Ch 180: After A Long Trip, I Come Home To Find I’ve Been Robbed

Bal’s hand-rubbing, smiling expression froze upon hearing Heine’s request.

“Miss Heine, I think water just went into my ear, I didn’t quite hear you. Could you say it again?”

Heine’s expression was firm, she said word by word.

“This Servant hopes you can infiltrate the Royal City to investigate whether someone is impersonating this Servant.”

“Fei’er, let’s prepare to go back.”

Bal turned without hesitation to approach Phia; he looked extremely unwilling to do this.

“Hey, Mr. Buck! Didn’t you say that money makes everything alright?”

Heine grabbed Bal’s hand, she attempted to keep Bal.

“That’s Atlantis’s Royal City, Sister! If I’m caught, even the extermination of my nine ancestral generations would be considered lenient punishment. My nine generations only have these few people left.”

“But…”

Heine’s eyes turned red; she seemed to have many things she wanted to say, but the words wouldn’t come out of her mouth. After all, Bal’s group were merely tourists she had brought, there was no need for them to risk their lives with her.

“Alright, this Servant understands. Then please enjoy your sightseeing in Atlantis. This Servant will take her leave.”

Having finished speaking, Heine released Bal’s hand; her expression dimmed as she walked away, soon turning into foam and disappearing.

“Wasn’t that a bit excessive?”

Nia walked to Bal’s side; she looked at the place where Heine disappeared, feeling very worried.

“Is that so? I just think this kind of thing shouldn’t be handled by outsiders like us. Besides, you also saw that Heine can transform into foam. With this ability, entering the Royal City isn’t difficult at all? Let’s stay here for a day or two; if anything happens, we’ll intervene then.”

Seeing that Bal didn’t intend to leave immediately, Nia felt a little relieved.

Soon, the group began to look for a place to stay.

“Ah, I forgot to do a background check beforehand, I don’t know if the money here is usable on land.”

Bal was somewhat annoyed; he thought that it would have been better if he had asked Heine about currency and accommodation before she left.

“Speaking of which, where did Heine go?”

“I don’t know. Instead of worrying about others, it’s better to quickly find a place to stay and eat. Philia is a little tired.”

Phia held Philia in her arms, Philia leaned her head on Phia’s shoulder and began to sleep.

“Selena, do you have a way?”

Bal looked at Selena, hoping that the omnipotent Selena could help him. Selena sighed.

“I’ll go take a look, don’t move around while I’m gone.”

Selena pulled Ken and went out; the two of them went to a place that looked like a general store. Behind the counter in the store, a merman uncle with a human upper body and a fishtail “floated”.

“Hello, uh, I’d like to ask if there are any places to stay nearby?”

Selena tentatively asked; Ken went to the shelves stacked with goods to choose things.

“You don’t look like someone from around here.”

The merman uncle lowered his head, fiddling with the shell in his hand.

“We’re here to play from the Distant Sea.”

“Is that so? Then you really picked a bad time. There’s an inn 300 meters to the right when you go out, although the charge is a bit expensive, the service is good.”

Selena wrote down the merman uncle’s words, then looked up and asked.

“Bad timing? Why is that?”

The merman uncle looked around vigilantly, then beckoned to Selena. Selena leaned her upper body against the counter, her head close to the merman uncle.

“Something happened in the City recently; it seems that someone poisoned members of the Royal Family. Several children of the former King Selas III were poisoned, and they are all lying in the Royal City now. The only ones unaffected are Princess Heine and Queen Hydra. There are rumors that Queen Hydra did it, and the next person to be in trouble is Princess Heine.”

After speaking, the merman uncle returned to his original appearance, and he idly played with the shell in his hand. Ken picked out some goods and brought them to the counter.

“One gold coin and sixty silver coins.”

Ken took out his wallet and placed two gold coins from the land on the counter. The merman uncle glanced at them, although he seemed a little disdainful, he still took Ken’s money, then put forty Atlantean silver coins on the counter as change.

“I advise you, don’t use human money in other stores, the people here don’t have a good relationship with the people on land.”

“We understand, thank you for the warning.”

After Selena and Ken took the goods and change, they went to find Bal.

“We’re back, Fei’er, can you convert the gold coins from the land into this style?”

Selena handed the silver coins to Phia, Phia nodded after looking carefully.

“Are gold coins the same?”

“Probably, I glanced at it, the copper coins are almost the same.”

“Okay, I’ll reshape some money for you later. Did you find a place to stay?”

“Yes, follow me.”

Selena led the group to the inn the merman uncle had mentioned. They booked four rooms, and after confirming that the gold coins were of the same style, the group returned to their rooms.

“It’s less a room and more a giant shell.”

Bal complained about the huge shell in front of him; he took out the pearl that served as the key, the shell opened its mouth, and Bal and Phia carried Philia inside.

“Everything is complete, but I wonder how to get water. Speaking of which, are you thirsty?”

Bal asked Phia, Phia put Philia on the bed and covered her with a blanket.

“Indeed, I haven’t felt thirsty since I arrived here.”

Phia reached out; a magic formation appeared on her hand. After the magic formation scanned the three people in the room, Phia drew a conclusion.

“It seems that the blessing Heine bestowed on us allows us to directly absorb the necessary water from the seawater.”

“That’s pretty amazing.”

At this time, the shell serving as the room was knocked. Bal opened a gap in the shell for people to pass through, and a group of people poured into the shell.

“Let’s convert your money first, take out your money.”

Phia collected everyone’s money, reshaped it with magic, and then returned it to them.

“Phia, is the barrier deployed?”

Phia nodded; she had deployed the barrier when everyone entered the room.

“Alright, let me tell you the intelligence I’ve gathered.”

Selena recounted what the merman uncle from the general store had said.

“I understand, that is to say, the situation here is not good.”

“Then won’t Heine be in danger alone?”

Nia was a little worried about Heine’s situation.

“Let fate decide. Our position doesn’t allow us to assist her here.”

Bal said, and he drew a throwing knife and threw it at a corner.

“Come out, or next time it won’t be a warning.”

A dark shadow emerged from the corner. When the shadow saw that it had been discovered, it immediately prepared to escape.

“Trying to run?”

Phia used magic to create a cube, trapping the shadow inside. The group approached the cube to see the shadow’s true face.

“…Again…again we meet, huh.”

————

Time returns to half an hour ago.

After Heine turned into foam, she hid in the corner. After Bal’s group left, she appeared and began to mutter.

“Sigh, he’s right, they have no reason to play around with this servant.”

Having finished speaking, Heine swam to a gap in the City Wall, it was a secret passage she used to escape from the Royal City to play when she was a child. She swam into the Royal City through the gap, intending to investigate herself.

“Let me see who is impersonating this servant.”

Heine groped her way along her memory; she evaded many patrolling guards.

“When did the Royal City have so many patrols?”

Heine suspiciously approached her former room; she pushed open the door, and the person inside shocked Heine.

“Hello, Princess Heine, or should I say, the former Princess Heine.”

The woman in the room turned to look at Heine; Heine found that the person’s appearance was extremely similar to her own, as if she were her reflection.

“Who are you, why are you impersonating this servant!”

Heine held her staff; she looked at the other person vigilantly. But what surprised her even more was that the other person also had a staff exactly the same as hers.

“Why, why do you also have Poseidon’s Touch, the Sacred Staff of the Sea God?!”

“That’s because I am you, Heine.”

“Impossible!”

Heine couldn’t help but shout; her shout alarmed the patrolling guards. The guards knocked on the door to inquire about the situation.

“Princess Heine, what happened?”

The person opposite Heine smiled; with a single order, Heine would be captured by the guards. But that person didn’t choose to let the guards intervene.

“Nothing, I just saw a sea roach in the room, I’ve already thrown it away.”

“Understood, please command me if you need anything. I will continue my patrol.”

The guard’s voice disappeared. Heine gently pushed open the door; after confirming that the guard had left, she closed the door and continued to confront the other person.

“Why didn’t you report me?”

“I told you, because I am you, everything I’ve done in the Royal City is for you, including you being swallowed by the Kraken.”

The other person opened her arms to hug Heine.

“I plan to take revenge for Father King, what about you? Are you willing to join me? I will never betray you, never hurt you.”

Heine was confused; she backed away.

“Revenge for Father King? What are you talking about? Ugh…my head hurts.”

“Oh? Were you locked up in the Kraken for too long, and your memory has problems? This is troublesome.”

The other person continued to approach Heine; Heine pushed the other person away, and she escaped from the window of the room, turning into foam.

In the room, the woman who looked like Heine sighed.

“Why don’t you believe me?”

Heine escaped from the Royal City; her mind was extremely confused. When she recalled the woman who looked like herself and everything that had happened, her head began to ache.

“Ugh…let’s find a place to stay.”

Heine walked aimlessly in the street, and soon came to the inn where Bal’s family was staying; she sensed the presence of Bal’s group. So she slipped into the inn as foam, and came in when everyone came to Bal’s room. When she saw Phia transforming gold coins with magic, she was somewhat surprised, until Selena said what she had learned from the merman uncle, she still exclaimed. Although the voice was very small, it was still heard by the sharp-eared Bal, and that’s how the situation just now occurred.