The most shameless alchemist in history

"No, it's nothing. Miss Liana has something to attend to, so we have to go first. Rebo, I'll come find you later," Doma said vaguely. At this point, Rebo probably didn't know about Grant's situation.

Although he and Reibo got along quite well, he wasn't sure which side Reibo would take once news of Liana and Grant's falling out came. Besides, Doma himself was completely bewildered at the moment. He had no idea what had happened. Weren't Mr. Grant and Miss Liana very close, like father and daughter? Why would Grant shoot Liana? This left Doma utterly confused.

"Huh? Are you leaving already? Doma..." Rebo wanted to call out to Doma, but the latter was in a hurry and disappeared in a flash. Just as Rebo was wondering why Doma seemed a bit strange today, someone rushed over from not far away. Rebo recognized this person as Faen, a key member of the Southern Front, as well as his superior and senior.

"Raybo, we just heard gunshots over here. What happened? Did anyone suspicious pass by?" Raybo, with his sharp eyes, immediately noticed that two people were following behind Fain and were carrying weapons.

“Well… just now, a guard here was checking us. I saw he was about to call for help, so I shot him dead.” Rebo thought for a moment and replied, omitting the part about encountering Liana and Doma. He didn’t know why he did it, but he felt uneasy, as if something terrible was about to happen.

"What's wrong with you? Didn't I tell you many times before that you must not fire your gun randomly? It would be troublesome if you attracted the guards from the Northern Kingdom. By the way, did you see anyone else pass by?" After scolding Lei Bo, Fan continued to ask.

"Who else? Mr. Fain, who exactly are you talking about? I don't quite understand." Rebo deliberately kept him in suspense. The person behind him was about to say something, but Rebo stepped on the man's foot, causing him to swallow the words that were already on the tip of his tongue.

"It's Liana, have you seen her?" Fain didn't keep them in suspense any longer and directly said the name. His tone was very firm, completely different from his usual polite attitude towards Liana.

“Miss Liana, I didn’t see her, Mr. Fain, what’s going on?” Rebo asked curiously. Even though he had just seen Liana walk by not long ago, he was determined to pretend he was blind.

“Liana has betrayed us and is now a traitor. So when you see her, you can no longer treat her as our comrade. You must kill her decisively, understand?” Fan said solemnly. As soon as he finished speaking, the people nearby were stunned.

"What? Miss Liana betrayed us? How could that be? I joined the Southern Front because of Miss Liana." Someone behind Lei Bo was very surprised. They were all very young, and their decision to join the Southern Front was largely due to Liana. At the time, the Southern Front regarded Liana as its spokesperson.

“I know this news is shocking, but it’s the truth. You must remember, Liana is now our enemy. You must not show any mercy when you see her. This is an order, understand?” Fane reminded him again.

()

774 New School Old School

Fann only received the news of the hunt for Liana at the last minute, and it came from Grant, the highest-ranking figure in the Southern Front. He had great doubts about the order, but when it came to carrying it out, he was absolutely decisive.

Because he was originally one of the most loyal members of the Southern Front, just as he was giving instructions to Lei Bo and his group, a series of hurried footsteps came from not far away. The rhythmic footsteps indicated that the people were well-trained. It was the guards patrolling nearby who had heard the gunshots and rushed over.

"Understood, Senior Fan, you can rest assured. If I see that traitor Liana, I will not show any mercy. I will take the gun and shoot her a hundred times. Senior Fan, it seems that his gang of lackeys have arrived..." Rebo said confidently, readily agreeing.

"Let's retreat first, let's go!" Fan waved his hand, and soon he and Lei Bo's group fled in different directions. They had been in Winter City for quite some time and were very familiar with it. Avoiding the guards' pursuit was not difficult for them. After all, for them, it was a cat-and-mouse game every day.

"Um... Boss Leibo, what exactly happened? How could Miss Liana become a traitor? And are we really going to shoot Miss Liana?" Once Leibo and his group were safe, Leibo's subordinate immediately asked this question. He hadn't been able to ask before because of Fan's presence, but now he couldn't hold back any longer and wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"Bullshit, Miss Liana is our idol, how could we shoot at our idol? Although I don't know what happened either, let's just pretend we don't know anything. Yawn... I feel so sleepy, let's go back and have a drink and take a nap." Rebo yawned slowly.

The South Front is now facing internal problems. While it appears to be a monolithic entity, factions still exist within it. For example, Farn, who has followed Grant for many years and is loyal to him, is considered a core member of the South Front and is a typical old-school figure.

They accepted Grant's orders without reservation, but young people like Rebo, though perhaps not high-ranking on the Southern Front and mostly at the grassroots level, formed the core of the Southern Front's fighting system.

Without them, the strength of the South Front would have been greatly diminished. They joined the South Front for two reasons: one was their lofty ideals, their pursuit of freedom, and their desire to liberate the people of the South and secure their legitimate rights.

Another reason is personality cult. They regard Liana as an idol and join the Southern Front for her sake. When the Southern Front fights against the Northern Army, they are united against the enemy and are relatively harmonious internally, so there will be no problems.

However, once internal problems arise, the conflict between the new and old factions becomes apparent. Especially now, Grant and Liana have suddenly broken ties without giving a legitimate reason, merely pointing out that Liana is a traitor.

However, everyone in the Southern Front knows that Liana has made great contributions to the Southern Front. Her position is earned through hard work and merit. But now she is being erased just like that. This will naturally arouse the subconscious resistance of the new faction.

“Understood, Boss Reibo. Let’s go back. I’m not going to work for that old man Grant until I figure out what happened. Let’s go.” Reibo’s companions all agreed with him. Soon they left the nearby alley and returned to their base, determined to stand by and watch.

Although the new faction in the Southern Front was on Liana's side, they were completely confused about the situation before Liana spoke out. So, like Rebo, they chose to remain silent. However, the old faction did the opposite.

They were all promoted by Grant and completely obeyed his orders. So even though Grant did not give a legitimate reason to kill Liana, they resolutely carried out the order, and for a time Liana and Doma were subjected to a fierce pursuit.

It's important to know that Winter City is the front line of the decisive battle between the Northern Army and the Southern Front. A large number of Southern Front members are lurking here, and even Grant, the leader of the Southern Front, issues orders from here. This puts a lot of pressure on Liana and Doma. Even if Rebo lets them go, others will not do so.

"They're over there! Go chase them over there... Oh no, the guards are coming from there! We have to avoid a direct confrontation with them..." Someone was relentlessly pursuing them in the alley, but at this moment, the guards inside the city also heard the commotion.

They began a large-scale search, and the Northern faction was also somewhat confused. Normally, shouldn't the Southern faction members lurking in Winter City be attacking them and causing chaos? But today, things seemed different; they were actually attacking each other. Or was this another new tactic of theirs, another unknown scheme they were plotting?

"Are those... people from the Southern Front? The person they're chasing is... Liana?" Just then, Dure happened to pass by. He was also looking for Liana's whereabouts. He saw the suspicious figures in the alley and became suspicious. He quickly followed them to find out what was going on.

Doma and Liana were in a terrible state, fleeing from the old-school pursuers. However, Grant's spies were everywhere in Winter City, and the number of people chasing them was increasing, keeping them constantly on the run. But soon they encountered a major problem because there was no way forward. They were chased to a dead end, with a high wall blocking their way. They had no way to get over the wall.

"Oh no, there's no way out, we have to turn back..." Doma immediately turned around, but at this moment a dozen gunmen appeared at the alley entrance, blocking Doma and Liana's retreat. These people all had red ribbons tied on their arms, which indicated their identities. They were all members of the Southern Front, and old-school members at that.

"Kids, where do you think you're going? Helping that traitor Liana escape, you've got some nerve!" Fane caught up, panting heavily. He had gone to great lengths to catch up with Liana and Doma, and he knew Liana, of course.

As the former number two figure in the Southern Front, Fain had always been very polite to Liana during meetings. As for the other young man, Fain looked unfamiliar with him and didn't recognize him.

()

775, we meet again.

"Damn it, you still managed to catch up with us? You old bastards, with me, Dorma, here, you won't be able to touch a single hair on Miss Liana's head!" Dorma knew very well what their situation was like. It was simply unrealistic for him to deal with so many people by himself, and the other side was clearly after Liana's life, leaving no room for negotiation. This made Dorma feel extremely desperate.

"Kid, who do you think you are, daring to act like a hero here? Since you're going to protect this traitor, then die with him!" Fan didn't want to waste words with Doma. He raised his gun to shoot the two men. After all, they had already wasted a lot of time and caused a great commotion. There were guards searching everywhere. If they dragged on any longer, they would be in trouble if the guards found out.

"Bang bang bang." The continuous gunfire rang out. Even without aiming, the dozen or so guns fired wildly were enough to kill Doma and Liana. This made Faen breathe a sigh of relief, because the mission was finally completed.

"Fan, look over there, what's going on?" Fan's companion reminded him at this moment, and Fan then noticed that a lot of snowflakes were flying up in front of them, which made it difficult for them to see the scene in front of them.

"This is... an ice layer?" Fane originally thought he had dealt with Liana cleanly and efficiently and could go back to report, but at this moment he noticed that an ice layer had formed between them and Liana, which had not been there before, which made him obviously stunned.

"What's going on? Who's behind this? Come out now!" Fane was a well-informed man, and he immediately recognized that a magic user was using ice magic to create an ice wall that blocked all the bullets they had just fired. This made him feel a little uneasy, but he still mustered his courage and shouted loudly.

"Is it really okay for so many people to bully two people?" At this moment, someone slowly walked over from the alley entrance. Before he spoke, Faen and his group did not notice his presence. When they realized that someone was there, they were quite frightened. They all looked over and found that the person walking over was a young man in his twenties.

"Who are you? I'm warning you, don't meddle in other people's business, or you'll bring trouble upon yourself. Don't blame me for not warning you beforehand." Faen gave the young man a stern warning. His experience told him that this young man was a magic user, and a very powerful one at that, far beyond what they could handle. But he still hoped to intimidate him.

"Thank you for your warning. Well then, I'd like to give you a friendly reminder: if you don't leave soon, the guards will arrive quickly, block this place, and wipe you all out." The young man spoke slowly and deliberately, completely disregarding Farn's threat.

"Kid...you're ruthless. Let's go!" Fain did hear footsteps behind him, and the guards were obviously chasing after them again. He knew that if he stayed here any longer, the consequences would be severe. Realizing the danger, he immediately led his men and fled in panic, quickly disappearing from sight.

"You are..." Dorma breathed a sigh of relief at having barely escaped with his life. He was about to express his gratitude to the person who had helped them, but he quickly noticed that this young man was none other than the man named Dure whom they had met in Winter Town and who had come to Winter City with them. This made Dorma's heart sink.

"Dure? It's you? What are you doing here?" Liana was also very surprised by Dure's appearance. You see, she had thought she was going to die just now, but fortunately, with Dure's appearance, she was finally out of danger.

"Let's talk about this after we leave. Let's find somewhere we can talk first." Dure waved his hand, signaling Liana to leave with him. Even though he knew Winry and there wouldn't be a big problem if they encountered the guards at this time, it would still cause trouble, which was unnecessary.

“Understood, let’s go now.” Liana nodded, and soon she followed Dure away from the vicinity. Before long, guards came to check the situation, but whether it was Fan’s group or Liana and Dure, they had all gone far away, leaving only messy footprints on the snow.

"What on earth is going on today? How come so many things have suddenly happened in Winter City? It's infuriating! I was just about to go on vacation. Even if you want to cause trouble, you should wait until after my vacation." The officer who rushed over had a headache. It seemed that his wonderful vacation was getting further and further away from him.

Dure led Liana and Doma back to the inn. It was very safe in the vicinity. Dure had been staying here for two days and had carefully observed the area. There were no signs of guards or members of the Southern Front. This place was like the eye of a storm; no matter how turbulent the surroundings were, at least it was calm here.

"Dure, you're back? And these two are... Miss Liana and... Doma?" Tania asked with some surprise as she saw Dure and his group approaching in the inn's corridor.

Tanya was familiar with Liana and Doma, as they were both familiar faces she had seen in Wintertown. They had even traveled together from Wintertown to Winter City by train, but they had parted ways after arriving in Winter City. Tanya never expected that they would meet again.

"Yes, Miss Tanya, we meet again." After arriving at the inn, Liana, who had been in a very low mood the whole way, calmed down a little. In one day, two of the most important men to her had died, and one had turned against her. This was a heavy blow to her.

“Come to my room, Tanya. Just pretend you didn’t see anything, okay?” Dure said, pointing to his room. He also reminded Tanya that although the hotel was relatively safe at the moment, it would be bad if Tanya let something slip if the Southern Front or guards came to patrol the area.

"Understood, Dure. I will keep Miss Liana and the others' arrival a secret. I won't even tell Rhodes, so you can rest assured." Tanya said confidently, her expression very serious. But just then, someone walked over from the other end of the corridor. This person was none other than Rhodes.

()

776 Seeking his own death

"Tanya, what are you saying? What did you just say you didn't tell me? What else are you planning to hide from me? Oh, this is... Dure? And Miss Liana?" Rhodes happened to hear what Tanya said, and he frowned as he asked. At this moment, he also saw Dure and Liana and Doma standing next to him.

"I mean, I wouldn't have told you, even if you were here, about Miss Liana's visit to the inn. But since you, Rhodes, have seen it, I'll just kill her to keep quiet!" Tanya said seriously. At this moment, she suddenly lunged at Rhodes, grabbing his neck and looking completely insane.

"Alright, Tanya, stop playing around. Let's go find Dr. Sara and continue our lecture." Rod pulled Tanya away and said slowly. He had come to find Tanya to take her to the lecture, which immediately displeased her.

"Ugh? Another class? Can't I not go..." Tanya complained softly. Compared to attending classes, she definitely preferred going out to play. She finally had a chance to catch her breath, but Rhodes caught her again.

"No, you can't let the Doctor hear you say that, or he'll be very sad. Let's go, let's go, we shouldn't delay Dure and Miss Liana's important business." Rhodes pulled Tanya away, though the latter was reluctant.

But they still followed him to Dr. Sara's room. They had been trapped in Winter City recently and had nothing to do. Every day, Dr. Sara would give them lectures, which were among the few courses they could hear before graduation.

"Okay, then, Dure, see you later." Tanya hung her head dejectedly. After saying goodbye to Dure, she left with Rhodes. Dure watched the two of them enter Dr. Sara's room before taking Liana and Doma to his own room.

"Miss Tanya is as energetic as ever," Liana said with a hint of envy. Tanya was always full of energy, and there was no trace of worry or sorrow on her face. It seemed that her daily life consisted of nothing more than eating, drinking, and having fun, although she occasionally had to study.

"That kind of woman is heartless and superficial, and cannot be compared with you, Miss Liana, at all." Doma did not have a high opinion of Tanya. In fact, whether it was Tanya, Rhodes, or Dr. Sara, he was very disgusted with anyone who had even the slightest connection with Dure.

In Doma's view, anyone who gets close to Dure is no good, especially Dure himself, whom he despises to the extreme for his heinous crimes.

"Alright, let's get down to business first, Liana. What happened just now? I went to the tavern you mentioned earlier to try and contact you, but I couldn't find that guy named Kluff at all. And those people who attacked you were from the Southern Front, right? What exactly happened? Why did they open fire on you?" After entering the room, Dure asked Liana about these puzzling things.

“Mr. Kloff is... he’s dead.” Liana’s mood was somewhat somber. The tavern she had asked Dure to contact was run by Kloff.

"How could this be... He's a very important person to you, Liana, right? Don't be too sad." Dure had a bad feeling when the tavern hadn't opened yet, and now that feeling had finally been confirmed. Seeing Liana's downcast look, he comforted her gently.

“Miss Liana, what exactly is going on? Why would they attack you out of the blue and call you a traitor? And what about Grant…” Doma was also completely confused. He had been feeling uneasy these past few days, so he had been secretly following Liana, but he didn’t know the whole story.

“It’s like this. I asked Mr. Kloff to investigate Grant. Today was the day I had arranged with Mr. Kloff to give me the information, but when I arrived at the agreed location, Mr. Kloff was already on his deathbed.” Liana said softly. This was not a good experience for her. Kloff died entirely because of her, which made her feel very guilty.

"So, Mr. Kloff discovered a result that was unfavorable to Grant, which led to Grant's pursuit?" Dure speculated, having roughly figured out what was going on.

"An unfavorable outcome for Grant? But Miss Liana, you and Grant aren't..." Doma originally wanted to say that Liana and Grant were like father and daughter, which was common knowledge in the Southern Front. But now Liana was investigating Grant, and Grant was turning around and hunting down Liana. This relationship made Doma feel really confused. It was far too complicated.

“Because I’ve been feeling uneasy about many of Grant’s decisions lately, I asked Mr. Kloff to investigate. As for the results of the investigation… Mr. Kloff only said that Grant had problems before he died, and he didn’t tell me any details at all…” Liana was annoyed that Kloff had given his life for the information he had obtained, but he hadn’t told her the details.

“I see. Since Grant has a problem, I’ll go and investigate further.” Doma couldn’t bear to see Liana so remorseful and heartbroken, so he volunteered to take over from Kluff and investigate what Grant had been doing in secret.

“No, that’s too dangerous. Besides, Grant has already seen you. Going to investigate him now would just be suicide… Oh, right! Mr. Kluff gave me this before he died!” Although Liana was very sad, she knew that Grant was a very cautious person.

The reason why Klöf was able to get close to Grant and get the results of his investigation was because Klöf and Grant did not know each other, and Klöf was a very capable intelligence officer many years ago. He was very experienced in intelligence investigation.

However, in the end, he was discovered by Grant and brought about his death. This shows that Grant is not someone that just anyone can investigate. For Dorma to investigate Grant was nothing more than courting death.

Just when they were all at a loss, Liana suddenly remembered that Kluff had given her something before he died. However, they had fled in such a hurry that they hadn't had time to think about it. Now that they were finally safe, Liana quickly took the item out of her pocket and placed it in front of Dure.

()

777 Key Storage

"This is... a key?" Dure recognized it as an iron key, but for a moment he couldn't figure out where it came from, since he didn't know anything about Kluff or his life.

"I'm not quite sure what kind of place this key is. Could it be the key to the tavern?" Liana thought carefully. She had never seen a key before and didn't know what it was used to open. The first thing that came to her mind was the tavern run by Kluff.

“But the tavern has been burned down,” Dure said, shaking his head.

"What? It was burned down? What happened?" Liana asked in surprise, still not quite aware of the situation.

"Before I came here, I went to check on the tavern. Suddenly, a huge fire broke out and it was burned to the ground." Dure explained in detail. It was only after seeing the fire that he realized something serious must have happened, so he rushed to find Liana and happened to witness the scene of Liana being chased.

"How could this be? The tavern is on fire? Then this key..." Liana had only thought that the key was for opening the tavern door, and that Kluff might have left some clues for them inside. But now that the tavern had been burned to the ground, it meant that the clues had also been lost.

“Let me see. Maybe this isn’t the tavern’s key. Mr. Kloff must have sensed something before he went to see you, otherwise he wouldn’t have chosen to bring a key instead of something else. He must have left a clue for you, Liana. If it were the tavern, the target would be too conspicuous, and Grant definitely wouldn’t let it go.” Dure thought for a moment. Since he was able to get information from Grant, Kloff must be very capable.

“But if it’s not the key to the tavern, then where is it? Judging from the key’s design alone, it’s hard to tell what kind of place it is…” Liana was a little conflicted. After all, in the vast Winter City, there are thousands of doors of all kinds, and she can’t possibly try every single one of them.

"Found it, it's the key to the Golden Flower Bank." After a careful examination, Dure quickly gave the answer, which surprised both Liana and Doma, especially Doma, who looked at Dure with disbelief.