NOVPUBShe begrudgingly released Lanci’s heart.
The week she had spent attending Ichrite Academy in a student uniform with Lanci, going to and from school together every day, just the thought of it made her scalp go numb now. Thankfully, they hadn’t encountered any acquaintances.
Her thoughts returned to the present.
"Seriously, what is all this about? Why would a student from Saint Kray Monastery be targeted by the Blood Clan?"
Lanci waited for Talia to disrupt Viscount Carmel’s nerves and turned to Elsa to ask.
He was fairly certain that Elsa was of human lineage with Ancestral Wolf Clan blood, otherwise, she wouldn’t have this characteristic of being enhanced at night.
Even if the Wolf Clan and Blood Clan were mortal enemies, Elsa shouldn’t have provoked the Blood Clan. Her traits were more like that of a human; it was difficult to see the difference between her and humans, and she herself might not even understand her own Wolf Clan lineage.
How had the Blood Clan discovered her?
"Yes, perhaps it was..."
Elsa snuffled her nose, her gaze shifting away uncertainly.
She didn’t want her brother to be dragged into this as well.
"It was that day, at our family’s banquet, there is nothing uncertain about it."
Ursula stated bluntly, spreading her hands.
It all originated from a banquet held by the Roland family, and Elsa had not understood at the time what her Innate Magic meant, so she easily activated the Eye of Judgement and noticed some very dubious guests at the banquet.
Therefore, Ursula felt quite guilty; she thought that everything dangerous that happened to Elsa tonight was probably because she had dragged Elsa to the banquet.
"At that time, I heard my brother saying he would investigate, and if there was a dangerous individual who infiltrated our family’s banquet that night, he would bring them to justice. I thought it was nothing serious."
Ursula roughly explained the cause and effect to Lanci.
Now, thinking carefully, such a serious accident should have been taken more importantly, but in her brother’s eyes, it seemed to be nothing more than a minor misjudgment.
Her brother’s judgment was obviously gravely mistaken.
Even as if her brother was hiding or protecting the Blood Clan.
She didn’t want to think any further.
"Your brother, Marquis Ryan, the Seat of Amethyst from the Ninth Army God, couldn’t locate the traces of someone who infiltrated the banquet?"
Lanci looked at Ursula with skepticism and asked.
...
Ursula lowered her head, biting her lip.
She couldn’t answer this heavy question posed by Professor Landry.
If the truth really was an insignificant accident, then Marquis Ryan’s explanation would naturally be correct.
But the current result was quite apparent; the "person" who appeared at the Roland family’s banquet that Elsa saw with her Eye of Judgement was almost certainly the Blood Clan.
"It is indeed my fault. When I learned of the situation from Elsa, I thoughtlessly told my brother about it, linking her danger directly to the Roland family."
Ursula drooped her head and answered with difficulty.
She rarely admitted wrongdoing.
Professor Landry probably wouldn’t trust her anymore and would see her and the Roland family as enemies; he might even prohibit her from contacting Elsa further, but she would not hide anything.
"Have you noticed your brother’s personality change drastically in the last two years, over a short period?"
After listening to Ursula, Lanci’s expression remained calm as he leaned on his chin, analyzing.
"!"
Ursula suddenly lifted her head.
She clutched Lanci’s coat, staring intently at him with eyes full of surprise and an indescribable array of emotions.
"Do you, do you know the reason?"
Ursula didn’t understand why this professor still looked at her with trust and couldn’t comprehend why he knew about her brother.
"Let’s leave here first, and head back to the school,"
Lanci said seriously, nodding at Ursula.
He felt that in a little while, Viscount Carmel would be fully subdued, and then they would have to secretly navigate through the city with him in tow and bring him back to the Saint Kray Monastery. Everything had to go off without a hitch.
Ursula nodded forcefully.
She was extremely anxious.
What she had thought to be just an ordinary professor, now seemed to her to be teeming with secrets.
The night was so thick it seemed impenetrable, and the wind still howled through the alleyways.
The wind suddenly grew more urgent, stirring the tips of their hair.
"Do you think this place is your home, coming and going as you please?"
Suddenly, a voice emerged without warning at the entrance of the alley, like a ghost whispering in the dark of night.
Elsa and Ursula were startled and looked around.
Not until they followed Professor Landry’s gaze.
Could they make out a figure at the distant end of the alley, someone who had appeared at some unknown time.
The person stood quietly in place, their coat fluttering slightly in the wind, almost merging with the surrounding darkness.
Moonlight fell on him, turning into a cold, stark silhouette.
In that pitch-black space, only his pale blue eyes shone brightly, like two clumps of cold ice flames burning brightly in the dark.
"Sorry, we meant no offense!"
Lanci guessed that the owner of this territory had come and apologized in that direction.
Getting into a fight here would do them no good.
A seventh-order level fight was completely different from a sixth-order one.
In the worst case, the commotion might be too great and attract the attention of powerful ones from the Capital’s Imperial Army.
"..."
The other party did not respond.
He just walked forward slowly, the faint sounds of metal friction reaching the trio’s ears.
It was the light clinking of various knives attached to his waist, their cold glints flickering on and off in the darkness.
Gradually, he finally emerged from the shadows.
The newcomer had dark grey short hair, and his steel-like eyebrows shaded blue eyes with a hint of murkiness, no longer as clear as in his youth, and his face looked to be under thirty.
He wore a pure black coat, with a brown leather waist belt, a black shirt, and a vest underneath, the cuffs and hem adorned with dark red patterns.
He seemed to be able to ignore terrain, passing through any obstacle.
"Barton Hall..."
Ursula immediately remembered this dangerous figure of Brilda—
The leader of the Brilda Mafia.
In Brilda, he was the underground Emperor who made smugglers lose their nerve and the police steer clear.
That black cloak and coat probably concealed an array of special magic resonant knives.
"Professor, he’s very strong! He used to be an Imperial colonel before leaving the military to become a Mafia leader, climbing his way to the top..."
Before she could finish speaking, the figure of Mafia leader Barton had already loomed large in Ursula’s pupils.
In the next frame of her vision, Barton was already within arm’s reach, his movement silent and without any prelude.
His hand was going for the Viscount Carmel that Lanci held, but was blocked by Lanci’s other hand.
"Colonel Barton, could we please ask for a favor? Your people were not killed by us, and my sister was involved due to a space magic accident. We had no intention of intruding."
Lanci spoke politely.
"...Don’t call me colonel."
Barton’s gaze shifted from the Bloodline Viscount’s body to Lanci’s blocking hand, then to Lanci’s face, his eyes as sharp as blades, exuding a spine-chilling coldness, a sense of decisive determination, as if he could see through one’s heart and peel away all pretense.
He didn’t use his full strength.
Because he wouldn’t want to inadvertently hurt two young girls and a kitten.
This young man who had captured a member of the Blood Clan didn’t seem to have any clear hostility towards him.
"Are you from Saint Kray Academy?"
Barton’s gaze lingered on Lanci’s face for a while, as if he finally recognized why this man had called him a colonel.
Professor Landry, could be seen in the Empire’s newspaper today being recognized in a group photo at the Empire’s Special Operations Department—
Underneath the administrative building of Empire’s Special Operations, several special service officers warmly received the young professor in a grey coat, their towering authority and bureaucratic aura unhidden.
Since this professor from Saint Kray Monastery belonged to the Empire’s Special Operations Department, he naturally understood some of the military’s past.
"Leave this Bloodline Viscount behind, and I will not trouble you, you may go."
Mafia leader Barton withdrew his hand back into his black cloak and said to them.
