Chapter 993: Everything is separated by this blade

If Yassen had been a player, he would definitely know a popular saying on the forum: the weirder the lineup, the better the game.

Because the most effective lineup is always relatively fixed—after all, there's always a so-called "optimal solution." While this optimal solution likely won't match the intensity of challenges like speedrunning, taking no damage, or self-limiting difficulty, it will always be universal enough.

For example, when going to a dungeon, usually people don’t like to bring along players who are slow to adapt to the journey.

In the alternate universe, the Adaptation Path lacked a "Warrior" class. This meant that the original Adaptation Path was essentially either Hunter or Rogue. While they were quite strong in PvP, their damage was noticeably low during dungeon runs, and their jumping around caused them to unexpectedly die in situations where they shouldn't have.

But this does not mean that there will be no masters in this type of profession - on the contrary, the probability of top masters appearing in this type of operational profession is quite high, much higher than the probability of those popular professions with a high lower limit.

Just like there is an old saying in martial arts novels, when walking in the world of martial arts, the elderly, the weak, women and children should not be provoked... That's roughly what it means.

Yasen couldn't hold back any longer and carefully asked the question that would make Aiwass feel the most comfortable:

“…Who are you?”

Hearing these words, the white-haired vampire and the little girl in his arms both showed playful and satisfied smiles in unison.

"'us?'"

The two-month-old sons asked in unison, and then chuckled at the same time: "'Hehehe...'"

The strange synchronization rate was like a puppeteer controlling a puppet and speaking with ventriloquism, which was chilling.

"Compared to who we are..."

"Iben" showed a malicious and ferocious smile: "Shouldn't you ask... why are the Son of the Moon and Hawkeye looking here at the same time?

"What are you trading that could attract the attention of these two groups at the same time? And what does this have to do with rescuing Sherlock?"

“…”

Upon hearing this, Phantom Thief Arsène exchanged glances with Alice beside him.

At this moment, their expressions became extremely complicated.

It was definitely not a state of confusion. They had a clear understanding of their current tense situation.

In other words, they even knew that Hawkeye and Moonson were targeting them.

——Knowing this, why do you still dare to do this?

Seeing their reactions, Aiwass, who was disguised as "Ritualist Ibn", raised his eyebrows.

He stared at Yassen for a moment, then looked away and at Alice.

Aiwass asked directly, "If my guess is correct... the items you're trading aren't valuable, are they?"

His words appeared to be questions, but they sounded like statements.

"No……"

Alice responded subconsciously.

Aiwass continued to ask: "Is it related to Mr. Yassen?"

"I……"

Alice suddenly realized that she had said something she shouldn't have, so she subconsciously turned her head to look at Yasen.

Even though she and Yasen were not very familiar with each other and had only met twice...she was still afraid in the face of such strong pressure.

Yet for Aiwass, not answering is also an answer—clearly relevant.

"It has something to do with Sherlock?"

Aiwass looked into Alice's eyes and said before she could utter a word, "It doesn't seem to involve, or perhaps you don't know about it—it's related to Yassen's disguise?"

"Woo..."

"Yes, it is related. So it is some kind of material? No, then is it intelligence? No..."

Aiwass didn't need her to answer at all.

For the inexperienced Alice, her subconscious eyes, movements, and reactions are enough to reveal her true thoughts.

It was more credible than any carefully considered and organized words, more nakedly true—even with his eyes closed, it wouldn't work. For a fifth-level Moon Child, at this distance, he could easily hear Alice's heartbeat and the subtle scent of her blood, whether tense or relaxed.

“…That’s enough.”

Yasen felt somewhat helpless and interrupted the "Ibn Ritualist"'s ruthless pursuit: "I'm telling you straight... there's no need to bully her like this. She's still just a little girl... We're half allies, aren't we?"

He didn't directly call them allies - after all, he couldn't be sure of these people's true attitude towards Sherlock. He was respectful and cautious towards Sherlock, and even if he suddenly turned into Pope Aiwass, he would never easily believe his identity...

If he could be deceived into giving away important information concerning his friend's safety, he wouldn't be called Arsen.

Regardless of whether the other party is a friend or foe, as long as they are equally unsure of his position, he has room to maneuver. His trump card is more information about Sherlock – if the other party is a friend, they can work together to rescue Sherlock; if they also intend to take Sherlock away, he will be able to drive the tiger out and devour the wolf in time…

On the other hand, Alice's eyes were filled with tears as she clearly realized that she had inadvertently revealed too much information.

He sighed, picked up the overly light suitcase in his hand with one hand, and put it on the table.

"oh?"

Aleister said jokingly in his characteristic drawling voice, "Is it okay to open this thing right here in public?"

"No problem. After all, strictly speaking, it's not really a treasure..."

As Yasen spoke, he took out a small key and opened the locked suitcase.

There were only a few things packed into the large suitcase that looked very heavy.

Opening the box, I found three or four women's dresses. They looked like the same style as Alice's. There were also jewelry boxes stacked neatly, like packed lunches. The box, though light before, was making loud clanging noises because the clothes had been gradually shaken to the edge of the box.

Seeing this, Aleister looked at Yasen with a look that looked like a pervert: "This is... what you will wear later, right?"

Arsene is known as the Phantom Thief because of his remarkable ability to disguise himself. He can transform into anything from an old man to a child to a woman at will. This is clearly a special skill of the Path of Beauty, belonging to the same category as Isabel, the Actor-type profession.

But no matter how strong his disguise skills were, they were not tantric-level extraordinary skills. He still couldn't make clothes appear out of thin air...

Obviously, even Yasen couldn't hold back when being stared at like that by a little girl.

He coughed lightly, avoiding the topic and whispered, "The main transaction is actually this..."

As he spoke, he took out a heavy key from the pocket of the third one's skirt.

It was a silver key about the size of a palm, with a hollow diamond at the end. It was engraved with Elvish runes that meant "All things are separated by this blade."

"This is……"

Aiwass stared at the key, his expression changing slightly. "You still say this thing is not valuable?"

"What's this?"

Even Alice herself, who was transporting the item, apparently had no idea what it was.

She was even startled - because she herself didn't know why this thing appeared under her skirt for no apparent reason.

The reason why she thought the things in it were not valuable and were related to Yasen... was because in her understanding, these were just some old clothes given to Yasen.

Yes, all the dresses and jewelry in this box belong to Alice, and some of them are even ones she has worn in public.

Because her mission was to give her clothes to Yasin, so that the thief could pretend to be her in public and enter the Duke of Harcourt's birthday party.

Harcourt's relationship with the two Dukes of Vendôme was not good, and as Vendôme's son-in-law, Arsène obviously couldn't enter Harcourt's birthday party. And he had to steal something crucial from Harcourt... which was why Alice would cooperate with him.

This was originally Hawkeye's mission - it was said that Hawkeye had rarely reached a certain unity of interests with the thief.

But when Alice saw the strange key, she realized something was wrong.

——These clothes, they were clearly all found by her at home! Before she put them into the suitcase, she even checked all the pockets to see if there was anything she had accidentally left in there... After all, after giving these clothes to Yasen, she had no intention of taking them back.

Giving her clothes to this Phantom Thief, who was a huge fan in Iris, was not something Alice, with her bold and playful personality, would object to. However, the thought of wearing someone else's clothes made Alice feel a little uncomfortable, even a little itchy.

She stood up immediately, looked at Yasen beside her with some vigilance, and subconsciously took half a step away.

——Even though she is naive, she is still an assassin to some extent.

Now, her instinct clearly told her that she was being used!

Apparently, the intelligence the middleman had given her and Yasin was completely different from the very beginning! She was completely unaware of the full extent of the transaction... If it weren't for the sudden appearance of this "Ibn Ritual Master," she might have been smug about having completed the organization's mission.

Alice felt a chill run through her body. It was early summer, and even in the bustling, furnace-like bar, she could hear ringing in her ears...

...Alice had already secretly completed this kind of secret transaction many times by leveraging her status as the Duke's daughter and her professional advantage as a reporter.

The reason for each action was "to destroy the Son of the Moon" or "for those poor and pitiful children".

But now it seems that who knows how many contraband items that can make people rich overnight are hidden in the "cargo of hope" she transported?

How many of them are dangerous things that could kill people? And how many are sensitive documents or items that, if discovered, could put the Harcourt family in danger?

It would have been fine if she had volunteered to do the transport, but she had no idea about these things from the very beginning - this was undoubtedly a despicable deception.

——Although her experience as a transcendent and adventurer was too limited, Alice had sufficient experience as a "new noble".

Once doubt begins, it cannot be stopped. It is like a cancer that feeds on the metastasis of deception and draws nourishment from it.

She instinctively made a check and balance to protect herself: "It's like this, Mr. Iben..."

(End of this chapter)