Chapter 58: The Absent and the Missing

In the end, it was the Priestess who reluctantly took some measures to help this group of bumbling Demon Generals sneak into Demon Town.

Although the inspection at the city gate was strict, it was merely a human approach. If she really wanted to, Vilyric could easily solve the problem.

Besides Iwen, who was escorting the magical beasts home, there were a total of seven Demon Generals and two Great Demon Generals following Vilyric, including Walter and Aiste.

Perhaps due to what Walter mentioned earlier about the differing external philosophies of the three major pillars of the Mountains of Ten Thousand Demons, there were no members of the other two races among this group of demons, apart from the Moonshadow Magical Wolves. The other Demon Generals were either elite members of the Moonshadow Clan or collaborators like Nan Dao.

After entering the city, Vilyric first took a few disguised demons back to the place Lan had arranged for them to stay, got them settled for the time being, introduced them briefly to those left behind like Edwina, and then let them engage in their own activities. She then took Little Dragon Daughter to Miss Lan’s house.

The house Lan arranged for the Priestess and others was not far from her own, practically just a few steps away. Soon, the two girls stood at the door.

They knocked on the tightly closed door, but strangely, after waiting for a long time, there was no response from inside.

Vilyric exchanged surprised glances with her pet, looked around at the already pitch-dark night, and furrowed her brow.

“Strange, didn’t they hear us? Or are they still not home?”

“Master, could something have happened?”

Little Dragon Daughter speculated with a neutral expression, appearing not overly concerned.

“Uh, it shouldn’t be, right? Tyler Tuls is Lan’s real father after all; he wouldn’t go so far as to harm his own daughter, especially since Lan just went to gather some information, not to start a fight…”

Before Xiao Guang could respond, Vilyric answered herself in resignation.

“Forget it, let’s confirm anyway… it’s not like it’s the first time we’ve done this.”

She pulled out a seemingly ordinary black key from her backpack, not caring whether it fit the lock or not, and directly shoved it into the keyhole of Miss Lan’s house, turning it a few times.

With a series of clicking sounds, the Priestess gave a gentle push, and the lock, which looked quite intricate and sturdy, naturally sprang open.

This key was, of course, an item from the “Fantastical World,” and its name was remarkably unadorned—”Universal Key.” Its function was to unlock anything deemed a “lock” after a certain assessment.

Of course, despite its name, the “Universal Key” couldn’t unlock just anything; it was merely a spirit-level item, just a mundane piece of equipment for high-level players.

The main purpose of the “Universal Key” is to allow high-level players to bypass cumbersome preliminary steps of lengthy quests, enabling a quicker entry into content that matches their player level, thus saving time. It was a special piece of gear released in the later game stages in response to increasing player demands.

If we must compare, it’s somewhat akin to the “One-Click Daily” feature in many mobile games.

Naturally, this is the real world, and considering privacy, the Priestess generally wouldn’t use such things recklessly under normal circumstances.

Upon entering the house, the two girls turned around in the empty room, confirmed that no one was indeed there and that there were no signs of anyone having returned, before stepping back outside.

“Really not at home, how strange. It’s so late…”

The reason Vilyric came to find Lan was to ask if she had gathered any valuable information at the City Lord’s residence today and to share what had happened during the day to determine the next course of action.

She hadn’t expected such a situation to arise.

“I feel like something’s off. We should search… ah, wait, did we forget something very important?”

“Forgotten? What do you mean, Master?”

Suddenly slapping her forehead, the Priestess looked embarrassed and pointed at the ground.

“Bangs and Aileen! They went to contact that Ghost Thieves’ informant, didn’t they? They said they found the person and were going to follow the leads to uncover their hideout, but after that, so many things happened that I completely forgot about it!”

It’s been almost ten hours now, and she didn’t know how things were on their side. Wait, something feels off there too…

Furrowing her brow again, the black-haired girl patted herself down and pulled out a glass-ball-like bead the size of a peanut. She had intentionally not put this item in the backpack, but…

It was intact.

No wonder she had accidentally forgotten about the underground black market—this magical item meant to contact Aileen was supposed to be crushed to send a message when that informant saw the signal to meet her.

Or in some special circumstance, like facing an insurmountable danger or unexpected changes at the underground black market, Vilyric had also instructed Aileen to crush it for help; either way, it should have alerted the Priestess of new developments.

But no, this magical item hadn’t shattered, indicating that Bangs…

Had the informant realized something was wrong and not come?

Or had they encountered an overwhelmingly strong enemy and were captured before they could even ask for help?

Unreasonable…

And coincidentally, something unexpected had also happened on Lan’s side, as she hadn’t returned even after nightfall.

In a sense, they could both be seen as Vilyric’s extended ears investigating this matter, yet both encountered issues—if this were a coincidence, it would be far too coincidental.

…

Though not particularly concerned about human life or death, seeing her master with a furrowed brow, Little Dragon Daughter’s expression grew a bit serious as she tentatively asked.

“So what now, Master? Should we go search?”

“Ah, searching is definitely a must…”

The problem now was whom to search for first.

Even though Lan had gone to the City Lord’s residence, there wasn’t enough evidence to suggest she had run into trouble there. In fact, Vilyric wasn’t even clear whether that lady from the Third Division of the Internal Guard had really gotten into trouble or was simply delayed due to handling some matters.

Indeed, the Priestess could locate Lan through the “backhand,” namely the katana “Seirain,” but since it was called a backhand, it couldn’t be recklessly turned over; Vilyric didn’t want their partner to feel that her gifting of the sword had ulterior motives.

…In the end, it would be more prudent to check on Bangs first.

Given Lan’s power and status, it would be very difficult for her to be in trouble in Demon Town. At the very least, she shouldn’t be in mortal danger, but the underground black market was a different story.

After all, Bangs was also the guide lent to her by Uncle Lester, and it wouldn’t do to let anything happen to him.

Moreover… that girl named Aileen always gave Vilyric a strange feeling. Though undoubtedly an ordinary person, she likely had something to hide from them.

Originally, the Priestess had refrained from addressing her doubts due to the presence of Bangs and other considerations, but given the current situation, she couldn’t ignore them any longer.

“Let’s go, we’re heading to the slums.”

   

---