When the plot-skips players into the game world

Iris Flower, Laisser.

A lady wearing a hat and dressed in a light green satin dress is quietly praying with closed eyes here in one of the few Holy Temples in the city, holding her small handbag.

Her appearance seems quite delicate, the kind that is very pleasing to the eye. She has almost black, dark brown long curly hair and is wearing light makeup. She wears no accessories, giving off a pleasantly "ordinarily pretty" vibe.

Casius priest, who was blessing the Holy Statue with holy water, watched her from a distance, somewhat lost in thought for a moment.

He knew her—at least he knew her name. This was information he had obtained once when he was handing out gifts under the guise of a festival.

Her name is Clara, and she is a dance teacher at an arts university in Laisser, who sometimes teaches ballet to the daughters of wealthy families during her time off. She usually speaks softly, always smiling with crescent-shaped eyes. She gives the impression of being very gentle, not too fond of talking, nor of socializing.

She looks like some noble lady...

Such a thought appeared in Casius's mind.

This is not surprising. After all, in the Iris Flower, noble status can easily gain random prestige during an uprising. As the Iris Kingdom develops, some centuries-old families may suddenly decline one day. And the women born into those families, once they lose the family's protection, often find it difficult to secure legitimate jobs, aside from those involving etiquette, dance, or music.

Even...finding such a job may not be certain. More often than not, compared to men, women find it harder to fend for themselves.

It's not that they can't endure hardships or lack ability. It's because Hawkeye likes to grab people from these fallen noblewomen.

Their appearance, posture, and temperament are excellent, and with a little training, they could become good dancers—if they were willing to become assassins, they would have more assassination opportunities than male assassins; if not, they could still support the organization financially through various means. From this perspective, Hawkeye doesn't actually want them to support themselves.

"Casius priest," came an elderly voice from behind, "come over for a moment—the barrier seems to have made some noise."

"Oh... Okay."

Originally slacking, Casius heard his teacher's voice and promptly responded.

Just as he was leaving, he subconsciously glanced again in Clara's direction.

A middle-aged gentleman, dressed properly and seemingly well-off, sat next to Clara.

He did not converse with Clara, but instead, he closed his eyes and prayed solemnly.

"Casius priest?"

"—I'm coming, I'm coming!"

Casius took one last reluctant look at Clara before wiping his hands and hurrying over.

After he left, the middle-aged gentleman let out a light chuckle.

"That kid seems to like you, [Dance Dress]."

His lip movements still mouthed the prayer, but a completely different voice reached Clara's ears.

"I know."

Clara responded similarly.

She replied softly, her voice sounding colder than her gentle and serene appearance suggested.

"Is he your hook too?"

"No, just a bell."

Clara answered, "The hook is ready, we can pull in the net at any time."

Hooks and bells are coded words within the Hawkeye Organization. The former refers to those controlled by the organization to earn money or do dirty work for them—for instance, by having leverage over someone, or by seducing them with money or charm.

Bell, on the other hand, means "something that can draw attention." For example, some assassins might marry ordinary people who are completely unaware of their identity to conceal their identity, allowing them to enter certain places reasonably, or provide them with ample excuses to visit a location.

As long as their actions seem reasonable, non-specific astrology is ineffective against them because their motives for assassination are obscured by the motive of another action—like someone planning to accompany their child to a zoo, and on their way back, they kill someone; thus, predicting their route would only reveal their intent to visit the zoo at most.

Avoiding future-predicting astrology is a required course for upper-level assassins. Those big shots—especially the Son of the Moon—they usually spend heavily to hire ritualists and astrologers to intercept curses and assassination attempts. If they can't avoid divination, astrologers might even know what the assassins plan to do before the assassins themselves.

The essence of an astrologer's divination is using someone's intentions for limited foresight. It's not that they can truly see the future.

For instance, identifying where someone will go, or who harbors clear hostility or murderous intent towards whom, or the direction from which the one with murderous intent comes—from the resonation on the path, they might occasionally see some future fragments.

But mature astrologers usually don't trust the future they see, only using it for reference…because fragmentary glimpses can easily mislead themselves.

Thus, unless an assassin's identity has been completely exposed, Hawkeye Organization's officially listed assassins typically wouldn't abandon their social identity. Mature assassins usually don't go to strongholds, instead directly receiving missions through contacts—because any stronghold may already be under surveillance, thus becoming unsafe or exposed.

Entering a monitored stronghold might mean identity exposure.

And if they've lost the protection of an identity…a person with no social interactions and a blank identity, it's far too easy to uncover. Not even needing astrology, just ordinary intelligence gathering and identity verification could cause their assassination attempt to fail due to various accidents. There's even the possibility of identity exposure resulting in an entire stronghold being exposed or captured.

As a dance teacher, Clara has no reasonable connection with the businessman who has three sons. They both cherish the identities they've maintained over the years, clearly unwilling to shatter them due to some unreasonable actions. And the most suitable place for them to communicate is the church.

Even though the relationship between Iris and the Holy Nation is not great, there aren't many devout believers here. But it's not strange if anyone worships God. Moreover, there wouldn't be any eavesdropping devices or prediction rituals placed within the church…this place is safe enough.

They can communicate their intelligence just through prayer.

"Merely hooking him? Or are you really going to marry him?" the man asked.

"Depends on how he performs."

Clara said calmly, "That guy is honest and mild-mannered. He can at least serve as a bell. His aptitude might give him a chance to become a bishop...given that our teacher has decided to follow the Holy Nation, we'd best establish good relations with their people in advance, Little Deer."

"Hmm, I understand."

Even though he is the father of three children, he has an endearing nickname like "Little Deer."

The politely dressed businessman was silent for a moment before asking his young-looking senior about the proper business: "How did the investigation go?"

"Basically confirmed, it's just beneath this church."

"Dance Dress" stated softly, word by word.

"Lamp under Black, huh..."

Little Deer, without revealing his thoughts, lowered his eyes: "Shall we report it directly? Or should we probe further? We can have those young assassins try the waters. Incidentally… they've been quite passionate lately."

"... Just report it, this level is enough. I'm afraid something will go wrong if we probe further."

Dance Dress remained silent for a while, ultimately not picking up on Little Deer's last remark.

She lowered her eyes, appearing somewhat mournful.