Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1611: Chapter 338: He’s Still Just a Student

“Shelter?” Luo Qiu sized up Lamias at this moment.

Of course, it wasn’t because this request was particularly strange—in fact, similar requests had appeared many times in the past transaction ledgers of the Shop… though the one handling them was naturally the previous proprietor.

Boss Luo had never once seriously carried out a transaction of this [Shelter] type.

The Maid showed no expression at all, as if she hadn’t heard Lamias’s request.

“Yes, shelter.” Seeing that this mansion’s owner didn’t reject her outright, Lamias hurriedly nodded. “Of course, the shelter isn’t absolute. If you encounter something beyond your own capability, I’ll leave directly, or… you can hand me over directly as well, that’s fine.”

The Maid was slightly surprised at this moment and actually looked Lamias straight in the eye.

Shelter, and limited shelter… this woman was playing the role of a pitiful, persecuted victim who didn’t even dare hope for help.

The humble act looked extremely professional.

But a situation that would exceed the Shop’s capabilities—would that really appear…? Luo Qiu’s curious thought was: if such a thing did exist, he would very much like to see it.

“Since it’s shelter, naturally there must be a time limit.” Boss Luo ended his contemplation and directly asked, “I wonder, Miss Lamias, how long is the shelter period you have in mind?”

There’s hope!

Lamias couldn’t help feeling a faint thrill, but she knew this was the time to steady herself, not rush. So she became even more solemn. “One week! The first shelter will be one week!”

From the moment the Black Religious Congregation learned of the sinking of the Nautilus, the Battle Nun squad’s failure, and Sister Grant’s life-or-death unknown, to formulating a response… in fact, at most three days would be enough.

One week was the safety margin Lamias left herself.

If there was a first time, naturally there could be a second; and the second would clearly require more detailed consideration based on how the first went.

Every step had to be taken with extreme caution.

In truth, Boss Luo was quite fond of this cautious attitude. His gaze on this nun carried a faint hint of interest. “I’m very happy to make this deal with you, Miss Lamias.” Boss Luo smiled slightly. “But since it’s a transaction, I imagine Miss Lamias understands the essence of a transaction.”

Here comes the key part.

Lamias’s heart tightened. This was a man who didn’t even care for a Reversed Holy Relic and returned it to her casually, yet agreed to help her suppress Vasco merely for some data on [Structural Alchemy]’s [Cycle]. That made it very hard for Lamias to gauge his preferences.

But before coming, she had already thought out a strategy and planned to gamble big on it.

“One condition.” Lamias took a deep breath at this moment, speaking with great gravity. “The shelter period is one week. As for the payment: one condition… Whatever your request is, as long as I’m capable of doing it, I will fulfill the condition you put forward.”

“Heh.” This chuckle came suddenly from the Maid behind Boss Luo.

Lamias shuddered. Before this young mansion’s owner could speak, she quickly added, “This condition is not bound by so-called moral standards. It can follow entirely your Will… in other words, so long as in your eyes it’s something I can do, anything goes! Even… death.”

“That really is quite a high price.” Boss Luo smiled now—the smile of someone seeing something interesting… Providing shelter to Lamias for one week wasn’t difficult; he didn’t even need to use the Altar’s Power.

In fact, the Maid alone was enough to shelter Lamias for a week… If the Maid wasn’t enough, Boss Luo could probably step in himself; and if worst came to worst, he could use the [Covenant Cabinet] to forcibly awaken those powerful Black soul envoys currently on vacation.

For example, that [The Ninth Originator] who was physically in the Camp of Transcendents, though his heart might not be in the Shop.

The uses of the Black soul envoy, aside from drawing in customers to boost revenue or serving as debt collectors, generally included acting as high-level enforcers.

“You’ve agreed?” Lamias couldn’t help asking.

Although she had quite high expectations that this transactional agreement would go through, she still couldn’t help being nervous… After all, she was facing the entire Black Religious Congregation, a giant in the dark world. Without thorough preparation, even massive neutral forces like [The Magician Association] would not lightly fight the Black Religious Congregation to the bitter end.

But if the other side was only a small group, even just a private force…

“How could I refuse, when Miss Lamias is offering such a high payment.” Boss Luo smiled casually. “Here’s how we’ll do it: the shelter period will be one week, starting now. And… during the shelter period, you are free to move about within the bounds of the town. How does that sound?”

“Within the town?” Lamias frowned slightly.

Boss Luo knew what she was worried about and said indifferently, “Relax. If you encounter any danger, we’ll arrive at your side immediately and won’t let anything happen to you… If you don’t believe it, you can have a little trial run first.”

“A trial…?” Lamias was briefly stunned, and then shocked… because in the span of a mere blink, she found herself standing before a lighthouse on the coast more than ten kilometers from the mansion!

Lamias knew this lighthouse!

The sea breeze smelled fishy with a hint of salt. She stared around in panic, but before the terror could fully spread through her, she was once again back inside the mansion.

She looked at this young mansion owner, and the blonde, blue-eyed woman who called herself Head Maid, in utter bewilderment.

Boss Luo said softly, “You see, our response is quite fast, isn’t it.”

Lamias nodded with a neck that was almost stiff. Only she knew what she had just gone through in her heart—at this moment, there was only one thought in her mind: she seemed to have underestimated this mysterious mansion’s owner’s methods!

The conditions she had proposed for the deal were far too conservative!

“All right, Miss Lamias, you’re free to move about now.” Boss Luo stood up at this time. “The rules are still the same as before: aside from the second floor and above, and your own room, you may move about here as you please… If you plan to have dinner here, then we’ll see each other this evening.”

“You… where are you going?” Lamias couldn’t help asking curiously.

“To school.” Boss Luo blinked. “I’m currently still a student.”

Lamias: “!!”

…

…

It was still the room she’d been given when she was injured last time… [Eve] led the way, and at the moment Eve was standing right beside her.

“Eve, your master really is still a student?” Lamias’s expression still carried a faintly shaken look.

Coincidentally, she herself was a lecturer in the physics department of that same university—just the kind who skipped class a lot.

“Since the master is studying, his identity is naturally that of a student.” Eve’s face was completely calm.

Lamias didn’t manage to get any more useful information out of this answer… She frowned slightly, then suddenly remembered a question. “Right, Eve, even now I still don’t know what your master’s name is—sorry, I forgot to ask him directly.”

In fact she hadn’t forgotten; she had just deliberately saved this question to use on Eve.

Eve’s gaze shifted, and after thinking for a moment she said, “Since the master didn’t tell you, then as his servant girl, I naturally don’t have the qualification to overstep. I’m very sorry, I can’t satisfy this request of yours… So, is there anything else you need, Ms. Lamias.”

It felt like after just one day apart, Eve had gone from a cold, expressionless maid to a cold, expressionless old Nun who taught girls how to become maids.

Lamias shook her head helplessly. “I’d like to rest for a bit.”

“As you please.”

Watching Eve leave, Noda’s manor fell back into silence once more, but Lamias knew that in this manor, besides Eve, besides the mansion’s owner, and the head maid who had only appeared today, there were probably other people… or things.

That mysterious attic.

“Since this mansion’s owner has already agreed to shelter me for a week, my security level should have gone up quite a bit.” Lamias calmed herself, beginning to think about how she should use this week of safety.

The key was still how to bridge the gap between ordinary people and Non-Human power.

“Since you’re so interested in new things…” A gleam flashed in Lamias’s eyes. “Maybe I can reveal some information about that civilization…”

She hurriedly sat down at the desk in the room, pulled open the drawer, took out a pen and paper, and lowered her head to write something.

…

…

If, over the course of this week, no danger approached Lamias, then this kind of shelter request was basically pure profit… even if all the other party wanted in return was unconditional obedience.

“Master, what do you plan to ask of this Ms. Lamias?” The maid was driving the Beetle as she turned her head to ask.

“Not sure yet.” Boss Luo shook his head. “I just feel we won’t lose out. Of course, how can we be certain about the future.”

That is, as long as you haven’t already seen the Future.

They hadn’t discussed whether, after the protection period ended, Lamias would renege or even slip away in secret—so far, in that endless shop ledger, there had never appeared a customer who managed to successfully default.

“Right.” Boss Luo suddenly remembered something and asked directly, “When Father Strala left the Holy Church back then, he seems to have taken one of the church’s holy remains with him. Do you know about this?”

The maid shook her head and said, “I don’t really pay attention to the Holy Church’s affairs.”

The maid’s origin was not in this Sub-world—but there were still legends about her here… The legends of this Sub-world No. 003 were indeed quite chaotic and jumbled.

“There’s a holy remains here?” The maid immediately asked, then said apologetically, “Sorry, I didn’t do my homework thoroughly enough.”

“The probability of Prayer Aggregators being born here is a bit higher.” Boss Luo said.

The maid seemed lost in thought.

“During the school’s lunch break, how about we make a trip to Father Strala’s church.” Boss Luo smiled and said, “I want to take a look at that Void Primordial Demon.”

He was referring to the Atang that the Priest was keeping.

Because of Lamias’s visit, they were about to be late, but Boss Luo said he wasn’t planning on being late for Teacher Pru’s first class.

The maid nodded, then floored the accelerator; the rest would depend on luck.

…

…

The speed at which the Pope gathered the Paladins and the priest team was even faster than Lord Hamaliel had anticipated… roughly half an hour or so.

At high noon in the Holy City, all the on-duty Paladins currently in the city’s Paladin Camp, and even a batch of outstanding Squire Candidates, had already formed up into a square formation, with quite a number of priest teams standing beside them.

This was of course not the entirety of the Holy Church’s power, but at least it was the majority that the Holy City could currently muster—after all, the Holy City still needed to retain some deterrent defenses against petty evildoers.

The Pope obviously would not act as impulsively as Angel Hamaliel, but two Cardinals had been dispatched to accompany them.

At this time, Angel Hamaliel was standing atop a high platform, hands clasped behind his back like an ancient General reviewing his troops… The Pope, somewhat sensitive, felt that the current Angel Hamaliel carried a presence that made him rather uncomfortable.

It felt like baleful aura… yet Hamaliel was clearly a Descending Angel.

“Lord Hamaliel, according to your request, this is all the manpower we can assemble for now.” The Pope came up behind Angel Hamaliel and said without servility or arrogance, “Also, I need to keep the minimum standard of forces to defend the Holy City.”

“They will feel honored to be part of this sortie.” Angel Hamaliel said calmly. “This is to uphold the Lord’s sacred might… Don’t worry, for warriors who perform well, before their appointed end comes, I will be their Jieyin.”

The Pope couldn’t bring himself to be happy; he could faintly hear that this operation sounded extremely dangerous… Yet looking at the two Cardinals in the distance, who were currently in high spirits, as if they had already been covered in great glory even before they set out, he couldn’t help but sigh inwardly.

“Deploying so many people is truly quite troublesome.” The Pope exhaled. “I’ve already notified the Queen of Britain: from here we will first enter the Unhuman Domain, then use the coordinates to enter Britain’s borders.”

Although the Non-Human of Britain had already been put under regulation, the Holy Church… the Holy Church had never been one to obey the decisions of The Magician Association.

It was just that one’s main base was in the Unhuman Domain, and the other’s stronghold was in the present world, so there was much less room and opportunity for direct conflict and friction between the two sides.

“Then let’s move out.” Angel Hamaliel nodded. “I’d also like to see what this so-called Unhuman Domain really is all about… I heard many dark creatures have hidden themselves inside; it sounds like a den of filth.”

I know you’re very confident… The Pope sighed inwardly. Most of the Descending Angels recorded in the Holy Church’s documents were highly confident.

Hopefully nothing goes wrong… That Tower Master of the First Tower, Dazzle, of The Magician Association was far from as simple as he appeared from the outside.

“Set off!”

Just as he was deep in thought, someone down below suddenly shouted… The coordinates leading to the Unhuman Domain slowly activated.