Spirit Hotel

Shamal angrily dragged Locktini into his room and then swung a punch at the wall.

Antonio emerged from the toilet and looked at the wall, then looked at Locktini and said, "Do you have Crystal City money?"

His comment was so out of the blue that Locktini and Shamal both stared at him.

Shamal was the first to regain his senses but his voice still held some anger as he said, "No. But I have gold."

"Of the faerie realm?"

"Yeah."

Antonio said, "Why would members of the Witch Clan have faerie realm gold?"

Shamal had a bellyful of anger (1) and Antonio"s messy questions made his head feel like exploding. "It"s not like I"m buying something. How would they know I"m carrying faerie realm gold?"

Antonio said indifferently, "Then who"s paying for the wall?"

Shamal took his fist away from the wall. There was already a dent.

"….." After having had his say, Antonio minded his own business again and went to lie down on the bed.

Shamal angrily fell onto the bed.

It would be reasonable to say that the most angry person right now was Locktini, but seeing how big his reaction was, the anger in Locktini"s heart couldn"t even seem to kindle. "Are you angry at Feisha or yourself?"

Shamal was stunned and he was on the verge of spilling something, but he quickly forced it down. He angrily lifted himself up from the bed and said, "Aren"t you a little angry?"

Locktini"s mouth tightened and his gaze drifted to the toilet. "Is there a new toothbrush here?"

Shamal: "….."

Locktini turned around and went back to his room.

Feisha washed his face and then draped himself onto the window and looked out.

Genesis, Crystal City. If it were half a year ago, even if you had beaten him to death, he would never have guessed there was such a place on earth. And yet, here he was, now, sitting here enjoying the scenery. Life sure had a sense of humor.

The door opened and Locktini walked in.

Feisha"s body tightened suddenly and he carefully looked behind him. He didn"t look good. The green, bruise-colored circles under his eyes stood out very obviously against the pale white of his face. It looked like two smoke rings in a pile of flour.

Locktini didn"t look at him and went into the toilet. Not a lot of time had pa.s.sed before the sounds of washing and brushing could be heard.

Feisha felt that he was like a prisoner facing execution. His heart was clenched tightly and he glanced surrept.i.tiously in the direction of the door, his head full of all kinds of predictions.

When Locktini came out of the toilet, Feisha was just thinking of Locktini grabbing him by the feet and throwing him out of the window. As the distance between the two of them shortened under Locktini"s footsteps, Feisha"s feet were filled with the desire to run away.

"Finished thinking?" Locktini finally stopped when he was three steps away.

"….." Feisha"s back was against the wall and he was standing very straight, straighter than soldiers practising their posture.

He asked again, "Finished thinking?"

Wasn"t this just asking the obvious? Feisha trusted that although his voice wasn"t loud at that time, if one hadn"t been paying attention, he would still definitely have been heard. He thought for a while, gritted his teeth and thought that he might as well get it over with. Shamal"s reaction today made it look as if Feisha had committed adultery or looted somebody. If this was dragged out anymore, Feisha"s position in his heart would probably be equal to arsonists and murderers.

"Yeah, I"ve thought about it."

Locktini looked fixedly at him and various emotions surfaced in his eyes. Once they had settled down, all that was left was an unruffled expression. "And the conclusion?"

Feisha mulled over his phrasing for a while, and then lowered his head and took in a deep breath before lifting his gaze and looking at Locktini with an immeasurably respectful gaze. "In my heart, the faerie prince is someone who is n.o.ble and graceful, a sacred and inviolable name. Vampires are too gloomy and cold, invisible people are too frail, dwarves are too short, t.i.tans too tall, werewolves have too much hair. None of them can be compared to you. And humans!" He suddenly paused, feeling grieving and lamentful. "Humans even more aren"t worth mentioning! Even if humans evolved another thousand years, they would still be incompatible with the n.o.ble lineages of the faeries! So please, please, don"t condescend to marry beneath yourself, please, please believe in your heart that you"re recycling trash and bringing comfort to the common people! It"s best if you don"t even have a single thought like that. Because it will only sully your n.o.ble lineage, your exceptional appearance, your extraordinary powers, your resplendent future!" (3)

He spoke until his voice was melodious, until his saliva splattered, and yet Locktini looked totally unmoved. Feisha felt a little uncertain and shut his mouth in embarra.s.sment.

"What about fallen angels?"

"Huh?"

Locktini spoke each word distinctly, "Just now, you described every single member of Noah"s Ark. What about fallen angels?"

Feisha looked to the side. Could it be… that Locktini was changing targets and he now had fallen angels in his sights? Feisha made a face. 囧. From a suitor to a rival in love… wasn"t Locktini going through this process a bit too fast? Even though he"d said faeries were of n.o.ble lineage, he couldn"t be taking his n.o.bility this seriously, right?

His feelings stepped on an emergency brake until they reached a total stop. From thinking of ways to tactfully reject Locktini, his thoughts turned a corner to thinking of ways to effectively annihilate his rival.

"What about fallen angels?" Locktini asked again, clinging to this like a child.

Feisha"s head drooped, avoiding the hurt that was unconsciously revealed in his eyes, sighing lightly and said, "Since it"s fallen angels, then of course they can"t be compared and mentioned in the same breath as you." He only said they couldn"t be compared, not who was higher and who was lower. If Locktini really was going to misunderstand, then it was too bad, his heart thought in a very irresponsible and indifferent way.

Locktini"s gaze became very sharp.

Feisha thought, if there was a door between the two of them, then on that door, there was a peephole. But luckily, his shamelessness was just slightly thicker than the door, so, as sharp as Locktini"s gaze was, Feisha still sat very straight; although his cheeks were a bit numb.

Locktini suddenly agilely turned around to walk out and not even a word was breathed out.

Feisha lifted his head and gazed at his retreating back and this image seemed to overlap with the image of Aumerle in his memory. Just like how it was only this morning"s work that made his back silhouette suddenly became so big…

"Of course, fallen angels cannot be mentioned in the same breath as faeries?" Once the door was closed, Isefel"s voice issued a little coldly from the brooch on his chest.

Feisha"s whole body stiffened and he hurriedly explained, "What I meant was, fallen angels can spread their wings wide and fly high. Faeries can only depend on their two legs. Of course, the two cannot be compared." He paused and added, "To be honest, the words I said just now were to console him. You know that he"s… eh, a little fragile."

"Oh." Isefel said tonelessly.

Feisha"s heart thumped, a little uncertain if that "oh" was happy or angry.

"Then who can be compared with a fallen angel?"

Feisha didn"t even need to think, "The more wretched, the more shameless, the better!"

—–

It was an oppressive breakfast.

Feisha silently battled the steak on his plate. To be honest, the Witch Clan didn"t have very healthy eating habits if they were eating meat this early in the morning.There were two apples in front of Shamal and Locktini. So when others were cutting their steaks, they were cutting apples.

Geikie competently stood at the side, his gaze sharp as he divined how much those seated liked their breakfast based on their posture and frequency as they ate.

Obviously, the two who were eating apples were not very satisfied because the apples on their plate looked rather similar to the meat mash from yesterday.

"Is this not to your liking?" He couldn"t help going forward to ask.

Locktini didn"t lift his head. He only put down the knife in his hand and lifted the ladle. "I like to eat with a ladle."

"…." Geikie turned his head and looked at Shamal.

Shamal put down his knife too. "Is there a straw?"

"…." The Witch Clan sure had some really strange customs. This was the only thing in Geikie"s mind as he went to look for a straw.

The meal was over.

Jesse used the napkin and took his time to wipe his mouth, his gaze sweeping lightly to the ones seated in front of him.

Feisha"s restless b.u.t.t stopped moving and became content.

"Tomorrow, there will be a ball at the palace. Because we are the first representatives to arrive, the lord of Genesis has especially invited us to partic.i.p.ated."

A ball?

Feisha made a face. 囧. Since he was small, he had never touched even the edge of a dance floor. The hotel had a dance floor, but it was outsourced, so he wasn"t in charge of it at all. So, honestly, asking him to goose step was easier than asking him to dance.

Once he finished talking, Jesse stood up.

Feisha and the others could only follow suit and stand up as well, one after another, like candied fruit on a stick (2) as they returned to their rooms.

Once they reached their rooms, their small group immediately had a small conference. But the only one who really put his heart and soul into the meeting was Antonio. Only he was genuinely and wholeheartedly worrying about Gin and Hughes" safety.

Feisha only knew after joining this rescue mission that although Antonio never spoke a word back when he was in Noah"s Ark and buried himself in the kitchens, the one who had the most love for his colleagues was definitely him.

"This is a good opportunity." Two small flames burned and burned in Antonio"s eyes. "Let"s take the chance while the other clans are not here to concentrate all our efforts and save Gin and Hughes."

n.o.body replied for a long time after he had spoken. Shamal reclined against the door to the toilet, listlessly looking at Feisha"s shoes. n.o.body could tell what he was worrying about. Shamal stared until Feisha felt his skin p.r.i.c.kling. He stealthily moved a little to the side. Shamal"s gaze immediately moved like a shadow and chased after him. He seemed to do it without even realizing.

Feisha didn"t believe in witchcraft, so he moved again. That gaze still continued to follow his shoes. He gave up. He actually was zoning out and staring at a fixed spot. Feisha just didn"t understand why there were so many things in the room but he had to stare at his shoes?

Feisha sighed and looked at the two shadows on the floor and that was when he suddenly realized. Just now, when he"d been shifting around, he had forgotten to monitor his surroundings. He had actually accidentally moved nearer to Locktini. The two of them were just a fist away!

If he moved away now, that would really reveal himself, but if he didn"t, the cold aura around Locktini was like water needles, latching on at every opportunity to drill into him and make him shrink and hunch his shoulders, and shrink and hunch his shoulders some more.

Antonio saw that everyone was minding their own business and playing little games with each other, not taking the rescue attempt seriously at all. He paused and unhappily said, "Are you here to save people or not?"

Feisha was trying to solve his problem of the too-close distance and Locktini"s cold aura. Hearing his words, he quickly took the opportunity and took a large step forward, patting Antonio"s shoulder as he said, "Of course we"re here to rescue them."

Antonio frowned. "If we"re saving people then we"re saving people. Why do you need to pat my shoulder?"

Feisha quickly replied, "I"m expressing my determination!"

Antonio looked at him, and then looked at the gloomy-faced Locktini. "Aren"t you afraid of Locktini who is sitting so close to you?"

"…." Brother, you really point out every flask that"s unopened! (4) Feisha stared at him with bitterness.

But if he was someone who would be troubled by these small things, he won"t be Feisha anymore. He quickly adjusted his breathing and spoke in a self-righteous way, "Because I thought your solution just now was pretty good! So I decided I"ll follow your lead, General!" At this point, the most reliable person in the room was him, as expected of the ex-leader of werewolves! They won"t lose out if he was their general.

"What solution did I say just now?" Antonio was at a blank.

"Didn"t you say, while the other clans hadn"t arrived, we"ll take the chance and save Gin and Hughes in one shot?" Deserting was deserting, but things that needed his attention, he would pay attention.

Antonio said, "This is only a guideline."

"…..Then what are the details?" Feisha impatiently stared at him.

Antonio looked at him in a very obvious way and said, "Of course you"re the one in charge of that."

"…."

"When I was the leader of the werewolves, I was only in charge of coming up with a guideline."

"….." Just who thought he was reliable just now? Come forward, knock your head on the wall! Feisha thought that as he threw himself at the hole in the wall that Shamal had made this morning!

(3) It"s hard to capture in English but Feisha is actually speaking (uncharacteristically) polite and respectful to Locktini (Feisha usually speaks quite casually). He"s using 您 nín, which is a formal/polite version of "you". (4) Original: 大哥，你真是哪壶不开提哪壶！Dàgē, nǐ zhēnshi nǎ hú bù kāi tí nǎ hú! This is a bit hard to translate. It means literally: big brother, you really point out whichever flask is unopened! "Big brother" is a casual term that"s used to call another guy. This is something Feisha came up with lol, it"s not an idiom. It basically means Antonio is the kind of person who must point out the elephant in the room.