The Invincible Rich Man (Gerald Crawford)

Chapter 1127-1133

Chapter 1127
Emitting a bright light, Gerald could feel the power within the stone, even from afar.
 
“What a truly amazing object!” muttered Gerald to himself, overjoyed.
 
However, the moment he was about to take the water repellent stone, Gerald’s ears suddenly heard the sound of a rope being dropped from one of the upper tunnels.
 
…A person?
 
Seconds later, Gerald heard as the unknown person began sliding down the rope. With that, Gerald quickly hid in a corner to see who it was.
 
It wasn’t long after before a woman jumped down. The moment she saw the water repellent stone, she immediately smiled before clapping her hands.
 
“So it really is here! I can finally set off once I get my hands on the stone!” said the woman to herself in a soft tone.
 
“…It’s her?” whispered Gerald to no one in particular as he continued watching her from the corner he had been hiding it.
 
The girl in question was of course, Yume!
 
After descending Langvern Mountain, Gerald had returned to Yarne Manor to discuss a few more matters with Wagner. It was around then when a maid notified him that Yume had already left.
 
While Gerald already knew that the girl was quite extraordinary since she knew quite a bit of martial arts, he truly hadn’t expected for her to also be looking for the water repellent stone! Actually, it was amazing enough that she knew where to find it in the first place!
 
Thinking about it, Gerald couldn’t help but smile slightly bitterly. Never could he have imagined that he would actually end up accidentally saving his rival’s life!
 
Just as he was wondering how he should confront her, he suddenly heard a terrifying screech.
 
Yume herself had had her hand inches away from the water repellent stone when she heard the deafening screech. Looking up, she immediately saw a massive and terrifying black shadow swooping down at her from above!
 
As the shadow continued making unnerving sounds, Yume quickly fell back and rolled to the side to avoid the shadow. In doing so, however, she was unable to get her hands on the stone.
 
By then, she had already identified that the shadowy figure had belonged to a bat. However, this wasn’t any regular bat. It was a giant bat that was even larger than an average human!
 
With its head about the same size as a human’s, its most striking characteristics were its long, overflowing red hair and its exposed fangs. Together, these features made it look similar to a human with an incredibly hideous face.
 
Saliva dripping out its grinning mouth, the bat looked at Yume with its vicious eyes before letting out another ear-splitting shriek!
 
Following that, it leaped at her with immense speed and power!
 
While she was able to avoid the bat’s front paw attack, Yume failed to dodge its tail wing attack in time! As a result, she was hit right in the chest which sent her flying!
 
Crashing hard onto the ground, Yume could feel her wounds start to hurt again as she felt some blood seeping out of her abdomen.
 
The bat itself wasn’t going to give Yume any time to recover. Stomping menacingly toward the injured girl, it appeared to be enjoying the thought of soon having a delicious meal. 
‘…Am… am I truly going to die here…? That stupid Master Ghost! I shouldn’t have believed in his words earlier! If I make it out alive, I’m burning his church down if it’s the last thing I do! Otherwise, he’ll only continue deceiving others! To think that he’d actually say that my marriage would be…’
 
As Yume thought to herself, she remembered how she had immediately descended the mountain before directly heading to the Minshall family’s ancestral mine to obtain the water repellent stone.
 
Everything was going so well too… To think that she was actually going to die here being eaten alive by this beast… It made her feel sick even thinking about it.
 
Taking in a deep breath, Yume quickly unsheathed her dagger before pointing it at herself. Eyes closed and ready to end her own life, she first muttered, “I’m sorry, grandma… I was unable to complete the task you left for me! I’m truly sorry for being unable to head to the king of the ocean’s palace!”
 
Before she could plunge the blade into herself, she heard the giant bat screeching again!
 
…Only to be followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground?
 
Opening her eyes, Yume found herself staring in disbelief at the dead beast that now lay before her. It… was dead? But how?
 
It was then when Gerald finally revealed his presence while saying, “It seems that I’ve saved your life again, beauty!”
Chapter 1128
Gerald was smiling as he said that while looking at Yume.
 
“It… It’s you!” shouted Yume.
 
While her face had initially been pale from panic, the moment she saw Gerald, it instantly turned red as a tomato. Though she was clearly blushing, Gerald could simultaneously sense a deep hatred as well as a hint of killing intent in her eyes.
 
“It is indeed… Regardless, it seems that we both came here today with the same purpose in mind. Are you planning to head to the king of the ocean’s palace as well?” asked Gerald who had been surprised to hear her muttering about it earlier.
 
“I… I don’t know! Stop talking to me!” replied Yume before standing up and immediately turning to face the other way as she recalled Master Ghost’s earlier words about the fate of her marriage…
 
“Judging from the results of the marriage stone, it appears that you’ve already met the person you’ll end up falling in love with, Miss Gunter! From what I can see, it seems that both of you only separated quite recently as well!” said Ghost when Yume had still been in the church earlier.
 
“The person I’ll end up falling for…? Who could that be? Actually… It… couldn’t be him, right? The person they refer to as Mr. Crawford…?”
 
Shaking his head, Ghost then replied, “Quite unfortunately so…”
 
“Unfortunately? Now why would you say that?”
 
“While it states here that you’ll definitely end up falling for him, he won’t love you in return! It’s just a sad ending since both of you will never be together!” explained Ghost before sighing.
 
“…You! You old man! Quite spouting nonsense! I’d never fall for someone who wouldn’t love me back! I refuse to believe you!” retorted Yume angrily.
 
“It’s simply the truth! It’s not up to you to decide!”
 
“The truth? Hahaha! Even if that’s the case, I won’t allow it to happen! I’ll just kill him when I see him again to avoid any future complications then! Once I’m done with that, I’ll return to burn down your church!”
 
Following that, she had descended the mountain in a huff, feeling greatly angered and frustrated as she made her way for the Minshall family’s ancestral mines.
Of course it had to be Gerald.  While she had to admit that he was quite handsome and he was also the one who had saved her life, he didn’t have any other suitable qualifications to make her fall for him! What absolute nonsense!
 
While she had been sure that she’d never ever meet him again back then, she now realized how wrong she had been. In fact, not only was he standing behind her right now, but he had also just saved her life for the second time!
 
“…Regardless, you should really move around less since you’re still injured. You know, while the stone is useful to me, I don’t mind sharing part of it with you!” replied Gerald with a smile as he slowly approached the girl to help support her.
 
Once he was close enough, however, she simply pushed him away fiercely before shouting, “Don’t touch me!”
 
“What a temper! I’ll have you know that the water repellent stone now belongs to the Crawford family! Aren’t you ashamed at all for attempting to steal something before its owner?!” replied Gerald in resignation.
 
With that, he went over to pick the stone up. Once he had it, he immediately turned around to leave.
 
“…W-wait!”
 
“What is it?”
 
“You… You said you would share part of the water repellent stone with me, right…?” asked Yume in a much softer tone now.
 
While she truly felt like killing Gerald now, she knew she was incapable of doing so. But if she didn’t do that now, would she truly end up falling for him…?
 
“Since you asked so nicely, sure.”
While the water repellent stone was only the size of a palm, even if it were to be split into a thousand pieces, each piece would still retain its initial functionality without any degradation in its performance. With that in mind, Gerald simply broke off three pieces of the stone and handed them to Yume.
 
“Since both of us will be heading to the king of the ocean’s palace sooner or later anyway, why don’t we head there together?” suggested Gerald.
 
Quite frankly, he found her to be quite the suspicious character. After all, while he had only managed to find out about the king of the ocean’s palace after slow and careful investigation, based on what Yume had earlier said, the girl was apparently heading there to complete a task that her grandmother had entrusted her with.
 
For her grandmother to have business to attend to within the king of the ocean’s palace… Who could she be? Could Yume’s grandmother have secrets of her own as well? Gerald truly wanted to get to the bottom of this.
 
“There’s no need to consider that! I’m not traveling with you!” replied Yume as she clutched onto her abdomen before slowly staggering out.
 
It was at that moment when Gerald noticed something was off. Sniffing the air, he couldn’t help but raise a brow as he shouted, “This isn’t good! Return here, quickly!”
Chapter 1129
Due to his keen sense of smell, Gerald was able to detect the scent of a highly toxic gas that was slowly filling the mine. From what he was able to tell, directly inhaling even just a little of the gas would be sufficient to easily corrode a human’s internal organs!
 
True to his deduction, after taking just a few steps forward, Yume was already starting to get extremely dizzy. As the strength in her body rapidly left her, Gerald quickly ran over to support her.
 
Following that, he instantly began sealing several of her body’s vital energy paths that led to her vital organs.
 
“M-my chest… Suffocating…” muttered the weakened Yume whose face was already pale.
“Thankfully you didn’t breathe in too much of that gas… Know that the air around us now is slowly getting more and more poisonous… Someone seems to be deliberately releasing poison gas in here! Regardless, try not to talk for now and get ready to hold your breath,” explained Gerald quickly.
 
After saying that, Gerald himself took in a deep breath, purposefully inhaling the poison gas. Just by doing so, however, he was able to roughly distinguish the composition of the gas!
 
Since Gerald had already been immune to several kinds of poisons as early as last year, this level of poison was nothing to him! While the poison gas was definitely fatal for normal people, to Gerald, the gas was simply akin to the mild distasteful scent of a spilled bottle of vinegar within an environment that previously had fresh air.
 
Regardless, someone was definitely up to no good outside!
 
Looking at the weakened girl who was now lying in his arms, Gerald knew that he couldn’t allow anything bad to happen to her. After all, she appeared to know some secrets about the palace of the ocean king. What more, even from the first time he had met her, Gerald had felt that both Yume and Mila had somewhat similar eyes.
 
Due to this innate intimacy that he felt toward her, Gerald felt the urge to help her escape this place safely. In fact, he wouldn’t have left her behind even if she was a complete stranger.
 
With the poison gas now slowly resembling a thickening, greenish poisonous fog, Gerald turned to look at the teary-eyed Yume—whose face was already flushed by this point—before saying, “…Since you haven’t used it yet, I’m assuming you’re not familiar with the breath-holding technique?”
 
After watching her nod slowly, Gerald then added, “I apologize in advance then. Please don’t hold it against me. Understand that my primary objective is to get you out of this place alive!”
 
Following that, Gerald took in a deep breath of the poisonous air. Once the air was inside him, the air was instantly purified. With that in mind, he then directed the fresh air into his mouth…
 
Before kissing Yume to transfer it over to her!
Seeing that, Yume’s eyes immediately widened in shock as she tried her hardest to resist. However, she simply didn’t have any strength left in her body due to her initial intake of the gas.
 
Glad that it was working, Gerald then continued to occasionally transfer fresh air into Yume’s lungs as they quickly made their way out of the mine.
 
Knowing that the person in charge of releasing the gas was probably after him and not Yume, Gerald truly wanted to know who the culprit was.
 
Meanwhile, a young Minshall—who was standing outside the mine alongside many other Minshall family members—laughed as he said, “Hah! We’ve truly released a huge amount of poison gas inside, uncle! Even if he has the physique of a deity, Gerald definitely won’t be able to make it out alive!”
 
Before them, stood a contraption that continued to pump poison gas into the sealed up entrance of the mine. They had made sure to carefully seal the entrance up too so that even if Gerald managed to climb up again to make his escape, he wouldn’t be able to tell where the passage leading out was!
 
“But of course! It’s called the thousand years of poison, after all! Not even an immortal would be able to escape death after inhaling this!” replied the middle-aged man—whose back was facing the entrance— with a dark expression on his face.
 
“Still, I really want to head inside to see how terribly Gerald’s body has already rotted!” said another young Minshall before laughing.
 
“Are you that tired of living? Even inhaling the slightest amount of that poison gas will cause all your internal organs to rot, you know! Don’t any of you know the origins of our family’s thousand years of poison?” declared the middle-aged man rather arrogantly after realizing that his current situation made him resemble a teacher who was standing before a group of students who were anxious to learn.
 
“We don’t, uncle! Please explain it to us!”
 
“Very well then! Listen closely, now!”
 
Now in a good mood, Uncle Minshall quickly cleared his throat to begin his tale. Before he could even begin, however, he noticed that all the young Minshalls were now pale-faced and staring wide-eyed at something. Their expressions suggested that they had just seen something terrifying…
 
“…What’s this then? Why the frightened expressions?” asked the middle-aged man as he laughed.
 
“U-uncle Minshall… B-behind you…!” squeaked one of the young Minshalls as he pointed behind the middle-aged man in horror.
 
Before he could even turn around, uncle Minshall heard a voice shouting, “Make way!”
 
Following that, Gerald—who had used one of his hands to dig open a small hole in the dirt-sealed entrance to check if he was on the right path—kicked the poison gas-spreading contraption right into the earthen wall, causing the sealed up entrance to be re-opened!
 
Now understanding what the young Minshalls had seen to be that terrified, the middle-aged man’s face instantly went as pale as a sheet when he felt a pat on his right shoulder. Knowing that he was the sole person blocking the entrance now, uncle Minshall slowly turned around to look behind him… To see Gerald there holding Yume in his arms!
Chapter 1130
“…M-Mr. Crawford…!” stuttered the middle-aged man who was so shocked and horrified by the turn of events that his eyes looked ready to pop out from their sockets!
 
Under normal circumstances, Gerald should have already melted into a pool of rotten meat by now… Even so, their initial plan had been to collect Gerald’s corpse after letting it rot in there for ten days!
 
Throughout that ten-day period, the Minshalls had already planned to actively look for ways to steal— the presumed dead—at least a portion of Gerald’s assets and possessions…
 
Nobody could’ve expected him to still be alive!
 
They had used the thousand years of poison! The most potent poison their family had!
 
Gerald himself ignored the shocked group of Minshalls, choosing instead to walk forward and look for a cool and safe spot where he then laid the now-unconscious Yume.
 
Following that, he casually walked over to the contraption he had earlier kicked before saying with a smile on his face, “What’s this then…? What were you guys so busy with over here? Hmm?”
 
“W-we were… um… W-worried that you didn’t have enough oxygen in the mines so we were pumping some in for you!” stuttered the middle-aged man who was now drenched in cold sweat. The damp discomfort on his crotch only served to signify how terrified he currently was.
 
“Oxygen, you say? But I’m pretty sure that this contraption pumps out poison gas, and not just any regular poison either! It’s a potent poison that causes the inhaler’s organs to fester, no? Regardless, with the amount of poison gas you were pumping in, I have to say that you guys are really willing to spend!” replied Gerald as he turned off the contraption that had still been sputtering poison gas out.
 
Knowing that there was no way out of this, the middle-aged man immediately knelt while saying, “Pplease, Mr. Crawford! This is… This is all just one massive misunderstanding!”
 
Gerald, however, was having none of that.
 
Upon receiving a tight slap to the face from Gerald, the man’s teeth were immediately sent flying all over the place!
 
“You know, if it wasn’t for my unique physique, I would’ve definitely died in there already because of you people!” growled Gerald as his expression suddenly changed into one that exhibited pure fury.
 
Nobody had exaggerated when they described the potency of the thousand years of poison, and Gerald was well aware that even someone with Christopher’s strength would eventually be done for if he inhaled too much of the gas! The Minshalls truly were ruthless…
 
“P-please… Please spare our lives, Mr. Crawford…!” mumbled the middle-aged man who was already struggling to speak as his snot and tears flowed down his face.
 
“Oh? You want me to do that, do you? Fine then. I won’t personally end you. However, I’ll toss all of you inside the mine to see how you like it! Surviving from that point on are your own problems!”
 
With that, Gerald kicked the middle-aged man into the mine as easily as if he was kicking a ball! Following that, he did the same to all the other young Minshalls there.
 
While screams could momentarily be heard, they didn’t last long, and soon, the mine was quiet again.
 
After that, Gerald retrieved the jar containing the thousand years of poison from the contraption. With the jar in one arm and Yume in the other, he then immediately set off for the Minshall Manor.
 
The manor itself was quite lively at the time, with many people gathered in the main hall.
 
From the moment Lord Minshall had earlier heard that Gerald hadn’t stepped out of the mine yet—even after quite a while—he had a radiant smile on his face the entire time which caused his wrinkles to look even more defined.
 
“With the elimination of our enemy, the day for the Minshall family to shine again is upon us! While that Gerald had immense skill and capabilities, in the end, he was still a young, mindless brat! Regardless, today is a day for celebration!” declared Lord Minshall with a wry smile on his face.
 
“You truly are brilliant for finding this loophole to get rid of Gerald before he had a chance to bring more trouble to our family in the future, Lord Minshall!”
 
“Indeed! We shall hold a big feast tonight to celebrate this victory!”
 
Cheer after cheer came from the other Minshall who were all feeling both excited and happy.
 
“Still, I wonder how Zoey and Issac are doing… After heading over to meet Master Ghost for so long, they should already be back by now!” said Zelda.
 
It was exactly at that moment when both of them came running in from the courtyard, looking extremely panicked.
 
“G-grandpa!” shouted both of them simultaneously, their faces completely flustered.
 
“What’s wrong? How did the results go?”
 
“M-master Ghost only gave us the first half of the reading earlier! He said it was to ‘reduce the amount of trouble’! However, he’s just given us the second half of the reading not too long ago!” cried out Zoey.
 
“Well, go on! Show it to me!”
 
Obeying his orders, she immediately placed a note in Zelda’s hand.
 
On it, were written the words, ‘If you abandon your morality and virtues, lamentation, suffering, and endless tears will befall all of you!’
Chapter 1131
“There will be cries of weeping, lamentation, and suffering all over? This, this…”