Chapter 253: The Numbering for the Last Chapter Was Wrong Again
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The coach pa.s.sed through the streets of Breighton as the afternoon slowly rolled in. The finance and political center of the North had started coming alive, and laughter and chatters seeped out from within the coffeehouses and tea rooms at the side of the streets, implicitly informing every outsider that this was the time when the locals enjoyed high-teas.
Vidomina opened the window and watched the streets wistfully. She knew that it would be a long, long time before she could return to this beautiful city she had grown up in. That realization had incited a feeling of sorrow, so she closed the window again and edged closer to Baiyi, rubbing her skin at him for comfort.
Then, in a pang, she seemed to remember something and asked, “Mentor! What should I call you from now on?”
That caught Baiyi off guard, so he tilted his head to a side and replied her question with a question of his own, “Why ask something like this?”
“Because I’ll always be by your side from now on! So I thought, maybe… Maybe I should call you something with a friendlier t.i.tle? Right?”
Her mother had left her, and she had left her father. She was never even close with her brothers, so when they were leaving, Vidomina realized how lonely she was. She needed someone to rely on. She wanted that someone to be Baiyi.
The Fifth Walker easily understood her underlying trouble, so he started brainstorming. “Gimme some time; I’m on it.”
‘Father? Nope, no, no way.’ He had not gotten official custody of the girl, so he could not nab someone’s daughter like that. ‘Adoptive father? Uh, sounds so antiquated yet extant. Not friendly enough, too. Daddy? Uh. Next, please. This term has that connotation of decadence.’
“How about ‘G.o.dfather’?” Baiyi chose a t.i.tle that sounded quite normal, even if the term itself had a little religious overtone and relations with the mafia. ‘Well, am I not a force of unlawfulness in the eyes of law-abiding societies?’
“Alright, G.o.dfather!” A small smile etched on Vidomina’s face; she probably already wanted to call Baiyi that, did she not? The term was not as religious as it sounded back on Earth; in fact, it was one of the more common t.i.tles between a senior and a junior.
Someone in the Void still managed to poke fun at it, though. “Is it me, or are all of your suggested terms father-related? As if there was no such thing as ‘uncle’ or ‘master’!”
Whoever the original commenter was, they had been careful enough to say it anonymously. The bigger problem was that it hit the mark — Baiyi did not have a single good reb.u.t.tal for such a question!
Therefore, to avoid being forced into a corner, the sly Fifth Walker forcefully changed the subject, “Alright, ladies and gentlemen, let us conclude our result from today’s mission! Mm-hmm, not bad; we did not expend too much time or energy, and we easily obtained the strings on an actual Duke! Wooohoo! With his resources and wealth as our foundation, I believe we’re even closer, closer than ever, closer-like-we-have-never-been-closer-before, to our ultimate goal of escaping the Void! So much winning!”
“My child, why are you panicking? You’re rambling,” The Archmage pointed out, feeling confused.
“Ha! We all know your biggest gain out of this — another b.l.o.o.d.y beautiful maiden as a student!” The Paladin snapped in envy. “G.o.dd.a.m.n it, how do you keep doing this, you sorry piece of junk! Why are all of the girls attracted to you?!?!”
“That’s because I’m warm, gentle, understanding, reserved, dependable, and full of inner beauty,” came the reply with the utmost confidence.
“Oh, aren’t you a thick-skinned m*therfu*ker!”
“Thick enough to be used for a border wall!”
“And with that thick skin, he would probably ask someone else to pay for that same wall!”
The Void was instantly filled with a tide of mocking remarks.
“Alright, alright! You people shouldn’t bully my apprentice so much! He’s always having it rough, so sometimes he just needs to let off some steam by stroking his ego, yes?” The Archmage had to jump in to help his favorite student. “But it really was pretty good, objectively. You made a lot of good decisions on a lot of points — decisions that I wholeheartedly agreed with… Except for one pretty important part. I’m just worried that it might come back to haunt you.”
Baiyi knew exactly what his teacher was referring to; the d.u.c.h.ess’ escape was only possible because Baiyi had let her.
If he had made his choice without a shred of sentiment — instead only relying on cold, hard facts as well as pure logic — Baiyi should have captured the woman right there and then.
After that, everything else would be all up to Baiyi and the Voidwalkers’ plan. The lightest treatment they would dole out was to detain her, but they could also monitor and control her, or even torture her during interrogation to squeeze information out of her. Every detail implied that this woman was more than who she seemed; she might even be connected to their old friend, the G.o.dsfall cult — especially the way she had hidden her true strength; it seemed like it had been ripped from their playbook.
For the few rounds they had faced off against each other, Baiyi could tell that the woman was not very accustomed to controlling her own power. Although she was formidable, she had not exactly practiced enough either, so she could have brought even more h.e.l.l. From her performance during their battle, Baiyi could surmise that the d.u.c.h.ess may have been in a much weaker state prior to receiving this power from elsewhere, or else she would now have let the Duke’s sons had their ways with her.
Yet at the same time, she had been through Legendary-level.
Baiyi could probably guess the outline of her life: before marriage or even before being raped, she was still a powerful fighter. Then, for some reason, after her marriage, she had become weaker and weaker — probably not out of an organic reason such as indulgence and ignoring training, but because she was being fed with some sort of slow-working mana-exhaustion poison. Otherwise, she would not have lost so much power that quickly!
It was obvious who could have done such a thing; however, and most importantly, the Duke, who was without the curse or any other major ailment at the time, should have known what was going on to his new wife. With his wits and how well he knew his sons, there is almost no excuse for his ignorance. Yet, at the onset of tragedy, he had chosen to let his sons do whatever they wanted.
‘Why would the Duke allow that happen? Why was he okay with being a cuckold? Or maybe he gets sick kicks out of it?’ Whatever the reason was, Baiyi decided to just think of the man as a sociopath.
Afterward, the d.u.c.h.ess received help from somewhere else in order to avenge the shame and defilement she had suffered. That sort of experience most definitely elicited the Fifth Walker’s sympathy, hence the leeway.
Besides, Vidomina was right behind him at that moment. She may not be a long-time student of his, but she was an important tie to the Wright Family — a safeguard to ensure that the Duke does what he was told, even if she was no longer part of the family. Baiyi could not possibly dismiss her; after all, she was going to be instrumental in their grand plan.
That was why even with this turned out, Baiyi was still pretty satisfied. Letting the d.u.c.h.ess go was not completely due to sympathy; it was the best decision at that moment 1 .
As for the Duke’s sons? Oh, who gives a c.r.a.p, if they managed to survive the d.u.c.h.ess’ wrath enough to come to him, then maybe he would think about them.
The only problem left was the force behind the woman. They had helped the d.u.c.h.ess so much that they even let her use their new curse, but Baiyi was willing to bet that it had nothing to do with pity. There must be an ulterior motive behind this, and with Baiyi suddenly interjecting their plans and s.n.a.t.c.hing control of the Wright Family into his own hands, he was probably causing another stir…
There really was no such thing as the foolproof decision in any world, eh?
Not that he was worried. The best gifts to evil forces that lurk in the shadows are hard punches and brutal power — something Baiyi had in abundance. Come and get him.
“Too bad I did not have the time to really examine the d.u.c.h.ess’ body to make sure that she is a p.a.w.n from the G.o.dsfall cult,” Baiyi said.
“Below her belly b.u.t.ton, I saw a black flame tattoo,” A quiet, airy voice suddenly echoed out a quick answer. The Warrior had always liked curt answers.
‘Oh. Below the belly b.u.t.ton.’ Baiyi rubbed his own stomach and felt relieved that he was not bold enough to look there. But, when or how did the Warrior see it? Because they are all women? So, she had observed her even more closely than a man would 2 ?’
“Hmph!” That sneer came back.
Oh, come on; another one of your ‘hmphs’ again? It’s as if you’d turned into a hmph! sound effect track. Isn’t it better to describe explain things instead?’ Baiyi lambasted her in his mind.
At that moment, Vidomina, in reality, shook Baiyi’s shoulders hard. “G.o.dfather, can we stop before that street? My favorite confectionery is right there, and I wanna buy something for Mia and the others before we leave.”
“No problem,” Baiyi replied as he nodded, signaling the coachman to stop. “Brought enough money with you? Do you need me to come along?”
“I’ve got enough. And it’s fine, I can go alone.” She narrowed her eyes. “You really are sweet and gentle, G.o.dfather. I’m so jealous of Mia…”
“Hey, it’s alright. From now on you’re one of us, too.”
Vidomina forced another smile again, and as soon as the coach stopped, she took off and joined the queue outside the confectionery.
Baiyi too took the chance to get off from their ride and walked up to the coachman. Pretending to be chatting with him normally, he said in a hushed voice, “You did well this time. Perhaps I can loosen up some of these restrictions.”
“It’s a pleasure to serve Master Hope,” the coachman replied in the same hushed tone.
Oh yes. Baiyi could not possibly finish all of his tasks alone, such as waking up Vidomina despite being under the Drowse Formation’s effect; or finding the d.u.c.h.ess’ room, or knowing when the Duke’s sons would not be at home.
Baiyi had planted a sleeper agent into the Wright family long ago; the Legendary-level elderly who had helped summoned a lindworm for Vidomina back during the final exam fight against Mia. After Baiyi’s savage beatdown, which ended with the elderly losing all of his powers, he had been demoted to being a coachman for the Wright family, even if he was not completed kicked out of service.
He had experienced so much since falling from grace — so now, in a hunger for his glory days, the man would do anything to get his powers back!