The Paladin in the Abyss

"This indicates the shadow of Bartez behind Wisk's death, but it still doesn't explain the origin of these demon armies," Iados shook his head, "Anyway, Lady Tijana must be informed of the situation here immediately."

"There's no time to delay, let's set off." Phil took out three magic whistles, blew them in sequence, and a sound of horses neighing came from nowhere; soon, three carriages appeared in the distance and rapidly approached them.

When the carriages first appeared, they were almost transparent, as if they were still in another world, but as they drew closer, their outlines gradually became clear, and when they stopped in front of everyone, they had completely solidified into their physical forms.

Lancelot looked closely and realized that these were the very carriages they had ridden to Oasis Fort. Just a few hours ago, they had been parked in the courtyard they had left at Oasis Fort. It had never occurred to him that these carriages were magical items.

"You didn't think I'd just abandon these assets, did you?" Phil, as if reading Lancelot's mind, said, "That's not the style of us goblins."

"Most goblins send their lives away for a bit of scrap metal." The werewolf mercilessly struck Phil, "But you are different, you're more likely to blow yourself up."

"That would be my best fate," the goblin replied nonchalantly, "As for you, I'm sure you'll die at the hands of some succubus, don't think I don't know why you're so keen on doing undercover work in various neutral towns—it's dangerous, and where your so-called 'intelligence funds' go!"

"No matter where, succubi are the best source of intelligence," the werewolf retorted cheekily, "You wouldn't believe how much some idiots will divulge just to prove they are someone of importance, all for a succubus's favor."

"So your intelligence gathering is just sitting behind the bar pretending to be profound?" The goblin sneered, "I've noticed, as long as there's a succubus around, you'll reveal your wolf head, so you don't even need to speak yourself—curious succubi will come up asking this and that."

The goblin then started pinching his voice, imitating the succubi's voice in a high and shrill tone:

"Why do you have such a head? Can I touch your ears? Do you go crazy when you see round and smooth things?"

Then, he switched to a pretend-deep hoarse voice, mimicking the werewolf's manner of speaking:

"No, I am a werewolf with great self-control."

"Oh? Are you sure? What if it's round and big and also very soft?"

"I told you, I'm a..."

"Oh, alright, alright, maybe not," the goblin suddenly lifted his shirt up, "What if a pair appeared at the same time?"

Laughter erupted amongst them all at once, Bruto laughed so hard he couldn't stand straight, and a certain skull laughed so hard it rolled on the ground like a ball. Even Iados cracked a smile, as demons actually have a good sense of humor, especially when it comes to raunchy jokes and cruel pranks.

Of course, the only one who didn't laugh was the werewolf, Reap himself. He shrugged indifferently and spoke:

"Clearly, you're just jealous of my tall and muscular physique, and my wildly handsome face," the werewolf spoke as if he didn't care about the goblin's joke at all. "Your jealousy is quite unnecessary; I've seen quite a few succubi who are very interested in goblins."

Lancelot recalled the scene he had seen at the Succubus Palace where, among the male creatures on stage, there appeared to be goblins, indicating that succubi indeed had a diverse taste.

The banter between the goblin and the werewolf dispelled much of the tense atmosphere, and everyone climbed onto the carriage, starting their journey towards Twin Bridges Town.

After spending some time together, the dwarves were no longer so averse to the goblin. To them, goblins were still a lazy, annoying, and selfish race, but Phil was a decent one—at least he was serious about his work.

For the dwarves, that was enough to earn their approval.

Alamir sat sternly opposite Lancelot, and just when the human knight wondered what the demon wanted, he suddenly began asking about the fight with Enyeries, including the succubus's power, speed, favorite moves—no detail was spared. Explore more adventures at empire

Lancelot could tell that this Brezu Demon was preparing for the day he might have to face a succubus. Naturally, he was happy to share his experience and especially warned about the succubus's hard-to-resist diving attack, as well as his own attempts to counter it.

Their discussion did not last long, and soon Alamir was lost in thought on his own. Lancelot didn't really need to rest, as a High Rank Qi Cultivation Stage Spiritual Cultivator, his energy was much more vigorous than before; he could maintain a vibrant state for several days continuously.

However, since he had used a lot of energy today, even though he had replenished his True Qi several times with the essence of the earth and sky, meditating to cultivate Qi was obviously more sensible now that he had the chance.

Today, he had used up three Upper Grade Spirit Stones and several Middle Grade Spirit Stones, which indeed made Lancelot feel a bit pained. Upper Grade Spirit Stones were what he had been painstakingly saving for his Foundation Establishment, and it was said that even Golden Core Stage Spiritual Cultivators could use them to recover True Qi.

But then again, if today he had died at the hands of that succubus, keeping these spirit stones would have been meaningless.

Lancelot found a relatively less bumpy corner inside the carriage, slowly calmed his mind, and entered into a state of cultivation.

Compared to their outward journey, they no longer needed to disguise themselves as a merchant convoy and were without heavy cargo, so the speed of the caravan was very fast. By the evening of the second day, they had crossed the stone bridge over the Stygian River and entered the walls of Twin Bridges Town.

The first thing upon returning was naturally to report their mission to the Succubus Lord. Tijana didn't make them wait long and almost immediately summoned them to the Throne Hall for an audience.

...

"This is Alamir, a priest from Shuni, and this is Koula, an alchemist and cook," Lancelot introduced the elf and the halfling. "During this mission, they provided me with great assistance. I hope to keep them in my mercenary group."

On the way here, Lancelot had already introduced to the two new companions various aspects of Twin Bridges Town, while Phil and old Reap added many details. The two now seemed quite constrained, partly because of the identity of the Succubus Lord and partly overwhelmed by Tijana's stunning beauty.

"Wow, last time a scholar from the Black Cult, this time a genuine cleric of a righteous god—will you bring a paladin to meet me next time?" Tijana said languidly from her high throne, "As long as they agree to abide by the rules of Twin Bridges Town, I don't mind at all, of course, but don't forget the monthly head tax; go pay it in a bit."

"There are only a few days left in this month," Bruto muttered dissatisfiedly.