Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 326 - 319: Information Exchange

Chapter 326: Chapter 319: Information Exchange

"Who is Luo’er?" Shariya, with her sharp ears, had overhead her muttering and frowned as she asked.

"He..." Feliz started to reply but her gaze involuntarily turned towards Cheng Ziang. It was obvious she wanted to seek his opinion first.

"Are you Luo’er?" Shariya shifted her gaze to Cheng Ziang and asked.

"Luo’er is our captain. I am not Luo’er," Cheng Ziang shrugged nonchalantly.

"Then who are you?" Shariya asked, her brows furrowed.

"Madam Dean, you’ve been asking questions from the beginning. It seems like we’re not obligated to answer them all," Cheng Ziang responded coldly. "The fact that we showed you our identities shows our sincerity, doesn’t it?"

Shariya glanced at Feliz, then at Yalunte. These two seemed to be connected with these people in some way. Yalunte had been risking his life for the Earth people for more than twenty years which was no surprise, but how did Feliz get tangled up with them?

"Are you also here for Lipei?" After calming down, Shariya asked Cheng Ziang.

"Yes!" Cheng Ziang responded with a slight nod.

"What is your objective?" Shariya asked.

"To figure out what these people are up to," Cheng Ziang replied openly without hiding their mission objective.

"What has what these people are doing got to do with you?" Shariya asked, her brows furrowed.

"Don’t forget that this is the upper reaches of the Roen River. If something happens upstream, the downstream will suffer too," Cheng Ziang explained indifferently.

"What kind of incident are you talking about?" Shariya asked hesitantly.

"You should have a general idea of what I’m referring to," Cheng Ziang replied evasively with a chuckle, without giving her a direct answer.

Shariya fell silent. Of course, she knew what he was talking about. During the Aud Empire era, the opening of Lipei’s Otherworld Gate led to the decline of the Aud Empire. If these people were gathering at Lipei and commanding so many civilian mages, Shariya suspected that they might be planning to reopen the Otherworld Gate.

Originally, Shariya planned to accomplish the mission alone. Leveraging both her identity as the dean of the Magic Academy and her formidable magic skills, however, the encounter made her change her plans.

These people had hired so many mages. Even if Shariya was quite powerful, she was outnumbered. If these people hadn’t come to her rescue, she would have been in great danger.

At this thought, Shariya started to waver. The other party didn’t seem to have any ulterior motives toward her, and they shared a common interest. More importantly, they proposed to cooperate, which put her in a dominant position. Shariya now believed that cooperating with them seemed like a good idea.

"Since we are talking about cooperation, your captain should be the one to negotiate with me," Shariya said calmly.

"Of course, if you are willing, we would be happy to introduce you to our captain," Cheng Ziang responded without arrogance or humility.

"Then lead the way!" Shariya took a deep breath, then said.

"This way, please!" Cheng Ziang made a welcoming gesture and signalled to the rest of the group to cover their retreat.

Pressing a hand to her arm, Shariya walked ahead under Cheng Ziang’s guidance. Despite her disheveled appearance, it did not interfere with her demeanor. Feliz trailed closely, her empathetic gaze resting on the wound on Shariya’s arm. She wanted to cast a healing spell to mend Shariya’s arm, but Shariya insisted it was a minor wound and declined her help.

The group walked out of the forest, with Yalunte bringing up the rear. To him, killing was as natural as eating a meal. Even though he’d just dispatched a few mages, he looked as if nothing had happened.

Once out of the forest, they arrived at a hilly plain. The three members of the Advance Team had already prepared their guns for firing. If anyone else dared to act recklessly, they would be turned into sieves by the crossfire.

When they saw the group emerge, the three prepared to fire at a moment’s notice, ready to provide covering fire should they come under threat.

But Cheng Ziang and his comrades remained composed. He gestured for Luo’er to come over. Luo’er hesitated for a moment, then ordered Baiyue and Hu Daoke to stay vigil around their position. Packing away his rifle, he moved down from the hill.

As Luo’er approached, Cheng Ziang stepped forward to brief him beforehand: "We saved the Dean of Sacred Heart Magic Academy, Shariya, in the forest. She seems to be investigating Lipei as well, so I suggested that we might be able to cooperate."

Luo’er glanced at Shariya in the distance and frowned, "Does she know about our situation?"

"I gave her a general idea," Cheng Ziang replied candidly.

"Can we trust her?" Luo’er asked sceptically.

"I believe we can. In the conflicts we’ve had, none of our people have fallen at the hands of the Church Court. We don’t have many conflicting interests with the Church Court either. So, I think some simple cooperation shouldn’t be a problem," Cheng Ziang said seriously.

Luo’er glanced at him, then nodded his head in agreement with what he said. Suddenly, Cheng Ziang seemed to have thought of something, and spoke again: "According to Shariya’s account, the deaths of more than a hundred thousand Earthlings does not seem to be the will of the Church Court, but rather an individual’s act."

"What do you mean?" Luo’er furrowed his brows once more.

"According to Shariya, they had an Archmage named Falok who had received permission to leave the Holy City of the Church Court for a certain practice some days ago, yet he disappeared during this process. If I’m not mistaken, he likely seized this opportunity to leave the Holy City of the Church Court and ambush the Earth army at First Line Gorge."

"Is this true?" Luo’er asked, looking at him.

"I don’t think he seemed like he was lying to us. Despite the massacre, the Church Court is trying to disassociate itself from the incident, but their internal affairs are indeed chaotic. Just this practice session alone has caused so many mishaps." Cheng Ziang voiced his speculation.

"I see," Luo’er nodded, then looked at him with furrowed brows and asked, "so, you think he is trustworthy?"

"Yes!" Cheng Ziang nodded.

With Cheng Ziang’s attitude established, Luo’er waved his hand, signaling for him to step aside, then walked over to Shariya alone.

"Dean Shariya, it’s been a long time!" Luo’er bowed slightly, speaking respectfully.

"You are Luo’er?" Shariya asked, eyeing him closely.

"Yes!" Luo’er nodded.

"Wait, I know you!" Shariya exclaimed. That’s right, the dark green pupils, the Wood Elf ears. It was him, Audrey’s slave!

Luo’er’s demeanor was vastly different from the Half-elves he had encountered before. It was a confident and indifferent demeanor, entirely dissimilar to the demeanor of the Half-elves who had suffered discrimination for years.

"I’m humbled that Dean remembers me!" Luo’er smiled, neither confirming nor denying the statement.

"You’re not a slave?" Shariya cast a glance at him, then turned and glanced at Tangmo, his brows furrowed as he spoke.

"In our nation, there is no such status as a slave." Luo’er replied casually.

"What were you pretending to be a master and servant for, sneaking into the Sacred Heart Magic Academy? What was your intention?" Shariya posed the question.

"Dean, we are here to discuss cooperation, not to confess. So, could you perhaps ask some constructive questions?" Luo’er responded calmly.

"Very well." Shariya nodded, admitting that he indeed had become a bit nosy. Questions like these were pointless to ask since the other party wouldn’t answer them anyway, so there was no need to ask them.

"What brings you to Lipei?" Shariya paused for a moment, then turned his gaze back to Luo’er.

"Our superiors believe that these people congregating in Lipei pose a threat to Yazhi City, so they instructed us to investigate." Luo’er succinctly stated their mission objective.

"Who are your superiors?" Shariya couldn’t help but inquire.

Luo’er paused for a moment, then looked at him and asked sarcastically, "Dean, would you tell us the names of the archbishops in the Church Court hierarchy?"

Shariya was silenced by his words, admitting to himself that he had asked another pointless question, hence he chose not to rebut and remained silent.

"Now it’s your turn, what are you here for?" Luo’er asked, looking at him.

After a moment of hesitation, Shariya revealed his mission objective: "The Pope believes that these people gathering in Lipei is not as simple as paying tribute to the war of the past. The Judgement Legion informed us that civilian mages are being hired to flock to Lipei, hence, they are worried that these people might use these civilian mages to open the Otherworld’s Gate."

"Can the Otherworld’s Gate be opened?" Luo’er asked, somewhat surprised.

Shariya nodded and after hesitating for a moment spoke, "In principle, yes. Although historically, the Otherworld’s Gate was always opened by prophecies, there have been cases where magic was directly used to open it. As of now, the magic books that can open the Otherworld’s Gate have been lost."

"Lost?" Luo asked, looking at him incredulously.

As the only organization in the northern part of the continent that’s qualified to master magic, the Church Court must have records of all the magic that ever existed during the Aud era. Yet they had lost them, which made Luo’er suspicious.

"The magic to open the Otherworld’s Gate is considered heretic magic by the Church Court, so it was eradicated throughout. Of course, it’s possible that others still possess this magic, like in the Southern Ancient States." Shariya explained.

"So, you’re saying the Church Court suspects that these people have discovered a way to open the Otherworld’s Gate, which is why they’ve gathered such a large army and so many mages in Lipei?" Luo’er asked.

"Although it’s only a suspicion, I believe there’s a high probability." Shariya nodded.