Chapter 312: Asabanor’s Trail
Xiao Lin listened in silence because they were more knowledgeable about the situation in Planet Norma. The Rosa Kingdom was some distance away from Dawn City and was located in the center of Planet Norma. Other than the language talents they mentioned earlier, the country was actually quite a pitiful one because wars and external circ.u.mstances could almost certainly destroy the small kingdom.
Dawn Academy had dealings with the Rosa Kingdom before, though it was limited to academic research on language. Dawn Academy wanted to conduct in-depth research on the languages of certain races though the Rosa Kingdom, and based on what Qin Zuo knew, their royal family had some interest in Chinese and many of their members have learnt the language.
“So did that girl flee here?”
“Beats me.” Qin Zuo thought for a while and said, “I’ll go and see her later too.”
“Aren’t you afraid she’s recognized you? If she really is a member of the royal family who came over and had contact with us back in the day, it’s likely that she’d recognize us. Don’t forget that our current operation is a secret one!”
“The earliest contact was more than twenty years ago and she wasn’t born yet.”
At breakfast, the few of them had a brief discussion and decided to meet the girl, although they would do so in their capacity as a merchant group. Unfortunately, when Xiao Lin asked the innkeeper about her, he was told that they left as soon as the sun crept up the horizon. Aside from conveying her thanks, the innkeeper actually returned 1,000 New Dollars to Xiao Lin.
“They? She and her mother?”
“They don’t look like a mother and daughter to me! I heard them arguing in the room in the middle of the night. Before the sun came up, two people came in, quarreled with them, and finally left. Oh, and this money was paid by the other two people.” The innkeeper recounted to him.
Although Qin Zuo seemed a bit disappointed, it was not a bad development because no further trouble would be incurred. Xiao Lin treated it as a brief episode during his stay and no longer dwelled on it anymore.
Two days later, the merchant group finally welcomed the Judge Academy’s delegation. The rendezvous point was carried out in a large manor nearby Wildfire Town. After paying a huge fee, the manor’s owner generously made way for them. Anything was possible in Silver Province as long as one had enough money.
There were no surprises with Xiao Lin and Lilith’s reunion. An exchange of nods from each other sufficed as a greeting, and the delegations on both sides seemed to be old acquaintances. Even the pleasantries were skipped. With freshly-brewed coffee and strong tea, the two sides faced each other at the long table and began a confrontation.
“According to the previously discussed agreement, shouldn’t Judge Academy send Lilith here alone?”
“Yes, Lilith is the only official representative of our academy.” One of the Americans spoke in an innocent manner and shrugged his shoulders before saying with a half-smile, “We’re just a merchant group here to do some business. By the way, aren’t you guys the same as well? I got wind of that right before I came here.”
“...”
In order to facilitate communication, they used Normese to communicate during the negotiations. Xiao Lin felt bored after listening to it for a while, especially since Qin Zuo and the other two did not seem to have the slightest intention of asking him anything. It was clear that Xiao Lin was at best a bonus in their opinion, and had no right to speak at all.
Halfway through the discussion, Xiao Lin casually found a reason to excuse himself and wander around the private manor. After a few minutes, he saw Lilith coming out nonchalantly with a look of irritability and impatience on her face.
“They’re so annoying. I knew I shouldn’t have reported it when I discovered Asabanor’s trail!” Lilith walked straight to Xiao Lin and sat on the soft gra.s.s. She stretched her body lazily and her exquisite curves left Xiao Lin ogling a little too much.
As if the fatigue acc.u.mulated during the journey had not been relieved yet, Lilith laid down a little lazily and it was obvious she felt comfortable in Xiao Lin’s presence. She then slowly began to explain the entire story.
About a month ago, Lilith was in charge of hunting down a group of bandits, because they repeatedly attacked the caravans near New Washington. The losses were not severe, but the incident itself drew the ire of Judge Academy. In addition, that period was still fresh from the aftermath of the Blood Moon incident. The academy’s higher-ups were incensed at the embarra.s.sment, so they sent the violent Lilith over to lead the hunt. Lilith was fighting that very group of bandits when she spoke with Xiao Lin on the phone about the attributes.
Things went smoothly at first. The bandits were unable to hide from Judge Academy’s information network, and aside from that, the Judge Academy also decided to conduct a thorough investigation to destroy the bandits’ lair and wipe them out from the base. However, that was only the beginning of the problem.
During the battle, the bodies of those bandits suddenly exploded, severely wounding the Americans who were in hot pursuit and even killing a number of people. After being studied by professional mages, the explosion turned out to be a corpse explosion derived from necromancy. For the record, the natives of the Planet Norma regard necromancy as blasphemous sorcery, and even the most heinous of outlaws would never learn such a spell.
Judge Academy was aware of the seriousness and got lucky enough to arrest several bandits alive. In fact, no torture was needed for the interrogation as they immediately already confessed in a panic. Their leader’s mood had suddenly changed a few weeks prior and forced them to attack caravans near New Washington.
Judge Academy also found that the captured bandits’ bodies had been implanted with necromancy spells. The caster could detonate their bodies as bombs, and that particular spell was more heinous than corpse explosions, as corpse explosions could only be used on corpses. However, the improved corpse explosion could detonate even a living person.
After several investigations, Judge Academy finally shifted their target to Asabanor, who had escaped from The Final Land. The academy learnt that the gang of bandits had arrived in Silver Province, although their purpose for being there was as yet unknown.
What left Xiao Lin a little speechless was that Lilith subsequently expressed a strong dissatisfaction, because her purpose of looking for Asabanor was solely to fight with him. Back in The Final Land, Asabanor had made things miserable for Lilith and Xiao Lin. A strong personality like Lilith could not possibly stifle the anger she was feeling.
Nevertheless, Judge Academy was not prepared to let her have her way, and the joint operation was a compromise of sorts to accommodate Lilith. She was no idiot though, because roping Xiao Lin in was equivalent to bringing in Dawn Academy’s forces too. That way, the people who followed her along probably would not have much time to concern themselves with her.
“In other words, you wanted me to come along just so I can cover you in your fight?” Xiao Lin’s lips twitched. As expected, Lilith was the only one who could think of such a powerful reason.
Lilith replied sternly, “No, not my fight, it’s our fight! Asabanor is very weak now, otherwise he won’t be using bandits to hara.s.s us. We can finally avenge what happened to us in The Final Land!”