Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 186: Source of Infection

Trent Plague.

Telaranea must’ve shared part of the information with its other flesh in advance before it arrived at the Withered Castle. Nemo saw Sonia Ramon’s name in the research project on the Trent Plague, but the file was marked “under investigation”.

As for the Trent Plague itself, the investigation of the Sage of the Abyss was probably clearer than anyone else’s…

This kind of plague appeared about eight hundred years ago, and as soon as it emerged, it swallowed nearly one-tenth of the human population in one fell swoop. If no means were taken, depending on the individual’s physique, the patient would die within three or four days, or seven or eight days at the latest.

The healing magic of eight hundred years ago was still imperfect. The top healers of various kingdoms worked hard to find the source of this ferocious plague—the blood-red Croydon Blood Tree, a plant that originally grew in the depths of the Abyss.

Because of the mysterious and strong odor of the tree trunk and leaves, they were brought to the surface by humans on the expedition. The expeditionary force at that time brought up a few saplings and planted them carefully. The Croydon Blood Tree was competitive by nature. As long as the light wasn’t strong and the conditions were suitable, the roots and branches could survive. Its fragrance was non-toxic and harmless, and the smell was as wonderful as a dream.

The smell of the branches was particularly strong, while the leaves had a lighter scent. People ground the bark and tree trunks into powder, boiled the leaves with grease, held the wonderful fragrance in their hands, and then sold the prepared incense powder and balsam all over the world.

No one could resist such a wonderful aroma, and croyden incense was in short supply for a while. A fresh twig was almost more valuable than the same amount of gold, and planting the Croydon Blood Tree had become a trend in small circles.

That was until it bore fruit.

More than 20 years after the first Croydon Blood Trees were brought to the surface, they bore fruit without blooming. The lower part of the Abyss was pitch black, dangerous and chaotic, and it was difficult to observe the motionless plants in the darkness accurately. The people chasing the fragrance failed to find its flowers and never thought that this kind of tree could bear fruit.

The tragedy began with the merchant family who originally planted the Croyden Blood Tree.

The maid who took care of the trees took off the strange fruit. The thing was the size of an egg, squirming slightly, with an unpleasant pink-brown soft skin. The surface of the fruit was covered with dark holes and didn’t emit any aroma.

The merchant, Mr. Trent, picked up the sticky and weird fruit, observed it carefully for a few minutes, and then lost interest. He asked the maid to keep it safe and drove to the city by himself to attend an important meeting of the Chamber of Commerce to which he belonged.

Then his eyes began to feel uncomfortable, as if they had sand tossed into them. He closed his eyes tightly, cursing the servant for not cleaning the carriage in a bad temper while wiping away the steady stream of tears from the corners of his eyes with a handkerchief. Fortunately, after a long day, when Mr. Trent checked into the inn in the city, his eye pain was cured. Thus, he participated in the meeting of the Chamber of Commerce according to the arrangement, and then went to the best tavern in the city to have fun.

Then he fell ill.

First, his limbs were weak, and he was unable to walk. Following that was a terrifying high fever, accompanied by disordered thinking and gibberish. Within a day or two, Mr. Trent couldn’t even make a sound, but he opened his eyes wide without blinking. The Trent family called the best healers for him, but the healers were also helpless.

In the last few days, his breathing was extremely difficult, and his entire expression was haggard. Mr. Trent completely lost all reaction to the outside world, was completely incontinent, and soon died. The Trent family were enlightened businessmen, so their family was willing to donate the body to the healers to study, trying to figure out the cause of this strange disease.

But the healers only found the cause of Mr. Trent’s death—the patient’s brain had rotted into a pool of muddy mucus.

Mr. Trent wasn’t the first victim. Soon, a large number of patients appeared in the city. People first had pain in their eyes, which would soon heal itself, and they would continue to move around in good health for a day and a night. After that, death would quickly wave its sickle.

The weird plague that quickly swept across the surface was officially named Trent Plague. After a lot of sacrifices, the healers finally discovered the source of this plague.

The fruit of the Croyden Blood Tree was the source of infection. When a creature stares at it for more than six seconds, there was a high probability that it would be infected by the curse and the infected person wouldn’t get sick immediately. They often feel discomfort in their eyes—that was, the curse was transforming their eyes.

The day and night after the pain disappeared was the contagious period. During the infectious period, anyone who looked directly at the patient’s eyes for more than six seconds was at risk of being infected. After a day and a night, the patient’s brain would begin to rot, and they would quickly fall ill and die. It was safe to look at the person during the attack. This strange way of infection was only discovered by plague masks. The masks of the plague healers had thick cleansing magic crystals, so almost no healers who wore them fell ill. The infection rate of those who wore glasses was also very low.

In addition, mothers who were sick while giving birth to a child would also pass it on to the child, who would quickly die from the Trent Plague. Besides this, there was no other form of transmission of this vicious disease.

With the route of infection known, there were many ways to fight the plague. Following the idea that scarcity led to things becoming more valuable, the planting of the Croyden Blood Trees wasn’t common. Although many businessmen tried to hide them, they were caught by specially trained wolfhounds. All the Croyden Blood Trees on the surface were destroyed, leaving only some old and dry trunks and leaves circulating on the black market. The few fruits were taken away by sworn scientific institutions for research purposes, which meant the Alban royal family shouldn’t have owned one.

However, hundreds of years had passed, and times had changed, including the things that “should have been”. Nemo sighed.

“Ollie, do you remember when I asked you about Trent Plague… When we were in the confinement room of Clementine Academy.”

“Yes.” Oliver was following after he calmed down as the three of them headed in the direction of Princess Delia’s lounge.

“Now I probably know what’s going on.” They nestled behind a thick carved stone pillar and watched the patrolling soldiers pass by. Nemo whispered softly and glanced at Ann, who was walking not far ahead. “Your mother died of illness when she was five months pregnant with you. It was either an ordinary illness or the Trent Plague.”

“But you just said that it can be transmitted through childbirth…” Oliver was startled for a few seconds and frowned.

“Yes.” Nemo sighed. “That means Uncle Ramon, no, Flint not only saved you when you were just five months old, he somehow suppressed the Trent Plague in some way to keep you alive.”

“…How do you know?”

“The Withered Castle. Telaranea told me.” Nemo grabbed Oliver’s arm and wrapped it around him. “I wasn’t absolutely sure of the situation before, so I didn’t want to tell you a subjective guess… but now it’s different. Now everything is linked up. According to Telaranea’s research data, there should be three places where the pathogenic fruit still exists on the surface—Clementine Academy, the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild, and another research facility of the Gatekeepers. There’s a research sample in these places, but there’s no recent record of theft. No matter which institution it is, there was no reason to use it to attack your mother.”

Oliver didn’t stop moving, but his brows frowned tighter. “You mean…”

“Your mother was sick, but it didn’t spread. It’s exactly the same as Delia’s situation now.” Nemo brushed away a strand of black hair that fell in front of him. “Do you remember when your father suddenly cut off contact with his brother? Our speculation at that time should have been correct. This matter is indeed related to the Alban royal family.”

“The royal family used the fruit to make my mother sick to kill her, and my father discovered this. In order to not complicate things with his younger brother, Emanuel, he cut off contact with him and disappeared. He loves my mother so much, so how could he give up—no, Nemo. If the original royal family really had this idea, why did they use this… roundabout way?” Oliver tried his best to keep his voice calm.

“In order to get rid of suspicion and ensure the success of the murder.”

Nemo grabbed his lover’s hand placatingly. “After all, even for Telaranea, who’s fanatic about seeking knowledge, it was only recently that it realized the Alban royal family might have this disease-causing fruit. Although Flint was powerful at that time, he was only a mercenary with a civilian background. He couldn’t expose this kind of secret.”

“Your father is well connected and powerful. He must have had many enemies. Your mother was pregnant with you at that time. Flint would do his best to take care of her, right? Ordinary poisoning and accidents would be difficult to succeed. Even if other pathogenic substances were used, your father could save her as long as there’s time, but the Trent Plague is different. It had disappeared from the world for too long… Before your father finds out what Sonia had, she was likely to…”

Oliver was silent for a long time. Their movement speed slowed down and they almost completely lost Ann, who was walking in front.

“Why?” After a long time, Oliver said blankly. “Flint Lopez, this person, should never have done anything detrimental to the interests of the royal family. Why did the Alban royal family attack my mother?”

His father has never mentioned his mother’s affairs… Was this to allow him to grow up carefree and not let his childhood be overshadowed by “revenge” and “hatred”?

“This is what we have to determine.” Nemo sighed. “Only this, I can’t figure out now, but I think we have an entry point.”

“What are you two muttering back there?” Ann, who was running at the front intently, turned her head and asked them humorously. “We’re running out of time, boys.”

“Coming!” Nemo raised his voice, then lowered it back. “Ann must be in contact with the royal family… When she finishes talking to Her Royal Highness Delia, I think we can have a good talk with her.”

Delia Alastair was sitting in the wide lounge. Her eyes were still tightly closed, and she was slowly touching the delicate brace that was clinging to her legs with her hands.

Her limbs were soft, and she was no longer able to walk on her own strength. The young princess sat motionless with a cold face. All kinds of easy-to-eat diced fruits and snacks were neatly placed on the table, all within her reach, but Delia ignored them indifferently.

She knew that the room was full of soldiers guarding her, and countless eyes were locked on her, which made her nauseous.

But she couldn’t spread this terrible plague. Now, in order to suppress the disease entrenched in her heart, she had to take a special potion nine times a day. She had to be dragged up and fed three times in the early hours of the morning to barely maintain this current state and not die immediately.

She could only open her eyes and look at the world again when the sun was about to set and her garden was empty.

But today was different. The door was gently opened, and the guards were talking to the people outside. In an instant, a dozen guards fell to the ground together, and the sound of their armor touching each other resounded through the room.

“Well done, Nemo. Don’t worry, heartbeat-level surveillance spells aren’t easy to cast, and using them on soldiers would make people suspicious. One Rosa is enough for Eldric to worry about.”

The door sounded as if it was closed, making a soft squeak before a clicking sound was heard. Then the temperature in the room seemed to drop a few degrees out of thin air.

“You can open your eyes, Your Royal Highness Delia. We know your physical condition. It doesn’t matter.”

The young princess opened her eyes with a small slit and then squinted because she was not used to the light. She saw a flashing wall of ice in front of her. The ice wall was flat and transparent, with three figures standing behind it.

She opened her mouth but couldn’t make a sound, so she could only smile palely.

“A silence curse. Why am I not surprised?” Ann said angrily as she lifted the curse.

Delia then turned her attention to Ann.

She was startled, but the shock quickly disappeared. Delia didn’t ask for help. She sat quietly in an armchair; the metal brackets on her legs gleamed in the swaying candlelight.

“Everyone, what can I do for you?” She stared at Ann’s face, and there was even a little vigilance in her voice.

“I only have one question.” Ann didn’t answer directly but continued to ask questions in a disguised voice. “Do you want to leave here?”

“No,” Delia replied firmly, showing an increasingly cold smile. “Since you know my physical condition, why do you ask such stupid questions?”

Nemo looked at the petite girl sitting in the armchair in surprise. Delia’s eyes were very similar to Ann’s, both of which were clear amber.

“What if you didn’t have the Trent Plague?”

“I don’t want to make meaningless assumptions. Now I have to drink medicine nine times a day to survive. That’s the medicine that is only available here. Which side are you from? Salter’s? Salter should be in the army now. Does he want to get me out of the way first… Unfortunately, he’s a step too late.”

Delia’s hands were trembling slightly, and her heart was beating extremely fast. These details couldn’t be concealed from Nemo’s probing, but her face still remained extremely calm, and she didn’t talk like a sixteen-year-old child.

“To be honest, whether Eldric sits on the throne has nothing to do with me. You just need to give me a ‘yes’ or ‘no’, Delia.” Ann clenched her fist tightly.

“Unfortunately, whether he can sit on the throne is related to me,” Delia said unceremoniously. “Well, I don’t think my dear uncle would play such boring tricks. Mercenaries won’t take this kind of job… Black Chapters, right? Since you said, ‘Whether Eldric sits on the throne’, I assume you already know the truth about the emperor.”

This little girl was talking to them.

“Only the Salter family will know this. Although I don’t know why your focus is so strange, I want to answer you—don’t worry, I have my own plans. Tell Gallagher that now is not the time.”

“Delia, you…”

“How can Marshal Gallagher believe you?” Oliver stretched out an arm and crossed in front of Ann. The female warrior took a deep breath and nodded at him in silence. “You are too young. To be honest, your ideas are probably not mature enough.”

“Is there anything unusual at Clementine Academy recently? If you ask me, Old Salter should have locked down Clementine Academy and taken the heirs of the nobles as hostages while Marshal Gallagher is preparing his army. He will use the pretext of wiping out bandits to control several towns first. With the time bought by Old Salter, there will be no other nobles who will intervene in this matter for the time being.”

Delia grimaced and tapped her slender fingers on the wooden armrest. “Look at Eldric’s haste. He must be racing against time. Just watch. After today’s ball, he’ll soon have the ‘Emperor’ order additional troops to Marshal Gallagher’s side. Just convey these words and my physical condition to Marshal Gallagher as they are and ask him to respect my opinion.”

She had guessed almost everything.

“…Who taught you this?” Ann couldn’t help but speak. The princess of Alban didn’t have the opportunity to come into contact with the strategies of the upper echelons.

“My mother,” Delia said softly. “She is a genius, no, she used to be a genius. Aren’t you curious about why I don’t want to leave? This disease is one of the reasons, but the other… If my dear uncle really sits on the throne, I will do my best to make him sit very uneasily.”

Ann looked at her strange niece in silence, and her eyes became a little red.

The princess’ pale cheeks were flushed with anger. “So please, go back.”

“Balthazar Medes,” Nemo said suddenly. “At present, the Trent Plague isn’t incurable. This person has been studying it. He successfully found a solution more than 20 years ago, and there have been cases where people have successfully survived. He should have made more progress now. If we could cure your illness, would you like to come with us?”

This time Ann and Oliver looked at Nemo together.

They had never heard Nemo mention the name, but they all knew who it belonged to.

At that time, two members of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment didn’t participate in the expedition. One of whom was Flint’s mentor, Talbott Vance, and the other was Balthazar Medes. Nemo’s expression was calm, and his tone of voice was serious, not at all like he was lying.

“If you can come up with conclusive evidence, I will go to Salter.” The princess straightened her back. “You should go. Someone will come to deliver medicine soon. Before you leave, remember to clean up this mess.”

She pointed to the guards who had collapsed on the ground and then closed her eyes.

Ann didn’t leave immediately.

“Although this question may be a bit rude, please tell me.” She asked bitterly, “Her Highness Annabelle, was she… in pain in the end? Because you look very…” Very angry.

“She drank poisonous tea. According to Alban’s tradition, she has the right to have a wish before she dies, and she did have a wish.”

“She said, ‘Call my daughter and let her witness my death with her own eyes.”

“’Let her see for herself the end of those who have lost themselves.”

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The author has something to say:

Trent Plague, a plague that’s very friendly to social fear (x

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 185: Trent Plague

Nemo frowned; he was focusing most of his attention on the free-moving corpse, so he didn’t pay much attention to the young princess.

His gaze crossed the shoulders of the emperor’s corpse, and Nemo saw the appearance of Princess Delia for the first time. Delia had maroon hair that was very similar to Ann’s, braided into fine braids, and was decorated with fine gems and pearls. Her appearance was quite outstanding, revealing the unique beauty of a young girl, like a soft and delicate flower bud.

Unfortunately, the beautiful princess’ face was not naturally white. There was no emotion on her face, and her eyes were indeed closed as Oliver said.

Nemo cautiously released a probe to sense the situation of the young princess. After half a minute, he subconsciously inhaled deeply.

“Well?” Oliver hurriedly asked in a low voice.

“I was exploring the emperor’s condition just now. He only has a thin layer of magic fluctuation on him, but what’s interesting is that there’s an aura of a living person on the ceiling. It has been deliberately concealed.”

Nemo pointed to the chandelier above the emperor with certainty. “The prince is probably worried people would sense magic if it was too powerful, so the corpse is manually manipulated by someone. The magic fluctuations I feel should be magic threads. There’s more than one person above. If I’m right, it’s most likely they are ventriloquists.”

“Like a puppet manipulated by strings?” Oliver hitched his breath.

“Like a puppet.” Nemo made a sour face. He looked at the “free-moving” emperor and only felt a chill down his spine.

“…What about Princess Delia?”

“She has the smell of a curse from the Abyss.” Noticing the eyes of others, Nemo approached Oliver and licked his earlobe that had the shimmering peridot earring with the tip of his tongue, then lowered his voice. “I can probably tell you what the curse is, but this is something… I think it’s better to talk about it together when Ann and the others are present.”

Oliver rubbed his flushed earlobe, and his expression became serious.

“Yes, I think I know how the prince is controlling Princess Delia.” Nemo sighed softly. “Unless the princess herself doesn’t want to live, then this would save Ann some time.”

Due to the emperor’s “weak health”, the speech didn’t last long. Princess Delia was still young and was led directly from behind the high platform by Prince Eldric to the corridor on the outside of the hall, without saying a word the entire time.

When the members of the royal family finally left, the atmosphere in the hall was suddenly lively. Nemo and Oliver nodded to each other and walked in the opposite direction, trying to blend into the crowd as naturally as possible, while looking for the overly lively Miss Rosa.

However, Oliver was pulled back before he even took two steps.

A pudgy noblewoman blocked his path. “Hi sweetheart. Do you have time to talk?”

For the first time in his life, Oliver was called “sweetheart”, which only made him shiver from head to toe.

“I saw him first.” Another younger girl came up. “Oh, my god, his face really looks like Godwin Lopez, even more so up close. My, I can’t see how our Lord William still has such thoughts about Mr. Lopez.”

This kind of behavior wasn’t uncommon. Many young leaders who were in their prime had high social status, but some were born as civilians and had no noble family to support them from behind. Some nobles would choose lovers who look similar to them to seek stimulation. In this way, Oliver’s and Adrian’s fake lover identities became more credible. However…

The corners of Oliver’s mouth twitched as he frantically apologized to the poor Duke Williams and his cousin in his heart.

“Ladies, ladies.” After calming down his emotions, Oliver forced a polite smile. He pressed down with both hands, intending to ask the excited girls to calm down. “Not to be disrespectful, but I… I’m more interested in men.”

Many younger girls sighed behind their fans and dispersed bitterly, but the slightly older ladies were still looking at him with interest. To make matters worse, as soon as this declaration came out, many men turned their heads with interest.

Oliver: “……”

He really wanted to say that he already had a lover, but unfortunately, he had to maintain his identity as the duke’s lover, so such a statement would inevitably be suspicious, so the words that were at the tip of his tongue were forcefully swallowed back. The leader of Tumbleweed, seeing that he was about to be trapped by another person who came forward to strike up a conversation, turned his head helplessly, trying to use his eyes to ask his lover for help.

It was a pity that his sight was completely blocked by a stout back, as a tall gentleman was in between the two of them, blocking his view and talking to Nemo.

Ten minutes ago.

Since stepping onto the steps of the castle, Nemo had maintained an expressionless state, exuding a cold aura without a care in the world. He may even have overstepped and physically lowered the surrounding temperature, but this trick was indeed effective—although the Mighty Demon King was still handsome, his entire person was quite gloomy and chilly. The ball time was limited, and he didn’t seem to have a good nominal background, so most men and women who were purely looking for fun didn’t prefer this kind of hard-to-chew bone. They liked obedient lovers who would look at people’s faces.

At present, only a few younger, rebellious girls secretly cast shy glances.

The young girls preferred men who had a mysterious temperament, but unfortunately, they were watched by their relatives, so none of them dared come up and strike up a conversation. Nemo’s face was tense, but his mood was much lighter. He took a small plate and wandered around the buffet table looking for Rosa Earley. As well as…

The little cherry pies were delightful. He had tasted some and wanted to get one for Ollie. Seeing this kind of milk pudding for the first time, he tasted a little and took one for Ollie as well. Nemo exuded cold air as he carefully selected snacks for Oliver.

The light cast by the large chandelier was suddenly blocked, and it seemed that a wall was erected beside him. Nemo carefully put a small piece of raspberry egg roll on his plate and turned to look.

A tall man dressed formally to the point of being out of place was standing beside him. The man had a fierce face and a sacred emblem of the Laddism Church on his left chest. Nemo momentarily felt weak in his heart and his face could barely remain calm.

“I have been watching you for a while now.” That man was more than two meters tall and had a sturdy figure. He most likely wasn’t an ordinary noble. “You don’t seem to be interested in women. Would you like to have a drink together?”

Nemo shook his head stiffly.

“Don’t be afraid.” The tall man smiled shyly. “Don’t look at me like that. I’m a Knight of Judgment from the Laddism Church, so I won’t do anything improper to you. I rarely do such things, but it’s just you have a certain quality in you…”

When he was probing the royal family earlier, he couldn’t completely restrain his aura. This gentleman most likely noticed the aura of the Abyss, but he couldn’t tell exactly what he had detected and then misunderstood that feeling and headed in a wonderfully different direction.

“No, I’m not afraid of you.” Nemo coughed dryly, trying to make him sound more different. “I like men with green eyes, so you’re not my type.”

He paused and showed a slightly embarrassed smile. “This isn’t an excuse. I believe in your identity and… I believe you’ll be an excellent Knight of Judgment.”

Nemo patted the man’s sturdy arm and walked away. He managed to catch a glimpse of a flaming skirt out of the corner of his eyes, and the owner of the red skirt was very much in line with Rosa Earley’s appearance.

However, as soon as he passed the tall Knight of Judgment, he saw the slightly horrified face of his lover.

Oliver made a “help” gesture and then turned his head to continue to deal with the swarming men and women. Nemo laughed for a bit and couldn’t help shaking his head. He then separated the crowd forcefully and walked forward nonchalantly, seemingly grabbing Oliver’s fluffy scarf on his chest. “Lord Andre told us to go see the ‘Rose’. We have to go.”

That was the code word they had agreed on in advance when they “found Rosa”.

After escaping from the sweet and greasy mist of different perfumes, Oliver breathed a sigh of relief. “You saved my life. They didn’t want to let me go… God, I’m almost starting to feel sorry for Godwin. Do you know how many men came to strike up a conversation just now?”

“You’re welcome.” Nemo stuffed the small plate full of snacks into Oliver’s arms. His facial muscles had stiffened after all this time, and he couldn’t resist rubbing his palms together like a sea otter. “They won’t succeed anyway… Whether it’s Godwin or you.”

“Hey, I quite like your style of speaking.” Oliver stuffed the raspberry egg roll into his mouth and held it like a cigarette. “Tell me more.”

“Maybe if we get the chance to do more, but now, let’s go find Ann.” Nemo neatly broke off the half of the egg roll that was dangling outside Oliver’s mouth and ate it. “When our great leader sacrificed himself to change the density of all the people in the hall, I was able to confirm it. Rosa was not in the hall. I saw her running towards the garden.”

“Ann should be in the garden corridor, right?”

However, things didn’t go as smoothly as they thought.

“Hey, Ann… Lord Andre, what are you doing?”

Jesse was standing in the corner of the marble flower bed, with a slightly weird smirk on his face. The former knight commander was two steps away from him. His body exuded the aroma of unfriendliness, and his face was extremely ugly. Oliver recalled his own tragic experience for a few seconds and decided to cast a very sympathetic look at the knight commander. At any rate, he knew that the group of people were coming for his “Godwin-like face”, while Adrian Cross was the real deal.

Ann was also there, but she wasn’t alone. A girl in a red dress was standing in front of her with her cheeks flushed and her eyes glowing.

That girl was none other than Miss Rosa.

“There you are,” Ann said, turning her head to the two people who had just arrived. Her voice changed a little bit because of embarrassment.

“Andre, are these people your friends?” Rosa took Ann’s arm very naturally, causing her to shrink quietly.

“Yes. These are my uncle’s lovers, and I brought them out to relax.” Ann smiled as she spoke. “They are all just country bumpkins who have no common sense. Now I must tell them how to enjoy this occasion.”

She grabbed the girl’s hand and kissed the girl’s fingers familiarly. “Dear Rosa, would you go to the Rose Fountain and wait for me for a while? When I have arranged the things here, I will go to you… Twenty minutes, no, fifteen minutes.”

Rosa waved her hand generously, lifted her skirt, and ran towards the garden lightly and happily.

“…” Nemo and Oliver looked at Ann with complicated eyes.

“I won’t keep the appointment! Alas, when this is over, I have to send her some gifts and a letter of apology.” Ann gritted her teeth, and her pitch became higher. “I didn’t expect this. She just rushed out suddenly. Come now, let’s get down to business. Now that I’ve taken care of Miss Rosa to an area that we know well, I can stabilize her for about fifteen minutes.”

“Fifteen minutes is not enough time to talk to Delia.” Jesse still had a subtle smile on his face as he spoke meaningfully. “Little girls nowadays are very talkative.”

“Still minding what happened just now? Dylan, I don’t have time to worry about your massive ego.” Ann rolled her eyes. “Let’s get down to business. As I said before, one of you has to attract Rosa’s attention. Taking this opportunity, the rest of you will follow me and take care of the guards and possible surveillance around Delia.”

“I’ll go attract her attention.” Nemo looked at Jesse in shock as he rarely took the lead.

“Hey, didn’t you get rejected?” Ann bared her teeth unceremoniously. “I heard it. She said, ‘I don’t like men who are prettier than me, nor do I like men who please men at first glance.’ …Mr. Dylan, people need to learn that moderation is important.”

“I want to be shameless. I’ll definitely be able to hold her back this time. Of course, no spells are required,” Jesse said with an oath, grabbing Adrian’s arm with one hand. “But Adri has to come with me.”

“Whatever, but if you can’t delay and cause the mission to fail, how about I confiscate all your property?”

“Deal,” Jesse replied confidently.

“There are also letters of apology and gifts afterwards. You pay for them. Even if you want to take the emotional route, don’t go too far. Don’t let her really be moved.”

“I have my own discretion.”

“…Although I doubt that, fine.”

“Then Ollie and I will go to see Delia with you,” Nemo said solemnly. “Ann, there is something you need to know in advance.”

“Tell me,” Ann exhaled slowly, leaning on the edge of the white flower bed full of yellow roses; her gaze sharp. Most people were gathered in the halls and gardens, while the corridors at this moment were dim and empty.

“It’s better for Dylan and Mr. Cross to listen to it too.” Nemo cleared his throat. “Princess Delia has the Trent Plague.”

Ann’s expression froze visibly to the naked eye. “Are you sure?”

“I have obtained all the information about this condition at Clementine Academy. Its curse characteristics are very obvious, and I am absolutely certain. Prince Eldric must have used drugs to suppress the spread of the disease, but this also means… If someone wants to take the princess away, without the royal medicine, the princess will die of a rapidly deteriorating condition, and it’s likely to bring the epidemic to the outside world.”

Ann’s expression was grim for a moment, and she even let out a lot of murderous energy in an instant. When she calmed down, there was only a touch of anger and sadness left on her face.

“No wonder she kept her eyes closed,” she said bitterly. “Good girl.”

“Does anyone mind explaining?” Oliver scratched his head. “To be honest, I don’t know much about this—Trent Plague had disappeared for a long time, and everyone has only passed down the scariest part, and there is no story about the eyes.”

“In the beginning, the explanation given to the people by various countries was ‘drinking contaminated water with demon’s blood’.” Adrian, who was much younger, suddenly spoke. His voice was softer and clearer than that of the knight commander, who was ten years older, but the calmness in his tone remained unchanged. “I think both of you know that this isn’t the case.”

“Nn.” Nemo nodded as he put his hand on Oliver’s shoulder. “The source of the Trent Plague is not a demon’s blood but the fruit of some kind of abyssal plant.”

“And… it’s a curse-like disease that is transmitted by ‘looking at each other’ and ‘childbirth’, which has nothing to do with water.”

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The author has something to say:

Ann: …Uh, do you four need to reflect on why that little girl is entangled with me? (Pain)

The rest of the four: ………….

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 184: Eyes Closed

The female warrior, who had always been frugal, paid the price this time.

Nemo twisted the fabric on his clothes and decided not to estimate its cost. He had more important things to do at the moment…

“Don’t move, Ollie.” Nemo muttered nervously. The slender silky shadow holding a delicate peridot earring was gesticulating on Oliver’s earlobe. The long needles behind the earrings have been removed and replaced by vine glue that could easily stick to the skin.

Although they could just pierce their ear temporarily for the ear piercing and could later heal it using magic, Nemo decided to choose a relatively painless way.

Oliver didn’t dare to move, and even stopped breathing. Nemo was so close that Oliver could even see his eyelashes clearly. The earring studs stained with vine glue brought a touch of coolness to his earlobes, but Oliver’s focus was completely elsewhere.

Taking into account Nemo’s relatively introverted personality and the identity of a “superior demon”, Ann prepared a long uniform with black as the main tone for the color. His short ponytail was draped down, and there weren’t too many complicated accessories on the outfit. At the moment, Nemo was expressionless because of tension and had an aloof temperament. The female warrior had many years of experience in the Black Chapter business, so the match was just right. If Oliver didn’t know who Nemo was beforehand, he probably wouldn’t have recognized him.

What was truly ridiculous was that this dress really gave Nemo a bit more of the legendary “Demon King” aura.

“It’s done. It’s sticking very firmly,” Nemo said, blowing the earlobes in front of him. The warm breath instantly wrapped around Oliver’s ear. “It matches your eyes very well, Ollie. It just looks a bit… Uh.”

Nemo smiled indifferently, and the cold feeling disappeared in an instant. He leaned forward and pecked the tip of Oliver’s nose. “Take a look for yourself.”

Oliver twisted his neck uncomfortably. The soft scarf and clusters of lace made his neck itchy.

Then he was silent in front of the mirror.

Unlike Nemo’s relatively simple style, what he had on was a flashy grayish-green uniform. The long, loose cuffs covered the scars on his wrist, and probably because of the shape, his originally strong and sturdy body looked a bit thin. The bangs that were scattered on his forehead were combed up and fixed with fragrant hairspray that gave off a smoky aroma. In addition to the complicated decorations on his cuffs and necklines, as well as the peridot earrings shimmering on his ears, Oliver at this moment looked a bit like… a frivolous guy.

“It looks good, really. Trust me. Except…” Nemo commented in a low voice.

“…Except it doesn’t look like a good thing,” Oliver added bitterly, posing in a few exaggerated aristocratic poses. “I think I can go directly to the streets now and easily play the role of an asshole who robs a flower girl.”

“Isn’t Jesse more suitable for that kind of thing?” Nemo fiddled with the jeweled collar of Oliver’s neckline, a little dissatisfied, and corrected its position.

“Maybe his face is too unconvincing. That guy… Ahem, he doesn’t look like a tough type.” Oliver picked up the thin gloves and put them on carefully, using them to cover the thick calluses and small scars on his hands.

After thinking about Jesse’s identity for a few seconds, Oliver smiled bitterly and shook his head. He sprayed himself with perfume jerkily, causing him to spray too much, unsuspectingly. The greasy sweet fragrance exploded, making the two sneeze loudly together.

“Too bad you can’t bring weapons to the ball.” Nemo held his breath and pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’ll let Bagelmaurus bring everyone’s weapons and stand near the castle. We found a place to board the goat, so we shouldn’t have to come back here again… Don’t forget not to bring anything.”

“Are you okay with it?”

“What?”

“Expression management.” Oliver cocked the corner of his mouth, stretched out his gloved fingers, and brushed the smile from the corner of Nemo’s mouth. “We have run out of sandpoint plums. Do you want to buy something else instead?”

“If you mean be ‘expressionless’, then no problem.” As long as he recalled the Withered Castle, Nemo could instantly erase all the smiles on his face—but this he wouldn’t say aloud. Even though the Withered Castle had been destroyed, its shadow had not dissipated.

Nemo didn’t deliberately ask about Oliver’s recovery. He didn’t want to make the other party anxious about it. He could only set aside as much time as possible to stay with his lover so that the darkness could fade faster.

They were uncharacteristically silent on the subject. Tacitly and unspoken.

“Then there’s no problem, Your Icy Majesty.” Oliver stood up and joked. He put down the brightly colored perfume bottle in his hand, and the thick glass bottle collided gently with the wooden table. Then he made a clumsy aristocratic salute.

“Fuck you.” Nemo smiled helplessly. “By that account, should I take you captive?”

“Then I have to leave a note and tell them not to let the hero come to save me.”

The two joked as they walked to the entrance of the agreed-upon restaurant, waiting for the carriage that they had arranged in advance to meet with the rest of their companions.

Jesse was one step ahead. The gray parrot, who could not participate in the ball, was grumbling as it parked itself on an iron pole where a sign was hung.

Jesse’s style had not changed much. Nemo seriously suspected that Ann didn’t even bother to care about him. The blond young man was still the same, except for carefully braiding his long hair in a relatively casual style and there was a sapphire-studded hairband that he used to tie up his hair. He didn’t look much different from before. The slightly higher-grade outfit made him look a little less sleek and a little more innocent.

“Where are Mr. Cross and Ann?” Nemo wasn’t used to having his hair loose.

“They’re still preparing.” Jesse looked up and down Nemo’s outfit, then swept his gaze to Oliver. “My, my—these outfits really suit you two. I don’t know how many ladies will have their hearts broken by you tonight.”

As soon as Nemo was about to leave, two strange figures leaned over.

Ann didn’t put on too much strange makeup. The female warrior’s maroon hair was originally a bit shorter than Oliver’s. She carelessly exposed the scar above her eyebrow, tucked her chest, and covered her overly feminine waist with a dark red robe. Coupled with boots that had a high heel to them—except for the slightly delicate facial features—she undoubtedly looked like a valiant young man.

Even so, her height wasn’t much different from that of Nemo’s, who was 1.8 meters tall.

“Don’t look. This isn’t the first time I have done this. There have been such situations before. Many tasks are in places where it’s difficult for women to mix in.” Ann raised her eyebrows. Originally, her voice was neutral, but now that she lowered it a bit, it was difficult for others to recognize whether the owner of the voice was a man or woman. “Remember, start calling me Andre now.”

“Wow.” Oliver didn’t skimp on his admiration. “Wait, then behind you…”

That wasn’t the Adrian Cross they knew.

To be precise, it was “not quite” the knight commander they knew. The Mr. Cross they were used to was a calm man in his thirties, while the person who followed Ann looked to be in his twenties. But even if his face was a little more youthful and his head shrank a bit, the young man’s facial features still bear the shadow of Adrian Cross.

“Age-reduction potion?” Nemo was the first to react.

Adrian, who was a lot younger, nodded quietly. The former knight commander’s original 1.85 meter height became 1.8 meters, and his physique shrank a little.

The age-reduction potion sounded magical, but in fact it had no exact medical use and its effects was extremely limited. The price was outrageously expensive, and it had been popular among the nobles for a long time, so that ordinary people usually couldn’t touch it.

It could make the user’s appearance ten years younger, but the effect would only last for a day and a night, and the user’s physical strength and physique would not return to their former appearance. There were also many restrictions on this luxury potion. Only people over 30 could use it. If they wanted to rely on this potion to restore their appearance to a teenager, it would create a larger physique gap that would often cause irreversible damage to their body.

Such a tragedy had happened before in the high society of Alban. A sixteen-year-old boy stole his mother’s potion out of curiosity and wanted to play a prank. However, the physical gap between a sixteen-year-old and a six-year-old was so great that his bones were directly shattered to pieces, and he almost died.

“I’m about to turn thirty-one soon.” As if seeing Nemo’s worries, Adrian replied lightly. “This thing can’t hurt me.”

“Our Lord William likes young men between the ages of eighteen and twenty, but considering the quality of your faces, this hurdle could be muddled through. But to take into account Cross’ appearance and physique, this aesthetic span is a bit too suspicious.” Ann spread out her hands. “And there are many nobles who can recognize Cross’ face, so we have to be careful.”

“Well done, Miss Savage.” Jesse rubbed his hands. “Adri, why don’t we—”

“We should get going.” To dilute the solemn temperament of the knight commander, he was dressed similarly to Ann. It could be said that he was the most complicated of the five present. Adrian ignored Jesse and lifted his finger in a certain direction. “It’s that carriage, right?”

There weren’t many obstacles to admission. After stepping off the carriage modestly, Ann shrugged off the invitation with a flourish. She puffed her chest, raised her chin slightly, and calmly led the four of them into the main entrance.

Then, at the gate, they met an Albanian nobleman who came forward to talk.

“William’s nephew? It’s a pleasure to meet you. William has never come to such an occasion before. So he’s finally willing to change his mind?”

“Yes, uncle has been traveling abroad. As for coming here… this is an important ball, isn’t it? After all, it is rare to see your lordship come as well. Of course, there’s also another reason.” Ann took a glass of wine from the tray held by an attendant and shook the glass very vigorously. “Uncle’s pets are too lonely, so I just took them for an outing. You know, my uncle also hopes to connect more with Alban.”

The implication was to give these tired lovers to interested noblemen and pull some strings. The Alban nobleman on the opposite side nodded knowingly.

“Time flies so fast,” he sighed. “It’s been more than 20 years since William was here…”

“Are you referring to the fact that uncle stole three lace aprons from the maid?” Ann blinked her eyes and naturally took over the conversation. “My mother still teases him to this day for that matter.”

“Oh, how is her health?”

“Very good. Thank you for your concern… You four, although I promised my uncle to help take care of you, doesn’t mean I need to teach you how to walk. You are free to move.”

Ann winked her left eye and made a “dismiss” gesture with her hand behind her back. She herself stood casually and politely talking to the nobles one after another.

“Then follow the plan. Let’s split up first. We must find the ‘mobile alarm’ Rosa.” Nemo strained his face very hard and lowered his voice. “The members of the royal family will appear in a while, and Delia will only return to the lounge until it’s over. We’ll have to find someone to meet up with Ann then, and the sooner we can determine Rosa’s movements, the better.”

“Okay, you be careful too.” Oliver nodded. “There will definitely be people from Laddism Church here.”

“I know… Shhh, it’s starting.”

The dead emperor appeared on a high platform on the side of the wide hall, under a gorgeous chandelier. The bright, warm lights filled the air, casting them upon the emperor’s face, which looked a little pale, but his actions were natural. The goal of Tumbleweed’s trip—the young princess Delia followed him quietly, while Prince Eldric stood very close to her.

The emperor didn’t look like a dead man at all.

“Thank you all for coming here.” The corpse opened his mouth. His voice was steady and clear. “Recently, there have been some ridiculous rumors circulating outside. I think it’s time for me to come out and meet everyone again—”

“Notice it?” During the emperor’s incessant speech, Nemo pressed his lips vaguely close to Oliver’s ears, and his eyes scanned the surroundings cautiously. “He has no heartbeat.”

“I smell the smell of a corpse.” Oliver was also flirtatiously close. His voice was so low that others couldn’t hear. “Ann’s information is correct, but what I care more about is something else…”

“What?”

“It’s said that Delia Alastair has always been healthy.”

“That’s right, her heartbeat is quite normal.”

“I know. I’m just curious why she hasn’t opened her eyes for so long—it must be five or six minutes by now.”

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The author has something to say:

Running the main line makes me happy XD This chapter is the home of the Tumbleweed Cowherd Group (×

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Kinky Thoughts:

Oh no. They’re leaving the goat behind?! It’s an honorary member!!!

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 183: The Royal Ball

Clementine was undoubtedly a transportation hub, and there were countless teleportation arrays that passed through it.

After leaving the surroundings of Doru, the capital, Ann quickly found the location of Tumbleweed. She carelessly pushed the decayed wooden door in front of her, but the wooden door immediately fell forward and hit the ground with a loud bang.

The gray parrot exploded into a ball of feathers in an instant, which even startled Ann herself. The reactions of some of the people behind the door weren’t much better. Except for Jesse, who was extremely calm, Oliver, who wasn’t used to detecting his surroundings, even drew his Rest in Peace, while Nemo, who was half-asleep, solemnly raised his right hand.

Adrian calmly put down the teacup in his hand.

Tumbleweed was realistically nesting in a small inn on the border of Clementine. A few pieces of debris occasionally fell from the ceiling, but it was better to have a ceiling than to sleep at the bottom of a bridge. Oliver tapped into the money from Tumbleweed’s team account and bought the largest bedroom in a small inn.

The second before the female warrior entered the room in an extremely heroic way, Nemo was curled up on the sofa, taking a nap in the evening sun. Oliver leaned to one side and played with his lover’s black hair with his fingers.

Jesse was sitting with his legs up at the tea table, happily drinking tea with the knight commander.

“Here.” After the small chaos subsided, Jesse proudly handed Ann a specialty of Clementine Cathedral—there was only one cookie left in the snack box.

When Nemo came to his senses, he couldn’t hold back rolling his eyes. Ann should have had the whole box, but it was late in the evening when the female warrior arrived in Clementine, so Jesse kept stealing a piece of it until he reached the bottom of the box.

Ann glanced at the only remaining cookie in the box buried in crumbs with disgust. Then she looked at Jesse, who still had stains of crumbs around the corners of his mouth, with even more disgust.

“Even if I have no problems with leftovers,” she hissed. “I’d rather not have yours. I refuse.”

“Oh.” Jesse nodded blankly, then threw the last piece into his mouth happily.

“I want to talk about that mission, Ann.” Oliver cleared his throat. “Mr. Cross explained a little, and I can probably understand why you want to name us through the guild, but I can’t figure it out at all.”

“Thanks, Cross.” Ann nodded at the knight commander and slammed herself onto the other couch while spreading her limbs like a panther. “Tell me, Oliver. What are your questions?”

“Why are you going to see Delia Alastair? It’s okay if you don’t want to say it, but I hope I can learn more. Mr. Dylan gave you a prophecy…” Oliver frowned and paused for a moment. “Gallagher Salter will win, and Alban will usher in its first queen. This doesn’t sound like a terrible disaster.”

After asking, Oliver stared straight into Ann’s amber eyes. Considering Nemo’s identity and the true credibility of Dylan’s prophecy, he didn’t intend to disclose the queen’s name now.

“I have a bit of a bad fate with the Alastair family.” Ann looked up at the dilapidated ceiling and flickered through the topic lightly. “Do you think everything will be fine when that little girl is put on the throne? No, she won’t be able to sit on it. The old codgers won’t accept a queen. They will force her to find a man to become regent. She’s lucky. Maybe she’ll marry a guy with a conscience who’s willing to keep her alive and lock her up. If she’s unlucky, she’ll be quietly killed after a few children, and her husband will be able to take the throne openly. To the old guys, as long as the blood of the Alastair family can continue, others… Whoever has the biggest fist would be the one to speak.”

Hearing this, Ann seemed to be convinced that the queen in Jesse’s prophecy was Delia. Oliver and Nemo exchanged glances, then licked their dry lips. “You want to see Her Royal Highness Delia… Do you want to get her out?”

“Not necessarily, I just want to confirm her situation. Salter is going to launch a rebellion, and the only royal blood that can be used at that time is Delia. I don’t think Prince Eldric is stupid enough that he wouldn’t see this. Right now, he has to cherish his reputation and won’t give up that weight easily, but it’s possible to control her in some ways. I have to confirm that.”

Oliver stared at the female warrior in leather armor in silence.

“If she doesn’t want to leave, then let her be in this matter. She’s old enough to choose her own life, and I won’t interfere.” Ann smiled coldly, rubbing the muddy spots of the leather armor with her fingers.

“But if she wants to leave, I… will die for it.”

Is Ann Savage really Andrea Alastair? Nemo also looked at Ann quietly.

He did have this notion, but it was also possible that Ann was just simply acting at the behest of the surviving princess. She would use uncommon combat spells and had a surprisingly strong survival instinct. Compared to a princess, she was more like a soldier.

According to the records of the Abyssal Church, most of the female members of the Alban royal family were extremely delicate, and at most they could only master some special techniques of the Laddism Church. It was impossible for them to come into contact with combat spells. Princess Andrea was only eleven when she “died”. Except for the small number of ritual spells, as well as conventional painting, music, and etiquette classes, the young princess should know nothing else.

Ann was definitely hiding something, Nemo thought, but it didn’t matter. In a sense, the female warrior saved his and Oliver’s lives, so he definitely didn’t want to draw a line cautiously at this time.

“Don’t worry, I know your inconvenience, Nemo. If I really want to get her out, I will do it myself and will not drag you down.” It seemed that Nemo’s eyes were misunderstood. Ann pulled the corners of her mouth. “You just need to help me see her.”

“If you hadn’t helped us in the first place,” Nemo sighed, “Oliver and I would have been packed off to Alban’s army by bounty hunters. Oliver would have been sent to jail, and I… In my dazed state at the time, would probably be executed outright.” At that time, most of his abilities hadn’t awakened yet, and “this body” was still able to be destroyed.

“So there is nothing inconvenient. I’m always happy to help.” Nemo’s tone was very serious.

Ann bit her lower lip and smiled gratefully at him.

“I think so too, but as the leader of Tumbleweed, I have one condition.” Oliver took the conversation.

For a while, the room was very quiet.

“When you were away, I spent a lot of money in our public accounts,” Oliver continued cautiously. “You… Don’t be angry.”

Ann slapped Oliver on the head. “Okay, okay. I was originally afraid that you would mess around without planning, waste all the money, and drag down the entire team. Let me make it clear. With you as the leader… I can rest assured.”

“Where there’s excitement, there’s me,” Jesse put down the snack box and announced happily. “Don’t exclude me from such a fun thing.”

Adrian simply nodded and didn’t speak.

“Thank you,” Ann said with a serious expression and lowered her head sincerely. “Then let me talk about the information I got.”

“The Alban Royal Family will hold a big ball the day after tomorrow. It’s said that all members of the royal family will be present at that time—this ‘all’ includes Ettram and Delia.”

“Wait. Stop.” Nemo hurriedly interrupted. His expression was a little frightened. “Didn’t Ettram just pass away?”

“Though dead, there are many ways to use a corpse.” Ann waved her hand casually. “Only a few people know about Ettram’s death. Yes, I have my channels—in short, most people don’t know about it yet, and Eldric absolutely blocked the news.”

“Why?”

“In order to label the Salters as rebels,” The female warrior sneered, baring her teeth. “The corpse can last for a few months at most. If Gallagher doesn’t act, Eldric can take the opportunity to completely reshuffle the forces in the palace, and once Gallagher moves his hand… The emperor would still be ‘alive’, while he’d be labeled as a pure rebel, which would be more convenient to deal with. According to the style of the Mad Dog Marshal, he will definitely act.”

After spouting out all the information in a single breath, Ann picked up the teapot and poured herself a few sips of herbal tea while wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

“But these have nothing to do with us. As long as we get into the ball, we can take this opportunity to get in touch with Delia.”

“But if you really take Delia away,” Nemo raised his hand again, “if Gallagher has no royal blood to support, wouldn’t it be a loss?”

“Who knows?” Ann said indifferently. “If he dares to rebel, he must have the confidence to rebel. The first thing he could do is denounce the illegitimate son of the first emperor, and it’s also fine to pull a little bit of royal blood from his own family tree. In short, as long as he successfully kills Eldric, he has room to maneuver. Anyway, according to his style, this war will not last long. It makes no difference.”

The female warrior didn’t mean to intervene in this struggle at all. It might be that he thought too much. Nemo simply shook his head.

“Get into the ball…” Oliver frowned. “To infiltrate the palace ball isn’t something that could be easily done.”

“It’s not difficult.” Ann showed a mischievous smile. “Everyone’s faces are qualified, especially when disguised as an aristocrat’s lover. Cross needs some attention, but you three are ready-made pure faces.”

The expressions of Oliver and Nemo became quite complicated in an instant, while Jesse tucked back his hair with the words “thanks for the compliment” written all over his face.

“Anyway, I have a way. I can take care of it. There’s nothing wrong with you guys keeping it that way.” The female warrior patted her chest. “I just need to take care of Cross, and the rest will be easy.”

“But what if…” As soon as Oliver opened his mouth, Nemo forcibly covered it.

“Just do it. Please, Ann,” Nemo said solemnly, pressing Oliver’s mouth tightly to prevent any bad negative prophecies from leaking out of it.

Ann’s movements were very fast.

Tumbleweed arrived near Doru, the capital of Alban, the next day. The female warrior planned a hidden route in advance. They didn’t teleport directly to Doru but were stationed in a town near it.

“Delia will be guarded by a lot of soldiers that night, but that’s not the point. The guards guarding her are very easy to handle. The problem is this girl.” Ann picked up a color portrait and tapped her fingers. “Rosa, the illegitimate daughter of Duke Earley, Delia’s half-sister. This girl is a real socialite, simple and lively and very sticky to her sister. At that time, she’ll probably be running around Delia, and we can’t predict her actions at all. Prince Eldric gave them countless pieces of magic jewelry and most likely intends to use that girl as a mobile alarm.”

“Nothing should happen just talking to Delia, but this girl… Using any form of spell on her may arouse Eldric’s vigilance, so I need you to do whatever you can to keep her under control the natural way if she plans to run towards Delia. What’s with that look on your face, Oliver? I’m not asking you guys to be horny and seduce her. She’s just a very talkative girl. Just chat with her. Speak bullshit, pretend to be mysterious. You both can improvise. In short, hold her off and give us time to take care of the guards and get to Delia alone.”

“I… We’ll try our best.”

“You guys just have to remember this information. It’s not much. It’s the identity we are using to infiltrate. I have already changed their guest list.”

“When did you change it?!”

“Don’t worry about that. Anyway, the four of you have to enter as the lovers of Duke William Helms.”

“Duke William Helms? And who is this Andre Helms?” Nemo turned page after page of the parchment in his hand.

“That duke is from Garland and is a distant relative of the Alban royal family. That guy usually likes to travel and never participates in public activities of high society. God knows where he’s gone now. The royal family would usually symbolically send him an invitation to give him some face.”

Ann shook the parchment in her hand indifferently and replied without thinking.

“There’s no such person as ‘Andre’. I made up a distant relative of the duke. Alban’s aristocrats don’t know much about Garland, so it won’t be easily revealed… Hey, you don’t think that someone will buy an absurd thing like ‘the Duke didn’t come but sent just a few lovers to eat and drink for free’? There must be at least a nominal ‘nobleman’.”

“But where are we going to find such a—”

“Oh, that.” Ann scratched her ears. “I’ll do it.”

“…Andre is a male name.”

“I know.”

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The author has something to say:

I don’t know where this passerby duke is, but he’s unaware of the biggest situation that would be the peak of his life.

Passerby Duke: ?????

————

Actually, thinking about it, Nemo and Ollie weren’t so unlucky either.

If they hadn’t met Ann in the first place, or if Nemo had let the gray parrot kill Ann, the two protagonists would really be GG.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 182: Outside the Birdcage

That was what children were like. The female warrior lowered her gaze and poured the last wine into her throat. She rarely remembered that time anymore—naive and stupid, she mistakenly thought that simple combat power could represent all ages.

She didn’t think much at the beginning. She glanced at the shabby and dilapidated daily necessities in the house and the dry straw in the corner, and subconsciously decided that this was the home of a refugee. She would take a few sips and then salute the empty room. Yes, as long as she added a little real warmth to her empty stomach, she really didn’t need to eat too much.

After the salute, Ann made a simple prayer and shakily picked up the heavy ladle.

The thick soup was stirred, and the corpse of a black flying insect floated to the top of the noodle soup. A feeling of nausea rushed to her throat again, and Ann forcefully pressed it down. The soup was boiling, and she squeezed the limited knowledge from her mind and told herself repeatedly—as long as the soup was boiling, there shouldn’t be any big problems if she ate it.

The soup tasted bad. It was thick and close to brown in the light of the fire, with a weird fishy smell, and it tasted almost salty. Something like a bean slid across Ann’s tongue, and she didn’t even dare chew it, for fear that she would spit it out because she couldn’t stand the smell. It seemed as if there were plant tubers added to it, as her throat felt it was about to be crushed to bits.

But Ann still resisted the discomfort and finished drinking a spoonful. Then she carefully put down the heavy metal soup spoon, and the emptiness and colic in her stomach disappeared, replaced by a slightly bitter satisfaction.

Ann didn’t know what time it was in the early hours of the morning. Most of the windows in the slums had been extinguished. Not far away came the crying of children, the screams of women, and the curses of men. She had never been awake at this time, let alone exposed to such sounds. The young princess clung to her arms tightly, shaking like she was standing barefoot in the snow. She had to find a place to take a nap—Ann could sense her abnormality, and the wound bitten by the insects must have worsened as the pain became unbearable. Her breathing was fast and rapid, and the temperature around her was incredibly cold.

Ann thought groggily that she was probably suffering from a fever.

Then another sense of numbness hit her.

Things in her field of vision began to appear unnaturally heavy, and the strength of her limbs was slowly sapping away. Ann hurriedly pinched herself violently. From her blurred vision, she could see blood dripping down as the skin she was pinching was inadvertently split open.

But she couldn’t feel the pain.

Something was wrong. Something was wrong, but the darkness couldn’t be denied as it engulfed her slowly and her thinking paused. Ann moved step by step to the straw pile and used the last of her strength to bury herself in it.

……

She didn’t know how long it was until she finally woke up again. The first thing she felt was rope on her wrists.

She was tied up.

Her eyes were blindfolded by a strip of cloth, and in the darkness, great fear hit her. Ann wanted to scream, but then found that her mouth had been gagged by a cloth and she could only make vague whines from her throat. All she knew was that she was curled up, and the skin on her left arm was touching a slightly curved border of her prison cell. It felt like wet wood.

The smell of alcohol and mildew burrowed into her nose together. If she hadn’t made a mistake in judgment, this should be a wine barrel. She didn’t know who had tied her up firmly and stuffed her into this barrel. The barrel was bumping, so she should be in a carriage that was moving at the moment.

Don’t panic. Don’t panic. The young princess desperately slowed down her breathing and strengthened her spirit so that she would not go into shock again because of fear. She still had a sense of smell and hearing, so she had to figure out her current situation…

Because no one would come to save her.

There wouldn’t be any Knights of Judgment arriving on a white horse and cut down the wicked man. There were no servants to help her loosen the rough hemp rope, wipe the dirt off her face with a hot towel, and rub away her bruises. There weren’t any maids to prepare desserts cut into small pieces for her, warm goat milk, and give warm, soft hugs.

No one would come.

The conventional tracking spells were destroyed with confidence by Ann herself, and the clothes embroidered with the locating array and the marked jewelry were all thrown away into the woods next to the church. No one knew she was here, and even she didn’t know where she was.

Tears gushed out of her eyes uncontrollably, and she couldn’t stop it. Remorse began to spread uncontrollably in her heart. The light and dry nightgown, the soft and fragrant bed, the thin feather quilt as light as a cloud. Why did she leave there?

But now she didn’t even dare to cry loudly.

“…Are we really going to do this?” A man with a thin voice spoke outside the wine barrel. “To be honest, man, I still think it’s better to hand this chick in directly. Everyone in Doru is going crazy! If it weren’t for our brother, who had already arranged the gatekeeper and got out in time, we would probably be held down by the Knights of Judgment right now. They are serious. Listen, serious!”

“That’s why I said you’re brainless, dumbass.” Another hoarse voice refuted. “Fine, what are you going to do, huh? Run to the emperor, kneel down, and say, ‘Your Majesty, I’m a human trafficker in the slums and I accidentally picked up your lovely little daughter. Can you reward me with a bag of gold coins?’…He’ll give you gold one second and your head will roll on the floor the next.”

“I—we’ll just tell him the truth. At any rate, it’s a meritorious service. It is the princess, after all. If we slip away quietly like this, in case someone finds out…”

“Uh-huh. Tell him the beautiful truth. Tell him that we just want to use that pot of soup to catch a few little rats in the slums, wash them, and sell them. The princess just accidentally broke in and drank it herself. Thanks to that damn pot of soup, His Majesty will be very pleased and appreciative of our cause. You think that’ll be the case? Buying and selling little rats is a capital crime if you’re not careful. Do you have no memory in that head of yours?”

“……Tsk.”

“Didn’t we talk about this? It’s a chance given by Zenni! The idiot guarding the door probably thought we were just making regular ‘deliveries’ and no one could imagine that what we have is the princess. The usual rule is to give it back to the ‘old skunk’. Someone must be willing to buy her. A decent person to buy her will claim the credit, or simply sell her to another—we take the money and wipe our hands clean of this mess. Even if we get less, it’s better to give that responsibility to someone else than take the credit ourselves. If she changes hands a few too many times and they want to trouble us, we’ll already be long gone—I think Willard is a good place to go.”

“Will the old skunk believe it? That old bastard is more suspicious than a fox.”

“I’ve seen it. The one on that chick’s left arm is indeed a royal emblem. We don’t have the ability to forge that thing. And she’s so delicate. How can there be such a coincidence in this world? The old skunk is paranoid, but he’s not stupid.”

“What if the buyer doesn’t take credit and uses her for something else? The big boys in Willard would be happy to have a toy with the last name of Alastair, which is a bit…”

“What does that have to do with us? Who knows whose hand she’ll fall into as long as they are willing to stuff enough gold to the old skunk.”

“Oh, you’re more of a scumbag than me! Tsk, tsk. It seems that I still have something to learn, but keep your voice down, in case she hears you…”

“Oh, oh, oh. I made that soup. She’s just a chick, so it’s enough to knock her out for four days and nights. Don’t worry. If you shove her under the old skunk’s nose, she may not even wake up.”

Although the lingua franca of the two had strong accents, Ann understood most of what they were saying.

……She must escape.

These two people sound like repeat offenders of child trafficking in the slums. They weren’t refugees who were emboldened by a moment of evil. Her body was gradually weakening, and Ann didn’t think they would be kind enough to keep her in a state full of strength. Right now, the other party wasn’t expecting her to wake up early, so she only had one chance. The young princess trembled and thought.

There was only one fact in her favor—it was estimated that they didn’t want her to die halfway due to the infection. Those insect bites and abrasions seemed to have been treated, and the fever-like lethargy no longer filled her head.

Her magic was definitely stronger than these two, but they were two adults who had an advantage in physical strength. On the other hand, Ann didn’t know if they had a portable magic array on them. Once she failed to escape, the vigilance of those two would assuredly increase.

To make matters worse, there may be more than two enemies.

Ann’s hands and feet were cold, and her heart had never jumped so fast. She desperately suppressed her sobbing voice and listened carefully to the movement outside.

There were sounds of scraping, panting, and horse hooves hitting the dirt. She could do this. Ann caught a glimmer of clarity in the endless panic and fear. This wasn’t her. She wasn’t here. It was just a dream; an adventure story told by her brother.

She must believe so.

The trembling gradually stopped, and the heartbeat that seemed to shatter her eardrum calmed down a little, then the sound became clearer…

There were indeed two enemies.

Ann subconsciously wanted to burn the rope with lightning, but was afraid that the smell of burning hemp rope and smoke from fire would be noticed by the two men in front of the carriage, so she took another action; one she had heard Abbas spoke about…

Ann put her wrist close to her mouth, put her thumb into the cloth that was gagging it, and pulled it out hard. With her unremitting efforts, the cloth strip slid down her chin and landed on her neck.

Then there was the hemp rope on her wrist. She sent the rope to her mouth and bit hard. As the hemp rope was bitten away strand by strand, Ann twisted her wrist fiercely. Her skin was scratched and the blood soaked the hemp rope, but she still struggled mechanically.

This pain wasn’t hers. These tears didn’t belong to her. These were all hallucinations.

The hemp rope wasn’t strong enough to prevent necrosis in her hands. After a long struggle, her hands were finally free. Ann quickly untied the rope on her ankle, then adjusted her posture, patiently waited for the right opportunity amidst the sharp pain.

She wasn’t here. Don’t think about failure. This was just an escape game. A test.

She wasn’t here, so she should pretend this was all fake.

“I’m going to take a nap in the back,” the man with the thin voice said. “I’m so sleepy. Call me when the sun rises, and we’ll change shifts at that time.”

“Alright, you can sleep first.”

Something rubbed over. Ann held her breath as she struggled to pick the most destructive spell from her brain.

“Ugh, these last two days have been a fucking joke…” the man muttered from a short distance away. His clothes made a rustling sound. Within ten minutes, Ann could hear the sound of snoring.

Now.

The lightning split the barrel and slashed straight at the sleeping man. The advanced spell of the Alban Royal Family was amazingly powerful. Although an eleven-year-old girl couldn’t exert all its effects, it directly split the man lying on the carriage into two pieces and roasted him into a crisp…

Along with the carriage.

The horses neighed in shock, and the carriage, which wasn’t strong, suddenly fell apart. Ann fell to the ground fiercely along with the broken barrel, which almost knocked her unconscious. The pain in her back was so severe that she wanted to stay still and just pass out—but no.

She couldn’t.

Ann staggered to her feet and forced herself to look at another enemy. The man with a low voice had dodged quickly, and only one of his arms was hurt. The man’s left arm was hanging limply on his shoulder.

This opponent was extremely tall, and Ann couldn’t help but take a few steps back. Trembling, she stepped over the charred corpse of her other enemy and instinctively ran.

Unfortunately, before she ran a few steps, a spell hit her back, causing the slender girl to be knocked down.

“Fuck, fuck!” The man picked up Ann like a chicken and dragged her closer. He cursed shrilly and raised his hand to deliver an unforgiving slap.

Ann was hit directly in the eye, causing her ears to buzz and warm liquid to ooze down her nose. Her left tooth was loosened, and her mouth tasted blood as the left side of her face swelled.

Tears kept flowing despite her eyes being dry and in pain.

Seeing that Ann hadn’t lost consciousness, the man kicked her in the abdomen again, causing her to curl up into a shrimp on the ground. She closed her eyes tightly and spit out a little thin liquid in her mouth.

Did she lose?

…But she couldn’t lose.

It may be because he was afraid that kicking the slender little girl directly would cause serious injury, so he stopped, cursed a few more times, and leaned down to lift her up.

Now.

In severe pain and dizziness, Ann drained the last of her strength and bit at the man’s throat. She gritted her teeth numbly and tore off a large piece of flesh, causing warm blood to spray all over her face.

The man didn’t seem to react for a while. He screamed as he touched the wound on his neck with his movable right hand. Ann faintly grabbed the man’s ankle, and lightning lit up again. Unfortunately, the last blow almost exhausted her strength, and the faint lightning only paralyzed her enemy for a moment.

But a moment was enough.

She didn’t bother to pick up stones or a broken branch. Ann buried her head without hesitation and continued to bite the man’s neck. Blood continued to splatter out as the man’s limbs twitched, and finally he stopped struggling.

It was the first time in her life that she killed someone.

The Princess of Alban stood alone in the wilderness in the early hours of the morning. Her teeth were stuffed with disgusting pieces of flesh, and the pain burned her nerves. The linen robe was soaked in blood and became cold. She finally dared to open her throat and cry loudly.

The horses of the carriage had already run out of sight, leaving only two corpses in place. Ann tried hard not to look at the two hideous-looking male corpses. She staggered to the ruins of the carriage and began to rummage for food and usable tools, maintaining a blank state in her mind.

She wanted to go home. It was time for this wayward escape to end. She wanted to go home.

If she was thirsty, she would use a condensation spell to get some water to drink. If she was hungry, she would eat some grass roots. If she was lucky, she could use the lightning spell to kill some mice, rabbits, or fish. She followed the road in the wilderness and hid in the grass when she saw people passing by. After seven days and nights, Ann finally touched a vibrant town again.

She was now thinner and dirtier. People would only think she was a little beggar from nowhere, and no one would be interested in giving her a second glance.

There was a branch of the Mercenary Guild here. As long as she walked in and revealed the royal emblem on her left arm, she could go home…

All this would finally come to an end.

She no longer needed to chew on the half-baked internal organs of mice or the grass roots that would get stuck between her teeth with every bite. The wounds were still faintly painful, but she didn’t have to worry about them anymore. She could finally…

“Funeral? Hasn’t the princess been found yet? Why are they having a funeral?” Two mercenaries were chatting at the door. Ann instinctively hid herself behind a few sacks of garbage and listened carefully.

“Hey, maybe the Laddism Church found her. It’s not like those guys would report to us. It’s said that Her Highness Andrea was seriously ill when she was found and died within two days. Poor Her Highness. What will the other nightingale do—”

But she was right here. Ann’s eyes widened in shock.

“New job.” A third mercenary joined them. The wolf’s head on the white tin badge gleamed. “See for yourself. This is a secret job. The emperor directly assigned our mercenary group, the Steel Wolf, to pick up the dirty work this time.”

“I was just talking about it just now…” Putting the parchment roll in his hand, the mercenary’s voice trembled a little.

“Well, that’s what it says.”

“That’s because she’s not found.”

“Hmm.”

“But no matter what, it’s still his own…”

“Let me put it this way. It’s okay to if it’s just three or four days, but any more than seven is enough to do a lot of things. Undetectable mind control, or undetectable surveillance spells. That could be done within seven days. I personally think it may be… for this consideration. In case the child is taken away and given such a thing, and then sent back to the palace, they can’t deal with it at this stage.”

“Even if Willard has been restless, this is too…”

“So the emperor, uh—I mean that lord, didn’t ask the Knights of Judgment, but asked us to do this. Just do what’s asked from above. You know, even without one, there’s still one left.”

“The funeral has been officially held, and the rest are imposters. Once she is found again, she’s to be killed on the spot. No further report is needed. The Knights of Judgment don’t have time for such ‘frivolous things’, so they left it to us to defend the ‘family reputation’. Ugh…”

“I hope that little girl is really dead. It’s easier to die.”

Since that day, her life had turned into a nightmare—a nightmare initiated by her and completed by her father.

That was the third time Ann was disappointed—or rather, despaired—about her father.

Now that she thought about it, it was nothing more than giving up an insignificant little girl for the security of the royal family’s information. She didn’t hate her father from the bottom of her heart. What made her truly despair was that her biological father wasn’t even willing to try a little harder.

There were many solutions. She could be brought back and raised alone until a countermeasure was found. Even if she was locked up in another city until she grew up with no contact with important people, now it seemed that the emperor who managed everything day by day was too lazy to bother about it.

The Alastair family didn’t need a princess without “value”, and her father didn’t need a disobedient daughter.

After that, Ann did two things.

She stole a knife and got a bottle of liquor. She abruptly cut off a piece of flesh from her left arm and dug out the exquisite and beautiful emblem. Then, in order to save her life from all the chaos, she cut herself in the face and created an ugly scar.

If this life hadn’t been hard enough, Ann would’ve died at the age of eleven. Since that day, the young princess had no longer trusted others. She lived like a wild cat in the corner of the town, making a living by stealing and hunting small animals.

But winter was coming soon.

Fortunately, before that, she found a great target—a stupid nun in her thirties.

She had no name, so people simply called her “sister”. Ann heard the neighbors talking about the silly-looking woman. The nun didn’t come from any regular church. At most, she was a folk practitioner. Even her clothes were sewn by herself. Although she had a slight intellectual defect, the nun’s baking skills were first class.

She used this skill to earn herself a substantial amount of money. She didn’t marry, but cheerfully picked up dozens of abandoned children to raise. Every day she would put cookies that weren’t perfect in shape in the yard, and when the children were tired of playing, they would eat them as snacks.

Those cookies became an excellent target.

As the weather got colder, she could only catch fewer animals and take more cookies. She wasn’t sure if she was hallucinating, but the number of cookies the nun put out was also increasing. She even put down a few fruits on occasion. In the end, there was even a shabby thick dress hung in the yard, as if the nun had seemingly forgotten it.

And when Ann carefully grabbed that dress in the middle of the night, the door in the backyard suddenly opened.

“Come in and warm up.” The nun had a childish smile on her face, as if she had succeeded in a prank. “It’s snowing too much outside, little girl.”

She should run away, Ann thought, but she didn’t move. The children in the nun’s yard hadn’t changed. Ann had been observing. She knew that the children were doing well, but…

“Don’t be afraid.” The nun stretched out a hand and didn’t approach her rashly. “Look at you. Your clothes are frozen… At least come in and take a hot bath. What’s your name?”

“Ann.”

“Do you have a last name? If you are separated from your parents, I can contact them. Oh, other relatives are okay. Do you have any other relatives, little girl?”

“…There is no last name, only Ann.”

“Poor little one. Come in and get some warmth.”

Ann approached cautiously as electric light flashed between her fingers. The nun moved closer and hugged her fiercely, not caring about the icy mud or dirt at all. The woman’s body was clean and warm, with the sweetness of milk and butter.

“Why are you out there alone on a cold day, ugh.”

Ann thought of many reasons. It involved war, the royal family, pride and folly, conspiracy and death, but in the end, she trembled and spit out a simple sentence that belonged to a child.

“…My parents…” Her lips trembled. “They don’t want me anymore.”

That was the last time she shed tears wantonly.

“Then I’ll give you a name.” The nun rubbed her dirty hair. “You look like a little savage… just Savage. Ann Savage. Would you like to stay here?”

Ann nodded.

The rest of the story was simple. The children raised by the nuns were all undocumented refugees. They were lucky enough to have a home, but they were unable to get a decent job when they grew up. They weren’t allowed to do formal business, and places that were more formal wouldn’t hire refugees. Those that did, offered salaries that were pitiful.

They couldn’t always rely on the kindness of the nuns to survive, but after leaving, they were destined to be displaced again.

“I will teach you spells.” Ann made up her mind and announced it to her fellow residents. “Let’s go take the Black Chapter test. It’s a little more dangerous, but we can earn a lot. All we have to do is pass the test and then do the easier task! So many children pass every year, and I have investigated their strength. As long as we’re careful, we’ll definitely be fine.”

That was the second fatal mistake she made.

Waiting for her was the Seymour Worm and the result of being the lone survivor.

Ann Savage became a Black Chapter but never returned to that warm little courtyard. She knew that the nun was waiting for them—waiting for the return of the children she had raised. But she couldn’t bring anyone back, so she didn’t dare go back.

More than 20 years later, Ann would ask people to find out how the nun was doing and would send a large sum of money to the nun when the seasons changed. The money allowed her to raise more displaced children, and to live a carefree life, doing what she loved to do, without overworking.

Now it was time to send money again.

Ann put down the empty wine glass again and grabbed the gray parrot in front of her. “Let’s go.”

“We’re finally going back to the team? Ouch, I’ll die—”

“Nn.” Ann tugged at the corners of her mouth. “But I have to send some money first. After all, I’m about to lose my pension.”

“What money? To whom? What’s the matter? Is this a transfer of property? Are you going to betray us?”

“…Oh, you got me.” Ann flicked the parrot’s head.

“It’s not the first day you met me. Don’t you know how bad I am?”

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The author has something to say:

Ann participated in the Black Chapter test. See Chapter 12 for details and pull out a long-standing flag XD.

This is the past of the big sister!

The next step is to go back to Nemo and Ollie (*/ωω*)

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Kinky Thoughts:

Why is everyone’s past so painful?

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 181: Inside the Birdcage

The first emperor of Alban, Sampson Alastair, died peacefully ten years ago at the age of eighty-three.

To be fair, Ann’s father was a wise king.

More than 20 years ago, Alban was in a full-scale war with Willard, who was at the peak of their strength. The iron-blooded emperor turned the tide with his amazing judgment and strategy. During Sampson’s reign, he befriended the current Pope Quinn. Alban’s national strength grew by leaps and bounds, and the economy no longer looked like it was in a state of collapse. Although small-scale wars on the border had continued, the number of refugees and criminals had significantly decreased, and the standard of living for ordinary citizens had increased bit by bit.

In most of Albanian’s impressions, Sampson was tough, but overall was a good emperor.

However, he wasn’t a good father.

Sampson Alastair had three sons and two daughters.

The two oldest princes were born to Queen Grizelda, who died unexpectedly when she gave birth to the second prince. A few years later, Sampson married his young lover, Theodora, and brought his illegitimate son into the palace, where she gave birth to a pair of twin princesses.

The eldest Prince Ettram was destined to inherit the throne after Sampson’s death. Except for being born weaker, Ettram’s personality was almost a replica of the first emperor—smart, stubborn, and decisive. Unfortunately, some years ago, he fell ill and was kept alive by precious herbs and the efforts of numerous healers.

The second prince, Abbas, had an amazing talent for magic but was too gentle and unambitious. In order to show his brother that he really had no desire, he didn’t even want a fiefdom, so he went straight to becoming a mercenary. After the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment became famous all over the world, he would occasionally return to the palace to tell the then not yet emperor the interesting things outside, as well as important information that could not be known in the palace.

The son Theodora brought, Eldric, who was once an illegitimate child, was mediocre in ability but very strong. Because of his young age, the emperor favored him, but he could only be pampered so much and remained a prince at best.

Finally, there were the Nightingales of Alban, the twin princesses Annabelle and Andrea.

This should have been a prosperous family.

Unfortunately, Ettram was too weak and had never had any children. The healers had just worked out a possible cure when he was murdered by his blood relative while the young Abbas had already died at the bottom of the Abyss.

Ann’s older brother, with the same father and mother, the ambitious Eldric, had not yet married to prevent his wife’s family from holding him back. Andrea died from an early “illness”, and Annabelle had only a daughter, Delia—now there were only two people left in the royal family, Eldric and the underage Delia.

The end of the Alastair family was truly ironic. The female warrior in the tavern poured herself another glass of wine and collapsed the corners of her mouth.

Ann had been disappointed in her father three times.

Unlike Ettram, as a top mercenary, Abbas didn’t exclude his half-siblings. Since Ann was sensible, her favorite thing was to stick with this gentle brother. After enduring the boring theological and ceremonial education, Abbas would tell her many stories of the outside world. Ann loved to jump into his arms and listen, while Annabelle would hide timidly to the side while listening carefully.

That was a world they would never be able to touch.

The change occurred on an ordinary day. Ann slipped out of the classroom alone and ran to the church inside the castle to look for him. Unaware of his sister hiding under the table, Abbas simply placed a stack of books on the table while talking to the preceptor at the door.

Ann thought to herself that it was probably story books and secretly took one at the top.

In order to study theology, the princesses learned to read early, so reading such a book wasn’t difficult for Ann. Unfortunately, it wasn’t an interesting story but a book of royal magic secrets.

The princesses were usually only allowed to practice exclusive spells of the Laddism Church and weren’t allowed to learn other magic from the outside world. Ann was instantly interested, and she flipped through the pages, completely unaware of Abbas, who was watching her with his arms crossed.

“Is it interesting?” Abbas smiled softly. “Okay, stop it. Give me the book, Ann.”

It was an advanced magic book, so he had a little fun teasing the girl.

“Very interesting!” Young Ann raised her head and wiped her nose, her eyes gleaming. “Brother, look—”

She opened her tender hands, and a ball of light surrounded by thunder and lightning floated on her hands, making an ominous hissing sound.

A perfect spell.

Abbas’ face changed. “You… learned it just from looking at it?”

“Is it difficult?” Ann turned a few more pages, and the brilliance of thunder and lightning once again broke through the dark air of dusk.

Abbas made a quick decision. He isolated the room with a mute array and closed the door tightly. He sat down opposite Ann, put the stack of books on the floor, and pulled out one of them. “Try this, little pumpkin.”

Ann frowned and looked at it for a while, and then released another spell.

“Here this one.”

Success.

“Then this.”

Success.

“Try again…”

A series of successes.

“This is so boring.” The child’s patience quickly bottomed out, and Ann began to roll on the carpet.

“Last one.” Abbas’ face held a complicated expression. “This is the last one. Good girl. Try it, okay? Next time, brother will bring you candy from outside.”

Ann’s spirit was shocked.

“As for this spell, you have to swear to me that you’ll never use it indiscriminately unless it’s critical. Be good, okay?”

“Nn.”

“It’s called a Royal Edict, but… for some reason, brother can’t teach you it entirely. It can at most directly show a person’s magic potential. It can make others do things for you, and the more powerful you are, the more powerful the command you can give. Remember, it can only be used on the clergy of the Laddism Church. If you use it repeatedly on the same person, that person will develop an uncanny resistance, so you can think of it as a one-time spell.”

“I swear not to use it indiscriminately!” Ann rolled her eyes, already thinking about how to use this spell to cause mischief.

“You.” Abbas smiled and shook his head, clearly seeing through the little girl’s intention. “That’s why I’m only teaching you the incomplete version—you can use it to daze people for a moment at most, and you can’t give instructions.”

“…Cheapskate.”

“Learned?”

“Uh-huh, I got it memorized.”

“Felix, Felix!” Abbas removed the mute array and called for the Preceptor Bishop, who was talking to his subordinates in the corridor. “Are you done talking over there? Come here. I need to tell you something.”

Ann followed Abbas’ instructions and released an incomplete Royal Edict when the Preceptor Bishop stepped into the room. The young Preceptor Bishop froze in place as his eyes stared straight into the void. It took a full ten minutes before he came back to his senses.

Abbas took a deep breath and sent the bishop on his way, feigning as if nothing had happened, then grabbed Ann’s hand. “Ann, come with me. Let’s go see father.”

“No! I want to listen to more stories—”

“This is very important. If your father will listen, you and Belle may be able to get a chance to go out and play.”

Ann didn’t like her father. She never liked him. He never patted her head or even smiled at her.

“What stupid thing are you talking about, Abbas.” As soon as he heard Abbas’ words, their father interrupted him coldly. “Don’t bring the mercenary thinking here.”

“But father, Ann’s magical talent is amazingly high, and her potential has even surpassed the current Preceptor Bishop! Belle is definitely not far behind. As long as they are properly educated, they can definitely be outstanding—” He clenched his sister’s slender little hand.

“They have already received the most appropriate education. What do you want to say? Does Alban want a woman to lead soldiers to war?”

“At least let them go to Clementine for a normal education, please father. Ann’s talent is even above mine, and she can do more for this country.”

“They’ll grow up obediently and marry the right person honestly, which is the greatest contribution to this country. Of course, good talent can be one of the bargaining chips—it means they can give birth to good children. Nothing more.”

Sampson made no scruple about the fact that his daughter was present, as he didn’t even bother looking into her eyes.

Ann stared at her tall father sternly. Brother Abbas’ hands were trembling, his palms were cold, making her heart very comfortable.

“Father… Just try it, okay? Even if they are brought back after they become adults. Give them a chance…”

“If you still have such naive thoughts, I will recall you from the Tin Soldiers. These so-called talents are only temporary. Women are women, and when they grow up, their brains will only be filled with perfume and love. Send them out? Then, wait for them to fall in love with the wrong person? Or worse—fall in love with someone arranged by the enemy?”

Abbas lowered his head. His long, soft brown hair hung down his shoulders.

“Sorry, Ann,” he said with a strong smile. “Brother can’t take you out.”

“It’s Andrea and Annabelle. Don’t use unruly names like ‘Ann’ or ‘Belle’ in front of me.”

“…Yes, father.”

Abbas looked very sad. Ann didn’t know what happened, but she did feel contempt from her father’s eyes. A contempt that made her body cold.

However, Abbas didn’t give up on this. Ann received a stack of books the next day, along with a stack of sweets. The books were well-hidden by an illusion spell that had the cover shown as a sweet and cute fairy tale, but could be easily unlocked by eliminating the illusion with the spell Abbas had taught her.

[Don’t give up and don’t use them to mess around until the last moment.]

Abbas left the castle as usual and continued to act with the Tin Soldiers. His message on the title page was very simple.

“Belle, Belle!” Ann happily moved the book into their bedroom. “Let’s learn together.”

Her trembling sister shook her head. “No… No. The tutor said that we couldn’t learn this. We weren’t born for it…”

“She’s just spouting bullshit! I learned well.”

“Don’t say that.” Annabelle was so scared that she hurriedly covered her mouth. Until they separated, Annabelle hadn’t looked through those books once.

That was the first time she was disappointed in her father.

Ann Savage had been in the Black Chapter business for many years. She has excellent combat power, but she wasn’t outstanding. However, she could always survive any disaster that would cause the death of an entire team. That was because if her life wasn’t threatened, she would never use an advanced spell of the Royal Family of Alban in front of people.

She kept this secret, and to this day, she had never broken her agreement with Abbas.

Even if he was no longer alive.

Ann was just nine years old when she learned the bad news. Her brother returned from the Tin Soldiers with the title of the “Hero” while lying cold in the coffin. This time her brother would never leave again, but he could no longer tell them stories or secretly sneak her magic textbooks.

With the exception of a very small number of members, the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment was almost wiped out at the bottom of the abyss.

Flint Lopez brought back the body of Abbas and the head of the Demon King, but he refused the emperor’s reward and asked to retire to live in peace with his wife.

Sampson readily agreed to Flint Lopez’s request.

Ann slipped out of the window after going to bed late, got into the morgue of the church, and hid herself among the pale flowers under the coffin. She waited patiently. They all said that Abbas was a powerful mage, and her brother might be playing a big joke on her.

She thought desperately.

Annabelle perfectly inherited her mother’s character. Theodora, who became the new queen, was not arrogant and domineering but was careful to the point of neuroticism. Seeing that the emperor wasn’t interested in the two princesses, she was also stingy about giving them the “maternal love” mentioned in books, and her heart was all for her young son Eldric.

Abbas was the only one who would love them as normal relatives. Alban’s two nightingales had no worries about food or clothing, but that was it. The Almighty God probably didn’t like her or her sister either. Ann numbly rubbed her fingers together to crush the delicate petals.

The sound of footsteps came, and she cautiously dug deeper into the flowers, breathing softly…

“You promised him? Flint Lopez is a good talent. The nationality of his wife is unknown. It is very likely—” A voice suddenly sounded in the dark. The voice belonged to some old nobleman, and she couldn’t hear it clearly.

“I know.” The other voice belonged to her father. “No matter what, he will come back. Now that the Tin Soldiers Mercenary Regiment has been hit hard, Flint has the right to find a gentle place to soothe himself. His wife… well, I remember her name is Sonia Ramon? Just a wandering dancer. Can a strong man of Flint Lopez’s level and a lowly drifter survive?”

Her father continued in a tone that sounded like he was talking about the weather. “He’s just temporarily confused by that woman, as her figure is still fresh. When our Lopez wakes up, he will naturally know the importance—the princesses are still young, and when they come of age, Flint should regain his senses. Let him pick one at that time, and the remaining one will be married to Duke Earley. Just watch, Flint won’t leave too far from the capital.”

“Your Majesty, in case. I mean, in case it’s true…”

“Impossible.”

“If it’s true…”

“Well, then just let Miss Ramon disappear as naturally as possible.”

She should tell Uncle Flint. Ann covered her mouth in the flowers, thinking in a daze.

But the next day, when the head of the Tin Soldier Mercenary Regiment stopped in front of her and saluted her slightly, Ann couldn’t say anything—if she said it, would her father hate her even more? Maybe Flint was really just playing around with his current wife? She was just a nine-year-old girl. Would Flint believe her?

She… Should she really say it?

She raised her head, looked at the slightly sad smile on Flint Lopez’s face, and finally remained silent.

However, less than a year later, Sonia Ramon, who had become Sonia Lopez, died of an acute illness and was pregnant at the time of her death. And her father was not surprised by this, and even smiled after learning the news.

That was the second time, Ann thought. She felt disappointed in her father for the second time… as well as fear for her father.

Then it was the last time…

Two years after his death, Ann managed to escape while taking advantage of the chaos caused by the theft of the Demon King’s skull. Well versed in the ways of royal tracking, she tore off her lace skirt and decorations as soon as she entered the woods, and rolled in the mud. Her beautiful maroon long hair was stuck into a ball by the smelly mud.

She kept in mind the stories that Abbas told her. Suddenly, in order to avoid being tracked, she had no intention of exchanging royal jewels for money, so she simply threw all of them in the woods, leaving only a muddy line all over her body. Ann ran out of the woods—powerful spells were installed in her mind, and she was confident that she would survive.

Eleven-year-old Ann had barely any notion that this escape might be a hand to freedom or some kind of punishment from her biological father.

Would that cold father have been anxious for her if he still had the most basic parental love for her?

Even if the lining was soiled by mud, the delicate brilliance of the satin was still dazzling. Ann ran to a family on the edge of town, stole the linen clothes that were drying in the yard, and wrapped the satin clothes in stones and threw them into the dirty sewage river.

So far, everything had gone swimmingly, but the harsher side of reality soon surfaced…

The linen clothes pierced her skin, and the hard-soled shoes she had never worn blistered her feet. In order to avoid possible hound tracking, after using magic to block the tracking array on her body, she gritted her teeth and got into the smelly sewers.

The situation took a sharp turn for the worse since then.

Sitting on the hard ground, the hard gravel made her feel pain all over. She had vomited at least five times because of the terrible smell of the sewer, and her body, which lacked exercise, was overwhelmed. Her mental state was even worse. She closed her eyes, curled up, and fell asleep in the shadow of the sewer.

She was awakened by hunger.

It was the first time in her life that she knew what “hunger” was. At first, Ann thought she was having a medical emergency, and she was so scared that she was sweating coldly. The strange pain in her stomach bothered her and made her dizzy. It was already dark, and she thought that they must have figured out that her whereabouts were unknown. This small sense of triumph sustained the little girl as she rose to her feet—

Then she screamed.

The insects in the sewer had bitten through her skin while she slept. The mud had caked in her long hair, and she felt something seemed to be crawling on her scalp. She got up so suddenly that the sound that had been pulled created a sharp pain that she had never experienced before. Tears came to Ann’s eyes, and she sobbed and wandered down the sewer until she found an abandoned half of a shear.

At this moment, she couldn’t care less. Shivering, the pampered young princess used the sharp metal blade from the shear to cut off her hair, breaking off the long, muddy hair and throwing it into the dirty and vicious underground river.

Breathing in the rancid and humid air of the sewer, fear began to bite her toes and invade the blood along the wound. Taking risks wasn’t as simple as Abbas said. Yes, she clearly knew the difference—he was an adult man, while she was just a child.

Should she go back? Ann trembled and thought. How would her father punish her if she went back?

No, it was imperative to get something to eat first. It was late at night, so she could think about it in the morning. After struggling to walk for a long time, Ann poked her head out of the sewer and carefully pressed her short hair, which had become a mess. The roar of her stomach was like thunder, making her eyes twinkle.

A trace of the aroma of food floated from a distance, and Ann followed the taste. The end of the smell was a semi-open, dilapidated house. There was no one in the room, and a large pot of sticky hot soup was bubbling on the fire. The soup was cloudy in color, and she couldn’t tell what ingredients were used. The aroma was very weak. There was also a thick black oil stain stuck to the handle of the ladle next to the pot.

Despite feeling nauseated, Ann couldn’t help but swallow her saliva.

Just a little. She thought. Just a little to eat. It shouldn’t matter, right?

That was the first fatal mistake she made.

---

The author has something to say:

In the next chapter, Ann’s past will come to an end~

The price of freedom is also very heavy _(:з”∠)_

Only two little fools, Nemo and Ollie, really have a happy childhood.……

In the beginning, many little cuties guessed the identity of Ollie’s mother, but his mother was really just a wandering dancer. A pure ordinary person XD

---

<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 180: Farewell Forever

“Why go through the guild? No, the guild still takes on this kind of task?” Nemo finally pulled himself out of shock.

“As long as the confidentiality fee is paid in full, the Mercenary Guild will not disclose the information of the designated team. If Miss Savage doesn’t post the mission through the guild, when the plan is discovered, it’ll certainly be suspected which team it is due to her relationship. If she does this, however, the outside world will think she was protecting her team and deliberately designating other teams that have nothing to do with us.”

Since the female warrior wasn’t there, Adrian naturally took on the task of explaining. He coughed lightly before continuing, “Based on common sense, it’s more appropriate to designate a different team. Unfortunately, your strength is truly exaggerated, and Miss Savage knows this. It seems that she really values this task.”

“As for the target of the mission, the Mercenary Guild has never restricted them. If you can afford it, they’ll allow it.” Jesse caressed the box of snacks left for Ann lovingly, quite wanting to eat the contents inside. “Mr. Light, even if you rush to the Mercenary Guild now to post a task for ‘I want to marry Princess Delia’, they will collect your deposit as usual, post it, and then quietly wait for this stupid task to expire—unless the leader of any team becomes drunk enough to take this stupid joke of a task.”

Oliver hesitated for a moment but decided to give Jesse a strong glare.

Nemo ignored the blond young man’s slick tongue as his focus was elsewhere. “Mr. Cross, you seem to be interested in the content of this task… Aren’t you surprised?”

Although Adrian Cross’ expression wasn’t rich, Nemo could manage to barely see some of the emotions that leaked out from the silent knight commander. When he and Oliver were about to be frightened out of their wits by the content of the task, Adrian didn’t even blink.

“Yes. However, I have no right to inform you of the details of this matter on behalf of Miss Savage.” The knight’s tone was firm.

The sun had completely risen, and the air was still hazy in the early hours of the morning. The shops on the streets of Clementine had begun to open their closed doors one by one. As curious as they were, they had more important things to do.

The appeal itself consumed a whole day.

The inquisition in Clementine itself also had a knight’s heart. According to the agreement of the Insular Court, if the person being tested expressly submitted an appeal, the price of activating the knight’s heart would be half paid by the court and half by the person being examined.

Nemo bitterly clenched his staff, and even began to consider whether to sell it. ‘The world is unfair,’ he thought to himself. He could transform surface creatures into demons that have never existed with his bare hands, but he couldn’t turn stones into gold.

After emptying his insignificant private money, Oliver had to use Tumbleweed’s public funds.

“Ann will kill me,” Oliver muttered in despair after the people from the inquisition took away the voucher.

“No, you can get it back.” Nemo tried to comfort his lover. “But I think she’ll definitely cut the remuneration from this task.”

The next step was the long process of paperwork and a tedious appeals application, so naturally they didn’t get to eat lunch. It wasn’t until sunset that another knight’s heart stored in Clementine’s Inquisition Court was brought out.

This time facing Oliver, the knight’s heart was completely unmoved. Anyone with a kind heart, even if there was no knight’s oath, could make it beat a few times, but now it was lying lifeless in front of Oliver. There wasn’t even a single slight twitch.

It was as they had guessed. Since Oliver left the current existing magic system, all magic vows came to an end, and the testing of these vows naturally didn’t get any results.

“It may be that there is something wrong with the detection of the Insular Court.” The faces of the staff of the Clementine Tribunal weren’t good. “According to the latest information, there was another villain who summoned the dead branch jellyfish in Roadside Town. You only need to pay for the rest of your actions. I’ll report the results, and your capital punishment mark will be removed within today, but Mr. Ramon, I will also report truthfully about your ‘lack of mercy’.”

All Oliver’s attention was on the loss of the amount of money in their Black Chapter account. His heart was bleeding profusely, and he really couldn’t even pull out a smile on his face, so he took advantage of the situation to flatten his demeanor as he responded in a vague manner, “Okay.”

As soon as he walked out of the door of the courtroom, he almost ran head-on into a large, limp mass.

“I don’t think they gave you anything to eat at noon,” Nemo said nervously as he unwrapped a large piece of baked cake in a clean handkerchief. The sweet fragrance blew on his face. “You must be hungry. Do you like cakes? If you want something else to eat, let’s go now. I’ll just give this to Jesse.”

“Hey!” Jesse shouted in discontent.

Although his heart was still withering from the approaching bankruptcy, Oliver still unconsciously cocked the corners of his mouth.

Since the incident in the Withered Castle, Nemo had been extremely concerned about his diet. Despite how weird it was, Oliver didn’t resent this kind of concern. He unceremoniously accepted the cake and stuffed it into his mouth. “Yeah, I’m starving to death. Things are going well. At least now there won’t be any religious groups chasing after our asses.”

“Oh.” Nemo breathed a sigh of relief. “While there’s still time, let’s grab a cheap room at the inn. Now we just need to hear from Ann.”

However, the condition of the female fighter wasn’t good.

It wasn’t that Ann Savage herself suffered an incredible disaster. In fact, she was in a dusty, cobwebbed corner of a filthy tavern near Doru, the capital of Alban, with a large glass of wine and the gray parrot.

“Didn’t you finish checking?” The gray parrot jumped on the table disgruntledly, scoffing at the scratched and grease-stained wooden table. “We should go back!” If they didn’t go back, that damn spider might really replace the great Lord Bagelmaurus, which was still plaguing the gray parrot’s mind.

“Just a little longer,” Ann said vaguely, and she poured herself another large sip of wine.

“Alone?” Seeing the female warrior dizzy from drinking, a guest sitting in the other corner stood up. The burly man with a big beard glanced up and down and struck up a conversation with an extremely clear purpose.

“I don’t like your type. Bye.” Ann hiccupped and banged her wine glass on the wooden table, spilling part of its content with her movement.

“Don’t say that. You seem to be in a bad mood. I’m just trying to be concerned—” The man chuckled, glanced at the spear behind Ann, and still reached out to catch the female warrior’s right wrist with an extremely forceful gesture.

Ann grimaced and snapped her fingers with her left hand. A burst of lightning flashed, causing the man to scream and take a few steps back.

“Touching a thorny wildflower, dirty beard?” The man’s other companions laughed nonchalantly. “You bark like a mutt who has had its paws stepped on. Couldn’t even handle a girl, tsk tsk.”

“Fuck.” The man became angry with embarrassment and directly pulled out a short knife from his waist. “A man drinking like this here and now being decorated by a girl? Bitch, I’m warning you. I’m…”

“I’m also warning you.” Ann yanked on her leather armor and turned slightly, flashing the black badge pin to the left of her chest. “If you fucking fart here again, I’ll cut that thing between your legs off and stuff it in your mouth myself. Well, ‘stuff’ may not be exactly that. The words ‘jam’ or ‘shove’ may be more appropriate.”

The men in the other corner laughed louder, and some even whistled.

The man’s face turned blue. “This woman is a snake-level Black Chapter!”

The laughter in the corner stopped abruptly.

Ann sneered and continued to drink. The man looked at her again with a complicated expression and walked back to the corner, cursing in a low voice. The guests in the corner whispered, and they stood up one after another to pay their bill.

“A bunch of goons.” The female warrior belched again. “Boss, another drink!”

“Do you want me to beat them up?” Bagelmaurus enthusiastically suggested as it jumped up and down happily.

“No need.” Ann reluctantly smiled, poking the feather on the parrot’s chest with her finger.

After years of acting alone, Ann had encountered such scenes countless times. She had never had such a bad experience since she had been with her strange teammates. At that moment, it even made her a little uncomfortable.

Habit was truly a terrible thing.

If the etiquette instructor back then heard her words just now, she would scream loudly, and then fainted in an elegant posture.

“Your Royal Highness Andrea, please don’t show your teeth when you laugh.”

“Your Royal Highness Andrea, never touch food that hasn’t been cut into small pieces, and never make a sound when chewing.”

“Your Royal Highness Andrea, have you memorized all the greetings taught to you today? Be extra careful when speaking, and use different vocabulary when dealing with all walks of life…”

“Your Royal Highness Andrea, please stop pretending to be Her Royal Highness Annabelle to tease me!”

Ann couldn’t believe it had been twenty-one years since she and her sister had last seen each other, and they were never going to see each other again. She still remembered the pale little girl climbing on the wall; her face was exactly the same as her own, full of tears and sweat.

Yes, she hadn’t had time to see her sister grow up, and Annabelle probably had no similarity to her now. Her gentle and timid sister, who was uncontested in the world, should live obediently in a bird cage made of gold. These trivial things, such as power struggles, should not have entered the life of a Princess of Alban.

“Belle…” the female warrior murmured, cracking the wooden handle of the oak wine glass.

Although there was no nostalgia for the Alastair family, Ann still felt from the bottom of her heart that they would always meet again. She had been walking as a Black Chapter for so many years. She had been paying attention to the movements of her twin sister from time to time.

Following the order of their father, the emperor of Alban at the time, the fourteen-year-old Annabelle became engaged to the fifty-three-year-old duke. At the duke’s request, Annabelle married two years later and had a daughter in the same year. The old duke kept having lovers outside, and he wasn’t in good health. He died in the bed of a certain mistress before he was sixty.

The duke’s title was inherited by his younger brother, who gave Annabelle a corner of the castle. The once beautiful nightingale was dressed in a black dress and had not appeared in any public places since then. Even though high society was quite open on the issue of lovers, the princess did not spread any rumors.

She lived quietly and did not pose any threat to anyone.

But their elder brother, Eldric Alastair, still didn’t let go of this quiet sister.

Ann could guess the reason, and this reason made her sick. If Eldric did, there could be a potential possibility—Annabele was still young, and as an established member of the royal family, she may still give birth to a son with royal blood. Unlike the underage Princess Delia, a baby boy who was still in his infancy was enough to affect the situation.

But he was their own brother, and Annabelle had done her best to reduce her influence. Ann originally thought that their elder brother would not be so thorough.

The wooden splinter on the broken wooden handle pierced her palm, and blood mixed into the wine. The alcohol caused a burning pain, but Ann still clung to the fragments tightly while gritting her teeth.

She couldn’t trust Eldric anymore. Twenty-one years was enough to change a lot of things. Their elder brother was no longer the big brother who had bright eyes and would say to his mother, “Can I hug them?”

Delia could be in danger.

Eldric didn’t kill Delia, on one hand, to not attract too much criticism, and on the other hand, it was estimated that this tender chess piece must be firmly held in his hands. He could make countless plans around her. When the emperor was still in power, he tried to use Delia’s marriage to win over the Horizon Mercenary Group and the Mercenary Guild behind it.

It was a pity that after the marriage contract, Godwin Lopez wasn’t a person that was obsessed with the status of wealth, causing his calculations to fall short. The emperor must had known this a long time ago, so he coldly let him fool around. With the next step proceeding, how would Eldric use her as a bargaining chip now?

Now that Annabelle had passed away, the last barrier that could shelter the young princess also disappeared.

Her sister’s daughter, her niece. It was impossible to have an independent will in this life. She would only become a deadweight, at the mercy of others.

Ann spread out her hand and stared at her bloody palm.

She made a mistake in judgment, which led to the death of her sister, and this time, she couldn’t stand back any longer and watch indifferently.

But before that, she must confirm one thing—she must meet with her niece and carefully confirm Delia’s will. Otherwise, it was impossible to determine whether the scene of 21 years ago would be repeated.

It was the eleventh birthday of the two princesses of Alban.

Their father, the first Emperor of Alban, planned to take this opportunity to show his royal authority, and chose the celebration ceremony in the church where the Demon King’s skull was stored. Who knew that when the emperor planned to make his final speech, the skull of the Demon King that should have been sealed in the dragon breath stone cabinet went missing.

Someone stole it during the ceremony, and the entire church was in a mess, and all the troops were used to search for the thief.

And Ann got her long-awaited opportunity—

“Hurry up. Hurry up, Belle! They are going to find us!” In her memory, she was holding her skirt and shouting anxiously outside the wall. Her younger sister lay on the wall whimpering, full of hesitation.

“I… have twisted my foot, Ann,” Annabelle sobbed. “Do we really have to run away? Our father isn’t that bad.”

“I heard it with my own ears. They wanted Uncle Flint’s wife to die, and then Sonia really passed away.” Ann gritted her teeth. “I told you that, didn’t I? He even decided who we would marry in the future. ‘When they come of age, Flint’s heart will recover. At that time, we’ll let him pick one, and the remaining one will be married to Duke Earley.’ …He’s crazy. We were only nine years old then, and Duke Earley was almost fifty!”

“Don’t talk about father like that, he… He must have his own ideas…”

“Didn’t we agree, Belle?”

“But—but my ankle hurts so much… It’s dangerous outside, Ann. Why don’t we go back?”

“There will be no second chance like this. There’s only one Demon King skull, and we happened to be in the church where it’s kept, and the thief chose today to steal it. This is God’s will—and just this time they forgot to watch over us. Such chaos will only happen once. Listen Belle, once!”

“I—I still don’t want to… This wall is so high.” The young Annabelle began to choke again. “I don’t want to go anymore… Ann, don’t go either, okay?”

“Your Royal Highness Annabelle, Your Royal Highness Andrea! Where are you? Come out. It’s dangerous outside—” The shouts were getting closer.

“Come on, Belle. They’re here. I’ll catch you. Just jump. Trust me!”

“I… I’m sorry, Ann. I’m sorry. I dare not.” Her sister was crying, with tears streaming down her face.

Then her figure disappeared from the wall.

The young Ann was stunned in place, but she only froze for a few seconds, then gritted her teeth and rushed into the woods behind the church. She was crying and running; her lungs were aching like a knife. The eleven-year-old child’s heart was full of the pain of being “betrayed” and she still remembered this pain.

At that time, she didn’t realize that that day would be their farewell forever.

---

The author has something to say:

However, after they separated, they still weren’t doing well. _(:з””)_Now everyone, do you understand the noble chaos of Tumbleweed (.

And I feel that Jesse now is more like a bamboo rat than a badger.……

Nemo: Look at this, Jesse. It’s very beautiful, and it eats a lot. Let’s take him to the river and put him to work.

Jesse: …………..

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Kinky Thoughts:

Whatttttt is this bombshell?! So let me get this straight, Ann’s father killed Flint Lopez’s wife/Oliver’s mother, while Nemo (Demon King) killed Ann’s (other) brother. I didn’t realize I signed up to watch a dog blooded drama during prime time.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 179: The Ways of the World

Night fell. The autumn breeze was bleak, and a pale moon was embedded in the night sky, half blocked by the church spire. Nemo stood in front of the Clementine Cathedral, looking at the orange lights in the magnificent building.

The atmosphere was good and looked suitable for a final battle at first glance. Nemo tugged at his collar with his left hand, trying to calm down, and stuffed a cold sandwich into his mouth with his right hand. The little spider actively crawled into the gap in the collar, and as soon as Bagelmaurus started combing its feathers with its beak, it received a plain instruction.

“You act with Ann, Bagelmaurus.” Nemo’s voice was muffled as he stuffed the rest of the sandwich completely into his mouth.

The female warrior took out a flask and just finished filling it with wine. She sighed and stuffed the flask back into her belt irritably. “Thanks, Nemo.”

“I knew it would be like this,” The gray parrot, who had restored itself to its normal color, complained sadly. “You found another demon, and now you don’t want me! I didn’t cause any trouble at the academy. This spider is an intermediate at most—where am I not good enough, huh?”

“You’re too big. We’re going to meet the Pope of the Laddism Church, and I don’t know if there will be any advanced detection mechanisms there. Your power is too strong. In case the concealment spell I imposed on you is discovered… the scene will get ugly,” Nemo responded sincerely.

The gray parrot hummed dissatisfied, staring hard at Nemo’s collar, as if determined to pull the little spider out with its gaze.

Ann rarely passed up the opportunity to tease. However, she just silently took out a few pieces of brown sugar from the side bag of her belt and threw them at Bagelmaurus. The latter caught them steadily, and then reluctantly moved to Ann’s shoulder.

“I’m going to inquire about something, and when you’re done here, remember to contact me with the communication crystal.”

Nemo wiped his hands with a handkerchief, looked at the cathedral in front of him for a while, and moved in the direction of Oliver. The latter’s face was equally as nervous. Oliver stretched out a trembling hand and wiped away the crumbs of bread stained on Nemo’s gray and black robe.

Compared to the two people who seemed so nervous that they were about to vomit, Jesse and Adrian were relatively calm.

“You’re at least also a big shot. Seriously, Mr. Light, what are you so nervous about?” Jesse’s tone was exasperated.

“Can’t help it.” Nemo’s face tightened.

When Ann left, the four members of Tumbleweed were officially ushered into the meeting room. Oliver was so nervous that he tripped over the threshold. Unfortunately, the object of his nervousness didn’t look half as nervous as he was—the old Pope yawned in the bright magical light. He was wearing a light blue pointed nightcap that was buttoned unruly on his head and the plainest of ecclesiastical robes. After that long yawn, the elderly Pope Quinn leaned onto the soft satin pillow and carefully added milk to his tea.

There were no Knights of Judgment in the room, only a tall and thin footman standing quietly in the corner. His strength wasn’t weak, but he wasn’t a match for them. Seeing everyone stepping into the room, the footman made a polite guiding gesture and pointed them to the couch against the wall. The stone table in front of the couch was filled with warm honey water and fruits cut into small pieces.

Oliver: “…” This was completely different from the meeting with the Pope that he imagined.

“Young people have so much spirit.” The Pope of the Laddism Church narrowed his eyes. “Old people go to bed early. Alas, we met again, Mr. Dylan. Your speed is much faster than I thought.”

“Do you still have those kinds of snacks like last time?” Jesse rubbed his hands with interest.

“Dear Philly, go and prepare a few plates of refreshments for Tumbleweed. Thank you.” The pope waved his hand at the footman.

He didn’t expect that the first sentence his teammate uttered was to beg for food. Oliver looked sadly at the ceiling. He retracted his gaze after sweeping to the portrait of Zenni on the wall.

“Ann Savage and the bird are not here? Well, it doesn’t matter. The leader of the team is… Let me see, Oliver Lopez?” As he sipped his tea, the Pope said lightly.

Oliver sat upright on the sofa abruptly.

“Don’t be nervous. After all, someone had commissioned the Mercenary Guild to investigate you. I have a good relationship with President Pollack.” The old man put down the teacup and glanced at Nemo, who was sitting to the side. “You’ve done a lot of things in the Great Isamel’s Labyrinth. Not long ago, Horizon submitted the briefings. The content is quite interesting.”

“Then you should already know, Lord Quinn. Our leader broke the Sword of Ruinous Fire, so I didn’t have time for it to recognize me—the requirement of the Sword of Ruinous Fire is that there is no guilt or confusion, right? I’m actually very confident in being a candidate for the Hero. Such a shame.” The snack plate was placed on the edge of the fruit plate, and Jesse grabbed a piece and chewed it gracefully. “This is really delicious, Adri. Don’t you want a piece?”

The former knight commander stood solemnly by the sofa without any intention of sitting down or answering. Nemo lowered his shoulders, trying to make himself look less eye-catching.

“I’m afraid it’s not just the problem of the Ruinous Fire. Destroying the dragon breath stone orb and splitting space. No matter what, it’s much more serious than the Ruinous Fire. Of course, I’m not saying the Ruinous Fire’s destruction isn’t serious—it did cost us a small fortune to have it installed in the first place.”

Oliver’s face turned from blue to white.

“But you still came out to see us quickly.” Jesse kicked Oliver in the calf so that he could recover. “If you only want to recover your losses or sanction us, we should be surrounded by heavily armed Knights of Judgment right now.”

“Oh.” Pope Quinn scratched his cheeks. The wrinkles on his face gathered together from his grin. “How perceptive, Mr. Dylan.”

Oliver, who was so nervous that he was about to faint, woke up like a dream, and a strange courage in his heart made him take the initiative to speak for the first time. “You… plan to make a deal with us?”

There was no other possibility. What they did wasn’t a trivial matter. The Great Isamel Labyrinth could be regarded as one of the wonders of the entire surface. Without the huge dragon breath stone orb as the core, it was estimated that it could no longer operate with the same precision as before. As the Laddism Church, who had the right to interpret miracles, it should stand to reason that they were eager to rip off their heads, but the Pope of the Laddism Church was sitting in front of them, drinking tea with excess milk in a leisurely manner.

Even if Pope Dawn Quinn’s reputation for kindness was well-known, he wouldn’t extend unwarranted kindness to a Black Chapter team that had caused so much disaster.

“Godwin Lopez contacted my researcher before giving the briefing.” The old Pope didn’t directly answer Oliver’s question. “He wants to determine whether there may be other reasons for the damage of the dragon breath stone orb. Mr. Leader, your cousin is serious about minimizing the impact of this matter. Godwin is a nice young man, so naturally we’re happy to give him an answer.”

Nemo gulped loudly and found the Pope’s gaze swept over him. He hurriedly squeezed into the soft sofa, eager to crunch himself between the cushions.

“’Recently, the state of the dragon breath stone orb hasn’t been very stable. We need to check the information before we can answer you.’ …Was what we replied for now. That’s why he didn’t mention this matter in the briefing.”

Oliver held his breath.

“You have no idea what the dragon breath stone means, do you?” The old Pope sighed. “If you’re talking in terms of value, you’ve damaged perhaps a hundred flawless diamonds that are about the same size. Now do you understand?”

Nemo’s eyes went black, and he subconsciously looked at Oliver sitting next to him. Oliver’s face had a tendency to turn from blue to white to purple.

“In other words, captain, if your behavior spreads out, this is an incredible power and notoriety,” Jesse added enthusiastically. The plate of snacks had been wiped out by him in just this short while.

“And you suppressed the news… What do you want?” Oliver breathed carefully, trying to save his overwhelmed heart. Pope Quinn didn’t seem to like to answer questions directly, and all he wanted was to be a pain in the ass.

“A favor,” the old man happily said.

“……What? Uh, excuse me, what did you say just now?” Oliver suspected that he had heard it wrong.

“If I’m not mistaken, your power is not as simple as it seems. Take you, for example, Mr. Lopez… or Mr. Ramon? I can’t see through your strength at all. It’s very interesting. And as far as my experience in seeing people over the past few decades, you are also a good young man, not like the nonsense rumors, so I want an agreement.”

“I can help you hide the matter of the dragon breath stone orb, and the report will be based on the information disclosed by Horizon; you just destroyed the Sword of Ruinous Fire, and the space crack was likely to be a natural product created by the Great Isamel Labyrinth, and the Laddism Church will also add that you’ve stolen a gem from the Ruinous Fire.”

The former knight commander looked at Jesse Dylan a little unexpectedly while the latter raised the corner of his mouth.

“In this way, your danger value will be ‘thieves’. Perhaps your Black Chapter level will be raised, but it won’t attract curious forces to eye you. If I, this old man, am not mistaken, you prefer a peaceful life rather than fighting and slaughtering.”

“…What agreement do you want?”

“First, I hope that you and your teammates will not make any dangerous moves against the surface, and the judgment of ‘danger’ lies with me. Second, before the expedition, there will always be Black Chapters and the Holy Church playing vanguard to explore the way to the bottom of the Abyss. I’m not going to lie; I have cultivated a lot of lovely and capable young people, and the bad thing is that they are filled with bloodlust. Older people are easily soft-hearted, so I don’t want to see them die in vain in the Abyss. So at that time, I hope you and your team can act as guards for the Laddism Church. Are you willing?”

Oliver glanced at Nemo quickly, frowning slightly. “I…”

“Black Chapters of the snake level and above must participate as vanguards for the expedition, or they will be disqualified as Black Chapters,” Adrian Cross said quietly. “But less than 30 years have passed since the last expedition, and no one knows when the next expedition will be.”

“Indeed, so this contract has a deadline. You’re now 23 years old, so let’s have it be for another 30 years. If there’s no plan for an expedition on the surface within 30 years, this part of the agreement can be invalidated,” the Pope said emotionally. “Oh, it’s a pity that I won’t live to that time.”

“If we must participate as the vanguard in the expedition, then I’m willing to take care of the people from the Laddism Church. Everyone has no problem with that, right?”

Nemo shook his head with a complicated expression. Jesse was eating happily, so it seemed like he had no opinions. As for the former knight commander, Adrian was even less likely to have other ideas. Even if there was no such agreement, he would definitely not sit idly by and watch the people of the Laddism Church suffer.

“I agree.” Oliver took a deep breath.

“Very good.” Pope Quinn clapped his hands in satisfaction. “The contract will be done immediately. You only need to sign it. It’s just that if you violate the contract, I’ll disclose all information about you and your team. Please remember.”

“That’s fair.”

“…And Mr. Dylan, if you like that snack so much, you can take a few boxes with you.”

“Lord Quinn, you’ll definitely become the most successful Pope in the history of the Laddism Church,” Jesse exclaimed emotionally.

The old Pope really didn’t intend to keep them. Oliver took away the sterling silver runic seal that symbolized the agreement and served as a token, while Jesse carried away five boxes of snacks, walking with a little bounce in his steps.

“One box per person,” he announced contentedly.

Nemo was silent on the side. Throughout the conversation, the Pope only glanced at him deeply at first, and then his gaze never fell on him again. Nemo wouldn’t really believe that this was the masking effect of the soft sofa. The old Pope deliberately ignored him.

He couldn’t figure out why. 

But since the result was good, perhaps it was fine if he couldn’t. After all, he wasn’t Telaranea, who had a curiosity so great that it was suffocating.

“Why?” Inside the Clementine Cathedral, someone helped him ask this question. Phillip, the footman, tore off the soft mask on his face, revealing the face of Felix, the Preceptor Bishop. “You just let them go like this? Their strength is too dangerous. Even if they are bound by this agreement, it’s likely to cause—”

“We’re not a match for them.”

“What do you mean?!”

“Adri is fine. I know that child’s abilities, but Oliver Lopez, Nemo Light, Jesse Dylan… Well, this is the first time in my life I have seen such monsters. Felix, with all of Alban’s strength, maybe you can deal with an Oliver Lopez. Nemo Light is a bit interesting. There’s too little information about him. I won’t comment for now, but Jesse Dylan… may be more dangerous than we thought.”

“……”

“So I gave them two options. Either they get chased and stung by mosquitoes like stray dogs, or we become friends and give each other a little convenience. The latter is much more cost-effective. Don’t give me that expression, Felix. You know, I’m a businessman. I’m not the emperor of Alban, and I’ll not do something as stupid as destroy a treasure if I can’t control it.”

“But I’ve investigated Jesse Dylan. He’s called the ‘Viper’ and has some talent for divination. There’s nothing special about it other than that. Why do you have this idea?”

“The admission letters of the Royal Military Academy of Clementine for those two, Mr. Light and Mr. Ramon. According to my sources, it was arranged by Mr. Dylan.”

“This… Is there a problem? Although with the testing level of Clementine Academy, it’s not easy to fake them, but…”

“No.” The smile on the old Pope’s face faded a bit. “That’s the problem. I specifically read those two letters. It’s real.”

“……”

“You know how well our important bishops are protected, especially on a spiritual level, but Jesse Dylan managed to do it without leaving a trace. If I hadn’t seen it myself, those two letters would really be treated as fakes. Don’t look at Tumbleweed as just a group of young people. That’s not an opponent we should be entangled with. Don’t be too obsessed with them anymore. At my age, alas, some things are hard to get muddled by.”

The Preceptor Bishop frowned. His face was mixed with shock and confusion.

“It’s not good to take the bull by the horns, dear Felix.” The Pope stood up, straightened the nightcap on his bald head, and then put his hands behind his back. “Remember why you believed in Zenni in the first place. However, I still prefer faith to be used as a walking stick rather than a weapon. If we get rid of everything that threatens us one by one, then the world will assuredly become a particularly boring place.”

At the same time, facing various inns that were completely booked, the four men of Tumbleweed were hunkered down under the bridge by the river, silently eating snacks and waiting for the sunrise. As soon as they left the church, they first contacted Ann, but the female warrior only whispered vaguely to indicate that she knew, and then hurriedly interrupted contact.

The only thing left in the snack box was crumbs, just as the sun showed a little light. Oliver leaned on Nemo with his whole body as his head rocked back and forth uncontrollably, looking like he was about to fall asleep.

The black badge on his chest suddenly vibrated.

Oliver, who was half asleep and half awake, rubbed his eyes and skillfully summoned the task light screen.

“Assigned task?” He shook his head to make sure he wasn’t dreaming.

“Assigned task. Assist the client in meeting with Delia Alastair,” Nemo whispered softly, but still failed to control his voice, which changed in tone due to shock. “Client, Ann Savage.”

“…Remuneration… All arrears written off, plus all my personal property?!”

---

The author has something to say:

Congratulations to the two male protagonists who are about to leave the life of debt. *Applauds* (×

Yes! The pope in this novel is not a villain! He’s just an old man who sees things through _(:з”∠)_

Realistic businessman√

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Kinky Thoughts:

I believe the Pope took the right direction. While a man of faith, he’s also shrewd and not fanatical. He knew their power, and rather than trying to fight them, it was better to be on friendly terms. After all, in the face of an unknown power that you don’t know if you can defeat or not and could potentially wipe out your entire church (I mean, they did it to the Abyssal Church), it’s better to gamble on the safer route.

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 178: The Nightingales of Alban

“What should we do?” Clementine’s four students walked at the end of Horizon and in front of Tumbleweed. While Leonard was happily showing off Oliver’s signature on his arm armor, Jesse Dylan was looking at the young people gathered in a group with interest.

“You said that your original plan was to steal the magic stone from the Ruinous Fire and have the Pope misunderstand that we’re just a bunch of thieves.” Adrian raised his voice so Oliver could hear it clearly. “Now Mr. Ramon has destroyed both the Ruinous Fire and the dragon breath stone orb that was at the center of the labyrinth. How are you going to answer His Holiness the Pope now?!”

Oliver touched his pocket embarrassedly. He did easily bring out the gem from the Sword of Ruinous Fire. The dark stone wrapped in silver trim was lying in his pocket. He didn’t have any ulterior motives as he purely felt this was a relic of his father’s and it was a pity to lose it.

What was more, Oliver didn’t feel the presence of any power in it. If he hadn’t made a mistake in judgment, it was just an ordinary piece of flint. The Sword of Ruinous Fire was much like Nemo’s staff. They did have power, but that power was completely inconsistent with the rumors. Behind the mystery was something simple enough that it was laughable.

“Where’s Nemo’s staff?” Oliver suddenly discovered a problem and joined the ranks of the questioners, but his gaze drifted to Jesse.

“One at a time. Even I don’t have two mouths to feed.” Jesse yawned. “That staff is still in the Clementine Cathedral, and the group of suspicious guys probably won’t find anything. Concerning the Pope of the Laddism Church… Well, of course I have to go see him, but I won’t go alone. You have to come with me.”

Nemo, who was playing with the spider and listening with his ears pricked, shivered and almost squished the little spider. The gray parrot was leaning on Nemo’s shoulders. Its two small eyes turned with the movements of the little spider.

“We’re all going?” Nemo said with horror. As a librarian of a small town library, he didn’t know how to deal with such big shots. As the Demon King of the bottom of the Abyss who could freely control the lives of superior demons, he didn’t want this embarrassing experience from the bottom of his heart.

“Why, now you care? Why can’t you treat me like this? My hair is much thicker than that old bald man!” Jesse huffed in dissatisfaction.

Hearing this disrespectful name, the knight commander glared at Jesse coldly, and the latter averted his eyes, aggrieved.

“No, you know why. Ollie just finished explaining not long ago, right? Alban is going to be in chaos, and we shouldn’t stay here for long.” Nemo rubbed the little spider that was almost flattened, trying to calm its emotions.

“I don’t think the Pope is keen on keeping us for more than a few days. Alban is going to be in chaos, and in order to remain neutral and reduce trouble, he himself will return to the Holy Land soon. Your excuse is completely unconvincing. Seriously, don’t you want that staff? The bone ball above was given by that fake cat—if you go to Caleb again, the king of the arthropod lizards will be very sad.” Jesse spread out his hands.

“I… Of course I want the staff back, but Godwin himself said he wouldn’t cover up for Ollie. As Mr. Cross mentioned, the Pope will learn about what happened in the labyrinth soon, and there’s no way we can hide it. I’m very grateful that you met the Pope instead of me and helped me hide the matter of Roadside Town, but danger is danger. Ollie’s state is still—”

“I have recently divined the Laddism Church Pope, Dawn Quinn. Believe me, this trip will not cause us any substantial harm.” Jesse emphasized heavily on the word “I”.

Nemo said nothing.

Oliver looked at Nemo, looked at Jesse again, and finally looked back at Nemo. After glancing back and forth a few times, his voice had a dreamlike weakness. “Then we’ll accompany Mr. Dylan to meet the Pope and immediately leave after we get our appeal and remove my death row status. Do you have any objections?”

No one spoke.

Oliver took a breath. “If the appeal is successful, we may have to act separately for a while. I want to discuss this matter with everyone—when the news spreads, we are likely to be focused on by the Mercenary Guild and other organizations. It’s more appropriate to keep a low profile for a while.”

“It just so happens that Nemo and I have some personal matters to deal with. As for the monthly tasks that Tumbleweed needs to do, the two of us will complete them by ourselves, and the remuneration will be divided equally according to the old rules. You can take advantage of this time to find a calm place to rest. Bring your communication crystal, and I will contact you when we meet again… How about it?” The information obtained from Clementine Academy made the truth of the past even more confusing, but this was the entanglement between the Lopez family and the Demon King. They weren’t short of combat power, and Oliver didn’t want to involve his other companions.

“Jesse Dylan.” Ann, who had been pale and silent, finally spoke at this moment. “I want to see your divination.”

Except for Bagelmaurus, who was still staring at the little spider, the eyes of the remaining members gathered on the female warrior at the same time.

Jesse raised his eyebrows and straightened his spotless collar. “Huh?”

“You have been using the results of divination as an argument for your own suggestions, and I think everyone is also a little curious. It’s time to show your divination method.” Ann’s tone was solemn. “I have something I want you to divine, so make an offer. It doesn’t need to be specific. Just the level of ‘yes’ or ‘no’.”

“Oh—but you may not be able to afford it. However, yes, it’ll be free this time. After all, once you’ve seen it, you won’t have to make such silly requests again. Watching the divination process is no fun at all.” Jesse stretched and emphasized his words as he stepped onto the soft and gray inner wall of the space tunnel. “Ask your question, lovely Miss Savage.”

“Will Gallagher Salter win?” The female warrior asked straightforwardly.

Nemo looked at Ann in surprise. He never thought that Ann would ask such a question—it seemed to have nothing to do with her.

“Although I can give you the answer now, you can take a good look.” Jesse hooked the corners of his mouth, stretched out his slender fingers, and made a few random movements like a conductor.

Oliver and Adrian raised their heads at the same time. This was the first time they had seen Jesse Dylan use magic seriously.

However, the effect was very strange.

Countless golden characters that no one could recognize flickered quickly in the air, and weird graphics changed their shapes. Oliver could barely see the shape approaching Alban’s territory for a few seconds, and the rest was completely confusing. These characters and patterns were getting denser, flashing faster, gradually gathering together, condensing into a golden ball the size of a walnut, hovering over Jesse’s palm.

He crushed it to pieces, and tiny golden shavings of light splashed everywhere and quickly extinguished. Jesse didn’t even blink, and the smile on his face thickened a bit. “Gallagher Salter will indeed win, and then Alban will usher in its first queen in history. According to the current information, the result is correct.”

‘Jesse Dylan was right,’ Oliver thought numbly. They couldn’t understand the divination process of this “diviner” at all. He turned his gaze to Nemo for help, only to find that Nemo frowned and seemed to be lost in thought.

Ann’s face paled a little bit again. She clenched her teeth, and the muscles in her face twitched slightly. The female warrior stared at Jesse, as if trying to find traces of lies on that beautiful face. Unfortunately, from any perspective, Jesse Dylan didn’t seem to be lying.

“I have to think about it,” the female warrior murmured. “Oliver, don’t make a decision too quickly, okay? After you guys meet with the Pope, we’ll vote on whether Tumbleweed should be separated temporarily.”

“’You guys’?” Oliver quickly grasped the point.

“I have something to investigate.” Ann’s gaze turned elsewhere. “Believe me, the Pope shouldn’t care about my absence alone. After all, I have been active as a Black Chapter for so long, and my strength is easy to confirm. With you hanging in front of him, he may not have time to take care of me.”

“Alright.” Despite her doubts, the female warrior looked sour and dazed. Seeing Ann’s expression like this for the first time, Oliver thoughtfully didn’t press the issue.

Ann nodded gratefully at him, then turned her face to Jesse. “Thank you to you too, Dylan. You have given me more information than I need, and I hope the price of this prophecy will not be too debilitating for you.”

Jesse let out an “ah” as if he had thought of something. Suddenly, the blond young man’s feet softened, and he leaned on the knight commander’s broad shoulder quite naturally. “Adri, I’m extremely dizzy! What should I do—”

Adrian stared at Jesse for a few seconds without saying a word. He then sighed, held him back, and simply lifted him up and carried him on his shoulders. Jesse’s figure wasn’t small, so it made the former knight commander look like a successful hunter who had returned home with a full load.

Jesse: “……”

Oliver thought for a moment about the identity of Jesse Dylan and decided to suffocate silently for a while. He moved to his lover. “Nemo, what Dylan did just now… Did you understand?”

“I understand.” There is still a bit of seriousness on Nemo’s face. “That can’t be called magic at all.”

“What do you mean?”

“That’s just a simple calculation. Put together the behavioral characteristics and past experiences of all the existing life in Alban, plus all the information related to the environment, and calculate all the possibilities. He calculated very carefully, leaving aside all irrelevant variables, to reach a final answer.”

“Oh,” Oliver responded, a little confused, “but you don’t look very good. Did you see any bad information?”

“If Gallagher Salter wins and wants to establish a new king, then he can only support the only remaining member of the royal family—Princess Delia, who is not yet an adult. You would think that the new queen of Alban will be Delia Alastair, right?

“Isn’t it?”

“No.” Nemo tightened his brows. “I should have read it right. The queen’s name is ‘Andrea Alastair’, but this is impossible—Princess Andrea died of illness when she was eleven years old.”

“I remember this. The bards always talked about it in those years. Annabelle and Andrea, twin princesses.” Oliver scratched his hair. “They said that Her Royal Highness Annabelle named her daughter ‘Delia’ in honor of her twin sister, who died prematurely. Her Royal Highness Andrea is still alive? ……It’s been more than 20 years.”

“Yes, it’s a bit preposterous. The emperor at that time also held a funeral.” Nemo rubbed his chin. “I know about them because, uh, they were called the ‘Nightingales of Alban’ at the time, and many people have written poems on this subject, but if you know Dylan’s identity, he shouldn’t make such a low-level mistake in this kind of thing.”

“Is it possible that Marshal Gallagher is supporting a fake one? After all, the underage queen is really… Those old nobles will definitely not compromise, even if they die. Marshal Gallagher must have also taken this into account.”

“I don’t know, but we can’t intervene in this war. Ann’s state is not right. Let’s take a look at the situation from her side when the time comes.” Nemo put the little spider on Oliver’s shoulder to familiarize it with his aura. Dylan’s expression just now seemed to be a bit too lively, and Nemo instinctively wanted to stay away from the coming war…

[That spear… Oh, it’s Miss Savage. The rumors are true, you are as beautiful as a nightingale.]

Speaking of Jesse Dylan, when they first met Dylan, that guy seemed to have said something like this. At that time, Ann almost punched him.

Wait a minute.

Nemo’s movements paused. He turned his head and looked at Ann in horror. The female warrior was holding her arms; her face was cloudy, and her entire body still exuded a powerful aura.

……It’s not possible.

But just as he planned to diverge his thinking further, the end came.

Although the space tunnel was long, it was a neat and straight route. Horizon moved extremely fast, and within three hours, everyone saw the sunlight from the outside world again. The space in the Great Isamel’s Labyrinth had folded. The tunnel just opened into a grove outside the high walls of Clementine Academy, which was less than half an hour’s walk from their starting point.

It was already evening, and the air in the forest was cold. Even if the terrain in the woods was uneven. The mercenaries of Horizon gathered together as neatly as possible.

“It’s time for us to say goodbye,” Godwin said stiffly. “Now that it’s determined that there may be problems in the academy, according to the Articles of Association, we need to take the lead in ensuring the safety of hostages and our employers. Right now, Horizon needs to confirm the situation of the Clementine Royal Military Academy, and there is no time to take into account the investigation of Tumbleweed.”

“Thank you, brother,” Oliver’s answer was very sincere, and then he turned his face to Nemo. “Let me translate. What Godwin means is that he doesn’t plan to send us all to the headquarters of the Mercenary Guild for the time being, and he has suspended the plan to send Leonard and the others back to the academy.”

“Thank you, brother,” Nemo said equally sincerely, taking advantage of the situation to cover the abnormal-looking little spider on Oliver’s shoulder with his hand.

Godwin’s face twisted frighteningly a few times, as if he had eaten something too corrupt*. He snorted softly, turned around, and walked towards his team without any intention of saying goodbye.

*Note: This is significant because Nemo isn’t even related or close to Godwin but to call him [ge] (哥) signifies that he considers Godwin a “relative”… (through marriage) or/and is someone he respects/is close to, so this is why Godwin reacted like this.

“Goodbye!” Even though he hadn’t gone far, Oliver still put his hands around his mouth and shouted vigorously.

Godwin stopped. The leader of Horizon didn’t turn around but raised a hand stiffly and waved it a few times like a fly.

“We should go too, but are you sure you are going to see the Pope now, Ollie? Are we… Uh, should we prepare…”

“It’s going to be a long night. We’d better leave Clementine quickly.” Oliver looked back at the Isamel Labyrinth behind him. His voice was a little emotional. “But it’s a pity.”

“What’s a pity?”

“We didn’t stay in the maze for long. With so many species here, I will definitely have the opportunity to meet a kind of monster that I have always been curious about… Alas, we probably won’t come back again. Have you heard of the ‘palulu weevil’, Nemo? Dad had told me dozens of stories about it that are especially true. I have been curious for many years, but unfortunately, I have never seen information about this kind of monster.”

Godwin, a few steps away, stopped again. This time he remained motionless for a long time.

Godwin lowered his gaze and looked at the moss and pea-sized white mushrooms under his feet. The brilliance of the setting sun poured down from between the tree trunks, and the distant past gradually mixed with the current scene. He was in a bit of a trance.

The leader of Horizon didn’t turn his head in the end. Oliver Ramon was still talking to his lover, but that didn’t matter anymore.

“It’s me who should say thank you… Oliver,” he whispered at a volume that couldn’t be heard by the other party.

Horizon still faithfully performed their task. After carefully confirming the situation at the academy, they finally sent the four students to the largest inn in the center of Clementine City and contacted their families. Everything was the same as usual.

It was just a little different now—this time when the mercenaries in Horizon were drinking around the firepit, their leader joined them for the first time and calmly ordered himself a caramel apple tart.

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The author has something to say:

Retracted a long-standing flag. Very comfortable.

Yes! Ann’s real name is also very long… Ann cut it short, thoughtfully.

One word, Ann*, may be the best name to remember in this novel√

*Compared to the other names in this novel written in Chinese, Ann’s name is just [An] (安) vs her real name, Andrea (安德莉娅)

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Kinky Thoughts:

Ahh, Godwin found out! I’m so glad he knew it was Oliver back then. My baby, Godwin, needs his own happiness too!

Holy cow, how many chapters ago was it that Jesse said that to Ann?

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<<< || Table of Contents || >>>

Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 177: Mad Dog of the Wasteland

The members of Horizon stepped into the tunnel under Godwin’s order.

The entire space tunnel wall was composed of turbulent and disordered airflow, which made it look like a dead jellyfish or a swamp after the rain. It may be difficult for ordinary people to stand firm, but Horizon had no ordinary people. The mercenaries quickly gained a foothold and moved forward steadily.

Godwin purposefully walked at the back of the group to ensure the four students had safely stepped into the space tunnel.

Leonard couldn’t restrain his rapid breathing. Considering the series of embarrassing misunderstandings before, the little nobleman wanted to be more reserved, but the blood on his forehead betrayed his true feelings. Marilyn no longer pretended to be weak but turned her head and looked at Ann secretly, with a trace of envy in her eyes.

“I… I’m a little sorry,” Hayden whispered as he passed by Nemo. “You can definitely be an excellent nurse, Nemo. With you gone, I’m afraid I’ll live alone in the dorm.”

He nodded at Nemo as if he had no intuitive concept of Oliver’s and Nemo’s powers.

“I apologize,” Marilyn murmured after Hayden caught up with the group. “I shouldn’t have targeted you like that before, Hayden. I just…”

“I accept, and I understand. Don’t mind.”

“I still want to be a healer. Even now that I look at you, I still can’t help but get a little angry. Alas, I’ll try to control it,” Marilyn sighed in a low voice.

“…I know it’s not possible, but no one can say what will happen in the future, right?”

The pretty girl bit her lower lip and stretched out her hand to Hayden. Hayden’s face flushed, and he stretched out his hand tremblingly, almost scratching the girl’s wrist, but he finally managed to grab her hand and shake it solemnly. “I have a lot of nursing questions that I want to ask you, Lawler… Ma—Marilyn.”

“Good.”

“I also want to apologize.” Leonard stared at Hayden’s outstretched hand and dragged his thoughts out of the fiery excitement in his head. “Miss Lawler, please forgive me for my previous rudeness. I think I can understand what you mean, but if I can still—”

“No, you don’t have a chance, Quentin Leonard,” Marilyn said quickly. “I don’t like types who are much taller than me. Do you want to cut off some length below the knee?”

“…” Leonard’s whole face looked a little darker.

“But we can be comrades-in-arms.” Marilyn smiled and shook her head, patting the little nobleman on the arm. “If you are willing to lower your chin and use your head more, you’ll find a good girl.”

“I thought hard, and I have nothing to apologize for,” Elmer said honestly, looking at Oliver, who was talking to Godwin not far away. “I have to go and say thank you to Oliver later.”

By the time Elmer had dizzily found himself rich overnight, it was already a few hours later.

And many years later, as a veteran warrior, Oliver Elmer would still think of this day. The day came when he and his teammates successfully cooperated for the first time. After all, these four sentimental young people would never be separated again after this.

Iron Commander Quentin Leonard, First Nurse Hayden Wilhelm, and the Chief Healer of Alban, Marilyn Lawler.

However, the biggest difficulty in front of several students at this moment wasn’t the battlefield, but the space tunnel that made it extremely difficult to maintain balance. The thin Hayden almost fell with each step, eventually causing the impatient Leonard to immediately pick him up as he struggled to move forward one foot at a time.

Seeing that his former classmates were able to move forward successfully, Nemo leaned over to Oliver, who had just ended his conversation with Godwin. In order to reduce his sense of existence, Nemo patiently acted like a wooden stake for more than ten minutes.

“How’s it going?” Nemo spoke nervously. The gray parrot was still softly grabbed by him like a rag bag.

“Godwin asked me not to get the wrong idea. He doesn’t intend to cover for us.” Oliver smiled and shook his head. “He just doesn’t plan to pursue your identity for the time being, and he won’t disclose the source of my power for now. As for the, uh, things we did here, he still has to report it truthfully.”

“’I’ll keep my eye on you, Mr. Ramon. Remember your promise. If you do anything out of the ordinary, Horizon will be the first to stand up to you, no matter what.’…. was what he said.” Oliver cleared his throat, locked his brow, and vividly imitated Godwin.

“How did you answer?” Nemo stretched his neck and turned his face, straining to look at Godwin’s back that was at the entrance of the space tunnel.

“’Yes, dear brother’,” Oliver said softly, stretching out his hand and twisting Nemo’s face back. “Then he looked like he was choking on beans and walked away in great strides.”

“The book in the confinement room—the one with Emanuel Lopez’s memories—are you sure you shouldn’t tell him?”

“I’ll definitely tell him… at a more appropriate time.” Oliver scratched his head. “Now he needs a good rest and to calm down. This matter isn’t very urgent. Compared to this, I want to say—”

Nemo’s eyes flashed. The next moment, he reached out and pressed his index fingers on Oliver’s lips, covering his eyes with his other hand. Since it wasn’t accustomed to it, the released gray parrot fell to the ground. “Shh. Wait a moment. It’s probably Telaranea making another move.”

The little spider was working dutifully, and the sounds and pictures came through.

“This is what you want, Vance.” The female professor stuffed a weird crystal ball into the hands of Vance, who was dressed as a footman. “You know, I lost quite a bit of knowledge, so I’m just now getting it done. Tsk, it’s really not that I deliberately delayed.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Vance, or Aurorae, returned to that cold look. The gray-haired man looked at the crystal ball in his hand for a while. “You changed the magic circuit of the bone jade?”

“Yes,” Telaranea nodded. “Unlike what the group of waste of the Laddism Church made, it no longer detects abyssal magic activation but can probe the branches and strength of surrounding demons. However, the detection range is still within a radius of ten kilometers. This can’t be helped.”

“It’s enough.”

“I just tested it again, so the magic circuit is still cooling down. It’ll be able to be used normally in an hour. Contact me if you have any questions. How miserable. I have to deal with that old principal. To be honest, I’m not very interested in the various tossing and turning of human countries. Forget the hostages, he’d better not want to erase this body. This identity is quite convenient.”

“Nn.”

“You also have to pay attention and not waste the power I gave you.”

“Go.”

The female professor curled her lips very unceremoniously, turned her head, and walked to the principal’s office at the end of the corridor. Nemo held his breath and almost poked his finger into Oliver’s mouth.

“Mrs. Mandy.” The elderly Mr. Salter, principal of the Royal Military Academy of Clementine, spoke with a sincere voice.

Telaranea had put away the evil look on her face and made an appearance of nervousness and uneasiness, as if she was forcing herself to be calm.

“Don’t be nervous. I don’t know what the Viscount said to you, but none of it is true.”

“Since there are only the two of us, I’ll be straightforward, dear Salter.” The female professor’s face was expressionless. “Your men took samples of the source of the Trent Plague from my research room, right?”

Nemo suddenly recalled reading a missing report in the file. At first, he thought it was a common problem in the experiment, so he didn’t pay special attention to it. He didn’t expect it…

“If Tumbleweed hadn’t entered the academy, you would have planned to use the ‘plague’ as an excuse for a lockdown. Ah, let me think about it. You were probably going to find a poor civilian student, let him—no, most likely her—get sick and give visual proof.” The female professor made an angry expression unique to researchers. “We have known each other for so many years, but I never thought you would use my project for your own selfish desires!”

“I won’t really spread it, and the purpose is not for personal gains,” Salter said slowly, in a gentle voice, but with unquestionable taste. “Sacrificing an irrelevant woman will change the war situation of the entire country. You’re a smart researcher, Mrs. Mandy. You should know the importance. I didn’t come to you this time for anything else but just to reassure you.”

The old man paused for a moment.

“I can see just now that you seem to be very dissatisfied with my decision. I don’t want any strange misunderstandings between us. You will find out about this sooner or later, so I might as well tell you straight—His Majesty passed away just a few hours ago.”

The female teacher repeated her old trick. The demon covered her mouth with both hands to express exclamation, but really she just snorted with disdain.

“Clementine Royal Military Academy will always be His Majesty’s most loyal supporter.” The old principal made an oath gesture. “Lord Mandy’s position has never been clearer, and you are a reasonable person, Mrs. Mandy. I hope you can consider the overall situation well. If you are willing to cooperate with us—”

“You… Uh, if I’m not mistaken, are you trying to control some of the descendants of the nobles, hoping to add obstacles to the new king’s path?” Nemo could perceive the smile on Telaranea’s “shocked” tone. “Glory to Zenni, it couldn’t be that… His Royal Highness Eldric had done something to His Majesty?”

“This is a message from His Majesty himself. There can be no mistake. According to the order left by His Majesty, we must eradicate that ambitious fanatic. If my news is correct, he didn’t even let Her Royal Highness Annabelle go.”

“You have your son to help. What are you still worried about? My husband and I are just small nobles without ambition, and I don’t want to be involved in such a big event—” The demon gave a weak look.

“At a critical juncture, we are likely to need as much support as possible. This part has nothing to do with force. You know what I mean.”

“But—but, backing the illegitimate Delia to the throne. A puppet queen? Are you going to kill her? God—God Salter. The conservatives will eat you and your son alive. To them, that underage girl is nothing, and now His Highness Eldric is the only royal bloodline. You must think clearly. My God, where is my snuff bottle—”

“I know it’s hard.” The old principal stood up and put his hand behind his back. “But His Majesty’s will must be executed—Eldric Alastair doesn’t have the qualification as a king. He will lead Alban to destruction.”

“…Then forgive me for waiting and watching for a while. This is not a trivial matter! Anyway, I can’t get any news right now. I need a while to think.”

Old Salter nodded.

Telaranea saluted, and after walking out of the principal’s office, she rolled her eyes.

“Two nests of ants are fighting.” She hummed an unknown tune as she walked along the corridor. “Who will occupy this rotten corner?”

Nemo swallowed laboriously and interrupted the connection. He hesitated for a few seconds, then carefully tore a small rift in space and neatly grabbed the little spider from the corner of the castle into his hand. Thank God he gave this thing the ability to devour magic fluctuations in advance so it could hide itself, and this action didn’t leave too conspicuous traces of fluctuations.

The little spider lay obediently in Nemo’s palm, his abdomen eyeballs turning curiously.

“What is this?” Oliver curiously pushed Nemo’s fingers away from his mouth and looked at the little spider in Nemo’s palm.

“There’s no time to explain. Would you like to go with me?” Nemo asked dryly.

“What are you talking about? Of course I—”

“I’m asking it.” Nemo wiped the cold sweat from his forehead. In case Aurorae really had the prop that could detect a demon’s aura, he had to do something to disguise his aura. The other party assuredly knew about the existence of Bagelmaurus, and so an idea popped in his head that this little thing could be the first alternative.

The little spider crawled around in the palm of his hand a few times, stretched out two legs, and tried to make a hook shape*.

*In case you’re missing it, it’s a heart.

Oliver: “……”

“That’s good, thank you,” Nemo said seriously, putting the little spider on his shoulder. “…Ollie, we have to appeal quickly, get rid of your death row status, and get out of here. The Emperor of Alban had just passed away, and Prince Eldric had already made his move. The lockdown of the academy is because of this—war is coming.”

Oliver shook his head and didn’t react for a while. “What does this have to do with the academy?”

“The Salter family has always been the emperor’s confidants. The principal here is a Salter and he’s the father of Marshal Gallagher,” Nemo said quickly, searching for the biographies of the people he had read in his mind. “I don’t know the specific situation, but the emperor did give an order to kill Prince Eldric in advance. Looking at the principal’s actions, if nothing else, the leader is definitely Marshal Gallagher.”

Gallagher Salter, one of the Marshals of Alban, was known as the “Mad Dog of the Wasteland”.

Even if Oliver and Nemo had lived in a town by the border, they had more or less heard of him. Marshal Gallagher acted extremely tough and decisive. Wherever he went, it was bloody. He had never retreated once on the battlefield, and there was only one way to win—chase the enemy until the entire army collapsed.

The emperor of Alban had been seriously ill for a long time, and if his cause of death couldn’t be successfully revealed, Prince Eldric would be the rightful heir. Assuming that the leader of the rebels was Gallagher Salter, if Tumbleweed didn’t escape fast enough, it was likely to get involved in the struggle between the “rebels” and the royal family.

“…Let’s go. Let’s go right away.” Oliver made an instant decision.

In a distant frontier.

Gallagher Salter stared at the darkened communication crystal with no special expression on his face. The appearance of this marshal was completely inconsistent with the rumored “Mad Dog”. Although he was tall and strong-looking, he had a genteel temperament like a civil servant.

There was no exaggerated strong body and no messy and rough appearance. The platinum blond hair was braided at the back of his head and tied into an elegant braid held by an exquisite silk band. The marshal didn’t even have a beard.

After a long silence, Marshal Gallagher sighed and pulled a thread from the intricate embroidery of his collar.

“Assemble,” he gave a simple order, took a bottle of perfume from his pocket, carefully sprayed it twice on his chest and neck, and then showed an ambiguous smile. “The prey this time is very, very big.”

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The author has something to say:

Marshal Gallagher is a real fastidious man—very, very fastidious.

————

In fact, the CPs of Tumbleweed are all kings and knights in a sense XD

Just different models (.

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