Demons Beside You

“Hi, Chen. Have you eaten?”

Chen Zhao thought that Pierce South had purposely gone to learn how Chinese people greet each other, but it sounds weird coming from a foreigner’s mouth.

“Pierce, please get to the point. My time is precious.”

“Chen, don’t act like we’re unfamiliar. After all, we’d gone through dangers and challenges together. I think we’re friends now.”

“Friend, please get to the point,” Chen Zhao said impatiently.

Friend? Chen Zhao really didn’t dare to be friends with an old fox like Pierce.

“I want to buy some things from you.”

“What things?”

“That Chinese painting, the sailor’s diary, and copper smoker.”

Chen Zhao was surprised. He’d sold the smoker long ago and not for a low price either. The painting and diary were still laying in his spatial ring. Was there anything special about them?

He’d planned on hanging the painting in his new bedroom. As for the diary, Mr. Doman had appraised it and said it had no value—no artistic value and no historical value.

Chen Zhao suddenly remembered that Pierce hadn’t seen that painting before. But as a Chinese, Chen Zhao had naturally chosen it.

He’d sold the smoker through a legit channel, Mr. Doman’s company auction. It wasn’t a secret either.

So, Pierce didn’t want the painting or the smoker. Instead, he wanted the diary that Mr. Doman had said was valueless. He’d just mentioned three things to confuse Chen Zhao so he wouldn’t raise the price.

The diary’s owner was a Spanish sailor called Bellard Canbris from the 17th century. It was a diary of his voyages.

“I’m sorry,” Chen Zhao said. “I’ve already sold these three things.”

It seemed that he had to find someone to reappraise the diary and translate the content.

“Chen, I’m willing to pay a high price.”

“Oh, what price?”

“Four hundred thousand dollars. What do you think?”

Chen Zhao kept rolling his eyes on the other end of the phone. Was Pierce actually stupid or just pretending?

Mr. Doman had bought the smoker for $350,000. If Pierce offered $400,000, it meant that he’d only pay $50,000 for the diary that he truly wanted.

This could confuse the other party, but once they perceived his true intentions, it would only cause them to be guarded against him.

Basically, this old fox wanted to get what he wanted but also wanted to take advantage.

“Sorry, bye.”

“Wait… Chen, we can negotiate.”

“Okay, old fox. If you can’t move me with your next sentence, I’ll put your number on the blacklist.”

“Come on. Didn’t we have a nice partnership?”

“Bye.”

“Do you want a royal family’s treasures?”

“In the movies?”

“Please, it’s a real royal family’s treasures. Do you know the war for the inheritance of the Spanish throne near the end of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th?”

“No.”

“Basically, England, France, Netherlands, and Austria all participated in the war.”

“Isn’t it the Spanish throne? What does it have to do with these other countries?”

“Anyway, there’s a king called Carlos II. He had problems and couldn’t have any descendants, so he wanted to pass the throne onto the grandson of Maria Theresa, sister of the French king. But in his will, he required that France and Spain could never be merged. Then England thought that France wanted to take over Europe, so they came out to cause trouble.

“Also, Leopold I, the Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire, Duke of Austria, King of Bohemia and Hungary, wanted his younger son Duke Charlie to inherit the Spanish throne. He thought that Spanish princess Maria Theresa had promised to give up the Spanish throne for her descendants when she married the French king Louis XIIII.”

“Get to the point.” Chen Zhao’s thoughts were in a mess. European royalty loved marriage alliances and then caused a bunch of problems afterward.

“Anyway, the Spain-French alliance lost to the anti-French alliance. The Philip family was worried they’d all get killed, so they had the son escape from Spain. He began his refugee life on the sea. This son chose the alias Bellard Canbris.”

“And then?”

“On the surface, Bellard Canbris looked like a regular sailor, but he was actually the leader of a pirate fleet. Between 1714 and 1740, he attacked more than 100 merchant ships in the Spanish seas.”

“So you’re saying that the diary doesn’t have records about royal treasures but pirate treasures?” Chen Zhao asked.

After a pause, Pierce said, “Yes.”

Chen Zhao felt like Pierce was hiding something, so he asked, “While fleeing for his life, did this Bellard Canbris bring some memento to prove his identity?”

If a member of royalty was fleeing, they’d have to bring a royal item with them to prove their identity when needed. This made more sense. Plus, since Pierce had mentioned royal treasures, Chen Zhao refused to believe that it had nothing to do with royalty.

Pierce finally spoke. “As the grandson of King Louis XIIII, Philip the Apostle arranged for his son to flee and gave him the King of the Sun Golden Chalice, bestowed upon him by Louis XIIII.”

Chen Zhao knew that some Louis XIIII from France called himself the King of the Sun. He’d been really cocky when he was in power.

“King of the Sun Golden Chalice?” Chen Zhao touched his chin. “So you’re saying that the most valuable thing is the King of the Sun Golden Chalice?”

“No. It’s precious, but you can’t sell it for money.”

“Why?”

“It’s a magic tool. It was made from the blood of the top 100 strongest witches of that time. Anyone who drinks wine from the cup will receive a witch’s entire magic power. This King of the Sun Golden Chalice can produce 100 strong magic warriors. Of course, if the warrior dies, his magic power returns to the cup.”

“You want the King of the Sun Golden Chalice?”

“Yes. Of course, we can share it.”

“But this diary was burned. I appraised it once and the expert said that it’s useless, so I didn’t save it carefully. My house got set on fire. You must’ve heard about it, right? My diary was inside my house and was destroyed in the explosion.”

“What? It’s such a precious diary. How could you be so careless?”

“I didn’t know,” Chen Zhao said helplessly.