Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong

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

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Chapter 29: A Wrap for Now

Salaar pushed the door open. Sure enough, Kalen was waiting inside.

In just one morning, the room had been cleaned. The floor was spotless, the bedding dry and smooth, and the windows were thrown wide so a fresh breeze could whirl through.

On the table sat round loaves stuffed with cold cuts and cheese, washed sweet plums, and herb tea at just the right warmth. The crows hopped along the sill but didn’t touch the fresh food.

Salaar took a quick look. None of the three unconscious people were in the room.

“I booked a four-bed next door. It’s easier to look after them that way,” Father Kalen said. “I’ll head over. There’s food on the table. You two should really rest.”

“That’s too kind.”

Carrying a sound-asleep Myss, Salaar carefully closed the door with his heel. “You don’t have to do all this. We’ve got it.”

“Ah, don’t mind me. I’m used to caring for my brother.” Kalen waved it off. “He’s a bit disabled, so I’ve gotten good at these things.”

Since the man had put it that way, Salaar let it go. He only reminded Father Kalen they had matters about V.O.R. to discuss and asked him not to leave for the time being.

The priest readily agreed and went next door to tend the patients. The crows spread their wings and relocated with him, leaving only the cool breeze at the window.

Salaar locked the door and gently set Myss back on the bed. Maybe he’d pushed through too many nights. The Demon Lord slept so deeply he didn’t react at all.

Salaar took off Myss’s boots, quietly unbuckled his belts, and left only the loose outer coat.

Last, he undid Myss’s braid and let the gray-white hair fall. The smooth strands slid through his fingers like poured mercury. Daylight cast a soft halo around his hair.

The little snake Fork still slept among the strands, which Salaar carefully lifted out. In its dreams, its red eyes crossed a little, making it look a bit silly.

He set it back on Myss. Fork nosed around, quickly coiled up Myss’s arm, and fell asleep again.

For a while, the world was all quiet. There was only the faint scent of herb tea and the faraway voices outside the window.

Salaar sat at the bedside, studied Myss for a moment, then gently took his right wrist.

In sleep, Myss’s fingers curled slightly, his palm hotter than usual. His nail beds were rosy and looked like they were in good condition; there wasn’t much dirt under the nails. The Demon Lord was cleaner than Salaar expected.

Touching those warm fingers, Salaar thought again of the cold, ever-present tendrils in the dark.

Not long ago, Myss’s true form hadn’t shown any tendril structure. Was that another form of his? Or was the being called the “Archdemon” in the midst of a metamorphosis…

Myss felt the touch. He grunted twice in his sleep, whisked his right hand away, and tucked it under the quilt.

Salaar could only sigh and tuck the covers in.

“Aren’t you sleeping, Salaar?” Knife whispered. “Honestly, I’m a bit tired.”

“Going now,” Salaar murmured, finally pulling his gaze from Myss.

……

Myss woke from hunger.

When he opened his eyes, the sky was already dim. Calculating the time, he’d slept from morning to evening.

Bright-eyed, he hopped off the bed and immediately spotted the delicious spread on the table. He chomped into a cold-cut roll and ate with great relish.

Oh. Salaar was still asleep.

It hit Myss that this was his first time seeing Salaar’s sleeping face in the human world. He clamped the bread in his teeth and hurried over, curious.

Salaar’s features were deeply cut, his lines a bit hard, with a sharp gloom to them. One hand shaded his brow; his face was deathly calm. Who knew what he was dreaming of.

Knife lay obediently coiled by his pillow, also sleeping soundly.

“Oh!” Fork cried out, springing like a coil. It bonked Knife awake, then shot back to Myss.

Knife stirred woozily and hid under Salaar’s pillow.

After a bit of staring at the sleeping Salaar, Myss got bored. He waved the remaining half of his roll under Salaar’s nose, trying to provoke the hero awake with the smell.

Salaar’s lapis-lazuli eyes opened. He narrowed them at Myss, then took a bite. Two seconds later, Myss’s roll had died a heroic death.

“That was mine! There’s more on the table!” Myss cried in dismay.

“I thought you were giving it to me,” Salaar said nonchalantly, swallowing the last crumbs without mercy.

Five minutes later.

After devouring his fill, Salaar and a long-faced Myss knocked on the door next door.

The other room was thick with the scent of herbs. The curtains were drawn, casting a soft shadow across the room.

Scintilla was actually awake. She was curled in a corner of the bed, holding a bowl of stewed pears, looking exhausted and lost.

Hailey and Huey had just gotten their emotions back and still lay half-asleep on their beds. Their breathing was a touch fast, but their faces had good color.

“Good evening,” Father Kalen said. “Thanks to Mr. Salaar, everyone’s recovering fast. But Mr. Huey and Miss Hailey will need a little… digestion time.”

At the sound of the door, Scintilla looked up. Her unfocused gaze skimmed Salaar and Myss and dropped back to the sheets.

“…so… rry…” she whispered, lips barely moving.

“What is it, Miss Scintilla?” Salaar crouched by her bed and asked gently.

“I’m sorry…”

She didn’t raise her head. Tears fell like a burst dam and pattered into the bowl. “It’s all my fault. I should’ve asked for help earlier… Mr. Kalen told me… the ones who died of illness… sob… it’s all on me…”

She fought not to break down, her voice wrecked and hoarse.

Salaar listened in silence until her sobbing was less out of control. “You should’ve asked sooner, and you shouldn’t have opened those letters from unknown sources.”

His voice was unusually even. “I won’t tell you that you’re completely blameless.” He paused. “But I can tell you the true culprit lies elsewhere—do you remember V.O.R.?”

At that, he cut a glance toward Kalen.

Oh, oh, oh—time to adopt the crow priest!

In high spirits, Myss straightened up and decided to forget that half roll.

“V.O.R.…”

Scintilla wrestled her hiccups down, bit her lip, and her pupils widened in fear. “I remember… Right before I blacked out, I got a letter from him.”

Kalen immediately took a letter from his pocket and held it out to her. “Was it this one?”

Scintilla sniffled. She didn’t dare touch the page, only looked from a distance. “It’s missing two words… He addressed me as ‘Fallen Child’. And those two words…”

She shuddered, gulping air. “Those two words bit me! Then I don’t remember anything… That ‘anomalous space’ you mentioned—I don’t have any impression at all…”

She tore her gaze from the paper and curled up tight, as if it might bite again.

The priest stroked the paper, lost in thought.

Perfect. Hooked.

Myss crossed his arms solemnly and added, “Oh, I looked through your memories. That thing didn’t bite you. It’s more like a seed of an Abnormal Fruit, crazily siphoning magic like your Magibase.”

“But your Magibase mom only drains you. That thing turned you into a monster so it could feed on the whole city.”

Then Myss flicked a look at the priest from the corner of his eye and went on, “Hey, kid, you studied that Magibase for a long time. Besides wanting to drain you dry, is there anything special about it?”

Talking about her research brought a little clarity to Scintilla’s eyes.

She searched her memory a bit and shook her head. “Other than absorbing magic very fast, it wasn’t much different from the rest, just incomplete. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have…”

She paused sadly. “The only special thing is probably ‘I survived’.”

“On anyone else, that kind of Magibase would be fatal.”

No new lead. Myss grunted indifferently. He hadn’t expected a teenage girl to have some earthshaking discovery. So long as the crow priest took the bait, it was his win.

Think about it: he could read mutates’ memories and cut out the source, and Salaar could put people back together. What a perfect lure.

All that remained was the finishing blow—

“Let’s reintroduce ourselves. I’m ‘Pilgrim’, your pen pal of many years.”

Salaar stood and held out his right hand to Scintilla. “V.O.R. introduced us back then. Remember?”

Scintilla’s eyes widened a little in surprise. “It’s you! You’re more…”

She stopped just in time. Myss guessed she’d meant to say “normal”. After all, Lord Karns’s writing was so muddled even an Archdemon couldn’t stand it.

“…Has your research gone well?”

She switched topics at last, clearly unaware Lord Karns was using human sacrifices.

Salaar lowered his eyes, a touch of bitterness on his face.

“No. My research ran into a major problem. Someone who’d cared for me for a long time died because of it, and another person who’s vital to me got dragged in—his body still hasn’t recovered.

“Seeing what happened to you, I suspect those anomalies are tied to V.O.R. Anyway, I’m homeless now. From here on, I’ll do whatever it takes to find V.O.R.”

Wow. What an impact.

Out of the corner of his eye, Myss checked Father Kalen—once Scintilla confirmed Salaar’s identity, the priest’s last doubts disappeared. His delighted gaze flicked between them, and even the crows’ eyes seemed to sparkle.

But the conversation didn’t end there.

Hearing that Salaar meant to hunt V.O.R., Scintilla flinched. Then, as if remembering something, she carefully set down her bowl of fruit.

“I—I’ve been considering a possibility. I don’t know if it’s useful to you,” she said softly. “That handsome gentleman just now made it sound like my Magibase was attacking me…but maybe that’s not how it was…”

Myss tilted his head. Fork, hidden in his sleeve, squeaked an astonished “oh!”

“At least in this matter, I’m not a victim,” she said with difficulty. “That Magibase doesn’t have a self. It only ran according to my subconscious.”

“I wanted my mother back, so it kept creating her illusions for me. But I knew they were illusions and wasn’t satisfied, so it decided to ‘gestate’ me all over again.”

“The space Father mentioned was just… its way of staying with me, birthing me, becoming my real mother… That’s very likely…”

Her voice shrank, worn down by the words themselves. Salaar and Father Kalen fell silent; the air turned heavy.

In the silence, Myss gave a loud snort. “Aren’t you giving yourself too much credit?”

Scintilla stared at him, momentarily forgetting to sob.

“Maybe its motive’s exactly what you said. But could a kid like you make a monster of that caliber?”

Myss dismissed it. “Without the final gift V.O.R gave you, your little spark wouldn’t have set off a natural disaster.”

Come on. He lost control in front of that monster. How could a mighty Archdemon that was out of control possibly be defeated by a creation made by a kid’s tantrum.

With that in mind, he went on, justified and cool. “If you ask me, you held it back. That monster started out damaged—hardly what I’d call ‘normal’.”

He remembered clearly: before they even took action, the monster’s body already had plenty of fractures; in the end he separated Scintilla’s body with ease, and only parts of her had mutated.

Right up to the end, the girl kept that sliver of reality and wasn’t swallowed whole.

The bottom line was, the Abnormal Fruit was the real powerhouse. At most, Scintilla’s loss of control made her the vessel and the feed.

As soon as Myss finished, Scintilla’s nose went red and tears started again. She didn’t look at him this time, just stared at the sleeping Huey and Hailey.

But unlike the grief Myss expected, a faint relief touched her face. Whether her mind had settled or she was simply spent, she closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.

“Never figured you’d comfort people better than me,” Salaar said, a note of something odd in his voice. “What can I say—very you, My~ss~.”

Myss snapped his head up. “Shut up. I just wanted her to know her place and drop the fantasies.”

“By the Lord of Shadows…” Father Kalen touched his heart with his fingertips. “I’ve got a presumptuous request.”

Myss jerked his head. “Not presumptuous.”

The priest stalled, keeping a puzzled smile. “Since you both want to investigate V.O.R., could we perha—”

Myss: “Yes. Let’s do it.”

Beside him, Salaar wiped a hand down his face and nodded to Kalen.

Kalen: “……”

Kalen awkwardly lowered his head as his sincerely said, “Thank you—really. Honestly, if I hadn’t met you two, I wouldn’t know what to do.”

“Great. From today on, you’ve got to stick with us,” Myss declared. “If you don’t get something, ask Salaar. If there’s trouble, tell Salaar. If you’re short on money, hit up Salaar… and if you hear any news about the Abnormal Fruit, report to me first.”

Salaar remained silent. One hand wiping his face became two.

Kalen scratched his cheek in confusion. “But you both look much younger than me. Shouldn’t I be the one taking care of you…”

“No worries—we’ll play it by ear,” Salaar raised a hand to halt the dreadful conversation.

Sunset stained the sill red. Outside, the crows cocked their heads and hopped about. At last they beat their wings and went to hunt their own dinner.

……

Two days later.

The good news: the Upper City finally wrapped its endless inquiry, and Myss and Salaar were allowed back to their guestroom.

Huey and Hailey recovered as well. Though the memory of that horrific space still rattled them, the uncle and his niece had returned to normal life.

Salaar explained the incident as “Scintilla was possessed by a demon and what you saw as an illusion created by it” and “the strange illness was indeed a demon’s curse. We drove the demon off together.” He didn’t mention anything about the Abnormal Fruit.

With a priest on their side, that story sounded convincing.

“At least the plague won’t come back. Business at the inn should pick up,” Huey said, still shaken, ruffling Hailey’s hair.

Hailey’s focus was elsewhere. “Will Uncle’s Magibase fully recover?”

In the chaos, Huey’s Magibase took the biggest hit. He could barely use magic now—thankfully his job didn’t require it.

“Don’t worry, child. With careful recuperation, Mr. Huey will recover in a month,” Father Kalen said. “But watch sleep and stress. Magibases are easily affected by one’s mental state. I’ve mixed some calming herbal tea. Brew two pots a day…”

Myss sprawled on the inn’s plush bed, half-lidded, listening to the humans chatter.

This bed was amazing—infinitely better than the Hammer Tavern’s. Lord Karns’s letters were well kept, and none of their luggage was missing. Salaar said Huey had likely made sure of that.

Myss didn’t care about these trifles. He buried his face in the soft pillow and let out a satisfied breath.

“What’ll happen to Scintilla?” Huey’s muffled voice drifted to him.

“We won’t report to the Royal Investigators,” Salaar said. “With the demon’s trail unclear, there’s no point in stirring up a wider panic.”

“But personally, that doesn’t mean Miss Scintilla bears no responsibility. She should think hard about how to atone… Luckily, she’s capable and has a long future.”

Huey exhaled deeply and hummed a quiet assent.

Hailey spoke up, her tone a bit awkward. “We’ll keep an eye on her, right, Uncle? Uncle Hammer’s short on hands—I can work with her… I don’t want Rosha getting another plague.”

“…Yes. We’ll watch her and make sure she doesn’t cause more trouble.” Huey gave her a smile.

A warm, gentle mood pooled around the humans. Myss felt a subtle sense of impatience.

“Hey.” He pulled his face from the pillow. “You’d better not let her summon a Magibase again.”

Salaar arched a brow at him; only then did Myss notice the guy had been watching their way all along.

“Since she’s naturally able to use magic, let her use her own.” It wasn’t like she couldn’t use magic. Salaar and his army used it just fine, and their strength was far greater than those Magibase users.

Hailey hesitated. “But I heard growing that way’s really slow…”

Myss flopped back into the pillow, voice muffled. “Wasn’t her last ‘growth spurt’ fast enough? Let’s skip the next one.”

Hailey went silent at once, and Salaar coughed a few times.

“Are you really leaving?” Huey steered them back. “Rosha’s a nice place. It’s especially beautiful this season.”

“Thanks for everything. We’ll wander a few more days and restock,” Salaar said. “But we do have business, so we can’t stay long…”

The linens smelled so good. Listening to Salaar’s low voice, Myss’s mind drifted, and he fell asleep again in the sunlight.

At the same time.

Three doors down from the group, in a dim room.

The curtains were sealed tight, layered with temporary covers. Though dusk hadn’t fallen, the room was nearly dark with only a few candles burning.

Kai, the magic-item merchant, flexed his wrists, making a clicking sound.

One suitcase sat on the floor, lid gaping to show a heap of alchemic gadgets—several bottles of “Resolve to Elope” conspicuous among them. He was busy hoisting another case—the one he’d never opened—onto the bed with effort.

“Hey, hey! Kai, are you listening?”

A perfect clear crystal cube sat on the bedside table—a voice-transmission device shrieking. “You’ve been out of touch for two whole days. Is Kendrick Karns still in Rosha or not?”

“Probably.”

“What do you mean, probably?!”

“How should I put it… the Young Master isn’t quite what I expected. I thought he’d come to his senses and elope with a pretty slave. Turns out it’s way more complicated than I thought.”

Click. Kai popped the lock on the huge suitcase.

“If you want my advice… well, whatever the Karns family’s paying you, you’d better not wade into this mess.”

Silence from the device for a few seconds.

“It’s just an assassination. I’ve never failed,” the voice insisted.

“Alright, since you insist,” Kai shrugged at the air. “Either way, I’m not feeding you intel. Figure it out yourself.”

“What? I already paid a deposit, you freckled runt!”

“I already told you he’s in Rosha. That doesn’t break our agreement,” Kai said. “Goodbye, O’Unfailing… Sorry, Dragon Fae doesn’t have a gender, right? Should I call you sir or ma’am? Any preference?”

“I have a name!” the voice snapped.

“Alright then. Goodbye, Tass Ga the Unfailing.” Kai cut the call cleanly.

“Honestly, my main job’s a magic artifact merchant, not an information broker.” Kai snorted and opened the long-sealed case.

In the dim firelight, another “Kai” lay curled inside.

A closer look revealed that while the “Kai” inside the box had a warm color and looked alive, tiny seams marked the joints, revealing a puppet of terrifying precision.

“I just heard someone made the same foolish move I did. That scared me good,” he murmured to it. “Our Miss Scintilla’s got a bright future—she actually devised a control method for the forbidden Magibase herself… Pity she couldn’t make a vessel.”

“So tell me—compared to her, am I lucky, or unlucky?”

The puppet slowly opened its eyes.

It didn’t move and merely slowly rolled its eyeballs. The eyeballs made a dry, clicking sound as they moved, finally settling into the corners.

“Anyway, since Miss Scintilla’s back to normal. I doubt she’ll want to ‘join the Stargazers Society’. My recruitment job’s done.”

Kai didn’t look at it. He turned his head toward where Myss and Salaar were.

“…As for those two ‘eloping accidents’—if they keep chasing V.O.R., we’ll meet again sooner or later.”

“Assuming, of course, they survive that Tass Ga.”

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The author has something to say:

I’m guessing everyone’s already forgotten Kai (…)? But how could a passerby eat up a whole chapter!

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