Academic gathering with Lich colleagues

On the side, William sat at the bar, watching his brother-in-law work hard.

"Are there more jobs for candy now?"

"There's nothing I can do. Ino took sick leave, and the other sisters all have their own plans tonight. Only Candy is all alone." Gurelia stood behind the bar, wiping the glasses.

William narrowed his eyes. "You promised me that after the flying competition, we would have a good time. I don't think that includes being a bartender at the bar. You'll have company then, remember?" William pointed to himself.

"Of course, dear magician, that's on the condition that you become the first to offer me the Heart of Condensation. The succubus's work needs to be paid, my dear. Besides, Candy is already very tired, and I'm his sister, so I need to watch over him. Isn't Fanila here too? You can chat about something else while I work."

Fanila turned her head when she heard her name called. The elf, who had never attended a late-night party before, seemed quite reserved. She was staring blankly at a cocktail burning with blue flames.

"William, aren't you going to drink?" Fanila asked, pointing to the drinks that Gurelia had placed in front of him.

"I'm not drinking anymore, never again! Nobody can trick me into drinking!"

William's enthusiastic response piqued the elf's curiosity, "Why? Sister Gurelia's drinks taste really good."

William glared fiercely at the succubus, “Because a certain woman once took advantage of me while I was drunk, and the memory of being left with only my underwear left me with deep psychological scars.”

Gurelia raised her eyebrows, a smile playing on her lips, her fiery eyes fixed on William.

"Drink it. This time, you won't even have your underwear left."

William stared in horror into the eyes of the invader.

A glass of wine was downed in an instant.

Chapter 429 The Cocoon of Hibernation

William realized he had been deceived.

When he awoke again, his head was not resting on a soft bed, but on a wooden floor soaked in red wine, emitting a pungent smell. The wine barrels on both sides of the tavern had been destroyed, and the wine that had accumulated under the broken pieces of wood was like flames stimulating William's aching brain.

Her underwear was still there, all her clothes were neatly worn, and even the water stains and vomit on her coat were carefully preserved, emitting a foul stench in the damp wine cellar.

He felt like part of the trash, thrown into the cellar of the Blood Rose Bar. Not to mention the scent of Gurelia's hair and the strange sensation of her plump, scale-mixed body, he touched nothing but the viscous liquor.

Without a lover's company, the only one sleeping beside him in this cellar that resembled a crime scene was a naked...stone monster. The naturally grown sharp stone fragments could easily kill him, and a black, oil-like, viscous substance oozed from its cracked mouth. It was the stone monster's special beverage, rich in minerals, now an indelible part of William's floral robe.

Gurelia has deceived me again!

Despite a throbbing headache from the hangover, William stood up. His physical condition was remarkably good; even with a throbbing head, a mage's steps were steady. He felt no deficiency whatsoever! Nothing had happened!

William became even angrier.

Just then, the cellar door opened from the other side, and former colleague, bartender Mr. Loren, dressed in the exquisite uniform of Blood Rose, with a slicked-back mustache and a standard smile, greeted William.

Good morning, William. How was the party last night?

“Good morning, Mr. Loren. Look at me, I believe you already know the answer.” William shrugged, his embarrassment irreparable, but he brushed it off lightly. “Another prank by the succubus Anna. I’m glad she didn’t strip me naked and dump me in this junkyard like a pig.”

Mr. Loren smiled and said, “William, I believe you have misunderstood Anna’s meaning. As for your current situation, it is a series of unexpected consequences.”

"Accident?"

"Yes, Anna dragged you, who was completely drunk, to me and asked me to prepare a resting area for you. She had work to do and probably planned to take you away after she finished work."

"I placed you in the wine cellar, the safest area of ​​the Blood Rose Bar, at other times."

"I was busy with other work when a bunch of revelers broke into the cellar and started another party here. It was a night of chaos; they destroyed the whole cellar, and oh, and caused you some trouble here as well."

“I believe Anna originally intended to see you, but she encountered a rather angry-looking Ms. Beatrice. Yes, your companion was taken away by our Ms. Rose. As you know, the succubus has little resistance to Ms. Rose.”

So, you got stood up.

"Given the series of tragic experiences you have gone through, and out of humanitarian concern, I did not wake you up, but instead postponed your bad mood until now."

Mr. Loren's strange logic left William speechless.

"Thank you for your kindness, Mr. Loren, but I need to go find a girl now to collect some compensation I deserve. I also need to change my clothes."

Loren did not agree with William's words.

"Regarding your future plans, that's one of the reasons I came to see you, Mr. William. Someone is looking for you outside the bar."

"It's one of your arcane colleagues, and it seems to be quite urgent."

A sorcerer? Looking for me? William immediately thought of his mentor, the city lord. Although he was unwilling to reveal his name, he had indeed taken great care of him, even though it had been about a month since they had last been in contact.

A surprise? A special mission or something else? In any case, William will do his best to complete the task.

Lyle woke up.

Aside from the nausea of ​​a hangover, he felt nothing else physically. Lyle lay on the soft bed covered in rose petals, unable to find Ariana, though the lingering warmth of the sheets proved she had been beside him.

Lyle vaguely remembered his flirtatious conversation with Ariana, but his memory of the rest had been swallowed up by alcohol.

Did I really do something? Lyle was deeply confused.

The door was flung open, and standing behind it was neither Ariana, who entered with a smile, nor Beatrice, the bar owner. It was Nia, her body swollen into a huge mass, as if she had swallowed several people whole. Nia energetically tapped Lyle with her tentacles in greeting.

"Lyle! Lyle! Look! Nia has drunk so much!"

What filled Nia's body was countless amounts of alcohol from the Blood Rose. Nia now looked like a moving waterbed, with a large amount of alcohol still unabsorbed. Even the evil god's body couldn't dissolve it immediately. Heaven knows how much Nia drank last night.

Wanting some time alone together, Lyle had arranged for Nia to leave him and join the revelry in the Shadow Zone. To prevent any accidents, Lyle even sealed the door with flesh and bone nails.

Why did you drink so much?

“Beatrice gave me the wine. She promised me that after we eavesdropped together, she gave me a lot of wine. Then she gave the cellar key to Nia and left.”

"Wait, were you eavesdropping?" Were Nia and Beatrice outside the room all night?

A feeling of guilt arose in Lyle's heart. Nia was still a child. What disgusting things had I shown her?

"Nia, did you hear that?"

“Nia didn’t hear it.” Lyle’s breath hadn’t even finished. “Nia saw everything. Nia assimilated the flesh and blood Lyle left behind and saw directly what Lyle and Ariana did!”

"Hiss, Nia, didn't you notice the 'No Entry' message hidden in the flesh?"

“Nia saw it, but Nia didn’t go into the room. Nia just saw it.”

I am a failure, in every sense of the word.

"I'm so sorry, Nia, for letting you see this."

Nia scratched her head and gently patted Lyle's head with her tentacles.

“It’s okay. Nia is very generous. Nia and Lyle have slept together many times. Lyle can hug Ariana. Nia is very generous, unlike Beatrice, who is stingy.”

Huh? Is that all?

"Nia, I...Ariana and I...we just cuddled and fell asleep?"

"Yes, Ariana greeted me when she saw me. She stared at Lyle's face all night while lying on her side."

Lyle breathed a sigh of relief, though with regret.

It was just a hug, it was just sleeping.

Feeling utterly ashamed, Lyle covered his face, recalled Nia, and prepared to leave the Bloody Rose Bar.

"William?"

Lyle witnessed this scene through the translucent windowpane.

After speaking with another arcane mage, William gratefully donned a new, gleaming silver robe, pulled the hood over his head, and followed the arcane mage into the distance.

William disappeared from sight.

Chapter 430 The Forgotten King

The end of the carnival night also marks the coming to a close of the Wandering Championship celebration.

The faces of the sober citizens still bore the marks of yesterday's excitement, the excessive joy lingering with an unhealthy tinge. "We've gone too far this time," they thought, before returning to their neighborhoods with unsteady steps.

Lyle followed the lich's horde, and incredibly, these liches, who possessed boundless energy, seemed to feel the weariness of their souls, and did not make any extra noise along the way.

The eerie streets of District Seven were filled with shadowy figures, their numb faces staring blankly at the backs of the heads in front of them. The slow-moving procession was only broken by footsteps filling in the gaps.

The portal back to Andrea is overloaded; Mr. Faceless will probably go crazy again.

Lyle stood at the very back, the ever-growing queue stretching to the front of him; this was the entrance to the Lich Quarter.

Lyle hesitated, wondering whether he should join the army of people exercising their legs.

"I'm saying, why doesn't the City of Wanderings remove the spatial anchor? We still have to squeeze through the portal. If it's removed, we can use the ring to go back."

A shimmering chatter came from not far behind Lyle, whose scale-covered hand stroked the inner ring of the Spine Wheel, his gaze shifting between his vehicle and the dark mass of people ahead.

"Are you an idiot? How can you guarantee the safety of this city without locking down space? Spatial anchors are the most effective means of defense. Anyone with a modicum of sense wouldn't allow strangers to arbitrarily distort the space of their home. What if the enemy directly transfers a calamity curse onto your home? What are you going to do then?"

The forceful aura silenced Shining for a moment.

"It does sound very important, but our academy doesn't have it, since we can use the Ring of Andrei."

“We have that too,” Mr. Compromise nodded to Lyle as he entered, and continued, “The spatial lock at Andre Academy was set up by the Magic Research Society, and is now managed jointly by the Magic Research Society and the Advanced Magic Research Society. Our lock isn’t that strong, so some low-intensity spatial distortions are still possible.”

"Furthermore, there are quite a few liches researching space. The Advanced Magic Research Society has even opened up a path to observe the void in Andrei. So, although our defenses have loopholes, anyone with the ability to find Andrei's coordinates in the spacetime turbulence would have become a lich long ago."

"The hostile forces that wanted to sabotage Andrei did exist, they did exist in the past."

Lyle couldn't help but remark, "Viruses don't need an immune system."

Shining watched as the remaining three suddenly reached some kind of consensus and spoke up out of boredom.

"So are we really just going to wait like this?"

The roar of the speeding car shattered the silence of the Andrei district.

On the Wheel of Bones, the reporter and the gentleman were vying for control when the Wheel of Bones crashed into the wall, casually smashing a few unlucky guys.

The blood splattering from the spinal wheel made the scene incredibly gruesome, and the reporter, covered in blood, was thrown out.

"Great news! Great news! There are events in the City of Wanderings again!"

"Another event!" The lich's disguised eyes gleamed again as a group of people surrounded the reporter, waiting for his news.

"In the City of Wanderings, the Secret Council is about to hold their succession ceremony, which is said to be related to the heir of the Dorgit royal family."