novelonline Chapter 4239 Madame Butterfly's Persuasion
Chapter 4239 Madame Butterfly's Persuasion
Chapter 4239 Madame Butterfly's Persuasion
The poet's relic, "Griffith's Rhapsody," is a coin made of metal, yet it possesses a strange purple hue. Its size is identical to a normal 1-crown gold coin; one side is imprinted with the number "1" and numerous blurred human faces, while the other side bears only a simple sentence—
Inspiration is the most precious miracle.
This coin has a simple characteristic: when tossed, it doesn't consume the coin itself, but instead permanently consumes a segment of the user's memory, granting the artist a moment of artistic inspiration. Painters, musicians, writers, and so on can all use it; even a simple ring sorcerer can gain some inspiration related to spellcasting by using it.
The simplicity is both a positive and a negative aspect, and the consequences of going out of control are not large-scale memory erasure, but rather a massive influx of all sorts of crazy inspirations to all intelligent life around it.
This is extremely dangerous in a world with supernatural powers.
Its characteristics perfectly embody the "transactional" attribute of currency. Because this coin can be used multiple times and the cost of each use is very low, many artists love this relic.
Vigo's friend got the coin because he heard the story of a genius painter who, in his thirties, seemed to have Alzheimer's disease due to losing too many memories.
"This thing is like a drug. I know many artists like to use drugs to get inspiration in a dreamlike world. The artifact itself is not addictive; the addictiveness comes from the minds of those people."
Viggo said something quite philosophical at the dinner table, then handed the coin to Shad. Dorothy, who could now also be called an "artist," had many thoughts on this as well. The writer sat next to Adelina, who had also come to visit the little princess.
However, Agelina paid no attention to what Shad, Viggo, and Dorothy were talking about; she was happily telling the pointy-eared elf about the new skills she had recently learned from Viggo. As for Ellie, she was enjoying a new apple-themed dish.
Those were dishes brought from his hometown by a stranger. Although he didn't know how to cook them, after exchanging ideas with the cook in the kitchen, she managed to recreate the dish called "caramelized apples" after a simple trial.
Viggo thought the dish was too sweet, while Agelina preferred the apple tart with its crisp crust. Ellie, however, tasted the delicacy as an "apple connoisseur" and gave it high praise after the meal.
Emilia and Ellie had to return to the academy, so Dorothy was responsible for taking them home first, so Shad wouldn't have to go to the Blue Ink Library again.
After saying goodbye to the departing girls, Xia De and Wei Ge changed their clothes and prepared to head to the "Glamorous Ladies Club." The mask Xia De wore last time was the one given to him by the "Mermaid," which he took to the [Leather Goods Club] to use. Xia De hadn't found a chance to return it to the "Mermaid" since.
That evening, after a moment's thought, he decided to wear the mask and planned to return it to "Desire" the next day when he went to Moon Bay.
After the sun set, the moderate rain turned into a light drizzle. By the time Shade and Viggo appeared hand in hand on the garden path of the Hazel Manor, they could barely feel the raindrops even without an umbrella.
Perhaps because of the incident where guests who had come into contact with the leather goods were taken away by the church, the club was much quieter than last week. Viggo wasn't bothered by the church, of course, because the club didn't know her background either; her invitation was obtained by Shad from the opera company's "third lead actress," and its origin was impossible to trace.
That evening, as Viggo and Shade sat down on the sofa by the wall of the greenhouse, "Madame Butterfly," the woman in charge of the club's activities, came to greet them with a smile. Viggo responded rather rudely:
"Madame Butterfly, I never expected you would dare to send me an invitation. I've recently received some news that those who accompanied me and my male companions to visit the 'craftsmen' seem to have been approached by the church recently."
I have some connections locally, and someone told me that the club sold the membership list.
Lady Butterfly would certainly not admit it; in reality, Vigo was able to hear the news only through the Ring Sorcerer's channels, and most people were unaware of the truth:
“Ms. Redstone, you’re quite the joker. The club never leaks secrets, yes, never. We have strong support from gentlemen and ladies in Willendale, and the church wouldn’t dare to cause us trouble easily.”
She clearly didn't want to get any more entangled with Viggo on this issue, and Madame Butterfly also didn't say much about the tanner's disappearance after Shad and Viggo's last visit. With that practiced smile, she introduced Viggo to the matter:
"Although that esteemed craftsman is temporarily unable to serve the club's members, we still have many activities that you might find interesting. Tonight's auction will feature some very interesting items."
Wei Ge was only here for the item bearing her mother's mark. She didn't really want to get entangled with the middle-aged woman in front of her, and she certainly didn't want to step into this place a third time.
“If my boyfriend hadn’t said that this place was a good place for a date to look for some excitement, I would never have come back.”
Madame Butterfly then laughed and used her feather fan to cover the lower half of her face:
“Yes, Mr. ‘Wrist,’ I was very impressed with this gentleman. But Ms. Redstone, the club actually has many other interesting activities besides artisans and auctions.”
Since there weren't many guests yet, Madame Butterfly wasn't in a hurry to leave. She probably sensed that Vige's identity must be quite extraordinary and wanted to persuade her not to really give up participating in the club's activities.
“Masked balls, book clubs, cocktail parties with special drinks, secret psychic sessions—we can provide any kind of event you can think of.”
Wei Ge simply nodded perfunctorily:
"After attending tonight's auction, I'll decide whether or not to come next time."
Instead of immediately inquiring about the auction items she was interested in, she took Shad's hand:
"My partner and I have other engagements tonight, and we will leave after the auction."
"Of course, that's no problem."
Madame Butterfly looked at the two of them with an ambiguous expression:
"The night belongs to you young people, so would you like me to provide some aphrodisiacs? They're free, consider them a gift from me."
"He doesn't need that kind of thing."
As Viggo spoke, Madame Butterfly smiled and stood up:
"Then see you at the auction later, Ms. Redstone. I hope you enjoy it here."
The auction was scheduled to start at 8:30 p.m. Before that, Wei Ge had no intention of participating in any other activities, not even the book club that started at 8 p.m.
She simply curled up on the sofa, holding Xia De's hand and hugging him. Sometimes she would tell little jokes, but in the end, she would laugh at herself first. Anyone would think that she was another girl who was head over heels in love.
Viggo couldn't tell whether she was acting or genuinely enjoying the night. She hated these kinds of occasions, yet she also loved them. This conflicting feeling reminded her of Adelina's answer to the question "What is chaos?" a few days ago, and the witch became curious about the complex psychological processes her future student had gone through.
Before a proper auction begins, time is usually allocated for guests to get a close look at the items to be auctioned. But this wasn't a proper auction, so at 8 PM, brochures were simply distributed to everyone, containing some information about the unusual items to be auctioned that evening.
The auction items included not only suspected supernatural objects, but also many things that were not suitable for public display. These included unusual drugs, strange goods from a textile shop called "Dream Whispers," illegally published books, and artistically valuable female nude paintings, among others.
As for those suspected supernatural items, in Shad and Vigo's view, even if they were real, they were merely inferior alchemical creations. Before coming, Shad had wondered if this trip would encounter any uncontained relics, but it seemed he wouldn't have that luck.
As for the item that Vige was waiting for, it was a silver cube, the description of which was—
[If you place an item on a flat surface of water, it will float in the air above the water.]
This might sound useless, but it's novel enough for ordinary people who have never been exposed to the mystical world. Alchemical tools that low-level sorcerers can make are auctioned here with a starting bid of 1 crown, but these things are with Old John. Old John doesn't sell these "toys".
Shad flipped through the booklet but didn't see the Rhodes card. So he started to wonder how the "Genesis" card would appear before him. He was pretty sure that along with the appearance of the chosen one, the "All Things Unseen" card would also appear.
Vige probably noticed that Xia De was a little distracted, so she smiled and suddenly kissed him on the cheek.
Xia De was somewhat surprised:
"What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, can't I kiss you?"
"of course can."
He put down the booklet and gently embraced Viggo. The witch smiled and leaned on Shad's shoulder, enjoying the peaceful night.
The subsequent auction was not held in the greenhouse, but moved to the banquet hall of the manor. While the manor appeared neglected from the outside, the interior was remarkably well-maintained.
No surprises occurred during the auction. Although someone wanted to compete with Vigo for the silver cube, Vigo simply raised the price slightly and the other person gave up.
Of course, Vige didn't want anyone to know that she came specifically for this, so she also casually bought some other things at the auction—the original manuscript of a banned book with a lot of immature content but which was very well received in literary circles, and an ancient spirit tablet that was said to have been passed down from the time of Delineor.
P.S.: Remember what Viggo said every time they came to the "Glamour Ladies Club".