He was not only moved by Triss's understanding and sacrifice, but also found it a bit amusing.
He reached out and gently stroked her red hair, laughing and joking, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere.
"Well... what about Keira? She is your good friend. She shouldn't be considered 'loose,' right?" Karl deliberately misinterpreted her words.
And indeed, when Triss heard this, her eyes widened instantly, and she looked at Karl with an expression of disbelief, as if someone had stepped on her tail.
Immediately, she became like a cat that had completely exploded, ignoring the pain all over her body, and her palms slapped against Karl's chest one after another.
Although the force was still soft, the anger in her words was real: "Absolutely not! Don't even think about it! That hoof!"
"The men she's seen under her skirt are not thirty, not twenty!"
"If you dare to mess with her, I don't care if I can beat you or not, I will definitely use the biggest fireball to stick your face! I mean what I say!"
Seeing her fiercely defensive, Karl couldn't help but laugh.
He raised his hand and pretended to surrender: "Just kidding, just kidding! How could I possibly go for her?"
"No matter how bad my taste is, I wouldn't go looking for... something that anyone can have." He deliberately emphasized the last two words.
"Pfft... Hahaha..." Triss was stunned for a moment and then amused by Karl's ruthless sarcasm.
Her brows were curved, and the little grievances disappeared in an instant.
Karl's words were simply a clear distinction between Keira and those women from the House of Night who were open to business.
...
The next day, to take Karl to receive the orphans he had been searching for, Triss got up early to prepare.
She took out two plain, inconspicuous gray cloaks and stood in front of the mirror, quietly reciting an incantation.
A faint magical light spilled before her, and her face began to blur under the effect of an illusion.
She was about to get used to the unfamiliar appearance that matched the status of a "humble aristocratic agent."
Karl waited on the balcony for almost half an hour, enjoying the morning light and feeling the warmth brought by the droplet of divine power in his body.
Seeing Triss moving so slowly, he couldn't help but go back into the bedroom.
Then he saw the cloak on the table and Triss, who was still "delicately creating" in front of the mirror.
Karl smiled helplessly and slowly walked over to Triss.
Triss saw him in the mirror, her hands still moving, and she smiled reassuringly: "Bear with me, Karl, it'll be done soon."
"You have to be more realistic, and you can't reveal any flaws."
Karl shrugged, reached out his palm, gently placed it on her smooth shoulder, and said: "Don't bother, let me do it."
Before she finished speaking, Triss was surprised to see that her face in the mirror, which was changing under the illusion, caused a slight ripple, like a water wave.
When the ripples subsided, a strange middle-aged woman appeared in the mirror.
There were faint crow's feet at the corners of her eyes, left by time, and her skin was no longer as firm.
But her features vaguely showed the beauty of the past, her temperament was graceful and luxurious, her chestnut hair was pinned up at the back of her head, and her figure was still well-maintained.
She belonged to that type of noble lady who looked above average and pampered.
Most importantly, she felt no trace of magical fluctuations.
At the same time, Karl's appearance was also influenced by his bio-field and returned to the blonde-haired, blue-eyed "Arn Vati" he had used during the dragon hunt.
Triss, with the sapphire accessory in her hand, looked up in surprise, turning to face Karl, her eyes full of disbelief.
"Huh? Karl, are you using... an illusion? No! Why is there no magical fluctuation at all?"
"Has your spellcasting level reached Hen's?"
She knew that only by mastering one's own magic at a very high level could one change one's form so subtly.
Karl shook his head and explained: "This isn't spellcasting, at least the way I'm changing my appearance now isn't the Chaos magic you know."
He paused, thinking that he might have to explain to more people in the future: "What this is... we'll all be together in a while, and I'll explain everything in detail then."
Triss raised her brows slightly, although she was curious, scratching like a cat's claws.
But she knew how to measure and knew that Karl had many secrets. So, since he said so, she obediently nodded and didn't ask further.
...
More than ten minutes later—the slums of Vizima, a slightly dark, damp, and trash-filled alley.
Four strong men, holding torches and casually tying wooden sticks and rusty daggers to their waists, guarded the entrance to the alley like pillars.
Their eyes were very alert, scanning the other poor wretches who occasionally passed by, chasing them away with severe looks and harsh words.
They drove away anyone who tried to stop or look into the alley, so that the transactions inside wouldn't be disturbed.
In the alley, Karl and Triss, having changed their appearances, stood in the center.
In front of them stood a man in a tattered hoodie, gaunt but with rather sharp eyes.
He nodded and bowed to the two of them, his posture extremely humble, and the man raised his head behind him.
His gaze involuntarily lingered on the "noble lady" after Triss's transformation, and an undeniable warmth and envy flickered in his eyes.
"She is an aristocrat after all. Even if she's old, this skin, this character..." he muttered to himself.
"I need to go to the Night House to find a good outlet to relax..."
His mind was active for a while, but he immediately realized that the identities of the two people before him were extraordinary, and he quickly looked away.
He didn't dare to look further; his face was full of fawning smiles, and beside him stood sixty or seventy children.
Most of them were ragged, with sallow skin, and their faces showed anxiety, curiosity, doubt, and deep confusion.
Their ages ranged from five or six to early teens.
Among them, you could even see a few children with pointed ears and obvious half-elf features, who shrank and hid behind the crowd.
The gaunt man rubbed his hands together, lowered his voice, and said obsequiously: "Hey, two noble lords, according to your requirements,"
"We have gone to great lengths to find a total of sixty-seven suitable homeless orphans."
"I swear by the gods, they all came with us voluntarily, and we never chased any of them!"
He pointed to the children and made another gesture to count the money.
"You also know that finding even a broken place for them to shelter from the wind and rain costs a lot of money. So, what do you think it's worth..."