Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/

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Chapter 169: Hero’s Fate

Nol had a dreamless night.

Since arriving in Tahe, he had never slept so well. A long-standing hidden pain in his body disappeared, making him feel exceptionally light all over. This sense of relief was intoxicating, and he couldn’t help but wish it would last longer.

He opened his eyes and saw Teest sleeping beside him.

Teest’s face was very close, his breathing light and even. One of his arms was draped over Nol’s waist, while the other was under Nol’s head as a pillow.

Nol couldn’t help but look for a few more seconds, his gaze sliding from the other’s silver-white eyelashes to his slightly parted lips.

The clean face, the quiet bedroom, the comfortable bodies—everything was so normal, it was touching. The previous chaos and anomalies felt like nightmares in their daily lives.

But they weren’t.

If it weren’t for the lurking threat of Star Stealer Sol, this would have been such a relaxing time. Unfortunately, their schedule today didn’t involve lying lazily in bed; they had a dragon to meet.

Nol hesitated for a moment, deciding not to wake Teest. He gently turned over, then almost jumped out of bed—the black candle was perched on the bedside table, its single eye gazing at him mournfully.

“You can still be scared by me. Impressive,” it said with a sigh, not bothering to lower its volume.

Teest opened his eyes, yawned, and tightened the arm around Nol’s waist a little.

“Good morning, honey.” He stretched on the stone bed for a while before lazily getting up.

“Why is Kando at the bedside?” Nol couldn’t help but touch Teest’s long hair.

Teest replied, “Because we’re missing a night light.”

Nol’s hand stroking the hair paused.

Teest continued, “Well, we talked about something last night—trivial stuff. I was about to tell you. What do you think, Kando? Have you made your decision?”

The black candle’s gaze was incredibly complex. “…Pretty much.”

Nol moved between them. “What are you guys talking about?”

“Preliminary experiments.”

Teest reached over Nol, poking at the candle’s twisting tears. “Learning has to be gradual—first learn that one plus one equals two, then you might have a chance to unlock complex magical formulas, right?”

“Your knowledge seal is too complicated. We need to bypass magic itself and directly interfere with memory, starting with something simple like a ‘name seal’.”

Nol opened his mouth but said nothing.

Part of him was confused by Teest’s ambiguous words, while another part whispered blurry answers to him.

Yes, Kando and he shared similar seals.

Now that it was suddenly brought up, was Teest suggesting…

Sure enough, Teest said softly, “Yesterday, I had a chat with our Miss Perradat for a while, and she agreed to give up the deal with Kando.”

Nol’s eyes lit up. “So it wants to repay your kindness by helping us sort out the theory?”

He didn’t hide the strange relief and sentiment on his face.

Teest’s smile froze for half a second, his gaze slowly drifting away. “Uh, no. I just inherited the deal with Kando… Now I’m its master.”

“Also, it’s not just theoretical. He wants to get hands-on…” The candle chuckled dryly; its short “hehe” contained at least ten emotions, and none of them were positive.

Nol: “……”

Nol: “Kando is considered my friend.”

“I have to admit, I initially wanted to use it for experiments.” Teest’s gaze drifted even further. “But I guessed you might be a little… slightly dissatisfied. So I offered a more fair trade, entirely voluntary.”

It was still our old friend, the Mad Monk. What was he hoping for?

Great. Less than ten minutes after waking up, his bedroom was already a scene of lively chaos.

Nol rubbed his temples hard. “Thanks for the consideration, but let’s not experiment on friends.”

After that, Nol sighed. “If we really need to clarify the situation with the ‘name seal’, we can find someone else. Some evil spirit with a long history of misdeeds or an Eternalist with a similar situation.”

“And, what did you use to trade for Kando? …Teest, you know you can’t look me in the eye when you’re guilty. You—wait, did you threaten Perradat?”

Teest’s gaze seemed to fly out of the room. His face was an astonishing picture of pure innocence.

Alright. Nol felt heavy-hearted; he thought he knew the answer.

“Anyway, let’s think of another way.”

“No need.” The candle suddenly spoke up. “That guy’s negotiation was quite fair, and I also want to recover my memory. The worst part is, I must have a master.”

Nol turned his face, looking at Kando with a complex expression.

Kando: “Wait, I’m not interested in being a servant! It’s just… a clear ‘recognition’ in my mind, without context. You understand this feeling, right?”

“Just like you instinctively dare not return to the Dragon’s Lair.” Seeing no anger from Nol, Teest cheerfully turned his head to interject.

“I want to know my past.” Ignoring Teest, Kando continued, “No matter what my past was, I’ve turned into a monster now. Things can’t get worse—it might even be helpful to you. It’s a perfect proposal.”

“Perradat would never release me voluntarily. For Her, every card must be played at the crucial moment. This is my best chance. I’m willing to cooperate!”

Nol didn’t know how to respond.

Throughout their journey, Kando’s understanding of the system was unnaturally extensive. Its ability to manipulate space was mysterious, and Nol still had no clue about its origins.

But he had an intuition that those abilities weren’t granted by Perradat. They weren’t powers related to fate.

Moreover, despite the black candle’s sharp tongue, its nature was relatively sincere and honest. If it completely changed after recalling its past…

Was it really a good idea to touch those memories? Nol was hesitant.

…Whether for Kando or for himself.

Beside him, Teest looked at him seriously.

“If that’s what you wish.” Eventually, Nol gave in. “Just don’t remember you’re Star Stealer Sol, since it also hates the Dragon’s Lair.”

“It’s not without that possibility,” the candle said slyly.

“You don’t have to worry about that.” Teest flicked the candle. “I have some guesses about this guy’s identity—I asked the Red Dragon Sage for you while you were resting.”

Nol quickly checked the system time—he had only slept for eight hours, not eighty?

In the blink of an eye, Teest had made a deal with Perradat, even dragged Painter out of bed, and woke up the Red Dragon Sage in the middle of the night to inquire about ancient gossip.

After a night of turmoil, the Mad Monk still had time to sneak back into bed and pretend nothing happened.

But knowing all this was for him, Nol’s helplessness turned soft. He wanted to kiss Teest, but with the candle’s burning gaze beside him, he could only pretend to be calm.

“Thank you both.” What else could he say?

Seeing Nol’s awkwardness fade, Teest happily waved his finger. “Before we meet with the dragons, let’s do a little warm-up.”

“I’ll find a way to bypass the seal with power and look at the memories inside the seal. Then, through methods other than normal curse-breaking, return the memories to Kando.”

[If its inner self is terrible, it’s okay not to return it.] Teest sent a thought to Nol, his mood as light as if he were shopping at a vegetable market.

Nol decided to pretend he didn’t hear it. At this moment, his Teest might be the knight furthest from the chivalry in all of Tahe.

After saying these things, Teest approached Nol proudly. “Assuming the method works, I will invite Subelbot to deal with your knowledge seal—whether you want to open it or reinforce it, we will have a way.”

“This is your last chance. Are you really sure?” Nol couldn’t help but ask the black candle again.

“Did you really grow ears? For this day, I have endured for over two hundred years!” Kando hummed unhappily.

“Okay, I have only one request.” Nol closed his eyes and turned to Teest. “This time, I’ll be with you.”

He wanted to see those sealed memories of Kando himself.

In the early morning, the only assistant was Painter.

“Miss Lynn hardly slept last night, standing alone in the corner. I think she needs some time to think—let’s let her focus all her energy on negotiating with the dragons.”

Painter sighed deeply.

“I know what you want to ask. Don’t worry. I can handle it alone—I’ve been an opponent of the Eternal Church for quite a while, and I know how to stabilize seals of this level.”

“Then we’ll leave it to you.” Nol smoothed the wrinkles on his clothes and took a couple of deep breaths.

The little black candle was still slumped on the bedside table, its eyes looking up at Nol, revealing a peculiar sadness.

“Come on,” it said.

……

Nol stepped into a pure white space.

There was no distinction of up, down, left, or right here… There were only black patches flickering everywhere.

Their edges emitted a soft light, floating in this space, like windows filled with the night sky appearing out of nowhere. If one ignored the special nature of this place, the “scenery” nearby was almost beautiful.

“Shrouded magic.” Nol approached the “patch” closest to him. “They block normal memories? They’re… hm, not very strong, but there are too many.”

“That’s why you need a succubus, honey.” Teest extended his hand and waved it out of thin air.

Countless patches flew like kites, lining up in front of him. The power to control dreams, no doubt. Nol drew closer, watching those domino-like floating patches.

They emitted a soft humming, gently swaying.

Teest’s expression turned a bit more serious. He extended his hands, and a majestic, cold power floated up like seawater. The edges of the patches flickered, becoming somewhat ethereal, and their glow grew brighter.

Instead of a queue, it looked more like a discontinuous pathway now.

Nol was reminded of two mirrors placed opposite each other.

“Easier than I thought.” Teest hummed deeply. “Sure enough, trash can’t compare to the system.”

When Teest recalled the oppressive feeling given by that “foreign Nol” last time, the hairs on the back of his neck still stood up. Invading this kind of seal was about as difficult as picking up a penny; but compared to invading Nol’s seal, Teest would rather steal Perradat’s remains again.

“Please.” In front of the slightly trembling passage, Teest extended his hand as if inviting a dance.

Nol firmly grasped that hand and stepped forward.

The moment he saw the world in front of him, a feeling close to fear struck him.

He found himself standing on a pale beach, not far from the ancient Demon King that should have disappeared long ago. The black-grey sea, the bloody sky, the dimly lit reefs like rotting corpses, and the busy shadows wandering everywhere.

The air was filled with a familiar stench, as if time had turned back.

It was just like they were still fighting the ancient Demon King, and everything that followed was just an illusion.

Looking at this land for the second time, that terrifying déjà vu faded.

Nol realized that the challengers this time weren’t faces he recognized. He saw an old man in tattered clothes, a woman in silver armor, a mage with a big beard… This team wasn’t small in number, and they were on the verge of collapse.

Broken bodies were swallowed by the Demon King’s corruption. The few leading them were all heavily injured, soaking the pale beach with blood and flesh.

The owner of this memory stood at the forefront of the team; his vision was stained red with blood.

On the long sword, the face of the memory’s owner was reflected.

Nol instantly tightened his grip on Teest’s hand.

He recognized that face—of course, he recognized that face. Damn it, he had considered this possibility, but… but Kando was nothing like that person—the NPC that the “Tahe” production team had put the most effort into.

…That was the hero, Drake.

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Kinky Thoughts:

I had a suspicious feeling, but now it’s confirmed.

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