"How do you know we can't handle it if we don't try?" A dark gleam flashed in Roman's eyes. "Rosie, this is our chance to prove ourselves to Miss."

  "If we can drive off a light magic user and save Count Wesley, Miss will never treat us like kids again. We'll be able to handle important tasks like Troy does!"

  Still just a kid at heart, Roman got hot-headed when excited and made an impulsive decision.

  Rosie was two years older than Roman and psychologically more mature. "What if we can't beat him? Then we'll both get captured, and Troy will have to come rescue us."

  "That won't happen," Roman shook his head. "Miss said when facing enemies, use your brain. We won't fight him head-on. We can ambush him."

  Rosie hesitated. "How?"

  "I'll seduce him, and you stab him from behind. Use your best move. How about it?" Roman said temptingly. "Don't you hate the Church most? Let's kill him together and get revenge for you!"

  Rosie couldn't resist. Her heart stirred. "Fine, let's do it your way!"

  Roman: "Good! Let's hurry and find the wine cellar entrance. As soon as we're in, we'll change clothes."

  Rosie: "Did you bring that headscarf from before? Cover your hair—you'll look more like a girl."

  "Don't worry, I always carry it!"

  After reaching agreement, they immediately sprang into action. After some searching, they actually found the hidden door to the underground wine cellar and slipped in while no one was looking.

  Behind the hidden door was a stone stairway sloping downward. Below the stairs was a cold wine cellar with wooden racks and wine barrels lining the walls.

  The two tiptoed down without making a sound.

  After entering the wine cellar, they hid behind a barrel near the stairs and observed for a while. Strangely, this space was much smaller than they'd estimated. Count Wesley wasn't here, and that light magic user was nowhere to be seen either.

  "Over there," Roman pointed at the wooden rack across from them and told Rosie in a whisper, "I can feel it. There are light element fluctuations behind that rack. There must be a passage there."

  Someone with pure light element affinity had terrifyingly strong perception of their affinity element. Although Roman hadn't studied light magic yet, the light elements floating in the air were mutually attracted to him and guiding his direction.

  After hearing Roman's words, Rosie immediately took off her outer skirt. "Here, put this on quick so we can go in."

  Though Roman was a boy, he was young and his secondary sex characteristics weren't obvious yet. Dressed as a girl, he looked completely natural. Plus, with his lovable angel face, people who saw him would unconsciously let their guard down.

  Though Rosie was a girl, her eyes were shadowed, her voice hoarse, and her features rather striking. At such a young age she already had a "womanly" quality. She couldn't fake Roman's pure innocence and instead made people raise their guard.

  So the two were used to reversing their outward appearances to confuse enemies.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Roman dressed as an innocent, cute little girl, then swung his sword at people's necks and limbs with bloody, violent strikes. Rosie acted and looked like a tough guy, but specialized in stabbing men's vital parts with ruthless, merciless precision.

  Now, the two wore armor vests underneath and swapped their outer shirts and skirts. They really did look like a pair of half-siblings.

  The little girl in the embroidered headscarf had rosy lips, white teeth, and misty eyes like water—clearly a soft, obedient little sister.

  The black-haired little boy with his hair tied back had gloomy eyes and a downturned mouth—clearly a violent, nasty brat.

  In less than ten seconds, they'd finished their disguises and exchanged approving glances.

  "Not bad. You look very easy to bully."

  "Thanks. You look pretty sinister too."

  The two walked toward the rack across from them, spent five seconds finding the mechanism, opened the hidden passage, and tiptoed inside.

  In the deep, dark passage, broken arrows were scattered on the ground. Boulders blocking the way had been chopped into pieces and stuffed into pits bristling with sharp blades.

  This place had originally been set up with multiple checkpoints and traps, but because someone had already triggered them, Roman and Rosie traveled smoothly the whole way.

  The two ran to the end of the passage, wondering why there was no path ahead, when their feet slipped and they nearly tumbled off a cliff to be smashed to pieces.

  Fortunately, both still held their swords. As they rolled down, they reacted quickly, jabbing their sword tips into crevices in the stone and using the leverage to climb back up.

  Standing at the cliff's edge, they finally saw a faint light flickering at the bottom of the cliff. To their right, slippery spiral stone stairs had been carved down nearly a hundred meters into the depths.

  "You dare?" Roman asked.

  Rosie: "Are you asking yourself?"

  She stepped onto the stone stairs. Seeing this, Roman followed.

  The two felt their way along the cliff face, moving quickly in silence, competing to see who was braver. If the stairs hadn't been too narrow to walk side by side, they probably would have fought over who got to be first.

  After reaching the bottom of the cliff, Roman sensed light elements in the air ten times denser than before. The lively light elements drilled into his body, wrapping around him like transparent spider silk, pulling him toward the stone door in the wall.

  The stone door that should have been tightly shut had been pried open a crack. Brilliant white light poured out from behind the door, illuminating this dark world.

  Roman took a deep breath, stood on his tiptoes, and walked toward the stone door.

  Rosie tugged his headscarf from behind, signaling him to be careful.

  Roman nodded and carefully edged to the door. Looking through the half-person-wide gap at what lay beyond, his heart sank at the scene before his eyes.

  In the huge secret chamber, only a circular altar had been built. On the altar, a golden broadsword floated above a silver table.

  Count Wesley lay at the base of the altar, his life or death unknown. That light magic user stood with his back to them, in front of the silver table, trying to take down the golden broadsword.

  Rosie poked Roman's back and traced words on it.

  [What's the situation inside?]

  Roman turned around with a grave expression, wanting to tell her they were too late—Count Wesley might already be dead.

  But before he could speak, the person inside suddenly turned and shot a light arrow toward the door.

  Roman's pupils contracted. No time to explain—he shoved Rosie backward, let out a high-pitched scream, dodged the light arrow, and tumbled through the door gap, falling to the ground with a thud.

  The tall man in white robes flashed before him, his five fingers forming claws, a terrifyingly powerful light sphere condensing in his palm. Cold, arrogant eyes looked down at him. "Who are you?"

  Roman trembled as he lifted his head. His misty eyes brimmed with tears, looking utterly terrified, yet he still clenched his fists and bravely shouted at the man, "I—I should be asking who you are! Why are you in my family's vault? What did you do to my father!"

  "You're that guy's daughter?" the man asked. Vaguely, he remembered hearing people from the Mansfield family complain that Count Wesley did indeed have a stupid daughter.

  He stared at Roman, his eyes narrowing. The light sphere in his hand instantly dispersed, then in the blink of an eye condensed into a light sword. The blade pressed against Roman's throat.

  "Since you're his daughter, you should be able to take down the Blade of Judgment, right?"

  "Go. Take it down for me, and I'll spare your life."

  ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

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