Chapter 134 – The Involved

Out of curiosity—Dichiduo could swear it was merely innocent curiosity born from his good mood—he decided to greet from a distance the “little girl” draped in a large cloak.

Of course, he didn’t know she wasn’t a little girl at all, but rather Lotalan, the theoretical head of the Minohorn Family.

“Hello there, little one. Everyone is very grateful for your help!”

As he spoke these words, Dichiduo used a tone one would employ to coax a child, because no matter how you looked at it, this mysterious girl strongly resembled a young child.

“Your tone is so irritating! I’ve just grown a bit slowly, but I’m no longer a child.”

Lotalan, who couldn’t stand others calling her a child, immediately retorted sharply. After speaking, she turned her head away, refusing to glance at Dichiduo again.

Faced with this situation, Dichiduo could only awkwardly chuckle and scratch the back of his head.

Meanwhile, the Old Butler standing beside Lotalan carefully observed Dichiduo, who was neatly dressed and had a ruddy complexion. Suddenly, he felt that the young man’s appearance and attire closely matched the descriptions of a certain rumored individual. So he slowly inquired:

“Judging by your appearance, sir, you don’t seem to be a cleric of the Church, nor do you resemble the stranded children of nobles outside the city. Might I boldly ask your identity?”

“Me? I’m Dichiduo. Pleased to meet you. Thank you so much for your help to the refugees. Thank you.”

Dichiduo had no intention of hiding his identity. In his view, he was merely an unknown bard, and the three people opposite him were likely asking out of simple curiosity.

However, upon hearing his reply, the first to react with excitement wasn’t the Old Butler who had asked the question, but Lotalan, who was still sulking over the age remark. She could no longer maintain her “aloof” demeanor and quickly exclaimed:

“Dichiduo? Are you the unbelievably handsome Dichiduo?”

This statement left Dichiduo utterly bewildered. Although he was indeed a somewhat good-looking young man and had occasionally fantasized about a girl fawning over him with cries of “Lord Dichiduo, you’re so handsome!”, being given such a label out of the blue in this situation made him quite uncomfortable.

“I am Dichiduo, that’s correct… but am I famous?”

Dichiduo looked at the three with a puzzled expression. He thought that although Bilan had called him handsome, he wasn’t so strikingly good-looking that he needed to wear sunglasses in public.

In truth, Dichiduo had underestimated his own reputation. The “intelligence” that he was Bilan’s passionately devoted boyfriend had already reached many nobles in Doleiz City.

One must understand that his girlfriend was no ordinary person. After all, Bilan was, nominally, Punk’s sole apprentice. If not for those rigid Church clerics refusing to allow any “patients” into the city, Bilan would have long been welcomed back by her family and treated like royalty—how could she be suffering in a refugee camp?

And who was Punk Cyan? He was an immensely powerful official mage, someone who stood as an equal to Guardian Bahanger himself. Even the Lord would bow respectfully upon meeting him.Every piece of intelligence related to such a powerful figure could be considered a strategic resource. Although ordinary people in this world of inconvenient information transmission remained unaware, those prominent nobles would never overlook such materials.

Moreover, the fact that Dichiduo, as an ordinary person, had actually gained Bilan’s favor was a classic underdog success story—a topic many bored nobles found immensely intriguing.

However, since he truly possessed no outstanding abilities, most nobles simply attributed his “rise” to his “handsome appearance.” The rumors grew increasingly exaggerated, and now he had inexplicably acquired the title “The Unbelievably Handsome Dichiduo” among noble circles.

As a member of the “high nobility,” Lotalan was naturally aware of Dichiduo’s existence, though she never expected the somewhat good-looking man before her to be that very Dichiduo.

Lotalan couldn’t help but curl her lip inwardly. She had imagined this “Dichiduo” to be some devastatingly handsome heartthrob.

“Dichiduo, take us to see Bilan immediately. I have urgent matters to report to Lord Punk.”

Her tone had turned noticeably impolite, for she fundamentally looked down on such “pretty boys” who relied on women. Moreover, strictly speaking, they were all subordinates of Punk—no one held higher status than another.

The primary purpose of Lotalan’s visit to the refugee camp was to contact Punk through Bilan; distributing food merely served as a cover.

In reality, she had recently uncovered some shocking developments and received alarming intelligence from informants. Initially, Lotalan assumed Bilan, who stayed permanently in the refugee camp, would have detected these and promptly reported to Punk. But after waiting so long with no action taken—while enemy plans were nearing execution—an anxious Lotalan could no longer remain idle. She decided to report to Punk personally.

Only at this moment did she realize she had no idea how to contact Punk at all.

Frantically worried, Lotalan had no choice but to seek out Bilan in the refugee camp.

“As a mage’s apprentice, she ought to have ways of locating her mentor,” Lotalan thought.

What surprised her even more was how difficult finding Bilan had become. To conceal her true objective, she had to search while maintaining her usual food distribution routine. Even now, Lotalan could feel several hostile gazes watching her from the shadows.

She couldn’t evade the surveillance—these were the “undercover protectors” dispatched by the Minohorn Family board of directors.

Nor could she obtain Bilan’s whereabouts, as all Dolaizi Nobility and the board seemed united in concealing certain matters.

In fact, it wasn’t until the previous day—when Lotalan visited every noble and failed to get a simple answer about “Bilan’s location”—that she realized she had been completely isolated by all nobles and the board.

Though her status as “formal mage’s collaborator” still prevented open confrontation, the systematic stripping of her authority remained unstoppable.

Facing this reality, while Lotalan struggled to contain her fury, she felt surprisingly little despondency.The act of privately aiding refugees could not remain hidden forever. Such actions, completely contrary to the overarching stance of the entire Dolaizi Nobility, were ultimately impossible to conceal. Moreover, her purpose in traveling all this way was precisely to thwart the schemes of those selfish and cruel nobles.

Since hostility was inevitable, being targeted or isolated no longer mattered to her.

Now, Lotalan firmly believed that as long as she found Punk, she could certainly foil the nobles’ conspiracy. Even if Punk didn’t intervene personally, just informing the truly benevolent Lord Kangkai would ensure the plot was stopped.

But the current problem was—she couldn’t find Punk, let alone Kangkai! At that moment, Punk, Bahanger, and Kangkai were busy packing for a dungeon expedition—who had time to bother with the nobles’ “trivial maneuvers”?

Yet what seemed insignificant to Formal-Level experts was nothing short of catastrophe for countless ordinary people. The kind-hearted Lotalan could never stand by indifferently, much less become complicit in such evils.

Just when she was at her wit’s end, Dichiduo appeared.

And this sunny-smiling youth agreed with unexpected readiness.

“Sure, come with me.”

To Dichiduo, Lotalan’s request wasn’t unreasonable. Though her eagerness to visit Bilan struck him as slightly odd, anyone who distributed food to refugees must be a good person.

Yes, Dichiduo’s worldview was just that simple: those who did good deeds were good people! Flawless logic, no objections here!

(End of Chapter)