Lin Gui controlled his staff.
Behind him were two girls who had changed into simple, plain clothes, their hoods concealing most of their faces.
They floated high above the fractured cityscape of the Carter Royal Capital.
The howling wind whipped his black hair into a messy tangle.
It also blew against the hair of the two girls behind him, forcing them to reach up and hold down their hoods.
Lin Gui held a piece of letter paper in his hand.
His eyes quickly scanned it, and he immediately adjusted their direction.
The staff carried the trio flying deep into the commoner district.
“Where are we going?”
Elvia could not help but ask, her voice slightly distorted by the wind.
Without even turning his head, Lin Gui flatly spat out a few words.
“The rebel headquarters, Dice and Blood.”
Elvia: “?????”
For a moment, Elvia suspected that either the wind had played tricks on her ears, or Lin Gui's brain had been scrambled by the wind!
He had clearly been crouching right beside her atop Duke Joseph's ceiling.
He had heard the "Saintess Assassination Plan" targeted at the Saintess with his own ears.
It was impossible for him not to know that the rebels were planning to assassinate her.
The Saintess wanted him to protect her during the rebels' assassination attempt and help her slip away.
And what was he doing now? This guy was actually taking the Saintess herself, walking straight into the trap, and delivering her right to their doorstep?!
Elvia's mind went completely blank.
She had still been agonizing earlier over whether to secretly sabotage Lin Gui's protection efforts so the assassination would succeed, using the Crusaders to purge the Royal Capital.
But now... Lin Gui's absurd action was practically pushing the Saintess onto the assassins' blades with his own hands.
How was she supposed to feel? She was the one who had wanted to stab him in the back and tell him to mind his own business!
Even though this situation was extremely favorable to her, an indescribable sense of frustration and discomfort welled up in Elvia's heart.
The oak staff beneath their feet emitted a faint hum.
Lin Gui glanced at the somewhat crowded end of the staff and pondered.
It seems I really need to find an opportunity to upgrade to a longer staff. Three people is just too crowded.
In stark contrast to Elvia's shock and frustration was Saintess Eve.
She seemed completely unaware of what a dragon's den their destination was.
Instead, she widened her eyes slightly, feeling the wind blowing against her face, carrying the various scents of the city.
Under her hood, her exquisite lips seemed to curve into a novel smile.
This was an experience she had never had before.
Soaring through the sky, looking down upon all living beings.
Elvia remained sullen.
Watching Lin Gui search for an entrance in the streets, she had originally wanted to tell him how to enter the heavily guarded, tunnel-riddled rebel headquarters.
However, what happened next plunged her into deep self-doubt once again.
She watched as Lin Gui landed in a filthy alleyway.
He skillfully moved aside several broken wooden barrels that seemed to be discarded at random, revealing a concealed entrance.
Then, he knocked on the iron door in a specific rhythm and gave a complex secret code.
He even nodded and casually greeted the scarred guard who opened the door.
“Old Scar, you're on duty today? Lucky you, you didn't draw the lot to go to the sewers.”
The guard actually grinned, stepping aside to let them in.
“Oh, it's you. Brought friends today?”
Elvia felt her skin crawl as she watched from the side.
This guy... how was he more familiar with the procedures here than she was?!
He had even become familiar enough to exchange casual greetings with the rebel guards?!
What she did not know was that over the past two days, Lin Gui had already mapped out the entire vast and complex underground network of the Carter Royal Capital.
And the node where this rebel headquarters was located happened to be a hub leading to many critical areas.
To investigate the potentially hidden secret passages, Lin Gui had entered and exited this place at least twenty or thirty times.
He had even used a certain hidden tunnel here to feel his way near the underground area of the palace.
And there, he had discovered a shocking quantity of alchemy bombs...
Although their yield was not enough to blow through the palace, it was more than enough to collapse the entire palace foundation and sink it into the ground.
Even though this was a matter of life and death for the royal family, Lin Gui had absolutely no desire to tell Elvia.
He had even secretly adjusted the positions of the bombs to make them even more devastating.
As they went deeper, the filthy and chaotic interior of the casino gradually unfolded before their eyes.
The air was thick with a pungent mixture of cheap alcohol, sweat, tobacco, and a faint, lingering scent of blood.
Trash and unidentified stains were scattered everywhere on the floor.
Their ears were filled with the fanatical roars and curses of gamblers.
Elvia covered her nose and mouth with her hand.
No matter how many times she had been here, she still could not get used to this stench.
Yet, the noble Saintess did not seem affected at all.
She lifted her hood slightly.
She curiously observed the red-eyed gamblers staring intently at the dice cups, the scantily clad women weaving through the crowd, and the dead-drunk alcoholics in the corners...
It was as if she were looking not at a filthy and corrupt den of vice, but at some novel and interesting market.
Her attitude, completely oblivious to danger and even carrying a hint of appreciation, made Elvia, who was on high alert and complaining wildly in her mind, feel a deep sense of helplessness.
Stepping into the spacious underground casino, Lin Gui's arrival did not cause much of a stir in this chaotic Dice and Blood casino.
Many had heard that Elvia had married a mage named Lin Gui.
But most had never seen him.
It was not that the Akara Continent lacked Image Recording Stones to preserve visuals.
But those things were expensive and typically only used by top-tier nobles or for important occasions.
They were far from being popularized among the lower classes.
Furthermore, Lin Gui had left the post office to the managers and rarely showed his face after the first day.
So, no one paid him any attention.
However, the two women following behind him, even wrapped tightly in loose cloaks, could not hide their extraordinary nature.
The slender curves faintly outlined beneath the cloaks, and the elegant poise they unconsciously exuded while walking, were starkly different from the heavily made-up, vulgar women around them.
They radiated a purity and nobility untouched by the mortal world.
And of those who frequented the Dice and Blood underground casino, who among them was decent?
Among them were unfortunate souls whose families had been ruined by the nobility, leaving them with nothing but a desire for revenge.
There were also outlaws who purely sought excitement and chaos, greedy swindlers, brutal murderers, and cold-blooded killers for hire...
Almost no one here was a good person.
Soon, several malicious gazes locked onto the two women.
A burly, scar-faced thug with a fleshy face and broad shoulders swaggered over to block their path. He grinned at Lin Gui, revealing a mouth full of yellow teeth.
Several other drunken, bleary-eyed thugs noticed them as well. They crowded around maliciously, spitting vulgar words:
“Hey! Kid in the front! Pull off the hoods of those two chicks behind you and let us have a look!”
“Hiding them so tightly, are they too ugly to show their faces? Hahaha!”
“Let us brothers see what kind of goods they are...”
Faced with this provocative and insulting banter, Lin Gui stopped in his tracks.
Instead of getting angry, he nodded as if he were highly agreeable.
“Sure.”
The moment the word left his mouth, he suddenly reached out with lightning speed.
Whoosh! He yanked off the hood covering Elvia's head beside him!
In an instant, a cascade of golden hair and an exquisitely beautiful face filled with shock were exposed to everyone.
The leering grin on the face of the thug who had stepped forward to provoke them froze instantly.
His eyes widened to the size of saucers, as if he had just seen a ghost.
He stammered, barely able to form a coherent sentence.
“Se... Seventh Princess... Elvia?!”
Elvia was dazed at first.
Then, she snapped out of it, her face darkening with rage.
She spun around and unleashed a torrent of abuse at Lin Gui, completely discarding her royal image.
“Screw you, Lin Gui! You absolute bastard!”
“No wonder you agreed so readily when I wanted to tag along earlier! You were waiting for this, weren't you?!”
Lin Gui raised an eyebrow in slight surprise. “What are you afraid of? Don't you know these rebels anyway?”
“Your face can save us a lot of trouble.”
Elvia was stunned. How did he know???
Before Elvia could ask, Lin Gui replied flatly.
“That day, you threw a tantrum at a High-tier Transcendent.”
“I thought you had discovered me, which was why you were so confident.”
“???”
Ignoring the stunned Elvia, Lin Gui walked forward, and the Saintess closely followed him.
He headed straight toward the iron door at the back of the casino, which was guarded by two High-tier Transcendent rebels.
Guarding the door was none other than Ferguson, the scar-faced adventurer who had once sworn loyalty to Elvia.
He looked at the three approaching figures, especially Elvia.
His expression shifted, but he still stood firmly in front of the door and barked.
“Halt! If you don't want to die, leave this place immediately!”
Lin Gui rolled his eyes at him, too lazy to waste words, and only tossed back a sentence:
“Utterly ridiculous.”
Before Ferguson and the other guard could react, Lin Gui stepped onto the circular stage meant for exotic dancers.
The scantily clad dancer twisting her hips on stage was startled by this sudden intruder.
Her movements froze, and she stared at Lin Gui in bewilderment.
The gamblers below were also drawn by this sudden turn of events.
One after another, they stopped what they were doing.
They all looked over in curiosity.
Lin Gui stood in the center of the stage.
Without changing his expression, he unfastened a simple megaphone rolled from thick oilpaper from his waist.
He placed it to his mouth, cleared his throat, drew a deep breath, and shouted at the top of his lungs:
“Ahem! Quiet down, everyone! Listen for your names!”
“Barton! Forty-six years old, brown hair, brown eyes, with a scar over his left eye. Ten years ago, he was a blacksmith in his hometown of Woodear Town. He got separated from his family during the evacuation, and his whereabouts became unknown.”
“Your third son in Caran City, Eddie, asked me to deliver a letter to you. If you hear this, come up here and sign for it.”
“Matthew! Thirty-five years old, gray hair, brown eyes, with an old scar on his right index finger from stitching shoes.”
“Ten years ago, he ran a shoe shop in Woodear Town and often repaired shoes for poor children for free.”
“Your second daughter in Caran, Sophia, entrusted me with a letter for you, saying she gave birth to twins. If you hear this, come up and sign for it.”
“George! Sixty years old, hunchbacked, walks with a slight limp. He used to remind residents to lock their doors and windows during his nightly watch.”
“Ten years ago, he was kicked out due to the reorganization of the Defense Force and did not evacuate with his family.”
“Your grandson in Caran, Little Tom, asked me to deliver a letter to you.”
“He says he has become an apprentice there. If you hear this, come up and sign for it.”
“Anita the flower girl! Twenty-eight years old, blonde hair usually tied in two braids, with a few freckles on her face.”
“You used to sell fresh flowers every morning at the market in Molo City, and the children often called you the Flower-Picking Sparrow.”
“Your sister in Caran, Lillian, asked me to deliver a letter to you.”
“She says she has saved up enough money to open a small flower shop. If you hear this, come up and sign for it.”
“Roger! Forty-two years old, teacher...”
He yelled at the top of his lungs, reading out the descriptions on the envelopes.
He called out one forgotten name after another.
At this moment, only his shouting echoed throughout the entire casino.
The originally clamorous and boiling casino was rendered completely silent by Lin Gui's announcements of the letters.
In the dead silence, Saintess Eve's purple eyes, which had been half-closed, had opened fully at some point.
She watched the unconventional figure on the stage before her with great interest.
The corners of her lips curled up slightly, revealing a faint but genuine smile.
In a shadowed corner of the casino, a man leaning against the wall seemed to blend in with the dimness.
His eyes narrowed as he stared fixedly at the conspicuous group on and below the stage.
His name was Muze, and he was one of the rebels rescued by Fal.
As Caesar's confidant, he had not directly participated in this operation.
Previously, in the dungeon of the slave merchant Erwin, he had suffered far too much severe torture for far too long.
Although he had escaped, his body was already broken.
He was left with severe internal injuries and incurable sequelae, making him no longer fit to execute missions that required peak physical condition.
But he was a core member after all.
He knew all the details of the Saintess Assassination Plan.
This included the latest rumors about the Saintess temporarily changing her itinerary and demanding Seventh Princess Elvia accompany her to find a Holy Saint named Lin Gui...
He was perfectly clear on all these newly circulated reports.
Because of this, the shock in his heart at this moment surged like a tsunami!
Elvia!
Shouldn't she be accompanying the Saintess closely at this very moment?
Why was she here? In their very own rebel headquarters?!
His gaze snapped to the figure behind Lin Gui.
The figure whose slender silhouette was visible even beneath the cloak.
Then, he looked at the youth with the rare hair and eye colors.
A possibility that completely shattered his understanding and made his scalp tingle slammed violently into his mind!
Could it be...
that youth was Lin Gui?
And the person standing behind him... was the Saintess herself???
The incredibly noble Holy Saintess of Light, whom they had targeted for assassination...
was currently standing right inside their rebel den that wanted her dead???
Muze subconsciously raised his hand and rubbed his temples hard.
He felt like his brain could not process this. It was too absurd!
Forcing down the raging waves in his heart, he stumbled back into deeper shadows.
An old but reliable internal transmitter was installed there.
With trembling hands, he dialed an encrypted number.
After a brief ringtone, the call connected.
Muze lowered his voice and asked urgently,
“Hello? Have you guys... found the Saintess yet?”
From the receiver came a similarly lowered voice, carrying obvious irritation.
“No! Dammit, it's like she vanished into thin air after entering that Pariah Messenger post office on the Seventh Ring!”
Muze gripped the receiver tightly. After a silence that lasted several seconds, he asked,
“Is the Lin Gui that the Saintess was looking for black-haired and black-eyed?”
“Yes.”
Muze seemed to use all his strength to digest this fact.
Only then did he speak dryly, his tone filled with disbelief:
“...I think I might be looking at the Saintess right now.”
“What?! Really? Where??”
The voice on the other end instantly rose, filled with urgency.
“At the casino.”
“The casino? Is it the Golden Rose? The Crown Club? Or some secret establishment run privately by a high noble?”
Muze slowly turned his head, his gaze passing through the milling crowd and the filthy air.
It fell once more upon the chaotic stage. His throat tightened, and he squeezed out the words almost one by one:
“In... our casino.”
The other side: “...?????”
The other end of the line fell into a dead silence.
Only the sudden, heavy, and disbelieving breathing of the other person could be heard.
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