Lin Gui stood stuck in the middle, his lips twitching slightly as he looked at the crowd of residents in front of him.
Their expressions... were incredibly bizarre.
It was as if they were trying their best to squeeze out warm, friendly smiles, but they only ended up looking stiff from tension and guilt.
The upward curve of their lips was unnatural, and their dodging eyes carried a hint of urgency.
A few tall beastkin half-demons tried to bend down to show friendliness, but their clumsy movements only made it look like they were about to pounce.
The human middle-aged woman who had pointed a pitchfork at Theia yesterday was now tightly clutching a basket of fruits and vegetables, her knuckles white from her grip, her face flushed red, and her lips trembling as she struggled to find her voice.
The entire loft was filled with a powerful, awkward atmosphere of ‘making peace.’
Speechless, Lin Gui turned his head and glanced back at Theia, who was still clutching his mage robe.
“I say...”
His voice still carried the hoarseness of someone who had just woken up, along with a deep sense of helplessness.
“Are you really just going to push me out like this?”
Theia poked half her head out from behind his shoulder, her blood-red eyes blinking.
She sounded completely justified, and even a bit disappointed in him: “Otherwise, what?!”
“Hurry up and use that mouth of yours to sweet-talk them like you did yesterday!”
“Just like the hero who stood up for me last night when I was at my weakest!”
Her tone was urgent, as if she were urging a disappointing weapon to quickly prove its worth.
Lin Gui remained silent for two seconds.
Then, he slowly closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
When he opened them again, his eyes were filled with pure exhaustion.
A hero?
Sweet-talking?
His performance yesterday was clearly just a calculated move born of necessity, leveraging someone else's reputation.
Yet in this girl's mouth, it had somehow turned into a heroic deed.
And now she expected him to put on an encore on the spot?
Looking at the distorted expressions and eager eyes of the residents in front of him, Lin Gui felt his headache growing worse.
Standing around in a stalemate wasn't going to solve anything.
Lin Gui massaged his throbbing temples, reached back to grab Theia's wrist as she clutched his robe, and gave a gentle tug, pulling her out from behind him.
“Come here, let me talk to you for a second.”
He spoke in a low voice, dragging the slightly resistant Theia to a corner of the loft without giving her a choice, turning their backs to the eager yet awkward crowd. Lin Gui lowered his voice and got straight to the point.
“They're probably here to apologize.”
“Apologize?” Theia stared at him suspiciously, clearly unconvinced. “They were pointing weapons at us last night, and they're apologizing today?”
“Look at what they have in their hands.”
Theia peeked over on the sly and replied, “Fruits, vegetables... and a bone.”
A bone???
Lin Gui glanced over in confusion, only to see the werewolf from last night holding a... bone tied with a bow.
Lin Gui: “???”
He coughed to clear his throat, averted his gaze, and continued, “Look at their expressions again. Don't they look full of apology?”
Theia frowned in thought, then replied, “I think they look more like... they really need to use the restroom.”
Lin Gui: “...”
Helpless, Lin Gui could only lay it out straight.
“When I went out last night, I went to the City Lord's manor to keep an eye on the actions of that demon named Morpheus.”
“During their conversation, they confirmed my identity as ‘Roger's nephew.’”
“Regretting how they treated me yesterday, they informed the residents, who then rushed over first thing in the morning to apologize.”
“Morpheus? That pure-blooded demon?” Theia blinked.
“Yes.”
“So... you went above his head last night to eavesdrop?”
“Yeah.”
Theia fell silent for a moment, seemingly somewhat convinced, but her brow quickly furrowed again.
She carefully peeked out from beside Lin Gui, looking at the residents once more, only to lock eyes with several gazes that quickly darted over, trying their best to look friendly yet awkward.
She pulled her head back as if she had been burned.
“But I still feel like something is off,” she whispered, the doubt in her blood-red eyes unresolved.
“If they feel guilty, it should be toward you, me, and Eve.”
“But why do I feel like... they keep looking at me?”
Lin Gui opened his mouth, pausing for a moment.
Then, a serious and certain expression appeared on his face.
“It's an illusion!” he said resolutely.
“You're just too tense.”
After a few more quiet words in the corner, Theia finally nodded reluctantly.
She pushed against Lin Gui's back, using him like a mobile shield as she slowly shuffled back in front of the residents.
Before Lin Gui could even open his mouth to break the ice, a petite figure among the residents lowered her head and carefully squeezed her way forward.
It was the green-haired half-demon Forest Elf, Winnie.
Her cheeks were slightly flushed, and her hands were nervously clasped in front of her.
When she looked up, her dark-red eyes were filled with clear apology and anxiety.
“S-Sorry...”
Her voice was soft, but she tried her best to speak clearly.
“Yesterday... we shouldn't have treated you like that.”
“The peace Avalon has now is too precious. We were just too afraid that bad people would shatter it.”
“We really didn't know you were...”
She took a deep breath, as if summoning all her courage, and then reached out a slightly trembling hand toward Theia.
“Um... if you're willing...”
“Could you... would you like to come over to my house first?”
Her eyes were clear, filled with cautious anticipation.
Looking at the hand extended toward her, Theia's body stiffened slightly.
Last night, the very thing she had dreamed of had suddenly appeared right before her eyes.
It left her completely stunned for a moment.
She had still been thinking about how she would have to work hard to blend into this group of different races living in harmony.
She had wondered if she should do what the books did—slowly lower their guard day by day through her enthusiastic help.
And then, after a sudden accident where she disappeared, make them realize with a shock that they had lost their helpful little elf.
Only after experiencing some thrilling adventures would she successfully get them to accept her.
And yet...
I haven't even done anything yet!
How is it that you, whom I saw as the ultimate reward, are packing yourself up and throwing yourself at me first?
Have you already forgotten the harsh words you said to me last night?
This is not how the pacing goes in storybooks!
Theia's mind was so full of questions that she failed to respond to Winnie's outstretched hand for a long time.
Seeing this, Lin Gui simply reached out, grabbed Theia's wrist, and pulled her hand forward without giving her a choice, gently placing it into Winnie's waiting palm.
“Wait...!”
Before Theia could even think to pull away, Winnie seemed to hit some sort of switch, and her previously timid eyes suddenly locked in.
In the next second, she closed her fingers, tightly gripping Theia's hand.
And then, she pulled hard!
Winnie's strength was unexpectedly immense.
Despite being a Low-tier Transcendent, Theia was pulled off balance and stumbled forward.
“W-Wait! What are you doing...?!” Theia cried out, trying to stabilize herself.
But the surrounding residents had already gathered around in perfect unison.
They weren't surrounding her to attack, but rather forming a friendly yet unyielding wall of people, subtly separating her from Lin Gui and Eve.
“Please don't be afraid...”
“We really mean no harm...”
“We just... want to show you around Avalon...”
“...and express our apologies.”
Amid the overlapping murmurs, Winnie held tightly to Theia's hand, her head lowered as she walked at a brisk pace.
The crowd bustled around them, moving toward the stairs.
Theia struggled to look back, staring at Lin Gui, her blood-red eyes filled with panic, confusion, and a hint of accusation, as if asking, Are you scheming against me again, you jerk?
Lin Gui stood where he was, not moving.
He simply waved his hand gently at her.
His gray eyes were as calm as still water.
As if to say: Go on, it's fine.
In the blink of an eye, Theia was half-invited, half-pulled down from the loft.
The sound of footsteps mixed with whispers gradually drifted further and further away.
Silence returned to the loft once more.
Only Lin Gui and Eve, who was quietly watching from the window with a smile in her eyes, remained.
Once the footsteps of the residents had completely faded, the loft fell entirely silent.
Eve turned away from the window and looked at Lin Gui.
A faint, subtle smile played on her lips as she asked softly, “Did you... do something yesterday?”
Lin Gui let out a long, careless yawn.
He casually pulled off his old mage robe, crumpled it into a ball, and threw it aside, before turning around to stuff himself into the narrow bed of the loft.
“Not really.”
His voice, thick with exhaustion, came muffled from beneath the blanket.
“I had planned...”
“...to use the fact that we can cross the Wailing Corridor as leverage.”
“To negotiate with them and get them to accept Theia.”
He paused, seemingly rolling over.
“Who would have thought that before I could even make a move, they would come knocking on our door themselves.”
His tone was flat, devoid of any real emotion.
Eve could hear the overly calm acceptance in Lin Gui's voice.
Her eyes flickered slightly, and she asked softly, “You... don't seem very happy?”
“It's a bit too early to be happy.”
Lin Gui's voice came muffled from beneath the covers.
After speaking, he fell silent for a moment.
The edge of the blanket shifted, revealing a pair of clear eyes.
His gaze drifted past Eve, looking out the window, landing on the pitch-black Demon King Pillar that towered into the clouds, seemingly supporting the entire Veil of Concealment.
“Avalon's safety rests entirely on this pillar,” he said in a very low voice, as if stating a cold, hard fact.
“Yet the pillar's owner, the Demon King Gusion, has left.”
“The residents accepting Theia is a good thing for her.”
“But if Avalon itself collapses and is annihilated because of Gusion's departure, or because he met with some misfortune outside, then all the acceptance and goodwill now will be utterly meaningless.”
His worry was very realistic.
Realistic to the point of being cold.
In this barren wasteland, all beautiful things were built under the protection of a powerful existence.
And when the protection itself was teetering, the brief peace might just be an illusion in the calm before the storm.
Rate on N.U.
