Chapter 14 Alliance
He squeezed out a strange laugh from his throat, as if choked, then fell silent, raised his head, and stared at the drowsy gray fog in the monotonous and noisy wind.
Nova looked up with him and found that they could not see anything clearly.
"In fact, you don't see all this as a pure illusion."
The professor said, "It's clear that you have feelings for the Natalin people, and for your dragon as well."
The other person did not answer, but slowly closed his eyes and exhaled.
"Do you want to know what happened ten years ago?" he asked softly, but before Nova could answer, he changed the subject and said, "No, it's better to say that I want to tell you something unilaterally."
The professor stared at him, and when his beautiful, majestic eyes were covered, he suddenly revealed a quiet, tired sadness. He was showing weakness to me, he thought. This strange and inexplicable judgment, which went beyond his thinking process, made the black-haired young man frown, somewhat unsure of the other party's motives.
He had a strange feeling about the God-favored. They possessed a deep, indifferent air of a seasoned veteran, yet at times revealed the gentleness and openness of a youth. They were like a strange, sun-warmed sea: clear, transparent, unpredictable, and warm to the touch. But if one truly sank into it, they would plunge straight into the abyss.
"...I probably know some information, but tell me." The black-haired young man said cautiously: "I will judge whether to pretend not to hear it based on the specific situation."
Azuka gave him a helpless look, half wanting to pinch his old enemy's neck. But he'd already dealt him enough of a blow today, not to mention that he'd even awkwardly consoled him. Bullying him further seemed a bit excessive, and he felt a rare pang of conscience.
Although he could already glimpse the terrifying insight his nemesis would later possess, Nova Brody was still a relatively inexperienced, even somewhat naive and reckless young man. Given Azuka's age, he could practically call him a "child." Perhaps because of this strange sense of confusion, the Savior easily developed a subtle indulgence and softness towards his "lively" nemesis.
“Ten years ago, I went back to the beginning of the comics.” He sighed, and that tone was as if to say, “I ate three slices of toasted mara this morning.”
"...Now that makes sense," Nova muttered softly. He wasn't the type to hold back on pursuing his suspicions. Since the other party offered it as a bargain—Nova didn't even want to call that childish joke a bargain—then it wasn't important, confidential information. Without worrying about whether it would completely infuriate the other party, he easily obtained some information.
Nothing major happened ten years ago, just the death of a woman named Elena.
The poor woman suffered a long and strange illness that gradually took away her life. She became weaker day by day and finally left behind only a young child.
No one knew who the father of the child was, and his mother remained silent about her sudden pregnancy, saying only that the child was "a child of God."
The orphaned child possessed a beauty that would have astonished the gods. In the early centuries, when the gods were most active, such a child would not have survived unless offered to a deity for protection. Covetous gods would have pursued him, jealous gods would have tortured him. Fragile ordinary people could not withstand such hardships, and nearly all of history's famous beauties perished young. The people of Natalin took pity on him and decided to raise the child.
The child silently gathered handfuls of bluegrom—his mother had taken these small blue flowers year-round to dull her pain—the sky-like color completely burying the woman's body. Every night, the child would steal away and sleep at his mother's grave. The tribesmen who cared for him discovered this, but didn't stop them. They simply quietly added a few more thick clothes and allowed him to bid farewell alone. Until one morning, the child was found unconscious at his mother's grave. When he awoke, swirling lines grew on his chest. He could easily control the wind and tame dragons. Even Wind Walker bowed to him. "Little Bird" became a favored one of the gods, and overnight, his innocent nature was lost.
The God's Favored One did not mention his mother's death, nor did he mention the devastating pain and despair that the young child felt after losing his blood relative. He simply calmly recounted how he first woke up surrounded by his people, how he led the Natalin people in taming dragons, and how he found an underage Windrunner and tamed it with his own hands.
"I tried to change everything," he whispered. "A child's body is not strong enough to support the power of my origin. Haste will only lead to its collapse. Otherwise, I would have destroyed the Wall of Sighs that hindered the Natalin people... The Asaqi Valley is still too barren. All I can do is use dragons to increase my tribe's leverage."
"...What level of combat power did you reach before your rebirth?" Nova quickly discovered the key point, but before the other party could answer, he realized that he had asked a stupid question - how could the male protagonist who entered the finale not be a strong man?
As expected, the other party's answer was calm but also revealed a hint of majesty and bloodiness: "Before my rebirth, I was already a saint. All my known enemies have died at the hands of my sword."
He has accepted the concept of "rebirth" very smoothly.
"You're not a sorcerer—I see. You practice both magic and martial arts."
"...What?" The other party showed a confused look, because the last word he said was in Chinese.
He can wield a greatsword, tackle a massive melon, and carry heavy loads, fight both long-range and short-range, the standard male protagonist on Qidian. And he's probably also tagged with the popular "beautiful, strong, and tragic" tag. As a modern person bombarded with the internet's vast information flow, even Nova knows some memes, but every time he tries to use them, they fall flat.
Professor Brody deadpanned, "It's just that you're both a warrior and a sorcerer. I'm praising your omnipotence. You're amazing."
The almighty and powerful savior himself was at a loss for words: "...Thank you for the compliment?"
"You're welcome." The other person answered reflexively. Azuka found that this person seemed to have a strange obsession with politeness, but this also made him particularly irritating in certain situations.
With this interruption, the topic went completely off topic, and the negative emotions in his heart caused by being forced to recall his childhood memories were almost gone. The professor was really an amazing person.
"You're right. At least for now, I still have normal thinking and action abilities." Azuka smiled slightly, but her blue eyes revealed an extremely frightening coldness. "And I'm really curious, who on earth could have produced such a comic book, and who is playing with my life behind the scenes?"
His tone was light, but the unspoken meaning was filled with a strong smell of blood: "I want to find the 'author' or those 'authors' and get the answer I deserve -"
"But all this requires your help, Professor." The God-Favoured One lowered his eyes, quietly gazing at the black-haired youth before him. His voice became gentle and calm, carrying a subtle allure: "The other party has a connection to your world. You are more perceptive than I am, more adept at thinking than I am, and you understand things I have never encountered... I need your wisdom and intelligence. You are my only ally in this world."
Nova, feeling somewhat stiff from the compliment, turned away. "...This is indeed an interesting puzzle—interesting, but definitely a huge, earth-shattering problem. It gives me a reason to abandon everything and help you."
"It's simple. I can tell you clearly that a war that will affect you is about to break out. You are neither a warrior nor a sorcerer. With your intelligence, position, and family alone, the peacetime order will not protect you." His words were very impolite, but the professor, who had a bad temper, did not seem offended. He just frowned and thought: "Nova Brody in the comics reappeared after a long silence. I don't know what you paid for it. At that time, you were already standing on the opposite side of me... I will not allow you to become my enemy again."
"And my body is gradually adapting to my origin - what could be more secure than the protection of a saint? You will be safest only by staying by my side." The God-favored One looked at the other's pupils that were unconsciously constricted, chuckled softly, and leaned forward gracefully, with one hand behind his back and the other hand extended forward with the palm facing up - a standard dance invitation gesture, often seen when a lower-ranking person invites a higher-ranking person, or a man invites a woman.
"Of course, there's another reason—do you want to return to your own world?"
“…”
The black-haired young man was silent for a moment, then suddenly clapped his palms quickly.
"Deal," he said firmly, and the other man was even stunned by his decisiveness. "I will help you find the 'author', and you will provide me with protection and assist me in returning to my world."
"...amazing decisiveness and execution. Thank you for your trust."
"No, it has nothing to do with trusting you," the other person said bluntly, no one knowing what kind of mental storm was going through his mind. "It's just that all the clues are connected, and now everything makes sense - and one more thing, that heartbroken look you had before, were you deliberately pretending to be pitiful to trick me?"
The other party started making preparations as soon as he was "reborn". It doesn't look like he has doubted his own existence and fallen into self-pity.
The other person was silent for a moment, then looked at him with a somewhat dejected look, seemingly sincere to the point of dying. "I'm sorry, although that's indeed my true feelings... but I need to confirm your attitude one last time."
From the moment he first laid eyes on his nemesis, he had been subtly testing him. If he failed the test, he would have absolutely chosen to kill his still-inexperienced nemesis and take his soul with him, lest he add another formidable enemy. Fortunately, it was indeed a radiant otherworldly soul he had never seen before, intelligent, calm, and faithless, yet possessing a certain sense of morality, fulfilling all his requirements.
"I must apologize for this, for my deception." He said sincerely, and then noticed that the other party had regained that strange tense state.
"...You and I were not allies before. It's normal for you to be cautious given your situation. No need to apologize." The black-haired young man tried to distance himself uneasily, but almost fell into the whirlwind again.
Helplessly, he grabbed the enemy's shoulders and pulled him back.
Another thing, Azuka thought, he had to keep a close eye on his professor to prevent his precious ally from dying inexplicably in some corner like a wild cat.
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