Chapter 674: A Week and the Newspaper

Shi Ying Town, New Rank Street.

Outdoor tables and chairs outside the 'Sophia Afternoon Tea' shop.

Under a beige small awning, Rod sat with his legs crossed, leisurely drinking black tea while reading a newspaper.

Today, Tally wore a meticulously tailored black maid outfit.

The skirt was puffy yet not overly exaggerated; the slim-fitting corset design clung tightly to her waistline, making her waist appear so slender it could barely be grasped.

A white ruffled apron was tied in front; instead of concealing her figure, the layered ruffles made the lines of her chest even more eye-catching.

She adhered to the persona of an elegant maid.

After refilling her master's black tea, she used a small fork she brought herself to cut off a tiny piece of cheese cake and handed it over with a look of doting affection.

"Master, ah—ah—"

Rod opened his mouth and bit down; the texture was silky and soft.

Hmm, this shop recommended by Lily is indeed good.

Beside him, Tally gazed at the fork in her hand, which still held a few crumbs of cake, chuckling foolishly.

"Master's saliva paired with cake is perfect."

Then she put it in her mouth and greedily licked it clean.

"."

Rod couldn't be bothered to deal with her.

There were few people on the street; even though today was the rare Hunting Festival holiday, most people had taken the day off.

It was all because they had just endured a week of tense deployment.

The peace concert by the superstar Cloud Elf would begin at 7 PM tonight, and almost everyone with free time had gone to Coral Bay to join the festivities.

Even the owner of this 'Sophia Afternoon Tea' shop was the same.

After serving Rod the snacks and tea, she was dragged away by a group of friends eager to join the fun, leaving only the key and begging Rod to lock the door for her after he finished eating.

Rod shook the newspaper, not caring much about it.

A week is not a long time.

But many trivial things happened.

First, the Banshee Chris, for some unknown reason, secretly contacted the team of superstar Layla Starlight, claiming she hoped to perform as a special guest at the concert.

Those who understand, understand.

The Undead Young Lady, envious of the concert's drawing power and potential earnings, recklessly tried to ride on the superstar's coattails.

And since Rod had recently retrieved the fleeing Layla Starlight unharmed,

the manager Camille was worrying about how to find someone to express gratitude.

Now that Chris had made such a move, she misunderstood it as Rod's intention and happily agreed.

Presumably, that manager had not seen many Banshees, spirits who mostly live in the countryside.

After Chris casually spun a couple of lies, she thought Chris was a future singing diva.

Fortunately, later when the submitted schedule reached our chief steward, the Arachne Elf Watching Yuna, she handled it urgently and managed to remove that person from the list.

When Watching Yuna reported this matter to Rod, she slapped her chest directly, looking terrified.

One could only say it was a close call.

Her own master cared about dignity.

If the surrounding bards knew that a forest ranger had forcibly inserted his woman as a guest at the concert, and then that grating sound of sawing wood was recorded by a recording stone,

who knows how those newspapers would write about the master!

Rod was fine; he didn't care much.

But he felt a bit sorry for Watching Yuna's exhausted look, so he directly transferred the half-vampire Vanessa from the underground magic ring factory to Coral Bay to help.

Half-vampires have experience from a certain age and have worked in places like Bahadur, so they presumably understand some human customs and social nuances.

The missing factory workers were filled in by the Moon Goddess Miss Lu Ka.

With her strength and knowledge, although she was mad and crazy, she could still imbue magic rings on the assembly line.

Not only that.

She even used the rule 【Moon Shadow】 from the Pale Corridor Labyrinth at that time, continuously creating five or six shadows, which greatly increased the ring production for this week.

It was just that her ferocious appearance, talking nonsense while working, was a bit scary.

She didn't sleep either; speech sounds were often heard in the underground factory late at night.

It didn't scare Selena, but it terrified the Mind Flayer Hart enough; she was very afraid of the Moon Goddess and would shiver whenever she heard talking sounds.

She heard that she hadn't slept much for a whole week.

Speaking of magic rings,

the 【Long-Distance Teleportation】 of the Magic Control Union still hasn't recovered.

With no safe sales channel for magic rings, he could only push them to some familiar ship merchants and bulk cargo merchants to sell separately.

Many matters and small quantities.

Annoying.

Rod didn't want to appear in person, so he thought of his old acquaintance, the Goblin Pete.

As for the Goblin race, the bold survive while the timid starve.

Pete was extremely excited; with a wave of his hand, he signed the agency contract and immediately got to work without stopping.

It counted as another stable income.

After a week of cleansing, the giant mutated Sirens in the Monster Sea had good results.

But to say there was no impact would be false.

Next, the trade route connecting Shi Ying Town to Shenlun City has opened; this route benefits not only Shi Ying Town's mining industry but also Coral Bay.

However, there is one not-so-good thing.

Recently, that Harpy chieftain in Eagle Claw Canyon seems rather irritable, stirring up storms from time to time.

According to passersby, they often see that still-beautiful Harpy matriarch gazing toward the Twilight Hills from the mountain peak, as if expecting someone to arrive.

Rod pretended not to hear.

That old thing is putting on a show; she likely waited specifically for someone to pass by before striking this pose.

What?

I, Rod, let her cultivate at my expense, yet I'm the scumbag who freeloads?

Tsk.

When she was clinging to me back then, she even said she would ask Jin Along to urge me to visit often; who is freeloadng whom remains to be seen.

"Hmm?"

Rod, who had just taken a sip of black tea, froze upon seeing the bold headline in the newspaper on the new board.

— "'Wings of Light' Raid! Important Materials at the Xuan Shui City Branch Church Stolen! Yige Sect Enraged!"

Wings of Light, huh.

That is the underground organization he funds from behind the scenes to fight the Yige Sect, led by that former recruitment battalion commander, Carter.

Rod has always paid little attention to how Carter operates.

He simply provides the money, then checks their achievements in the newspaper and reviews the reports sent by Carter.

Tally fed him another piece of cake; seeing her master's expression grow Ning Zhong, she leaned in to look.

"Oh my, publishing such a front-page news story; it seems the Yige Sect is finally getting serious~~"

Her elbow rested on the armrest of Rod's chair, her swaying head intentionally or unintentionally brushing against his chin.

The fabric tightened slightly, the lacing on her back outlining her slender waist, while the low-cut design faintly revealed an alluring shadow.

"Logically speaking, Carter has proclaimed the Yige Sect's true intentions several times now; why is there absolutely no reaction?"

Rod shook his head.

"Such declarations are too easily covered up or dismissed as conspiracy theories; I'm afraid few people will take them to heart. Their previous strategy was actually quite good: raiding several Campbell family and Yige Sect joint hideouts."

The Campbell family is a bunch of scum who traffic in people; the targets they select must be near these hideouts.

And these hideouts are mostly located in areas on the fringes of power.

Striking and rescuing helps rapidly expand their organization's reputation across the countryside and rural areas.

However.

Now, their raid on the church feels somewhat unnecessary.

Perhaps there is some important reason?

(End of this chapter)