"Grace, take these things with you. This is for... er, temporarily lending it to you!"

Louis pulled out a roll of bandages etched with mysterious symbols from his spatial pouch.

Moments later, realizing he took the wrong item, Louis quickly put the bandages back.

The little swan widened her eyes and said:

"How do you use these bandages, do you wrap them around your hands?"

I, the little swan, am a book enthusiast.

She had already started thinking about the 100 ways to use bandages as described in books.

Like wrapping here, tying up there, packing as gifts, or wrapping it around the body, and such maneuvers.

Uh-oh, just thinking about it feels quite lewd!

Olivia's limited thoughts in this area only came from some books she found by chance.

Alice was the same, already starting to giggle mockingly.

Louis calmly glanced at the two and said:

"Oh, so you two are quite knowledgeable?!"

Then the little swan proudly puffed out her chest and said, "I read about it in books."

Alice then showed a dangerous smile and said, "I haven't even gotten married yet."

The experienced mistress indeed was experienced, but admittedly had no practical experience.

Louis coughed, cleverly changed the subject:

"It's okay, I've never seen it either."

Then he rambled on about how "I bought this because it's scarce in the market," "Do you understand what's called value investment," and "Believe it or not, I can sell it at three times the price" kind of nonsense.

Which provoked a round of laughter from Olivia and Alice.

—Except for Grace.

Poor Grace never figured out why they were laughing so happily.

Fortunately, Louis also knew this wasn't a good place for a chat.

He pulled out a staff and a rather luxurious black and white intricately patterned cape from his spatial pouch.

And then put a white hat emitting a rich magical glow on her.

"A replica cape of the Church of Glory's Saintess, a replica staff, and a hat imbued with medium-level Divine Art."

"Let me make it clear, these items are temporarily lent to you. If they get damaged in the Fallen Shadow Nether Realm, I'll take the responsibility."

"If not damaged, you'll have to return them to me afterward."

"Grace, you must take good care of yourself; these things are expensive!"

Louis clutched his chest in pain.

"Little Swan, I've gone all out to keep you from having bad luck."

"If this equipment gets into any trouble while saving you, you'll pay with yourself!"

This set of equipment is indeed meant for value investment.

To put it precisely, it's Louis's first step in venturing into high-end luxury.

As everyone knows, if a brand wants to sell at a price far beyond its real worth, it has to know how to tell a story.

This Saintess set is a masterpiece designed by skilled artisans and craftsmen hired by Louis.

The intention, as he said, is to make a value investment.

But the investment isn't just purely for the brand, but also in people.

The Libra Saintess's exclusive nun outfit, courtesy of our Mayer Commerce Association.

This ad is more heart-stirring than the "stories" concocted by some shops.

But...

So expensive!

It pains his heart dearly.

Sending it as a gift is impossible, but granting Grace usage rights is feasible.

Taking it out now counts as the price to pay for saving the little swan.

His [Sin of Greed] is telling him this is definitely a qualified value investment.

"So, now, could you ladies please turn your heads a bit?"

"I'm going to change my armor, no peeking, alright?"

Louis knocked on his helmet and walked behind a twisted big tree.

...

Fallen Shadow Nether Realm was indeed very dangerous at first.

But with the arrival of that Black Sun in the sky, the most dangerous factors had been eradicated.

Only a few scattered newborn monsters wandered around.

From a fleeting glance, Louis had seen enough of these monsters' appearances.

The Fallen Shadow Nether Realm is a mirror reflection of the real world, but a twisted version of it.

The prestigious empire merchants, their shadows here turn into humanoid monsters wielding whips, fat-headed and large-eared.

They wield long whips, driving tiny hunched monsters dressed in human clothes.

These small monsters, in turn, would drive some dazed, muddled monsters to launch an attack on Louis and his crew.

—Unfortunately, they were too feeble.

Mostly monsters between LV1 to LV3.

So much so that Louis just needed two swords to deal with the fat-headed merchant.

But that wasn't the worst.

The first time he launched an attack, he didn't finish off the monster that formed from the shadow of the merchant, and soon other monsters it drove quickly devoured the merchant's corpse, evolving into a new merchant shadow.

Louis, sick of the sight, went on a massacre.

Playing the "capitalist" driving the "strikebreaker" enslaving the "wage slaves" act?

Now face the iron fist of your worker's grandpa!

After a round of slaughter, Louis found the situation changed.

The other wandering merchant shadows turned around and fled like they'd seen a ghost when they saw him.

Olivia chuckled softly:

"Don't find it strange; this is a special phenomenon of the Fallen Shadow Nether Realm."

"Every so often, it generates this twisted reflection based on the material plane."

"It's said that some of these reflections even possess the memories of people in reality."

"But most of them are purely monsters, so don't hesitate to kill them, it won't affect the people in the real world."

"Sometimes you can even see monsters from beyond the Star Continent here."

"Since the Fallen Shadow Nether Realm is merely a part of the shadow plane, and the shadow plane bridges the barriers between different worlds."

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