Identity Crisis

“Serea, I’m back!”

Leklis called out as soon as he entered. Although his voice wasn’t loud, lilith and the others heard it clearly since they were nearby. Serea, who also heard it, immediately spat out the iced wine she had just drunk.

“Pfft—cough, cough, cough!”

Serea’s rare slip was caught by Lilith, who reacted for a moment when she heard that name. She then whipped her head around to stare at Leklis, and Leklis saw her as well.

That look…

“You—”

“We’ve just been waiting for you. Since you’re back, let’s be on our way.”

Serea hurriedly cut her off, refusing to let Leklis say any more. She and Leon promptly stood up and walked over to the astonished Leklis, who was all loaded down with big and small bags.

Leon winked at him in passing as he led him outside. Seeing Leon’s expression, the clever Leklis more or less understood what was going on.

Serea wanted to lead everyone away, and at this, most gave only a glance before returning to their drinks. But there was one exception.

“Wait!”

Lilith suddenly stood up and grabbed hold of Serea’s arm, forcing her to stop.

“Miss, may I ask what you need?”

As Serea spoke, she intentionally altered her voice a little.

“Your voice sounds very familiar.”

“A lot of people say that.”

Serea acted very calm, but Lilith’s sudden appearance was already making her panic inside.

This was her elder sister, the one she usually couldn’t get along with, and a Saintess of the Church no less. By every measure, Serea least wanted to run into her right now.

“Your name is Serea?”

“… Yes. Does that have anything to do with why you stopped me?”

“I have a friend who’s also named Serea.”

“Well, what a coincidence.”

“So, to make sure my ‘friend’ isn’t messing with me, can I ask you to please remove your mask?”

Lilith asked, but Serea didn’t answer immediately.

Looking at the masked black-clad young woman in front of her—the figure, the voice, the hair color, the aura, the scent—everything overlapped completely with Lilith’s impression of “that person.”

Judging by that…

“Sorry, I never remove my mask in front of outsiders.”

Serea replied. Hearing that, lilith was even more certain, because she could feel through her wrist that the young woman’s pulse was racing.

“But today, I must see your face.”

Lilith’s attitude was unyielding, and her surrounding Holy Knights understood. Although they didn’t know what had happened, the Saintess’s will was their will.

Everyone stood up. Some blocked Serea and her group’s path, while others encircled them from the side.

It looked as if conflict was about to erupt. Quite a few patrons rushed out of the tavern, afraid of getting caught up in trouble, and the tavern staff pressed themselves against the wall, not daring to intervene.

“……”

Serea quickly assessed her surroundings. There were ten of them, all roughly at level 20, junior Holy Knights—a more troublesome foe than she had ever faced.

Seeing that they were about to interfere, leon and Leklis couldn’t back down. They moved to draw their weapons, but Serea reached out to stop them. Leon was one thing, but who was Leklis? An undead mage, and a Preacher of the Church of Death. If he was exposed, everyone would be doomed.

“It’s fine, leave it to me.”

As Serea spoke, leon and Leklis relaxed their grips. On the brink of exposure, Serea and Lilith stared each other down.

“If you have nothing to hide, then remove your mask.”

“I can remove my mask, but can you bear the consequences?”

“I can!”

Lilith’s reply was crisp, and her firmness made Serea’s mind race.

If she were discovered, what fate awaited her?

The answer was obvious. This was the southern part of Otto Kingdom, and as a runaway princess, if she was found, whether it was her doting father, the nobles hoping to trade her for peace, or her Saintess sister—they would all want to take her back.

Returning to the palace meant arranging flowers, reading books, and listening to handmaids gossip about which noble’s son had taken a liking to the “Otto Lake Crystal.”

Worse, she might be shipped off to the Ailera Empire as a consort to a prince before she’d even warmed up her seat…

Worrying every day about who might lay claim to her—this was not the life Serea wanted.

But now, it was unavoidable. Ten level-20 bronze elite Holy Knights blocked the way, and there was even a level-27 legendary—Lilith. There was no running, so…

Serea sighed.

“Fine, as you wish.”

She reached up to remove her mask. Everyone held their breath, watching her slow movements.

The Holy Knights were all curious who could warrant such interest from the Saintess, while Leklis and Leon were worried. They could see Serea desperately trying to hide her identity. If she took off the mask…

When the mask finally came off, everyone was dumbfounded by her appearance—their eyes widened in disbelief.

So beautiful!

And… nothing else.

With her mask off, Serea looked at Lilith, who also seemed surprised.

Pointed ears, emerald eyes, the stunning face of a young woman.

“An elf?”

Lilith was astonished: standing before her was a jungle elf!

Seeing Lilith’s shocked look, Serea smiled.

She was lucky—lucky she’d brought Pelam with her that day. The moment Lilith walked in, Serea, just in case, had told the Doppelganger Demon “Pelam” to attach to her face and disguise her as an elf.

What a lifesaver!

“My name is Serea Darkmoon, a reclusive elf of the jungle. I happened to hear that there was a merchant post trading with non-humans on the jungle’s edge, so I came to check it out. But it seems humans aren’t very welcoming of me.”

Serea spoke with a note of complaint. Upon hearing that and seeing her hand gripping Serea, lilith realized it was a misunderstanding and quickly let go.

“My apologies, I thought you were a friend in disguise. I see now that I was mistaken.”

As Lilith spoke, for some reason, a wave of disappointment washed over her.

So it wasn’t her after all…

“May I put my mask back on now?”

“Of course.”

Lilith knew just how risky it was for an elf to be seen on human territory. Now, she felt guilty that she had exposed the elf to so much attention.

Having put her mask back on, Serea asked:

“My friends and I plan to leave now. Is that okay?”

“No problem.”

At Lilith’s wave, the knights stepped aside. Serea replied:

“Thank you.”

She left unhurriedly with Leon and Leklis.

As Serea’s party departed, lilith unexpectedly felt the urge to stop her again, but she suppressed it.

“Lady Lilith, was there something strange about that one?”

“No, I was overthinking it.”

Staring after Serea, lilith felt a trace of melancholy.

“But why would an elf be with humans?”

“That person’s with the White Blade Mercenary Group, and they took an escort commission from the Xiyun Merchant Guild. Since that merchant guild trades with non-humans, the elf probably came for commerce.”

Astor explained—he’d already done his homework.

But as he watched the trio leave, there was one man who caught Astor’s attention—the last to arrive.

He felt somehow familiar, like someone he’d crossed before—a powerful individual!

Astor pondered: if it really was him, maybe he could make use of him. With such a person’s help, the odds of success in this mission would rise drastically.

He decided he’d test it out.

“But since an elf exposed her identity because of us, we should properly apologize.”

Astor said. Lilith thought that sounded right, and was about to follow.

“My lady, there’s no need for you to go in person. It doesn’t suit your station. Let me go in your stead.”

Astor stopped her. Lilith nodded.

“Alright, go tell her that if anyone targets her, she can come to us. After all, a lone elf here is bound to attract attention.”

“Yes.”

Astor hurried after them, while Lilith remained deep in thought. In the distance, a squad of guards was already on the way.

Seeing them, lilith shook her head. Rather than indulge in flights of fancy, she’d better think about how to explain things to the guards.

Causing such a scene and making herself conspicuous, it was clear that this mission would be anything but smooth.

The guards stopped Lilith and her group, while Astor quickly caught up to Serea’s party.

“Please wait a moment!”

“Hm?”

Serea, already some distance away, glanced back to find Astor jogging up.

“Is there something else?”

“Yes, we were rude earlier, so please accept this.”

Astor handed over an emblem—a holy shield cross—the symbol of the Church.

Serea hesitated, then took the emblem, failing to notice one detail: Astor had handed it over with his left hand.

His purpose—

Leklis stared at the back of Astor’s hand in shock. Only he could see the magic patterns on Astor’s skin that formed two words:

Death God!

The words flashed and were gone. Noticing Leklis’s surprised expression, astor’s lips curled up slightly.

Leklis hoped against hope that this wasn’t aimed at him, that maybe it was a coincidence.

But Astor’s next words crushed that hope.

“If you run into trouble—say, you get harassed by the ‘Church of Death’ that’s been active nearby—just bring this emblem to our inn.”

Astor’s words were loaded. Serea didn’t notice anything strange; she simply thought he was there to apologize.

“Alright, I’ll take it. Anything else?”

“No, I just wanted to apologize. If you all are in a hurry, feel free to go ahead.”

“Goodbye, then.”

Serea turned and left, leaving Leklis bewildered and breathing heavily, maintaining eye contact with the cleric Astor. Astor smiled, with a hidden message in that smile.

“Tonight at eight. Don’t be late.”

This was what Astor quickly mouthed.

Having seen Leklis’s reaction, astor was now sure of his secret identity, and was overjoyed: With this man on his side, those troublesome Holy Knights would be dealt with easily.

Receiving Astor’s lip-reading message, leklis clenched his fists. At that moment…

“What are you spacing out for? Let’s go.”

Serea’s voice called. Astor made a ‘please go ahead’ gesture.

Leklis gave Astor a fierce glare and hurried after Serea.

Watching them leave, astor’s smile slowly turned meaningful.

After leaving, Serea immediately split up: she told Leon to go warn Morlock and the blood slaves not to say anything, while she herself went to the Xiyun Merchant Guild branch.

Fortunately, the only ones who’d seen her face at the guild were Avril and Julian, so things were still salvageable. But she had to find Avril and Julian fast.

“Damn it, of all the people, why did it have to be her?”

Serea cursed inwardly. Anyone but Lilith, she could have handled. But it was just her luck that her sister, with the same face and nothing better to do, happened to travel all the way across the continent. If she went into the jungle, who knew if someone would shout, “Your Majesty Serea, how have you been?” at her.

That would be absolutely disastrous.

No way. She had to control her. Couldn’t let her expose her. If things really got desperate…

A glint of malice flashed in Serea’s eyes.

Keep her here!

Just literally—using Dogsius or the Blood Spring, whatever it took to make her stay quiet.

Having made up her mind, Serea sped up toward the Xiyun Merchant Guild branch.

Outside the branch, the werewolves were still waiting by the main gate. After greeting them, Serea asked,

“Aruka hasn’t come out yet?”

“No.”

A werewolf replied, sounding anxious. It had been a long time with no sign—had something happened…?

But just then, a tremendous noise sounded from inside.

Bang!

Crash!

It was loud enough that everyone turned to look, just in time to see a silver figure burst through the window and land on the ground, holding Avril in her arms, with Auna by her side.

“Awoo!”

He howled to the sky, and at his call, hidden Fang leapt over the wall to Aruka’s side, the guards unable to catch up.

“You little brat! Don’t even think of running!”

Right after, another person jumped out the window—a middle-aged man wielding a greatsword.

Seeing the man pursue, Aruka quickly placed Avril and Auna on Hidden Fang’s back.

“Old pal, take them and go!”

“Awoo!”

Hidden Fang answered and turned to run.

Seeing this, Serea was dumbstruck.

What the hell kind of plot twist is THIS?!

(To be continued…)

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep