Lin Gui did not believe that the information he had disclosed or his righteous performance would reveal any flaws.
And the other party's expression indeed showed that he believed the identity of "Roger's nephew."
Roger, who had lived behind a mask in the Carter Royal Capital, had been unexpectedly candid after coming to Avalon.
During several heart-to-heart drinking sessions with close friends, he had revealed many private matters.
This included having a nephew who had been separated early in life, a relative he cared for deeply.
Those descriptions coincided surprisingly well with Lin Gui's narrative.
This provided powerful supporting evidence for Lin Gui's lie.
However, even though the demon man believed this "blood relation,"
He eventually waved his hand and gave the order:
“Take them all away.”
“Detain them for now.”
As soon as the order was given, the surrounding warriors immediately stepped forward.
Cold weapons were once again pointed at the three of them.
Whether in terms of strength or numbers, the other side was stronger than Lin Gui's group.
Lin Gui could have taken Theia and Eve and left.
But he did not do so.
He simply let the warriors subdue them.
The warriors placed specialized handcuffs on them.
These handcuffs could effectively suppress the flow of mana and battle force.
Afterward, the three were taken to an vacant house within the city.
Although the house was simple, it was fairly clean, containing beds, tables, and chairs.
The windows were reinforced with wooden slats, and there were warriors standing guard outside the door.
This felt more like house arrest than a punishment.
The demon man stood at the door, his blood-red eyes fixed on Lin Gui.
“Until Lord Gusion and Roger return to confirm it personally...”
“You must remain here.”
“This is all for the safety of Avalon.”
The demon man closed the door, and then with a click, he snapped a sophisticated magic lock into place.
Lin Gui moved closer to the gap in the door to look.
Embedded inside the lock cylinder were multi-layered magic circuit loops shimmering with faint light, possessing a complex structure.
He estimated it would take at least a High-tier Transcendent mage to unlock it without triggering an alarm.
He looked down at the black metal handcuffs on his wrists.
This thing was heavy and ice-cold, with suppression runes likewise etched on the inside to inhibit mana.
After putting them on, he felt his own mana output being suppressed to an extremely low level.
Probably... just enough to cast Novice Magic.
“Hmm...”
Lin Gui stared at the handcuffs for a moment.
It seemed this thing was only designed for suppression and did not have additional alarm runes drawn on it.
Meanwhile, on the bed.
Theia let out a sigh.
Yet, no trace of dejection could be heard in her voice.
“Sigh...”
“Who would have thought.”
“On our first day in Avalon, we’d be captured and locked up.”
She rattled her own shackled hands, her tone a bit subtle.
It was a kind of... exclamation as if a heavy burden had been lifted.
Looking closely, deep within her blood-red eyes, there was even a hint of relief and happiness.
Despite being under house arrest,
She had finally stepped into this city.
This place that had only existed in her dreams.
Those half-demon kin were living right out there.
Not driven out, not discriminated against.
Just for this, she felt...
All the danger and fear of this journey had been worth it.
Even if they had just been fiercely rejected by the residents.
But... remembering that forest elf, Theia's eyes brightened.
This was the second time such a strong impulse had welled up in her heart.
She wanted to get closer, wanted to understand, wanted to form a connection with someone.
The first time was in the tall grass of the Black Demon Forest.
When she met that black-haired, black-eyed, cold-faced wandering mage.
She tried to rouse the battle force in her body.
The handcuffs on her wrists did not budge at all; instead, they exerted a stronger suppressing force.
She lowered her hands helplessly.
“Eve, can you undo this?”
Theia turned her head, hope in her eyes.
Eve gave a bitter smile and shook her head.
Though she was technically a Low-tier Transcendent mage, her specialty was in healing.
Theia looked toward the other side of the room again.
Lin Gui had been studying the door lock there a moment ago,
But now he was nowhere to be seen.
She looked around for him,
And finally, by the attic window that wasn't completely sealed shut,
She spotted Lin Gui's figure.
He was quietly looking outside through the gaps between the wooden slats.
“Lin Gui! What are you doing up there?!”
Theia tilted her head back and whispered.
Lin Gui did not turn around, nor did he answer.
His gaze fell on the street below.
In the halos of several torches, the figures of two warriors could be seen standing guard quietly.
They were monitoring the house from a moderate distance.
“It seems that demon...”
Lin Gui murmured softly to himself.
“...doesn’t truly intend to imprison us.”
“The tactic of claiming a relation was quite useful.”
The door had been secured with a high-level magic lock, yet the window was left with gaps.
Perhaps that demon man thought that once they were wearing the power-suppressing handcuffs,
It would be impossible for them to do anything else?
Mapping a slight curl onto the corners of his mouth, Lin Gui looked at the heavy black metal on his wrists.
With a mere thought.
“Storage.”
His wrists felt light.
The pair of sophisticated mana-suppressing handcuffs vanished into thin air.
They had been stored within his unique extradimensional space.
Then, he conveniently pulled his oak staff from the space.
Sitting sideways upon it,
He looked down at the upturned faces of Theia and Eve and said in a voice as soft as a whisper:
“Stay here.”
“I’m going out for a bit.”
As the words fell.
The Shroud of the Gloomy Night silently covered his entire body.
Gripping the staff, he slid out through the gaps in the window's wooden slats like a wisp of smoke.
He wordlessly blended into the pre-dawn night of Avalon.
In the room below.
Theia stared dumbfoundedly at the empty window.
She then looked down at the unyielding shackles on her own wrists.
“He... He, he...”
She turned to Eve, her eyes wide as saucers.
“How did he just unlock those handcuffs?!”
Eve was also stunned for a moment.
Then, she chuckled softly, a trace of realization flashing in her purple eyes.
“Him...”
“He probably used...”
“...a new trick that none of us have ever seen before.”
Lin Gui sat sideways on the oak staff, floating through the night air of Avalon.
The night breeze was slightly cool as it brushed past his face.
He felt a long-lost sense of ease.
After mastering Storage, he finally no longer had to distract himself by manipulating a pile of supplies to follow behind him.
Everything sat securely in the extradimensional space.
Accessible at will with just a thought.
It was incredibly liberating.
He lowered his altitude slightly to look down upon the small city.
Avalon was indeed very small, with fewer than a thousand households.
The houses were low and dense, but their styles were varied.
Beside an ordinary stone-and-wood house where humans lived, there might be a semi-underground tunnel dug by gnomes.
Across from a beastkin's spacious shack, there might stand a treehouse meticulously built by an elf.
The styles were vastly different, yet they coexisted in a wondrous manner.
Perhaps because the intrusion of the three of them had caused a stir,
Even though it was currently before dawn, the windows of many houses were still lit.
In the dim yellow halos, flickering silhouettes could faintly be seen.
Lin Gui could almost guess what they were discussing.
The newly arrived "descendant of the Demon King," the mysterious mage claiming to be Roger's nephew.
He did not stop, nor did he lower his altitude to eavesdrop.
Controlling the staff, he continued to climb steadily upward,
And his field of vision widened accordingly.
The outline of the entire small city became clear under the thin starlight.
Several main mud-stone roads stretched out like veins.
His gaze quickly locked onto one of them.
On the road leading toward the central area.
A tall figure with the silhouette of bat wings was walking at an unhurried pace.
It was exactly that demon man.
Lin Gui no longer hesitated.
The Shroud of the Gloomy Night retracted his form and presence to the absolute limit.
He silently adjusted his direction.
Like a fallen leaf swept up by the night wind,
Toward the direction where that figure was located,
He drifted over.
Rate on N.U.
