Morpheus knocked on the door with great force—so loudly that the surrounding residents heard it and peered over curiously.
However, there was no response for a long time.
Morpheus's heart slowly sank as doubts began to swarm his mind.
The positions of all warriors in Avalon who possessed battle force or magic fluctuations could be roughly sensed by the central Demon King Pillar.
This was the reason he had chosen this moment to come to the door; he had confirmed that Lin Gui and the other two were still inside the post office.
Moreover, the post office was very close to his own residence.
So close, in fact, that he could see the second-floor windows of the post office directly from his own window.
When he arrived, he had seen Eve reading at the counter through the window.
Yet at this moment, the building was deathly silent.
The feedback of magic was also blurry, as if a part of it were being shielded by some soft yet resilient power.
The anxiety of pressing time coiled around his heart like cold vines.
The premonition that Lord Gusion was in grave danger overrode basic etiquette.
"Excuse me."
He whispered as he applied force with his hand.
With a light click, the door lock was jolted open.
Morpheus pushed the door and entered.
"Is anyone here?"
He asked in a raised voice, his footsteps never stopping.
His gaze quickly swept across the empty first-floor business area.
No one.
He walked quickly up to the second floor, calling out as he pushed open the doors to several bedrooms.
The beds were tidy; there was not a soul to be found.
Surprisingly, no one was there.
Morpheus's blood-red eyes narrowed slightly.
He carefully spread his demon energy to sense the presence of others throughout the entire post office.
The construction of the post office had been carried out with his approval, so he knew the layout by heart.
His demon energy gradually permeated every corner, eventually stopping abruptly at the basement.
Something was obstructing his investigation.
A flicker of vigilance mixed with even deeper suspicion rose within him.
Unlike the other residents, Morpheus had always maintained the highest level of alertness regarding this group.
This vigilance stemmed from the very beginning, when he first intended to let the residents interact with Lin Gui's trio.
He remembered clearly that no one had ever removed the power-suppressing handcuffs from those three.
Initially, when he recalled this, he had planned to secretly send someone to unlock them.
However, when they met again, he discovered that the handcuffs originally binding them were gone.
Those power-suppressing handcuffs were inscribed with composite rune arrays, combining meticulous dwarven forging with demon rune techniques.
Not only could they powerfully suppress the wearer's energy flow, but their locking mechanism was also exceptionally complex.
Conventional lockpicking, magical unlocking, or even violent destruction would trigger the internal countermeasure mechanisms.
The most direct "key" was held by the core guards of the City Lord's manor.
As for escaping them...
One either used the corresponding, unique magical secret key to open them.
Or, one used pure violence far exceeding the design limits of the shackles to forcibly destroy them from the outside.
Morpheus asked himself if he could do it even if it were he.
Without exercising his authority as City Lord to summon the "key," even he could not remove those handcuffs.
And yet, the three of them—weak warriors who didn't even have a single person at the Legendary rank among them—had accomplished it.
Morpheus did not know what means the other party had used.
But he knew clearly that the other party was absolutely not as simple as the exterior they presented to the world.
Following the guidance of his demon energy, his gaze finally fell upon that unremarkable wooden door leading to the basement.
The aura around him slowly became heavy and sharp.
He stifled all sound from his footsteps, blending into the shadows as he moved noiselessly toward the door.
Morpheus's steps were extremely light; as he stepped onto the wooden stairs leading to the basement, he made almost no sound.
Only the faintest creak, nearly covered by his own heartbeat, was particularly clear in the silence.
The further down he went, the more the malicious speculations surged in his heart.
What were the three of them doing, hiding away in this secluded spot away from prying eyes?
Drawing a magic array to summon a demon?
Setting a coordinate that could penetrate the Demon King Pillar's barrier to expose Avalon's exact location to the outside world?
Or... planning some other conspiracy sufficient to destroy this city?
At the thought of this, Morpheus's face grew so dark it seemed as if it could drip water.
Avalon was not just a city.
It was the sanctuary Lord Gusion had established for all the outcasts.
It was the home that he, Morpheus, was willing to sacrifice everything to protect.
He held deep love and responsibility for every blade of grass, every tree, and every resident here.
Anyone who attempted to destroy all of this...
He would absolutely, absolutely never let them off.
This cold determination reached its peak when he arrived before the final wooden door of the basement.
However, what faintly seeped through the gap in the door was not the darkness or evil aura he had anticipated.
Instead, it was an aura of... pure, gentle, yet incomparably resilient Holy Light magic fluctuations.
It was a Holy Light Barrier.
And the intensity was not low.
Someone who could cast Holy Light magic of this level...
A Saint of the Holy Church of Light!
Morpheus's pupils contracted sharply.
The Holy Church of Light.
That group of hypocrites who slandered the Demon Race while using half-demons to validate their own righteous creeds!
They were the enemy!
His expression instantly turned ferocious, and he quickly narrowed down the targets in his mind.
Theia was a half-demon, and demon energy flowed within her; it was impossible for her to master pure Holy Light magic.
As for the priestess called Eve, he had seen her use Dark Healing with his own eyes.
Based on the common knowledge of magic exclusion, it was nearly impossible for her to simultaneously be proficient in a Holy Light Barrier of such intensity.
The opponent's strength had already reached the Transcendent rank.
That left only one person.
The human male mage he had never paid much attention to, the one who knew Levitation.
Lin Gui.
Morpheus's heart sank.
The level of this barrier required, at the very least, a Transcendent rank's fine control over Holy Light magic.
Yet the strength Lin Gui displayed to the outside world was only that of a High Rank mage.
Therefore, there was only one possibility.
He had hidden his strength.
To be able to perfectly conceal his own energy fluctuations and disguise his strength to such a degree...
This required an incredible level of control over one's own power.
Epic? Or... even higher?
Thinking of this possibility, cold sweat instantly broke out on the back of Morpheus's neck.
Perhaps there was no "Umbral Robe" divine artifact at all.
Crossing the Wailing Corridor had relied on his own hidden true strength.
If the other party truly had the strength of a High-tier Epic assassin like Shadow Blade Lynn...
If he burst in recklessly, not only would he fail to catch anyone, but he might also alert them or even trigger an uncontrollable conflict.
Just as Morpheus fell into the dilemma of whether to advance or retreat.
From inside the door, some... strange sounds and dialogue drifted out.
Morpheus froze, subconsciously holding his breath and pressing his ear to the rough wooden door.
The voices were blurry and intermittent, but certain words bored into his ears with exceptional clarity:
"...Like this... won't the rope... be too tight?"
"...No, according to the records, the key to this method lies in fixing the joints... Mm, it needs to cross over here..."
"...Ropes? Why... why are we using those?"
"The sister seemed to say that her male companion really liked it when she used this."
"...Then... what about the feet?"
"I think... I saw it in a book somewhere... I remember it was called something like 'The Princess’s Order of Handsome Knights.'"
"...Hmm, let me think, the sister didn't explain it in detail either, but she was very experienced... following what she said shouldn't be a problem."
"After all, she was eventually found out to be pregnant, and because of that, she was sentenced to exile."
"Since she could get pregnant, the things she said about getting along with her male companion should be reliable."
"Furthermore, when I was doing my internship prayer in the past."
"I also heard some insolent people make troubled prayers about wanting their female companions to step on them, which made them excited."
"Uh, can I ask, how did you finally resolve it?"
"Well, he wasn't exactly someone the Holy Church of Light took specific care of, so according to the rules, I just said a sentence about following his heart and that the Goddess of Light would bless him, and sent him away."
"......."
In the conversation, one voice carried a certain curiosity and an eagerness to try.
The other voice was rigid and formal, as if seriously recalling matters related to that sister.
Outside the door.
Morpheus's body, pressed against the door panel, froze completely.
His blood-red eyes were filled with ultimate bewilderment and... the bizarre.
Turtle-shell binding? Whip? Foot-stepping? Sister?
What kind of... evil vocabulary was this?
Morpheus leaned against the door, his blood-red eyes filled with pure confusion.
He understood every single word, but the meaning when they were combined completely exceeded his scope of understanding.
Why... did it feel like some kind of... perverted game between absurd nobles?
Rather than an evil conspiracy attempting to destroy everything.
After weighing his options again and again.
He took a deep breath and gently placed his hand on the cold door handle.
Then, he slowly pushed inward.
The light from the dim magic lamp, mixed with the yet-to-dissipate, pure lingering aura of the Holy Light Barrier, flowed out from the gap in the door.
It illuminated the scene inside the room.
Morpheus stood at the door.
The instant he saw the scene before him.
His entire being was completely and utterly...
Dumbfounded.
On the bed.
Lin Gui was wearing a set of white pajamas.
He was firmly fixed to the bed frame using a complex rope-binding method.
His cheeks were still red and swollen, and he was clearly still unconscious.
And by the bedside.
Theia was barefoot, with one foot lightly treading on Lin Gui's chest while the other hung in the air, appearing to be hesitating over where to place her next step.
Her silver hair was slightly disheveled, and her blood-colored eyes held a mix of confusion, curiosity, and a... bizarre sense of excitement.
She was brandishing a rope made of twisted bedsheets in her right hand.
A bit further to the side.
Eve was leaning over slightly, her hands resting on her knees.
Her purple eyes didn't blink as she focused intensely on observing Lin Gui's physical reactions.
Or rather, his complete lack of reaction.
Her expression was one of near-academic seriousness and solemnity.
As if she were verifying some major theory.
The air was terrifyingly quiet.
There was only the slight crackle of the magic lampwick burning.
Morpheus's gaze.
Moved from the bound Lin Gui on the bed.
To the brandishing Theia stepping on him.
Then to the Eve nearby who was "observing" with a serious face.
His brain felt as if it had been hit head-on by the strongest mental impact spell.
It was a complete blank.
All the deductions about conspiracies, divine artifacts, and hidden strength.
All the tensed-up killing intent and determination to protect.
At this moment.
They were smashed to pieces and scattered to the winds by this absurd, bizarre, and completely incomprehensible scene.
This extreme level of weirdness caused Morpheus's blood-red pupils to contract sharply.
He subconsciously and somewhat stiffly shrugged his shoulders.
As if trying to shake off the sense of absurdity hitting him in the face.
A completely uncontrollable question squeezed out of his throat, his voice dry:
"What... are you doing?"
The moment his voice fell.
The air in the basement seemed to freeze entirely.
The expression on Theia's face, a mix of confusion and an eagerness to try, instantly stiffened.
She snapped her head around, looking at the bewildered Morpheus at the door.
Immediately after, a blood-red flush spread from her neck to the tips of her ears at a visible speed.
With a "swoosh," she retracted her foot from Lin Gui's body.
Her bare feet stepped onto the cold ground, and she stood there, at a complete loss for what to do.
Eve slowly straightened up.
She turned her head and looked at Morpheus standing at the door.
That face, which always carried a sacred tranquility or a gentle smile.
Was now covered in an obvious layer of icy frost.
Sharp light flashed in her purple eyes.
Ten minutes later.
On the first floor of the post office, by the simple wooden table provided for customers to rest.
The atmosphere remained strange.
Morpheus sat on a chair, the remnants of bewilderment still on his face.
Theia kept her head down, her silver hair hanging low.
She almost buried her face in her chest, the tips of her ears beet-red, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.
Clearly, Morpheus's sudden intrusion and his blunt question.
Had completely snapped her out of that bizarre state of "excitement."
A sense of shame rushed over her as an afterthought.
This girl Theia definitely knew what those "foreplay" items Eve provided were!
Eve, on the other hand, sat upright opposite him, her face cold.
Her gaze was like literal needles of ice pricking into Morpheus.
She was very, very angry at Morpheus's actions.
She looked at Morpheus, her eyes as sharp as needles.
"Lord Morpheus," her voice was calm, yet carried an obvious fury.
"Entering another person's residence without permission is already a lapse in etiquette."
"What's more, it was in such a... special situation of a male and female having a baby."
Her tone grew heavier, carrying the accusation of a protector:
"If you had arrived a moment later..."
"Would not Theia's purity and reputation have been damaged by your recklessness?"
Under her stare and silent condemnation.
Even with Morpheus's firm willpower, a trace of embarrassment and shame couldn't help but flicker across his face.
He gave a light cough, trying to regain his dignity: "I..."
"Wait."
He suddenly realized something.
Catching a certain keyword in Eve's words, his blood-red eyes widened slightly.
"Having a baby???"
Eve raised her chin slightly, her tone carrying an unquestionable "righteousness":
"Otherwise?"
"Do you think we were playing around?"
Morpheus: "..."
He opened his mouth, but for a long time, no sound came out.
Theia, beside her, was so embarrassed she was about to crawl under the table.
She quietly tugged at Eve's sleeve, her voice as faint as a mosquito's buzz.
"Eve... stop... don't say any more..."
Finally, under Morpheus's roundabout and cautious questioning and piecing things together.
He finally understood the sequence of events.
From why Theia tied the man up, to why she sought help, to the source of Eve's "unique" "guidance"...
For a moment.
On Morpheus's habitually cold and hard face, the expression was too complex to describe.
He wanted to complain, but didn't know where to start.
He wanted to facepalm, but felt it would damage his image.
To keep that little mage who might leave by her side, she knocked him out, intending to make the deed a reality.
As a result, not knowing the "key steps" to take with an unconscious person, she sought help from a friend.
And this pure-hearted friend, under the guidance of completely derailed "knowledge," led the process onto the path of "dominatrix play"...
As for that Holy Light Barrier that had made him feel like he was facing a great enemy... it was just to prevent the person from escaping.
After a long, long silence.
Morpheus finally found his voice, his tone carrying a deep sense of powerlessness:
"If there is a chance..."
"I will have an elderly, experienced grandmother in the city... give you a proper physiology lesson."
Hearing this, Eve frowned slightly, her purple eyes revealing a clear lack of understanding:
"Hmm? Is it possible... what we did just now wasn't the foreplay required for having babies?"
Morpheus: "..."
He fell into a long silence once again.
His blood-red eyes looked at the ceiling, then at the floor.
Finally, he raised his hand and wiped his face hard, his voice muffled:
"I suppose... it counts as part of it..."
"Forget it... I don't know either."
He decisively gave up the possibility of continuing to delve into this bizarre topic.
He forcibly brought the topic back, his tone still carrying a hint of unbelievable strangeness:
"Anyway..."
"To be able to make... uh, beautiful women such as yourselves use such... 'unique' methods."
"It seems that little mage's charm is indeed... extraordinary."
Hearing someone praise Lin Gui, Theia instantly forgot her shame.
She snapped her head up, her blood-colored eyes sparkling with undisguised pride:
"That’s right!"
"Besides me, there's even a princess of the Empire who is constantly thinking of him!"
"The reason I used force on him was also from her... cough, cough-cough!"
She realized she had misspoke halfway through and quickly covered her mouth with a dry cough, forcibly changing her words:
"Any-anyway! Lord Morpheus, did you come here for something?"
Morpheus looked at her attempts to cover it up, and the corner of his mouth twitched again.
He waved his hand, his tone recovering some of its seriousness, though the strangeness in his eyes had yet to dissipate:
"My business... can wait until that little mage you 'used force on' wakes up."
"He is the one I came to find."
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