Chapter 225
Ghost Duke stood in front of the mirror, looking at himself with satisfaction.
He had wanted to wear this for a long time. It was a completely black monk's robe, unlike the robe that the Benevolent One had given him before. The color scheme of this one was very strange.
He carried a scythe that looked quite respectable, and then put on a crow mask.
At his third-rate undergraduate institution, the art and nursing programs shared the same classroom building. There were a lot of female nursing students, including a few oddballs who wore Lolita dresses to class.
That guy was slightly touched. This otaku didn't have many hobbies, only an interest in fantasy. Otherwise, he wouldn't like drawing and reading novels, and incidentally, he also acquired the essential home skills of cooking and cleaning.
So I went to Taobao and bought this outfit: a sickle, a priest's robe, and a crow mask.
Honestly, there are so many elements mixed in that I don't even know where to begin criticizing it. People even ask him what kind of weird clothes he's wearing.
Only he himself probably understands this childish, chuunibyou (delusional) thought, because in his first officially published novel, there is a protagonist who wears a raven mask.
As for the priest's robe, he wasn't surprised because he was a believer himself. In fact, he had a unique fondness for priest's robes, always finding them incredibly beautiful.
Then, the scythe became an obsession during my chuunibyou (adolescent delusions of grandeur) phase, associated with the incense of death. For a long time, I even used a small skeleton carrying a scythe as my social media profile picture.
And when he wanted to dress up, this outfit came out. It looked like a fusion monster, but it was hard to tell what it resembled.
This outfit is much better than the one I had back then; at least the sickle isn't plastic, it's pure metal.
And because of the long period of time, myopia has returned to normal, and I no longer have to tolerate looking like I'm blind when I want to wear a crow mask.
He wanted to do some cooler moves with the sickle, but it was too heavy, and he fell to the ground before he could even swing it.
This is too difficult for him. So much time has passed, and his physical fitness has not improved at all.
Besides curing his nearsightedness.
He struggled to lift the sickle back up, then turned to the person cleaning and asked:
"Do I look good in this outfit?"
"I don't understand." That guy actually glanced at it and answered.
Ghost Duke shrugged helplessly and continued looking in the mirror.
He still gave this girl a name, calling her Fish.
Because she wasn't very bright, he named her after an animal that wasn't very bright either.
However, after actually trying it out, this guy didn't seem to have any intellectual problems, except that he obeyed every command.
Rather, he's more like a stubborn guy who, aside from refusing to follow orders like leaving the room, will make a fuss about cleaning and other chores.
Ghost Duke even tried letting her take a shower in the bathroom inside, and she had no problem with such basic life skills.
It looks a bit broken.
But it didn't matter; Ghost Duke didn't consider himself intact either. Often, people with their own thoughts weren't necessarily as good as these fools.
Ghost Duke silently picked up the scythe and looked at the marble wall without even a scratch.
He swung the sickle with all his might, but was knocked to the ground by the recoil.
Even when he swung it at the mirror, it had no effect; both the sickle and the glass remained intact.
"Why is this thing so hard?" Ghost Duke asked the guy who had finished his work and was ordered to sit in the chair. "Do you know?"
"They say it has been infused with holy power."
"I understand. Something like chakra is incredibly powerful."
Ghost Duke propped himself up, sat on the edge of the bed, sighed, and looked at his arm.
The weight of this thing is despair-inducing; perhaps I'm better off using plastic.
A whole day has passed since the benevolent one made herself her subordinate.
Time may appear very differently to those people and to themselves.
The majority of the day was spent sleeping, some time was spent reading, and a large portion was spent communicating with the fish.
A small portion is used for making silly mistakes.
"Do you know how to use this? Could you demonstrate it for me?" Ghost Duke asked the fish. "Please."
"I know a little bit." She got up and picked up the sickle.
Then Ghost Duke saw her wielding this thing so tightly that it was impenetrable. When used well, this weapon could almost be used for both offense and defense due to its inertia.
Of course, if a mistake is made, there will be serious flaws due to inertia, and once the opportunity is seized, the target will be dismembered.
Looking at the guy's appearance, Ghost Duke suddenly remembered something.
"Please, could you change your clothes?" he said, looking at the fish with a pleading expression.
Ghost Duke looked at her expression as she looked at him. This guy, who shouldn't have any emotions, actually showed a look of disgust... But maybe he was being too sensitive. After all, you can't really tell what a look is.
......
"Best!!!" Ghost Duke cheered, looking at the girl in front of him with such joy that he looked like a fool.
Fish are naturally beautiful. After all, they are silly children who are kept by the benevolent people. They must have something special about their appearance.
The man was now wearing a cloak, bandages wrapped around his body, a raven mask, and carrying a scythe, standing in front of me.
It stood there motionless, but at times like this, not making much movement only made Ghost Duke look like a fool.
She didn't say anything. Ghost Duke pulled out a board from somewhere and drew several sketches of her, changing the poses a few times, which took more than half an hour.
"Thank you so much," Ghost Duke said casually, looking at the fish facing the mirror.
I mixed in my favorite elements, and sure enough, the same thing I wear will never look as good as it does on a cute girl.
If Ghost Duke didn't have any evil thoughts towards this guy before, now, looking at the fish in its new clothes, Ghost Duke felt he could.
However, this doesn't seem to be considered anything immoral. The Benevolent One hadn't said anything about what he couldn't do when he allowed him to use this guy. Ghost Lord was somewhat familiar with that guy; as long as he hadn't been explicitly forbidden from doing something, he wouldn't be criticized.
But he still felt guilty, so the thought flashed through his mind and then disappeared. He silently looked at the sketches he had drawn on his board, wondering if he had developed a profound skill in this strange place.
"Do you think it's beautiful?" Ghost Duke asked the fish, pointing the painting in his hand.
This guy can still answer questions with only two options, right or wrong, since these kinds of questions don't require very deep subjective concepts.
Is this me?
But Ghost Duke heard a different answer from her.
"Huh?" Ghost Duke suddenly realized that this guy might not be as stupid as the benevolent person said: "Of course it's you. If you don't like it, just say so. But please forgive me for using my old excuse to explain, I only drew it for a few minutes, and it's just the big dynamic parts."
“It’s beautiful,” she said softly, then fell silent once more.
Ghost Duke awkwardly put the painting away; it felt a bit like he was talking to some cold, aloof person. Although the cold, cute girl was still quite adorable, he still felt he'd done something wrong.
"Have you heard the story of Heaven?" Ghost Duke suddenly asked this question.
She shook her head. Ghost Duke asked her to sit next to him, and she rested her head on her hand, feeling a little helpless.
He only recently learned that the people here only talk about hell and not heaven.
Based on their original world's religious views, they believed that if there is hell, there must be a corresponding heaven.
However, it seems that here they believe gods and demons are dead, so after death they only enter hell in the void, where they suffer endless torment.
As for why he wouldn't go to heaven?
It doesn't make sense; since God and angels are dead, Heaven obviously doesn't exist anymore.
“After people die, there is a place called Heaven.” Ghost Duke hesitated for a moment before saying, “That place is a paradise where you can enjoy yourself all day long. There are no bad people there, and no scheming.”
He was at a loss for words; a novelist didn't know how to describe paradise.
Perhaps it's a place like that? A place where one can satisfy their desires in the mortal world.
It's a bit strange to think about this, but many people spend their lives strictly disciplining themselves just to go to heaven. However, they restrain themselves so that they can fulfill desires they cannot achieve in real life.
“There is no such place,” she answered very decisively.
“Yes,” Ghost Duke answered definitively, “there are such places, somewhere in the world. There are no natural disasters, no monsters. Food is plentiful, and the temperature is neither too cold nor too hot.”
He said softly, "Anyone can go to heaven as long as they are willing to do good deeds."
The fish didn't answer; it just listened quietly.
“I came from heaven.” Ghost Duke recalled the place he had been before his reincarnation, and some details came to mind.
An angel led him to the so-called God, and he looked at himself, feeling very conflicted.
He hasn't done anything wrong and doesn't deserve to go to hell. But he's also a bit of a scatterbrain and has done his fair share of unclean things. He frequently expresses his dissatisfaction with God, so he clearly shouldn't be in heaven either.
If it weren't for Ghost Duke's tactless remark about going to a fantasy world with cute girls, magic, dragons, and paladins, and his subsequent sarcastic remarks, it would have been a different story.
I might not have come here at all.
Otherwise, he should have been reborn as a normal human being.
Ghost Duke looked at the guy sitting next to him and sighed helplessly.
As expected, I still can't influence someone with words; my eloquence is just too poor.
"What are you doing?" The familiar figure stood at the door, looking at Ghost Duke sitting against the wall.
"Master, what do you need me for?" Ghost Duke couldn't think of a better way to address him, so he had to call him that.
"This title really gives me the creeps. You'd better change it." She frowned, looking at Ghost Duke with displeasure.
"At least tell me how to address you." Ghost Duke stood up from the ground, slowly walked over, and then bowed to her in a proper manner.
Is this what it means to be someone's servant? He hesitated, thinking that he really didn't have the opportunity to practice like that.
“Since you asked me, then just call me Ai, it sounds similar to love.” She said helplessly, “And don’t call me ‘sir’ either. It’s fine when other people call me that, but the way you say it gives me the creeps.”
"That's your bias." Ghost Duke was slightly touched by the name and said helplessly, "Did I tell you? In my previous world, I had a younger sister who used the online name Ai."
"Really?" The benevolent one paused for a moment, but didn't seem to care much.
Just take half of what Ghost Duke says with a grain of salt; it doesn't matter how much you believe. Believing him is pointless anyway; he's a complete waste of space, and any overestimation of him is just asking for trouble.
The chatter ended there, and she turned and left, with Ghost Duke following behind her.
Although I don't know where we're going, I'm now considered a servant, and following behind her is my job.
He was quite happy, after all, he now had his first proper job. Although the salary hadn't been discussed, it seemed that trading was a rare thing in this world.
Since the distribution of supplies here is very centralized, money doesn't seem to be of much use here.
"What have you been up to all day?" Ghost Duke asked casually. "You look irritable."
She paused for a moment, looked at him, and said softly, "How did you figure that out?"
“When you walk, you’ve always been at a steady pace.” Ghost Duke hesitated for a moment before saying, “You’re walking a little too fast… and you used to deliberately slow your steps, but now I can already hear your footsteps.”
“I am indeed very irritable,” she said softly. “You make me feel that I didn’t make a mistake in choosing you.”
“Thank you, and I thank you for giving me a place to stay. To be honest, I’ve never really had a home. At least here, I have a place to stand.” Ghost Duke shrugged. “What’s wrong? Something that’s bothering you… your sample was stolen?”
“No, they are all in good condition,” the benevolent man said softly. “It’s just that one of my former servants came to see me and said that something has happened outside.”
"What could have happened outside? Has the safe zone been expanded?" Ghost Duke casually said, "If I were a novelist, I would write it like that too. After all, the world is indeed too peaceful now. If I want a story to start having a climax again, then I have to arrange a point that can change the world enough."
The air fell silent. The Benevolent One stopped and turned to look at the Ghost Lord.
Ghost Duke stopped, looked at her expression, swallowed hard, and realized he might have said something wrong.
“Perhaps the responsibilities I assigned you are a bit too much,” she said softly. “You’re right, I even suspect you’re in cahoots with them.”
"You know that's impossible."
"indeed."
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