Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 98 - 94 Accident

The nights in Naranya were much quieter than in Cassandra, with only old-fashioned grease lamps lining the streets, their dim yellow light providing little in the way of illumination. Lyle felt that the people of Naranya might not have quite understood the purpose of street lamps; rather than serving to light the way, they seemed more like decorative ornaments meant to adorn the streets. When the day’s multicolored flowers lost their hues at night, these cute little colored lamps would invariably appear in sweet dreams.

Thanks to them, Lyle’s night vision was not very clear, which admittedly could be due to a lack of proper nutrition for his body, but Lyle still blamed these little things, for they were always so captivating at night, inadvertently stealing his gaze.

This was quite a burden on his tracking activities. On the windowsill of the Agave Inn, as that familiar white shadow entered his sight, Lyle felt like a fish biting at bait, helplessly being led by the nose, yet he still followed his own curiosity. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

In the room, Karen and Verlet were still whispering to each other, while Shuishui stretched out a small glob of slime and stuck it to the bottom of his shoes. Lyle tiptoed out onto the street, chasing shadows.

Through the marketplace, down the streets, in the alleys, that shadow, like moonlight, slipped past the lazy guards and left Naranya’s city walls as if it were a gentle breeze.

Wanting to pass by the guards silently, Lyle opted for a safer method.

With his back pressed against the city wall, no one in sight, Shuishui flowed out from under his coat, adhering like tank treads to the stone wall, silently pulling Lyle up at a speed he had honed in Liveser.

It just so happened that the city wall patrol was absent, and Lyle left Naranya.

As he descended to the ground, he saw that white shadow enter the woods not far away.

To continue further would risk exposure, for the woods had clearly been pruned by the people of Naranya, resembling more a park, where the newly planted saplings couldn’t hide a figure.

But that familiar silhouette caused Lyle to disregard the danger—he even abandoned Shuishui’s sound-muffling shoe inserts and took the clean white cane back in his hand.

Accompanied by the sound of the stick knocking on pebbles in the grass, the Silver Armor stopped moving.

"Lady Aryan."

Yes, that figure that had once peered over the marketplace, was indeed Sister Aryan, or at least, the Silver Armor she wore was identical to her appearance at the Church of Holy Light.

As the armor slowly turned, moonlight peeked from behind the clouds, lifting the corners of its cloak, casting a soft glow upon her figure.

Even though the cumbersome armor made her ladylike curtsy appear more like a heavy penguin, Lyle was still pleased to see a friend of Andrey’s out in the open—at least, he considered himself to be friends with her.

Though this contravened Andrey’s instructions for disguise, what could Lyle do? His own appearance must have been noticed by Lady Aryan from the very start.

"Peace, Plague Doctor."

"Peace, Lady Aryan."

After the greetings, Lyle could feel her eyes scrutinizing his face.

A sensation of embarrassed shyness, as if online friends were meeting in reality, welled up, and Lyle offered what he thought was a friendly smile.

"Is my face a bit too ordinary, barely satisfactory?"

Aryan’s voice was like the melting snow of early spring. She shook her head, "No, although unexpected, at this moment, Plague Doctor, you are perfect to me."

"Plague Doctor, you have broken Andrey’s rules."

Lyle shook his head with a wry smile, "I didn’t expect to meet Lady Aryan here. I fear I’ve been recognized in the city. I figured there was probably no need for disguise anymore."

Her head shook again, her voice tinged with confusion, "Nope, if Mr. Plague Doctor hadn’t followed me, I wouldn’t have recognized you."

"Hmm? So, Aryan wasn’t watching me in the city?"

"Not at all, I was watching the people near Mr. Plague Doctor."

The conversation momentarily fell into an awkward silence, but it was soon broken by Ms. Aryan.

"Mr. Plague Doctor, are you investigating the recent vampire incidents?"

"Yes, is Ms. Aryan too?"

She nodded, "The church’s influence in Naranya isn’t strong, and the local lord isn’t in the habit of consulting the Church of Holy Light. I decided to come and take a look while also dealing with some private matters."

"Victims in Naranya now include people other than the baron’s eldest son, with more disappearances occurring over the past few nights."

"Really the work of vampires?"

"Yes, a group of dark forces."

"Then I need to go back and talk to Karen about how to tackle the vampire problem." Actually, he had another reason, he wanted to escape shamefully in front of Aryan. Lately, Lyle’s mentality had inflated a bit, feeling a sense of arrogance as if the world revolved around him.

"Mr. Plague Doctor, please be mindful of your disguise in the future. Even with those close to you, you must not reveal yourself."

"I’ll remember that." It seemed Aryan intended to keep my secret identity safe.

"Mr. Plague Doctor, keep these words engraved in your heart."

"The flowers of Naranya are man-eating, they are beautiful and thorny. Please stay away from those pretty things, even if they are very familiar to you."

Lyle kept these words in mind, as Aryan obviously knew something, and there might even be a deeper meaning to it.

With thoughts preoccupying him, he scaled the city wall, so distracted that he neglected his surroundings.

It was only when that hand landed on his shoulder, Ralph’s chilling voice at night could quiet a crying child.

Lyle trembled as he turned around, sure enough seeing his cheap uncle’s face paler than any corpse he had ever seen, and Lyle believed he would look even paler.

"Look at that, my dear grandnephew, scaling a ten-meter wall in the middle of the night. I had no idea he had it in him. I’m wondering, to what extent do I have to beat him before he peacefully accepts my arrangements."

He swallowed his saliva, "What if I said I was meeting a woman in secret in the middle of the night, could you go a bit lighter on me?"

Ralph’s eyebrows clearly twitched, "My grandnephew, you are not a fool, and neither is your uncle. Even if you wish to survive, don’t abandon your intelligence, that’s the only thing about you that’s worth mentioning."

"I’m telling the truth. After all, if vampires and Ghost Wolves exist in this fantastical world, anything is possible, right?"

"Heh, if such magical things really happened, could I be holding my grand-nephew this year? Lyle, let your dear uncle shut your lying mouth with violence."

"Mercy! I’m telling the truth!"