Chapter 81: Capturing Kares, a Heart Without Mercy and Contempt...
"?"
A look of worry slowly crept onto Navia's face. She muttered to herself, "Does this mean... I've never had a father...?"
Kares withdrew his hand from stroking his daughter's blonde hair in front of the orphans. He never deliberately flaunted his wealth in front of the poor. Instead, he preferred to sit barefoot with them on a boat at sea, chatting about the catch, the principles of justice, or simply complaining about Fontainebleau's unpredictable weather amidst the sea breeze and the smell of fish.
"Mr. En."
An upright man! He's willing to talk to any young person about these things, even if that young person has the claws of a tiger, the eyes of a leopard, and the ears of a lynx. He's willing to spend some time probing whether Mainkun's ill-fitting, tattered trench coat hides any distress signals.
“You haven’t met Navia since you parted ways last time. Navia is very worried about your situation and has repeatedly begged me to find someone to help you.”
Carles pondered, looking at the boy who was so different from the description of his daughter:
"Would you like to tell us what has happened these past few days? Ah, don't worry, the Rose Society is a free, grassroots mutual aid organization that won't harm your money or your freedom."
“.
The boy, whose face was hidden by a scarf, had blank, empty eyes, as if he wasn't listening to him at all.
"..."
Even if it wasn't as serious as Navia described, it still didn't look quite normal.
Seeing that he remained silent and seemed to have no intention of leaving, Carles had no choice but to lift up the stray cat that had just bumped into his arms—the stray cat that Mainkun had been meowing at earlier—and discuss the matter:
"Rosewood has some premium cat food nearing its expiration date. Perhaps you'd like to treat your pet to a nice meal?"
“.
The boy named En finally snapped out of his daze, tilting his expressionless face up to stare at Kares.
"What's wrong, Mr. En?"
Mature adults have always been more patient with troubled teenagers.
…Not a pet, but my newly recruited subordinate. No, that's not important…
Suddenly reaching out, Mainkun grabbed Carres's hand and slammed it against his face.
"!?!"
Sniff, sniff.
Amidst a surge of bewilderment, Mainkun sniffed Carres's palm.
The human hand is a magical organ, said to contain acupoints that are related to all organs in the body. Skilled Liyue doctors can tell where a patient is sick or what has started just by looking at their hands. However, Mainkun is not very knowledgeable and has not even mastered many of the Liyue proverbs, so he has never heard of this theory of diagnosing diseases by looking at hands.
He merely smelled the dense sweat glands on Carres's palms, and then, based on his animalistic instincts, concluded:
"It doesn't taste right."
"You're about to become seriously ill and panic."
...
Is this how it's pronounced? Or is it a case of severe blindness?
In short, it is the truth that Kares is indeed seriously ill, and if he does not receive treatment soon, he may not even live to see the day when Fontaine is flooded. However, the half-demon's reminder was not rewarded.
"Stay away from my dad!!"
Little Navia frantically pushed her father's hand away from Mainkun's face, and it took her a while to realize what the half-demon was talking about.
"You scared me to death. At first, I thought you were going to get interested in my dad's hands and try to harass him."
"?" Mainkuhn may never understand the XP of human office workers.
"It turns out it was just a common quack scam! Are you going to say next—'Buy this plaster and I'll guarantee your health and save you from death'?"
"?"
Mainkuhn was unaware that, because diagnosis by observation of hands required almost no external assistance other than extensive knowledge, Fontaine, which bordered Liyue, had long been plagued by similar traditional Chinese medicine scams, and Navia was already used to it.
"Well, you good-for-nothing brat! I'll have the Rose Society teach you a lesson!"
Navia rushed forward and used all her strength to pull on Mainkun's arm, but Mainkun did not budge, remaining as steady as a mountain.
"?" He hadn't figured out what was going on.
"...Dad! Help me!"
Kares: "...You need to work out, Navia. Go back and do a hundred more push-ups."
Also... I don't think he meant to harass me or try to scam me.
However, the child's behavior is indeed abnormal, so it would be best to take him to the Rose Clinic for further observation.
So he went to help his daughter, grabbing the half-demon's other arm:
"Young master, shall we go with the Rose Society?"
Heave-ho.
"?"
The tall, strong gang leader, the "godfather" of Grey River, was exerting all his strength in his hand—
Mainkuhn remained completely still.
"?" He still didn't understand the situation.
The half-demon looked at Navia's flushed face and Kares's wildly wide eyes, feeling utterly bewildered.
Where are you taking me? To have breakfast?
But they looked to be in good spirits, not like they were on an empty stomach.
Confused, they asked questions, since they weren't afraid of people anymore. So Mainkuen looked up and asked the father and daughter, whose veins were practically bulging on their foreheads.
"Haven't you eaten?"
Then he was carried to the Gray River by the two inexplicably enraged men.
"?"
*
"How can someone so thin have such great strength..."
"It's strange that she's so light and has normal muscle density."
Mainkuhn felt that the light green potion was making him strange.
The head felt light and airy, as if it could fly away if you filled it with helium. The body was also limp, and the mind was as relaxed as stewed fish paste, which even an infant could melt into...
So relaxing, I've never felt so relaxed in human form before...
Or perhaps I've unknowingly turned back into a cat? Otherwise, how could I feel so comfortable?
Mainkuhn couldn't tell the difference.
So he brazenly snatched the food bowl from the stray cat, grabbed a handful of cat food, stuffed it into his scarf, and bit it.
"Click...click..."
There are now more ways to eat without showing your mouth.
"Meow! Meow!" My food meow! My food meow!
"What are you doing! Why are you stealing the kitten's near-expired cat food! Spit it out!?"
"Crunch... This is my food, it shouldn't belong to it."
Amidst the pitiful meows of a cat, Mainkun chewed while expressionlessly correcting Navia.
He's right, the cat food from the Rosebush Cat Club is meant for gentlemen.
However, out of fear of losing control of the demonic power, Mainkun has not come to Gray River for a long time, and these cat foods have been left unused until they are about to expire.
Clearly, Navia, who knew nothing about the situation, could not understand the boy's behavior.
"I never imagined... you'd fallen so low as to have to fight with cats for food..."
After a moment of silent lamentation, she lovingly, compassionately, and sympathetically placed the largest portion of onion and cheese soup, lemon stewed chicken, coffee babalu, and nut bread in front of the half-demon.
"Eat!"
Mainkuhn leaned in and took a sniff:
"..."
Good heavens, it has all five poisonous creatures.
Humans always put the foods I can't eat or don't like into the pot, and end up making dishes that I don't like to eat.
"Why aren't you eating? Come on, don't be shy..."
Before Navia could say more, Mainkun turned his head away expressionlessly, revealing five sharp, pointed armor protruding from his hand—
"Hey! What are you doing? Dad's right here, you can't act like this..."
Click-click—
Mainkuhn scratched at the bowls and plates, creating cracks, and his airplane ears mimicked a cat burying its poop.
"...? I'm sorry! I'm sorry!"
Navia understood and was furious: "The food at the Rose Guild is not that bad! You are insulting our chefs!"
Meow~ Hungry~
The stray cat, whose cat food had been stolen by Mainkuen, pitifully jumped onto the table and peered out, trying to lick a mouthful of onion soup.
"yue!"
Mainkun looked innocently at the angry Navia, who was retching, scratching at the table, and burying her poop.
“Look.”
"What are you looking at! It's a cat! Are you? And you're nodding? Do you think I'm stupid?"
"Master, what's going on?"
Amidst the arguing of the teenagers, Miles could hardly believe his eyes:
"Isn't that boy supposed to have a mental illness? How come he's suddenly acting so normal?"
"You find it strange too."
"Master, you didn't see what he looked like at the beginning!"
Myles gave a wry smile: "I talked to him for a long time, the whole time, yes, the whole time! He kept his head down the whole time, and his replies were stuttering. He looked exactly like an over-frightened, abused child!"
"I dare say, even if the best psychologist in all of Fontaine were to treat him for ten years..."
Myles asserted, “He can’t communicate with people in a calm state of mind, let alone after only a few months… Sir, scars from childhood are the hardest to heal. It’s too strange, frighteningly strange. Sir, I’d rather believe he’s been replaced by someone else.”
"..."
Carles had to admit that the other party was right.
He couldn't help but feel a strong urge to investigate the boy in front of him.
"Either his psychiatrist is a genius, or he used some kind of external aid."
Looking at Mainkuhn's faded trench coat, he didn't think it was the first point, because psychotherapy was expensive and not something the poor could afford.
As for external things.
What external objects can make people relax the most?
Carles happened to be familiar with this.
"Mr. En."
He called out softly.
"?"
The half-demon turned around in response.
“I’ve heard that you have repeatedly tried to obtain information about White from the Rose Society, and even went so far as to threaten my deputy, Myles.”
"Um."
The boy admitted that there was no emotion on his face.
"Aren't you ashamed? You intimidated an innocent old man."
Kares stared intently into the other man's eyes, desperately searching for what he believed to be there.
"?"
Of course I felt ashamed and regretful. After all, Myles was such a good human being. He not only forgave me but also taught me with concern like an older brother!
wrong.
Mainkuhn reached out and touched his heart, somewhat surprised.
I feel nothing here.
There was no shame that made my heart clench, nor any suffocating regret.
There was only ease, endless ease, as if I wasn't the one who did the bad thing, and I felt no guilt at all.
“Mr. En, you weren’t like this before.”
Carles' brow furrowed more and more:
"I trust Navia and Myles' judgment of people. You are indeed a kind and sensitive child..."
turn out to be.
Putting the noise and distractions aside, Mainkuhn suddenly realized something.
This is the true purpose of the medicine.
The devil's potion makes people lose their ability to distinguish between good and evil, isolates them from the corrupt world, and makes them indulge in false dreams.
"Mr. En, do you know what you look a lot like right now...?"
Humans continued their incessant chatter in his ear, but Mainkuhn ignored it and pondered.
[This devilish potion perfectly matches my devilish plan.]
"A Les Addict! Mr. En!"
Cares' voice suddenly amplified, bursting forth with anger:
"Elementary Les addicts are all like you! First, they forget all their past sorrows, then they forget all shame, but those are all hallucinations caused by brain damage! Like White's sponge-like brain after his death! Mr. Hm!"
"...White."
Mainkun snapped out of his reverie, silently repeating his sworn brother's name, and was surprised to find that he still felt nothing:
“I remember now, you were the one who saved him from the guild hall.”
"Yes, I saved him."
The pitiful yet respectable deceased grabbed the boy's shoulders, his gaze, a mixture of sorrow and anger, meeting the boy's unfocused, vertical pupils, which were glazed over in thought:
“I don’t know what your relationship with White is, but I’m sorry, I saved him, but I couldn’t save him completely.”
“But you are different. You are still young and have opportunities. You haven’t been in contact with Les for very long.”
He stroked Mainkuen's head as if he were stroking Navia, but his eyes weren't on him.
"I swear in the name of the rose, I will not let you die at such a young age."
"..." Strange people, rushing to take responsibility for the deaths of others.
Kares was so close that Mainkun could smell the stench of disease and the bitterness of sorrow even with a slight sniff.
Although it's strange, he's definitely a good person.
Good people should live on.
Without hesitation, Mainkun suddenly reached out and his sharp armor clamped tightly around Carres's neck.
"Well!"
He was lifted off the ground, just like that.
"Master!" "Father!"
Taking in the massive amount of negative emotions, Mainkun expressionlessly reached out and gently smoothed the blond hair that was covering Kares's one eye.
"Be good, Father."
Mainkuhn wanted to say some cool villain lines, but lacking any real culture, he simply pointed at the few scattered figures in the Rose Society's territory and dryly recited:
"Be angry, be resentful."
"Because your father and your boss, your boss and your boss and your boss are going to be killed by me."
"..."
"You bastard!!!"
Fortunately, the results were good.
I remember there's a skilled quack doctor nearby; I doubt he'd mind being scared by me.
Awoo~
The big tiger is coming!
-----------------------
Author's note: Genshin Impact will be updating tomorrow, so I... won't be updating! (Runs away)
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