Chapter 365: Assassin

A dark elf?

Rod narrowed his eyes slightly.

Just over a month ago a defected dark elf named Atticus came, and he's now being protected in a safe house—even Rod doesn't know the details—and now another one shows up?

Another defector?

Most likely not. That sneaky, looking-over-the-shoulder manner is far more like a spy of some sort.

Combined with the dragon surveillance gemstone that had planned to infiltrate Shi Ying Town earlier, there's no need to think twice to know it's the work of those Coral Bay fellows.

The slaughter of the mind flayers in the minor nation of Kava two days ago let Rod know how fearsome Slime Little Black's 【Memory Devour】 was; he didn't even want to bother talking to the target, just devour and be done with it.

Pretty much the same as the soul-searching art used in cultivation.

The former loses their head outright, the latter simply turns into an idiot.

Too bad 【Memory Devour】 only brings back limited memories. Last night, while Tally's soul was trembling, Rod took a mid-break and fed Little Black several casts of 【Spirit Growth】.

Very luckily, 【Memory Devour】 reached +2.

Though it can't compare to Vivian's +25 【Sheep Transformation Hex】, it's still some progress.

Speaking of which, it's ridiculous.

Good lord, +25 sheep transformation.

Once Rod's nerves crossed wires and he tried it on himself, and unexpectedly couldn't resist it.

After turning into a sheep, he was manually milked by an excited Tally for a full twenty minutes.

Afterwards, to punish her great disrespect, Rod had Vivian turn her into a sheep—tit for tat.

Tally's willpower was far inferior to his; the hex lasted nearly three hours, and after the sheep transformation came a weakening effect—during those three hours Rod nearly milked her into collapse.

After changing back, drenched in fragrant sweat, she lay sprawled on the bed like a dead dog, not moving a muscle.

But then again.

It's all just a bit of playful fun.

When Rod and Tally got serious, they had plenty of ways to forcibly dispel it.

This move isn't invincible either.

Getting hit by the spell isn't the end of everything—there are quite a few ways to dispel it.

"Look there."

Rod pointed at the dark elf.

The three of them were hidden on the rooftop each by their own means. Rod went without saying—he had the Disguise Domain. Insects naturally possessed an excellent biological camouflage Spirit Art, so they weren't afraid of being spotted.

Rosalia looked over at his gesture.

At the edge of the brawl was a fellow wearing a yellow linen shirt and a leather chestplate.

A hood obscured his features. He was moving toward the two elves, shoving aside the cheering, rubbernecking crowd who only wanted the excitement to grow bigger, while flicking a concealed straight blade out from the inside of his wrist.

Magical power rippled along the blade's pattern—at a glance it was clearly no ordinary weapon.

Are you an assassin or what.

"An assassin?"

Perhaps the target's transformation spell or tool was extraordinary—Rosalia hadn't spotted that he was a dark elf, but she was quite tense.

After all, the weapon in his hand was dangerous; one slip and something could go wrong.

She did want to teach the Emerald Court elves a lesson, but she couldn't let them die in Shi Ying Town!

As she spoke, she was already preparing to act.

"Hold on—too many eyes and ears here. Just handle it discreetly."

Rod stopped the Tooth Fairy.

He tapped the shadow beneath his feet: "Tally."

The young aunt Tally responded very quickly, immediately poking her head out, an ambiguous wicked grin on her face: "Little nephew wants auntie again? No good, auntie's getting old, can't take that kind of roughhousing."

Rosalia stared at the succubus whose appearance was quite similar to Rod's, froze for a moment, then turned to Rod again in slight shock.

This... this incestuous?

Rod didn't waste words, quickly indicating the target.

Tally always knew what mattered most. She narrowed her fox-like eyes, ripe with mature charm, and sank into the shadow as if diving into water.

Looking back at the street.

An unnatural darkness welled up beneath the assassin's feet.

Just as he raised his arm, about to push past the crowd, suddenly—as if falling into an invisible puddle—his whole body slid downward, and the cheering, jostling crowd instantly swallowed up his position.

Tally then leapt straight out of Rod's shadow.

A ribbon of gathered shadow hung down from midair, and at its end the fellow in the yellow linen shirt and leather chestplate was bound hand and foot, his eyes full of shock.

The succubus held two knitting needles in her hands, clumsily crossing the yarn back and forth.

As if to say, a trivial little matter.

Worthy of 【Shadow Magic】 being pumped up to +14 by Spirit Growth.

Combined with the secrecy of 【Darkness Manipulation】, no one present could sense it.

"Nice work."

Rod tried to pat her head, but was swatted away by a knitting needle.

She stood with hands on hips and huffed: "You brat, I'm your aunt—how do you talk to your aunt? Don't you know to say thank you?"

"."

Can't be bothered with her.

Rod gave the fellow a quick pat-down, and what he found made both him and Rosalia's expressions change.

——Five delayed-detonation gemstones of no low grade.

And they were in an armed state.

Combined with his assassination attempt just now, there was ample reason to suspect that this fellow, whether the deed succeeded or not, might choose to detonate the gemstones on his person.

After all, dark elves in Coral Bay couldn't die.

The expressions of the people on the rooftop grew somewhat solemn.

The argument on the street was loud enough that the constables had already begun rushing over from the next block.

They no longer needed to pay it any mind; they hauled the dark elf off to the interrogation cells in the basement of the Public Order Hall.

Rosalia had originally intended to go alone, but Rod, concerned about intelligence on the dark elves, insisted on going along.

After a moment's hesitation, she agreed.

The underground prison was located outside the town center.

One had to transfer over via the teleportation array at the Public Order Hall.

Very quickly.

Under Rosalia's lead, the group arrived at the Public Order Hall and sought out the teleportation array, arriving at their destination.

After a brief wave of teleportation dizziness, a narrow, dim corridor greeted them.

Air thick with dampness and the smell of mold filled the space; a few scattered, sallow torches hung on the corridor walls.

Only the dripping of water and the faint, hidden footsteps and whispers from afar made the place feel deathly still and frightening.

Very much like the underground prisons Rod had in mind.

After passing through the corridor and a heavy stone door, an extremely long, spiraling stone staircase leading downward began.

At the bottom of the staircase was a spacious underground great hall.

Rosalia led them into one of the rooms near the staircase.

A binding chair, an oil lamp swaying overhead, a wooden table stained with blackened blood, various torture implements arranged neatly on the table, and a bucket filled with fingers and toes.

Oppressive and terrifying.

Without a doubt, this was an interrogation room.

And a rather rough one at that.

Just as Rod was curiously looking around, a flash of light no bigger than a palm came charging straight at him.

Then he swatted it flying with one slap.

*Splat*

It didn't splat.

Rosalia, quick of eye and hand, caught that flash of light.

——It was a little fairy wearing a brightly colored dress.

Dragonfly-like thin wings, snow-white skin, a lovely face.

"A little fairy?"

Rosalia patted the little fellow in her hand on the head; it was baring its teeth at Rod.

"She's a Tooth Fairy, of the same race as me."

Fair enough.

After all, the Tooth Fairy race had an enormous range of variation.

Then Rosalia spoke a few words with her fellow clansman; the little fellow's expression finally softened, and it actively broke into a cute smile at Rod.

"Her name is Xiao Xiao Feisuo, she's not very fluent in the Continental Tongue, and she's the Number One Interrogator here."

Rod automatically skipped over the weight carried by those three words 'Number One Interrogator,' and smiled as he greeted Interrogator Xiao Xiao Feisuo.

Xiao Xiao Feisuo was also very happy, kissed Rod on the cheek, and said quite a few more things.

"She says you carried out a brutal massacre not long ago, and that she really likes the smell of blood on you right now, Mr. Rod."

"Uh, thanks."

Next, they bound the dark elf to the magically enhanced binding chair.

No questions asked — first a round of torture, then talk.

According to Rosalia, this was Interrogator Xiao Xiao Feisuo's habit; she believed the truth of words only revealed itself after extreme pain, so questioning had to come after the torture.

Because the sight of a cute little fairy in a bright green dress, beaming cheerfully while holding a pair of tooth-extracting pliers and iron shears for snipping off fingers, was simply too absurd.

Rod didn't much feel like watching, so he took Watching Yuna and Tally off to tour the underground prison, telling Rosalia to call him back when it was time for the questioning.

They passed through the underground great hall.

The three of them walked into the deeper holding area.

In fact, this place had only been expanded in the last few months, stemming from Stormwind City's hands-off attitude and the ravages of the Ruins Brotherhood at the time, which caused the surrounding crime rate to skyrocket.

(End of this chapter)