Chapter 9: Not Quite Sure Why One Carries a Secret Letter on One's Person

The disposal of the bodies was ultimately left to Vivian.

After all, there was no one else to entrust it to.

At that moment, a faint clamor drifted from afar.

The sky, streaked with sparks, roused the residents of Shi Ying Town from their slumber.

They came toward this direction one after another.

Rod had no intention of letting them see his face, so he and Tally mounted their horses and hurried toward Two-Finger Mountain.

As for the secret labyrinth—

Two-Finger Mountain had an inactive underground labyrinth that no longer spawned monsters.

It was remote enough to be a place even a homeless vagrant wouldn't go, making it a fine choice for a secret camp.

Before setting out, Rod had commissioned Vivian to inform the town's constable about the halfling, Ali.

"Young Lady Isabella, we have results."

Constable David said deferentially to the eldest daughter of the Aguel family.

On the hillside was a female knight in gleaming armor, mounted on a white horse.

The resolute face, the crisp bearing, and the powerful aura all marked her as a warrior at the peak of the Sixth Order.

As the most gifted of the younger generation of the Aguel family—

Isabella had trained in spiritual arts since childhood, and at just twenty-seven had already stepped into the Sixth Order, a hair's breadth from the Seventh.

After relations between the Kingdom of Etheron and the Celestial Flower Kingdom soured—

she had volunteered for the front lines, and was said to have single-handedly slain a Seventh-Order orc warrior.

Legends about this Young Lady Isabella circulated widely in Shi Ying Town.

Therefore, everyone present held her in great respect.

"Speak."

"The divination shows that Young Lady Daphne is at Two-Finger Mountain, and has not been harmed."

David glanced at the man behind him.

A male half-deer person.

His face wore an arrogant look, arms folded across his chest.

His nimble deer ears twitched from time to time—said to be the most perfect medium for their spiritual communication.

As the most famous race of diviners on the continent, half-deer people charged fees not only outrageously high, but their attitudes were atrocious to the extreme.

David very much wanted to spit in his face, but could only swallow it down in silence.

"Is it accurate?"

Isabella still gazed into the distance.

"Nine times out of ten," the half-deer man said proudly.

This result had also been exaggerated by him—so-called divination was originally just one link among countless threads of fate; being able to glimpse one was already a unique ability on the continent, how could it possibly be a hundred percent accurate.

Heh-heh, he'd long heard of the Aguel family's great influence; if he could latch onto such a lofty branch, why worry about the future?

Still lost in fantasies of what was to come, he heard a sudden sharp hiss!

A steel blade suddenly left its sheath and slashed fiercely at him.

"No!"

The half-deer man shrieked in terror.

When he came back to his senses, Isabella merely looked at him coldly, without having actually moved.

And David beside him was looking at him with a strange expression.

How could he fail to realize this was the Aguel family's eldest daughter giving him a warning.

This kind of presence—he had never felt it from any other Seventh-Order either.

Just at the peak of the Sixth Order. Truly terrifying.

He gritted his teeth and, mimicking David, bowed.

"If there is any error, I will bear full responsibility."

"Very well."

Isabella swept her battle cloak aside and turned to face her subordinates.

Her gaze was so sharp that almost no one dared meet it.

She swiftly issued battle orders, urging the killing of every bandit—the tactics were extremely aggressive.

She appeared to show no concern whatsoever for the life or death of her own sister, Daphne.

"Young Lady Isabella."

David steeled himself and stepped forward.

He said, "Such a great show of force may provoke the bandits and place Young Lady Daphne in danger."

"Daphne—yes, my sister."

Isabella's gaze barely changed.

Yet a trace of softness surfaced in her words.

Just as David thought there was room to back down—

"The Aguel family will never bow to any enemy, never compromise—only fight! Fight to the last moment! Even in hell we will not stop!"

Isabella said coldly.

"This—"

"All troops! Attack!"

The firm voice reached every ear, and with it, they felt even their blood begin to boil.

Silence.

That was Rod's first impression of Two-Finger Mountain.

A sky pressed black with clouds, banyan groves growing wild beyond all reason.

It was as if the foot of the mountain and its peak had been split into two separate spaces.

Though the Windwall Forest had few visitors, it was home to various creatures, and the chirping of birds and insects was a constant presence through the night.

But here, there was only the humming of the night wind.

From the feedback of 【Blessing of Trees】.

The trees here had all stood for over five hundred years.

Rod advanced a short distance further.

He quickly spotted a light.

Not far off, beside a massive tree hollow with blue crystals jutting outward, a kobold was dozing.

That enormous tree hollow was the entrance to the abandoned labyrinth.

A labyrinth — much like what on Earth would be called a dungeon.

They appeared in certain places for no reason at all, their interior utterly unlike the surrounding environment.

Creatures that wandered in by mistake would undergo a certain degree of mutation, becoming monsters with a strong tendency toward aggression.

Some scholars speculated that they were the entry points through which the evil gods of that other dimension connected to the continent — one of their means of corrupting it.

In truth, labyrinths had already been recorded in chronicles tens of thousands of years ago.

For the evil gods of that other dimension to still be building entry points after tens of thousands of years — that explanation didn't really hold water.

Nowadays, most people considered labyrinths a kind of natural disaster phenomenon, possessing uncertainty and instability.

"Tally, do as I just told you."

Based on the contents of the secret letter, Rod judged that Ali had not yet been to the labyrinth.

"Okay~"

Tally cast a shapeshift spell, her height gradually shrinking until she finally took on the appearance of the halfling, Ali.

She had been through a battle, and over the past few days Rod had been in closed-door cultivation, abstaining from desire.

The magical power within her was already nearly spent.

So, to prepare for the coming battle, the two of them had been forced to perform two mana-replenishing acts on horseback.

Next, Tally used a shadow spell.

Dragging Rod into her shadow.

"Eek!" Tally let out a coquettish cry.

"What's wrong?"

"Master coming in tickles me~"

"…Don't take the form of a man and say things like that to me."

"A succubus's shapeshift spell has a flaw — it can't turn into a male. Look, down below I'm still—"

Saying that, she started to pull down her own pants.

"Stop! Stop! Get to the serious business!"

Rod immediately stopped her.

Tally wore a smile, thoroughly pleased with herself — clearly she considered this a small victory in her contest with Rod.

【Tally's obedience to you +1, current obedience: 59】

The serious business came first.

The kobold at the entrance was startled awake by footsteps and immediately grew tense.

Seeing the halfling Ali, it relaxed.

"Vanguard Officer, my lord, it's been a while."

Tally nodded, saying nothing more to him.

She was about to walk straight in.

But the kobold called out to her.

"Oh, Vanguard Officer, my lord, where's John? I don't see him."

Rod's heart gave a sudden jolt.

Could it be a code phrase?

His steel sword slowly slid from its sheath, bracing for the worst.

Tally turned her head coldly.

Revealing the scar on her left cheek.

"John? A useless waste like you — even dead, still dragging me down."

Cold sweat broke out over the kobold, and it immediately began bowing and scraping.

Hurriedly leading her inside.

Rod let out a breath of relief.

Fair enough.

It was supposed to be a secret mission, yet the secret letter hadn't even been destroyed — and it even listed the people and the location. How careful could these people possibly be?

(End of chapter)