Chapter 162: The Forgotten Kingdom

The second group was over there tinkering with all sorts of movie props, acting just like online influencers filming short videos! Bach and Ron were holding Thompson submachine guns, striking various poses—it seemed mages had taken a liking to that sort of weapon... Meanwhile, the surrounding photographers were snapping away endlessly, and with the help of magic, the scenes came with built-in special effects.

Soon, Louis noticed the leader of this group: a very pretty and cute lady. Judging from her bright red eyes, she appeared to be a vampire.

Louis couldn't help taking a few extra glances, finding that this young person was not only deeply into the "goth style" but also exceptionally skilled at makeup. Anyone who passed through her hands looked like they had undergone a complete facial transformation.

Louis couldn't resist glancing at Helen next to him, only to realize that this particular girl was actually cuter than Helen!

She only had one small flaw—she liked to hold her fingers in the orchid hand mudra pose. It somewhat ruined her image.

Moreover, her own makeup was applied exceptionally heavily, looking rather like a ghost, which completely wasted such a pretty and cute little girl.

Before long, Louis's attention was drawn to the third group, who were drinking large quantities of alcohol and playing high-stakes card games. It was a chaotic mess, resembling a rowdy and smoke-filled tavern and casino.

The most prominent figure among them was a woman wearing a black witch's cheongsam and a tall pointed hat. Her silhouette from behind was extraordinarily graceful, featuring a classic wasp waist. However, her behavior was far from refined; she was standing right on top of a table while cheating at cards.

And her sleight of hand seemed to be utterly atrocious—being a witch, she actually got caught cheating by the adventurers who had gathered around to watch the lively card game.

Several Yordle musketeers slammed the table and refused to let the matter rest, whereupon the woman dropped to the ground and started rolling around, wailing to the heavens and screaming at the top of her lungs with heart-wrenching shrieks, much like an elderly woman staging a scam at a village entrance.

"They're bullying an old lady!~ Murder!~"

Louis blinked hard and took a closer look, realizing that this woman actually seemed to be an old hag. Her face was covered in large moles, her nose was exceptionally long and huge, and there was a cluster of big warts right on the tip of her nose!

Louis shuddered with a sudden chill.

The old witch's howling left several of the adventurers completely at a loss, looking rather dumbfounded.

Seeming annoyed by the old woman's noise, the vampire maiden who had been doing people's makeup nearby lost her temper, formed an orchid hand gesture, and began cursing furiously.

The moment she spoke, Louis's face turned pale—she appeared to be a crossdresser.

As she kept cursing, the crossdressing man spotted Sakura Ling, his eyes instantly lighting up, and he came running over with a handkerchief in hand, emitting a series of duck-like quacks.

"Oh my, Sister Sakura Ling! These past two months I've been so busy with business trips that I haven't paid my protection fee yet. Why didn't you rush to collect the bill? I've already prepared the financial reports, just waiting to buy cosmetics."

Sakura Ling smiled and exchanged pleasantries with this crossdressing gentleman.

Louis felt a chill run down his spine. He blankly looked toward Harold, who was walking toward them from not far away. Judging from the enthusiastic way Harold was conversing with Director Thrifty, Louis guessed it.

These must be his very own "Sleeping Dragon and Fledgling Phoenix."

Among the "vices of women, gambling, liquor, smoking, and greed," aside from Thrifty representing women, the rest were his four pillars.

Wait... gambling, liquor, smoking, greed.

Gambling—the old hag, smoking—the scriptwriter, greed—the crossdresser.

It seemed one person was missing.

Louis blankly turned his head to look at the drunkard sleeping in the muddy ditch by the street.

"Sir, allow me to solemnly introduce you to someone." At some point, Harold had walked over. Seeing the male vampire aristocrat chatting with Sakura Ling nearby, Harold said solemnly: "This is Mr. Edward."

"How hateful, I'm not even a few years older than you, call me little sister." The cute gothic youth pouting his little lips, delicately extending an orchid finger, and tapping Harold with a handkerchief.

Goosebumps erupted all over Louis's body, and he had the strong urge to slap the person to death.

Perhaps due to slightly over-exuberant movements, a layer of powder fell off Mr. Edward's face. He hurriedly produced a small mirror and began touching up his makeup.

Noticing Louis staring with his mouth open, the cute Mr. Edward even responded with a flirtatious wink.

"No. He is not Edward." Louis took a serious step back, putting some distance between himself and Mr. Edward, and looked solemnly at Harold: "You've got the wrong person."

"No, no, no, sir." Harold hurriedly tried to explain.

"No, Harold." Louis raised a single finger and said, "You are mistaken—do not mention Edward from now on. Doing so shows disrespect to Mr. Edward, and disrespect to this lady as well—they merely share the same name and surname. And this young lady is not your Mr. Edward; she is your younger sister Edward."

[Sister Edward's favorability +MAX]

[This handsome young man is not only good-looking, but his words are also so sweet. He will be my boss from now on. Oh my, oh my, he's checking me out again. How shy~~]

Louis blankly looked at Edward, noticing that the latter was simultaneously acting shy, shooting seductive winks in his direction, and arching his back to adjust his skirt—the front of his skirt had suddenly popped up.

"......"

Seeing the delicate and cute man wearing a gothic dress, Helen's eyes revealed an expression of extreme vigilance as she tightly hugged Louis's arm.

'Big sister! Please don't join in on this mess!'

Louis, who had originally intended to have a chat with everyone, completely lost any desire for casual conversation after this bizarre encounter—and the exact moment Mr. Edward insisted on dragging Louis over to discuss the Book of Songs, Louis immediately changed the subject and went elsewhere with Harold.

"With you here, I can rest easy about this place," Louis said. "I might be going on a business trip in a couple of days—I'll bring back some books for you."

"I heard about it. It's 'Silent Port,' am I right?" Harold's eyes grew somewhat solemn.

If it were a matter of fighting a boss, he wouldn't worry about his boss in the slightest. But Silent Port was far too bizarre. It was a mysterious event in the truest sense of the word.

"More than a dozen years," Harold sighed. "The 'Kingdom of Rainbow' has vanished into the mists for over a decade..."

Amidst Louis's inquiries, Harold recounted the story of "Silent Port."

Back in the day, members of the Mages' Association had indeed visited that place.

That was an era of great turbulence, yet also the most prosperous era for the Mages' Association.

The Kingdom of Rainbow was a small country, so small that it consisted of only a single city, or rather, a single port. Its total population barely exceeded a hundred thousand.

Yet this nation was renowned far and wide because it symbolized the ocean and freedom, serving as one of the most crucial transit hubs of the Age of Discovery.

Consequently, people preferred to call it "Rainbow Port."

Over a dozen years ago, those waters were suddenly and gradually enveloped by a bizarre, thick fog.

At first, things were fine, and occasionally people managed to escape from there. But gradually, that country seemed to cease existing altogether. Many people even began to forget it over time, to the extent that even the most erudite wizards and most experienced navigators had nearly forgotten that place.

"But 'Hob' still remembers it. Because that is his hometown," Harold said.

Hob was an idealistic mage who hailed from the Kingdom of Rainbow, and his name meant "hope" in the Common Tongue.

Carrying the hope of his country, he had come to the Kingdom of Solrendo to study, holding the ideal of bringing magic and knowledge back to his homeland.

Having spent two decades wandering abroad, he had traveled across almost the entire world, yet this mage, wholly devoted to academics, was not particularly famous.

"At that time, a group of ragged people suddenly appeared, claiming to be the diplomatic envoys of the Kingdom of Rainbow, and came to the Kingdom of Solrendo seeking aid—the Kingdom of Rainbow was such a strange name that no one remembered it. Solrendo's Ministry of Foreign Affairs searched through numerous archives yet failed to find any historical records concerning the Kingdom of Rainbow."

"For a time, everyone treated these people as swindlers—they looked far too much like down-and-out pirates and beggars."

"Only Hob suddenly recalled this place—'Rainbow Port, what a beautiful name.' Hob suddenly remembered that this was his hometown, remembered that his mother was waiting for him at home, and remembered that he hadn't returned home in over twenty years, having almost forgotten his birthplace entirely."