Lanoire cried out in alarm, "We've been discovered by the bad wizard!"
Estienne's expression carried a hint of anger.
He really disliked this overly serious junior.
"Aren't you on your day off? This has nothing to do with you, right? Patrolling with the security forces during off-duty hours won't get you a promotion either."
Noailles sneered, "I received a report and came immediately... You are their accomplice too."
"Hah, Estienne, you are making a very serious mistake."
Estienne didn't think so, "I'd say I'm correcting a mistake."
"And I'm also saving everyone a lot of paperwork. Miss Morel might even invite me to dinner alone to thank me."
"No no no... that's not right!" Noailles refused to let it go. "They are prisoners! Even if the numbers written on paper are lost, they are still prisoners."
Lumine felt a bit awkward being caught in the middle.
Although the little girl hadn't committed any crime, she did belong to the Fortress of Meropide.
Estienne wanted things to be convenient, and the Duke definitely wouldn't care anyway.
The civil servants cared even less—who would complain about having fewer tasks?
Besides, they already had plenty of work...
But in Noailles' eyes, procedural justice was justice.
No matter how old a little girl Lanoire was.
As long as she was in the Fortress of Meropide, she had to follow the rules and regulations here.
He didn't care why this girl had appeared in the prison.
All he wanted was for the rules to operate.
Noailles had a team of security forces backing him and felt he held the winning hand.
"No matter what you are planning, you must now return to the Fortress of Meropide under my supervision."
Seeing that Lumine seemed to be making some secret signal.
Noailles warned, "You are now compounding your mistakes. After returning to the Fortress of Meropide, you will be separately detained and subjected to investigation and questioning. So don't think about any crooked ideas anymore."
Now the group was surrounded.
It looked like they had no way out.
Estienne, however, said, "I see there are quite a few roads here. If a few security forces get scrapped, it would be due to someone's improper operation."
[As the saying goes, heaven never seals off all paths.]
[As long as I want to leave, the path is under my feet!]
[Shameless cicada, activate.]
Noailles believed he could hear the conversation on this side.
"It seems you have no intention of repenting. No choice then. For prisoners who stubbornly resist, the security forces will not show mercy."
Both sides were at daggers drawn, and a fight could break out at any moment.
Mu Yang had actually been there the whole time.
He was just waiting, waiting for Caterpillar to resist.
Only then could things proceed smoothly.
Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long.
The moment the security forces made their move, Caterpillar chose to transform.
He turned into a tall Hilichurl Ranger.
"Magic time is over..."
At the same time, a cold wind blew past.
Frosty mist obscured Noailles' vision, and then his eyes went dark as he lost consciousness.
The security forces were simultaneously frozen into ice blocks by Mu Yang.
Mu Yang put away Withering Glory: Snow Burial Over a Thousand Peaks, turned to Estienne and said, "How to report this is your business. We're taking the people with us."
[He's still so handsome.]
[Mu Yang's divine rescue.]
[No, what I care more about is— what the hell, Caterpillar is a Hilichurl?!]
[This plot twist is way too outrageous. Is he from Khaenri'ah?]
[I'm getting more and more excited for the follow-up story.]
Although Estienne didn't know Mu Yang's background.
With such ability, he was clearly not someone he could afford to provoke.
Moreover, he seemed to be with Lumine, so there shouldn't be any problem.
Thus, the matter was resolved just like that.
"On Wriothesley's side, do I need to say anything?" Lumine added.
After all, she had also participated in this plan.
Estienne said there was no need.
He was an old hand too.
As for who exactly had reported him, he still had to settle accounts with that person...
Caterpillar didn't really want Lanoire to see his true appearance.
He used a little trick to make her fall asleep.
There was still quite a distance from here to her home.
No, if that person was willing to take her in, that place would be her home.
On the road, the first to speak was Caterpillar.
"I'm very sorry for dragging you all into this. I originally planned to send Lanoire back to her relatives and then return to the Fortress of Meropide... I know you have many questions. Please feel free to ask."
"Caterpillar... are you a Hilichurl?" Paimon was most curious about this.
"Yes."
"But aren't Hilichurls supposed to have no intelligence? And the Caterpillar from before looked just like an ordinary child..." Paimon scratched her head.
"Umm... I'm getting confused about which side is the illusion now."
Earlier Caterpillar had said he had an illness that made him look this way.
But now it seemed that wasn't the case...
Mu Yang didn't ask random questions like Paimon.
He directly asked Caterpillar to recount his own experiences.
[See that? This is the correct way to chat.]
[Indeed. Paimon just spouts nonsense all day.]
[Don't scold my cup, it's just needed for the plot.]
In Caterpillar's recounting, he had been imprisoned in the Fortress of Meropide more than four hundred years ago.
His crime was—
As a member of the Narzissenkreuz Ordo, he had assisted his master's plan and was judged guilty.
"The Narzissenkreuz Ordo?!"
Caterpillar hadn't expected everyone to have this reaction.
After all, those events were already more than 400 years in the past.
"I didn't expect anyone to still remember these things..."
"The prophecy of the apocalypse... My master believed he could reverse the future of destruction. We made many preparations for that. It was great magic, but also an evil plan."
At this point, he shook his head to himself.
"Now that things have come to this, perhaps none of it matters anymore. The plan failed, the Narzissenkreuz Ordo has essentially ceased to exist, and whether Fontaine is destroyed or not no longer concerns me."
The other three naturally didn't think so.
Also, that guy Jakob seemed to still be busy with this matter.
"Who is your master?"
"Narzissenkreuz, the great magician. The master who taught me human language and granted me memory and wisdom."
[Holy shit, you really are a Hilichurl, bro.]
[I thought it was some kind of human experiment.]
[This plot is awesome. They gave a Hilichurl wisdom?]
[Fontaine's technology is terrifying.]
[While the little sister from Mondstadt is still working hard to learn Hilichurl language, a Fontaine master gave him wisdom more than four hundred years ago...]
Paimon still found it very unreal that Caterpillar was a Hilichurl.
But Caterpillar was standing right in front of her, and undeniably, Caterpillar was very smart...
"Although many details of the past have faded along with forgotten memories, this segment of recollection is exceptionally vivid."
"It was a very, very long time ago. Back then I still couldn't freely change the image I presented in others' eyes..."
Everyone would ask me similar questions:
You can speak?
Do Hilichurls really have intelligence?