"Don’t be deceived by smooth words."
Walking along the road out of Fireplace Bay, Teacher Cat transformed into a white ragdoll cat, perched on Ethan’s shoulder, his agile tail hooked around Ethan’s neck for balance. Now was the time for some post-lesson coaching, "As long as you can see the essence through the phenomena, you won’t be fooled by the tricks of the Evil God."
Good student Ethan nodded.
"From the taste of His creations, you can tell Bazatous has a very low aesthetic sense. His true form must be extremely ugly too."
"And He doesn’t care about hygiene, hiding filth everywhere, smells awful."
"Probably smells worse than ’Dark Creatures Repel 3.0’.
"That’s a bit too much, unnecessary, really.
Ethan couldn’t respond anymore, even though they were in a competitive enemy relationship with Bazatous in the trade market, there was no need to curse Him with such malicious language.
How was this different from directly cursing Bazatous as a pile of dog poop?
He thought there shouldn’t be anything more pungent in the world than ’Dark Creatures Repel 3.0’, unless the research department launches a 4.0 this year.
Teacher Cat concluded today’s lesson, "Anyway, as long as you’re not confused by the rhetoric of the chosen one."
They obtained important clues in Fireplace Bay, pinpointing the suspect as the Death God. Upon returning to the apartment, Ave and her family were not home, and Miss Keroy was nowhere to be found either. Ethan guessed they were probably dealing with the remnants of the Giant Divine Soldier up the mountain, so he decided to go over and see if there was anything he could help with.
Finding Ave and her group wasn’t difficult. As Ethan climbed the mountain, they stood at the most prominent place on the mountain path, with the remnants of the arm placed behind them. Ethan called out Ave’s name from afar, waving to the three in the moonlight.
However, the expressions of the three were extremely peculiar. They had initially gathered together discussing something, and upon seeing Ethan approach, suddenly looked like students caught playing with their phones in class, standing rigidly like robots, waiting for him to get closer.
"Ah, hahaha, it’s Old Sen, such a coincidence, you’re mountain climbing too?"
Rowena was pushed out of the crowd by Ave and Beyond, and even she, usually so eloquent, started talking nonsense.
Even a fool could tell the three of them had issues now.
In fact, the mere fact that the three suddenly reached a unified front emitted a weird vibe.
Ethan crossed his arms, totally unimpressed, "Come on, spill it. What’s going on?"
"It all starts with the founding of the Empire by the first King Henry I, back then—"
"Stick to the point."
"Alright." Rowena drooped her head in defeat, looking resigned, "Weren’t we discussing according to plan about moving the giant’s arm somewhere discreet for storage? We just started discussing, out of academic curiosity, what potential uses this arm might have. You know, when the topic atmosphere just gets there."
She and Ave had time to chat mainly because they were weak, Beyond found them clumsy, and let them stand aside, leaving the task of heavy lifting to her and Miss Keroy.
Beyond turned her face away in guilt, first "ratting" to the "teacher," "It was Rowena who brought up the idea of selling it to the black market and how much it might fetch."
They were simply following Rowena’s lead, discussing the area they were most familiar with.
"This is normal, alright! This is rare material from an anomalous space; on the black market, the higher the level of the creature the material is from, the higher the price. Of course, you’d be curious about how much those wealthy folks would pay for it!"
Rowena, unwilling to be outdone, exploded into a rapid fire of words, "But this person clearly has issues; do you know? She actually wondered if it can be eaten! Who would think of eating such a thing!"
Beyond’s defense suddenly made Ethan develop an ominous feeling.
The three of them had been chattering away here for ages, yet Miss Keroy was nowhere to be seen in Rowena’s version of events — supposed to be the main force in moving heavy objects.
He interrupted their bickering, asking, "Where did Miss Keroy go?"
"Ethan, about this, you shouldn’t be in a hurry yet."
Ave spoke up, her golden hair indicating to Ethan to calm down, "Didn’t they earlier discuss whether this thing could be eaten? Miss Keroy, she... took it seriously."
In the midst of the two’s argument, Miss Keroy suddenly jumped in, huffing and puffing, as if saying, "Stop arguing, I’ll try it for you."
Ethan couldn’t catch his breath. As he went around the other side of the arm, he saw that the giant’s bicep area was missing a large piece — this was not just a nibble!
"I told you to calm down first, Miss Keroy isn’t hurt, it’s just..."
"Just her appearance has changed a bit."
Ave was equally guilty, she was the visible leader of Ximu Town’s Reception Bureau, when an E-grade investigator under her command had an accident during duty, she was accountable.
"We let her rest in the cave first."
Ethan felt his scalp prickling; was this something that could be casually eaten?
Given Bazatous’ unbearably awful taste, he feared when next seeing Miss Keroy, she might be covered in writhing tentacles with a row of eyes growing on her neck.
Before entering the cave, he mentally prepared himself for five long minutes, finally taking a deep breath.
He had watched Miss Keroy grow up, no matter what she became, he wouldn’t distance himself — worst case, when Miss Keroy jumps into his arms to spoil him, he would just close his eyes and afterward refer to some dark rituals to see if he could find a reshaping magic.
He took steps forward, still hearing Miss Keroy’s "huffing" sounds. The subtle connection between them remained, Miss Keroy identified his footsteps, emitting joyous screeches.
Ethan almost immediately spotted Miss Keroy in the darkness.
She was incredibly eye-catching, bathed in golden flames, her size had expanded several circles again, though wings were tucked away, one could easily imagine the spectacular sight when fully extended.
Her tail feathers grew increasingly vibrant, like flaming golden ribbons.
Miss Keroy sensed Ethan’s gaze, lowered her head, eyes under the golden flames shimmered shyly, body gently swaying.
She evolved into a phoenix!
Ave lamented, "After eating the meat from the arm, Miss Keroy caught fire!"