Accompanying maid (2)
The Adventurers' Guild is located at No. 24 North Street. A massive black archway leads to the guild entrance, with circular columns creating a large open space. The plaza in front of the guild is plaza filled with various group requests and job postings. This is the busiest place in Sun City, frequented by out-of-towners, locals, adventurers, and sometimes even nobles. Fried comes to the guild plaza every day to read the various announcements.
"Fried, how do you know these words?" Mi noticed Fried holding a pen and paper, sometimes copying down announcements. Sun City didn't have schools for commoners; nobles hired tutors or sent their children to King's Academy.
“Ah, sir, everyone here is literate,” Fried said, gesturing to the people coming and going in the square. There were even people loudly reading the job postings aloud under the signs, just to make it easier for the illiterate townspeople. Beside Fried stood a burly man. Fried pointed to a sign and asked him with a smile, “Sir, what does this say?”
“Oh, this,” the man said, glancing at the sign and then at Fried. “The Red Fox Adventurers are hiring servants. You can go and ask them.”
"Sir, could you please read the announcement aloud?" Fried asked with a fawning smile.
“What’s so difficult about that? I’ll tell you.” The man read the announcement aloud. Fried thanked him and repeated the announcement before letting the man leave.
Fried wrote down two more words before saying, "Sir, that's how I learned to read." Fried had an excellent memory; he could memorize all the words on the notice board after hearing them only once. With so many notices on one board, and many repeated words, Fried quickly learned these commonly used characters. Only then did Mi realize that Fried had treated the Adventurers' Guild Square like a school. No wonder he was so quick-witted; his mind was indeed both agile and sharp.
Fried lingered in front of the notice board for a while. Seeing that Mi hadn't given any instructions, he went to the adventurers' gathering area to inquire about information. Some of the adventurers gathered there had just returned from outside and were exchanging the latest news. Fried, with his small stature, looked like an adventurer's squire. The information discussed in the Adventurers' Guild Hall wasn't particularly confidential, and they wouldn't deliberately guard against an adventurer's squire. Sometimes they would even say a little more so that Fried could relay the information to the adventurers they were pursuing. Those adventurers were surrounded by clever young men like Fried. Mi, alone in the hall, felt lost. She didn't know how to find the skull. The Adventurers' Guild Hall was bustling with people, everyone in a hurry. Mi standing there was particularly conspicuous; the numerous gazes felt like needles pricking her head. She fled the Adventurers' Guild as if escaping.
Mi Man wandered aimlessly through the streets for a while before finally deciding to go see Bai Cuisi. She wondered how Bai Cuisi had been these past few days, whether she was waking up from nightmares every day. Bai Cuisi needed her comfort and a hug most of all.
Mi arrived at the main street where Derek's Palace was located, and a carriage bearing the flag of the Adventurers' Guild pulled out. Mi stared at the carriage, and suddenly an idea struck her. She followed the carriage all the way to the back gate of the Adventurers' Guild. The carriage stopped, and Elder Seg, the skull-headed elder, poked his head out. He looked at Mi with surprise before asking, "Why have you been following me all this way?"
“I need your help with something.” Mi held up the lunchbox, which she had been surrounding with her consciousness. The Skull Elder sniffed, stepped down from the carriage, and said to Mi, “Come with me.”
Mi returned to the secret room from before, and this time the Skull Elder did not extinguish the oil lamp. The room was somewhat dim, and the door was closed again. The Skull Elder pointed to the table and said, "Open it."
Mi snapped out of her daze, opened the lunchbox, and inside was a clump of gray clothes mixed with dirt. Despair and darkness washed over Mi again. The intense pain made her unsteady, and she struggled to sit down in a chair, unable to hold back her groans. The gray-clad man was still alive; at least he was still influencing Mi.
The skull elder picked up the lunchbox and brought it to the oil lamp. A thread, drawn by the lamp, slowly burned into a wisp of smoke, which the skull inhaled. Mi hugged her arms, curled up, and slid to the ground, enduring the intense burning pain. Slowly, Mi felt the ash return to her body, the uncontrollable feeling and pain leaving her. The ash thread had been completely burned away by the oil lamp; she was back to normal? Mi looked up. The skull was trembling violently, large drops of sweat sliding down his head. He seemed to be engaged in a fierce struggle. Mi dared not breathe, quietly waiting by his side.
After a long while, the oil lamp flickered, and the skull opened its eyes. It looked at Mi Liang for a long time before saying, "Don't go to the palace anymore, and don't try to change other people's fates."
Thinking of Bertram, Mi stood up, unable to hide her anger: "Am I just going to stand by and watch? Do you know how much Bertram's mother has done for this country? Her daughter shouldn't be treated like this." Now she understood that the relationship between the Adventurers' Guild and those city lords was truly bad.
“Petrice is safe now, you don’t need to worry about her.” The skull looked at Mi. “Your problem is solved now, hurry up and leave.”
“Leave? Go where?” Mi stared at the skull in astonishment; he knew what was going on.
“Everyone has their predetermined fate. You think you saved someone, but who knows if she didn’t end up in this situation because of you? No matter how hard you try, the end of fate is still there.” The skull’s voice grew hoarseer and hoarse, each sound irritating Mi’s eardrums.
"Is there no way to change this?" Mi didn't want Betric to suffer the same thing again. Those hostages, far from their homeland, shouldn't be treated like this.
"You know, we may have taken different paths, but we will eventually meet in death. Everyone's starting point and ending point are the same; only the process is different."
“I want this to be different.” Mi stared at the skull. A good day or a bad day, it's still a day; why not choose a good one? Betrice isn't a long-lived being; she won't have eternal life. Her goal is to protect Betrice, to keep her safe, and at least let her live a normal life. Mi looked at the skull: “Could you please help her? Help her forget all this? I'm willing—” Mi pulled out all her marigold coins, “I'm willing to give you all of these. If it's not enough, I have more. I can even work for you.”
“Human memories may be altered, but they will always return eventually, Miss Mi. I’m sorry I can’t help you.” The skull pushed the lunchbox back. “Go back and use this to boil water for Beatrice to drink. She’ll feel better after drinking it.”
"Can I go see her?" The good news came so suddenly that Mi was both surprised and delighted.
"Yes, I have completely severed your ties with the Derek royal family. Don't provoke them again."
“Don’t worry, I’ll avoid all the royal family members. I’ll only go see Beatrice.” Mi put away her lunchbox and looked at Elder Seger in front of her, saying sincerely, “Thank you, thank you.”
Walking back to the Flower Fate Inn, Mi's heart was still racing. This was the most exciting moment she had experienced since the Witch Forest. She had saved a little girl, and now she was going to see her. Mi stopped, turned a corner, and headed towards Derek's Palace. She was going to visit her newborn daughter, to comfort her, and to embrace her.
Inside the Adventurers' Guild's secret chamber, the Skull stared at Mi's departing figure: "No matter what changes I make, are you still going to walk this path? Is fate truly unchangeable?" He covered his nose, and blood flowed from his nostrils. Severus's gloomy and irritable voice echoed in the chamber: "I'm not convinced. If you hadn't captured me with your own hands, you would have let me out."
Seg took out a handkerchief and wiped the blood from his nose. He burned the handkerchief on the oil lamp and inhaled the smoke again: "Severus, a loss is a loss. Don't make any more futile struggles."
"Let me out, Seger! We agreed that if we parted, we would never see each other again. Let me go!" Severus's voice was shrill.
“I’ve said it before, the day we meet again will be the day we fight to the death.” Seg’s voice was unusually hoarse and unpleasant.
“Seg, you cheated!” Severus changed his tone, his voice becoming effeminate: “Seg, you never use these tricks. Seg, let me go, and let’s have a fair competition.”
“Severus, you know I won’t let you go this time.” Seger’s teeth chattered, and his hoarse voice escaped again. “I chased you all the way to the Flower Kingdom to stop you. You shouldn’t have—”
“Yes, yes, I shouldn’t have done it, I’ll never do it again.” Severus promised urgently, “I just wanted to know what it was like to be the Queen Mother, I was wrong, I’ll never do it again. Please let me go.” A gray figure materialized in the secret chamber, the same gray-clad figure Mi had seen before. The gray figure hovered in mid-air, one end connected to Seg’s nose.
Severus turned around and looked around the secret room: "You've been here all these years, hiding in this dark and sunless place, Seger, you're a disgrace."
“We said we wouldn’t interfere in humanity’s progress, and you’ve broken that agreement.” An angry expression appeared on Seg’s skull, its skin squeezing together to reveal the skull’s empty eyes.
“Seg, I’m just speeding up the process a bit, waiting for the humans to slowly go around in circles. When will they be able to meet?” Severus waved his hand. “I’m just adjusting the variables.”
“Severus, you shouldn’t be so arrogant. You’ve seen it yourself, humanity hasn’t progressed along the path you’ve drawn.” Seger uttered each word clearly. “The long-lived species haven’t gone extinct, and the Sandmen haven’t evolved. The people you’ve let in don’t worship you; they don’t even remember you. Severus, they’re different from us; there’s no lineage between them and us. Severus, give up.”
“No, I will make them remember everything. Once the lid is opened, they will know that their father has been waiting for them all along.” Severus’s voice was sinister and cold. “Don’t you want the Queen to be of your blood? Don’t you want these planets to be filled with your people?”
“No, I don’t want to.” Seger looked at Severus in mid-air. “These lives are completely different from ours. Severus, you have no bloodline. Don’t think you have flesh and blood just because you’ve been wearing a human body for a while, or that you can produce offspring. Severus, do you remember where you came from? Don’t ruin other people’s experiments. Severus, you’re just a pawn in someone else’s hands. I don’t want to repeat the fate of a pawn, and neither do you.” Seger picked up the oil lamp, opened his mouth, and swallowed the wick. The skull burst into flames, and Severus was engulfed in flames. The secret chamber was filled with firelight and howls. Soon, Severus fell silent. A gray thread swam into Seger’s body like a fish. This time, Severus had truly disappeared. The wick returned to the oil lamp, and the dim flame flickered gently. Seger lay on the table, equally motionless.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
