The Villain Saint is my secondary account

The package also included an unsigned letter, which simply demanded that Duke Tyrannosaurus order the withdrawal of his army from the eastern expedition to Loren within three days and end the war.

If they do not comply, three days later they will receive the heads of three noblemen in their possession, along with one of Windsor Tyron's legs.

The Duke of Tyron had only one daughter, Windsor, and no sons. His doting on his daughter was well-known in aristocratic circles.

Therefore, upon learning that the airship had crashed at the border, he immediately ordered the border troops to rush to the scene to search for it.

This explains why several war airships sailed directly to the mountainous area where the airship crashed that night, arriving at a speed that even exceeded Vatrian's expectations.

Even so, the hijackers' meticulous and swift actions meant that the rescue team ultimately only found the wreckage of an empty airship. They conducted a thorough search of the surrounding mountains and plains all night, dispatching their most professional hunters and rangers, but none of them were able to track down the elusive hijackers.

It's no wonder that Duke Tyran was so furious. His daughter was kidnapped right under his nose at his doorstep, and he was powerless to do anything about it.

Even so, once he calmed down, he knew that continuing to berate the three high-ranking officers in front of him was pointless. To find a way out of this impasse, he would probably have to find another method.

After yelling at the three officers to get out of his room, Duke Tyron sat back in his chair, looked at the table he had "cleaned up," and took a deep breath.

He closed his eyes, stretched his left hand out in front of his chest, spread his fingers, and silently recited a few obscure syllables.

It was as if azure water rippled from his fingertips, and from the ripples, a black, humanoid phantom slowly emerged.

Duke Tyranny slowly opened his eyes, barely managing to compose himself, and spoke softly to the figure reflected in the water.

"...Honorable Lord Adam, your humble apostle wishes to seek your help."

Chapter 100 Temporary Cooperation

In the vast mountains along the border of the principality, Ye Xiao was carrying Tania in one hand, hiding atop a snow-covered cliff, silently observing the masked men patrolling near a secluded cave below.

He followed the group that hijacked the airship passengers through the winding mountain roads all night before finally finding this mountain ridge.

This is a tall mountain surrounded by mountains in the center. According to the observation of the crow familiar that Ye Xiao released in the sky, there are several narrow mountain roads that look like they were carved out by man on the outer mountain surface.

They escorted the passengers through the cave at the front of the mountain, which seemed to be hollow, as there were several similar cave entrances around its walls, some high up on the hillside. If the mountain were a house, those entrances would be like large windows suspended high up.

"Damn it, what do you want from me to let me go?"

Meanwhile, Tanya, who had been dragged by Ye Xiao over mountains and valleys all night, looked quite tired and asked indignantly.

"Don't put it so harshly, I'm just trying to protect your safety."

Ye Xiao adjusted the field of view of the binoculars in his hand and replied in a low voice.

"Do you take me for a fool? If that's what you think, why didn't you just hand me over to the rescue army last night?!"

"I can only say that things are more complicated than you think,"

Ye Xiao said in a serious tone, "You might not believe it, but my real identity is actually a member of the Caesar Corporation."

"Nonsense, you dog of the witch Haviere!"

"I know you don't believe me, but this was all arranged by our 'Sage'."

Ye Xiao shrugged. "It's hard for me to prove it to you right now. Why don't we cooperate first to rescue Miss Windsor, and then we can continue to discuss this matter?"

"That sounds nice,"

Tanya gritted her teeth and raised her hands, which were bound together with hemp rope. "What can I do with you tied up like this?!"

"I'm just worried that you might lose your temper on the way and do something dangerous."

Ye Xiao put down the binoculars, pulled a short knife from his sleeve, and twirled it in his palm.

"In that case, I will first express my sincerity in cooperating and untie you. If you really want to rush down and get yourself killed, I will not stop you anymore. In the name of the Sage, I have already done more than enough for you."

After saying that, Ye Xiao swiftly cut the ropes binding Tanya's hands.

"what?"

Tanya looked at her freed hands with some surprise. This guy had tied her up the whole way, and he actually let go of her like that?

Ye Xiao sheathed his short sword, pointed with his thumb towards the cave below, and asked, "So, how about we cooperate?"

"Dream on! In the name of the Holy Light, you despicable heretic are not worthy to cooperate with me."

Tanya crossed her arms and gave a cold snort. "Since you helped me once, I'll give you a chance to disappear from my sight. But I warn you, don't follow me. I'll rescue Miss Windsor and the others myself!"

After saying that, the arrogant-looking girl turned and left.

Ye Xiao sighed helplessly and silently watched Tanya's departing figure.

The other person took two steps out, then suddenly tripped over a stone on the ground and fell down in the snowdrift with a "plop".

The air suddenly became still, and only the sound of the cold wind could be heard in the mountains.

The blonde girl lay face down in the snowdrift, motionless, seemingly lost in thought.

After a short while, she slowly got up from the ground, turned around, and walked back to Ye Xiao's side. With a few snowflakes still on her head, she arrogantly pointed at Ye Xiao and said, "Hmph, for Miss Windsor's sake, I will cooperate with you this time for now."

"...Maybe we should just forget about it."

Ye Xiao scratched his head, "He can't even walk steadily, isn't he just dragging me down?"

"What did you say!!?"

Tanya's face immediately flushed red, and the veins on her forehead bulged. "How dare you look down on me! Do you know who I am!?"

Then came a series of incomprehensible phrases, such as "the true Holy Maiden of Light" and "the holy light I wield is thousands of years old."

Ye Xiao ignored the guy's babbling and turned back to continue observing the cave.

"Hey!"

Tanya was ignored and angrily went up to tug at Ye Xiao's clothes, but was immediately hit on the head with a flick of his wrist.

"What are you doing?!"

Tanya clutched her head in pain, her eyes wide open like saucers.

"Shh-"

Ye Xiao put her index finger to her lips, then pointed to the distance, "Look over there, they're dragging something away."

"what?"

Tanya looked in the direction Ye Xiao was pointing and saw a cave at the foot of the mountain. A group of burly men dressed in fur coats were pulling cargo boxes on sleds into the cave with reins.

The crate was covered with a cloth, but the contents inside protruded from the cloth, presenting a large, cylindrical outline.

"Forehead……"

Tanya squinted and stared for a while. "What's that? A stone pillar?"

"Are you stupid? That's the barrel of a magic cannon."

Ye Xiao's lips twitched. "These robbers are well-equipped with regular military equipment."

"How can this be?"

Tanya snatched the binoculars from Ye Xiao's hand, held them up to her eyes, and said in disbelief, "Magic cannons are military weaponry, how could they have something like that??"

"That's a question for you. How did the weapons of the Duchy end up in the hands of these people?"

Ye Xiao raised an eyebrow. "You seem to have quite a few internal problems?"

"How could I possibly know about the messy affairs between these aristocratic politicians of this era?"

Tanya snorted, "But what's the use of a few magic cannons on a bunch of rabble? If the border legion comes, even with that dragon, they won't be able to stop them."

"That's what I find strange."

Ye Xiao paused for a moment, "Logically speaking, since they kidnapped so many high-ranking officials and nobles, shouldn't they have tried to escape to foreign countries by crossing mountains and valleys? Why are they holding out here?"

“There are patrol teams at the border. It’s not so easy for such a large group of people to get out.”

Tanya scoffed at Ye Xiao's doubts, "The news of the airship crash has probably already reached Lionheart City, and the border will be under tighter security. There's no chance of escape."

"What are these people trying to achieve by doing something so big?"

Ye Xiao stroked her chin. "Whether they achieve their goal or not, they'll ultimately have no chance of leaving this mountainous area alive, right?"

"How would I know what a bunch of stupid robbers are thinking? Kidnapping Duke Tyran's daughter within the territory of the Duchy is, in my opinion, no different from courting death."

Tanya waved her hand.

"Well……"

Ye Xiao remained noncommittal.

"Have you talked enough? Shouldn't we start thinking about how to rescue them?"

"Don't rush. Did you see that team that was transporting the magic cannon? We can sneak in from there."

Chapter 101 Mining Outpost

Two hours later.

Inside the snow mountain stronghold, in the hostage detention area.

Inside the rocky outcrop, in rows of iron cages, a group of nobles sat leaning against the wall, their faces ashen with grief.

The space inside this mountain is particularly vast, with a large spherical cavity in the center as the main body, which is connected to other smaller cavities through a complex network of three-dimensional roads until it leads to the cave outside the mountain.

The path inside the cave winds along the mountain wall, but it is very smooth and shows obvious signs of being carved by human hands.

Some of the mountain roads have abandoned tracks, which suggests that this may have once been a mine, but it was abandoned for some reason and became a stronghold for these robbers.

However, these "robbers" do not call themselves robbers, but rather "free people".

They believed that the parliament now established by the principality was an oppression of the lower classes, and that the lower house, which should have represented the lower classes, had long lost its spiritual significance and had become a lackey of the upper house, which represented the aristocratic class.

Therefore, taking advantage of the principality's defeat in the eastern expedition and the tense situation, these people rose up and organized themselves into a rebel army representing the lower classes, fighting to restore the "freedom" that the principality represented when it was first established.

All of the above was what Miss Mofeng was listening to the guards outside the iron railings bragging and joking around.

She is currently locked in a cage with Raymond, the red-haired fireball mage, Dashan, the gravity mage, Deborah, the Dark Shepherd, and Doma, looking utterly bored.

"I think we're really unlucky."

Miss Mofeng raised her hands, which were chained together, and said, "We were almost at their destination when this happened."

"Their props here are pretty advanced,"

The irritable Raymond grumbled and tugged at the iron collar around his neck, "This thing can even seal my magic! All my skills are disabled, it doesn't give me any chance at all."

"I heard this is a product of Loren,"

Miss Mofeng laughed, "It used to have a ring of needle holes around it, meant to be inserted into the neck. I heard that the newly appointed empress improved it, and it's not so itchy anymore."

"So I should thank her, right?"

Raymond couldn't understand how Mo Feng could still laugh at this moment. "Where did these robbers get Loren's props from?"

"clang"

A piercing sound rang out, and the gatekeeper banged on the railing a few times with his scimitar, shouting menacingly at Mo Feng and the others, "Quiet! Don't make a sound!"

"Tsk."

Raymond smirked, but remained silent.

However, after he fell silent, a sound like an argument came from the cave above him on the other side.

The arguing was actually quite far away, perhaps several caves away, and would be difficult for an ordinary person to hear clearly.

But Raymond is different. As a company spy, he has cultivated a very high level of perception.

So, out of curiosity, he pressed his ear against the wall, trying to capture the sound coming from afar by listening to the vibrations transmitted through the mountain.

"...What do you mean by 'can't get in touch'?! We've already done as he said. If we keep waiting, the Duchy's army will find us sooner or later!"

The voice was quite deep and rough, and although Raymond couldn't see the face, he could tell that it was the burly man who led the cavalry that had kidnapped them last night.

“I told you I would try to contact you again. No matter how anxious you are, it won’t help the current situation.”

The other young voice belonged to Vatrian. His tone was relatively steady, but you could tell from his speaking speed that he was actually quite anxious.

"How could I not be anxious?? We've been planning for so many years, all for this crucial moment, and now you're telling me we can't even contact 'Noah'?!"

Upon hearing this, the burly man found it even harder to control his emotions. "Isn't He a god? Shouldn't gods be omnipotent? Why would He disappear without a trace at a time like this..."

"Hey! Watch your words! You can't just casually mention an adult's name!"

Vatrian interrupted him, saying, "We can't afford the consequences if our subordinates hear this!"