A couple of minutes after the brief fight between Arthur and Zenzo, the former was inside the luxurious carriage.

The moment she heard that her lover’s life was endangered, Selene’s bearings changed drastically. Albeit her knight’s advice to either kick away or ignore the unknown aristocrat, she did the opposite and invited him into her carriage.

Admittedly, his sudden appearance in the wilds was more than enough to give rise to suspicions.

Furthermore, dumb as she might act, Selene wasn’t that stupid to let a strange sit so close her without taking precautions. She had taken out somesort of silver powder, which she blew toward the parasite.

He had already agreed to be subjected to such ailment, and though it was very risky, it was worth it to gain a bit of trust.

The dust’s effects seemed to be limiting any casting of magical spells. The last precautionary measure was Zenzo, who sat right next to the parasite and was ready to strike at any moment.

However, so far, ‘Leonis’ didn’t display any hostility. He compromised with their demands and let himself be weakened to facilitate their conversation and let them feel slightly relieved, especially Selene.

The girl wanted to know more about what he had said, and despite her knight’s insistence, she couldn’t let go of the matter. She was so obsession-driven that any matter regarding her lover made her become a bit irrational.

“Again, I thank you for agreeing to talk. I get that my arrival was without notice, but I deemed this road as the perfect place for our meeting.”

“Who are you…” The girl scrutinized the red-haired middle-aged man as she paused for a couple of breaths before adding, “...sir.”

Arthur’s mannerism, demeanor, clothes, and appearance all made him like an aristocrat. In fact, Leonis’ hair color was enough to make him distinguishable from commoners as they all tended to have either brown or black hair. Nobles, in contrast, commonly had blond hair, and in some cases, a unique and somewhat ‘flashy’ color.

“Leonis Sanguis, my Lady. I’m from the Militant Syndicate, more specifically from a small fiefdom in the Central-West part of Archwood. The reason for my rather aggressive appearance here was to warn you about the Warden and seek your aid.”

With a deep frown on her face, the girl maintained a short silence before asking,

“What you said… is it true?”

The parasite smiled and nodded his head, “It most definitely is, my lady. I didn’t come here empty-handed. I have proof, which I would like to show you.”

Slowly moving his hand toward his storage artifact, Arthur took out a standard recording crystal, which was a bit expensive for commoners but a popular commodity for the nobles. The function of this crystal was, basically, not different from video cameras, though they weren’t as good. The quality wasn’t sublime, but it did the job, for the most part.

Arthur handed her the crystal and gestured for her to activate it, which she did.

Soon enough, its transparent color turned black with some slight illumination around it, displaying a gloomy room with a single desk.

The angle was really bad, but you could see Bernard Capilla sitting on the desk and talking to someone not shown on the recording.

Soon enough, the old man’s voice came out of the crystal.

“That girl… I can’t let her have her way. Tsk! Just because she’s rich she thinks she can boss me around?”

Bernard gnashed his teeth and clenched his fists as he calmed himself down and took deep breaths.

“I have to proceed with the plan… and I can’t have her come here all the time. I want you to start preparing, we will soon get rid of that Southerner. I want him gone for good.”

As she heard that, Selene’s expression changed and her expression distorted so much that even Arthur was surprised.

“To begin with, he doesn’t have any allies besides her. She’s of no consequence to me while she’s away, so we’ll have to kill him in her absence. I don’t have to tell you that this matter needs to be between us and that there is no room for failure.”

With an ever-rising rage and fury, Selene clutched the crystal and glared at the old man, whose face was in full display. There was no mistaking it, it was none other than Bernard Capilla.

“She might throw a tantrum and cry for a bit. However, she alone, at least, can’t do anything to me. Her father is already worried about her obsession with the Southerner, so we’ll be doing him a favor too.”

The recording stopped a few seconds after, bringing back a tense silence to the carriage.

Zenzo kept glancing at the girl, but she just sat there, eerily silent but visibly furious.

‘At least I got one good thing from possessing a shapeshifter.’

Arthur hid his smile and stared at the shocked and infuriated girl.

“I hope this was enough to convince you, my lady. The Warden wants to kill your lover and also a friend of mine, and seeing that we’re in a similar situation, I thought about informing you. We can help each other.”

“Wait.”

Zenzo interrupted him and asked, “How did you record this? You must’ve been there. Moreover, the Warden’s office has many detection wards, so you couldn’t have slipped this under his notice.”

“I fully understand your reasonable suspicions, but I cannot divulge the means I had to use. Isn’t it already enough that I showed you this?”

Acting as if he was wronged, Arthur prepared to stand up and leave but Selene stopped him.

“N-no.. wait!”

“...”

“Thank you for showing me this! I-I..” She didn’t know how to express herself as she got emotional.

Tears trickled down her face as she sobbed, “I-I want to save my darling. Will you help me s…sir Sanguis?”

Zenzo was opposed to this and wanted to inquire more about the man. He knew of the Sanguis Family, but only about Sancha, who was the prominent member and one of the Ten Seats. His knowledge didn’t extend to the rest of her family, much less an exiled and distant relative. Still, there seemed to be some truth in Leonis’ words as the Sanguis Family members did have red hair. Furthermore, the knight didn’t detect any illusion cast on the man, which meant this was her real appearance.

As for Selene, she became desperate and seeing how Leonis wanted to get involved and do something, she refused to let go of this opportunity. She might be the rich daughter of a very influential Duke, however, she wasn’t individually strong.

Moreover, not even with a high societal status like her father would be able to order the Warden around. Sure, there might have been some leeway or room for negotiation if the prisoner in question was on one of the 4 floors, but those on the 6th floors were extremely dangerous and special. They had deep connection to one of the three ruling nations of the continent and they were closely monitored by many spies.

Selene’s lover was no different. However, as he hailed from the South, which was extremely far and barely had any influence here, they wouldn’t be able to rescue him or interfere were the Warden to attempt any nasty trick.

“As you know, my lady, the Shadow Keep Penitentiary is heavily-guarded. There’s also the layers of magical formations which greatly limit the use of Magic. If we want to save your lover, it won’t be easy. It will also require your direct involvement. I confess that it will be very risky and your life might be endangered.”

“I don’t care! I’ll do it!”

“...”

The parasite scrutinized the girl’s tearful eyes for a couple of breaths before nodding and standing up.

"I’ll contact you the next time you visit. For now, please feign ignorance and let me start preparing".

Right after saying that, he opened the door and dissolved into a green mist that disappeared between the lush bushes of the adjacent forest.

A bit after his departure, Selene’s sniffing had come to a sudden stop and her expression returned to normal, more or less.

“My lady…”

“I want you to investigate Leonis Sanguis.”

She wiped her eyes and coldly snorted, “To think Bernard has the indolence to try and trick me? He thinks he can kill my darling?! Hah!”

The girl grabbed her head and cackled like a crazy person. “I’ll show him! NO ONE can take my darling away from me!”

Zenzo heaved a sigh and looked away. It was a common occurrence for people to misjudge Selene and label her as a spoiled brat, but she did have a brain. Her natural and childish behavior wasn’t an act, but she was mature and smart enough not to fall for petty tricks and ruses.

She might have sought Leonis’ aid, but she wasn’t going to comply and accept everything.

‘Then again… if the Warden really intends to kill him, I’ll have to report to the Duke. The lady could get embroiled in this mess and possibly targeted by the Southerners. They would have him stay or die in the prison rather than break free and return North with the lady.’

North of Eldest King City

Within the vast green planes around the Crooked Bazarre, Evelyn and Aerin had gone into hiding to avoid their pursuers.

Faceless Death didn’t take her betrayal too kindly; They sent their strongest assassins after her. Although she was an expert in stealth, she couldn’t completely avoid their tracking artifacts, especially since she had to hide the poet too.

“Are you sure it’s this way?”

“Don’t doubt my vast and unrivalled traits of exploration!” Rebuked the minstrel as he walked deeper into the seemingly normal and empty cave.

The woman clicked her tongue and gave him the usual glare, but he remained as nonchalant as ever.

From his overly eye-catching outfit, which consisted of a bright yellow leather jacket, loose orange pants, and ridiculous wide hat that had multiple feathers on its edge, the man looked like a clown or a jester.

His face was utterly unremarkable and his short beard was slightly unkempt. The only ‘special’ thing that could be attributed to his appearance was his vibrant eyes, which seemed to be able to see through anything.

Evelyn didn’t regret her rash actions even with her organization after her. She might have returned to the South, but her days had been nothing but mind-numbing monotony. She didn’t like killing people for the higher-ups.

Put simply, there was no ambition to be had in such a life, and she knew that from the beginning. However, she returned nonetheless.

She wanted to get rid of the mark, or at least reduce its severe side-effects. Albeit not succeeding, her indecisiveness eventually caught up to her and she started looking for the necessary materials to summon the Undead Jester and, ultimately, locate and head to her Master’s side.

“Whoever you want to meet must be a fascinating individual, huh…”

As per usual, Aerin couldn’t maintain silence for too long. He glanced at her with a shit-eating grin and threw that remark, but she ignored him, which didn’t deter him.

“If it’s a man… could it be love?” He examined her from head to toe then focused on her face before shaking his head, “No. You don’t strike me as the loving type. Then is it a sense of belonging? Or loyalty? Not many reasons would push someone to summon the Undead Jester. Furthermore, the person you’re looking for must be hard to track if the Undead Jester is needed. After all, you are an assassin, so finding targets shouldn’t be as difficult as it is for other people.”

“I’m not looking for a person.”

“Hm? What’s that? I could’ve sworn I’ve heard some bullshit…”

He put his hand behind his ear and comically spun around, grimacing mockingly at her.

However, when she slightly moved the twin glistening silver blades in her hand, his body twitched and resumed his normal marching.

“With all due respect, my fair lady, people like you are infinitely ignorant about the world as a whole. You need the Undead Jester to find a person and that’s an undeniable fact. Do you want to know why? Because there isn’t a place on this small world that isn’t reachable using more conventional means, therefore, employing the abilities of the Undead Jester would be too much of a risk. Also, you don’t seem to be that knowledgeable about other worlds or have any clue about their names or whereabouts. Simply put, you’re easy to read.”

“Keep your scrutiny to yourself and walk faster. We’ve been walking for an hour and we found nothing.”

“Have patience, my fair lady. If it was that easy to find an Ancient Dwarven Core, then it wouldn’t be rare. You’ll be taking care of the hostile machines, however.”

He chuckled and, with a snap of his fingers, conjured a luminous violin which he started playing.

Surprisingly, Evelyn saw small golden particles latch to her body and infuse her with a mysterious energy, which greatly empowered her body. Power swelled inside of her and her Mana burst forth, materializing in the form of a milky white layer that covered her blades.