“Of course not! Let me explain it to you, before Po Kong can’t help himself and starts teasing him again.”
Just then, Xia Duo’s crisp voice drifted over from the side. She was opening the kitchen door, carrying two plates of food.
Her long brown hair was tied up in a high bun, and she had swapped her usual gear for casual clothes, even wearing an apron.
This look was a far cry from her usual brash and straightforward self; she actually looked quite gentle and charming.
Xia Duo seemed to notice their gazes as well, her face flushing slightly. She hurried through the corridor, setting the plates down while she began to explain.
As it turned out, during the period when Starlight and the others were fully immersed in their studies, Po Kong and Xia Duo had already thoroughly explored the surrounding areas of the Spiritual Arts Academy.
To help Xia Duo find clues about her missing clan members as quickly as possible, Po Kong had thought of the most direct and effective method—utilizing the royal family’s massive intelligence network.
The Leon Continent was vast, and the majority of the population was concentrated in city-states scattered across the land. Significant distances separated these city-states, making the issue of local autonomy exceptionally severe.
In such a complex environment, even for the House of Leon, it was no easy task to keep every city-state firmly under control.
Fortunately, humanity faced an extremely unstable and powerful opponent in the Demons. The shadow of war constantly loomed over the continent, forcing the human kingdom to temporarily set aside internal conflicts to defend against the external threat.
For certain city-states with special circumstances, such as the Emerald City-State where the Holy Church of Light was located or independent cities like the Central Spiritual Arts Academy, direct management from the royal family was almost non-existent.
However, for the enfeoffed city-states, even if the royal family intended to manage them, the local regimes that dominated those regions would never willingly surrender their power. Therefore, in most cities, the House of Leon had established an intelligence agency directly under its command called the Shadow Court.
The Shadow Court had its own special methods for sharing intelligence, which it used to monitor every move within the major city-states. As long as no major issues like rebellion or collusion with the enemy occurred, they mostly turned a blind eye.
But this excessive indulgence also made the provincial lords, who were already difficult to manage, even more arrogant and self-important, often clashing openly or secretly with the Royal Capital.
Naturally, there was a branch of the Shadow Court at the Spiritual Arts Academy. Although few in number, they didn’t miss a beat when it came to gathering and categorizing intelligence.
In fact, the Shadow Court here likely held the most abundant intelligence resources. After all, most students capable of entering the Central Spiritual Arts Academy came from prominent backgrounds, and the information they possessed far exceeded that of ordinary people.
As a direct member of the House of Mars, Po Kong had dealt with the Shadow Court years ago and had a certain understanding of how they operated.
Normally, as long as it didn’t involve highly classified information, the Shadow Court was quite willing to do the War God family a favor.
Perhaps in their intelligence records, they could find traces left by the mysteriously missing elves.
Coincidentally, the Fourth Prince, Ivan, who had come to enroll, also bore some responsibility for managing the local Shadow Court. When Po Kong went to seek help, he happened to run right into him.
Although Ivan grumbled about his reluctance, he still genuinely helped Po Kong and Xia Duo by using his authority to begin the intelligence gathering process.
After a period of in-depth investigation, they did indeed capture some useful clues from the reports sent back by the various branches of the Shadow Court.
And these clues all seemed to point toward a common target—the Crimson City-State that Ivan had just mentioned.
If it were anywhere else, it would be fine, but once the matter involved the Crimson City-State, things became a bit complicated.
Because the Crimson City-State was located in the central region of the human kingdom, it could be said to be the most important transportation hub connecting the east and west of the continent. Not only did its permanent population rank first in the kingdom, but its floating population was also a staggering number.
Thanks to its location in the heartland, convenient transportation, distance from the war front, and flat terrain, the Crimson City-State had become the most prosperous and wealthy city on the continent.
The House of Red, which had long ruled the Crimson City-State, had consequently risen to become one of the most powerful and influential families on the continent.
Because of this, the members of the House of Red often didn’t even give the royal family face, even in a completely neutral place like the academy.
Less than a month into the school year, Ivan had already deeply felt the exclusion and targeting from the House of Red. Those children of the elite from the Crimson City-State always tried to get the upper hand over him in various ways, whether intentionally or not.
In an academy far from the jurisdiction of the Royal Capital, his status as the Fourth Prince was essentially just for show.
After all, he was only in his teens and held no real power. While the people from the Crimson City-State were equally young, they were incredibly wealthy!
Furthermore, in the urban areas surrounding the Central Spiritual Arts Academy, more than half belonged to nobles and merchants from the Crimson City-State. In terms of influence alone, they were far more powerful than a young prince.
This was why Ivan was so excited upon learning that Starlight had taught those guys a lesson.
Just thinking about those arrogant people who usually looked down on everyone else suffering a setback made Ivan feel much better. Combined with hearing about Starlight’s terrifying performance during the entrance exam, he even felt an impulse to call him "Big Brother."
“Could it be... that their looking for Moen wasn’t just a simple coincidence?” Starlight muttered to himself thoughtfully after hearing Xia Duo’s explanation.
“It’s very likely! From your description, that group is definitely not up to any good! That’s why I’ve always hated you human nobles... Ah! I’m not talking about you guys. Po Kong and Ivan, you two are relatively normal...”
Xia Duo nodded as she spoke, a trace of disgust appearing on her face. But she quickly realized that Po Kong and Ivan were also nobles, so she hurriedly corrected herself.
Starlight now had a general understanding of the situation. All the final intelligence regarding those elves ended in the Crimson City-State.
In that case, they would have to personally make a trip to the Crimson City-State. Fortunately, they were mostly done with their affairs at the academy.
Starlight also knew he couldn’t stay immersed in the comfortable life of the academy forever; after all, his goal was still far out of reach. If he wanted to further increase his strength, he could only place his hopes on the journey ahead.
Moreover, since the definite information obtained from the Shadow Court wasn’t much, continuing the discussion didn’t have much practical meaning, so they soon ended the topic.
“Alright, it’s getting late. Let’s eat first, shall we? Honestly, this is my first time eating something Little Shadow made. I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time! How about it... Ivan, do you want to stay and eat with us?”
Po Kong clapped his hands and jumped up from the sofa, giving a long stretch.
“I’ll pass... I plan to go back and double-check on Mr. Starlight’s ideas to see if I can help you find more useful news. I won’t disturb you any further.”
After saying goodbye to the four of them, Ivan hurried out into the night and soon disappeared from their sight.
...
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