Ch.16 What’s the Point of Hiring You?
Luo Nan stared fixedly at the inverted humanoid figure and circular emblem on the lobby wall, lost in thought.
“Hey, did you notice anything?”
Seeing Luo Nan silently staring at the emblem, Anya asked impatiently.
She felt this guy was just pretending to be profound. Yesterday, even the professionals dispatched by Princess Serela found nothing—how could an ordinary person like him discern anything?
Luo Nan didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled out a small glass vial from his chest—this was the ‘Tears of the Howling Wraith’ he had prepared in advance.
According to a certain side quest setting in ‘The Shining Myriad Trails’, the ‘Tears of the Howling Wraith’ are highly sensitive to Abyssal reactions, especially the power of the Great Lord ‘Nature’.
In the original side quest plot, the female protagonist successfully tracked down clues to Nature’s followers using this item, thereby thwarting a preditated sche before it could unfold.
Luo Nan dripped the liquid from the vial into his right eye and retrieved a small amount of power from the ‘Infinite Tree’.
Instantly, within his right eye’s field of vision, the emblem on the wall rippled with black waves, and the emitted black particles transford into thread-like mists stretching toward the distance.
‘Everything leaves traces—even power from the Abyss is no exception.’
Luo Nan withdrew his gaze, slowly narrowing his eyes as he watched the direction indicated by the thread-like mist.
“Hmm, I see nothing. Let’s go.” He responded to Anya.
“I told you already—you should’ve just waited at ho. Why make a pointless trip and waste an extra 30 Surs…” Seeing things unfold exactly as she expected, Anya crossed her arms, wearing an ‘I knew it all along’ expression.
Luo Nan smiled, offering no comnt.
Leaving the apartnt, Luo Nan seed unwilling to give up. He walked toward a certain direction and began knocking on the doors of residents there, one by one.
Knock, knock, knock.
Creeeak—
“Who is it?”
A slightly hoarse voice ca from behind the door. A middle-aged man with an unkempt beard stared at Luo Nan with dull, lifeless eyes.
“Hello, I’m a mber of the Royal Guard. Regarding the incident at Apartnt No. 23, I’d like to gather specific details from you.”
“…Co in.”
“Thank you for your cooperation.”
The man’s ho had virtually no extra furniture—aside from a bed, a stove, and a table, only various pots, pans, and kitchenware remained.
Clearly, this was a poor household.
At this mont, Luo Nan noticed the man’s right arm was missing.
“What do you want to ask?”
The man’s voice was filled with numbness, seemingly indifferent to the two people who hadn’t even proven their identities, chanically posing the question.
“During the past week, have you heard any strange sounds coming from Apartnt No. 23?”
“No.”
Luo Nan asked the middle-aged man one unremarkable question after another. As expected, the man’s responses were either ‘No’ or ‘I don’t know’.
Thump. Thump—
“What was that sound?”
Anya, standing behind Luo Nan, faintly heard a sound coming from underground.
“…”
The man didn’t answer—only stared at Luo Nan with those dull eyes.
“Sothing’s wrong!”
Anya finally sensed the abnormality. She swiftly drew her longsword and told Luo Nan, “Step back quickly.”
Luo Nan also seed to react—he abruptly stood up and retreated behind Anya, pointing at the man ahead. “He’s suspicious!”
“I can see that!”
Clang—
The tallic clash pierced their eardrums. Luo Nan saw that the man’s previously empty right shoulder had miraculously grown a pure black arm, reaching toward him.
Fortunately, Anya reacted swiftly—the silver-gray longsword successfully blocked the arm oozing black fluid.
And on the back of the man’s hand was carved the inverted humanoid figure within a circle.
“Indeed, I didn’t co to the wrong place—the mist led
here.” Luo Nan thought to himself.
“Luo Nan von dillion, I never expected you’d dare co here personally… What, weren’t you scared enough last ti?”
The man was, of course, referring to the assassination attempt at the banquet.
“You know ?”
“Of course I know you—who doesn’t know the illustrious reputation of Young Master dillion?”
“Oh? So it was indeed preditated. Miss Anya, please protect —they must have accomplices.” Luo Nan tried to hide himself behind the girl, but realized their body sizes were mismatched—he simply couldn’t hide.
Anya, who had been watching Luo Nan’s actions out of the corner of her eye, looked at him with slight disdain. “I told you already—you should’ve just hidden in the Duke’s manor. Why co out here looking for trouble?”
With that, the golden-eyed girl let out a fierce shout, exerted force with her arm to deflect the man’s black arm to the side, then lifted her leg and kicked hard.
CRASH!!!
Unsurprisingly, the man was sent flying by Anya’s kick, crashing into the edge of the stove. Pots and pans above scattered wildly.
“Cough… You’re quite strong for a little girl…” The man struggled to rise from the ground, spitting out bloody phlegm, his eyes cold and sinister.
Ha—
Seizing the mont before the man could regain his stance, Anya pressed her advantage. In one swift step, she closed in beside him and thrust her sword forward.
Rip!
Although the girl’s silver-gray longsword was once again blocked by the man’s black right arm, she grinned. “Hehe, I was waiting for you to do exactly that!”
Before the man could react, Anya released both hands, using her elbow like a blade, striking straight into his chest cavity!
BOOM!!!
The already breathless man was sent flying backward again, while Anya elegantly caught her longsword before it even hit the ground.
“You, get out of this room now!” Seizing the mont while the man hadn’t recovered, the girl turned her head to urge Luo Nan to leave first.
“Don’t dream on. This place has long been under my Lord’s gaze.”
Seeing Anya urging Luo Nan, the man on the ground grinned grotesquely and continued, “I must say, you two have big hearts. I didn’t even ask for your identification, yet I invited you in—such an abnormal situation, and you didn’t even stay alert?”
“Of course we stayed alert—just like… this.”
Luo Nan, at so unknown mont, pulled out a transparent crystal sealed with golden light. “Have you seen this thing before?”
“This is… Sealed Purifying Light?”
The man clearly recognized it—he instantly identified the item in Luo Nan’s hand.
“Give you credit for knowing your stuff. This is top-grade, purest Purifying Light—premium goods straight from the Church.”
Luo Nan toyed with the crystal in his hand. “Guess how many seconds you, a follower of the Abyss, and this foul Abyssal environntal magic, can withstand once this crystal is activated?”
Anya turned to look at the crystal in his hand and gritted her teeth. “Why didn’t you take this out earlier if you had such a good item?”
“If I’d taken it out early, wouldn’t my extra 30 Surs have been wasted?” Luo Nan replied matter-of-factly.
“You this guy…”
“Besides, how was I supposed to know you’d be so useless? You couldn’t even detect the environntal sealing magic, forcing
to waste a Purifying Light for nothing.”
“I’m just a warrior, alright? Why don’t you send a mage to fight in close combat?”
“Sigh, useless bodyguard.”
“…”
Anya felt her brain swelling, thinking this spoiled noble was so unreasonable—forcing a warrior to counter magic?
Yet she couldn’t refute him.
Because she had indeed allowed her employer to fall into danger.
With her rage level soaring, Anya decided the Abyssal follower before her would pay the price!
“Stop spectating—if you don’t co out now, Luo Nan von dillion will escape!”
Just as Anya raised her sword to attack, the man, whose ribs had been broken by her elbow strike, shouted toward the cellar door beside him.
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