Adair frowned, asking, “What’s going on? I recall Green Grassland being a vital pasture, where the lord and local officials should regularly dispatch soldiers to clear out wild beasts.”
“Indeed,” Bystander B agreed, equally perplexed. He sighed, “It’s as if they appeared out of nowhere. But I heard from a friend that it wasn’t wild beasts at all; rather, it seemed to be a carnivorous plant. It was roughly the size of a room. My friend said they’d never seen or heard of such a plant in the Heilada region before.”
Upon hearing this, Ye Xi’s brows arched slightly. This information conflicted with her own perception, yet she refrained from interrupting Bystander B.
“A carnivorous plant?!” Adair exclaimed, astonished. “This isn’t the Forest of Beasts! Shouldn’t all the plants in Green Grassland be harmless? Otherwise, it wouldn’t be a natural pasture.”
Bystander B offered a wry smile. “Who knows, honestly?”
“Hasn’t the Duke done anything about it?” Adair pressed, bewildered. “Such an incident should prompt an immediate deployment of soldiers to eradicate it.”
“Well…” Bystander A hesitated, then motioned for Adair to lean closer. He whispered, “Young master, I’ll tell you some gossip I stumbled upon. The Baron apparently sent soldiers, but strangely, none of them ever returned. After that, the Baron suddenly gathered all the condemned prisoners in the territory, and later, they all vanished too. So now, none of us can figure out what the Duke intends to do.”
Adair’s eyes flickered with a peculiar light. He harbored a vague suspicion that the Duke was hiding something sinister.
Feigning regret, Adair remarked, “It seems I’ll have no choice but to give up and seek another path.”
Since these bystanders knew no further details, Adair, possessing considerable emotional intelligence, did not simply discard them after gleaning information. Instead, he deftly shifted the conversation to other topics, discussing the cultural customs of the Heilada region.
As their tea neared its end, Adair glanced at the time, then rose to his feet. “It’s getting late,” he apologized. “I still haven’t secured lodging, so I can’t continue our pleasant chat.”
The others also rose, saying, “You’re too kind, young master. It’s our honor to have made your acquaintance. If you ever need anything in Heilada, please don’t hesitate to ask.”
“Thank you all. Farewell.”
Adair cupped his hands in a farewell gesture, then departed the teahouse with Ye Xi.
****
Along the way to find an inn, Adair smiled meaningfully. “We’ve uncovered some very interesting intelligence. That Duke doesn’t seem as straightforward as he appears.”
From behind him, Ye Xi spoke, “The size of that predator is inaccurate.”
“Hm?” Adair halted, turning his head to face Ye Xi.
Ye Xi stated calmly, “From my perception, that plant is at least three football fields in size.”
Adair gasped. “You must be joking?”
Ye Xi shook her head with certainty. “I am not.”
‘Is that person lying? No, their expression didn’t suggest any concealment, and there’s no point in hiding such information. Could it be…’ Adair considered a possibility. ‘That thing grew from the size of a house to that extent in less than a month?!’
Ye Xi replied, “That possibility cannot be excluded, but what he heard was, after all, a secondhand account. The information could also be inaccurate.”
Ultimately, the two found a rather decent inn and settled in for the night.
Inside the room, Ye Xi meticulously tidied everything.
Adair, lounging on the sofa, watched the busy Ye Xi and asked, puzzled, “Last time at the inn in Baron Quentin’s territory, you insisted on cleaning the room yourself. I thought the service staff did a perfectly good job.”
“Sigh.” Ye Xi looked at the utterly defenseless Adair. “Someone like you would surely be a ‘fast man’ in our world of assassins.”
“A ‘fast man’?”
Ye Xi scoffed, “A man who dies exceptionally fast—isn’t that a ‘fast man’? Public areas like inns are the easiest places for people to tamper with. Surveillance, traps, poisons – they could be set up in these inn rooms without your slightest awareness. That’s why, whenever we stay somewhere, we first search and reorganize the rooms. Even our own rooms are thoroughly checked if we’ve been away for a while. You wouldn’t want your sanctuary of a home to be rigged with high explosives, sending you straight to the King of Hell while you’re dreaming sweet dreams, would you?”
“Definitely not!” Adair conceded, though he presented his own view. “But our current situation is different from yours back then, isn’t it? Firstly, we don’t have a sky full of enemies, and secondly, we’ve only just arrived in the Heilada region. Even if someone had malicious intent towards us, they wouldn’t have time to track our movements. Not to mention, we chose this inn spontaneously.”
“True, the probability of us being suddenly attacked is low. But if we can reduce that probability even further, then everything we do is worthwhile.”
“I see, is this the mark of a professional?” Adair gave Ye Xi a thumbs-up, then leaned back on the sofa. “Choosing you to protect me truly was the most important decision of my life.”
Ye Xi retorted mercilessly, “Heh, agreeing to protect you was the most idiotic decision of my life.”
“Hey, hey, hey! We agreed I’m your master. Is there any maid who disrespects her master like this?”
Ye Xi blinked. “I can’t help it. Only a master who is only developed in their lower body doesn’t deserve respect. Of course, you can dismiss me anytime, you know.”
Adair decisively refused, teasing, “No, I’ll keep you by my side. I’ll train you twenty-four hours a day until you understand my profound love.”
Ye Xi showed no weakness, retorting, “Master, your profound love always makes my hand grip the small knife tighter, makes the force of my blows on your face heavier, and makes your screams more desolate. In severe cases, making you an incomplete person wouldn’t be impossible. If that’s acceptable, then bring it on.”
“Terrifying, terrifying.” Adair, sensing the opportune moment, ended their usual playful banter and redirected his attention to more serious matters.
“Based on the intelligence gathered so far, the Duke’s actions are highly suspicious,” Adair analyzed. “The information Ivan gave me suggested this Duke was somewhat capable and managed his territory quite well. But this sudden incident in Green Grassland has left me puzzled. The timing of this anomaly isn’t too far removed from the Pecoin City incident, and for some reason, the sudden appearance of this mutated carnivorous plant always reminds me of Baron Quentin.”
After finishing tidying the room, Ye Xi sat opposite Adair. “You suspect that carnivorous plant is also a mutated human?”
“That’s a conjecture, but how do we verify it?” Adair pondered for a moment. “I wonder if the Grand Cathedral has a method. Speaking of which, we haven’t scoped out the church in this region yet. Do you think they could perform biological analyses for us? Haha, I feel like I’m treating them like Doraemon.”
Ye Xi interjected, “Why not just go and ask them? The location marked for the Heilada Holy Church on the map is right here in this city.”
Adair stood up. “Alright, then. We’ll go check it out now.”
Ye Xi nodded, leaving Yuzu, who had fallen asleep from over-excitement after their workout, in the room.
****
“Should I say it lives up to being a church in a truly big city? Look at this foot traffic.”
Adair and Ye Xi stood outside the magnificent Grand Cathedral, observing the ceaseless stream of worshippers entering. Adair couldn’t help but exclaim, “This is a world apart from Reiz’s church!”
Ye Xi echoed his sentiment. “Compared to that Mud Monster Priest’s church… sigh, never mind. His was a garbage dump; there’s simply no comparison.”
Upon hearing Ye Xi’s words, Adair broke out in a sweat. He still didn’t know the name of the priest whom Ye Xi continually referred to with different species, and he wondered what kind of miserable life that priest must lead.
“Let’s go in.”
Adair walked straight into the church. The interior was also exquisitely beautiful, with tables, chairs, and statues all immaculately clean.
People orderly performed their worship under the guidance of the nuns, and priests were busy in the confessionals.
Here, the number of priests and nuns was no longer just one or two, yet even so, they were far from idle.
Ye Xi asked, “What should we do? They don’t seem as idle as Reiz and the Mud Monster.”
Adair was also somewhat troubled. “It seems so. Maybe we should just line up at the confessional? It wouldn’t be appropriate to call out to them in public.”
“Oh, isn’t that the tsundere maid? It’s been a few days; how have you been?”
Just then, a voice called out. Ye Xi was the only maid in the church at the moment, so the greeting was clearly for her.
Adair curiously turned his head to see a clean, well-groomed priest with a square face approaching them, a beaming smile on his face.
Ye Xi’s face instantly darkened upon hearing that voice.
She looked at the distinguished-looking priest and said with a cold expression, “The Mud Monster looks presentable after a bath, but his true nature hasn’t changed.”
Kuang Ruo looked somewhat hurt. “That’s too much! I greeted you so enthusiastically.”
‘Mud Monster?’ Adair seemed to realize the priest’s identity, but why was he here? Wasn’t he from Baron Quentin’s territory?
Kuang Ruo noticed Adair and chuckled, “Oh, is this young man the master of this maid? You should discipline her properly. At this rate, your standing in the household will be precarious.”
Adair, however, found himself quite fond of this priest. He offered a slight apology, “I’ve been negligent. I’ll certainly discipline her thoroughly when we return.”
“If you have something good to say, say more of it.”
Ye Xi’s icy words, though not explicitly directed at anyone, caused both Kuang Ruo and Adair to break into a cold sweat simultaneously.
Even in such a public setting, while Ye Xi couldn’t openly lash out, the thick black aura emanating from her sent a chill down Adair and Kuang Ruo’s spines.
“Cough, cough.” Adair thought it best to change the subject promptly. “You’re the priest from Baron Quentin’s territory, aren’t you? Why have you come here?”
“Well, the headquarters felt I was too overqualified for that dilapidated place, so they promoted me.”
Ye Xi scoffed softly, “Heh, they probably saw you ran a perfectly good church into a ruin and demoted you to a general laborer here, didn’t they?”
The sound was faint, yet it reached Kuang Ruo’s ears without fail. The now ‘Flannel Ball Priest’ stiffened, as part of the truth was mercilessly exposed by Ye Xi. While it wasn’t a demotion to a general laborer, they had indeed been unable to tolerate his management and troublemaking abilities any longer, leading to his transfer.
Really a football field.