Elendril noticed Xinyan's face immediately became bright red, brighter than he had ever seen before.
She was rapidly waving her hands before her face.
Her eyes were darting everywhere madly.
"No, no! You've got it all wrong! We're not in any relationship at all! Absolutely not, nada, none! 一点儿都没有!!1Translation: Not one bit!"
Elendril stopped the Toya.
"Ah, no, they aren't my wives. They're just the ones who saved me and brought me to Falstein."
Hearing that, Toya's face paled.
He quickly got to his knees and began to kowtow to Xinyan.
"I am sorry for mistaking you, benefactor of the lord! Please forgive me!"
He tried to bang his head against the floor, but Elendril stopped him before he could do so.
He looked at Xinyan.
The redness had gone down a bit, so she was probably calmer now.
But... why does it look like flames are coming out of her eyes?
"Don't worry about it too much. It was a simple mistake, right Xinyan?"
She hesitated, then stiffly nodded.
"I see, my lord. I will not make such a mistake again!"
Toya began to kowtow again, but Elendril held him from going down.
"Forget kowtowing. Is there a way for you to tell us?"
Toya nodded.
"Yes, if you could come down to the sewers, we can meet the priest. He lives in a room with an altar, and there, Terneim cannot see nor hear."
Elendril was surprised.
A room that could stop a goddess from peaking, even indirectly?
This priest seemed to be very powerful!
"Toya, wait for a moment please?"
Toya nodded, and took a seat at the chair.
Elendril didn't wake Yang Mi.
When someone was cultivating, it was best not to wake them up, otherwise the mana could erupt and cause a backlash.
"So, Xinyan, what do you think?"
He stared intently at her face.
The redness was mostly gone by now.
She thought for a moment, then answered.
"Let's go and see what the priest can say, then. And you better apologize for causing something like this! All your fault!"
She crossed her arms and pouted.
Elendril smiled.
She's pretty cute whenever she pouts... she looks like an angry kitten.
He stood up and quickly bowed to her.
"My apologies, Ms. Xinyan. Is that enough?"
"Yeah!"
She turned her head around and continued to pout.
Toya coughed, trying to not ruin the moment.
"Then, my lord, when would you like to set off?"
Elendril grabbed his gear.
"Let's go, then, just me and Xinyan. We'll leave Yang Mi here."
Toya bowed.
"Yes, my lord! Let us set off!"
The three of them quickly moved out of the inn.
Outside the entrance, Toya took a sharp turn to the left.
An alley bordering the inn appeared.
In the side of a building, all sorts of trash and water gushed out of a pipe that fell into a hole.
Elendril pinched his nose!
It smells terrible here! Like an animal that's been dead for several weeks!
He looked at Xinyan beside him, but she seemed alright.
Sigh.
Beside the hole was a hatch, which Toya confidently walked up to and opened.
A long metal ladder could be seen leading into a dimly lit space.
"My lord, benefactor, please enter through this hatch. This is the entrance to the sewers."
Elendril gestured to Xinyan.
"I'll go first and see if there's anything dangerous. You follow after me, alright?"
She nodded.
He approached the hatch and leaned forward.
Seeing nothing, he grabbed the ladder and directly slid down.
Ouch! The heat really is something!
Thankfully, he had his gloves and arm guard protecting him from the heat.
Shiiiiiing!
Swoosh!
Thud!
Elendril landed neatly on the floor of the ladder.
He gazed up and motioned Xinyan to follow as well.
Unlike him, she chose to use the rungs and climbed down slowly.
Seeing that both the lord and the lady had entered, Toya also climbed down, closing the hatch behind him.
Elendril glanced around while waiting for them.
The sewers were not as terrible as he expected.
Above them, a stream of trash and waste flowed from the ceiling to a pipe that had the top missing, which Elendril moved away from to avoid getting touched by stray waste.
There was a clear pathway on their side of the wall and the opposite side, and a wide canal of dirty water that rushed through it. The entire sewers was built of rough cobblestone. Elendril could feel that the floor beneath him was very rough and uneven. The ceiling was shaped in a simple arch, but it was not very high. Elendril estimated its height to only be around 5 meters at most.
Elendril finally registered the stench.
He immediately squatted down and almost retched in pain.
Dear Terneim, it smells like something died three times over and was left to sit here for years!!
He quickly covered his nose with his cloak, but it was barely effective.
His eyes watered from the strong stench of the sewers.
The two had finally climbed down.
When the smell hit Xinyan, even she ran over to the water and began to dry heave.
After she was done, Elendril offered her some water that she quickly drank.
"Now that you have adapted, let us go and meet the priest."
Toya had been entirely unaffected the entire time.
He had given them the look of someone experienced who had seen it countless times.
He confidently began to maneuver through the sewers.
Gurgle! Gurgle!
As they walked, waste flowed from countless holes in the ceiling.
Scritch! Scritch!
Many rats scurried through the pathways, but the rats avoided them completely.
Staring into the dimly lit passageways of the sewers, Elendril shivered.
He didn’t like the cramped sewers at all!
Despite being over 5 meters tall, it was only several meters wide.
The waste from above and the channel to his side served to make the walls seem more cramped.
They continued.
Toya often times jumped across the pathways, barely reaching the cobblestone path.
After half an hour, Toya stopped moving in an intersection between two sewer channels.
He turned around and gestured to a corner wall.
"My lord, my lady, we have reached the priest's room.
He directly walked into the wall!
However, instead of crashing, he phased straight through!
Elendril couldn't believe his eyes.
An illusion spell?
He waved his hand into the wall.
Other than his hand disappearing into the wall, it looked the complete same!
It didn't fluctuate at all!
He glanced at Xinyan.
She nodded.
He braced himself for impact, and walked straight in.
-----(:)-----
Celeste and her paladins stood at a door.
They had searched all over Falstein, and finally found the inn Elendril was staying at.
With just some money, the owner hastily agreed.
Celeste looked around her.
Five paladins had come with her.
They were all adorned in silver and golden armor, fully plated.
Helmets covered their faces, which made them seem like the judges of heaven itself.
Each carried a short sword and kite shield.
They had all long entered Rank B, with her subordinate, Dante, sitting at the threshold to Rank A.
She breathed in and breathed out, feeling the ice cold mana that ran through her body.
Her mind calm, she gave the order.
"Now!"
Bam!
A paladin crashed through the wooden door.
Crash!
The wooden door landed on the floor and splintered everywhere from the paladin's weight.
The paladins quickly rushed in, preventing the inhabitants from exiting the door.
Two paladins rushed to the window, closing it.
"This is the church of Terneim! Surrender, and you will have mercy!"
Dante shouted.
Finally, Celeste entered the room and surveyed it.
There were two comfortable looking beds and a staff propped to the side of one bed. A small table was pushed to the wall, neglected.
Despite that, the room still had a very cozy feeling to it.
Celeste glanced around, but frowned.
She turned to Dante.
"This is it? Where is Elendril?"
He shook his head.
"I don't know, Celeste. The room has only that girl cultivating her mana."
He pointed his shortsword at a beautiful girl who sat on the bed with the staff propped up.
Celeste recognized her.
She was one of the two girls who had been with Elendril the day before.
"Grab her."
Two paladins roughly tore the girl from her bed, and held her like a wanted criminal.
Celeste observed the girl.
She was only about 170 centimeters tall. Because of that, she hung limply from the arms, her feet not touching the floor. She had clear, white skin and smooth, silky black hair that fell to the chest. Her thin body seemed fragile as a flower, yet it radiated a devilish aura.
Celeste was certain that if she was a sculpture in the church, she would look just like a demoness from the scriptures.
Cough! Hack!
Now, however, because they had interrupted her cultivation, she began to cough blood from her mana going berserk.
"Keep her alive."
Dante quickly pressed his hands onto her chest.
He quickly calmed the mana within her body.
Her eyes opened in pain.
They were a clear black.
"You're Celeste, right?"
The girl asked.
Celeste ignored her question.
"System, call Xinyan."
The girl said.
Her face was as calm as a lake, unchanging despite the situation she was in.
Celeste felt a spark of respect for her calmness, but quickly pushed it down.
Slap!
"What is your name? Where is Elendril?"
The girl's head twisted to the side from the slap.
A purple bruise began to form on her once-perfect face.
The girl grimaced, then smiled back at Celeste in an infuriating manner.
"You’re not getting anything~”
She stuck her tongue out at Celeste.
"Kill me, you won't!"
Celeste nodded towards Dante.
Whoosh!
He chopped his hand down on the back of the girl's neck.
Her eyes rolled back into her head and she fainted.
Celeste sighed.
So Elendril and the other girl aren’t here… have they already escaped the city? No… that can’t be. No one is allowed to leave the city right now. Even if they did, they’d be immediately killed by the monster wave outside the city. So then, where could they be hiding?
“Lock her up in the castle prison. We’ll interrogate her after the monster wave.”
Celeste looked at the sky once more and frowned.
Am I missing something?
