Chapter 586: Wind of Shadows

The night before last.

Windstorm City.

The streets were empty; the night wind howled, and occasionally the metallic clink of soldiers' armor echoed.

Weathered cobblestones, long neglected, were filled with rainwater in their cracks, and heavy footsteps crushed through them.

Water splashed.

Just as it arced over a stone skylight, it splattered into a semi-basement room below.

In the basement, clutter was neatly stacked in the corners, leaving only a worn, long table in the center.

The basement glowed with dim yellow candlelight.

A dozen or so people sat or leaned against the walls.

Warriors in armor, mages in finely embroidered silver-thread robes, and agile scouts and rangers.

One glance revealed a team with full functional roles and diverse capabilities.

"This place is filthy, damn it!"

A dark-skinned, hairy dwarf slammed his fist on the table, scowling.

"Keep your voice down—do you think Rosalia found us a place to talk easily?"

A human woman leaning against the wall, idly playing with a dagger, didn't look up.

After speaking, she glanced at the woman sitting quietly at one end of the table.

Her ears, shaped like elf ears but made of thin insect wings, were strikingly unusual.

She sat upright with elegant poise, her face beautiful, her figure graceful.

It was the Tooth Fairy fairy, Rosalia.

Rosalia blinked slightly and smiled: "Before joining the Wind of Shadows, I worked in Windstorm City—I know it well. It's no trouble."

"Hear that? Rosalia says it's no trouble!" the fierce dwarf warrior added.

"Rosalia's being polite—keep your mouth shut! If those Igors catch wind of this again, don't expect to get off as lightly as last time!"

A human mage beside him, having just cast a silence spell, exhaled and snapped at the dwarf.

"*/*//* (dwarf curse)."

"Say that again?!"

"I—I didn't say anything."

Faced with the dwarf's instant submission, the mage snorted and let it go.

"Enough."

A black-haired woman seated at the far end of the table spoke.

Her voice was authoritative, serious, and calm.

One could tell at once she was composed and unflappable.

At the Wind of Shadows' leader's words, the murmurs instantly ceased.

The leader turned to Rosalia first: "I'm sorry, Rosalia. This happened right after you joined—we never expected the Kingdom would temporarily merge the Wind of Shadows into the Igor recruitment force."

"I understand, Leader."

Rosalia maintained her calm demeanor.

She had joined the Wind of Shadows to investigate the fairy massacre from decades ago.

But that had been fifty years ago.

After the case was overturned and those responsible held accountable, the Wind of Shadows was restructured, and even the records of its original core members were sealed.

She had already been struggling to find where to begin.

Then, without warning, an order came down: she was ordered to merge with the passing Igor recruitment force.

As a result, she was now returning to her old haunts—and even heading toward Shi Ying Town.

"Hmm."

The leader turned to the others in the basement.

"Everyone, you all know what the Igors are—I know none of you are comfortable working with them. But no matter what the Igors are, Lord Ma Erke has assigned us another task."

As she spoke,

she deliberately emphasized the title "Lord Ma Erke."

"Lord Ma Erke's task?"

"If it's the Grand Judge's order, we'll hear it out."

Lord Ma Erke clearly held great prestige among the Wind of Shadows members.

Just hearing his name instantly lifted their spirits.

But someone voiced concern:

"The King and the Council distrust the Grand Judge deeply—his power has been diluted by the Royal Secretary and the Church. Lord Ma Erke's position is currently weak."

The Wind of Shadows' leader nodded.

"Precisely because of that, we must succeed in this mission."

"And the Grand Judge has learned that the Igors are coming to Dusk Hills to meet with an unknown faction—this appears tied to an Igor conspiracy. Find that faction and destroy its secrets."

"Understood!!" x13

No sooner had she finished,

than the human mage frantically waved his hands: "Quiet! Quiet down!"

The group fell into awkward silence.

A moment passed in quiet.

"Speaking of the faction in Dusk Hills,"

the dark-skinned dwarf warrior rubbed his beard, thinking, "Could it be Luo De, the forest warden of Windwall Forest? He's been the most talked-about figure in the papers lately."

"Unlikely—he defeated the Infernal Duke with seventh-rank power and killed two dragons. Wait, is that even believable?"

"I've seen it too—the papers say he conspired with Asmodeus, and the dead in Coral Bay were actually sacrifices offered to the Infernal Duke."

"Bards' newspapers—you know how they are. Exaggeration is normal."

"Exactly. Public opinion isn't about truth—it's about what people want to hear. A seventh-rank warrior rising up against a demon duke? Isn't that thrilling?"

"I don't know about thrilling—I just know these papers are full of lies. A while back, I saw a headline saying Lai La Xingyu's continent-wide concert tour was coming to Dusk Hills. What happened? Nothing."

"Who is Lai La Xingyu?"

"You don't know her? She's a superstar! A cloud elf—her singing is incredible!"

"I have a recording stone of Lai La Xingyu's Deepwater City concert. Five Jin Along for a one-day rental—anyone interested?"

"Five?! How about you just rob a bank! Is some singer worth that much?!"

"What do you mean 'some singer'? Our Lai La is a bard who sings of love and peace! Her concerts call for an end to war!"

"Quiet, all of you!"

Watching the conversation veer wildly off-topic,

the black-haired leader, used to her team's noise, pinched the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

She turned again to the new recruit, the Tooth Fairy fairy.

"Rosalia, you lived in Shi Ying Town for a while—what kind of person is Luo De?"

Rosalia paused, thinking.

With her insect-exoskeleton-covered index and middle fingers, she brushed her hair behind her ear.

"Lustful. Extremely lustful. Vain. Unconventional in his methods. And extremely lustful."

The group fell silent.

The dwarf warrior scratched his ear, then realized: "She said 'lustful' three times."

The woman leaning against the wall, playing her knives, glanced at Rosalia's curvaceous, alluring figure.

She sighed—it wasn't hard to imagine what Luo De had done to her.

"Little Rosalia, don't worry—when we get to Shi Ying Town, I'll beat up that Luo De for you."

Another spoke:

"Given his personality is so… distinctive, he's probably easy to corrupt."

Rosalia smiled at the knife-wielding woman.

Then she declared firmly:

"Luo De is lustful, yes—but he would never conspire with the Infernal Duke or ally with the Igors. His will and strength are unlike anything ever seen—he surpasses everyone's imagination. If we must choose one person in Dusk Hills to rely on or trust, it must be him."

(End of Chapter)