Chapter 167: Olay’s True Intention

Chapter 167: Chapter 167: Olay’s True Intention

Vili pondered for a moment. "About another half a year."

In reality, if his progress continued normally, Vili only needed half a month to advance to Senior Knight.

But Vili never liked to speak in absolutes; he always left some room for error.

"Half a year?"

An unconcealable look of astonishment appeared in Olay’s eyes.

This timeframe was clearly longer than Olay had expected. After all, it seemed Vili had only advanced to Middle Knight a few months ago.

If he advanced to Senior Knight within half a year, then at the absolute most, Vili would have taken no more than a year.

’A year...’

The thought made Olay feel a little ashamed.

He had been a Middle Knight for over a decade, yet he still hadn’t even touched the threshold of the Senior Knight realm.

And Vili, in just another six months, would reach the realm Olay had only dreamed of.

This made Olay feel both ashamed and gratified.

"Your talent is truly..."

Olay shook his head and chuckled, at a complete loss for words.

’Talent is something that can’t be compensated for with hard work alone.’

"Right... I actually came here to give you something."

Olay’s smile slowly faded as if he had remembered something, and his voice suddenly grew solemn.

Vili was a little surprised to see the change in Olay’s expression.

’It seems Olay had another reason for coming to White Bear Town.’

"What did you want to give me, Sir?"

Vili’s brow furrowed slightly.

From Olay’s tone alone, Vili could tell that this item was something out of the ordinary.

Olay didn’t respond immediately, instead glancing at the servants in the room.

Vili took the hint and gave the servants a slight wave of his hand. "You are dismissed."

"Yes, Lord Baron."

The servants bowed slightly to Vili before filing out of the room in an orderly fashion.

"Sir, what is it that required you to come all this way to give me in person?"

Once everyone had left, Vili posed his question to Olay.

Olay didn’t answer, instead pulling a folded sheepskin scroll from a hidden inner pocket of his coat and handing it to Vili.

"What is this?"

Vili took it with both hands.

The sheepskin scroll was yellowed all over, blackened in some places, and very rough on the outside.

"Open it and see."

Olay gestured for him to do so.

Slightly puzzled, Vili slowly unrolled the sheepskin scroll on the table.

The moment the scroll was fully open, Vili’s pupils contracted. He looked up in astonished disbelief and asked, "Is this... a Treasure Map?"

On the unrolled scroll, a very detailed map was sketched out with black lines.

Vili saw at a glance that White Bear Town was drawn in the northernmost corner of the map.

South of a vast ocean and countless islands, a five-pointed star was marked.

That, it seemed, was the location of the treasure.

"That’s right. It’s a Treasure Map."

Olay nodded, then added, "But whether it’s real or fake, I can’t be sure."

"Where did you get this Treasure Map, Sir?"

Vili asked, confused.

Things like treasure maps were generally rare.

Great Nobles rarely had the time to test their descendants with treasure hunts, and supreme experts wouldn’t use such a method to find a successor.

Usually, treasure maps were only drawn under specific circumstances. For instance, if the owner of a treasure couldn’t reveal it publicly for some unavoidable reason and was also unable to disclose its location to their heirs before death. The map was the only way to ensure their descendants could find what was left behind.

So, Olay producing this Treasure Map left Vili quite perplexed.

"In fact, you should be asking how Lord Kels and I came to possess this Treasure Map..."

Olay smiled faintly, leaned back in his chair, and a nostalgic look appeared in his eyes.

Vili said nothing more, waiting for Olay’s answer.

"You’ve probably heard that Lord Kels and I were good companions in our youth," Olay said, lowering his voice. "When we were seventeen, Lord Kels hadn’t yet been named heir to the Baron of Diamond Town, and I didn’t hold a position there either. Back then, we and a few other friends spent nearly two years traveling outside Dawei Province."

Vili listened and nodded. He had heard this story back in Diamond Town, told to him by Bamos himself.

Kels and Olay hadn’t been the type to sit still in their youth, which was still evident from their current way of doing things.

"During those two years, our travels took us to Mad Lion City in Fenbul Province."

At this, Olay paused.

"Mad Lion City?"

Vili’s brow twitched slightly. The place was somewhat special.

The current Lanton Duchy had been founded roughly three hundred and fifty years ago.

Before the Lanton Duchy, this land was ruled by another nation, the Cold Lion Duchy. It wasn’t until three hundred and fifty years ago that the founder of the Lanton Duchy, Duke Kaqier, led his forces to destroy it, giving birth to the Lanton Duchy.

And Mad Lion City was the former Royal Capital of the Cold Lion Duchy.

It had kept that name for over three hundred years, right up to the present day.

"In the outskirts of Mad Lion City, we clashed with a group of armed wanderers. At the time, neither Lord Kels nor I had advanced to Junior Knight, so we were no match for that armed group."

"After a brief skirmish, we chose to flee and inadvertently ended up at the abandoned ruins of old Mad Lion City. Amidst the rubble of the ruined palace, I found this Treasure Map."

Olay’s expression grew grim. "I found it inside a charred and shattered stone pillar. It was precisely because it was hidden inside the pillar that it escaped Duke Kaqier’s search and survived to this day."

Vili pressed his lips together and gently rubbed the scroll with his fingers. He noticed its material was indeed different from that of an ordinary sheepskin scroll.

’Otherwise, an ordinary sheepskin scroll left inside a stone pillar for over three hundred years would have likely rotted into dust long ago.’

"After I found it, I didn’t make it public. I only told Lord Kels about it."

Olay continued, "Lord Kels was very excited at the time. We even made a pact to go out to sea and search for the lost treasure once our strength had improved."

Speaking of this, Olay smiled softly, a look of nostalgia on his face.

"But later, after we returned to Diamond Town, Lord Kels was confirmed as the Baron’s heir, and I accepted his invitation to become part of his core retinue. After that, we were busy matching wits with the old guard under the Old Baron, and we completely forgot about the Treasure Map."

"It wasn’t until half a month ago, when Lord Kels and I were reminiscing about the old days, that we finally remembered this Treasure Map."

Olay’s gaze fell upon the mottled sheepskin scroll on the table.