Chapter 74: Uncomfortable, sleepwalking* …
*
"I understand what you mean. When we return to the Holy City, I will explain this matter to His Holiness the Pope, and then send a high priest to accompany the team to prevent any accidents."
Melancholy Big Belly nodded in agreement, his eyes rolling around, I don't know what he was thinking. I guess he was thinking about how to convince us to help him beat up the CD player - no way, what's the difference between this and asking me to fight with both hands?
After I perfunctorily dealt with him, I found an empty seat to sit down, to avoid being harassed by other players. The knights quickly changed positions and formed a protective formation with me as the center.
The strongest one is closest to me, and the others are arranged outwards, which can not only guard against any accidents, but also separate the players from me. This is a very clever idea.
I took a sip of tea with a strange look on my face and asked in a low voice, "Who is in charge of your training?"
The aura closest to me immediately replied, "Yes, Sir Knight."
Sure enough, only by understanding the players well enough can you truly be wary of them.
The players looked over here, and the player dressed as a mage looked a little unwilling. But considering it was unnecessary, they just sat there without moving.
I was bored so I chatted with the knights: "Didn't the Knight Commander come in person this time?"
The leading knight hesitated for a moment, then told me honestly, "The Knight Commander is looking for someone in the Holy City."
"Who are you looking for?"
A dozen pairs of eyes looked at me at the same time, and the knight who answered gave a polite yet awkward smile.
I:"......"
Oh my god, I suddenly don’t want to go back.
*
No matter how much you think about it, you still have to do it.
The elves didn't make us wait long. Odysseus's coma had already delayed the arrival time. Since he was fine, the elves quickly packed up their bags and restored the tree house to its original appearance. In a blink of an eye, there were only lush trees in front of us. If you didn't see it with your own eyes, I'm afraid no one would believe that this was a heavily guarded camp an hour ago.
The knights mounted their horses, and the players summoned their own fancy mounts. The elves mostly had unicorns and giant eagles. Looking at the various mounts in front of me, I fell silent for a moment.
As we all know, the mount of the Son of Glory is a dragon. It is majestic, noble and elegant, and it is definitely a top-level mount.
There's only one problem now. The dragon isn't there!
*
Both the Radiant Knight and the elves who came this time were elites. Therefore, they were able to get ready very quickly. In a blink of an eye, I was the only one who was not ready to go.
Now there are two choices. One is to admit that you don't have a mount, and then grab one from the knights. But this is very embarrassing. It will also further publicize what everyone knows.
The second is to find someone to ride with me. Even though it would be embarrassing, at least I would have a horse to go with me.
The knights obviously realized something, and they exchanged glances. One of them was about to walk towards me, but at this moment, Odysseus intervened and stopped beside me first.
In the midst of an intense mental struggle, Odysseus rode towards me. His mount was a deer, with green vines hanging down from its antlers and small flowers blooming. It was tall and elegant, with clear and gentle eyes. If it were a little smaller, it would look exactly like the deer that caused me to run into the elf tribe.
Yes, exactly the same. Even the guilty look in Lu's eyes when we looked at each other was exactly the same!
I squinted my eyes and suddenly realized something. The deer knew it was in the wrong and looked at the sky and the ground but not at me.
Odysseus was unaware of the undercurrents of emotion between us. His eyes quickly slid across my face. He should have learned from the elf that I was not the one to greet them.
"Thank you for the help from the Church of Glory. To show my gratitude, I would like to invite you to ride on Akka."
Akka - the mount of the goddess of nature.
Legend has it that when the goddess of nature was just born, she dripped her blood on a fawn, giving it intelligence and supernatural powers.
Akka is a giant deer that walks all year round. It becomes smaller only when it carries the goddess of nature. Wherever it goes, it is spring. Its descendants are also called [Akka], which means spring in the language of the elves.
Only the purest and most sacred of the elves, and the ones favored by the goddess, are qualified to ride. If an outsider is given such an honor, all the elves will treat you as a distinguished guest from then on.
At this moment, the gazes from the elves were like needles.
Apart from the ability to grow bigger or smaller, how did this deer inherit the blood of the mythical beast?
I wanted to say something, but Odysseus added, "This is also what Akka meant."
The looks on my face became more complicated, but less hostile than before and more surprising.
The deer blinked its eyes and looked at me innocently, silently asking for credit. At that moment, countless times it had eaten, drank, and framed me flashed through my mind, and I understood that this should be the deer's atonement.
Well, I deserve it!
I thought about it for a moment, and rather than feel embarrassed, I chose to nod and agree: "My pleasure."
*
Everything was ready. Aka lay down like a human being, and looked extremely docile.
I sat in the front and Odysseus sat in the back. He hesitated for a long time before gently pinching the corner of my clothes.
I was stunned by his gesture and couldn't help but ask him in a whisper: "Are you a girl?"
The elf was stunned for a moment. From my angle, I could only see his chin. The red color spread over his porcelain-like skin and then spread to his neck.
He gave me an annoyed look and lowered his voice as well: "What nonsense are you talking about?"
*
It wasn't really a big deal for two grown men to ride together, but after the other person pulled it, the atmosphere between us suddenly became subtle.
The light touch of the chest on my back, the sound of fabric rubbing against each other. The breath that was so close to me. The most annoying thing was that I was almost held by the other person even though I had grown up. The elf looked slender, but in fact, she was half a head taller than me.
The descendants of holy beasts do not need reins. The deer walked gracefully and took the first step. I had to keep my back straight, which caused the second problem: the tip of the elf's nose kept touching the top of my head.
"...Odysseus, could you please stop blowing into the tip of my ear?"
"Could you please stop pushing my nose?"
There was a "puff" sound from the side, and we both turned our heads at the same time.
Melancholy Big Belly looked away as if nothing had happened: "I suddenly thought of something funny, you guys continue."*
I narrowed my eyes dangerously. Needless to say, this guy must have been taking pictures before. I was thinking about how to punish this guy, when the elf suddenly moved his lips and said something very quickly.
A thin vine silently entangled the claws of his mount. The wolf suddenly exploded and threw Melancholy's big belly down.
This posture was really awkward, and I couldn't help but move. The elf's body stiffened and he reminded me quietly: "Don't move."
The commotion immediately attracted everyone's attention. I pressed the back of the elf's hand to signal him to stop. Odysseus pulled his hand back suddenly as if he was burned. After a long while, a word floated down from my head: "...Don't touch me."
After a pause, he added: "That's not what I meant..."
Is this what I want to touch? You were the one who attacked the player first!
I rolled my eyes secretly, took my hand back and ignored him. Seeing that I ignored him, Odysseus hesitated for a while, then carefully put his fingers on the corner of my clothes again, full of a sense of compromise: "Then you touch...?
I:"......"
What a future.
*
After a lot of indirect investigation, I finally confirmed one thing -
Odysseus really seems to be unaware of reality.
The elf listened to me talk about the Creator God in silence, with confusion in his eyes: "I have never heard of such a story. Is this from a travel book?"
"It's a children's book that was sold to you by force... Well, it's nothing. If you like it, I'll find it for you next time."
There are two possibilities now. One is that Odysseus is lying to me, and the other is that he really doesn't know what is happening in reality.
Since I don't think the elves can deceive my eyes in this regard, the latter is more likely.
The problem is that the real Odysseus speaks strangely and gave me a BUG-level game prop. The Odysseus in the game knew nothing about this and was trapped in a dream for several days.
Please, what is going on?
My eyelids twitched wildly. Although it was unrealistic, I couldn't help thinking about it.
Was the Odysseus I saw at that time really himself? Thinking about it carefully, he seemed to know that I would use the Book of the World at that time, and his behavior was very different from usual.
At the time, I was only concerned with leaving as quickly as possible and ignored these details. Now that I think about it, there are doubts everywhere.
Odysseus looked more uncomfortable than I did, and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
I shook my head and said meaningfully: "Nothing, I just found you very charming."
Odysseus: "...?"
I shrugged and left him alone to ponder, successfully diverting my stress.
After two days of travel, we finally arrived at our destination.
*
It was a fine day.
The sky was clear and it was evening when we arrived. The clouds were bright red and dazzling, blending into the vast and magnificent setting sun. The whole holy city was bathed in a burning glow, like a flaming bird spreading its wings and ready to fly.
"Is this your first time in the Holy City?"
"Well, I've never left the Elf Forest before."
The elf stared at the city in front of him and said in a voice full of wonder: "It's bigger than I thought."
"After all, this is the main city of the Church of Glory. You probably won't find a larger religious city than this one."
I laughed and looked at him seriously. The light shone on each of us, outlining a thin veil of light: "Welcome to the Holy City, I hope you like it here."
Odysseus seemed to smile, but his expression was hidden in the halo, so I couldn't see it clearly: "Thank you, An, do you really not have a brother?"
"...I really don't. You've asked me this question too many times."
"That's a shame, I know someone who looks just like you."
The emerald green eyes dimmed for a moment. I couldn't help but feel pity for him. I laughed dryly, and I couldn't bear to think about what would happen if he knew the truth one day.
The optical computer can prove for me that I really did not intend to hide it, I just didn't know how to explain that I was not dead.
When you tell one lie, you are forced to tell countless lies, and all the lies are entangled together. Either you are exposed, or you hide it for a lifetime.
I don't think I can hide it forever, but I should at least hide it until I find a suitable reason, right?
So until then, I can only apologize to our dear elves.
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