Francis walked along the path through the forest, worrying about how he would find the Saintess.
“Tsk, I should have known better than to act so impulsively. Now I don’t have a single clue,” he complained while constantly turning a crystal in his hand.
“Is the stuff the old guy gave me even useful? I’ve been wandering for so long, yet there hasn’t been any reaction at all.”
After examining the crystal carefully once more, Francis felt quite distressed.
At this rate, how long would it take to find the Saintess?!
Just as Francis was wearing a look of misery, the crystal suddenly lit up.
“Eh? There’s a reaction!”
In an instant, a smile blossomed on Francis’s face, and he crushed the crystal in his hand without hesitation.
As a faint golden halo appeared, a thin golden line in the air stretched toward the depths of the forest.
Seeing the appearance of the golden line, Francis immediately followed the trail, groping his way through the woods.
As his vision gradually dimmed, Francis began to realize that something was slightly off.
Logically speaking, it was impossible for the Saintess to come this deep into such a dense forest.
Why was this golden line stretching further and further inward?
Detecting the anomaly, Francis immediately stopped in his tracks and observed the surrounding environment.
Something was wrong—nine times out of ten, something was very wrong.
Although it was clearly a naturally formed forest, there were traces of man-made damage nearby, and trash that could not have appeared naturally was scattered on the ground.
Picking up a bone with his hand, Francis brought it closer to inspect it.
He found that some shredded meat and dried soup still remained on it.
And a row of teeth marks.
These did not look like the bite marks a woman would leave; rather, they looked like they were left by… a burly man?
Having identified the teeth marks, Francis instantly thought of a possibility.
He quickly reached into his pocket with his only remaining hand and crushed another crystal.
A few seconds later, three figures appeared one after another in the dense forest.
They stood in three different directions, positioned opposite Francis.
“Zhencheng, what is it?”
The figure directly across from Francis asked.
Clearly, the other party was also a Defender of the Faith, and his appearance here was due to Francis triggering the scroll to summon them just now.
After asking the question, he quickly noticed the golden line in the air.
He spoke to Francis in an excited tone, “Zhencheng, have you found traces of the Saintess?”
“Yes, Qiancheng. I think I may have found Her Eminence the Saintess,” Francis said slowly.
“However, it seems Her Eminence is in danger.”
“What? What happened to Her Eminence?!”
Qiancheng asked hurriedly upon hearing that the Saintess might be in trouble.
“If this crystal is correct, combined with these details in the surroundings, I believe the Saintess may have been kidnapped.”
Francis lifted the bone in his hand and held it out in front of Qiancheng.
“Someone actually dares to kidnap the Saintess?!”
Hearing this, Qiancheng’s face immediately clouded over with gloom.
“Do they truly think our Holy See does not exist?!”
“Let’s go! We will rescue the Saintess!!!”
—
In a corner of a deserted alley in Labia City.
“I already said we’re friends, Little Weiwei. Stop being angry.”
“Who’s your friend?!”
“Aren’t we friends?”
“What kind of friend sucks someone’s blood right after meeting them?!!”
“But Little Weiwei, you’re just too tempting.”
Taurani pouted.
Weibai was about to explode with rage.
‘Is that your reason for sucking my blood? You nearly sucked me dry, do you know that?’
“I didn’t, right? I clearly only took a small mouthful…”
Taurani muttered softly, her gaze occasionally darting toward Weibai.
“…”
How annoying.
He didn’t want to deal with this Blood Demon anymore.
How could she be so shameless?!
Weibai no longer wanted to speak to Taurani.
Right now, he only wanted to leave this place immediately and get away from her.
“Hey, hey, hey, Little Weiwei, wait a second. I’m really apologizing sincerely.”
Seeing that Weibai was about to leave, Taurani hurried forward and grabbed his arm, looking up at him piteously.
However, this time, Weibai would never be deceived by this Blood Demon again.
He firmly lifted his foot, firmly pulled his arm away, and firmly walked toward the exit.
Then, Weibai’s attention was drawn to Taurani again.
This time, Taurani didn’t speak; she simply pulled a ring out from her bosom.
Seeing the ring, Weibai was instantly no longer calm.
“What are you bringing that out for?”
As soon as the words left his mouth, Weibai suddenly thought of a very responsible thing he had said before.
Could it be that this girl wants to—?!
At the thought of having to live as an elf with Taurani in the future, staying together until the end of their lives, Weibai’s face quickly turned red, resembling an apple.
This was bad.
This was extremely bad!
This Blood Demon was actually clinging to him!!
If her thoughts were really like that, wouldn’t he turn into a specialized blood bag?
He would have his blood sucked in all sorts of ways by Taurani every day.
Seeing Weibai’s face turn beet red, Taurani was somewhat confused.
However, seeing that he had stopped walking, her goal was considered achieved.
She had originally wanted to make the little elf stay.
Since the other party was interested in this, she would just give it to the little elf!
“Here, this is for you!”
Taurani walked up to the brainstorming Weibai with the ring, even waving it specially before his eyes.
Finding that Weibai gave no reaction, Taurani grabbed Weibai’s left hand, measured the size, and slipped the ring onto his pinky finger.
“Tsk, why are the fingers of this human disguise so thick? It’s clearly meant for the middle finger, but now it can only fit on the pinky.”
Taurani looked up at the dazed Weibai, her tone sounding a bit speechless.
“Also, why is this disguise so tall?! This isn’t the height you should have at all!!”
Hearing Taurani muttering in front of him, Weibai finally came back to his senses.
The first thing he saw was the ring worn on his finger, and Taurani curiously circling around him.
Looking at Taurani, Weibai took a deep breath as if he had made some sort of decision and tried his best to put on a serious expression.
“Since you’ve made such a decision, Taurani, you shall be my wife from now on, and I will be your hus—”
Before he could finish his sentence, a Holy Staff came swinging toward Weibai’s head.
Weibai dodged to the side, easily avoiding it.
Taurani was looking at Weibai with a face full of shame and indignation as she spoke in a delicate voice, “What are you talking about?! Who wants to be your wife? I have zero interest in the way you look right now!”
After saying that, Taurani muttered another sentence in a voice Weibai couldn’t hear.
‘At least turn back into Little Weiwei before saying that. Besides, between girls, it’s impossible.’
Seeing Taurani’s reaction after he said those words, Weibai was somewhat bewildered.
Didn’t her giving him a ring mean that? Could she actually have other thoughts?
“Then why did you give me this ring? Isn’t it…”
“Of course not! This ring is an apology gift for you.”
As Taurani spoke, she calmed the emotions in her heart.
“This ring can conceal your aura. You don’t have to use that human disguise anymore.”
Observing the ring carefully, a person suddenly came to Weibai’s mind.
Isn’t this the ring Phil gave him before?!
Could it be that Taurani had met her too?
“Can this ring also store items?”
Weibai asked tentatively.
“Mm-hmm, that’s right. How did you know?”
“Because I had one before.”
“Oh, I thought it was your first time seeing one and that you’d be very happy…”
Upon learning that Weibai had seen one before, Taurani looked disappointed.
She had wanted to see the little elf’s ecstatic expression upon receiving the ring.
“But the previous ring was stepped on and broken; it can’t be used anymore.”
Weibai thought for a moment and still asked, “The disguise of this ring shouldn’t work against professionals, right?”
“Bingo! Even if you wear this ring, a Blood Demon like me can still recognize you at a glance. After all, the blood aura on your body is like a specialized tag; it’s hard not to know.”
Taurani shrugged her shoulders and said.
“That’s not right. Other than Blood Demons, there are other ways to be recognized.” Thinking of his encounter with Francis, Weibai flatly denied Taurani’s words.
“There shouldn’t be any other ways.”
As Taurani spoke, she pointed at the ring in Weibai’s hand.
“Unless there’s a weapon of a higher grade than this that can perform an Identification, you won’t be exposed.”
“But my previous one was seen through at a glance! And the other party wasn’t a Blood Demon, nor did he have a high-grade weapon,” Weibai retorted.
“Tsk, Little Weiwei, why are you so stupid? These kinds of rings are also divided into grades.”
Taurani looked at Weibai, feeling that this little elf’s knowledge was truly and terrifyingly lacking.
“A low-grade ring is good enough if it can ward off ordinary people. Of course it can’t achieve a perfect concealment,” Taurani explained patiently.
“Then this ring…”
Weibai still didn’t quite dare to trust this ring.
After all, he had suffered a great loss before.
He had been beaten quite badly by that guy from the Holy See.
“Oh, don’t worry. I’ve worn it myself.”
Seeing that Weibai still had lingering concerns, Taurani knew he wouldn’t be at ease unless she said something.
“I wore it when I met with a Bishop of the Holy See, and even the Bishop didn’t recognize me. So rest easy! This is a top-tier masterpiece crafted with the heart and soul of the Chief Alchemist!”
Hearing Taurani say all that, Weibai accepted the ring with a half-believing, half-doubting attitude.
“Alright then, I’ll believe you.”
After a pause, Weibai looked at Taurani and said solemnly, “Because we are friends.”