City of Sin (Yanyu Jiangnan)
chapter-34

The Sediments of Memories

Minnie was sent flying into the french window, crashing hard into it with a dull thud. The classically fired danube glass showed why it was worth a thousand gold every square metre, not jolting in the slightest as if a worm had crashed into it instead.

Minnie was like a lifeless cloth doll, bouncing back from the impact as she fell to the ground forehead first. She lay there unmoving, a stream of blood gushing from her long hair that seemed to wriggle and squirm on the shiny obsidian floor like a strange being.

It took her a moment to move, her hands groping around her before she pushed herself up with difficulty. Blood continued to flow from the sides of her hair, dyeing one side of her cheeks red and sticking her hair to her face. It wasn’t just the forehead; the corners of her lips and nostrils were also spurting blood, and Minnie touched her face to feel the warmth. Seeing her hand covered in red she rubbed it hard on her clothes, before she tore off a corner of her skirt to clean up her face. She then bunched up her hair and tied it using that very blood-stained cloth, swaying as she stood up.

Steven remained where he was, his chest heaving as the wisps of blood in his eyes did not seem to dim at all. His muscles twitched under his skin, and his tightly-clenched fists occasionally caused crisp, cracking sounds. Dragon warlocks had powerful physiques, and while not comparable to true warriors they were far stronger than normal mages. An attack made in the midst of absolute fury would be powerful.

Minnie swayed as she walked towards Steven, closing her eyes to await the next painful blow. Her long white dress had large bloodstains on it, and half her face had swelled up. Still her expression remained peaceful, and she still didn’t make a sound; crying or begging would only net her a more powerful beating.

The corner of Steven’s eye twitched. He suddenly grabbed the collar of her dress and gave a powerful tug, splitting its upper half into two. He then pulled away her undergarments, revealing her naked upper body.

However, what he saw was not a naked body that could excite him. On the original pale skin that exquisitely radiated her youth were bruises of all sizes. It made for a shocking sight, like a carved jade vase that had been smashed until there were cracks everywhere.

The youth took a deep breath and closed his eyes. It took a few minutes of silence for him to calm down completely, but other than the wisps of blood in his eyes that wouldn’t disappear so soon everything went back to normal. He told Minnie, “Don’t go to class for a few days, and rest and recover here. I’ll have a cleric come and take care of the injuries to your face.”

He paused and began to pace around in the room. After doing dozens of rounds, he suddenly stopped. He waved his fist around, as if that would help make up his mind, “It’s time to resolve everything. The situation really can’t be saved at this rate. Once you’ve dealt with the injuries to your face go look for Erin, you know what to do. It’s about time that girl was of some use!”

Minnie nodded silently, and after seeing him wave his fist and indicating he had nothing left to say she dragged her heavy body along, doing her best to maintain her stability. She entered the bathroom and began to wash the blood off, while Steven dressed himself neatly and twisted a large ruby ring on his finger. The ruby emitted a dazzling ray of light and immediately dimmed, magic taking its message through layers of obstruction to be transmitted to every corner of the Deepblue.

It took but a moment for two capable men to arrive before Steven. One was a warrior, while the other was a cleric. The two listened carefully to Steven’s instructions, and the warrior left immediately while the cleric stayed to treat Minnie.

The cleric crossed his arms in front of his chest in prayer, beginning a chant that caused a pure white light to pour out of his hands and splash on Minnie’s head like water. The light flowed along her skin, causing wounds to close at a speed the naked eye could see everywhere it went. The bruises dissipated and the swelling went down slightly.

Although Minnie’s injuries looked frightening they were only superficial. There was no need for a greater heal to be cast on her, but since Steven was extremely impatient for her to recover the cleric didn’t mind putting in the effort to cast three such heals on her.

Once the treatment was done, Minnie was left with slight traces of injuries at the corner of her forehead. Knowing what she had to do, she did not linger or rest, instead wearing her robes and leaving the residence immediately. The fatigued cleric left silently as well, leaving Steven alone in the residence. He seemed to pace back and forth in worry, taking a few looks outside the window on occasion and cursing the wretched weather.

Finally, the warrior hastened back to stand behind Steven, whispering, “Everything’s been prepared. How should we do it?”

Steven gritted his teeth, raised his arm and slashed down towards the front. He answered in a deep voice, “Do what you can!”

The warrior trembled, and a ruthless look appeared on his face before he left quietly.

Many fates had been changed on the Day of Destiny, but Richard continued to work hard for the sake of the future. His progress towards the peak was just like how he climbed the rocky slopes in his youth, having to be done step by step. Every early morning, every late night, it was all a tiny step towards his goals.

Deep in the night, Richard walked towards his residence, filled with satisfaction and tiredness from a day’s work. However, just as the heavy metal gate to his residence was in sight, he suddenly heard crying and sounds of abuse in the depths of the alley nearby. The voice sounded slightly familiar, and Precision immediately told him that it was Erin’s.

Erin… It was a name that had practically disappeared from his life, but now it had come up once more. It sounded like she was in trouble, something Richard found rather strange— who would dare cause trouble here? Then again, the surrounding area was extremely quiet and the magic lamps used to illuminate the public regions were soft and dim. On the other hand every residence here other than Richard’s own had grand mages staying within, or children of nobles or even the emperor. The security was tight, and there were magic eyes everywhere without any areas being neglected. If anyone wanted to kick up a fuss, they would find numerous enforcers surrounding them out of nowhere.

The sounds of crying came from an alley at the side that was rather deep, and came from a bend, which meant Richard could not see what was going on. He frowned and immediately walked quickly towards the alley, turning the corner to see the source of the ruckus. It was indeed Erin, being accosted by three men with obvious malicious intent.

Right behind the girl was an extremely tall and sturdy man, his body so big it was equivalent to three young ladies stacked up. His bulky hand was gripping the girl’s wrists, practically lifting her off the ground. Another tall man, this one skinny, was standing at the side with his arms crossed, his gaze wandering up and down Erin’s body while lingering at her chest and abdomen. At the front of her was a fierce fellow who was groping her— it seemed like he was searching her body for something, but his hands didn’t leave the sensitive regions at all.

Erin could only kick around in her attempt to struggle free, but the man grabbed her thigh and clasped it under his armpit. His hands began to wander up her legs as he chuckled, “I almost forgot. There’s a place here that can hide a lot of money. Come, let’s see how much gold you’ve got hidden there that has you so nervous!”

“Let me go! I’ll return the money! It’s not time yet!” Erin shrieked, but the sturdy man behind her used his left hand and cupped her mouth, stopping the girl’s screams.

The man in front of her seemed to have no intentions of stopping and wanted to continue searching all the way. His smile was even more lewd now, “It’s not time, but it’s just a few more days. We want to retrieve our interest in advance now. If you really have no money, then sleep with us for a few nights to repay your debt! It’s not as if you’ve never earned money from a man’s body before…”

The three men’s attention was entirely on Erin, until they suddenly felt a boiling-hot heatwave surge over, blocking the area around them well. Next came Richard’s voice, “Let go of her!”

The man in front of Erin halted his movements but did not let go. He stared at the emblem on Richard’s collar hesitantly, finding it difficult to ascertain Richard’s identity. However, the fireball leaping up and down at Richard’s right hand was scaring them witless. A mage, and one so young at that appearing in such a luxurious region was, at the very least, an enforcer. For people like them who lived at the borders, enforcers were basically gods who could not be crossed.

Richard furrowed his brows. These three men were obviously not residents in the area, and did not even seem to be official residents of Deepblue’s towers. Otherwise, they definitely would have understood the significance of his emblem.

The men saw Richard’s expression and immediately retrieved their hands, and summoned the courage to ask, “May I know who…”

“Richard. Richard Archeron.”

The three men were obviously startled, and they immediately became deferential. All who lived by the borders knew the names of the legendary mage’s pupils and the grand mages. This was the minimum requirement for survival. In this region, they did not even dare have thoughts of doing evil. Everyone knew that there were magic eyes everywhere monitoring the area. This was a public warning to prevent the impetuous and ignorant people from harming the residents in the luxurious areas. This was because these residences included not just powerful mages, but children of aristocracy who were not all that powerful as well.

The three men immediately let Erin go, and the girl darted behind Richard like a frightened rabbit, trembling hands grabbing onto his robes.

The leader glared at Erin, and then smiled as if fawning on Richard, “Lord Richard, this woman owes us a lot of money, and because she can’t repay us she’s hidden inside the Deepblue and is unwilling to come out. We’ve only come to the Deepblue because we have no other choice. Look, we’ve come all the way and found her, but she still won’t return us the money.”

“But there’s three more days!” Erin shouted from behind Richard.