As the night gets darker, the fog in the upper city becomes thicker and thicker. Street lamps with cold light stand in the thick fog on both sides of the road, like tall sentinels with cold eyes.

The sudden heavy fog caught them by surprise and inevitably slowed down the carriage.

Since there were not many blood grapes left to supplement the rhythm, Dead Leaf had no choice but to keep the rhythm in his body and slowly accumulate it in a natural way.

Without her enhanced hearing, she felt as if she were swimming naked in a dark sea, unaware of the threats lurking beneath the surface.

But she had to do it.

In order to face the upcoming decisive battle, Dead Leaf must preserve its strength as much as possible.

"I'm still a little worried." Moira looked away from the foggy window, "What if Shireen is not in the Duke's castle?"

"Don't worry." Dead Leaf said, "Mr. Ende's plan is to capture this city. To achieve this, he must use Shirin to get rid of the only person who can possibly stop him - the Protector of the Country. And

It is well known that the wizard's residence is in the duke's castle."

"Of course I know this," Moira was not convinced, "but what if the wizard is not in town tonight?"

"He will definitely be here tonight, and so will the Duke." Dead Leaf replied, "Because Isard Essien's diplomatic envoy is visiting tonight, and they are going to hold a small diplomatic meeting in the Duke's castle."

"Diplomatic meeting?" Moira blinked in surprise, "Fire Seal City has already done this, and the elves are still expecting to use diplomatic means to solve the problem? Why?"

"The reason is very simple." Costa suddenly interjected, "If the entire truth of this matter is made public, it will inevitably trigger a war between the two kingdoms. By then, the entire continent will be involved in the war, and even

Wulfrin, who claims to be neutral, is not immune to this either. King Seren and the Elf King certainly don’t want the situation to get to that point..."

Dead Leaf snorted contemptuously, "Your human kings and dukes are not the real rulers at all. Everyone knows that the ones who really hold the highest power in the Seren Kingdom are the Council of Sages - those wizards. They are like

Manipulating the king like a marionette and pretending he's just giving advice."

"Maybe I know nothing about politics, but in this matter, the Duke must have the support of the king, and maybe even the tacit approval of the Council of Sages." Moira thought for a moment and said, "In Fire Seal City,

The conflict between humans and elves has been around for a long time, but it has never escalated to the level of genocide..."

At this moment, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Dead Leaf immediately looked out the window alertly and found that they were still a long or short distance away from the hillside where the nobles lived.

"Why did you stop?" Costa asked, opening the car window.

"Sorry, sir!" the coachman's voice came from the front, "There seems to be an obstacle on the road. I have to check it before I can move forward. It would be bad if the wheel is damaged by that thing."

Dead Leaf and Costa exchanged a look, "Obstacles?" She whispered, "There are obstacles blocking the way on the streets of Uptown. Such things don't happen often."

"I'll go down and take a look." Costa nodded understandingly, "You two stay in the car, it's best not to leave."

He said, opening the door and jumping out of the carriage.

Dead Leaf released the notes with great restraint, ordering them to extend forward. She closed her eyes, focused all her attention on her hearing, and carefully searched for the sounds in front of the carriage.

Heartbeat, a man's heartbeat. An unconscious man was lying in the middle of the road. His breathing was very weak, but not weak enough to endanger his life.

"Costa," she transmitted her voice to the ears of the retired soldiers, "someone fainted in front."

"I saw him!" Costa said. He didn't lower his voice, so it was obvious that he was talking to everyone.

"Gods," the coachman said in a panic, "this man must be a noble, we have to find a doctor!"

"Don't worry, I can help him." Moira said, jumping off the carriage and running in the direction of Costa's voice.

Dead Leaf hesitated for a moment, then took back her tone and followed. She got out of the car as gently as possible to avoid injuring her wounds.

Mist type, a young blond man was lying on the road, looking like an alcoholic who fell asleep drunk. The clothes he wore were of good quality and seemed to be expensive.

"What is that?" Dead Leaf found a piece of white cloth on the ground in front of him, which was obviously not part of this man's clothing.

Costa leaned down, picked up the piece of cloth, and inspected it carefully. "It's a women's handkerchief, and it seems to be stained with..." He suddenly coughed a few times, and immediately threw the handkerchief aside, "Okay.

Well, it seems to be stained with some kind of poison."

"Fortunately, it's not a fatal poison." Moira said, "Help me, Costa. He can't breathe well in his current position. He has to lie down on his back - oh, my God!"

"What's wrong?" Gu Ye asked.

"I know this guy." Moira pointed to the man lying on the ground.

"Pavel Sedo." Costa finished for her, "I remember you said before that Miss Marron came to have dinner with him tonight, right?"

"That's right." Dead Leaf moved closer and looked at the unconscious young noble.

He is probably the last person to have seen Shireen. Since he is lying here, it means that Shireen has also been to this area.

"Will his life be in danger?" Gu Ye asked.

"Probably not." Moira leaned against his chest and listened carefully, "His breathing is very steady and his heartbeat is normal. This poison will probably only make him comatose for a period of time."

"We should send him to the hospital immediately!" the coachman suggested, "look at his blond hair, he is a nobleman——"

"No need." Costa said. He took out a leather water bag from his backpack, unscrewed the stopper and put it to Pavel's mouth. A pungent smell filled the air.

"I've always wanted to ask, Costa." Moira covered her nose and asked, "What kind of person would always carry a military backpack in the city, and the bag also contains various outdoor survival supplies?

?”

"This is not a wilderness survival product, it's just the orc wine from Southrift."

As if to verify his words, Pavel Seydu opened his eyes suddenly, and then pushed away the water bag in front of him with a look of disgust. "Gods, what the hell is this!" he hissed.

"Wine." Costa shrugged, "Want to try it?"

"Get this thing out of the way!"

"Are you feeling okay, Your Majesty?" Moira approached him.

"Are you... Miss Leonardi?" Pavel looked at her blankly, "Why are you here?"

"We also want to ask you the same question." The red-haired girl said, "Why isn't Shireen with you?"

Pavel looked like he had just woken up from a dream, as if he had remembered something. He struggled to stand up, but failed because the ground was too slippery.

"She was kidnapped!" he said intermittently, "Gods, I remembered... The two of us went out to find someone for help, and we met a strange woman. The woman threw a handkerchief at me, and I seemed

I inhaled some kind of powder. Then I had difficulty breathing and blurred vision. Then, I don’t remember anything.”

Dead Leaf and Costa exchanged a tacit look. The mysterious woman Pavel mentioned was obviously Sylvia Sharma. The only question is, why didn't Sharma kill him directly?

Is it because of Shireen?

"Do you remember anything else?" Dead Leaf asked.

"Sorry, who are you?" Pavel looked at her confused.

"I am Shireen's friend, and I care about her safety as much as you do. So please think carefully about the woman who poisoned you. Did she take Shireen away? Where did they go after that?"

He lowered his head and thought hard for a long time, "Sorry, I really didn't see where they went. But I seemed to hear the woman mention the name 'Mr. Ende'. She said his carriage was nearby."

Dead Leaf stood up immediately, "It's true, we must move on."

"Wait a minute." Pavel raised his gaze, "I don't know how long I was unconscious, but before I was unconscious, a group of madmen were attacking the guests in the Sphinx restaurant over there. Listen to me, you must immediately

Go find the Witch Hunters or City Watch patrolling the area!"

"We drove all the way from the old city, and we didn't see even a single patrol on the road," Costa said.

"What? How is this possible-"

"It's the Doomsday Sect." Dead Leaf suddenly realized that these seemingly isolated incidents were the layout of the Thorns Regiment. Tonight was probably the weakest moment for the defense force in the upper city, and all of this was secretly arranged by Mr. Ende.

, "Mr. Coachman, is there a permanent city guard post nearby?"

"Well...there is indeed one. It takes about five minutes to drive there."

"Very well, you take this Lord with you and set off immediately to the guard post to seek help. The three of us can walk to our destination."

"What? Aren't you going to stay and help?" Pavel asked in surprise.

Dead Leaf lowered his head and looked at him, "Your Excellency, you should know very well that even if we stay, we can't change the tragedy that has happened. More importantly, Shireen is still waiting for me. No matter who is in that restaurant
Chapter completed!