Final Lord

Chapter 305 The Nightingale's Language of Flowers
As dusk fell, the Iris Castle was bathed in the crimson light of the setting sun. When Pietro's gilded boots stepped over the rose-patterned carpet, the clanging of armor and sword startled the crows among the columns.

Count Iris was already waiting in front of the gilded hall with twelve attendants. His obese body stretched his silk robe, embroidered with irises, to the point that it looked like it was about to burst.

“Lord Pietro!” Count Iris opened his arms, his triple chin creating greasy wrinkles on his jeweled necklace. “I came to greet you as soon as I heard you had returned from the Sunset Mountains.”

You returned three days earlier than the messenger predicted; could it be that you discovered traces of the traitors?

Pietro's fingertips tapped lightly on the hilt of his sword, a flicker of alertness flashing in his emerald eyes.

He bowed slightly, the dark patterns on his stand-up collar shimmering in the candlelight: "Thank you for your concern, but unfortunately the monsters in Sunset Mountains are more rampant than I imagined, and I haven't gained anything."

He deliberately let the mud from his boots drip onto the Persian carpet. "But why hasn't your scouting team, Earl, investigated the Sunset Mountains all this time?"

Count Iris's pupils contracted sharply, then he burst into exaggerated laughter. He affectionately put his arm around Pietro's shoulder, his jade thumb ring sinking into the swordsman's leather shoulder guard: "Young people are too serious! If the scouts in my territory were as skilled as you, a genius, would I still be just a count?"

"Come, come, tonight I'll be hosting a grand banquet to celebrate your safe return." He lowered his voice, the strong scent of perfume mixed with alcohol wafting towards Pietro's ear.

"I've heard you're still unmarried? I have a young daughter, the most delicate stamen of the iris, who has always admired you. You must do me the honor of joining me tonight."

Pietro felt a spasm in his stomach. He noticed the little girl behind the count—the pretty young woman peeking from behind a pillar, her pearl-encrusted corset making it hard for her to breathe, as if she were squeezing all the fat from her belly onto her chest.

The farce of the noble marriage and the border crisis formed an absurd contrast at this moment, reminding him of the "female flies" swarming around him in the royal banquet hall.

Pietro cursed inwardly: These nobles are incompetent, they only know how to curry favor with the powerful. How can the kingdom be well managed if they associate with these scoundrels?

“I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you.” Pietro took a half step back, the cold glint of his sword drawing an invisible line between them. “His Majesty’s orders are a thorn in my side; I must deal with them immediately.”

Count Iris sighed helplessly and could only watch Pietro leave.

……

As the oak door of the residence closed behind him, Pietro immediately ripped off his sweat-soaked cloak.

"You must write a letter to your father immediately."

His fingers trembled slightly with urgency as he pulled open the drawer to retrieve paper and pen. The moment the brass drawer opened, a gold-embossed diary and an unfamiliar envelope came into view. The undried wax seal on the envelope still carried the scent of pine resin.

Pietro's fingers froze the moment they touched the unfamiliar letter in the drawer.

There was no signature on the envelope, but when he saw the familiar handwriting by candlelight, his pupils suddenly contracted—it was Wei Yi's handwriting!
He slammed the drawer shut, glanced around warily to make sure no one was watching, and then took out the letter again. As the parchment unfurled, lines of sharp handwriting pierced his eyes like blades:

"The Church of Evil Spirits has infiltrated the borders of the Principality of Buck, and Viscount Hank has become its lackey, sacrificing living people for power..."

Pietro's knuckles turned white from the force he exerted, and the letter trembled slightly in his hand.

Wei Yi's letters contain a great deal of information, ranging from the framework of the evil spirit church to its aims and the methods it commonly uses.

She described in detail the details of Viscount Hank's assistance to the evil cult: human sacrifice, emotional extraction, the formation of a cult army, the organization of a demonic invasion, and the persecution of lords under the guise of rebellion...

Pietro was deeply shocked by what he saw.

Viscount Hank? That nobleman, renowned on the border, was secretly colluding with a cult? What chilled him even more was that Wei Yi possessed so much secret information. The warning at the end of the letter plunged him into an icy abyss: "There may be a mole within the capital's upper echelons. Please, teacher and senior brother, investigate carefully."

Wei Yi couldn't be sure whether her teacher and senior brother were connected to the evil cult, so she could only avoid meeting them. She asked for their understanding.

"Damn it!" Pietro cursed under his breath, cold sweat beading on his forehead. If this intelligence was true, the tentacles of the evil cult had already reached into the very core of the kingdom's power!
“I understand now. Junior Sister must have discovered clues about the Evil Spirit Church. That's why she was framed by Viscount Hank. This is intelligence that Junior Sister risked her life to deliver, and I must tell Father!”

Without hesitation, he pressed the letter close to the candlelight, watching the flames devour every word until the ashes fell. Then, he quickly packed his things, put on his cloak, and went out the door.

The night was as dark as ink, and Pietro's figure blended into the darkness, heading straight for the teleportation array. He had to return to the capital immediately.

……

In the lord's room, the ice crystal dome reflected a deep blue magical glow, and the throne carved from white spirit wood shimmered with a warm luster in the fireplace firelight.

Wang Bufu leaned back on the throne, his fingertips rhythmically tapping the armrests, the ice crystals colliding with the wood producing a crisp sound.

Suddenly, a whirlwind of black feathers swept through the hall. Ruth Levine knelt on one knee, his raven-feather cloak fluttering in the cold mist. His head was bowed, his dark golden vertical pupils reflecting the flickering flames: "My lord, the target last disappeared in the rainbow light of the royal capital's teleportation array."

Wang Bufu leaned forward slightly, his ice-blue cloak slipping off his shoulders: "You've had a long journey. Did you discover anything along the way?"

Root's lips curled into a meaningful smile: "Indeed, we made an interesting discovery. While tracking Pietro, we discovered another team was secretly monitoring him."

"Oh?" Wang Bufu raised an eyebrow, a hint of interest flashing in his amber eyes. "Tell me about it."

“It’s Count Iris’s secret unit—the Nightingale of Flowers.” Ruth spread her cloak, a few raven feathers falling to the ground. “Their disguise was utterly clumsy; they were under our surveillance the entire time.”

Wang Bufu chuckled softly, the ice crystals between his fingers shattering into stardust: "Nightingale of Flowers? That's an elegant name. Tell me more."

“Yes, sir.” Ruth straightened her back, her obsidian-like fingernails drawing lines on the ground. “This team is entirely composed of human women. Count Luminosa has been posing as a lecherous man for years, taking in girls from all over the place.”

The outside world believes that those girls were abused by him, but that is not the case.

He trained them to be elite spies, distributing them across the territories of various lords to gather intelligence. The seven most outstanding among them formed the core team, which is the Nightingale of Flower Language that appeared this time.

Wang Bufu stroked his chin thoughtfully: "How did you obtain such confidential information?"

Root chuckled, "They're certainly good at using their looks to extract information, but not so good at dealing with beauty." He coughed lightly, "Luckily, our young man is quite good-looking."

A spark flew from the fireplace. "Awesome!" Wang Bufu gave a thumbs up.

Lute said modestly, "It's nothing. If you, Lord, were to do it yourself, you could probably recruit them directly."

"Hahaha, stop flattering me." Wang Bufu laughed, "Keep monitoring, and if necessary, you are allowed to gather humans to form an outer force. But be careful to maintain single-line correspondence and do not reveal your Arakkoa identity."

“Yes!” Lute agreed first, then asked excitedly, “Lord, when you said you would allow the formation of an outer force, does that mean we can use the advanced classes you gave us as bait?”

(End of this chapter)