Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 100: Void
Myss choked.
How to put it? This atmosphere felt like it was right, but also not quite right.
They were enemies, that was true, but Salaar was the one who had proposed the contract. What did he mean, “you used the contract to control me”?
“Hurry up and remove the drug’s effect. Like this, you’ll delay important business.” Myss repeated, puffed up with anger.
Salaar refused to be moved. “Since I took the potion of my own accord, I must have anticipated the current situation.”
Myss ground his teeth with a creak.
Meaning, Salaar was confident he could resolve the matter of “canceling the kill order.” Damn it. Not only was Hero Salaar highly confident in his past self, he was also more than happy to make things difficult for Myss.
“Suit yourself.” Myss turned and walked away.
After taking a few steps, he backed up again and put on a stern face. “I don’t know where the room is. This kind of broken thing is usually handled by you.”
“What’s going on, what’s going on?”
The Dragon Fae was still inside the pocket watch on Myss’s chest. At this moment, he couldn’t help poking his head out.
Myss briefly mentioned the effect of “Return to Youth.” After listening, the Dragon Fae revealed an especially subtle expression.
“Haa, young people these days, their tricks really are…”
Tass hesitated, arms propped on the edge of the gemstone as he lightly shook his head. “Forget it. The only person who could think of using this kind of potion as a poison would be a dandy like Owen.”
“The effect of this potion lasts pretty long. If it wears off naturally, it takes about a month. Judging from Salaar’s behavior just now, he doesn’t seem like the kind of unreasonable young brat either. It shouldn’t be a big problem.”
The Dragon Fae was taking it all quite well.
But aside from Myss, there was someone else present who was quite unhappy.
“Myss, Myss!” Fork’s thin voice carried a sob. “Come look quickly, Knife turned into an idiot!”
Earlier, Fork and Knife had both been casually stuffed into Myss’s pocket. Knife hadn’t made any sound this whole time that Myss thought that little snake was maintaining Salaar’s steady manner.
He hurriedly pulled out Knife and discovered that the little snake’s lapis eyes were pointed in different directions, one up and one down, looking as if it had fallen asleep. But it moved from time to time, so it clearly wasn’t dormant.
“No matter how I call it, it won’t respond to me. Even if it’s affected by Salaar’s mental state, it shouldn’t become like this!”
Fork twisted its body in distress and nearly tied itself into a knot. “Myss, think of something!”
Myss poked Knife. Knife moved reflexively, like an ordinary snake. Its eyes were still flying around everywhere, looking dimwitted.
Could something really have gone wrong with Salaar’s mind?
Myss looked until his heart grew irritated and disturbed, then stuffed Knife back into his pocket. Fork anxiously bit its own tail tip, rolling around inside Myss’s pocket.
“We’ll talk after returning to the room.” Myss patted his pocket, his voice dry.
“Alchemical creatures reacting strongly to alchemical drugs isn’t rare. Don’t worry. Salaar is good at healing magic, and he won’t have any aftereffects.”
Tass comforted Myss like an elder. “In any case, our investigation has no time limit. We can afford to wait a month. I’ll go inform Kalen now. You two go rest first…”
At critical moments, this Dragon Fae could still be considered reliable.
Myss’s gaze had just swept over when he saw Tass rubbing his hands together. “…And while I’m at it, I’ll eavesdrop on the Karns meeting. Who knows what they’ll say behind your backs!”
Myss: “…”
Well, he was still the Tass Ga Myss knew.
…
Salaar soon found a male servant and located the room the Karns family had prepared for them.
The room was supposedly one Kendrick Karns had lived in during his youth. Its interior decoration was quite grand, completely incomparable to that filthy, messy room in Ring Town.
Outside the tall arched floor-to-ceiling windows was the manor garden glittering with lights. Moonlight, lamplight, and swaying branches were neatly cut into squares by the rectangular window frame, hidden behind heavy dark-red curtains.
In the center of the room stood a white-painted four-poster bed. The bed had been changed with a soft and comfortable goose-down quilt, large enough for four adults to sleep on.
In the corner of the room, the decorative fireplace crackled and popped. Calming herbs that refreshed the heart and mind were being smoked over the fire. Jewel ornaments decorated bluish-green pine needles, hanging quietly by the fireplace and casting swaying fragments of colored light on the wooden floor.
In front of the fireplace, there was even chilled apple wine, fresh fruit, and shield-shaped almond biscuits. The Karns family truly deserved to be one of the great noble families of the Aufon Kingdom. Even though Kendrick was only an unpopular family member, he still received treatment fit for a king.
Salaar sat beside the bed with his knees together. His back was to the leaping firelight, and his eyes sank into a thin layer of shadow. Spread open on his knees was a copy of ‘Eight Possible Causes of the Night Scourge’.
Myss stood in front of Salaar. After standing for a while, he felt this posture was uncomfortable, so he dragged over a chair and sat facing Salaar.
Salaar raised his head and looked at him once, then lowered it again and continued reading that book about the Night Scourge.
…Myss suddenly realized the reason for his discomfort.
Ever since Salaar’s mind had returned to his youth, even if he regarded Myss as an “enemy,” it wasn’t the same level of “enemy” as before.
Salaar’s gaze no longer stuck to him at all times. Salaar’s movements no longer carried that intentional or unintentional teasing. The young Salaar only obeyed instructions in a standard manner, then treated him as a problem that needed to be solved.
This Salaar was too quiet, so quiet he didn’t seem like a living person. The air inside the room was warm, yet by the bed flowed a chill, a nearly void-like coldness that came from Salaar.
This chill made Myss extremely displeased.
“Are you planning to sit there all night?” Myss folded his arms, crossing one leg high over the other.
“According to noble customs, they will give us options after breakfast tomorrow.”
Salaar raised his eyes again and looked at Myss. “Is there anything else?”
Myss shifted his backside against the chair, his body leaning forward slightly. “I thought you’d have a lot of questions to ask me.”
“There’s no need yet. There are enough books here.” Salaar said, his fingertips lightly brushing over the words “Chaos Archdemon” on the page.
“Clearly, it’s now more than three hundred years after the Night Scourge ‘ended,’ and I’m still searching for a way to eliminate the Chaos Archdemon.”
Myss’s eyes darted about. “Let me tell you a little secret. The Chaos Archdemon was eliminated. We’re traveling the world, tracking down an extraordinary pest. We even have other teammates.”
“Impossible.” Salaar snapped the book shut.
His tone was as hard as black bread left out for three days. Myss didn’t like that command-like tone one bit.
Those lapis-lazuli eyes looked over again. Myss suddenly realized that this was the first time since leaving the dinner that Salaar’s gaze had fully landed on his face.
That gaze was like a hand, pulling Myss in Salaar’s direction. It was as if everything in the room had ceased to exist, and only “Myss” himself needed to be examined.
“On what basis is it ‘impossible’?” Myss’s heart jumped for no reason.
“Because I’m still here.” Salaar’s voice was very low. “I’m still alive. That means the source of Night Scourge hasn’t disappeared.”
Myss’s spirits lifted. “Aha, I understand!”
“No wonder you could live for so long, and you’re so familiar with Divine Blood, no, magic source. Your physical body was modified by humans. If the Chaos Archdemon dies, you’ll die with Him.”
That had to be it. This was truly an unexpected gain.
Young Salaar was still easier to deal with than adult Salaar, Myss thought happily. The displeasure in his heart suddenly dispersed a little.
Salaar stared fixedly at him. Those empty eyes suddenly no longer seemed quite so empty. Something resembling a smile appeared in his eyes, but they were too calm, too cold, and could hardly be called emotion.
“We’re indeed not ‘companions.’ You don’t understand me,” he said.
“I was born for the Chaos Archdemon, and I am destined to die for the Chaos Archdemon. This is my will, the entire meaning of my existence.”
The Chaos Archdemon himself: “…”
The “entire meaning of your existence” was singing and dancing in the seal to harass me? You can hardly blame me for not seeing it! Also…
Also, logically speaking, young Salaar’s tone should have had at least some hatred in it.
Salaar had been born in an era ravaged by the Night Scourge, and he had been able to hold fast in the darkness for more than three hundred years. To be able to achieve this, Myss could think of no other possibility besides intense hatred and a sense of duty.
Even if one put it more extremely, if Salaar had received harsh training since childhood and been instilled with the fanatical belief that “everything is for ending the Night Scourge,” he should still have strong negative emotions toward the “source of the Night Scourge.”
But young Salaar was extremely calm. It was as if his obsession with the “Chaos Archdemon” was devoid of any impurities, even if that impurity represented “humanity.”
Myss had originally thought young Salaar would allow him to understand his opponent, “Salaar,” better. Now, however, he found Salaar increasingly inscrutable. Even the Salaar in the Red Amber, who had only rationality left, hadn’t made him this uneasy.
Myss slowly deflated. “What if I said I’m the Chaos Archdemon?”
Salaar: “…”
His brows twitched. Then he forcefully lowered his head and continued reading, clearly not believing even half a word.
Myss couldn’t stand it anymore. He stepped forward and slapped both hands onto Salaar’s cheeks, forcing him to look directly at him.
Lord Archdemon finally understood. Salaar had voluntarily taken “Return to Youth” precisely to infuriate him, this enemy, half to death. Unfortunately, not even Kalen and Tass knew his true identity, so Myss really couldn’t produce evidence.
Salaar silently looked at him, letting Myss squeeze his cheeks. Myss held his hands up until they were sore, but Salaar still didn’t have any additional reaction.
Fork was still rolling around in Myss’s pocket. It made a whimper that snakes shouldn’t have and tried to make Knife return to normal.
“Change back.”
Myss did his best to straighten his back and speak from above. “The you from three hundred years later is more useful than the you now. Enough, Salaar. Even if you risk making mistakes, you still want to disgust me like this?”
Salaar’s eyes flickered slightly. He pondered for a few seconds. “You seem very convinced that the me from three hundred years later would take an alchemical potion for a childish reason like ‘making you unhappy.’”
“In other words, you care very much about my attitude toward you.”
Young Salaar slowly stretched out both hands and grasped the two wrists Myss had reached toward him. He pressed Myss’s hands firmly against his face, his tone growing a little heavier.
“I understand now, ‘Myss.’ I must have paid great attention to you before.”
His voice was almost sincere. “In other words, you possess an important clue to ending Night Scourge.”
Myss suddenly pulled back both hands, as if what he had been holding wasn’t Salaar’s face, but a searing branding iron.
Salaar’s attention toward him was only his obsession with the source of the Night Scourge.
That was right. Salaar’s gaze, Salaar’s so-called “love”… Everything Salaar had done so far was for the sake of ending the Night Scourge.
It was as if the existence of “Myss” himself had no meaning whatsoever.
Even if “he” weren’t him, but something else, Salaar would still play those ambiguous games of opposition with “him.”
Myss’s chest tightened, his heart palpitating nonstop, bringing with it a wave of aching pain across his back. Theoretically, he had known this long ago. But at this moment, he truly realized it.
The next moment, Myss reflexively grabbed the quilt and leapt to the fireplace.
He stayed far away from Salaar, wrapping himself tightly in the goose-down quilt. It was as if this scorching heat and darkness could make him feel a little better.
Salaar stood up from beside the bed and slowly walked over. Myss could feel the faint vibrations of the floor.
Something lightly poked his back. “Myss?”
Myss didn’t respond.
“Myss.” Salaar’s voice came a little closer.
“Don’t call me Myss. I will definitely make sure you die in the Night Scourge,” Myss said muffled from inside the quilt.
He was surprised to discover that his current emotion wasn’t pain, nor anger. It was very unfamiliar… He guessed it was called “sadness.”
Salaar stopped poking him.
But the sound of his breathing didn’t move away. Salaar was crouching beside him, probably considering a countermeasure. Myss wrapped the quilt even more tightly around himself, even pulling in the ends of his hair that were exposed outside.
“…Myss.” After two minutes, Salaar began calling him again, his tone carrying a few traces of probing.
As if Myss were a goldfish with only a few minutes of memory, or something else of that sort.
Myss made up his mind. Before Salaar returned to normal, he would no longer pay attention to this damn guy. And after Salaar recovered, he was absolutely going to have a solid fight with Salhimaar.
Just then, a rhythmic knocking sounded at the door.
“Excuse me, it’s me. Peyton Karns.”
Peyton’s voice came from outside the door.
“Kendrick, I need to speak with you.”
The author has something to say:
Adult Salaar: Don’t be impatient. My real tactics have yet to come. [dog head] [dog head] [dog head]
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