When the berserk Lisanci abruptly cut short her screeching, seemingly returned to normal, and collapsed headlong onto the chilly street, the surrounding air fell dead still.
Immediately following, a low murmur of discussion erupted along the street.
People exchanged bewildered glances.
"What just happened?"
"Was she cursed? Can someone even recover from that?"
Questions like these rippled through the crowd as everyone tried to make sense of the sudden turn of events.
At the same time, the execution squad, which had just been poised to step in and deal with the berserk, cursed demon, also froze in hesitation.
The weapons in their hands were not yet fully lowered. Exchanging glances, every eye ultimately fixed upon Sergeant Major Nigel, awaiting his verdict.
At this moment, an eerie quiet settled over the entire street, everyone waiting for orders or an explanation.
Sergeant Major Nigel stood amid the cold night wind sweeping through the long avenue. His gaze drifted from Lisanci lying on the ground, to the gathering crowd, and finally to Lanqi and Talia, his expression complex and unreadable.
In his heart, indecision and conflict tugged at each other like opposing currents.
On one hand, as an officer serving under a duke of the Senate, he bore the duty to protect the populace and maintain order. On the other hand, the abrupt reversal made it difficult to gauge Lisanci's true condition—had she truly returned to normal?
Or was this merely a fleeting lull in her frenzy?
Nigel's inner turmoil was far from unfounded.
Women and children were allowed mistakes, but he could afford none.
The curse of Archmage Palroni—
As far as anyone knew, the only one capable of dispelling it was the caster himself.
Currently, the Senate had been exhausting every avenue to track down the caster and vital leads concerning the recent unrest among berserk demons.
Nigel's intuition and logic told him that these two could not possibly be the casters.
If word got out that they could undo the curse, they would inevitably be swept into far greater trouble.
Even though, in Nigel's eyes, these two foreigners bore no prejudice or malice toward the demon race,
others who had not witnessed the turmoil firsthand—human or demon—might not share that view.
Nigel's gaze lingered on Lanqi.
To him, this young man who had appeared out of nowhere was both an unknown variable and perhaps a glimmer of hope in solving the Archmage Palroni curse cases.
Nigel tried to glean answers from Lanqi's demeanor and actions.
Yet, confronted with Lanqi's impossible-to-read expression, Sergeant Major Nigel remained fraught with uncertainty.
"Do we need to come with you, Sergeant Major?"
After waiting for a long while, Lanqi looked the executioner in the eye and probed tentatively.
He truly didn't want to go to jail.
Whenever an issue could be resolved through negotiation, he always preferred talking it out, unlike Talia, who, faced with any uncertainty, acted with swift, decisive violence first and asked questions later.
At least for now, the sergeant major appeared open to communication.
"I have no authority to arrest either of you. Go. I'll handle the aftermath here,"
Nigel replied, fixing his sharp gaze on Lanqi.
Lanqi breathed a sigh of relief.
"Rest assured, I won't harm her. She is an important witness. However, I cannot guarantee how the Senate will rule on this incident,"
Nigel added, glancing down at Lisanci.
If he brought these two back with him, he couldn't predict how other executioners would judge them; it might only put them in danger.
Right now, the priority was decisive action to minimize the disturbance as swiftly as possible.
After all, executioners like them were hardly creatures meant to operate in broad daylight.
"I trust you,"
Lanqi nodded.
The sergeant major struck him as an upright sort.
Besides, Talia had already discerned that he wasn't lying.
Nigel flicked a card with his fingertips, and Lanqi caught it deftly with a raised hand.
"..."
Lanqi looked at the card. It bore the executioner Nigel's name and work address.
It implied that Lanqi could find him there.
Sergeant Major Nigel and his subordinates vanished from the plaza as though into thin air, taking the unconscious Lisanci with them.
Before long, the street, thrust into the spotlight by the sudden plummet from the sky, restored its order once more.
"Was that a flash mob?"
"Didn't look like it. Those looked like real executioners."
"But isn't Archmage Palroni's curse fatal once contracted? How could anyone recover?"
The surrounding crowd chattered animatedly.
Yet most people, after trading a few theories and remarks about the bizarre incident, began to disperse.
Because the commotion caused by what appeared to be military squads had drawn attention, the Palieu police were alerted.
Through the night, uniformed Palieu police officers wearing badges began conducting investigations and wrapping up the scene nearby.
Some chuckled with half-doubt, speculating in private whether it was an elaborate stunt. Even if lingering doubts remained, there was little point in loitering; they could simply check tomorrow's news.
With the pedestrians scattering, the street soon returned to the tranquility of night.
The night sky over Palieu, the City of Flowers, remained deep and enchanting. Warm lamplight spilled from the buildings, illuminating every corner of the city.
With the disturbance settled, Lanqi and Talia resumed their journey, hurrying north along the street.
Their checked baggage would be delivered to Palieu North Station, so they had to go retrieve their luggage from the airship.
At night, Palieu was alive with diverse sounds and colors; every block they traversed felt as if it were telling a distinct tale.
Though the recent incident had added an unexpected twist to their evening, Professor Borao had said that to build tacit understanding, one could treat any mishap as an indispensable part of their journey.
"Seems like the problem's solved,"
Lanqi murmured after regaining his freedom.
Fortunately, the executioners hadn't come down hard on them.
The way the two of them teamed up had the bizarre beauty of buggy code that somehow still managed to run.
At any rate, they wouldn't have to rot in a cell tonight.
In the night of Palieu, every incident possessed the potential to become tomorrow's headline.
"Simple enough,"
Talia said flatly.
As Lanqi and Talia ventured deeper into the night of Palieu, the moment they reached a broad avenue with an open view, they were instantly captivated by the city's breathtaking beauty.
Even by night, fairylike floral scents and gentle mists washed over them.
Palieu appeared all the more mysterious and charming beneath the cloak of night, every streetlamp seemingly narrating an ancient, romantic tale.
The streets exuded the city's distinctive artistic flair and way of life. Vintage lampposts cast a soft yellow glow across cobblestone roads, and the long pedestrian promenades were steeped in the traces of history.
"Tata, back on the airship, what I meant was for you to help me block the executioner's attack to show off your strength. That way, he'd be wary of me and lean toward negotiating rather than resolving things by force,"
Lanqi explained to her by his side.
Even though saying it now was useless,
it served as a post-mortem review.
They couldn't afford another blunder next time.
Besides, if they wanted to collaborate smoothly on card-making, figuring out how to coordinate in sync was crucial.
"I thought your negotiations had fallen through and you wanted to wrap things up swiftly,"
Talia said, tilting her head to look at him as she walked.
Only now did she realize Lanqi had been thinking in such convoluted terms.
"I..."
Lanqi choked up.
"By the way, who is Sigrid?"
Talia asked abruptly.
Earlier, she had read Lanqi's mind.
He had been thinking that Hyperion and Sigrid, his past partners, were teammates with maxed-out rapport.
She knew Hyperion, and they were indeed well-synchronized.
Yet she had never heard the name Sigrid before.
"A popular type of older woman,"
Lanqi answered earnestly.
"..."
Talia didn't know why,
but she felt Lanqi's words carried a hidden barb.
Yet she couldn't pinpoint what was wrong with it.
"And is there an unpopular type?"
she asked.
"Guess,"
Lanqi replied with a brief smile.
Right then and there, Talia put Lanqi into a submission hold.
To hell with reasons—pin this guy first and ask later!!
Lanqi didn't even have time to react.
"This is the fourth time you've pinned me to the ground!"
Lanqi shouted indignantly.
And this was the fastest takedown yet.
When had he ever suffered such indignity!
"Meow..."
Boss Cat leaped to the side, watching Lanqi.
*Under arrest again, Master Lan.*
*If you keep getting captured like this, Tata's going to unlock the achievement 'Seven Captures of Lanqi.'*
"What good does keeping count do?"
Talia leaned down with playful mockery in her eyes, whispering softly behind his ear,
"Fight back if you've got the guts. Are you man enough or what?"
The more Lanqi struggled, the more amused she was by his plight, even exhaling gently by his ear to taunt him.
Due to the earlier disturbance here, local officers from the Palieu Police Department had already arrived.
Noticing the officers passing by turning to look at them,
Talia instantly released Lanqi.
The two stood upright somewhat awkwardly before the officers.
The officer was likely going to question witnesses about details regarding the recent unrest.
"Are you two a couple?"
the officer asked.
"How could we be?"
both Lanqi and Talia denied simultaneously without a second thought.
"So that wasn't flirting just now?"
The officer raised an eyebrow in surprise.
"Of course not!"
both shouted emphatically.
At that, the officer chuckled.
"Do you two know that Palieu, the City of Flowers, is a capital of civilization? It's been years since I've seen a man and woman brawling in public. Come along."
Immediately after, a matching pair of rose-gold handcuffs snapped around the wrists of the flabbergasted Lanqi and Talia.
...
[Dear Hyperion,]
[I was arrested the moment I arrived in the City of Flowers.]
[Yet I swear, I truly had no intention of causing trouble.]
[Whenever I think of the end of a story, my mind wanders back to its beginning.]
[On the day of my arrest, little did I know that this farcical comedy of errors was only just getting started.]
Chapter 664