Chapter 340: Chapter 287: I’m Waiting for You Chapter 340: Chapter 287: I’m Waiting for You Igula’s sudden question caught Hanna off guard, her eyebrows lifting slightly, “What do you mean?”
“Miss,” Igula drawled, “from the beginning, we accepted your invitation, and that’s why we became members of the Funeral Service Office. From the start, you never clarified the significance of the Weaving Festival for us–you didn’t even mention that it was an adventure that required risking our lives.”
Hanna narrowed her eyes, “I didn’t expect the first list to be–”
“But now, Ash’s interest has been damaged because of your plan.”
Igula straightened up, his gaze fixed on Hanna, “His status as an outsider is known to all, he’s wanted by the Kingdom of Gospel, he’s even been mistakenly identified by the Gospel Book as a party to future disasters–Miss, surely you aren’t going to say that Ash’s current predicament is his own fault and has nothing to do with you?”
Banjee couldn’t help but speak up, “But our plan hasn’t even started, and Ash–he–”
“Of course, it has to do with me.”
Hanna raised her hand to stop Banjee from speaking further, speaking calmly, “If I hadn’t brought Ash into this plan, perhaps none of this would have happened–Mr. Bokin, that’s what you mean, isn’t it?”
Igula smiled, “I have no resentment towards you, Miss. After all, I’m not Ash. But now that a new problem has arisen, shouldn’t we discuss a solution?”
“How would you solve it?” Hanna’s lips curled upward, “Have me annul Ash’s warrant? Or get Ash’s name off the ‘Art List’?”
Silence fell over the basement, Banjee and Harvey didn’t speak, Ash and Liss huddled together shivering–Hanna and Igula’s negotiation aura was too strong; they didn’t dare to interrupt.
“How could I possibly force you, Miss, to do such impossible things?” Igula cocked his head to one side, “But if it’s impossible to solve the problem, shouldn’t you, at least… compensate Ash for his losses?”
What, there was a possibility of monetary compensation?
Ash blinked, silently cheering for Igula.
All of a sudden, Hanna sharply asked, “If the person in question here is Ash, and Ash hasn’t even spoken, why is Mr. Bokin so eager to secure benefits for Ash?”
Ash was taken aback, thinking to himself, right, why is Meiwa taking up my cause?
The Swindler lowered his eyelids, “…This time it’s Ash; next time, the wanted person might be me. If I don’t speak up for this fool now, when will anyone speak up for the clever man?”
Hanna’s expression carried an inscrutable nuance, “You think you’re the clever one? I don’t think so; I think you’re the fool.”
At this point, even Ash thought the Miss was being a bit too harsh–you could say Igula was as ugly as a Beastman, ate like an ogre, bathed like a Goblin, but you could never question Igula’s intelligence, for that was his core skill he relied on most!
However, Igula didn’t rebuke her, simply gazing at Hanna quietly, as if he disdained to engage in a pointless argument with her.
What the heavens propose, the earth disposes.
It was natural that Hanna wouldn’t really compensate Ash for his ‘industrial injury’; let alone that Ash’s warrant had nothing to do with her, even if it did, it wouldn’t be just because Bokin said so–status is like a seesaw, one side rises, the other falls. If Hanna bowed now, she would always have to bow.
Kindness and weakness are twins, difficult to tell apart. Hanna was more than happy to show her kindness, but not if it meant others perceived her as weak. Igula, Harvey, Ash–these three were fugitives from other nations, and even if they hadn’t shown any signs of Cruelty in the past few days, that didn’t mean they were good people.
In the eyes of the practitioners in the Service Office, everyone is a potential murderer. Just a slight test of their humanity’s thread, and they would realize just how fragile the everyday life that had seemed so rational truly was. When they embraced reality, the weight of it would drag them into the Deep Sea.
Interestingly, this was also the Swindler’s understanding of human nature: as long as you’re not a god, you can be deceived, because the Swindler and God share the same essence–possessing the capacity to fulfill any desire you have.
Therefore, Hanna and Igula had an unspoken understanding in their negotiation–don’t test the other’s limits, and quit while you’re ahead.
The final result was a new Contract signed between the Miss and her operators–the contract contained only one clause: no matter the circumstances, Hanna must regard Ash, Igula, Harvey, and Liss with the same consideration as she would herself.
This Contract had only one purpose: to completely eradicate the possibility of Hanna betraying Ash.
Now they at least didn’t need to worry about Hanna helping Red Hat find Ash, the flower girl.
As for the duty shift, since they needed to use the Gospel Book for reconnaissance, Hanna and Banjee each took a shift. Originally, Ash wanted to take the first half of the night, but Liss, the only one who didn’t need to stand guard, insisted on sleeping while holding onto Ash.
“Normally, shouldn’t you be sleeping while holding onto your mom?” Ash, lying sideways on the wooden bed, complained, “Why are you clinging to me…”
“Then where is my mom?” Liss’s straightforward question was just as fierce.
“If you want to experience something nice, you can go find Big Sister Hanna, if you like tall ones you can go to Auntie Bokin, Liss, you’re already a grown-up kid, you should learn to find a mom by yourself… Sigh, should I tell you a bedtime story?”
“No!” Liss shook her head resolutely, holding Ash’s hand, “This is good.”
Ash looked at Liss with her eyelids drooping and felt a bit envious–he had long outgrown that age where one could just sleep whenever.
Speaking of which, it’s time to go to the Void Realm… Huh?
How am I supposed to go to the Void Realm?
All of my Technique Spirits are spoils that I’ve snatched, I don’t have a single pure-love Technique Spirit that I grew up with!
Ash, who had never opened the Gate of Truth, was like a profligate with many lovers; it was nice to have people sponsor you during the day, but come nighttime, you can’t find your way home.
And only then did he remember–he had missed tonight’s Void Realm Exploration.
Ash quietly summoned the Gospel Book, turned to the page of the Mage’s Handbook, and checked if the Witch and Sword Maiden were already exploring the Void Realm. But when he opened it, he found out that the exploration team had already disbanded.
“Detected that operators are in plot status, team exploration is temporarily suspended.”
Operators are in plot status… Wait, am I also an operator?
With team exploration suspended, everyone naturally went their own way. Ash checked and found that the Witch was not in the Void Realm; she might have finished exploring and left, but the Sword Maiden was still in the Void Realm, so Ash could also go in for a look.
But why is the Sword Maiden’s exploration time longer than the Witch’s? Without a sports car, both the Sword Maiden and the Witch could only walk, and it stands to reason that the Witch, having more exploration experience, should have greater endurance than the Sword Maiden…
However, Ash didn’t think too much about it and hurriedly chose to enter through the Sword Maiden’s Gate of Truth into the Void Realm.
The Gate of Truth doesn’t move with the mage, so Ash could only arrive where the Sword Maiden had been more than two hours ago, and he had no idea where the Sword Maiden had gone…
Consciousness descended into the Void Realm, Ash opened his eyes and found himself sitting in a sports car.
Indeed, without exploring the Void Realm in team mode, the Sword Maiden couldn’t borrow his sports car, and this time she really had to measure the Time Continent with her feet.
He opened the Void Realm Map, wanting to check the Sword Maiden’s exact location, and if she wasn’t too far, he would immediately drive over.
If she was far… he still had to drive over, after all, he was the one who stood her up tonight, so he had to give her an explanation. And just by himself, Ash couldn’t carry out the exploration of the Void Realm.
For this smuggler who had been illegally teaming up from the start, an exploration of the Void Realm with two people could be called an adventure, but exploring the Void Realm alone, that was called wandering.
However, when Ash opened the map, he saw two mage icons close together.
One was him, the Observer,
Ash turned his head to look behind, and saw a young girl sitting on the lawn behind the sports car, hugging her legs, her body rhythmically swaying back and forth, seemingly humming a song.
Sonia on the lawn seemed to feel something too, and looked back.
“Why are you still here?”
“Because I was waiting for you.”