After learning three skills in a row, her mind felt slightly exhausted.
Isolde did not continue trying 【Substitute Puppet】 for now, planning to inspect the remaining chests before heading off to rest.
At the very back of the warehouse, two chests brought back from the treant dungeon sat by themselves.
One was the miscellaneous chest she had actively chosen back then, while the other was a black-lacquered wooden chest.
When she was in the woods earlier, she only had enough time to take them with her and hadn't yet inspected them closely.
Isolde walked over to the miscellaneous chest first.
“Open it.”
Lia gripped the clasp with her fingers and applied a bit of force, easily snapping the rusted metal.
Isolde peered inside to find various highly personal miscellaneous items.
Resting at the very top was a faded dark-red cloak.
The cloak was folded neatly, and although parts of the fabric had stiffened, the half-bloomed rose embroidered on it was still clearly visible.
Lia lifted the cloak out, revealing several even more personal items beneath it.
A wooden comb missing two teeth.
A small sachet filled with dried flower petals.
A few letters that had been thoroughly soaked by moisture, their contents blurred beyond recognition.
And a palm-sized travel journal.
The cover of the journal was heavily worn, but a line of faint, gold-embossed text remained in the bottom right corner.
【Elena Rosalind】
Isolde picked up the journal and casually flipped through a few pages.
Most of the entries recorded trivial details.
The food at stations along the way, the weather on different segments of the road, and notes about certain bridges in need of repair.
There were also the names and habits of several caravan members.
Judging by the content, this Elena seemed to travel frequently between different trade routes.
Most of the second half of the journal was waterlogged, with some pages stuck together, making it impossible to flip open for now.
In the miscellaneous chest, there was a sealed wooden box that she had noticed early on.
The box was not heavy. She gently opened it to find a silver necklace lying on a well-preserved velvet cloth, complete with an exquisite pendant.
Isolde could feel a subtle flow of magic within it.
She lightly pressed a hidden clasp on the edge, and the pendant popped open in the middle. A very dim magical projection lit up from within.
The projection showed a young woman in her twenties.
She stood in front of blooming roses, wearing a sharply tailored dark-red riding habit, her long hair tied back. Her features were bright and beautiful, yet her expression was remarkably firm.
On her chest, she wore a gold badge. In the center of the badge was the same rose wrapping gold motif surrounded by thorns.
A line of tiny text was engraved beneath the projection.
【Elena, may you shine brighter than the blooming roses.】
Isolde lightly traced the engraving.
This was likely a personal necklace that Elena carried with her.
Based on the information before her, Isolde slowly pieced together a portion of the timeline.
Years ago, a noble lady named Elena Rosalind entered the northern old trade route with these personal belongings, only to be swallowed up by the treant along with her cargo.
She had thought the Rosalind family had only lost property, but it turned out they had also lost a family member.
And from the looks of it, this family member's status was by no means low.
Isolde set the necklace down and turned her gaze to the black-lacquered wooden chest beside it.
Unlike the miscellaneous chest, this one was clearly not meant for clothes and everyday items.
The lid fit seamlessly against the sides, and though the silver clasp had rusted, it remained firmly locked in place.
Furthermore, extremely faint traces of magic still lingered on the outside of the chest.
Isolde brushed her hand over the rose pattern on the lid, and a prompt popped up before her eyes.
【Special Container: Rosalind Private Lockbox】
【Status: Seal broken】
【Description: Used to store important family contracts, trade route credentials, and inheritance documents.】
Seeing this description, the fatigue in Isolde's eyes instantly faded quite a bit.
“Lia, open it.”
Lia grabbed the clasp and applied slightly more pressure.
Crack.
Having long since lost its magical protection, the lock core snapped from the inside, and the lid was slowly lifted.
There wasn't much inside.
The first thing that caught her eye was a gold badge wrapped in dark-red velvet.
In the center of the badge was a half-bloomed rose wrapped in thorns, with a gold coin at the center of its stamen. A small line of text ran along the outer edge.
It was exactly the same as the one Reece had found earlier.
Isolde picked it up, and information quickly surfaced before her.
【Special Item: Rosalind Family Badge】
【Original Owner: Elena Rosalind】
【Description: Issued by the Rosalind family of the Red Kite City-States. Restricted to direct descendants and heir apparents of the family.】
Heir apparent.
Isolde looked down at the personal necklace beside her.
It seemed the young woman who had disappeared on the old trade route had an even more significant identity than she had previously imagined.
Pressed beneath the badge were several yellowed documents.
The outer layer was wrapped in moisture-proof beast hide, so even after decades, the contents inside remained relatively intact.
Three different seals were stamped across the documents.
The rose wrapping gold, a golden scale, and a proud red bird.
Most of the text used a secret merchant guild cipher from decades ago. Isolde couldn't understand all of it for now, but she could barely make out a few recurring words.
Red Kite, northern trade route, station, management, transfer.
At the very bottom of the documents lay a rectangular dark-gold token.
The surface of the token was carved with intricate routes, and the center bore the same rose surrounded by thorns.
【Special Credential: Red Kite Northern Main Trade Route Management Seal】
【Ownership: Rosalind Family】
【Original Owner: Elena Rosalind】
【Status: Frozen】
【Description: Jointly issued by the Red Kite Lord and the Golden Scale Merchant Guild. The holding family possesses priority rights to repair, manage, operate, and establish stations along the designated northern old trade route.】
【Due to the trade route being interrupted for too long, the current authority has been frozen. The specific method of restoration is unknown.】
Isolde stared at the information on the token, her fingertip slowly tracing the rose in the center.
An heir apparent's badge, a set of perfectly preserved trade route transfer documents.
And a decades-old credential for managing the old trade route.
In other words, the tragically deceased Elena was no ordinary caravan member.
She was highly likely the person sent by the Rosalind family to take over this route.
Isolde had originally only wanted to build a station outside Crow Candle Castle to slowly establish an outer buffer zone.
But now, she suddenly discovered that this old trade route, abandoned for decades, had once belonged to a certain family in the Red Kite City-States.
By an even greater coincidence, its original management credential was now in her hands.
Although its status was shown as frozen and its specific function was still unclear.
But since the system still classified it as a special credential, it proved that the rights associated with it had not completely vanished.
The badge, the personal relics, and the management credential could each fetch a considerable amount of profit if taken out individually.
If the Rosalind family still existed, these items would only be even more important to them.
Even if that family had fallen, other factions that profited from the northern trade route might still be willing to pay a heavy price to acquire them.
Isolde arranged the badge, the necklace, and the dark-gold token on the table.
“Lia.”
“My Lady.”
“Are there any books about the Red Kite City-States in the study?”
She hadn't visited the Red Kite City-States in her previous life; she only knew it was a city-state where the very air reeked of money, and outsiders had to verify their qualifications just to enter.
Lia thought for a moment. “Among Duke Valen's book collection, there are a few city-state travelogues and old trade route atlases.”
“But the specific contents have not been organized yet.”
“Find all the books related to Red Kite, Rosalind, and the Golden Scale Merchant Guild.”
“Yes, My Lady.”
Isolde closed the metal lockbox, the exhaustion in her eyes fading even more.
“I want to know exactly how much these few items are worth right now.”
And whether they could help Crow Candle Castle secure an economic sphere of influence that truly belonged to her.
Rate on N.U.
