The Killer and the Author

The tavern.

"So, your investigation led you to the Elves?" Marie's slender fingers traced the edge of her wooden cup, her emerald eyes looking exceptionally profound in the light.

After hearing what Luo Lun had to say, Marie furrowed her brows deeply.

Her fellow elves were being treated as merchandise, trafficked to the human realm, and reduced to slaves for the nobles?

"Telling me something like this... you know what the consequences will be, right?" Marie looked at Luo Lun with a serious expression.

As an elf, she was bound to report this matter to her superiors.

If the Elven race learned of this, they absolutely would not tolerate it.

The furious elves would undoubtedly demand an explanation from the Alan Empire, and a significant conflict might break out between the two races.

After all, those secretly imprisoning elven slaves were the deeply entrenched, immensely powerful nobles of the human race, holding prominent status...

Some of this filth had seeped into the very marrow of the Alan Empire; completely purging it would be no easy task.

"Doing this sort of thing... doesn't that make you a traitor to the human race?" Marie asked suddenly.

"I am indeed a wanted criminal over in the Alan Empire." Luo Lun shrugged, then grinned and gestured to Marie. "You'd never guess, my bounty is a whopping... this much!"

"And you still dare to swagger around causing trouble?" Marie couldn't help but roll her eyes at Luo Lun. Even among the elves, she had heard the tales of the Corpse. "Aren't you afraid of being caught and thrown into the dungeons? Doesn't your human race have that... Royal Knight Order?"

Luo Lun laughed it off. "It's actually not that bad. You don't need to worry about these things."

"Luo Lun." Marie looked earnestly at her companion, a flash of genuine worry in her eyes. "I truly consider you a friend, and I admire what you're doing... but your way of doing things is far too dangerous. I know you are strong, but trying to take on the Knight Order all by yourself is a fool's errand. You're putting yourself in such a conspicuous position, like a bonfire in the dark of night..."

Nobles being continuously assassinated... such a thing would definitely alarm the King. The Royal Knight Order was not something an individual could stand against alone.

"Alright, alright, you win. I'll let you in on a little secret, but you absolutely cannot tell anyone else." Luo Lun coughed lightly, reining in her smile a bit. She leaned forward slightly and lowered her voice. "Actually... I am personally acquainted with the Commander of the Royal Knight Order."

"Eh?" Marie was taken aback.

"Uncle Halo... the Commander of the Knight Order, used to be an adventurer. My parents were adventurers too, and they were even in the same adventuring party." Luo Lun shrugged. "Uncle Halo actually thinks quite highly of me. Even when he catches my subordinates, he secretly lets them go... What did you think? The Royal Knight Order isn't just for show."

"Then what is this? Collusion between officials and bandits?" Marie couldn't help but say.

"Pfft, is that any way to talk? This is an alliance of justice!" Luo Lun corrected her.

Marie took a deep breath, feeling as though she had inadvertently glimpsed a massive, hidden chessboard, woven with power, conspiracy, and an unspeakable justice. The weight of this secret was so heavy it made her fingertips turn cold. "The internal politics of your human race are rotten to the core."

Luo Lun continued speaking, unbothered. "Every time, those filthy rich noble lords bring their treasures and secretly seek out Uncle Halo, commissioning him to eradicate me, their greatest threat.

They could never imagine that Uncle Halo turns right around and tips me off.

Then I tactfully vanish for a while, and Uncle Halo reports back to those nobles, claiming he dealt me a heavy blow...

After some time passes, I re-emerge and take care of those nobles who tried to bribe Uncle Halo."

Luo Lun swirled the clear liquid in her cup, detailing her plan completely. "Those nobles all think there is a traitor among them."

Marie looked deeply moved. "That is truly..."

Luo Lun spoke mysteriously, "Just faking my death alone, Halo and I have performed it three times in broad daylight... Now that bunch of nobles thinks I'm immortal. There are even rumors that I am the manifestation of the grudges of the murdered dead, returning to the world to claim their lives... How else did you think I got the title Corpse?"

"If only I could use all of this as material for my next book," Marie couldn't help but sigh.

"Lady Marie, are you asking to be silenced?"

Luo Lun raised her cup and clinked it against Marie's.

"Is there anything else I don't know?" Marie looked at Luo Lun beside her, her shadow cast on the wall, dancing with the flickering firelight of the tavern.

"You still want to know more? How greedy."

Marie: "It's all very precious material. Even if I can't write it into a story, it provides a lot of inspiration."

Luo Lun: "Is that so? To provide inspiration for a great author like you is truly my honor."

Marie chuckled. "I know you definitely have other secrets."

Luo Lun: "Swear upon your Elven race's Divine Tree of Life that you will absolutely keep it a secret, and I'll tell you."

Without another word, Marie immediately raised her hand. "I swear upon the Divine Tree of Life..."

"Well... actually, I assassinated the King before."

Marie opened her mouth wide, her jaw nearly dropping to the floor. "Huh?"

Luo Lun: "Because His Majesty the King seemingly stopped being human and became a vampire."

"What?!" Marie wondered if she had misheard.

"Yeah... but later I realized he wasn't a bad person, so I let him go." Luo Lun paused slightly with the cup in her hand. In order not to ruin her image in Marie's heart, she decided to omit the embarrassing detail of being chased away by a Vampire Duke.

"Ah..." Marie was so shocked she could only utter meaningless sounds.

"That King truly wants to make this country better, to completely change the current social structure within his lifetime... That's why he chose to become a vampire."

Luo Lun patted Marie's shoulder, helping her snap out of it. "Yep, that's about it... Look at you, all dumbfounded."

"If you were a man... I might have already fallen for you," Marie suddenly murmured.

"Pfft—"

Luo Lun instantly spat out a mouthful of alcohol, coughing repeatedly as she choked.

Marie covered her mouth, laughing so hard she trembled. "You're the dumbfounded one."

"You don't... actually have any weird thoughts about me, do you?" Luo Lun suddenly covered her chest nervously. "After all, in your works... could it be that those girls in the books are your..."

"Pah, you're the lesbian!" Marie rolled her eyes at Luo Lun.

"Then how did you write those plots?"

"Haven't you heard that saying?"

"What saying?"

"Authors who can dream up such sweet romances... must definitely be single dogs who have never been nourished by love."