It had been two days since we freed all of the enslaved villagers in Xiulan, and we were finally getting ready to go to the capital.
The day we were discussing everything we knew about the devils, I asked Lord Yushan who the Scarlet Trio was.
I had heard a noble ntioning them during their eting at the theater, but I didn’t have a clue to whom he was referring.
From what he told , the Scarlet Trio was a relatively new group of experienced fighters that worked directly under the emperor and empress.
"They were hired at the sa ti as the new empress rose to the throne..." Wu explained.
It all started seven years ago when the sudden news of the death of the empress beca known throughout the country.
Apparently, nobody knew that she was ill, and a few weeks after she passed, a new empress was chosen to sit on the throne—Empress Yulian.
It was after she beca the ruler that the law for the commoners’ enslavent beca a thing, and while she was known for her unbeatable beauty, most people were frightened of her rciless deanor.
’It kind of matches with the story that Jackson told years ago. He said that a devil had gained control by sleeping with the emperor, but does he even know her true nature?’ I wondered.
Nessa, who didn’t really like talking about her past acquaintances, decided to brush her discomfort aside and tell us more about them.
Vyrazul, the devil that was controlling Guanghua, was a succubus that evolved into the highest form of demon and was later taken by Xalathas to beco one of his generals.
A succubus was a demon that seduced n in order to brainwash them or absorb their life energy, so it was possible that Vyrazul was using her powers to control the emperor.
With her powers, she was able to read the minds of others and shapeshift into their ideal partner, thus making it easier for her to seduce her victims.
Nessa said that Vyrazul didn’t have as much strength as Zagor, which was good to hear, but she was smarter and faster, so fighting her wouldn’t be simple.
"So, we got the devil, the Scarlet Trio, and that mage called Sinoc..." I said to my group.
With our new intel, lina and I started flying towards the capital with both Vespera and Yoru hiding in my shadow.
Nessa and the two battle-maids were staying in Yuandu to protect the settlent but also because their faces had been seen during their attack in Liren.
As we were flying, the sun started to set, and we descended in the middle of a desolate field and built a small base for us to rest in.
"Ichi, I was thinking..." said lina after we entered the improvised base.
"What’s up?"
"I started working on this two days ago. What do you think...?" she continued, snapping her fingers and casting a spell that turned her silver hair into a jet-black color.
"What the-? Did you create a hair dye spell?" I asked.
lina chuckled. "It’s not really dyed. It’s an illusion spell!" she clarified.
From what she explained, she needed to keep a small amount of MP flowing to maintain the spell active.
All it did was trick others into seeing her hair as black instead of silver, so it didn’t require a large amount of MP.
However, if the mont where we had to fight arrived, then her spell would break as she would have to focus her MP sowhere else.
"The nobles at the theater noticed my silver hair, and they know it’s not common here, so I thought I would use this to avoid any unwanted attention..." lina elaborated.
It was a good idea, but honestly, I stopped listening at so point and just kept staring at lina, baffled that she looked just as beautiful with black hair.
That night, I received a voice ssage from Sage Astra.
I had sent her a ssage a few days prior, when we were still in Xiulan, asking if she knew about any mage called Sinoc, but she never replied until that night.
"I’m sorry it took this long to answer back, Ichiro. I guess I wasn’t ready to face the truth..." she said at the start of the ssage.
In the voice recording, she told us that Sinoc was a young mage who had lots of potential and was one of the main candidates to beco the next sage at the tower.
For so ti, Sinoc trained under Sage Astra and beca even stronger. However, one day, he completely disappeared.
The sage said his disappearance happened a little over ten years ago, and after she received my ssage, she started her own investigation on Guanghua to make sure that it was the sa person.
When I first t Astra, I asked if I could attend one of her lectures, but she told that she didn’t teach anyone.
I didn’t know her reasoning at the ti, but I understood what she ant now.
’Her only student not only disappeared but is also working with a devil...’ I thought.
"Let’s play it safe when we get to the capital..." I comnted to lina after hearing the ssage.
The following morning, we woke up as soon as the sun rose, took down the improvised base, and kept flying east toward the capital.
We were going pretty fast, so it only took us a few hours to see the massive walls in the distance and the line of noble carriages outside the gates, waiting for their turn to be allowed in.
Luckily for us, we also spotted nobles who were in line without a carriage and were just walking behind the line of people.
We couldn’t do that in Xiulan since it was almost impossible for a noble to make it there simply by walking while wearing their elegant robes.
However, there were small commoner areas right outside the walls of the capital, and so nobles could be seen leaving and walking towards the gates.
"Let’s descend on one of those commoner settlents and walk from there..." I said.
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