c5 p3 p4 p5 (Patreon)

C5 P3

C5 P3

After Marceau left the room, only Aker and his party were left in the room now.

"Everyone, you can sit there." The woman put the tray on a small round table that did not match the office, skillfully poured five cups of black tea, and took out three more chairs from the locker. "Usually there are only two people here at most. Also, I’m sorry to ask you to come over all of sudden."

"Thank you. And it's okay, we don't mind it..."

Aker replied.

After all four of them were seated, the woman Marceau called the "captain" introduced herself.

"My name is Ruth, how should I put it... I am the captain here. You probably heard about this from Marceau?"

Ruth covered her mouth and smiled softly, revealing a unique charm between her gestures.

Then, she who was leading the topic looked at Venus, who was sitting between Aker and Loulou.

"You are Venus, right?"

It was not surprising that Ruth had such information in their hands.

Venus who had been very nervous was almost about to cry after her name was mentioned by Ruth. She just nodded slightly but did not say anything.

Ruth returned her gaze to the only boy here, Aker.

"At present, all we know is where you come from and where you plan to go, nothing more. Loulou is your little sister. There is nothing special about your background. You met Lynn and Venus on the way, and both of them were wanted by the church some time ago, right?"

Aker became nervous when he heard this. Although the church and the related parties of the Bice Empire were not on good terms with each other secretly, at least on the surface they still had a relatively harmonious relationship, so now the Imperial Capital Defense Bureau had reason to detain Lynn and Venus here.

Lynn and Venus may have thought of the same thing. The air in the office suddenly became heavy, and even the aroma of black tea that slowly spread in the air could not cover it.

However, this heavy air was immediately blown away by Ruth's next words.

"Now the church has revoked the wanted warrant, so you don't have any restrictions in the imperial capital now."

The wanted order was issued directly by the church, but they also took the initiative to revoke it.

Everyone was very nervous earlier, so they forgot such an important thing.

"So, can you please assist us in the investigation of the accident as the regular citizens? Can you tell me the details of the accident?" Ruth shook her finger with satisfaction and did not forget to add a sentence afterward, "Assist in the investigation will have a reward."

…………

The sky in the imperial capital darkened, and Aker and the others were released from Ruth's "psychological consultation room".

The so-called reward was a lot of money. For them who had the travel expenses from Nia and Gurley, this was exactly what they needed to survive in the imperial capital.

There were not many people in the headquarters building of the Imperial Capital Defense Bureau. A few hours ago, there were still hundreds of passengers waiting for inspection in the lobby. Now the crowded and noisy atmosphere had disappeared.

"That kind of explosion cannot be caused by an ordinary magician alone, at least it should be a group crime. The criminal should not be stupid enough to leave traces of magic energy."

Lynn and Venus were thinking the same thing.

Although the current magic technology could display different magic energy in different waveforms, occasionally, a few people would have the same waveform in magic energy. According to the magic energy left after using magic, the remaining waveforms could indeed be used to trace back to the criminal, so few people would leave traces of magic energy.

Therefore, Lynn's complaint was not baseless, and she would rarely make baseless assumptions.

"Maybe it's because someone in the Imperial Defense Bureau possesses that special ability... I know there are mages who can read the traces of magic energy left a few hours ago..."

"Really? Doesn't that mean they can see the past? Venus, this is already a miracle, right?"

It was not that Loulou didn't believe in Venus, but it would take some time for her to accept it.

"The ability to see the past and the future is not a miracle..." Venus shook her head. "The magic that can be called a miracle, as far as I know, are the magic used by the three heroes who led the end of the cross-border war...'Time Jump', 'Instant Death' and 'Reverse'... 'Time Jump' is the inherent magic of the Maiden of the Celestial Race, which can truly interfere with the timeline of things in the real world... 'Instant Death' is the inherent magic of the beastmen chief, and "Reverse" is the inherent magic of the elders of elves. That's about all we have in the record so far..."

"Venus, you are so amazing!"

Loulou raised her hands in admiration to cheer for Venus, and Venus smiled shyly with embarrassment.

Just when Aker and Lynn were discussing and preparing to leave the gate of the Imperial Capital Defense Bureau, someone shouted, "Wait a minute" behind them. It made everyone stop.

When they saw the messy gray hair that was messy like seaweed tangled in a ball...

"Shun?"

"Elder Brother Shun?"

The people who spoke at the same time were Aker and Loulou.

The two of them recognized the iconic seaweed head.

P4

The man's face had not changed much since he left the village.

The fortitude expression and the scary scars did not exist, at best he seemed to be a little mature.

He was four years older than Aker, and he had spent his childhood with the children in the village, left the village to go to the Frimaire Academy when he was as old as the current Aker.

He was the big brother Aker admired when he was young.

"Why are you here?"

Aker couldn't suppress his excitement. He even forgot to say "Long time no see". He just went straight to the subject.

How exciting it was to meet people from the same country in a foreign land, let alone meeting people who he was so close to when he was young.

"I came here to work after I graduated from the Frimaire Academy," Shun also patted Aker and Louluo on the shoulders happily, "because I feel that only this kind of place is more suitable for me. Loulou has also grown up too, and become so cute!"

"Thank you…"

Loulou lowered her head shyly.

"Shun, you graduated from Frimaire Academy?"

"Mhm, I barely passed the theory, and I got a good score in the practical test. I came here straight after graduation."

"It's amazing to be able to graduate from that kind of place!"

"Since you are here, it means..."

"Mhm, we are going to Frimaire Academy too."

Aker knew that graduating from Frimaire Academy was definitely not easy. Regardless of age, gender, race, etc., one could only graduate successfully if they got satisfactory scores on the graduation test. Otherwise, no matter how old they were, they must retake.

It was said that this was a rule made by the principal of the academy. Of course, one could also choose to quit halfway, but this was rare.

"I was lucky because I met my master... By the way, the two over there are Lynn and Venus, right? Hello."

Probably because of the wanted order from the Church, Shun also knew about Lynn and Venus. No wonder they got a lot of attention when they walked into the headquarters building of the Imperial Capital Defense Bureau.

Shun was an outgoing person, Aker and Loulou already knew about it. Lynn and Venus also didn't dislike this kind of personality.

"He, hello..."

"Nice to meet you……"

"There is no need to be so nervous, you are friends of Aker and Loulou, then you are my friends." Shun didn't mind their nervousness and smiled, "Oh right, where do you live now? I might visit you if I have time."

"How can I find a place to live so quickly? We just got here in the afternoon, and then we spent some time talking to Miss Ruth until now."

"That's great, I live in my master's house now," Shun interrupted Aker's complaint as soon as he heard him. "My master won't come home temporarily because of work recently. I live alone and the house is quite big. How about you coming over to live with me?"

"Is it really okay?"

Although this proposal was almost like a drop of water in the desert, and the person who said this was Shun, so there was no need to worry too much.

"It's totally fine. It only takes ten minutes to drive from here, not very far."

…………

"So you also have a car..."

Aker was surprised while sitting in the front passenger seat.

Not only Aker, but Venus and Loulou also showed great interest, sitting in the back seat and looking around.

After the rapid development of Magic Technology, privately-driven locomotives gradually disappeared from public view. There were public rail trains in the imperial capital that could reach anywhere, so the residents who drove private locomotives had become a minority.

"This is not my car, it was lent to me by my master." Shun had very good skills in driving locomotives. Probably, a lot of his work at the Imperial Defense Bureau required him to drive. "But it is true that I drive most of the time. My master seldom drives the car."

"Your master..." Aker was curious, "isn't an ordinary person like us, right?"

"Well..." The always talkative Shun suddenly lost his words, "she told me not to tell anyone about her work casually, so it is inconvenient for me to tell you, sorry."

That being the case, Aker couldn't continue to ask for more information about his master.

The three girls in the back seat were exhausted today. They talked for a while, and then leaned together and fell asleep. In order not to disturb them, Aker and Shun did not continue to talk about it for the time being.

The Eastern District was still full of life at night, and the shops on both sides of the street were lit up.

"It looks so good here..."

It was a pity that Aker and the others shuttled between the paths that looked like mountain roads. Although it could be called a road, it was actually very bumpy. Thanks to Shun slowing down in the car, the feeling of bumps was not so obvious.

The three girls still leaned on the back seat and let out a gentle snort, still showing no signs of waking up.

Aker could see the entire east side under the mountain road through the car window. The lights in the city dotted on the earth like stars.

"Tomorrow you can take them around to see the city. Anyway, the entrance exam for the Frimaire Academy is half a year later, so it’s okay to relax now."

"What about you?"

"I don't have any day off this year. But if you need a guide, I can try to ask the captain for leave."

"Then there is no need to trouble you..."

While talking, their car had turned into a small road, and the hazy outline of a building gradually enlarged in the field of vision.

"What is that?"

Aker asked Shun about the vague shadow not far away.

"The fence of my master's house."

"I'm sorry, what..."

"Fence. Just like the fence we have back in the village."

After Aker was sure that he had not heard it wrong, he looked out the window again.

The bluestone fence enclosing the entire mountainous area stretched as far as eyes could see.

P5

A two-story mansion was located in a large courtyard.

After the group of people stepped into the towering gate, they exclaimed in amazement one after another.

"The front yard is like what you saw just now, nothing special."

'Are all the colorful flower gardens surrounding them "nothing special" in the eyes of the residents of the imperial capital?' At this moment, everyone felt the deep gap formed by the development of the imperial capital.

"The front yard... does it mean that there is also another yard behind this mansion?"

"Yes, there is a backyard. But there is only a small attic there. It was originally built on the roof, but my master felt that the overall beauty was destroyed by it, so she rebuilt it in the backyard..."

An attic was rebuilt because of the so-called "overall aesthetics." Was this normal in the imperial capital? Aker didn't want to ask such stupid questions anymore.

"I'm going to park the car in the garage, you can look around first. But be care-"

"Mhm, thank you, we will look around!"

Before Shun could finish his words, Lynn dragged Loulou, who hadn't reacted, into the backyard from the trail on the left.

"Lynn, he hasn't finished speaking yet!"

"Forget it, they should be fine. You and Venus can wait for me here."

Shun patted Aker on the shoulder and left.

"Lynn is really... By the way, Venus, this isn't your first time in the imperial capital, right?"

"Mhm...but..."

"What's wrong?"

"Elder Brother Aker, this mansion seems to be..."

"Yes?"

"... nothing."

"Okay, then I will trouble you to be our guide here." Aker didn't keep Venus's words in mind, he gently stroked Venus's little head, "Now you are the person who knows this place best besides Shun."

Venus drew her neck back slightly.

"I will try my best..."

her long white bangs covered her flushed cheeks.

…………

Lynn and Louloud were now in front of the attic-like building in the back yard, looking at the locks on the door.

Pure mechanical locks had basically disappeared in this era. Instead, electronic locks or magic energy sensors were used, which could be unlocked by injecting magic energy into the locks using specific magic energy ripples. The security of that kind of magic energy sensor was very high.

But there was another way to unlock the lock. That was to make the lock disappear.

Although Lynn didn't plan to do this at the beginning, she became a little impatient after trying the password for a long time.

"Loulou, step aside..."

"Yes-"

A chill was exuding from Lynn's hands now. This was not the effect of elemental magic, but the compressed magic energy that she seemed to have learned in the previous battle.

Just looking at Lynn's behavior, Loulou knew what she wanted to do immediately. She hurriedly stepped forward, wanting to stop Lynn.

…………

When the magic energy fluctuation appeared, Venus was the first to notice it.

Aker and Shun also stopped talking, they didn't understand where the magic energy abnormality they felt just now came from.

Because Venus knew the fluctuation of this kind of magic very well, so after she told them that it was from the backyard, she trotted over first.

After being reminded by Venus, the two men realized that Loulou and Lynn might have had an accident in the backyard.

The two bypassed the trail and followed Venus to the scene. But she who was anxious had never thought of the scope of the trap domain, and accidentally stepped into the trap.

Aker was suddenly pulled back by Shun, who had noticed the trap domain.

In the extravagant backyard like the front yard, the light blue magic energy had turned into fluorescent tentacles. They wrapped around Venus's leg and lifted her up, the same thing happened to the other two girls.

If the color of the fluorescent tentacles was pure black, then this scene would look even more unsightly, but the light blue fluorescent tentacles created a dreamlike scene.

Of course, this was only in the eyes of Aker and Shun, who was not involved in it. But it was definitely not the case for the parties that were being trapped.

"Hurry up... Take this disgusting thing away... Ah! Where is it touching!"

"Elder Brother... It's so uncomfortable..."

"Ah... don't... look..."

The light blue fluorescent tentacles had crawled all over Loulou's and Lynn's bodies, they wrapped around their hands and feet while wriggling under their clothes. It was impossible to break free with their own strength. Venus was lifted up in the air by one leg, and the hem of the lace-trimmed skirt was turned over because of the force of gravity, and the pure white underwear was exposed in the air.

"What is this?..."

"Probably the anti-theft measures made by my master..."

"Is your master... a genius?"

"Yes.”

Although the two men were saying something ambiguous, they didn't intend to keep "appreciating" the scene in front of them.

Shun pressed his hand on the ground to control the flow of magic energy. Because the domain covered the entire backyard, it could be controlled from any position.

The fluorescence tentacles gradually dimmed and then disappeared completely.

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