Chapter 17 Storms Rise
In the city on the lake, a sleepless night.
The huge corpse was dragged away by a large army (?) coming from the direction of the capital. Beichen and Lingdel, who fought against the giant beast, were also interrogated until dawn and were released from the Knights' headquarters in the city.
“Ahhhh—”
On the walkway leading to the exit, Ringdir rubbed his eyes angrily.
"My beauty sleep! ...Aren't you sleepy, Yaxiu?"
"Yeah, not bad."
Because there were too many things to consider, although Beichen was physically tired, his brain was still in an excited state.
"But... what exactly is that thing? Its blood is golden, right? Even the Star Spirit Cannon is... It can't be a possessed Moon Envoy, right? I've never seen a monster like this before."
As Ringdir said this, he pulled up a tuft of his hair with a serious look on his face.
"Yes, and it can also incite war weapons..."
"Well, our weapons seem to be holding up well. Did you hear what the knights said just now? Many people in the city were attacked by weapons they had contracted with—this is truly a serious matter."
Ringdel said, then paused.
"By the way, did you hear about the solution to the Moon Poisoning Disease a while ago?"
"Ah... the solution to the Moon Poison Syndrome, isn't it already public knowledge now?"
"Yeah, I know, but before that, someone was planning to make a lot of money from it... I think it was some new religion."
"Uh, well...it seems so."
When mentioning the Jafa Divine Group, Beichen's tone began to falter.
"So," Lingdiel folded his hands behind his head as he walked, "big things have been happening one after another lately. It seems like the time is really coming."
"The time is coming?"
"You must know the rumors about the Red Moon Priestess, right?"
“Uh, well…”
"Over a month ago, someone claiming to be the Crimson Moon Priestess appeared in Latia... Then, a dozen days ago, I heard rumors of a Crimson Moon Priestess appearing in the Principality of Arcadia... What the hell is going on?"
Beichen twitched his lips guiltily.
"But the timing is about right... Could it be that the prophecy is really going to happen?"
Ling Dier murmured, and Beichen smiled bitterly with a complicated expression.
"Forget it! Don't think about it anymore! Anyway, I got a great bargain!" Ling Dier said as he took out the engraved spirit crystal from his pocket that represented passing the second round of qualifiers. Seeing this, Beichen's depressed mood improved a little.
"Yeah, I didn't expect that the Knight Commander was actually one of the judges, and he was quite reasonable. He actually gave us the Engraving Spirit Crystal just because we defeated the monster. Now we don't have to worry about running out of Spirit Crystals in the Ice Field."
"Anyway, the preliminaries are meant to select warriors with outstanding strength and intelligence. We can defeat that big guy, so we are strong enough to enter the official competition."
Lingdir laughed confidently, then suddenly looked ahead.
"Ah, the warriors are out too."
"Really—Xiang Ying, Hei Huo, Su Jie!"
Beichen happily ran towards several warriors coming from the aisle in the other direction.
"Have you finished the inspection?"
"The inspection is complete, everything is normal, Master."
"Tsk, they said we were fine, but they kept saying they were afraid we'd go berserk and attack humans..."
"Yeah, you underestimated us. We fought that thing at close range without any instigation!"
As soon as the three warriors saw Beichen, they came forward, while Xuanming and Aaron beside them walked towards Lingdir who was behind Beichen.
After a while of greetings, Ling Dier suddenly walked up to Beichen and patted her shoulder.
"The next time we meet might be on the field. I won't let you down."
"Well, of course I don't either. Let's have a good fight."
"Oh! That's really straightforward!" Lingdier laughed happily. "Then we'll say goodbye here for now! See you later!"
She took a few steps back and waved to Beichen, then suddenly stopped as if she remembered something.
"By the way, let me give you some advice."
"Huh?"
"First, the remnants of that new religion I just mentioned seem to be secretly attacking contestants to steal the Engraved Spirit Crystals. Be careful when walking in the capital at night and try not to be alone."
“…!!… Yeah, I understand.”
"Secondly, be careful of the man wearing the ghost mask. He's a big shot from Youyu Country... and a big shot in the underground forces. Don't provoke him. If you see him, ignore everything and just run. Don't feel embarrassed. Anyone who clashes with such a person will regret it."
"Is that serious? What should I do if I run into him during a match?"
"If his temper is really as strange as the rumors say... he shouldn't be angry if I win the game, right?"
Lingdiel said this somewhat unsurely.
"Anyway, just pray that you don't run into him too soon!"
"Uh... okay, thank you for the reminder!"
Beichen gave her a sincere smile to express his gratitude, and Lingdier made a handsome farewell gesture to her.
"Well, Yaxiu, see you later?"
"See you later! Lingdiel... take care!"
Lingdier left with the weapons. Beichen turned and looked at his own weapons:
"Is Ling Shuang okay with her injury?"
"Senior Yaye has already brought him back to the inn. Master, let's go back to the inn too. Yagad should be back from gathering intelligence soon."
"good!"
When they returned to the hotel, Yagad and Yaye were already waiting for Beichen and the others in Xiangying's room.
Beichen closed the door and breathed a sigh of relief.
"Thank you both for your hard work. How is Ling Shuang?"
"The situation isn't good," Yaye muttered, frowning. "We've used a lot of Star Spirit Ore Solution, but the repair process is incredibly slow. He often falls asleep, but he's not in any danger of death."
“Is that so—”
Seeing Beichen showing a look of self-blame, Xiang Ying seemed to be hesitant to speak.
"Miss Beichen." Yagad interrupted her thoughts, "There are a few things I want to report as soon as possible."
“Ah, ah…! Okay, please go ahead.”
"First, we recovered part of the beast's carcass. The severed arm is currently in Lord Yaye's storage space. This specimen is extremely important, and I believe it would be beneficial for us to understand its origins as soon as possible. Therefore, I have requested temporary leave to proceed to the Night Cavalry headquarters in Latia to dissect and study the specimen.
--Also, I don't want to neglect the detoxification of the poison in Miss Beichen's body. I originally planned to send you to the capital before leaving, but now it seems that time does not permit it."
"ah……"
"I'm coming too," Yaye said, extending his hand. "First, my storage space is the only one among the weapons here that can hold the body fragments. Second, I'm worried about this guy doing research, so I need to supervise him."
"Hmm? Lord Yaye, do you also want to participate in the research? If you are willing to cooperate, that would be great. We don't have a complete set of anatomy for the Dark Seed—"
"Shut up! Who said they agreed to your autopsy?!"
Yaye gave Yagad a gloomy look of hatred, then turned to look at Beichen.
"The second thing is, because of what happened yesterday, the war machine might be in trouble."
"ah?"
"Weren't many war machines incited to go berserk and even attack their contractors? After the chaos subsided today, it seemed that the majority of humans were angry and upset. When I was out there trying to get information, I saw people beating and cursing at war machines in the street."
“…”
Beichen frowned silently.
If this happened once, it could be explained as an accident, but what if it happened multiple times...? If there were more than one of those monsters... what would become of the weapons?
"The third thing, Miss Beichen," Yagad said, lowering his voice, "...the warrior named Lingshuang did something strange on the battlefield yesterday."
"Huh? What?"
"Although it appears that he was hit by the golden Protoss cannon when he threw you away to protect you, from my perspective, your position, while seemingly dangerous, was actually right in a blind spot. Otherwise, I would never have sat idly by and watched the attack. His leap actually sent himself into danger, resulting in a serious injury. This action is a bit strange, and I thought it would be better for you to know."
“…”
Beichen was silent.
"So...I wasn't mistaken."
Xiang Ying also murmured softly.
"Hmph," Black Disaster snorted maliciously with a crooked smile, "Is this a self-torture tactic?"
"It seems that guy is willing to do anything to attract the little loach's attention."
Su Jie also had a bad expression on his face, and his voice was filled with heavy sarcasm.
"Alas," Beichen sighed softly, "Hei Huo, Su Jie, don't blame him. Even if it was a self-torture trick, he has the awareness to allow himself to be so badly injured. It is something worthy of admiration."
"Little loach," Black Disaster frowned, "You...are you moved?"
"It's so complicated, even I can't explain it clearly. ... Mostly, I blame myself for leaving him some wiggle room. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so disrespectful. Perhaps I shouldn't have given him that bracelet. But if I really hadn't done that, I'd have felt so heartless—and in the end, whether I gave him hope or not, it would have been incredibly cruel."
"Master...you...know everything?"
Xiang Ying asked softly, and Beichen nodded slightly.
"Well... I know the reason for his attitude towards me. I think I should have a good talk with him."
The room fell into a brief silence, and the concentration of anxiety in the air was so high that it was suffocating.
"Don't worry!" Beichen laughed, trying to ease the atmosphere. "I just want to open up to him and explain everything so that everyone can put their worries to rest. Actually, Hei Huo and Su Jie, don't be too nervous. If you put aside your prejudices, Ling Shuang is a good friend, isn't he? He's tried his best to suppress his temper and accommodate us along the way, which is quite remarkable. Of course, having said that... there is a certain bottom line that I won't easily relax."
"Owner……"
"Little loach, you...!?"
She was stunned when she saw the strange looks the warriors gave her, which contained a hint of subtle joy.
──Yeah, why did she add the last sentence?
Was she explaining something to them? Or was she promising them something? Why was she promising them these things?
A bad premonition suddenly arose in her heart, her face suddenly turned pale, and then she shook her head vigorously.
She has experience in love, although it was not for a long time, but she is not completely unaware of what it feels like - but what about now?
This assumption was too absurd and excessive, and she stopped herself from speculating.
"Anyway, I'm going to go next door to check on Ling Shuang. You guys just take care of yourselves and take a rest!"
She suddenly felt that it was unbearable for her to have such feelings, so she avoided those happy gazes, fled out of the house, closed the door, and then hit her head hard.
Things were a little strange since the night of the moonquake last night, and now it's even worse!
"What on earth am I doing—"
Surprisingly...at the same time...towards the shadow and the twins...
“Asshole!!”
She cursed herself again under her breath and interrupted her thoughts.
No, no.
This is so filthy. I must never even think about this kind of thing again. They are my most important, most reliable, and most lovable partners!
She took a deep breath, cleared away the distracting thoughts in her mind, and gently opened the door of Ling Shuang's room.
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