Hello, is this a letter addressed to Demon Fortress?

Elvia walked up to the counter.

Lin Gui looked up at her, his pen still in his hand.

"Are you also delivering a letter?"

Elvia shook her head.

"No. I've figured out a way out, but I need your help."

"oh......"

Lin Gui drawled out the last syllable, then nodded his chin toward the counter, gesturing for her to come in.

Then he continued to collect the mail from the next customer, asking questions as he registered them:

"A way out? Planning to become an adventurer? To continue in this line of work?"

As he spoke, his gaze swept over Elvia's crudely made leather armor.

It was dusty and drab, the shoulder pads were crooked, and the breastplate buckles were all fastened in the wrong place. It looked like the cheapest kind of stuff you could find in a secondhand market.

Elvia rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.

"This job, which I've been working myself to the bone for days and only earned me thirty-six silver coins, should be left to someone else."

"I'd rather be a businessman than an adventurer."

Lin Gui was taken aback, and the pen in his hand stopped.

"Thirty-six silver coins?"

He put down his pen, turned around, and looked her up and down.

"Why don't you, a high-ranking knight, take on those silver commissions that start at least in gold coins?"

He used to be an adventurer and knew very well the rewards for all kinds of commissions.

The reward for a commission that a high-ranking knight can accept cannot be this small.

Elvia coughed awkwardly and looked away.

"Um... tasks like exorcising demons are still too dangerous."

"Commissions such as tutoring the city's defense forces are no longer valid because the nobles have all fled."

"The rest are just unprofitable jobs like cleaning sewers."

Lin Gui suddenly realized, shrugged, and a slight smile appeared on his lips.

"That's true. With your cowardly nature, you're really not suited for the dangerous and risky profession of adventurer."

Elvia didn't refute, she just pursed her lips.

Actually, it wasn't just her who didn't want to be an adventurer.

In Akalan, few people would choose this line of work unless they were desperate.

Many ordinary people also do not want their children to become adventurers.

Even if an adventurer's commission is paid for just one time, it is almost equivalent to the income of an ordinary person for several months.

the reason is simple.

The mortality rate for adventurers is alarmingly high.

A batch of new adventurers join the adventurers, and after a year, if one out of ten survives, they are considered lucky.

Especially those adventure groups that go to the wilderness to carry out high-risk, high-reward missions.

If a mistake is made, the entire colony dies.

In New Testament City, more than eight hundred people became adventurers that year, along with the Forest Ghost.

When he accepted the messenger's commission to go to Caran, only thirty-four men remained.

Of these 34 people, half dropped out midway.

Some are permanently disabled due to their adventures and are forced to beg on the streets.

Therefore, Lin Gui did not despise Elvia for her resistance.

Who doesn't want to live a good life?

If given a choice, no one would want to be an adventurer.

He put the letter in his hand, tossed the copper coin into the drawer, and looked up.

"So, what's the solution you've come up with?"

Elvia's eyes lit up, and she leaned forward slightly, whispering in Lin Gui's ear.

"I want to go to the City of a Thousand Towers and seek refuge with Count Alexis."

"He was once a pillar of the capital city of Carter, a legendary high-ranking fire mage."

Lin Gui nodded and tapped his fingers lightly twice on the table.

"So, you want to come with me?"

Elvia nodded quickly, placing her hands on the edge of the counter.

"Since it's on the way anyway, why not go all the way and help them?"

She paused, then added a sentence with a sly smile.

"If you fail someday, people will mourn you, right?"

Lin Gui paused for a moment.

After registering the letter in his hand, he collected seven copper coins and threw them into the drawer.

Then he looked up at Elvia.

His face was expressionless; he simply said:

"You should say that to my enemy."

Elvia paused for a moment.

Looking at Lin Gui's indifferent face, something she had deliberately ignored suddenly came to mind.

She knew how powerful the enemy Lin Gui was facing was.

It's no exaggeration to say that he's going to take on the entire alliance.

If he succeeds, it will be no less than a demonic incarnation upon Akara.

Yes, the enemy he faced was so powerful and so terrifying.

If Elvia knew, how could Lin Gui, as the core of the vortex, not know?

She frowned, her fingers unconsciously gripping the edge of the counter.

Lin Gui's actions were too strange.

That was something so enormous that it could almost be declared impossible.

But Lin Gui was completely unaware.

What gave him the confidence to accomplish something that could overturn the entire continent?

She opened her mouth, then remained stunned for a long time.

Unable to resist asking, he lowered his voice and asked:

"How confident are you in your revenge?"

Lin Gui raised an eyebrow and twirled the pen in his hand.

Elvia stared intently at him, her eyes unblinking.

Finally, Lin Gui replied with:

"have no idea."

Elvia was taken aback, and her shoulders relaxed slightly.

This answer... is quite subtle.

It's not that I'm pessimistic and think my actions are like a moth drawn to a flame.

He also believed that he could crush the opponent.

Rather, in a very pragmatic way, I don't know?

Lin Gui explained calmly:

"After all, no one knows just how deep their foundation truly is."

Elvia's lips twitched.

Why bother with inner strength? Isn't that formidable power on the surface enough to make you back down?

"What if we consider the alliance's current strength on paper?"

Lin Gui did not answer directly.

He smiled.

The smile was faint, as faint as if it were saying the weather was nice today.

But Elvia's heart started pounding.

As a former socialite, Elvia is particularly adept at reading people and situations.

She could see the confidence in that smile.

and.......

Contempt.

If this laughter came from a naive and overconfident novice adventurer.

Elvia wouldn't react that way.

Just assume the other person is drunk and bragging.

But it comes from the Forest Ghost.

This guy is completely unrelated to the phrase "ignorant of his own limitations".

Elvia couldn't help but lean close to Lin Gui's ear and whisper:

"What's your plan, buddy?"

She stepped back, placed her hands on the counter, leaned forward, and looked at Lin Gui expectantly.

Lin Gui glanced at her inexplicably, a slight smile playing on his lips.

"What, even the lioness princess of Carter's capital wants to get involved?"

"Should we get a room after we close tonight and continue what we didn't finish a few days ago?"

"Come and sign this confirmation of our shared fate of dying together?"

Elvia's lips twitched, she straightened up, and took her hands back from the counter.

She wisely refrained from asking any further questions.

But Lin Gui's confidence still haunted her.

She could feel her heart pounding, each beat making her chest feel tight.

Elvia, who has long held a high position and survived the bloody struggle for the crown prince position, keenly sensed this.

An opportunity presented itself.

And it might eventually take her to a position of power and status far exceeding that of the kings of the outskirts of Carter's capital.

This was far too attractive to her, who had just fallen from a high position.

But reason told her that there was a 99% chance she would eventually be implicated and hanged.