Elvia sighed.
She pulled out the Gray Dagger Lin Gui had given her and pressed it against the gap in the wooden lid.
She looked up, signaling to Lin Gui with her eyes.
Lin Gui nodded.
With a press of her wrist, the Gray Dagger slid into the seam, and she pried it lightly.
The magic runes on the seal flared brightly for a moment before swiftly dimming.
It was a chain spell; once one wooden crate was breached, the protection on the others deactivated simultaneously.
The faint glow flickering across the surfaces of the remaining three wooden crates died down at the same time.
The wooden lid was lifted off.
Elvia peeked inside out of curiosity.
Then, she froze.
There were no dangerous items like they had anticipated, no forbidden grimoires, no plague demons.
There were only stacks of burlap sacks, neatly piled inside the crate.
Made of coarse linen, they were bulging full.
Elvia raised an eyebrow and easily sliced open a slit with the Gray Dagger.
Fine, pale-yellow granules trickled out of the tear, spilling into her palm.
It was powdery and fine, carrying a faint scent of grain.
She pinched a bit between her fingers and lifted it to her nose to sniff.
Her expression turned even stranger.
"Huh???"
"Flour??"
She stood up, running the Gray Dagger across several other sacks.
Then she opened the remaining three wooden crates one by one, slicing each sack open to inspect them.
Bag after bag, crate after crate.
All of it was grain.
Coarse flour and plump wheat grains.
There were no hidden compartments, no concealed items.
Elvia sliced open the last burlap sack, and wheat grains clattered into the wooden crate.
She looked up at Lin Gui.
"Bypassing the Transport Guild, keeping both the recipient and destination secret... only to transport... grain?"
She scooped up a handful of wheat grains, opening her palm to hold them out to Lin Gui.
"Take a look."
Lin Gui frowned as well.
That the cargo was actually grain filled him with deep confusion.
He pinched a few grains from Elvia's palm, holding them against his fingertips.
Channelling his mana inside, it flowed slowly through the grains without detecting any abnormal residual energy.
He brought them to his nose, smelled them, and then lightly licked them with the tip of his tongue.
A familiar taste, carrying the faint, starchy sweetness characteristic of grain.
He let go of the wheat grains.
"It's just grain."
"Staple grain, at that."
Elvia leaned against the wooden crate and slid down to sit on the ground.
She stared at the grain in Lin Gui's hand, her brows furrowed tight.
"All this trouble just to transport grain?"
Her voice was full of confusion.
"With millions of gold coins, why not just send someone directly to Withered Wood Town to buy it? A special resource-type city-state like Withered Wood Town has no shortage of grain."
"Millions of gold coins... would buy several wagonloads."
She raised her hand and pointed at the massive wooden crates in the backyard.
"Way more than these few big crates of ours."
"Why do this?"
Her fingers lightly tapped on the ground, her golden eyes shimmering slightly.
"Grain, secret shipping... Could it be supplying food to rebels?"
Lin Gui replied indifferently,
"There are no rebels in Withered Wood Town."
"When I delivered letters here before, I didn't see any signs of them either."
"Withered Wood Town is very small; it couldn't hide them."
Elvia pressed,
"What if they're in the wilderness?"
Lin Gui looked at her speechlessly.
"Do you really think that's possible? Outside is the Withered Wood Wasteland. Rebels living inside a Forbidden Zone? Is that plausible?"
Elvia shrugged.
"What if? Look at Avalon, where you and Theia went—isn't that inside a Forbidden Zone too?"
She paused.
"And... a Forbidden Zone on the level of the Wall of Sighs, no less."
Lin Gui was silent for a moment before sighing.
"It's not entirely impossible."
He glanced at the burlap sacks all over the ground and the scattered wheat grains.
Then he reached out and pulled Elvia up from the ground.
"Alright, you're exhausted too. Let's get some rest early."
Elvia patted the dust off herself.
She was indeed tired after flying for days through the Forbidden Zone and standing in the backyard for so long.
Yawning, she turned and walked toward the back door of the post office.
Lin Gui followed behind her.
When he reached the door, he stopped.
He turned his head back.
His gaze landed on the shadows in the corner of the yard.
The shadows lay quiet and still.
There was nothing there.
He narrowed his eyes slightly.
Then he withdrew his gaze.
Stepping inside the post office,
the door gently closed behind him.
Clack.
The latch clicked into place.
Silence fell over the yard.
Only the four open wooden crates and the grain scattered across the ground remained.
A long moment passed.
In the shadows of the yard's corner, an inconspicuous magical alchemical creature shifted slightly.
Its body was dark-gray metal, almost blending seamlessly with the stones at the base of the wall.
It slowly rotated its head, crimson pinpricks of light flashing in its eye sockets.
Then, it silently slithered out of the backyard along the foot of the wall.
The alchemical creature crawled out of the shadows, gliding soundlessly along the base of the wall.
It crossed the street and slipped through the bushes.
Finally, it scaled the outer wall of the Mage Guild and squeezed through a half-open window.
It climbed onto the hand of a registered mage wearing a dark cloak.
The crimson pinpricks of light flickered a few times in its eye sockets before dying out.
The mage closed his eyes and lightly touched his fingertip to the alchemical creature's forehead.
A moment later, he opened his eyes.
Beside him, another cloaked figure leaned in.
"How is it, Marcus? Is it the person we're looking for?"
The mage named Marcus shrugged.
"No."
"Just a weak wandering mage and a knight."
Beside him, Lambert sighed.
"Could that fat guy be lying to us? He said that was where he caught the person, yet we've been monitoring the place for so long and found nothing."
Marcus tucked the alchemical creature into his sleeve.
"Unlikely. There's no reason for him to offend us. His family is weak nowadays; he wouldn't dare."
Lambert paced a couple of steps in frustration.
"Then are we still going to wait here? Lord Edwin seems to have already discovered their trail and is preparing to begin the hunt. The people from the other magic families have already started heading toward the Withered Wood Wasteland."
He stopped in his tracks, his voice carrying an irrepressible anxiety.
"If we dally here, we might return empty-handed."
Marcus remained silent.
The two exchanged a glance.
They could not accept such an outcome.
Having spent so much money to finally come here all the way from the Magic City, returning empty-handed would be far too great a loss.
Lambert gritted his teeth.
"How about we give up waiting here for a stroke of luck and just follow the others participating in the hunt?"
Marcus sighed.
"You think I don't want to join? The slots were claimed by those prominent families long ago. Mages without backings like us—even if our contributions to the Mage Guild surpass those rich playboys—don't have the qualification to take part in that hunt and get a piece of the pie."
Lambert's expression flickered.
He glanced outside, then locked the door tight.
Then he lowered his voice.
"I secretly placed a tracking spell on the Ross family."
"If we set off now, there's still time."
Marcus frowned.
"Do you know the consequences of doing that? If those magic families find out, you could be expelled."
Lambert sneered.
"Rest assured, I tested those rich playboys sent by the Ross family; they won't notice my tampering. You know full well my mastery over tracking spells."
He stepped forward, staring into Marcus's eyes.
"So, do you want to pull off a strike with me? Just one—if we catch just one—"
Naked greed seeped from his voice.
"We'll never have to take abuse in that damned magic tower again, never have to beg anyone, never have to beg for resources."
"What do you say?"
Marcus was silent.
His fingers clenched his cuffs tightly, his knuckles turning white.
Then, he raised his head.
"Let's do it."
The two exchanged a glance, turning around to pack their belongings.
Pushing open the door, they left in a hurry.
The door rebounded under momentum.
Yet, at the exact moment it was about to close, it stopped unnaturally.
Then, slowly and soundlessly, it bounced open a sliver once more.
Rate on N.U.
