NOVPUBThe assassin lay in a pile of ruins.
This was the least noticeable magic Talia could use.
If she had fought with seventh or eighth-order magic, let alone whether the other passengers would have been spared, it would likely have been impossible to explain who had acted afterwards.
The woman assassin struggled stubbornly on the ground for a while until she became certain that the old man was at least of the seventh order and that she was no match for him, so she gave up.
Lanci approached her.
He needed to investigate the cause and effect from the woman assassin before the dust settled.
Landry’s death could not go unexplained.
As much as he regretted Landry’s death, there was nothing he could do; with a master like Landry around, Lanci could not take action himself, or it would reveal his true intentions and blow his cover.
In the end, Landry would become the hero who died protecting the passengers, and that was all Lanci could do for him.
Lanci was also curious about the cause of this chaos.
However, before he could ask a question, the woman assassin spoke to him.
"What exactly are you..."
The woman assassin asked unwillingly.
She could not figure out who this old man was.
And why a seventh-order was present.
"Imperial power unparalleled, Empire faith."
Lanci mimicked Landry’s tone and said coldly,
"Those who offend the Cerryti Empire, though far away, shall be punished."
Perhaps there were other passengers in the next compartment who were shivering as they listened at that moment.
But he wanted these passengers to hear, to serve as witnesses.
To prove this was a battle between the woman assassin and Landry.
"So you are..."
The woman assassin seemed to understand.
The Magic Guide Special Forces of the Cerryti Empire, also the most troublesome Imperial Hounds within the Cerryti Empire’s territory. A man with this kind of ability was probably one of the top three agents in the Magic Guide Special Forces.
"..."
Talia could not help but admire Lanci’s self-discipline as an actor.
You could really match your speech?
Sometimes he could deceive himself, then confuse everyone else, so no one could guess he was actually from the Kingdom.
Lanci slowly crouched down in front of the assassin and activated the Barrier of Silence.
"Ha."
The woman assassin just gave a dry laugh, as if to convey with her gaze that no matter how she might be interrogated after being captured, she would not reveal a single word.
"Don’t worry, don’t worry, I won’t interrogate you."
Lanci spoke as softly as a kindergarten teacher coaxing children to nap.
"?"
The gaze beneath the woman assassin’s white porcelain mask froze.
"Let me have a look at your memories."
Lanci said gently, while in his mind he directed Talia to use the least extensive "[Surging Gentle Homeland]."
"No!! No!!!"
Suddenly, the woman assassin was like someone who realized something, her ice-cold gaze that would not falter even under torture wavered, as if she had encountered something she truly feared.
The opponent was an expert in Spiritual Magic, capable of capturing her like this, and the opponent might also have more profound psychic probing magic. Falling into his hands, she could not even commit suicide if she wished!
"I’ll kill you, kill you!!!"
She cried out with fury and desperation.
Beneath that white porcelain, her eyes seemed to want to tear Lanci apart alive.
Yet she could not resist the slumber that was making her brain go blank, and with tears at the corners of her eyes, she gradually fell into a deep sleep.
"Lanci, I always feel like you just now truly resembled a high-ranking Empire officer, and the most dangerous kind at that."
Talia couldn’t help speaking in Lanci’s mind.
"How could that be, I’ve only been in the Empire for a few days, and I just happened to maintain public order due to the circumstances, it wasn’t me deliberately helping the Empire."
Lanci declared.
He closed his eyes, slowly immersing himself in a brand new world where the surrounding space rippled with unstable waves.
Just like the "[Fallen Wonderland]," "[Surging Gentle Homeland]" could also interfere with another’s dreams.
```
In that instant, Lanci felt as if he had shed the bonds of his physical body and was in direct conversation with the space of his spirit.
When he opened his eyes again, he was met with a scene utterly different from the dilapidated train carriage.
Beneath the clear sky, a lifting of the head would reveal a swath of azure purity.
The spring sunlight was warm on the skin, and the sound of the water by the riverbank was crisp and melodious.
This was a beautiful small town.
In such a season, donning leisure wear would render the temperature just right, everything perfect.
Lanci and Talia shared their thoughts, descending together into the assassin’s dream, their shapes half-translucent like spirits, watching from a distance.
In the dream, the assassin stood on the bustling town street somewhat dazed, with nothing but the laughter of children playing chase in the open square and the clang-clang of hand-shaken bells echoing in her ears.
She was strikingly beautiful, subconsciously touching the reflection of her face and arms in the glass window of a street-side shop, surprised to find not a single scar on her body.
A young girl, resembling the assassin in facial features and hair color, likely her sister, healthy and vibrant, was strolling along the street with her.
"Unity sister..."
The girl tugged at her sleeve, puzzled by why she had stopped and appeared so lost.
"..."
Unity gradually came to her senses, staring blankly at the healthy girl.
She suddenly cried and hugged the girl.
Muttering indecipherable phrases like "you must be safe and sound," and "sister will never leave you again."
And then, relieved, she was led by her sister, roving around the town.
There were no brutal battlefields, and her deceased comrades would bump into her on the street and greet her.
And this landmark...
Could vaguely be identified through the text as Camberra Kingdom, located in the Western Hub Zone.
Lanci and Talia exchanged glances in her dream.
"Why would she dream of Camberra Kingdom?"
The half-translucent Talia asked. 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝒷.𝓬𝓸𝓂
"It obviously means she’s from the Kingdom," Lanci answered as if it were a matter of course.
Both understood in an instant.
This female assassin, she was one of their own!
Indeed, the broadcast had spoken of a dangerous element within the Allied Forces’ spy network.
Lanci had wondered how he could have possibly been exposed.
On this train, apart from himself, there were other Kingdom people!
The Empire was after this Allied Forces’ assassin named Unity.
Lanci and Talia hurried out of Unity’s dream like two children who felt they had caused trouble, returning their consciousness to reality, and they began to awaken her with enhancement-type Spiritual Magic.
Without the caster’s intervention, Unity quickly came to.
Her blurry eyes bore confusion as she looked at the old man who had not harmed her.
Nonetheless, she was firmly pinned down by Mind Control.
"You damned Imperial Hound!!"
Upon recalling her recent dream, Unity immediately realized this man’s capability for mental interference.
Using such a dream to pry into her brain was undeniably a violation of her bottom line as a Kingdom warrior!
Having such a master concealed on the train, she had been caught off guard.
She couldn’t understand why she had fallen into a trap and who could have betrayed her.
But this mysterious man in front of her was definitively the primary cause of the trap that had snared her!
She could not imagine how much intelligence he would continue to forcibly extract from her if he delved further into her consciousness!
The more she thought about it, the more she felt humiliated, desperate, which all transformed into loathing for the Empire officer before her.
"..."
Lanci wore a baffled and innocent expression, pointing at himself, speechless.
His thoughts weren’t amiss; he did not intend to aid the Empire.
"She’s not lying; she truly believes you’re an Empire Person," Talia added with her Lie Detection talent, as a reminder to Lanci.
Perhaps in the beginning, she really did mistake Lanci.
Other spies need immense resolve to be completely devoted, perfectly disguised as Empire People, but you, my friend, are a Chosen Person of the Empire.
```
