dishes on that table, "I always go there, and nothing happens!"

The demon with wings says, "Don't bluff, chef! You are a fake, and we all know it!"

"Where do you think my syrup comes from, huh?" 

The horse demon points at one of the windows to the stacks of sugar canes leaning against his small warehouse.

"See that? There is nothing in that place! I have always gone there, and nothing has truly happened!"

The demon with wings grunts, "Don't you think it is weird that there is a plot of sugar canes in the middle of a desert-like place? Don't you see that we walk on top of dry sand?"

The horse demon takes a seat because his back hurts after getting thrown like a baseball by the owner of Half Moon Palace, Musa.

"This place wasn't always this dry. It used to be a fertile land with greenery and water bodies everywhere."

"No way!" The demon with a horn utters in disbelief.

"How do you think that alchemist queen planted her things? I heard it from a family that stayed in this place for generations!"

"What you mean is that there is really something underneath?" The demon with a horn chuckled with sparkling eyes.

"But didn't the chef say that there is nothing in the morning?"

"So we are going at night?" The horse demon swallows hard.

Despite the fear for their lives, the imagined wealth fills their mind and itches their hearts. 

'They are all rumors anyway, right?' They try to reason their fear.

So they start to whisper regarding their wealth haul. 

Kyrie circles his sight around the table, making eye contact with his team. That one stare informs everyone of their duties. So, Laurel and Federline stand from their chairs and walk out. Lemuel silently gets into his room after Kyrie hands over the local map. 

Kyrie walks out of the restaurant-inn while Ian follows behind. Ian turns to look at the restaurant-inn that is getting further away. 

"Isn't it dangerous to leave Lemuel by himself?" Ian picks up his pace to walk next to Kyrie.

Kyrie turns to Ian and shakes his head, "He will be fine. I gave him several devices for self-defense."

"Then where are we going?"

"You will know once we get there," Kyrie slightly turns to observe the left peripheral.

Someone is following them. Ian also notices once Kyrie gives a hint, but that person has hidden his presence really well.

In this town, two others can hide their presence this well, and one is Musa.

When Musa turns to another street while following Kyrie and Ian, he loses them. He scratches his head as he tries to find the attire they wore amongst the demons roaming around.

He sighs and clicks his tongue in annoyance. His servants appear next to him in a blink of an eye. 

"We lost them," one of the servants reports their own circumstance.

Musa narrows his eyes, "How is that possible?"

Several people watch their every step, and when they turn a corner, they just disappear like a ghost?

Musa looks at the homeless demon kid in the corner with a beat metal bowl. She has gotten a coin, so she is hiding it inside her worn-out clothes. When the homeless girl sees that Musa is looking at her, she hostilely shoots her fur up. She shows him her sharp fangs, and her pupil contracts into a thin horizontal line.

Musa presses his lips together in annoyance but decides to ignore the little girl.

"What are the other three doing?"

"The bigger male drow and the blood elf are asking locals about the sugar cane forest, and the other drow is resting inside the inn," one of his servants reports.

Musa nods while frowning, "I guess it is going according to what I saw. Spread and find me Ian and his lover's position. We cannot miss them."

"Yes," the servants respond and jump up to travel on the residential roofs. 

Musa looks at the little girl again at a distance and turns to leave as well. A coin flies into the little girl's bowl.

Once Musa disappears from the marketplace, the homeless little girl looks at her side. The space next to her twists, and Kyrie and Ian appear out of thin air.

Kyrie caresses the little girl's head and gives her two more silver coins.

"Help me find the ravens," Kyrie asks the little girl.

The demon kid smiles and nods happily as she holds tightly onto the silver coins. She leads Kyrie and Ian into the tight inner streets of the town and stops when they arrive at an old door with a peephole barricaded with iron rods. 

Ian knocks on the old door, and particles of wood turn into a faint cloud of dust. A pair of small and circular black eyes appear from the peephole.

"What do you want?"

Kyrie answers with a smile, "A cup of honeyed tea, please."

The raven demon stares at the two noble demons with a long pause, and he opens the old door after sliding the many iron latches. 

"Please come in," the raven demon opens the door.

Ian looks at Kyrie nervously as they enter the old house. The raven demon flips a coin to the girl's bowl before closing the door. The little girl walks away joyfully, back to the corner that she always sits at.

"What type of tea do the guests want?" The raven asks with coded words.

"The red kind," Kyrie quickly answers.

The raven lets Kyrie and Ian sit inside a room with only a desk and a few chairs. Dust floats underneath a single hanging lamp in the center. 

"Welcome, welcome!" A raven demon with a scar on his right eye sits in front of his two noble guests.

"I feel sorry that I am letting such noble guests to such a humble place!"

Another raven demon carrying a fancy metal tray with a glass tea kettle and three ceramic floral cups. She pours the tea carefully, trying to mask her nervousness. One or two drops spill over to the tray despite her efforts. 

The female raven looks at her boss carefully. Seeing that he has no reaction, she quickly walks away without even taking the metal tray.

The raven with the scar smiles and says apologetically, "Sorry about that, we are just a bunch of brutes here."

Kyrie smiles as he takes the delicate ceramic teacup majestically. The etiquette has been ingrained to his bones after spending years living under a noble household. 

From his straight back to the tips of his fingers emanate his noble air. It is an arrogance born to nobles only, so the raven demon lets go of his suspicion that the other is an imposter. There is no way to imitate such arrogance because even the poorest clothes can't hide it.

Without taking even a sip, Kyrie places the teacup off the dish and then puts the dish over the teacup. 

The raven widens his small circular eyes and clicks his beak nervously. 

A dish over the teacup means something special for the ravens. The teacup means above ground, and the dish means underground. 

The ravens are known to be informants in the demon continent. Still, this group in particular only lets a handful of other demon species know of their tomb raiding. 

Kyrie is telling the raven that he wants information about something underground - the alchemist queen's tomb.

"How do you know this?" The raven demon asks as he starts to prepare in case of ambush.

"That you silently take away the treasures of the tomb?"

The raven quiets down solemnly. Beads of sweat accumulate on his feathers. 

The fact that the ravens steal from the tomb is known by the bored goddess, Yue. Even Ian is surprised to learn such a fact. 

Ian's reaction does not surprise Kyrie since Ian only comes with Imogen to the tomb if Imogen is preoccupied with other issues in the other loops. 

Imogen always makes sure to get free materials in this tomb in each loop because the pills come in handy when facing difficulties.

However, typically, Imogen would go to the tomb alone because it is easy to get lost and trapped inside it. 

Despite the difficulties of the tomb, this raven group has discovered ways to get in and out of the tomb with minimum casualties. Plus, these ravens have no knowledge of the novel or regression.

"You want to enter into the queen's resting place?" The raven gets to the main point without meaninglessly hiding the discovered secret. 

"Yes, I want to get into her coffin," Kyrie says.

"Noble one, I am afraid that I don't have such capabilities. I only explored less than a twentieth of the tomb," the raven shakes his head helplessly.

Kyrie smiles, "I don't need you as a guide."

The raven demon presses his brows together since he can't connect the reasoning.

"Then…. What do you wish me… to do?"

"I just need someone familiar with the tomb's mechanism and traps. Someone who has studied it closely so that we don't lose our lives in the process."

"Ah? But then… how…."

"How do we enter the deepest chamber?!?" Kyrie smiles confidently, "We have a guide."

The raven's eyes fling open as wide as they can. 

"W-w-what?"

"I said, we can get into the deepest place."

The raven demon's heart is drumming against his chest with excitement that he can feel the electricity to the tips of his feathers. 

Before the raven could just quickly agree, Kyrie interrupts him, "But, I need you to take a blood oath."

The raven jolts. The blood oath can kill him if he breaks it.

"Then…. About the treasures…."

Kyrie crosses his legs with satisfaction since the most challenging part of the raven accepting the blood oath has passed. Now, only the small business details need negotiation. 

"You can take what you can take, but only with my approval. My goal is certain pills in the tomb."

The raven nods with contentment about the only thing that interests him. It really does not matter to the raven demon if the oath is unfair. He is willing to participate as long as he can take the more incredible treasures inside the deeper chambers.

"Shall we take the oath?"