"Lord of the city, someone has named you to see you."

"Oh? Who is it? ”

"They claim to be...... The envoy appointed by His Majesty Bo Yan has come to ask for your assistance in order to investigate the attack of the previous day. ”

Hearing the words repeated by her subordinates, the woman in white closed the information she was reading in her hand and raised her head to stare at the other party.

"What's the name of those people?"

"They said, you know who they are, so you don't have to give their names, Lord of the City."

Sure enough, Shui Yun thought to himself. Ever since she heard the news, she knew that day would come soon. The only thing I didn't expect was that the other party actually used this straightforward way to come to meet her. On the other hand, the fact that his subordinates did not notice it in advance meant that 'they' should have done some kind of disguise, perhaps before meeting her, they had already completed part of their investigation.

It doesn't matter. When it comes to the attacks alone, she doesn't worry about being found. Shui Yun was concerned about whether 'those people' knew more from Sora and took the opportunity to test her.

She wasn't sure how far Sora knew about herself, but as the "King of Mist" in charge of intelligence, she couldn't figure out the details of the old man at all, which was enough for her to maintain seven points of vigilance and jealousy. However, the unreasonable refusal now can easily arouse the suspicion of the other party, and it will be even more detrimental to her future actions.

"Let them in." After much thought, she made the decision anyway, "At the same time, let the people in the frost group be prepared and deal with it if there is a case." ”

The subordinate answered and gently exited the door. The woman in white stared at the reclosed wooden door, gathering her thoughts and coping for a moment before the 'visitor' arrived.

She and the 'envoys' appointed by Bo Yan were only one-sided. A team of four young women is rare, but it's not unusual. Because of the importance that Wei Feng attaches to them, she sent her subordinates to investigate, and thus obtained a lot of unexpected information.

Anya's identity is the least surprising, but it still can't be ignored. The 'kings' of the Alliance are usually ignorant of government, and in fact have power similar to those of the founders of the Alliance if they so wish, according to the rules that have been passed down from generation to generation. If the Alliance Elders were divided into two factions, then the 'Demon King's tendencies would be enough to influence the decision-making of the entire Alliance.

The same is true of the starry sky. Her mother, the puppeteer Luo Zhen, was famous hundreds of years ago, and legend has it that her "daughters" helped build the empire and won the friendship of every emperor. Even if these are not considered, a great wizard who may have survived for nearly a thousand years and has extremely high attainments in soul secret art is not something she is willing to provoke.

As for the remaining two girls, they don't seem to have much of a deep background, but they also have unsolved mysteries.

According to the information from the investigation, the earliest records they left behind were in the village of Lily of the Valley in the northern part of the Alliance, a small village composed almost entirely of youkai. However, combined with the rest of the information, the two girls seem to be closer to humans than to youkai born of 'psychic' nature.

Even youkai have the 'juvenile' stage of the early stage of psychic, and the process of growing up and maturing. But the 'past' of those two people seems to have never existed from the beginning. In addition, one report mentions that they seem to be interested in the continent on the other side of the ocean, known as 'El'.

The question is, on the other side of the ocean, where is the continent? She'd never heard of it anyway, and if there really was another continent where people could live, she probably wouldn't have to-

There was a soft knock on the door, interrupting the woman in white's thoughts. She hurriedly straightened her expression and made herself look like a city lord.

Entering her field of vision were three young Inirs dressed as merchants and guards, as well as a Gerno man. With the keen perception given by the magic technique, Shui Yun was able to detect the incongruity in the three of them—it was a proof of the disunity between the soul and the body, but from the Gerno person's body, she could not feel anything abnormal.

"Anya, Yuffe, Lynn, and ......" Shui Yun was going to take the lead in the first place, but the 'Gerno Man' obviously made her hesitate, "Are you full of stars, or Noka?" ”

"I'm Noka, and I'm full of stars, all in all, ahem, that doesn't matter at all!" The small man sat down on a chair beside him with a grin, looking like a real Gernor, "You know what we came to you for, right?" ”

"About the attack that took place around Sin'an Fortress and was carried out by youkai." Shui Yun propped his elbows on the table, making himself appear calmer, "What information do you want to know?" ”

"Everything you know, and what you've done about it, Ms. Shuiyun." It seemed that one of the young men of the guard opened his mouth, and judging from the words he spoke, Shui Yun guessed that it was probably Yufie, "If Pale Hand remains loyal to this country, I hope to be able to get your full assistance." ”

Is this a temptation to her? Shuiyun quickly dismissed the idea. From the current point of view, the other party did not show obvious hostility, and she could not tear her face. After all, she is indeed part of the empire - as the other side says, at least on the surface, "The Pale Hand" remains loyal to the empire.

"Okay, then I'll talk to you about it." She froze, "The specific source of information is related to the structure of the fog department, so I can't disclose it. ”

The young man who spoke spread his hands, indicating that everything was casual. The other two 'Inils' looked at her as well, but only the 'Gernos' rolled his round eyes and looked around without stopping, as if he had not paid attention to the conversation at all.

"The attack has nothing to do with the Empire." Mizumo forced himself to turn his attention away from the 'Gernor people', "I have been to one of the scenes, and based on the breath left there, the attacker is indeed a youkai, not an Inil posing as a youkai. She pondered her words and said, "As for whether those youkai are from the Alliance...... Based on the information coming back from within the Alliance, I think they are more likely to be 'wild' youkai. ”

"You're saying that the attackers are neither the Alliance nor the Empire, but youkai that don't belong to them?" The young man asked, "Even if the reason makes sense, you intelligence officers are a bit derelict in their duties if you can easily infiltrate the vicinity of the imperial capital with just a group of unorganized monsters." ”

Is it a dereliction of duty? Perhaps, Shuiyun said darkly. If she had done her best to investigate the matter, she might have been able to prevent the two attacks that followed. But she has other, more important things to do, doesn't she?

"Defending the empire is the task of the soldiers, not our duty." The thought was fleeting, and she replied, "The mission of the Ministry of Fog has always been to provide a reliable source of intelligence for the Empire, just as it is now. ”