Uncle here isn't your average office worker!

A killer in the dark, a prince in the shadows, the principle of "all is false, all is permitted," and a handsome boss who personally came to her door for a direct recruitment event—Hintrea was certain that the smile on her face at that moment must have been exceptionally bright!

That must have been an expression full of hope, passion, and countless little unspoken emotions that a young girl couldn't quite grasp.

pity.....

Looking at the bustling street that remained so even at night, watching the graceful figure in the opposite hotel building moving back and forth with a white candle in her hand, and feeling the exhaustion of having to work despite it being an anniversary, Hinterlea felt the excitement she had felt from the memories had cooled considerably.

"Never mind, Hinterlea, let's look at the Candle Knights in the distance." Hinterlea patted her cheeks, exhaled a breath of cold air, collected her chaotic thoughts, and continued to carry out her surveillance mission.

The target of this surveillance mission is Viviana, the Candle Knight, a rising star in the Kazimierz Knights' Arena. This knight is of particular interest to the Unarmored Alliance primarily because of her unique identity; she is not a Kazimierz, but rather comes from Kazimierz's less-than-friendly neighbor—Laitania.

Aside from that, Viviana herself is actually quite dutiful and cooperative, and has never done anything out of line. But sometimes birth is such an important thing, so important that the son of a business tycoon specifically requested the Unarmored Alliance to pay attention to Viviana's actions and, if necessary, protect her safety.

"How ridiculous, having a Knight Killer protect the knight's safety."

Hinterlea muttered something under her breath, just as she was about to think about whether she should eat something after the mission was over, when Pegasus's exceptional gaze suddenly caught some unusual little movements from the Candle Knight.

Across from the towering building where Platinum stood, in Viviana's VIP suite spanning the entire floor, the Candle Knight stood in the center of the room, surveying her surroundings. After a brief pause, she seemed to nod in satisfaction, raised her hand, and snapped her fingers lightly.

"Den."

With a soft, crisp sound, the room lights suddenly dimmed, plunging the entire floor into darkness.

Viviana turned off the lights?!

Startled, Hinterlea immediately flipped over and jumped up from the edge of the rooftop, reaching out to grasp the bow and arrows within easy reach.

Viviana clearly showed no signs of wanting to sleep. While turning off the lights wasn't a major issue, as her monitor, she couldn't overlook any anomaly. Her brows furrowed slightly, her pupils contracted, and she used the extraordinary vision granted by her Pegasus bloodline to peer into the pitch-black room.

However, before she could see what was happening in the room, a flickering candlelight suddenly appeared in the corner of her vision, attracting her attention. Then, a faint but warm light gradually lit up, like a gently flowing river, illuminating the entire room and filling her entire field of vision.

"What are they doing...?"

Before Hintelia could even voice her question, her voice abruptly stopped, astonishment forcefully pried her lips open, filling her eyes with an emotion of disbelief.

The faint candlelight, arranged in neat rows by the Candle Knight Viviana, shone through the hotel's glass, forming a short yet complete statement from Kazimierz:

Happy Full Moon.

Happy Full Moon.

Roy's voice sounded behind her. A fleece-lined light blue scarf slowly wrapped around Hinterlea's swan-like neck, sweeping away the chill of the night. The light blue man had been standing behind her at some point, smiling as he put his hand on her shoulder and gazed at the flickering candlelight.

Hinterlea suddenly felt her heart beating a little fast.

She quickly stepped back, leaping out of Roy's territory like a startled catfish, hastily pulling her scarf to cover her face, and asked in a muffled voice:

"W-W-You did this?"

Roy smiled and nodded. "Yes, I made an appointment with Viviana. It cost quite a bit of money. Do you like it?"

“I like her…” Hinterlea stammered, changing the subject, “That’s not important. How did you end up with the Candle Knight, and even call her Viviana?!”

In Platinum's mind, the people of Letania were all rigid and old-fashioned, and unless they were close friends or relatives, they had no right to call them by their first names.

But Roy, as if it were a matter of course, explained, "Little Platinum, surveillance isn't just about sitting alone on a rooftop at night, staring blankly in the cold wind. Sometimes, getting close enough is a good opportunity to observe and gather intelligence. Practice makes perfect, understand?"

"So, you and the Candle Knight... are good friends?" Hinterlea asked, her voice trembling slightly.

Roy didn't know why Hinterlea was so conflicted about this, so he could only nod: "I guess so. Otherwise, it's really hard to book her Light-type Originium Arts performance." As he spoke, he walked to the edge of the rooftop, stretched out his hand, and gave an OK sign to the opposite side of the building. Viviana, who had already arrived at the floor-to-ceiling window, smiled and nodded as well. At the same time, the monitoring mission progress notification in Roy's mind indicated completion.

"She knew I was here all along?" Platinum asked.

Roy shrugged slightly and said, "As you know, the Latanian sorcerers are best at adding a bunch of warning measures around their towers. I bet she already noticed you as soon as you arrived."

Then why do you still have me monitor you? What's the point of monitoring someone who knows everything about them?

Platinum couldn't help but want to complain, but the warm candlelight reflected in her eyes made her unable to say such a thing.

She wasn't stupid; she naturally realized that "Viviana would find out" was why Roy sent her to carry out this surveillance mission—otherwise, how could his carefully prepared gift be delivered to the girl who belonged to it?

Romance, perhaps this is romance. The young girl named Hinterlea was deeply captivated by the meaning of this word for the first time.

Roy turned around and coughed a few times before waking Hinterlea from her dreamlike state.

"Happy one-month anniversary!" Roy congratulated her again, but before Hintraya could reply, his smile vanished and his face hardened. He needed to remind his careless subordinate: "One thing at a time, Platinum, you clearly didn't notice me approaching, did you? You let your guard down because of an unexpected situation. If it weren't a scarf around your neck, but a noose, you'd be finished, understand?"

“A noose…” Platinum stroked the scarf, which still retained some warmth. If the scarf were a noose, she would rather have Roy wrap a noose around her every day before she went to work.

Completely oblivious to the fact that his good subordinate was about to turn him into an executioner, Roy saw Hinterlea fall silent and assumed she understood him, so he continued:

"Therefore, given that you are still very immature and have a lot to learn, the Azure Gold position that was originally intended to be entrusted to you will be put on hold for now."

Roy glanced down at his watch—he'd bought one specifically for this purpose, timed precisely at 11:59, twelve seconds until midnight. After silently counting to ten, he announced with a sense of ceremony:

"I, Roy, the Azure Gold Leader of the Unarmored Alliance, hereby formally inform you that you have been promoted to Platinum..."

"boom!"

A violent explosion rang out along with the clock striking twelve, burying Roy's voice in the sound. This was followed by a rapid ringing of the telephone and a system update prompting that modules were being extracted.

Roy's lips twitched, a sudden sense of foreboding creeping into his heart. He opened the module system's extraction page while simultaneously pulling out his anonymous phone and answering the call. He heard Monique's somewhat embarrassed and weak voice coming from the other end:

"Roy, I'm sorry to bother you, but something unexpected has happened... I need to ask you to help my colleague out."

At the same time, the module extraction interface slowly settled, and the same appearance appeared in the three white boxes on the slot machine-like module loader.

Wearing a thick, black, windproof hood that covers his ears, and a free-spirited gray scarf around his neck, he conceals his menacing face in the shadow of his tall coat. Beneath a white cloak reminiscent of a wanderer, his muscular arms grip a scimitar capable of splitting mountains and shattering rocks. Just one glance from afar is enough to give the impression that "this man is not to be trifled with!"

[Module loading complete, S-rank [Bounty Hunter A-level Power]: What?! One sword can split fifty mountains... I can punch through Lontinim!]

[Module Effect: When your opponent possesses the power to split mountains, your strength will be greatly increased.]

There are no fancy additional effects, and no unclear descriptions of the effects.

Roy gasped, involuntarily exclaiming, "Holy crap, A-bro!"

"What?" Monique's voice was tinged with doubt.

“It’s nothing,” Roy replied, a hint of arrogance in his eyes. “I’ll be right there.”

Image: "Ark's Strongest War God", Location: "Images/1662836510-100339114-109332237.jpg"

PS: Bounty Hunter A, the strongest combatant in Ark, can punch through Londinium, see picture.

This book is primarily a collection of references and jokes; there's no need to compare combat strength. Just enjoy the fun!

Volume 1: Chapter 5 Let me test my knife on you!

The cool moonlight was sliced ​​by an even clearer blade of light, and the world seemed to be divided into two different parts in front of Monique. One half was an ordinary street in Kazimierz, eroded by neon colors, while the other half was filled with the glint of swords and the shadows of blades, sprinkled with pale golden light.

"Ugh!" With a clumsy backflip, Monique barely managed to dodge the blond man's falling sword. Clutching her bleeding left arm, she couldn't help but let out a muffled groan of pain.

She looked up in disbelief at the man standing in the hazy rain of light not far away, Marner Nearl, the long rider of the illustrious Nearl family who was unwilling to take responsibility, who was now holding a small pen and looking down at her with a weary expression.

"incredible."

Monique gritted her teeth, tore off a piece of her scarf, and used it as a makeshift cloth to wrap her bleeding left arm, venting her shock and indignation.

"With just a pen, without even a sword, and yet he seems so at ease?!"

Monique was confident in her close-combat skills. She had studied at the Royal Guard Academy of Victoria and was well-versed in Victorian military combat techniques. Furthermore, the racial talents of the Felin race had endowed her with a more agile figure and quicker reflexes. Under normal circumstances, even when facing an attack from dozens of adult men, she could easily escape unscathed.

But today, it was just a man, an office worker who looked like he had just come home from get off work and whose face showed his exhaustion, who, with only a pen he had pulled out at the last minute, knocked away the crossbow bolt she had shot and got close to her in the blink of an eye, forcing her to use almost all her strength, but she was still defeated step by step and covered in wounds.

Could this be the Great Yan Dynasty? Could any random guy walking down the street be a martial arts master with extraordinary skills? And martial arts masters disguised as office workers, isn't that a bit too modern?

Regardless, she'd met her match today. The consequences of mission failure were unbearable for anyone, especially since this mission was of paramount importance. If Hemlock managed to escape from her grasp, Monique could imagine her fate.

It might even implicate Roy.

Recalling the innocent smile on his face when he handed over the task to her and then used it as an excuse to ask her out, Monique felt a pang of guilt.

Should I have called him? Marna's abilities are beyond my imagination, and I'm injured. If he comes, not only will we still fail to complete the mission, but he might even get himself killed.

But once a request is made, it's like spilled water; Monique couldn't take it back, and Marna wouldn't give her a second chance to call.

Under the cool glow of the streetlights, Marner subconsciously shook the pen in her hand, then frowned, seemingly heartbroken at the wasted ink. She carefully capped the pen and put it back in her breast pocket.

He raised his head, glanced back indifferently, and Hemlock, who had been hiding around the street corner, slowly walked out, as if letting out a long sigh of relief.

“I hope you’re not lying to me.” Marna frowned slightly, her voice low and warning.

The already dismissed Platinum-ranked official immediately replied firmly: "Of course not, Mr. Manner. My lover is from Letania, and she swears that during the time when the Radiant Knights won the Knights Tournament, she did see two Kurantas with the same brilliant blond hair and radiance in a Letania tavern!"

As he spoke, Hemlock turned his head to look at Monique, who was locked on by Marna and was already exhausted, and said:

“If you help me stop them and get me out of Kazimierz safely, I will tell you everything I know… Wait, what’s the last thing?”

A hint of doubt appeared on Hemlock's face, but the next second, his doubts were answered by a voice coming from the end of the street.

Roy emerged from the shadows where the streetlights met the light, followed by Hinterea, who was drawing her bow and nocking an arrow. Even though she had noticed Monique's condition, her tone remained completely devoid of seriousness or tension. Instead, she winked slightly teasingly and said:

“Monique, you don’t look very ladylike right now. Leave the rest to me. You go back and rest. Of course, I don’t want this to affect our agreement.”

Our agreement?

Monique paused, then her face darkened. What kind of time is this? This irresponsible guy is still thinking about dates!

Judging from his appearance, he clearly had no idea of ​​Marna's true strength. If this continues, he'll be doomed here!

Monique had already suffered a defeat due to carelessness and underestimating her enemy; she didn't want Roy to be left here as well. Even if the mission couldn't be completed, Roy at least had to leave safely, find Xuan Tie to report the situation, and save his life! She immediately spoke:

"We'll talk about our agreement later. Marner is very strong. You go first and go back to the boss, understand?"

Roy was taken aback by the shout. "We'll talk about our agreement later," he said. "How can that be?"

Roy brought this up first in the hope that Monique would keep her promise and recommend Hintraya together. Otherwise, he had already made a grand promise, and it would be embarrassing if he couldn't keep it. Now you say you're unwilling? Are you going to renege on your promise?