Chapter 614: Mystery Over Mystery
Upon hearing Zhang Lisheng’s question, the young flashed a mouthful of white teeth before replying cheerfully. “Certainly! Sir, are you looking for Mr. Saganso to have your astrology read? Has his fame already spread out to even the outer city?”
“Astrology?” Zhang Lisheng was slightly stunned. “I’m indeed looking for Mr. Saganso, but isn’t he a geologist?”
“Don’t you know, sir? Mr. Saganso’s official profession is indeed a geologist specially hired by the Mining Association, but he’s more proficient at predicting fate using stars,” The young man said in a mysterious voice. “Not only that but unlike ordinary astrologers who practice divination at night, Mr. Saganso can also augur by watching the change in the sun’s halo during the day. Those who have seen him auguring before said that an ordinary person’s past and future are nothing but an open book in Mr. Saganso’s eyes. There’s no secret in front of him at all.”
The reason the Wizard Li’s Holy See could track the whereabouts of the founder of the Yasen artillery infantry squad was all because of the clues they accidentally came across from the old diary of a dead aged alchemist. By working out the clues, they finally managed to get some results.
Given Tandari’s caution, after finding his hiding place, Zhang Lisheng had specifically told Tuan not to allow any of the secret agents to appear in Lange City, let alone purposely collecting any intelligence about him. For this reason, other than some necessary information about Tandari, who had disguised himself by calling himself Saganso, he did know nothing much. It was his first time hearing the news the coachman told him.
However, Zhang Lisheng had pondered in the dead of night over the unreasonable actions of Tandari, like why would a legendary alchemist who stood at the top of the mainland revered by the sovereigns of many powerful countries in the mainland spend so much effort in creating a false identity and even mysteriously adopted an orphan girl. Why would he kill all the assistants and apprentices in his alchemy workshop before escaping in haste after the Wizard Li people obtained the victory in the battle of the Gaoden Hill that determined the fate of the Green Leaf Mainland? Why did he not continue to resist the expansion of the Wizard Li faith after the battle of the Gaoden Hill if he really had one or several powerful beings standing behind him?
Now, there was one more unsolved mystery. For example, to a pretender who often needed to disappear, a geologist who required to explore the mineral veins in the wilderness all year round was indeed a very suitable cover-up identity, but it was superfluous to have an astrological hobby that required him to come in contact with strangers.
After having no result despite his pondering, Zhang Lisheng walked into the carriage and sat on the shiny, soft leather seat. He turned to the coachman through the circular hole in the wall of the transport and asked, “Does Mr. Saganso always augur for the others?”
“Yes, sir,” The coachman whipped his whip loudly and drove away from the airship station in the suburb, driving on the spacious road bathing in the refreshing cool breeze, he replied, “Mr. Saganso is a very enthusiastic person. As long as he’s not out to explore the mineral veins, he will not refuse in auguring for anybody, and on top of that, he doesn’t accept any payment too.”
A legendary alchemy master who inexplicably disguised as a geologist relied on giving horoscopes to spend his past time in seclusion was just too strange. Upon hearing the answer from the young coachman, if it was not for the fact that Zhang Lisheng did not believe that his Holy See would use a stupid mistake to brush off its god, he would have most likely had a doubt whether Mr. Saganso was actually a disguise created by Tandari.
“Doesn’t accept any payment?” Suppressing the puzzlement in his heart, the young man asked again, “Then there must be a lot of people who find Mr. Saganso to augur for them.”
“Not really, Mr. Saganso is a decent scholar, after all, so ordinary people dare not go to look for him. Besides, not everybody knows about his fame…” The coach continued to answer the customer’s question in a chatty manner as he drove the carriage into the Lange City.
As a well-known mining city in the mainland, the street of Lange was bustling, but the environment was not so pleasant. The road that could accommodate four carriages side by side were inevitably scattered with fine slags. The green trees that were just planted on the street were also covered with a layer of shallow dust.
It was effortless to distinguish between locals and foreigners in the city. The pedestrians who could walk in the dust that seemed to have caused a slight mist must be the old residents of Lange City, for all the travelers who came here would frown and cover their noses, be it the merchants who came here to do business or those who came to visit their relatives and friends.
“Sir, this is Mr. Saganso’s house.” The young coachman of the rented carriage shuttled for a long time in the dirty and huge city before finally stopping in front of a gray stone building. After putting away his whip, he announced loudly.
After the Hellfire people had invaded the Green Leaf Mainland, the aristocrats who were willing to become a coolie and live a hard life instead of submitting and serving the Holy See had been cruelly suppressed. All their lands and wealth had been confiscated, but for the wealthy merchants and scholars who consciously released goodwill, their interests had not encroached.
Adding on to the fact that when Lange City fell without any resistance, Wizard Li’s faith had already enveloped most of the mainland’s land, showing an unstoppable trend. Most of the millions of people in the city converted sincerely, so for this reason, the wealth and life of the honorable people in the city were not affected, and one could tell from their imposing manners that Tandari lived in seclusion.
“What a nice house, but the air here is really suffocating,” Zhang Lisheng walked down the carriage and frowned as he muttered in a low voice.
Then, he saw the bronze plate written with ‘Golden Tin Road No. 29, nailed on the heavy wooden door of the double-story stone building. A look of anticipation crept upon his face as he casually took out a gold coin from his pocket and turned back to the young driver. With a smile on his face but not in his eyes, he said, “I’ll give you a piece of advice, Mr. Coachman, leave Lange City immediately.”
Then, with a few steps, he walked up the stairs and pushed the door into the low building.
Behind the door was a hall that was vacated entirely with only a burst of clear laughter reverberating everywhere.
Zhang Lisheng walked in the direction of laughter out of the hall to a spacious living room.
Because of the poor air outside, the windows in this living room were not significant, and due to the sparse light, the crystal light on the ceiling was already lit up, although it was only noon. Under the illumination of the light, several young men and women were sitting on several old but seemingly expensive coaches, discussing something with laughter.
A white-haired man dressed in a black swallowtail coat that looked like a butler, on the other hand, was walking around the room with his head held high and his chest puffed out. He was busy ordering several tall and sturdy maids to deliver tea and snacks.
The uninvited guest suddenly broke the harmonious atmosphere in the room. Everyone became silent all at once. After a few moments of silence, the old man walked up to study Zhang Lisheng before asking in succession, “Sir, may I know who you are? How did you enter the door? May I ask why you entered?”
“I’m Zhang Lisheng from another mainland. I’m here to see Mr. Saganso in the hope that he can augur my future. As for entering the door, well, your door doesn’t seem to be locked,” Zhang Lisheng looked around at the patterns carved on the living room wall and smiled as he answered. Since he had already arrived at the house where Tandari lived in seclusion, he was no longer afraid of alerting the other party.
“The door is not locked…” The old man hesitated a little, then looked at the young man and said, “Mr. Zhang Lisheng, I’m Alexandre, the butler of Mr. Saganso. It’s my honor to…”
“Butler of Mr. Saganso, I don’t know that a geologist is actually such a profitable profession. To think that he can actually afford such a mansion and even hire a butler. Could it be that he’s actually secretly collecting money when he’s doing fortune-telling.” The young man interrupted the old man’s words and said with a constant smile jokingly.
It was his first time visiting, and he had a favor to ask of the other party. On top of that, he even ridiculed the owner strangely after looking around like nobody else was present, appearing to be extremely rude.
The old man was rendered speechless, with his face turned gloomy right away. Instead, a slightly thin but handsome looking young man on the side who was chatting idly stood up and said with great firmness, “Mr. Zhang Lisheng, Uncle Saganso alone has identified two moderate-yield iron ore and a high-yield copper mine. Just the dividends of a single year alone were already more than 10,000 gold coins. If he had not contributed more than half of his income to the orphanage and charity hall every year, his life could have been ten times more decent than now, so please, apologize for your words just now. .”
“Apologize? Of course.” Zhang Lisheng glanced at the young man who spoke as his smile started to become strange before turning his gaze to the manor’s butler, “However, I can only do that when I see Mr. Saganso in person, can’t I? Mr. Alexandre, why don’t you ask him out, or shall I go see him personally?”
“Mr. Zhang Lisheng, please forgive me. The master is in the middle of a card game with several respected guests, so I’m afraid it is not convenient to interrupt now.” The aged butler replied expressionlessly.
“What if I insist on seeing him…” The complicated pattern on the wall of the living room was simply a decoration, and the people inside were ordinary. Zhang Lisheng could not see any flaw, so he decided to cut to the chase. A ferocious glimpse flashed across his eyes. Just as his hands were about to release divine power and crush the entire manor into pieces, he suddenly heard noisy footsteps from above.
At the same time, a voice resonated, “Saganso, it’s evident that we should be the one who won the final round! Only had you played the ‘Knight’ card! Tsk, in the name of Wizard Li, you can see my past and future, but why can’t you see that I need that card?”
“Hahaha… That’s because your greed has blinded your fate, Angeno. Besides, even if Saganso had played the ‘Knight’ card, I still have two ‘Crossbow Soldier’ cards in my hand. You guys were still destined to lose no matter what!”
“Not necessary, Keane! There was half a chance for us to wipe out your ‘Crossbow Soldier’ cards if the ‘Knight’ card was played together with the ‘Swift Double-horned Horse’ in my hand…”
Six to seven well-dressed middle-aged men walked down from the stairs noisily.
Upon seeing the severe face of the old butler, the most obese gentlemen laughed and said, “My dear old Alexandre, is the lunch ready? I have been looking forward to your grilled beef ribs this one month.”
“Mr. Bigail, the lunch is just ready,” The butler bowed slightly at the fat gentleman and then looked at the last man who was aged between middle age and old age who had thick brows and deep eyes before saying, “Sir, a gentleman called Zhang Lisheng who came from the foreign mainland is here to see you and wanted to have his fortune read.”
