Chapter 38: Enemies

To avoid losing fingers.

The Starling voluntarily submitted a contract of honesty.

This was originally a spell-contract created by wizards at the request of merchants to avoid being cheated; now using it here is also appropriate.

These four small creatures were of average strength and equally average intelligence, so they never got close to management decisions.

The wailing Starling told Luo De.

They only knew their mission was to kill Forest Warden Luo De.

“I’ve told you everything I know! Don’t kill me!”

Perhaps it was the effect of hormones in the Starling’s body.

At this moment, he seemed to feel no pain from losing his arm or being pierced through the body.

Luo De had intended to use the enslavement spell.

Applying it to a villain would not burden his conscience.

Too bad this fellow was male.

“Then there’s no choice.”

Luo De drove his sword into the opponent’s heart.

The Starling’s face filled with shock, then slowly turned to deep hatred.

“When you decided to kill me, you had to be ready to die by my hand.”

Luo De paid no attention to their corpses.

Instead, he hurried toward Shi Ying Town.

Informing Dimea as soon as possible might reduce casualties.

Moments later.

He crashed back into the festival’s festive atmosphere.

Today, the town hall had very few staff; only one reluctant girl sat at the front desk.

The staff were either patrolling the town for safety or using alchemical cameras to record the festivities.

Luo De headed straight for the Security Division.

He soon met Dimea and quickly informed her of the situation.

“Someone has infiltrated Shi Ying Town; the crackdown operation has likely been exposed.”

The betrayal of a security officer would not be an isolated case; the Brotherhood always excelled at kidnapping family members to extort.

The witch furrowed her brow and summoned David.

First, she took a bottle of pale yellow oily substance from her spell satchel and smeared it on David’s bewildered face.

After asking a few basic questions, she continued:

“This is an alchemical oil, originally used as a catalyst for two incompatible substances, but someone later discovered it prevents lying for a short time. Take a few trusted people and verify our operatives.”

David obeyed, nodded to Luo De, and left immediately.

“Perhaps you should cancel the operation.”

Luo De watched David’s retreating back and urged.

Dimea hesitated, then shook her head.

“The more underhanded the Ruin Brotherhood’s tactics become, the more they prove they’re running out of options.”

In her eyes, the Ruin Brotherhood was always a disorganized group that collapsed at the first blow.

“At least my intelligence shows they haven’t left their base. Once David finishes verifying personnel, we move immediately. Mr. Luo De, please take your position ahead of time.”

A common pit at the edge of Shuangzhi Mountain.

The firelight within the pit flickered intermittently at the entrance with the night wind.

A series of moving humanoid shadows flickered dimly, appearing especially terrifying beneath the dark, dense giant locust trees.

Listen closely, and you could hear muffled voices inside the pit.

Suddenly, one voice drowned out all other noise.

“Rajee! Rajee! Hey, have you seen Rajee?”

The female werewolf grabbed the arm of a passing figure.

“Rajee? Who’s Rajee?”

He was a dog-man with black fur, clutching a large bundle of weapons, his intelligent eyes full of confusion.

“Aren’t you from the Brotherhood?”

“Of course! I’m Black Robin!”

“Then how don’t you know who Rajee is?! He’s our Ruin Brotherhood’s fifth-rank Starling mage!” the female werewolf snapped.

“Starling? Oh! The transparent-dick guy! Now I remember—you should’ve said that sooner!”

“Good heavens, I always said we shouldn’t have recruited dog-men like this idiot.” She covered her head.

Although werewolves and dog-men both belonged to the canine race,

their appearances and statuses differed greatly.

Werewolves were humans with wolf ears and tails.

Dog-men had dog heads and human bodies, and were often of low intelligence.

“So where is he?” Cassidy asked irritably.

The dog-man pointed toward a room deeper inside.

“Earlier, the Igao Church called him in. By the way, who are you?”

“I’m Cassidy, team leader of this Brotherhood operation! You idiot!”

Cassidy kicked the dog-man aside.

And stormed into the Igao Church’s room.

“Hugo!”

Inside the cramped space, earthen walls were draped with luxurious curtains; the floor was covered in bricks and carpets. Tables, chairs, furniture, and decorations were all present.

It looked less like a mine pit and more like a nobleman’s chamber.

“Good evening, Ms. Cassidy.”

Inside sat a pale, gloomy clergyman, his red-and-black bishop’s robe marking his identity.

Bishop Hugo was reading the church doctrine in his hands.

“Where’s Rajee?”

“That Starling and his team have been assigned a secret mission.”

“What mission?”

Cassidy asked instinctively, then cursed: “Damn it, he’s a key mid-level member of our Brotherhood—when did you start giving orders?”

Half a month ago, this Hugo bishop suddenly appeared, claiming he wanted to discuss something important, and locked himself in a meeting with the boss for three full hours.

And the boss actually agreed to him!

That was what Cassidy couldn’t understand at all.

He was from the official church of the Aetheron Kingdom; we were a bottom-tier criminal Brotherhood. What twisted world made these two sides cooperate?

“Don’t worry—it’s just a trivial matter. A personal task I commissioned.”

Personal commission?

Cassidy suddenly recalled how the Igao Church had been humiliated in the Windwall Forest.

It was something like… the forest’s warden. Intelligence described him as a newly promoted fifth-rank warrior who kept a succubus.

A fool who kept a succubus couldn’t possibly be strong.

She didn’t care about the Igao Church’s grudges.

She was worried about the current situation.

As the leader of this Brotherhood operation, her mission was to rescue the imprisoned Brotherhood members.

“Then why send threatening letters? It’s utterly stupid—now Shi Ying Town has tightened security, and we’ve lost the initiative! They’ve already brought in a sixth-rank witch from Stormwind City; if this continues, sooner or later a seventh-rank legendary mage will arrive!”

Upon hearing this, Bishop Hugo nodded.

Casually turned another page of the doctrine.

Cassidy’s anger boiled over; her expression grew cold.

“Bishop Hugo, you seem unconcerned about our brothers’ lives.”

At this moment,

the Igao Church bishop finally stopped turning the pages.

He looked seriously at the female werewolf before him.

“I neglected that. My apologies.”

Cassidy was surprised by his submission; in their brief interaction, this Bishop Hugo had always been extremely rigid.

“You understand.”

“I neglected your morale. My deepest apologies.”

“.What?”

“Come out,” Bishop Hugo waved his hand behind him.

Cassidy suddenly realized someone else was in the room.

In the small corner, in shadow where the firelight couldn’t reach.

A slow sound of magical energy rubbing against itself emerged.

(End of Chapter)