novelonline Chapter 4136 Cobbler
Chapter 4136 Cobbler
Chapter 4136 Cobbler
The maid led the group directly to the ground floor of the three-story building. The space there was almost entirely bathed in a dim yellow light, giving Shad the feeling of looking at the world through glass.
Shortly after she gently knocked on the door, another maid in the house opened it. This person looked exceptionally young and beautiful; Shad and Viggo were quite certain she was wearing leather. The maid who had led the way turned back, while the maids inside the house continued to guide the group of eleven into the building.
The dim, yellow light illuminated the vast foyer, and the strange glow in the corners of the room made everything seem even more melancholic, like the way the setting sun shone on the floor of a childhood house. Soft sofas lined the walls on either side of the foyer, separated by small cabinets holding flowerpots.
"Please wait here; the cobbler will meet with you privately."
The maid spoke very respectfully to everyone, and the five groups then took their seats in different locations, maintaining a respectful distance from each other.
After sitting down with Vigo in his arms, Xia De began to observe the interior decoration of the huge hall. Although it was a building from the Fourth Era, its interior style was very similar to that of the "Fragrance Mansion".
The building itself doesn't look particularly special. Directly opposite the door is a staircase leading upwards, and on both sides of the entrance hall, there are corridors extending to the left and right wings of the building, which is a very common architectural structure.
The fresh flowers on the cabinet looked as if they had just been picked, and the dew on the petals reflected a dim yellow hue. The oil paintings hanging on the wall were rather strange. The three paintings directly opposite Xia De and Wei Ge depicted whipping, branding, and water torture, respectively. Normal houses would never display such paintings in the foyer.
The wait wasn't long. The maid went upstairs and soon returned, then called up the only trio among the five groups.
None of the eight people left behind spoke. Vige glanced at Xia De, but Xia De shook his head, signaling her not to make any move.
Five minutes after the first group left, the maid reappeared and called away two more groups, a total of four people. Five minutes later, she called away the remaining two people besides Shad and Viggo, and none of the people who had been called away returned during this time.
Just as Xia De was wondering if the maid would never return, another five minutes passed, and the maid came down the stairs, gesturing for Xia De and Wei Ge to follow her:
"We apologize for keeping you waiting, guests."
So Shade and Viggo, hand in hand, followed the maid up the stairs and went straight to the third floor of the building. But this was not their destination; a ladder in the corridor led to the ceiling, above which was the building's attic.
The attic was dimly lit, resembling a scene from a sinister horror story. The maid who had led the way showed no intention of going up; instead, she stood by the ladder and gestured for them to proceed. Shad climbed up first, then reached out and pulled Viggo up as well.
The attic was quite low and not very large. The entrance was at the far east end, while the light came from the far west end. A portable kerosene lamp sat on a wooden desk, and a woman sat behind the desk.
It was hard to tell her age; she looked to be in her thirties, but upon closer inspection, she seemed to be in her forties. Her bald head was very conspicuous in this environment, and Xia De could even sense that Wei Ge beside him was trying to suppress a laugh.
However, Wei Ge then stopped laughing, because she saw clearly that behind the other person stood some mannequins commonly used in clothing stores to display clothes, and each mannequin was dressed in leather.
The leather didn't fit the wooden dolls as well as they would a human body, making the scene even more eerie. Feeling slightly uncomfortable, Vig moved closer to Shad, pursing her lips and showing a look of fear.
Xia De also saw the dolls behind the bald woman. He even noticed the appearance of three of the leather figures, which were very similar to the leather figures worn by three of the nine people who had gone upstairs earlier.
"Excuse me, are you the leatherworker?"
"I'm asking," Xia De asked, leading Wei Ge to the table. On the table were some old books and a very old toolbox. Xia De also smelled a strange oily scent, which he then realized was probably leather conditioner.
The bald woman didn't answer, only looking at the two with a kind smile. Wei Ge's discomfort grew stronger, so she spoke up as well:
"A lady gave me a leather item and said she could come here to have it altered. Could you please help me?"
She used the same excuse again, but the woman still didn't say anything.
Thinking of a certain possibility, Xia De frowned slightly, tightened his grip on Wei Ge's left hand, and the two walked around the table to the back of it. With a gentle push, the bald woman fell to the ground with her eyes open.
After a brief examination, Shad peeled off the skin covering the bald woman, revealing a woman without her own human skin. Neither Shad nor Viggo recognized her, but she was clearly just an ordinary person.
"What does it mean?"
Wei Ge was puzzled, but Xia De understood, and his voice directly reached Wei Ge's heart:
"Remember? The third female lead in the opera troupe was always searching for information on all sorts of beautiful girls to find raw materials for the leather craftsmen to make leather goods."
Wei Ge suddenly realized:
"Could it be that the cobbler mistook us for prey lured by that man?"
"This possibility cannot be ruled out."
The mental communication was incredibly fast. Straightening up, Xia De ignored the woman on the ground and quickly walked with Wei Ge to the entrance of the attic. However, the trapdoor was already closed. Xia De tried knocking a few times, but the thumping sound was very dull, indicating that the trapdoor was clearly locked from the outside.
Although this was a scene constructed from relics, the document-level relics themselves weren't particularly powerful, and the house didn't possess many extraordinary characteristics. Opening this door wouldn't have been difficult for Shad and Viggo. However, they didn't do so because a yellowed note was slipped through the crack in the trapdoor.
The letters on the note were quite clear.
There is a skinning toolbox on the table; one person can only leave after another has been skinned.
"A room from which one cannot leave without peeling off the skin."
Xia De muttered to himself, then returned to the table with Wei Ge. They opened the metal toolbox, inside which were neatly arranged needles, thread, tweezers, and measuring tapes, and of course, even more numerous were various knives of different sizes.
A third of the tools in this box possess the Whispering element, meaning that many of these tools are relic derivatives produced by the [Leatherwork Guild]. With these tools, even an ordinary person who can't even kill a chicken should be able to easily skin a piece of leather; the task on the note isn't actually that difficult.
"Only skin peeled away through the dual pain and torment of body and mind can achieve its most beautiful form. If betrayal and love, jealousy and vanity can be added to it, then that skin will be even more beautiful."
Vige spoke softly of her knowledge of leather goods, reaching into the box to take out the smallest knife imaginable. The handle looked heavy, but Vige found it surprisingly light in her hand.
"If I die young, and I leave my skin to you as an heirloom, will you miss me forever? When you sleep with other girls, let them wear my skin, so that it will be as if I am with you forever."
This statement fits the words of an ordinary person experiencing a mental breakdown, but it wasn't part of the pre-arranged plan. Seeing Xia De looking at her with slight surprise, Wei Ge shook her head and put the small knife back.
"I just feel a little sentimental for some reason."
"Perhaps you should take your medicine."
Xia De reminded her, so Wei Ge took out a small bottle of fragrance, took a sip, and then asked:
"Since you don't want my skin, what should we do now?"
The attic window was also locked, and Shad didn't try to force it open. He then checked the drawers of the table, and after confirming that he found nothing, he looked at the dolls standing in the shadows of the room.
The doll was dressed in leather, and the leather was covered in clothes. When Xia De reached out to examine the things, Wei Ge did not help, after all, she really felt that these things were disgusting.
Surprisingly, the inspection yielded some results. In the pockets of two different dolls, Shad found a simple attic map and a key, respectively.
After moving the boxes in the corner according to the map, a new trapdoor appeared on the ground. The key matched the lock perfectly, and opening the trapdoor revealed an unnamed room on the third floor.
After tying the rope from the attic to the table, Shad climbed down first, then caught Viggo as she jumped down from the height, holding onto her skirt. The room was lit by gaslights and appeared to be a reception room on the third floor.
In the reception room, the maid who had led the two there was waiting for them.
"So, you're the leatherworker?"
Xia De stood in front of Wei Ge and asked, though it was a question, Xia De was almost certain of his conclusion.
The maid nodded, maintaining proper maid etiquette, and said:
“My two guests, not everyone is qualified to do business with me, and this is the first time you have come before me.”
Wearing leather, or becoming leather, requires passing a test. A qualified leather wearer should not fear leather, nor should they be easily tempted to kill. These two points are crucial. You have passed the test, so what is your purpose in coming here?”
Shad looked at her. The two weren't particularly far apart, but Shad still couldn't determine just how strong she was. The power of a relic's derivative couldn't be judged solely by the strength of its whispering element, especially since she was wearing more than one leather item, which severely hampered Shad's perception.
No one knows what's really beneath the layers of leather that make up the "leatherworkers." The information provided by these pseudo-people suggests that leatherworkers are monsters made up of layers of leather, with skin beneath skin and skin beneath skin, until the last layer is torn away and there's nothing left.
This view is also the mainstream opinion among researchers of the "Leather Museum." Leatherworkers may have been ordinary beings long ago, who later clothed themselves in leather garments, gradually fading away until they ceased to exist. Furthermore, contemporary researchers generally believe that leatherworkers didn't need containers to store their leather goods; the leather itself was the best container.