When Lin Gui returned to the temporary post office in the Seventh Ring, the night was already deep.
In the crude wooden building, the candlelight had long been extinguished.
Only a few scattered points of light from outside the window filtered in, outlining the general shape of the room.
Theia sat quietly on a wooden crate piled high with letters, as if she had merged with the darkness.
To conceal her appearance, she had made thorough preparations.
A loose black cloak covered her tightly from head to toe.
A heavy veil hung from the edge of her hood.
Even her signature pointed ears were completely hidden.
If Lin Gui had not sensed her familiar aura, he would have almost mistaken her for a silent statue.
“Have you been waiting long?” Lin Gui's voice rang out in the silence.
He sat sideways on the oak staff floating in midair, his posture relaxed.
Hearing his voice, the “statue” instantly came to life.
Theia stood up, and a faint, slightly complaining hum came from beneath the veil, which then turned into a soft chuckle.
She took a practiced step forward and leaped lightly.
Wrapping her arms securely around Lin Gui's waist from behind, she sat sideways on the extended part of the staff.
“If you took any longer, I would have thought some noble lady had invited you for black tea.”
Her voice sounded a bit muffled through the veil.
Lin Gui did not reply. He simply controlled the staff and quietly drifted out of the post office.
The refugee district was immersed in a dim, heavy darkness.
Only a few scattered candles glowed stubbornly behind ruined windows.
In stark contrast to this dead silence was the distant Upper District.
It was brightly lit, with magical radiance illuminating the mountaintop and the layered city walls as if it were daytime.
The clamor of singing and dancing seemed to drift over from the vast distance.
Lin Gui led Theia, weaving through the cracks between light and shadow. They quietly crossed one heavily guarded barrier after another, entering the commercial district of the Fifth Ring.
The view before them suddenly opened up.
The commercial district at night was still bustling.
Shops lined both sides of the street, their magical signs glowing with vibrant colors.
They illuminated the wide stone-paved road as bright as day.
Well-dressed pedestrians walked shoulder to shoulder.
The air was thick with the mixed aromas of food, spices, and fine wine.
“Wow...”
Theia could not help but let out a low exclamation. Even through her disguise, her anticipation was palpable.
Although she had sneaked in once this morning, she had returned in a hurry after buying clothes, leaving her no time to look around.
Now, looking at the dazzling array of shops all around, her attention was instantly drawn to the food stalls wafting with tempting aromas.
“Delicious food!” she muttered softly, her eyes full of longing.
However, Lin Gui pulled out an internal map of the Royal Capital from his coat and glanced at it under the light, steering the staff to change direction and flying toward the area Fal had marked for him.
He avoided the crowded main streets, choosing instead to weave through quiet back alleys.
The surrounding scenery gradually changed, prosperity and luxury receding like the tide.
Soon, they arrived at a street that was completely out of place with the rest of the commercial district.
The buildings here were low and dilapidated, and the road was uneven and full of potholes.
The lighting was dim, and the air was filled with the mixed odor of cheap food and garbage.
Compared to the areas they had passed before, this place was several grades lower.
Lin Gui deactivated the 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 covering the two of them, and their figures appeared at the entrance of the dim street.
“Eh? You're deactivating it just like that?” Theia was stunned, subconsciously tightening her hood.
“I haven't fully mastered my demon energy yet...”
Lin Gui smiled faintly.
“It's fine. This place is the most remote corner of the commercial district, specifically set up for lower-class commoners and refugees... 'Gray Street.'”
He put special emphasis on the name 'Gray Street.'
The name itself carried the upper class's blatant contempt for those at the bottom.
A place where gray, inconspicuous, and insignificant people gathered like dust.
Neither the self-righteous Gold Rank adventurers, nor the arrogant Transcendent Defense Force soldiers, nor the snobbish members of the transport teams, nor any reputable noble and their servants would lower their status to set foot here.
“Hmm~~” Theia pressed her finger against Lin Gui's back, her tone teasing.
“This doesn't seem like something the always-cautious Lin Gui would do~”
She leaned forward slightly, her voice carrying a hint of slyness.
She had originally prepared herself for Lin Gui to keep her protected under the Shroud of the Gloomy Night the entire time, but since he had deactivated it, it seemed he had another purpose for this date.
“A romantic date with a gorgeous, beautiful girl to stroll around, bond, and eventually live happily ever after... I suggest you don't mix too many other irrelevant things into it~~”
Lin Gui chuckled and explained.
“Don't worry, the chances of running into that person aren't high.”
Seeing that Theia was still puzzled, he had no choice but to explain further.
“It was here that Roger met the 'madman' who planted the idea of Avalon in his head.”
“I want to recreate the scene of his first arrival on Gray Street. A single person and a half-demon.” Lin Gui paused.
“According to Fal, when the Royal Capital Knights intercepted Roger, the half-demon slave beside him cast magic infused with demon energy... just like you, Theia.”
“So,” he looked at Theia.
“In a bit, there's no need to intentionally restrain your demon energy. Let's see if we can bait out the person who guided Roger back then.”
Lin Gui did indeed have this calculation in mind for his date with Theia.
But deep down, he didn't hold much hope.
After the Roger incident, Gray Street had undergone several brutal purges.
Many people had died because of their association with it.
Even if that “madman,” or the person behind Roger's guidance, was still in the Royal Capital, it was highly unlikely they would show up in this troubled place again.
Even if that 'madman' or his backers were still in the capital, they would never show their faces here again.
Their subsequent stroll was just as Lin Gui expected; they made no special discoveries.
Gradually, Lin Gui temporarily put this goal out of his mind, enjoying this rare leisure time with Theia.
Although the streets were dilapidated and the goods were cheap, far incomparable to the boutiques on the main avenue, the atmosphere here was exceptionally lively and bustling.
People of various races mingled together.
There were lizardmen performing fire-breathing, kobolds beating on broken tin drums, and stalls selling all kinds of hand-woven ornaments.
The air was filled with the scents of various cheap but fragrant snacks.
Like a curious child, Theia pulled Lin Gui along as she shuttled between the various stalls.
She bought charred, roasted insect skewers, tasted strongly flavored weird-flavored beans, and even picked out two bracelets woven from colorful bird feathers and gemstone shards, forcefully putting one on Lin Gui's wrist.
Her chatterbox was completely unlocked, ranging from interesting stories in the Elven Forest to the bizarre adventurers she met during her travels, chirping away nonstop.
Most of the time, Lin Gui just listened quietly, occasionally offering a brief response.
Seeing her rare, relaxed state and remembering her talkative nature, it seemed that being cooped up in the refugee district for the past two days had indeed bored her to death.
They were truly enjoying the simple happiness brought by this date.
After a while, Theia suddenly grabbed Lin Gui's hand and pointed to an empty, dark alley nearby.
“Lin Gui, come here and do me a favor.”
Deep inside the alley, Theia whispered,
“Cast the largest 【Shroud of the Gloomy Night】 possible to cover this place.”
Though puzzled, Lin Gui complied.
Invisible waves of magic spread out, isolating the entire alley from the outside world.
“Then, use 【Warmth】 to create many small light orbs, just like you did at the stronghold,” Theia continued her request.
With a slight nudge of Lin Gui's mind, fist-sized orbs emitting soft white light appeared out of thin air.
Like fireflies on a summer night, they floated lightly in the dark alley, dispelling the heavy darkness.
Illuminated by the hazy, warm halo, Theia took a deep breath and unfastened the black cloak that had been covering her figure.
The cloak slipped off, revealing a light-green, elven-style dress underneath, as well as her breathtaking face that required no adornment.
Her long silver hair flowed with a soft luster under the light orbs.
Her fair skin resembled the finest jade.
Her emerald eyes sparkled, carrying a hint of shyness and even more anticipation.
She spun around lightly, her skirt fluttering slightly.
Looking at Lin Gui, she flashed a smile so radiant that it was impossible to look away.
“Well? Does such a beautiful elven girl make your heart flutter~~”
Lin Gui looked at her, temporarily losing himself.
A few seconds later, he smiled and replied, his tone carrying his signature calmness but also exceptionally earnest:
“It did. Thump, thump.”
Theia's entire body trembled slightly.
A visible blush rapidly spread across her fair cheeks, extending all the way to the tips of her pointed ears.
Framed by the hazy firefly-like light, the elven girl, with her eyes lowered in shyness, was breathtakingly beautiful.
Lin Gui stared blankly, a place in his heart seemingly touched gently.
But immediately after, an imperceptible trace of melancholy flashed through his eyes.
He knew Theia's feelings.
But he knew even better that at the end of this long journey, they would eventually part.
This was not something that could be decided by passion alone.
Today, the City-State Alliance's tolerance for half-demons was sliding into an abyss.
Earlier today at the Adventurer's Guild, he had accidentally glimpsed the wanted posters pasted by the entrance.
Out of 346 wanted criminals, 295 of them were actually half-demons!
This included Theia.
And the punishment upon capture was not imprisonment, but immediate execution.
Worse still, during the City-State Alliance conference at the beginning of the year, the proposal to classify half-demons as an “evil race” had already garnered over fifty percent support.
If the regulation took effect at the end of the year, all half-demons would be forcibly expelled from any city-state within the alliance's territory.
This was undoubtedly a mild yet more thorough genocide targeted at half-demons.
Therefore, regardless of whether he felt that flutter for Theia, parting was an almost inevitable outcome once he safely delivered her to Avalon.
If Avalon could truly accept half-demons, and if it was truly as equal as the poems sang, then he hoped that after arriving there, Theia would settle down safely and never leave.
He did not tell Theia any of this.
He hoped this journey could leave her with more beautiful memories.
Leaving the alley, the two strolled around aimlessly for a bit longer.
Just as they were preparing to leave Gray Street and return to the refugee district, Theia suddenly leaned close to Lin Gui and whispered in an extremely low voice:
“Someone is following us... and their target seems to be me.”
Lin Gui's expression remained unchanged as he asked calmly, “An adventurer? Or the Defense Force?”
“I don't know,” Theia shook her head slightly. “Like us, he has concealed his appearance, but looking at his clothes, he shouldn't be wealthy. He looks like a refugee. Also, he's very short, like a human child.”
Lin Gui's eyes brightened slightly.
A refugee? Could it be that they had actually run into a clue related to the group that guided Roger?
Was his luck really that good?
Theia's brow furrowed as she whispered, “Not good, he seems to be planning to leave. Lin Gui, should we give chase?”
“Can you tell how strong he is?” Lin Gui asked.
“He's too far. I can't sense any inner energy or magical fluctuations.”
Lin Gui pondered for a moment. “Let's follow him from a distance first.”
The two of them immediately and quietly followed the gray figure that was blending into the crowd.
The other party was clearly extremely familiar with the lower districts, choosing only complex alleys to walk through.
They followed him all the way from the Gray Street of the commercial district, passing through to the commoner district of the Sixth Ring.
The houses here were slightly more orderly than those in the refugee district, but they were still crowded and dilapidated.
Most of the pedestrians bore exhausted expressions from struggling to make a living.
Occasionally, a few drunken mercenaries could be seen leaning against the corners of the walls, or some scantily clad women soliciting business at the street corners.
The tailing lasted for nearly half an hour.
The gray figure finally slipped into the Seventh Ring, into that even more chaotic and filthy refugee district.
In the end, they witnessed the person flash past and slip into a junkyard haphazardly constructed from discarded wooden planks, rags, and rusted sheet metal.
On the open ground outside the junkyard, some blacksmithing tools were unexpectedly laid out, along with some finished adventurer equipment.
Longswords, daggers, leather armor, and so on.
The materials used to make them were extremely ordinary and could be found anywhere, but the forging and sewing craftsmanship was exceptionally exquisite.
With smooth lines and reasonable structures, it far exceeded the general standard of this area.
Theia pointed at the equipment in astonishment. “These are...”
Before she could finish her sentence, her toe had just stepped into the perimeter of the junkyard.
Ding-ling!
A crisp yet piercing metallic bell sound suddenly rang out!
It was an alarm trap!
Before Lin Gui and Theia could react, a loud crash of a breaking window came from deep within the junkyard!
“Not good, he's going to run!” Lin Gui immediately said.
Theia's reaction was even faster. Before Lin Gui could finish speaking, she had already rushed inside like an arrow leaving a bow.
Her figure flickered a few times amidst the clutter before vanishing into the darkness.
A moment later, Theia walked back with an odd expression on her face.
She was holding a struggling figure who was a full head shorter than her by the collar.
The other party's gray disguise coat had already been ripped off.
Lin Gui stepped forward and snatched the dirty, tattered hat off the other party's head.
When he clearly saw the face, which was covered in dust and grease but still showed rugged features—especially those eyes which, even in the dim light, were clearly visible like burning embers of coal—Lin Gui froze.
These were not human eyes.
“A dwarf?” Theia also cried out in surprise.
But then she noticed the blood-red color in his eyes, similar to her own when she demonized. “No... it's...”
The little guy suspended in midair by Theia struggled with all his might.
Using a gruff voice that matched his build, he cursed furiously:
“Put me down! You smelly, long-eared elf!”
Rate on N.U.
