...
Mond returned just in time to catch this whole spectacle.
He knew that terrifying skeleton monster belonged to the half-elf emissary.
"Sir, what's..."
Carlos didn't bother explaining, cutting straight to business:
"Get me a quiet room—I need to have a little chat with these guys.
You don't need to stick around."
Mond immediately had a centaur show the emissary the way.
Carlos's gaze settled on the black-robed woman:
"You're coming too."
"Me? Okay..."
The black-robed woman glanced at the two Shadow Hammer Servants floating in midair, looking chipper as hell while clumsily following along.
Watching the half-elf emissary disappear from sight, Mond immediately called over the centaur running this section, demanding to know what the hell had gone down.
"What? Shadow Hall goons got nabbed by Lord Valois?"
Mond felt his stomach drop.
Though Shadow Hall operated from way out there, their muscle wasn't anything to sneeze at—definitely not the kind of folks you wanted breathing down your neck.
As for half-elves...
Christ, even worse news.
He could only hope the beef between both sides wouldn't splash back on the centaur clan.
Given how things stood with the centaurs, better to keep his mouth shut.
"No, I've gotta tell the old chieftain about this right away."
Mond had just finished reporting and left the old chieftain, now hustling back again...
In the chieftain's hall,
The old chieftain stayed cool as a cucumber after hearing the whole story.
"Why get your tail in a twist? Does this mess have anything to do with us centaurs?"
"But... it did happen in our settlement."
Mond grimaced.
But the old chieftain shook his head:
"No, this isn't just our settlement—it's also smack dab in half-elf patrol territory up north.
No matter how far Shadow Hall's reach extends, they can only skulk around in the Shadow Sea."
Mond chewed on that, getting a clearer picture of where the centaurs stood going forward.
But he had no clue the old chieftain was currently wrestling with a completely different problem.
...
In a quiet, out-of-the-way building,
Carlos posted several shield guards outside as sentries, then had Purple Vortex haul those three people inside.
"Whew, safe at last."
Rustling sounds as the black-robed woman peeled off her outer robe.
Simple leather armor was doing its damnedest to contain her ridiculously curvy figure.
She winced, bending down to rub those pair of snow-white thighs, grumbling:
"So freaking sore..."
Carlos took a seat, looking elsewhere while tapping the table to get the woman's attention.
"Miss, maybe watch the show you're putting on."
The woman paused, looking confused:
"What do you mean?"
As she spoke,
She plopped down across from Carlos, stretching like a cat.
Then sprawled in the chair without a care in the world, long legs swinging, practically glowing.
From just this brief encounter, Carlos had already pegged the woman as either completely innocent or playing dumb.
This whole scene forced Carlos to tap the table again, asking seriously:
"How'd you get intel on me?"
"Um..."
The woman looked up, eyes darting around:
"I..."
"...was at..."
Carlos's eyes narrowed.
"Lying's a bad habit."
The woman chewed her lower lip, stumbling over her words:
"I saw that skeleton monster's picture somewhere,
And naturally your picture too.
Knew it was your minion."
Hearing this, Carlos wondered—
Just his picture?
It was all over Rock Sand City, nothing top secret about it.
Why would this woman try to cover that up?
Unless it involved something she shouldn't know.
He pressed again:
"Just pictures?"
"...Yeah... just pictures..."
Stammering, the woman looked like a deer in headlights, not daring to meet Carlos's eyes.
After speaking, she buried her head in her chest like she was playing hide-and-seek.
What the hell was wrong with this woman? With that reaction, a blind man could tell she was lying through her teeth.
Carlos's voice suddenly went arctic:
"You seriously think I'd buy that?"
Thump!
The woman's ears perked up as she shot straight up in her chair, looking helpless as a lost puppy.
"Damn, I knew I couldn't bullshit you."
She licked her lips.
Glug glug,
Bold as brass, she started chugging a large bag of goat milk sitting on the table.
Quite a bit of the milky white stuff dribbled down her snow-white neck, soaking her undergarments.
This whole scene had Carlos grinding his teeth—
What the hell was this supposed to be, liquid courage before a confession?
Glug glug, the woman's belly gradually swelled up.
Carlos snapped impatiently:
"Had enough?"
Thunk!
The woman tossed away the milk bag, a weird flush creeping across her face, head swaying like she was on a boat.
"Car... Carlos Valois, I... I'll spill...
But you can't tell... tell anyone else..."
Slurring her words,
She stood while talking, leaning forward with that sweet milk scent right in his face.
"Milk drunk???"
Carlos couldn't help thinking of that phrase, his eye twitching.
Actually was liquid courage!
Dealing with a drunk person, what choice did he have?
Better to play along and squeeze out the information.
"Talk."
But the woman didn't start talking, staring hard at Carlos's mask with a pouty tone:
"Not... not fair. I already took... took off my mask, you should too..."
Speaking, she reached out wanting to yank off Carlos's mask.
To get answers fast, Carlos didn't stop her.
The mask hit the floor.
The woman stared for a moment, then muttered:
"What's this..."
Then real rudely pressed her face close, rubbing Carlos's cheek, accidentally smearing goat milk from her lips onto Carlos's face.
This pushed Carlos's patience right to the breaking point. His calm emerald eyes locked onto the drunk woman's gaze.
She huffed, turning her head away:
"Cheapskate..."
Carlos was about to lose it when he heard the woman say seriously:
"People back there are cooking up some nasty business against you!"
Carlos tensed, his attention snapping to that statement:
"What people?"
"What's this hard thing!"
Gah! Gah!
The woman childishly and grumpily tore off Carlos's chest armor, then stripped away his shoulder guards.
Resting her head on Carlos's shoulder, she said weakly:
"It's... it's the Twi... Twilight Cult..."
After speaking, she yawned and closed her eyes, instinctively wrapping her arms and legs around Carlos's upper body.
"Twilight Cult?"
Not getting sidetracked by the soft sensations, Carlos mulled it over—
Had the Twilight Cult already gotten wind of him?
Purple Vortex's first public showing was back in Rock Sand City.
Did the Twilight Cult have eyes and ears there?
For a moment, countless bits of information raced through Carlos's mind with all kinds of theories.
However,
Back in Rock Sand City, the shield guards hadn't shown off their 'bond' power, Ginya hadn't made a move either, plus he had the Sun Emperor's Sword as backup.
Carlos wasn't sweating any Twilight Cult attacks.
After thinking it through, his gaze fell on the woman's sleeping face.
His gut told him this woman wasn't nearly as simple as she was pretending to be.