Chapter 57 Duis City "Something's happened. Lucas and the others should... "
Catherine carried a warm roasted whole lamb and gently pushed open the door.
She peeked inside, intending to see how Tarasco was feeling before speaking, but to her surprise, he was sitting facing the door, staring straight at the entrance with a resentful expression.
Catherine peeked inside, her gaze meeting his directly. In an instant, the scene transformed into one of being caught red-handed.
Catherine paused for a moment, then coughed to cover her embarrassment and took out the whole roasted lamb that she had been hiding behind her back.
"Ta-da! Look what I brought you. It's still warm, it tastes even better when it's hot." She even fanned it with her other hand, and the aroma wafted over. "Doesn't it smell delicious?"
Seeing that Tarasco didn't respond, Catherine pursed her lips and took a few more steps toward him.
Just as he was about to say something more, he lost his footing and veered to the side. Tarasco's eyes widened instantly; he could no longer remain silent and swiftly reached out to pull Catherine into his arms.
"Oh no! The roasted lamb, the meat! The meat is falling off!"
Amid Catherine's screams, he frowned and reached out with his other hand, saving the whole roasted lamb from being smashed to the ground and turned into a pile of garbage.
Upon seeing this, a smile flashed in Catherine's eyes, but it immediately turned into a wronged expression the moment Tarasco turned his gaze towards her.
She raised her hand to him, her palm covered in red welts from the weight of the heavy object: "That plate of roast lamb was really heavy. I carried it up three or four flights of stairs to get it for you, and you still ignored me..."
As she spoke, her eyes drooped, making her look incredibly pitiful.
Tarasco's fingers trembled involuntarily, but he resigned himself to reaching out and taking Catherine's hand in his, clumsily kneading the red marks to make her feel a little better.
Catherine was about to speak when his action interrupted her.
She watched Tarasco's movements with curiosity: "Huh? Who taught you that?"
"Nobody's here..."
"How did you learn that? This should be something unique to the human species, right?"
Tarasco thought about it carefully and finally came to a conclusion: "What I saw."
On the night he arrived at the hotel, no one noticed that he had sneaked out in the darkness. In one of the rooms, there was a man and a woman, and the man was holding the woman's arm by candlelight.
Catherine chuckled and then opened her arms to Tarasco.
Tarasco looked at her, pursed his lips, hesitated for a few seconds, and then bent down to lift her onto his back armor.
Catherine was always quick to read the room. Seeing that Tarasco's attitude had softened, she rushed into his arms before even settling into her shell, hugging his waist and abdomen. Ignoring his momentary stiffness, Catherine rubbed her cheek against him, finding the most comfortable position.
"Why are you unhappy?" she asked softly.
The sound echoed against Tarasco's skin, seemingly vibrating in sync with his heartbeat.
Tarasco's brow twitched, and his hands instinctively reached out to stroke Catherine's back, but he didn't move in the end.
"I'm not unhappy," he said, though his voice sounded stiff.
"Liar!" Catherine concluded softly. "If you weren't unhappy, why did you ignore me just now?"
Unsurprisingly, she received no reply. Catherine yawned lazily, sleepiness creeping in, slowly numbing her brain like a frog being boiled in lukewarm water—the witch had told her this was a normal reaction; in the first few days after merging with the power, the body would always have some special reactions.
Just then, she heard a low mutter in her ear, like a hallucination she had when she was too sleepy.
"Hmm?" Catherine struggled to lift her head. "Did you say anything?"
Tarasco didn't say anything, but simply raised his hand and pressed her head back down, gently stroking it a couple of times.
Sleepiness quickly enveloped Catherine, and she drifted into a deep sleep. Tarasco gently rested his head on her head and murmured again, "Don't leave me..."
-
A ray of light shone on Catherine's face, warming her eyelids.
She opened her eyes with a frown, feeling a slight ache in her lower back, and belatedly realized that she had actually slept on Tarasco's back armor all night. She had been in a seated, embracing position the entire night; no wonder her whole body ached so much it felt like it was about to fall apart.
She looked at Tarasco with amusement: "Why don't you put me on the bed? You've been holding me like this all night, aren't you tired?"
Tarasco simply shook his head in silence.
Today is clearly a nice day, and the witch has decided to take them away today.
But how to leave the hotel is a problem.
When they arrived, the witch placed the two giant magical beasts into the spatial interlayer—but this method can only be used once every two weeks, and it's not time yet.
Catherine looked at Tarasco's enormous body beside her and asked the witch if she could transform him into a human, just as she had transformed into an alien spider.
The witch rolled her eyes rather inelegantly: "You were originally human, and later became a witch, so you can switch between the two forms. But he was born a monstrous spider."
The unspoken message is, of course, impossible.
"It seems we can only wait until nightfall, after everyone in the hotel is asleep, before we leave."
Xavier maintained a safe distance from Catherine throughout. After learning the departure time, he said nothing, flicked his tongue, and returned to his room. He figured even if he offered suggestions, these people wouldn't listen.
As night fell, all was quiet, as if everything had fallen asleep.
Catherine and her group emerged from the room, carrying light luggage, and began their journey towards the Vatican.
With the witch's vines and the fact that these four people were not ordinary humans and did not need to take time to rest, they arrived in Duis City in just over a day.
The witch looked at the city of Duis, shrouded in the early morning light. It was still early, and the residents were not yet awake; the entire city was asleep.
"I can't walk with you any further on this journey, little girl," the witch chuckled. "I have to go do what I want to do."
Upon hearing this, Catherine turned to look at her, but for a moment, she couldn't think of what to say.
She never says goodbye, neither in the past nor now.
"Hehehe~ Little girl, don't look at me like that."
The witch raised her hand and stroked Catherine's face without any hesitation.
In that instant, Catherine felt as if her face had been vigorously brushed with sandpaper, and a wave of heat quickly rose to her cheeks. She guessed... her face must have turned red from being touched.
"If we're lucky, we should see each other again."
After saying this, the witch turned into a wisp of smoke and disappeared into the morning mist.
"Hehe~ So what should we do now? Go and attack the Papacy directly?" Xavier's smug voice came from the side.
Although nothing could be discerned from his snake head, Catherine had a feeling that he should be raising his eyebrows and looking rather bored.
Tarasco turned and stared intently at him almost the instant he spoke, showing extreme wariness.
Xavier's serpentine eyes lazily swept over him, hissing as he flicked his tongue.
Seeing the tense atmosphere, as if it were about to ignite at any moment, Catherine took a few steps forward and stopped between them: "Let's find an inn to stay in first, and then take action after we find Lucas and the others."
Xavier's voice was full of doubt: "Us? To a hotel?"
“Of course not, I went in through the front door, and you…” Catherine pointed to the wall behind her, “climbed into the room along the back wall.”
It was too early; most hotels hadn't opened yet. But it was precisely because it was so early that the three of them could stroll freely along the main streets of the city—of course, this mainly referred to Tarasco and Xavier.
After walking along two main streets, they finally found a hotel that was already open. As agreed beforehand, Catherine went in alone to check in.
The two front desk clerks both had dark circles under their eyes, clearly indicating they hadn't slept well the night before. They were sipping coffee and gossiping about promotions while distracted by processing Catherine's request.
As for the strange sound behind my ear?
Oh, you know, when you're severely sleep-deprived, you often experience some trivial hallucinations.
Holding the key, they opened the door and, unsurprisingly, found both beasts already inside. For their size, the two of them crammed into the small room was indeed a bit cramped. However, time was limited, and they were under the watchful eyes of the Vatican, so they had no choice but to make do for a while.
Catherine found a relatively empty corner, stuffed her small amount of luggage inside, and then repeatedly told Tarasco and Xavier not to cause trouble and to wait for her to return.
Seeing that they reluctantly agreed, he opened the door and went out, leaving the two of them staring at each other in the room.
However, before Catherine could find any trace of Lucas and his group, a sudden tremor shook the city, nearly causing her to fall to the ground. Then, a deafening sound came from the other side of Duis City.
"My God! Is this an earthquake?"
"No way! This is the central city! If we've had an earthquake here, what will happen to the other places?"
"It seems to be heading towards the Vatican? What's going on here...?"
"..."
The commotion had startled a crowd of people who rushed out of the area, discussing in panic what had happened. But soon, seeing that the tremors showed no signs of abating and were instead intensifying, they quickly returned to their houses, hastily gathered some necessities, and prepared to flee the city, intending to return once things returned to normal.
Catherine stood amidst the flow of people fleeing the city, her expression somber as she gazed in the direction of the Papacy.
She glanced at it for a few seconds, then immediately headed towards the hotel.
Some of the fleeing humans would inevitably bump into her, and in the end, they would be the ones rubbing their arms, muttering in bewilderment, wondering why it hurt so much when they bumped into this thin and frail girl.
Tarasco and Xavier were already waiting in the open space behind the hotel. After that strange noise, they knew that Catherine would definitely return soon.
"Something's happened. Lucas and his group must have run into the Vatican's people first."
Xavier sighed. "Looks like we've got some work to do."
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