The Holy Man of Another Century Gospel

Chapter 116 Night Dive
Luca believed that now was the perfect time to get close to Simmagu. Alan didn't understand what gave him the confidence to think he could control the High Priest, but he didn't ask any more questions. She had already done what she needed to say and do.

Luca, however, had a new request: "Could you let him come out of town to meet us?"

Alan paused, then shook his head. "Sinmaggu will never leave the cathedral except for his duties. He even refused the emperor's invitation to attend the celebration. I can't find a reason to get him to come out."

Luca chuckled instead, seemingly quite pleased with his state.

“Or, I could reveal my identity... and tell the truth, and perhaps Simagu would be willing to come out of the city with me to meet Lord Luca,” Alan added.

Luca glanced at her and vaguely sensed that she seemed eager to end this state of hiding.

“It’s not time yet. There will always be a way to get him out. You’re still useful, so you have to stay by his side,” Luca said, then thought for a moment, “Sinmagu’s matter isn’t that urgent. The more difficult his situation is, the more advantageous it is for us.”

Alan bowed his head and agreed.

“From now on, you will be in charge of collecting and processing intelligence on Lutia’s side,” Luca added.

Alan was taken aback, then realized that he had been promoted, but he didn't feel much joy.

She longs to escape this precarious, drifting existence...

She glanced at Finn, whose face was flushed. In the brief moment of eye contact, his eyes were filled with resentment and unwillingness.

“I need to stay with Simmagu most of the time, and the area around the cathedral is heavily guarded, so it might be inconvenient for my people to come and deliver intelligence,” Alan said.

"That's true..."

Luca pondered for a moment, seemingly weighing whether it was more important to have her gather intelligence or to stay by Simmagu's side. In the end, he said nothing, and the matter was dropped.

"Have our people had contact with the Nightingale?" he asked again.

Finn's expression, which had just begun to improve, turned ashen after Alan's polite refusal. "We've had occasional contact, but not much..."

"Where can I get in touch with them? I need to meet with one of their people." Luca interrupted him directly. "Since you can't get any useful information, you'll have to rely on outsiders."

“The Nightingales have many strongholds in Lutia City and a few outside the city, but if you want to get useful information, you’ll probably have to go into the city…” Finn lowered his head, glancing up from time to time, but not daring to stare for too long. “The truly useful information is in the hands of the dark elves in the Nightingales’ upper echelons, and they usually don’t leave their lair easily.”

Luca thought for a moment, and was about to say something when the door was suddenly pushed open.

Everyone in the room immediately became alert, but upon seeing the figure standing outside the door, they all adopted a respectful but helpless demeanor.

"Princess Kiraya..."

"How much longer are we going to stay in this wretched place?" The demon princess strode in, not even closing the door. "Luca, didn't you say you were going into the city? Why aren't you in yet?"

Someone peeked out and glanced around before quickly closing the door.

“I’ve already decided to go into the city, Princess Kiraya,” Luca replied, “but Your Highness cannot come with me. You should understand how dangerous this place is for you.”

Kiraya snorted and then said, "Fine, I won't go in. I can at least look around from the outside."

“It is possible.” Luca glanced at the demon guards in the room, “but they cannot get too close, and they must always maintain their disguise. Your demon horns are still too conspicuous to humans.”

Kiraya pursed her lips, her gaze suddenly sweeping over an unfamiliar face. "Who are you?"

Alan bowed and said, "I am Iris... Princess Kiraya."

"You're quite pretty. Stay here and play with me." The demon princess took a liking to her.

"..."

Alan's face turned pale. Luca said, "She's still useful. She needs to come into the city with me. She can't stay here with Your Highness."

"Luca!"

Kiraya was very dissatisfied. "Why do you always oppose me no matter what I do?"

“This is not a place Your Highness should be in the first place.” Luca’s face was mostly calm and restrained. “Everything I have done is for the Demon King’s great cause, and all the restrictions are only for Princess Kiraya’s safety.” The demon princess stared at him for a while, then glanced at Alan, turned around and slammed the door shut as she left.

Luca covered his face and rubbed his temples. "Whoever can knock Princess Kiraya unconscious and send her back to the North, I will put in a good word for you before the Demon King."

"..."

The demon guards looked at each other, none of them uttering a sound.

Perhaps unable to tolerate the capricious princess's nagging any longer, Luca quickly made a decision: "I will go into the city myself. You will lead the way and find Nightingale's people."

Infiltrating Lutia was not difficult. The capital was a melting pot of all sorts of people, and as long as he didn't go to heavily guarded places, no one would be able to find him.

Under the cover of night, the group left the hotel and headed towards Lutia.

Upon reaching the city's outskirts, Aran went directly into the city. Just in case, Luca was led by another Aran to a secluded spot, where he descended into the moat, swam to the inner river's outlet, endured the stench, dived into the water, climbed over the gap at the bottom of the fence, and entered the city.

wow-

After climbing out of the river, Luca leaned against the railing and vomited for a while before finally calming down.

"Lord Luca, please go to my place to take a shower and change your clothes first. I'll go check out the place where the nightingales are."

"it is good……"

Finn, the Aramean, finally returned after waiting for nearly two hours in a small house in the southern part of the city, until midnight.

"Lord Luca, please come with me."

On the way, Finn mentioned, intentionally or unintentionally, the hardships he had endured over the past two hours.

"Nightingale's people are all over the continent, but some are real and some are fake, some are reliable and some are unreliable. Some specialize in assassinations, while others only deal with kidnappings..."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Luca asked.

Finn shrank back. "What I meant was, I found Lord Luca a high-ranking intelligence gatherer from Nightingale... She certainly won't disappoint you."

“We’ll know when we see it.” Lucarra pulled his cloak up. “How much further?”

"It's just ahead, an underground tavern called Kingfisher."

The two continued forward under the cover of night, and before long, they finally found the Kingfisher Tavern.

After a conversation, Luca was led to a room upstairs, while Finn stood guard outside.

The dark elf lit a candle. "Ask away, but you'd better think carefully about what your real question is. I'm not cheap here."

Luca tossed out a bag of gold coins and almost the entire second half of the night, successfully exchanging them for a wealth of information he wanted to know.

As dawn approached, the dark elf said, "The questions you've asked have piqued my curiosity. Could it be that you've been sent by a duke or border lord, intending to secede from the Empire?"

Luca sneered, "That's not something you should be asking."

“Alright,” the dark elf said tactfully. “Please forgive me, I was just instinctively trying to gather information. Do you have any other questions?”

Luca shook his head; his head was spinning from staying up all night, and he couldn't think of anything else for the moment.

As he stood up, another name suddenly popped into his mind.

"High Priest Simagu of the Empire, how much intelligence do you have about him?"

The dark elf, equally exhausted, slowly raised his gaze.

“I’m really curious now: what is it about Simmag that makes one person after another come to me to ask about him… For fifty gold coins, I’ll tell you some absolutely important information about him right now.”

(End of this chapter)