Gareth's shadow guards were incredibly strong, but unfortunately, the ones attacking them were also elite experts from two powerful second-tier factions.
It was the first time Elara had heard anyone call the seemingly frail and scholarly Duke Yan of the Wenru faction a "vicious bandit."
What happened? Even the scholarly Duke Yan had become a fierce bandit?
Elara found it a bit amusing. While she was thinking this, the combined forces attacking Gareth were already close to breaking through the shadow guards' defense.
Seeing that Gareth was about to be forced off the high cliff, Elara and Uno exchanged a hand signal. They pulled out several "White Mist" secret pills from their medicine pouches and threw them into the thick of battle. As the white mist spread, the two of them instantly darted from their original positions.
This was their first real combat since their special training.
The difference was immense. It felt so much easier than before. Facing these ordinary experts, Elara now found it as easy as drinking water.
In less than ten seconds, those two teams of experts were forced back by Elara and Uno.
Uno grabbed the severely injured shadow guards, while Elara wrapped her arm around Gareth's waist. While the two teams were still confused in the white mist, they had already disappeared from the scene at high speed.
After confirming they had shaken off their pursuers, Elara and Uno found a hidden spot to set the others down, handing each of them an antidote pill.
"What happened to you all? Why was even your Duke Yan called a vicious bandit?"
Gareth, who had just been set down by Elara, looked slightly flushed. It was unclear whether it was from the intense battle earlier or because Elara had carried him while flying the whole way.
He coughed a few times and said, "It's a long story…"
Gareth's pale skin, tinged with a hint of red, looked especially striking.
When he heard Elara joking about those pursuers calling him a "vicious bandit," Gareth's expression also showed a bit of helplessness.
As the frail and often ill civil Duke Yan, it was also Gareth's first time being chased and insulted as a "vicious bandit."
"This is what happened…"
Gareth's warm voice was calm and unhurried, yet with just a few sentences, he explained the situation clearly.
"About half an hour ago, I saw that the time for our planned rendezvous wasn't far off, so I decided to explore the surroundings while making my way to the meeting point."
"Lucian and Prince Leland had a similar plan. The three of us met up about a quarter of an incense stick ago. We each had a bit of loot from the past couple of hours. Though it wasn't much, there were still some things, so we planned to head back together."
"But shortly after we started walking, we ran into people from Salvia Kingdom and Narcissus Kingdom."
Elara paused slightly and looked up at Gareth. "Those two vassal states of Jingshi Kingdom? So Jingshi brought along all three of its bootlicking puppet states too?"
Gareth nodded and smiled at her wording. "Yes, but it seems Jingshi only brought its close allies. Salvia and Narcissus split off as one group and didn't go with the others."
"When we first encountered Salvia and Narcissus, the commanding general from Salvia immediately turned around with two personal guards and left. The rest, along with the Narcissus people, didn't say a word and just launched a group attack on us."
"But they didn't really intend to beat us. After all, we had more people. They only wanted to stall for time so the Salvia general who left could bring reinforcements to encircle us."
"Once we figured out their intention, we didn't want to waste time either. With just those left from Salvia and Narcissus, they couldn't hold us off. But what we didn't expect was that Salvia and Narcissus had somehow gotten their hands on a 'Divine Vein Gift' that could track people."
"After we broke free from them, we were ambushed by Jingshi and its allies."
"Jingshi and those countries used the Divine Vein Gift to track our path and tried to use the traps in the area to surround and finish us. But they didn't expect that we were carrying the mechanism locks you gave us. Those traps couldn't hold us at all."
"Once the three of us escaped the traps and saw the surrounding forces of Jingshi and the others… well, Lucian and the more hot-tempered Prince Leland decided to fight back."
Elara raised her eyebrows slightly when she heard the words "fight back," looking at Gareth with a bit of amusement in her eyes. She liked strong teammates.
"So basically, Jingshi and the others tried to rob you, but you ended up robbing them instead?"
A bit of laughter sparkled in Gareth's deep red eyes as he nodded. "Yes."
It was his first time being a "bandit," and the job was even a case of "robbing the robbers."
This kind of feeling was very new to Gareth, who had been raised as a scholarly and refined gentleman, but it was surprisingly pleasant.
Especially when he saw the smug smiles on the faces of the people from Jingshi and the other kingdoms slowly twist into looks of pure rage and unwillingness, it did feel quite satisfying.
"This time, Jingshi must've gotten their information from somewhere. After Lucian and Prince Leland robbed them, we really did get quite a lot of things off of them, including many bamboo slips that recorded 'divine words,' and three pieces of 'Divine Vein Gifts' that were very useful."
Elara was very interested in the divine word bamboo slips, but seeing that Gareth and his shadow guards all had empty hands now, those heavy bamboo slips were likely lost during the fight earlier.
After finishing his explanation, Gareth didn't hide anything and directly pulled out three "Divine Vein Gifts" from inside his robe.
The first one was a thin rectangular stone slab about the size of an adult's palm. It looked like a smaller version of a brick.
"This is the Divine Vein Gift that Salvia and Narcissus Kingdoms found in this underground ruin, which can locate people."
Gareth held the stone slab up in front of Elara, tapped it lightly with his long finger, and the originally blank surface of the stone began to glow faintly.
The lines on the surface twisted and moved, slowly transforming into a map of the nearby underground area.
A bright dot flickered on the map. Gareth handed the stone slab to Elara, "Try touching it."
Elara placed her hand on it, and beside the original glowing dot, a second dot instantly appeared, close and flashing.
She raised an eyebrow slightly, "These two dots represent our current positions? This map tracker shows the location of whoever touches it?"
"Map tracker?" Gareth repeated the words, his gaze toward Elara becoming even more gentle. "Miss Bai is as sharp as ever. Just one touch and you figured out this 'disciple tracker's' use and function."
Elara didn't respond to Gareth's praise. To her, a modern person, a map tracker was far too familiar.
But in this ancient world, this thing didn't just show the layout of the nearby area, it could also display the target's location on the map in real time. That was already on par with a modern police department's tracking tool. It really could be called a very practical "divine item," especially when used for hunting someone down.
"Though the map tracker is useful, we just got our hands on it. Besides showing the map and locating people, we haven't had time to figure out the other restrictions or conditions for use."
After she finished looking at the "map tracker," Gareth took out the other two items.
One was a small, bright red stone about the size of a baby's fist.
"When this stone is thrown with force, it explodes into a yard-long burst of fire that can instantly melt a person or even rock."
The last item was a small slingshot shaped like a branch, looking like it was made for children.
"This slingshot is only the size of an adult's palm. It looks just like a toy made by children for play, but once the string is pulled back..."
In this era, there are no erasers or similar tools. The "bowstring" part of the slingshot is made from animal tendons.
Gareth pulled the bowstring of the little slingshot as a demonstration. His hands were large, and his fingers were long and slender. Holding a tiny slingshot that was just the size of his palm made it look like an adult playing with a child's toy, which was a bit amusing.
But Elara only glanced at his slightly awkward slingshot posture, and her eyes quickly focused on the bowstring pulled by his fingers.
When the bowstring was pulled back, it surprisingly gathered a strong invisible force. It felt a little like an air bullet.
Gareth didn't pull it too hard, but once the invisible force had condensed on the bowstring, he lightly released his fingers.
The invisible "air bullet" shot out instantly and drilled into the wall in front of them, carving out a deep hole several centimeters deep and as wide as a thumb in the solid stone wall.
Elara raised her brows again slightly.
It seemed Salvia Kingdom really did obtain some hidden information. In just over two hours, they managed to get three divine vein gifts, and each one had a powerful effect.
Unfortunately, they were all snatched away by Prince Yu and Prince Leland, becoming "gains" for their side instead.
"And then what happened?"
Elara asked happily.
If they had left safely after robbing Salvia and the others, she wouldn't have seen the earlier scene where Gareth was surrounded and called a "vicious bandit."
Still, for these three divine vein gifts, it was worth being chased. As long as they weren't seriously injured, it was fine.
Listening to Elara's follow-up, Gareth sighed softly.
"After we stole all the valuable things, Salvia and... hmm, their lackey countries couldn't swallow their anger. They spread the word about us carrying divine vein gifts. I don't know how, but they managed to get the message out quickly. The surrounding forces who were still searching nearby heard that we kill and steal treasures. They said we already had a lot of looted items, including those three divine vein gifts they had just found."
"With the lure of divine vein gifts, even if people thought it might be a rumor, the forces that had searched for a long time without any luck started chasing after us."
"His Highness and Prince Leland saw the situation and gave me the three divine vein gifts, telling me to leave first. They stayed behind with the heavy 'divine language' bamboo slips to attract the others and buy me some time."
"But the news from Salvia Kingdom drew too many people. Even with Prince Yu and Prince Leland's distraction, many forces still came after me."
"My shadow guards handled a few waves of them, but there were just too many. We were almost exhausted when you appeared."
Gareth's deep red eyes looked into Elara's with a smile. His voice lowered, "Your Majesty, I've been saved by you once again."
...
After learning what happened from Gareth, Elara had the System copy the map from the thin stone slab and marked the positions of Prince Yu and Prince Leland.
She gave Gareth some pills that could heal and restore internal energy, and told him to take the three divine vein gifts back to the surface first.
She and Uno would go support Prince Yu and Prince Leland.
"After leaving the underground, don't wait for us. Go straight to the royal city of Geranium Kingdom. Once inside, help me pick up two groups of people. Then take the forces of our three factions and leave first. Prince Yu, Prince Leland, and I will catch up as soon as we can."
Most of the forces attending the Hundred Kingdom Banquet were still underground. This was the best time for Gareth to leave with the items.
"Alright. Which two groups do you want me to pick up?"
Elara told Gareth the locations of Wenbin and Emory. Gareth nodded. He looked at Elara one last time before quickly leaving with the shadow guards, who had recovered after taking the pills.