After choosing to leave, they regretted it.

This made Constantine feel relieved, but also very surprised - of course his face remained expressionless.

"Lord Uriel, why are you here!?"

"I learned something in Tafia that I need to let Aize know as soon as possible, but I don't know where he is, so I want to go to Anlin Plain to find you and see if you know anything."

As Aize's confidant, Constantine can be said to be the person who knows the most Aize's secrets.

So Uriel thought that if there was still someone who knew where Aize was, it must be Constantine.

"In the end, I happened to meet you halfway. You even turned into the mountains, so I followed you. Where does this road lead to? Is Aize ahead?"

In the character ratings that Aize had previously given, Uriel belonged to the absolutely reliable category.

So Constantine did not hide anything and answered directly:

"Yes, Lord Aize is now in a half-blood village not far away."

Yuriel was filled with questions:

"Half-blood? What's going on... No, time is urgent. You should lead the way first. We can talk as we walk."

(Today is the weekend, so I won’t be too picky about the time. I will release both the regular and extra chapters together. I will recommend it tomorrow, and will update seven chapters directly at midnight. Thank you all for your continued support.)

Chapter 109 Commitment

Brian sat in the study that once belonged to Sheen, absentmindedly flipping through a book he picked up with his one visible eye.

The reason for his absent-mindedness was that he was very anxious.

Not only was he worried about Heidi, he was also waiting for someone, someone who should have come to him a long time ago.

After a long time, there was finally a knocking sound from the closed entrance of the study. The guards waiting nearby immediately stepped forward and opened the door.

A somewhat slender figure walked to the desk and bent down gently:

"I haven't seen you for a few days, Duke. What's wrong with your eyes?"

Brian threw the book aside, covered his eyes, and said unhappily:

"How can you be okay with something that has nothing to do with you? Alicia, what on earth have you been doing these past few days!?"

The pink-haired girl standing there—Alicia—had a somewhat unhappy expression on her face, but she still replied:

"I went back to my hometown and there was some emergency there, so I stayed a few days longer. I'm very sorry."

The corners of Brian's mouth twitched unhappily, but he didn't say much.

Because he knew what was hidden under the skin of the girl in front of him.

A monster that is everything and nothing.

By taking advantage of her inexplicable sympathy for half-bloods, Brian was able to manipulate her to a certain extent, but it was still very dangerous, so it was best to avoid unnecessary provocation as much as possible.

After letting out a breath to calm himself, Brian put away his irritability, put on a friendly smile, and asked:

"Really? What happened? Do you need help?"

"We were attacked by a group of slave traders composed of deserters. Many people were captured. The problem has been resolved. Please rest assured."

"This kind of thing happened. There's really nothing I can do. I was a little excited. Please don't mind it."

"of course not."

Alicia nodded without much expression on her face, her blue eyes staring blankly at Brian.

This weird atmosphere that looks like a human at first glance, but always gives people a sense of disharmony in subtle places, always makes Brian feel creepy.

I have nightmares every time I think about it at night, and I wish I could get rid of Alicia right now.

But he still maintained a friendly appearance and asked kindly:

"You've been working for me for over a year now, right? How do you feel about this?"

"Thanks to the Duke's kindness and generosity, my compatriots have the life they have today. For that, I am truly grateful."

Alicia has never been an adventurer. The identity of an adventurer was forged for her by Brian.

In reality, she is a spy and assassin working for Brian.

He uses his transformation ability to handle various tasks that ordinary people cannot do.

In exchange, Brian paid her a huge salary so that she could support the entire village alone.

After hearing her answer, Brian nodded with satisfaction:

"That's good to know. Do you still remember the agreement we made half a year ago?"

The girl nodded:

"Of course you remember. If I help you kill the brave Aize and ascend to the throne, you will set aside a piece of territory within the kingdom for the half-bloods to live in."

Although such a paradise-like village was built, the lives of the mixed-race people did not change completely.

Poverty, hardship, and discrimination.

Even if they fled to remote mountainous areas, they would still be harassed by the lingering slave traders.

So Alicia made up her mind early on to create a place where mixed-bloods could truly live freely.

That's why I made this agreement with Brian.

The previous village attack had only intensified her urgency to fulfill her promise, so she took this opportunity to come to Brian.

"Your Excellency the Duke, have you found the whereabouts of the brave Aize?"

Brian shook his head:

"No, not yet, but a thorough search has begun, and we'll find him soon. Don't go back, just wait here patiently for two days. I'll let you know as soon as we have any news."

"Two days..."

Alicia clenched the shopping list in her hand:

"Your Excellency, can I go back first and come back? There are many things that the village urgently needs. If I wait a few days, I'm afraid they won't be able to wait."

Brian stood up, suppressed his fear and nausea, and walked to Alicia with a wry smile on his face.

said:

"No matter how much they build up that village, it's just a small, insignificant one. Once you kill the Brave Aize, your compatriots will receive an entire fiefdom. Can't you tell the difference?"

"I……"

"Once this is done, your fellow half-bloods will hail you as a hero. By then, they probably won't mind revealing your monster identity."

Alicia looked away slightly.

He is a monster and has always been a monster. Brian has always been so outspoken in the past.

In the past, she would have accepted this statement calmly.

Because monster, this is myself, this is my definition, it is just right, there is nothing to say.

But this time, I felt inexplicably blocked in my heart.

Don’t be defined—what Ain said before always lingers in my mind.

She was still thinking and understanding the meaning of this sentence, but if, if there was even a slight possibility that she could stop being a monster, then...

Alicia clenched her fists.

There would be no immediate answer to this question, so she asked about another matter that concerned her:

"Speaking of which, Your Excellency, on my way here, I saw a large army carrying your banner. What's going on? What happened? Does assassinating a brave man require such a large-scale operation?"

"Well, actually..."

boom!!!

The tremor, like an earthquake, interrupted Alicia's thoughts and frightened Brian.

“What!!? W-what happened!!”

He hurriedly ran to the bed and looked outside, only to see a cloud of smoke rising from the direction of the shopping street in the distance, and a huge shadow could be vaguely seen moving in it.

At this moment, the door of the study was thrown open and a guard rushed in:

"My Lord, something terrible has happened! There is—there is—"

"Why don't you tell me what you have to say!!?"

“There are—there are puppets! Several large puppets have appeared simultaneously across Tafia, wreaking havoc!!”

----------

A giant puppet, fifteen meters tall, suddenly appeared on the streets of Tafia without any warning, causing great chaos.

As the behemoth moved forward, the neatly paved brick and stone road was crushed piece by piece, dust flew up, the crowd fled in all directions, and even the ground shook.

And Aize, hiding in the shadows of Noble Street, was observing the chaos coldly.

The puppet was naturally created by Villian.

Because time is urgent, this seemingly huge thing is actually very fragile and crudely made, and can be easily destroyed by a few mages.

But enough about creating chaos.

Although this would cause certain losses to Tafia, the situation was urgent and there was no time to worry about that.

Amidst this chaos, the guards guarding the lord's mansion had no choice but to fight the monsters in order to control the damage.

As teams of guards walked out of the courtyard and disappeared around the corner of Noble Street, the lord's mansion was of course extremely empty at this moment, making it very suitable for sneaking in.

Seeing that the time was almost right, Aize didn't hesitate to put on the armor he had taken from a knocked-out guard and sneaked into the house.

The lord's mansion was very quiet at this moment, even to the point of being empty.

Not only were there no guards, there were hardly any servants. Occasionally there were some, but they were unfamiliar faces, probably brought by Brian himself.

And none of the maids and housekeepers who once served Xi Yuen were left.

This anomaly further confirmed Aize's previous speculation.

"There's something wrong indeed. It's impossible that both Sheen and Heidi are imprisoned here... This must be the dungeon."

A dungeon is a facility that any large aristocratic mansion in this world would have, and Sheen's is no exception.

Usually located in the basement of the main house, it is always filled with subjects who cannot pay taxes, violent and brutal thugs, guards who have made mistakes, and even women who have been abducted.

It can be said that whether a noble is kind or cruel can be understood by just looking at the people imprisoned in the dungeon.

The dungeon of Sheen's mansion was poorly guarded, with only a few scattered guards.

After getting close by disguising himself with his clothes and knocking the man unconscious, Aize sneaked in effortlessly.

However, just like the empty garrison, the dungeon was also empty.

Apart from a few common criminals that Sheen had captured, there was nothing worth mentioning.

Aize stuffed the knocked-out guard into an unnoticed corner, left the dungeon, and returned to the empty hallway. He began to re-examine the building.

There are two floors. The second floor is the bedroom, study, etc. Brian should be there now.

The evidence was that even though most of the guards in the mansion had been dispatched, the corridor on the second floor was still strictly guarded, with dozens of guards visible alone.

Aize is not Leia, nor is he Uriel, and he does not have the ability to seamlessly connect infiltration to invincibility.

I didn't even consider going upstairs.

The remaining area guarded by guards is——

Aize looked towards the reception room on the first floor.

Outside the door of this room, there were quite a few guards patrolling.

If there is no problem inside, there is no need to keep anyone here in this situation.

But how do I get in?

Aize turned into a blind spot where the other party couldn't see him, took out a match from his pocket, lit it, and threw it on the curtains in the corridor.

Then he pretended to be casual and walked to the other side of the living room.

soon--