Chapter 301: Chapter 300 A Glimmer of Hope

Chapter 301 -300 A Glimmer of Hope

Shandela clearly remembered that when she left the room, all the doors and windows were closed, naturally including the wardrobe door. She had not forgotten that this place belonged to the rebels; hiding her identity as a former member of the Kingdom Army and memorizing the appearance of her dwelling were basic skills.

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Was someone hiding in the room?

No… impossible. She hadn’t noticed anything unusual the moment she entered, and even a grandmaster or hero-level warrior wouldn’t be able to avoid her sense of presence at such a close distance.

But the fact that the wardrobe wasn’t closed properly… It was highly likely that someone had sneaked into the room after she had left.

Damn it, could her identity have been exposed?

Shandela gently set down the wine bottle, unfastened the cloth wrapped around her long sword, and took the hilt in her hand. The effects of the alcohol faded in an instant, and her eyes became as sharp as a cheetah about to leap.

Approaching the wardrobe, she used the tip of her sword to flick open the doors, which revealed nothing inside. But Shandela’s keen senses caught a slight change: there was a hair in the depths of the wardrobe that wasn’t hers, and along the edge of the cabinet was an extremely faint fingerprint.

In that moment, her heart sank to the bottom.

Clearly, someone had searched through her room and had even intentionally attempted to restore it to its original state before leaving; yet the job was subpar, enough to fool an ordinary person but not a master warrior like herself.

So should she retreat now?

No… that wouldn’t be safe either.

As a former defense officer, Shandela had considerable experience. If there was suspicion about a target and no solid evidence was found after a search, eyes would certainly be assigned to watch, waiting for the moment the target slipped. Leaving her room now would only confirm the other party’s suspicions.

She had to wait.

Wait until the sun set, when the streets became crowded with strollers, and most tenants returned to their inns.

That was also the best moment to slip away unnoticed.

Shandela stood with her hands resting on the hilt of her sword, pulled over a chair, and sat down facing the door.

At this point, she somewhat came to terms with the situation. If the enemy showed up at her door, she would draw her sword and fight, taking down as many as she could! The skills she had learned in military school, she could return to the Kingdom Army in the end if need be. Under no circumstances did she intend to surrender to Duke Longjiu, the man who had killed and insulted her general.

If the enemy was only watching, she would find an opportunity to break out. She believed that a living master warrior was a far greater threat to the Longjiu Family than a dead one.

As time ticked by, the sun began to set slowly… And just as the clock was about to strike five, footsteps suddenly echoed in the corridor.

Shandela’s nerves instantly tensed!

She could tell that the person approaching was no ordinary individual; the footsteps were light and steady, slow yet rhythmic, clearly someone skilled, almost reaching the threshold of a master!

Had the time come?

Twilight hadn’t yet fallen; it wasn’t the optimal time to retreat. Had the enemy grown impatient?

But once the bow is drawn, there’s no turning back. Shandela didn’t hesitate for a second, her right hand already steadied on the hilt of her sword. She was confident she could slash the person’s neck the moment they opened the door!

However, unexpectedly, the sound of footsteps didn’t stop at the door. They continued on, leaving behind half an envelope beneath it.

Shandela was stunned, then came to a realization!

She dashed to the door and looked out, only to find the corridor empty.

Using a warrior nearly at the level of a master to deliver a message?

Shandela re-locked the door and hurriedly opened the envelope, only to find it contained nothing but a blank sheet of paper.

At the sight of the blank paper, she didn’t feel disappointed, instead, her heart started thumping excitedly!

This was clearly a way of transmitting a secret message!

The military academy had taught a course on how to write invisible letters with special ink and how to make revealing agents with readily available materials.

The materials were right there in the storeroom!

Shandela immediately gathered soap, mugwort leaves, a roll of incense, and the last few drops of liquor from a bottle, crushed and mixed them together, and then evenly poured the mixture over the blank paper.

Finally, she hung the paper in front of a window to let it be exposed to the sunlight…

When the orange glow of the sunset gradually covered the floor of the room, characters finally appeared on the paper. To Shandela’s delight, the characters were in a military cipher that could only be decoded by military academy students who had learned the relevant knowledge.

She dashed downstairs to the counter and reached out to the innkeeper, “Excuse me, could I borrow a dictionary?”

“Looking for more liquor? Ah… Miss, for someone so young you should really be moderate… Wait, a dictionary?” the innkeeper exclaimed in surprise.

“Yes, do you have one?”

“Well, I do but… what do you need it for?”

Shandela bowed respectfully, “I’d appreciate your assistance!”

“Alright, alright, no need for that. I’ll go look for it… Just wait here for a moment.”

Shortly afterwards, the innkeeper returned from his own room with a semi-new dictionary and handed it to her, “Here you go, but don’t dirty it. My child will still need this for school.”

“Thank you!” Embracing the dictionary, Shandela hurried back to her room and immediately started deciphering. To her surprise, she still clearly remembered the rules of the cipher, as if the officer’s instructions in the classroom were still ringing in her ears.

Indeed… She was among the best students of her class, an outstanding cadet who drew everyone’s attention, even the general’s daughter admired her for her skill in this field…

In less than half an hour, Shandela deciphered the true content hidden beneath the cipher.

“1 AM, eastern outskirts of the city, the sixth windmill, meet inside Mill Granary.”

After memorizing the text, she threw the cipher into the fireplace. Watching the paper quickly turn into ash, Shandela clenched her fists and took a deep breath!

As expected! The Kingdom Army was not so easily defeated! There were still people hidden underground, not yielding to Duke Longjiu’s brutal rule!

These people… were still resisting!

Of course, Shandela had also considered another possibility, that Wilson Longjiu, through a traitor, had come to possess the military cipher and was intentionally using it to lure her into a trap. However, this possibility seemed low, as she was not someone of great importance; the defense officer of Magnificent Castle was certainly not worth the attention of such a distinguished Duke to such an elaborate extent.

Secondly, a rendezvous at the windmills outside the city was not favorable for her enemies to capture her; the open fields could not be used to set an ambush to deceive a master warrior. If she sensed the presence of a crowd waiting on-site, she could simply escape before anything happened.

After an agonizing wait until evening arrived, Shandela silently left the inn and headed east. Upon reaching the farmhouses on the outskirts, she concealed her presence and hid behind a pile of hay stacks. From there, she could see a line of old windmills alongside the dirt road, the sixth from the west being the agreed-upon location.

After more than two hours, when nightfall had swallowed the countryside whole and the moonlight appeared intermittently through the clouds, she was fairly certain there was neither an ambush nearby nor any passersby; it was indeed a clandestine meeting spot. It wasn’t until the city chimed one o’clock in the morning that Shandela emerged from behind the haystacks, crossed the desolate dirt road, and swiftly approached the base of the windmill.

Even though steam technology had been widely adopted by large companies, it still remained a costly novelty out of reach for the common folk. Consequently, despite centuries passing by, windmills remained the farmer’s preferred method for grinding wheat. This windmill had survived many storms; its sails creaked with every turn, as if they could collapse at any moment. The granary below held the connecting rods and grinding stone, and the ground wheat was also stored inside, so most of the time, the granary door was locked.

But when Shandela softly pushed with her fingertips, the wooden door of the sixth windmill creaked open.