Chapter 104, Elheisen, the Minotaur...
"...Open your mouth? To show you?"
Bashuna repeated himself, bewildered and horrified. As a rational and independent adult, he neither understood nor comprehended why he would hear such an offensive request.
"That's so rude! Please don't do that..."
"Um?"
Mainkun glanced at him calmly, his pupils gleaming in the shadows.
"You won't comply?"
"..."
Horrible!
Pashuana shrank back in terror, tightening his arms around his son.
"Ugh..." Tinari bared his teeth at Mainkun: "Don't you dare bully your father!"
"Listen to me." The young Wang didn't care at all: "I'm in a hurry."
"..."
Bashuna gave a slightly embarrassed look.
I want to resist, I want to refuse... but how is that any different from a mantis trying to stop a chariot?
"Waaah..."
He reluctantly yet obediently lowered his ears and bent over, half-opening his mouth to show his oral cavity and teeth to the boy who was more than ten years younger than him.
"Tsk."
Mainkun wasn't satisfied. Bashina was tall, and his movements were awkward; his open mouth made it hard to see inside. He could only awkwardly stand on tiptoe and extend his claws—
"Hmm!"
Bashuna was forced to open his mouth wide, his jawbone forcibly pried open by an irresistible force, his fragile oral cavity gaping open. In extreme panic and despair, he heard a long sigh.
"Your son is good, and you are good too."
"...?"
No, what does that mean?
Bashu frantically racked his brains, unable to decide whether to beg for mercy or make a joke, when he saw the boy suddenly turn around without any mercy, take a long stride, and walk away, still smelling of the sea.
They're gone!?
"???"
Bashuna sprang to her feet and quickly covered her face, which had been pinched painfully by fingernails.
"it's over?"
The bones weren't broken, and not a single tooth was missing.
Wasn't he making me open my mouth so he could knock out all my teeth and then hang me in the church for public humiliation?
In the end, he just left two ambiguous comments and left?
"Father! How are you!"
The child nestled in his arms, and Bashuna immediately woke up, picking him up to check on him:
"Don't move! Child, tell me first, where did that person touch you just now..."
Little Tinari was turned over and over several times, and finally, he was shocked to discover a fact:
Unharmed.
There wasn't even a patch of green!
"What's this?"
Bashuna, feeling both relieved and confused, held her child and sighed:
"Look at the fierce look on his face when he pried my mouth open, I thought we'd never go home again..."
What a false alarm!
"That's strange, I bit him, but he didn't react at all."
Tinaari was also puzzled:
"He acted as if he really only wanted to see our teeth, why?"
"I don't know either. Maybe he wants to join the student-oriented school of thought and become a dentist..."
Bashuna shivered as he spoke.
If any colleague is lucky enough to be assigned this ancestor as a student... ugh! I hope he or she won't be demoted to a cadaver teacher!
"Anyway, anyway, let's go quickly."
Still shaken, he tucked his tail between his legs and tried to run away.
"Don't tell your mother about this, so she won't worry... Ah! Who's there!"
The figure in the corner startled him. Upon closer inspection, he recognized it as Apd, who had been trying to curry favor with the new king but had failed.
"It's you."
Bashuna breathed a sigh of relief, but then felt a surge of disappointment.
"Focus your energy on your studies, stop trying to curry favor with that person. Aren't you afraid of losing your head?"
He was muttering to himself when he saw Apd suddenly raise his head and look at him with a strange expression.
"The king's tastes are quite avant-garde..."
"That's true, they all have animal ears, so it's normal for them to have desires. Plus, they're good-looking..."
"What are you talking about?"
Bashuna inexplicably felt a chill, but didn't know where it came from, so he had no choice but to give up.
"Go quickly, son, I'm exhausted."
He was about to leave for the third time when a small green figure blocked his way.
"Wait a moment!"
Nasita looked at little Tina with a worried expression.
"Excuse me, did Wana Smarana Sapna do anything to you?"
"Who is this? King? That's a mouthful... Don't worry, Your Majesty, none of us are injured."
Bashuna answered on his behalf.
"That's great, I knew there must be some misunderstanding. He wouldn't harm a child... cough, don't worry, your past good deeds are protecting your safety, so you don't need to worry about the black claws harming you at all."
"Hahaha…"
Bashuna didn't understand the logic behind her statement, but still responded with a smile:
"Thank you for your comfort, Little Grass God... Sigh, I really hope he gives up his hobby of looking at other people's teeth, it's too scary..."
"Looking at other people's teeth?"
Nasita thoughtfully chased after the cat. No sooner had she left than Bashu sighed to Tinari:
"The deity seems to be a benevolent ruler who cares for the people's well-being. Why haven't we seen her appear before?"
"Maybe she's busy studying, just like me?"
Do even gods need to learn?
The father and son set off for the gates of the Order of the Church for the fourth time. Before they had gone a few steps, they were stopped by a boy with ash-gray hair and a messy ahoge (a type of hair sticking up) holding a pen and paper.
"You have just met with the Wrathful King."
El-Heinz glanced at them.
"And he was completely unharmed."
The Wrathful King?
Although it was the first time they had heard the title, the father and son naturally associated it with the half-demon.
"Wow, Dad, the news spreads so fast! We might not be able to keep it from Mom anymore!"
"This is just a reasonable inference based on the available information."
Without looking up, Al-Hysen deftly circled a certain entry on the page with his pen and added in a calm tone:
"The Red Sand King, fearing eternal punishment, the Beast-Eyed Mystery Lord, the Abyss King, whose lengthy title was debated by scholars of the Theory School over seventeen hours... It is more efficient to shorten it to 'King of Fiends'."
"Uh, it's so long, the King of Li is definitely better... Little classmate, so why are you stopping us?"
Al-Hysen did not answer immediately, but instead turned to a specific page in his notebook and read aloud in a flat tone:
“Sages, scholars, viziers, instructors, mercenaries, regardless of their position or status, were all seriously injured and near death; some were unconscious, while others were crippled.”
His gaze finally settled on Bashuna's chin.
"The finger marks on your face are consistent with the characteristics of physical contact."
"High-risk type, why are you still standing here?"
"this……"
Normally, Bashuna would be happy to answer the young man's questions, but he was exhausted and eager to go home, so he shifted the blame to his old friend's son:
"I wasn't the only one who escaped unscathed. That 'light of the Wise Theory' named Kavi was truly a valiant young man. He cursed the Lord of Wrath for several minutes without suffering any harm... Although he did pay the price for his impulsiveness, didn't he also prove his noble character to everyone in Sumeru? Young friend, you should go ask him..."
"He's definitely on my investigation list."
El-Hysen turned another page, and whether it was a misperception or not, Tinari finally heard a slight fluctuation in his calm voice.
"But I can't just search for a golden beetle in the vast desert, happily pushing earth somewhere."
"..."
Father, it wasn't a misperception, he seemed very unhappy.
“The Śāstra of the Śāstra school, the respected Mr. Pashinā.”
Al-Hysen had already seen through the fox-eared scholar's easygoing nature. He softened his tone, pulled out a chair for his tired father, and handed Tinari a rainforest guide.
"Please speak with me in detail, for the sake of my peaceful life."
"...Young student, shouldn't you be saying things like 'for Sumeru, for justice, for wisdom' at this time?"
Looking at Elhesen's expressionless face, Bashuna couldn't help but complain.
"Please tell me the physical characteristics of the King of Li."
"After all your investigations, you don't even know this? What's the difference between this and the Minglun School not bringing binoculars to class?"
"Obviously."
Al-Hysen turned a page, which was filled with various injury reports:
"There are still no injured people in the hospital who can speak."
"But... but you should have seen his face on the very first day he descended upon Sumeru! He made such a huge commotion! That kind of earth-shattering entrance, anyone would take a look, right?"
"I evacuated the moment the alarm went off in the void."
"Oh my God, lucky child."
Bashu was incredibly envious.
"Not many people managed to evacuate successfully back then. You must have been very close to the gates of the Order of the Fathers."
"No, I was having class on the second floor at the time. It wasn't high up, and there were bushes below, so I jumped out of the window to get out."
"..." They practically fled in panic.
Bashina politely remained silent, while Tinatri Jr. spoke bluntly:
"It's clearly a very embarrassing scene, so why can you talk about it so confidently?"
"Feeling ashamed? Useless concerns. In the face of a life-threatening situation, all formalistic feelings of shame are superfluous. Survival is the first priority."
As he spoke, he seemed to be thinking of something, and he twirled the pen in his hand in a half-circle, his brows furrowing slightly as he pondered.
"In the absence of effective defense capabilities and with no knowledge of the enemy's methods, acting solely on a surge of adrenaline and moral impulses is tantamount to suicide... No, I've said too much. Let's get back to the main point: the physical characteristics of the King of Wrath."
Tinari wagged its tail slowly beside them, its young face full of understanding:
"You're very dissatisfied with Kavi?"
"Please refrain from discussing irrelevant individuals and continue, Master Bashuna."
“Kavi is a good boy… Ah, he does seem quite unhappy. Tinari, don’t mention that either.”
*
Bashuna endured a period of suffering.
This young student named Elhesen was even more difficult to deal with than the most demanding dean; he had never been this nervous even during his graduation defense!
"Clothing material? Condition (new or old)? Distribution of folds?"
"Vertical pupil shape? Feline? Snake-like? Or other? Do they have eyelids? Blinking frequency? Hand features? Finger knuckle shape? Are there calluses or unusual scars?"
"What was the specific context of his final comment, 'Your son is good, and you are good too'? Where did he look? What was his tone of voice?"
"Ah... I'm not a forensic expert..."
The painful memories were relentlessly brought up again and again, and by the time Bashuna was finally able to take Tinari home, it was already completely dark.
"Mother!"
Tinari excitedly ran around the corner, wagging his tail as he rushed towards the door, eager for his mother's embrace, while the long-haired scholar longed for his wife's comfort.
"Honey…"
He could already hear the child banging on the door, and he couldn't help but quicken his pace.
"Touch my ears... Mmm!"
A swift shadow rushed out and quickly covered his mouth and nose in the darkness. A sweet taste rushed into his throat, and Bashu was powerless to resist. He could only desperately try to make out the pattern on the attacker's sleeve.
…Apud?
……Why?
His consciousness went haywire for a moment, and the last thing he heard was his family calling him.
"Dad, where did you go?"
"Big fox? Don't go out wandering around at night, come home now!"
"..."
Sometimes I really think what El-Hysen said makes a lot of sense.
I also want a peaceful life.
When he opened his eyes again, the long-haired scholar was lying on a soft bed, looking at the young man who was about to get into bed.
"no?"
He struggled for a moment and found himself completely bound, his scholar's robe gone, leaving him only in his undergarments.
Even a clay figure has some temper, and Bashun couldn't hold back any longer. He glared at Mainkuen and roared.
"Can't you wait until tomorrow to beat me up?!"
"..."
Mainkuen slowly retracted his knees, which had fallen to the edge of the bed, stood by the bed, and remained silent for a while with his ears drooping, as if analyzing the current situation.
After a while, he suddenly sprang up, spinning and jumping in the air, shaking his head wildly, and screaming silently.
[Aaaaaaahhhhhh!!]
There are cockroaches in my bed!!!
Kill me! Now!
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Author's note: How on earth did I manage to write such an absurd scene?
Hands have their own ideas
By the way
No update tomorrow!
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