NOVEL NEXT Ch. 25
Crisis of Exposure?
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At night, since there was nothing particularly special happening, Jiang Cheng went to bed early in her room.
Well, although Jiang Cheng didn't really care much about these things, staying up late often would make her look uglier,
and in that case, there wouldn't be as many interesting things to enjoy.
However, what she didn't notice was that Lyle, who usually acted like a creep and would often lurk by her door to check whether she was in the room, did not appear tonight.
Strictly speaking, Lyle's presence was nowhere to be found inside the entire room.
Far outside the house, Lyle's figure appeared there, and standing across from him was another person.
"Who would've thought that the great Hero would take the initiative to invite a monster like me for a meeting so late at night,"
On the opposite side, Renata, dressed in thick clothes to cover the marks on her body, spoke to Lyle.
"Don't waste time with this idle talk,"
Lyle frowned.
"What I have to say is very important. Otherwise I wouldn't have come to you."
"Fine,"
Renata shrugged. "I'll answer your question, but you also have to answer mine."
"All right,"
Lyle agreed bluntly, not saying much more.
As he said, what he wanted to ask tonight was indeed very important to him.
"So, what is it you want to ask?"
Renata smiled as she looked at Lyle.
"As a local in Adventurer City, have you seen her?"
As he spoke, Lyle took out a photo.
On the photo was a petite elf with silver hair and green eyes.
The elf's face was expressionless, with only a faint forced smile at the corner of her lips, making a V-sign for the camera.
It was exactly Jiang Cheng in her mentor identity.
Seeing this photo, Renata's gaze grew focused. Although she had long known that Lyle was that person's disciple, being chased and asked directly about the mentor's whereabouts still made her feel uneasy.
Besides, even though Jiang Cheng didn't want her to reveal her whereabouts,
this was still the person's disciple, and she couldn't bear to see such a pitiful child search so lonely for his teacher.
"This..." she began hesitantly, unsure what to do.
"Haaa," seeing Renata's expression, Lyle instantly guessed the gist of the matter.
It was nothing more than the teacher telling them not to expose her whereabouts.
Sighing, Lyle decided not to make things difficult for her anymore, and directly threw out his second and final question for tonight.
"All right, another question: what's Jiang Cheng's situation? As collaborators, you should know more than I do."
"Why does Jiang Cheng know so much? What are you guys scheming?"
After hearing Lyle say this, Renata was stunned. Seeing how distrustful he looked toward Jiang Cheng, she suddenly felt pity.
This child still didn't know where his teacher was even now, and was still deeply distrustful of the teacher's new identity, maybe even somewhat resentful.
If things kept on like this, how heartbroken would he be when he finally learned the truth?
With these thoughts, Renata couldn't hold it in anymore. Her kindness urged her to quickly tell the truth.
"Um..."
Renata finally opened her mouth, preparing to tell the truth. "Actually... uh, uh..."
"Sttt–bang!"
Suddenly!
A crimson ribbon appeared around Renata's neck!
Looking as delicate and beautiful as a gift-wrapping ribbon, at this moment it seemed more like a life-stealing chain, tightly strangling Renata's throat.
"Uh, cough cough..."
A faint, shriveled sound came from Renata's throat, accompanied by a few dying coughs.
"Renata!"
Lyle cried out, drawing the longsword at his waist.
The other party had clearly been just about to tell him the whole truth—he absolutely couldn't let her die.
At the very least, Lyle couldn't accept anyone dying because of him.
The longsword traced a dazzling arc, blade flashing as he sliced toward the part of the ribbon extending out from the back.
To prevent any mishap that might cut Renata's neck behind the ribbon, he had to aim for the most durable part of this divine technique.
"Pfft!"
The longsword struck the ribbon, but the ribbon moved with a strange vitality, deftly dodging,
and what weak force could have hurt it was largely dissipated. In the end, the ribbon was completely unscathed.
"Heh...heh..."
Only a faint, struggling breath sounded from Renata's throat.
She kept reaching up, trying to tear the ribbon off, but clearly, what the hero's sword couldn't cut, she could never hope to tear off with her bare hands.
Even her magic was sealed. If this continued, she really would die.
Lyle's eyes glinted with anger, and the lines on his longsword began to glow brilliantly.
"Swish!"
Another dazzling golden sword light flashed. This time, with Lyle's full strength, the ribbon was finally severed.
The ribbon broke, slid off, and fell to the ground, turning into a large puddle of blood.
At home, Jiang Cheng sat up in bed and looked toward the direction where Lyle and Renata were.
In Jiang Cheng's left eye, intricate runes shifted, finally turning into a gear-shaped divine emblem, the symbol of the God of Adventurers.
"Ha, I knew it was them. If it weren't for the fact that they're still of some use, I really should have let them die earlier. If I'd known, I wouldn't have exposed my identity. But without doing so, authenticating my identity is such a hassle."
Muttering to herself, the emblem in Jiang Cheng's eyes faded, and a tiny drop of bloody tear slid down, which she ignored as she looked at her arm.
Her fair arm, at this moment, looked as if it had been completely drained of blood, shriveled and withered.
This was the price for that divine technique's automatic activation.
Fortunately, under the Saintess's talent, her arm was gradually filling out again, and her coloring was returning to normal.
"You should have realized what divine technique this was, right?"
On the other side, Renata looked at Lyle, her expression dour.
"Mm,"
Lyle nodded. As the Hero, he naturally knew about most of the supernatural abilities among those affiliated with the Temple of the Gods.
The crimson ribbon: a high-level divine technique of the Flower Goddess—setting a 'gift' mark in advance on someone, along with a condition that cannot be violated.
If the person violates the rule, the ribbon would appear around their neck and strangle them to death.
The price for each activation was all the blood from one arm.
Because of its great effect and significant cost, it was usually used as an extreme confidentiality measure—a method of enforcing secrecy.
Namely, forbidding the person from revealing certain things. Clearly, Jiang Cheng used it just this way now.
However, the use of this divine technique also meant only one thing—
"It seems I really can't tell you the truth,"
Renata said apologetically.
"If you want to know, go ask your own Saintess."
"Jiang Cheng...!"
Lyle gave a low growl, angry, then fell silent as if suddenly deflated.
"So... about our deal..."
Renata probed carefully.
"I'll tell you Ferran's location,"
Lyle nodded and said,
"Even though you didn't manage to tell me what I wanted to know, after all you risked danger for it—consider it my apology."
"All right."
Renata happily accepted this arrangement, obtaining the Ferran family's address.
"Little brother..." she muttered joyfully, and her figure disappeared,
leaving only Lyle standing there, face dark, looking in the direction of Jiang Cheng's home.