Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 131: The Rat Fae’s Adventure
Father Kalen returned to the corridor once more. This time, he didn’t encounter any other troublesome figures.
Even so, the priest lightened his steps and crept carefully outward. By the time he reached the outermost part of the Root Church, Tass had finally recovered somewhat.
“This place is deadly. I thought I’d never be able to breathe properly again in my life.”
The priest scratched his head. “Is there something wrong with the magical environment inside?”
Tass laboriously pushed half his body out, both hands gripping the edge of the gemstone. “It’s hard to describe. I’ve never encountered an environment like that before. It’s like…”
He struggled for a while to find the right words. “…Like the place where I was born.”
Father Kalen gave him an inquisitive look.
“The flow of magic is abnormally chaotic, but the magical fluctuations are extremely rich. If the environment outside is a cup of cold water, then the inside is a pot of boiling cream stew.”
The Dragon Fae tried his best to explain it to the large human.
“If the latter is served in a bowl, it’s a wonderful dinner. But if you yourself get thrown into the pot to stew, it’s not nearly as pleasant.”
The priest gave an only half-understanding “oh.” “Then I’ll find somewhere to hide the obsidian. You can rest outside.”
“No! I barely helped last time, and now you want me to rest again? I can’t afford that humiliation.”
Tass shouted with full vigor. “This kind of magical turbulence can be blocked by flesh and blood. As long as I have a physical body to inhabit, I’ll be able to stabilize my form.”
That made sense, Kalen thought.
The Dragon Fae was genuinely powerful. Even those young priests could move freely through the Root Church, so there was no reason Tass couldn’t.
But a body of flesh and blood…
“You can possess things?” Father Kalen asked cautiously. “I thought only divine power could do that.”
“Listen, even without that frightening mental exchange, similar forms of ‘possession’ have existed before.” The Dragon Fae lifted his nose and explained with considerable expertise. “The first kind is altering the appearance of your own body and impersonating someone else. It’s extremely difficult flesh magic, but it does exist. Humans like using that method.”
“The second is a little trick reserved for magical creatures like us. Give me a fresh corpse, and I can temporarily ‘wear’ it and move around.”
After speaking, Tass sighed. “Dragon Fae usually don’t do it, though. It’s a technique favored by the undead.”
Father Kalen looked as though he were facing a mortal enemy. “But where are we supposed to find a fresh corpse?”
“That’s the hardest part.” Tass sighed repeatedly. “If I had no morals, I could have killed that brat just now. Unfortunately, I do. Quite a lot of them, in fact.”
The priest had already begun considering other approaches. “…Does this fresh corpse have to be human?”
“Wait, you’re not seriously—”
“Would a rat work?” Father Kalen asked, already reaching into his pocket.
The Dragon Fae opened his mouth.
The phrases “Rats are filthy, you bastard” and “Do you have some kind of grudge against me?” lodged in his throat.
What finally emerged was: “You just asked them for help, and now you want to kill one?”
Kalen looked horrified. “Of course not! Aside from humans, I never kill animals that have spoken to me!”
The Dragon Fae: “…”
The Dragon Fae: “…Okay.”
At the same time, Kalen pulled his hand from his pocket, revealing a piece of sweet cheese.
He summoned a rat and proposed a small trade. They would provide a relatively intact mouse corpse, and he would exchange it for an equal amount of sweet cheese.
The rat liked the bargain.
Before long, they dragged a stiff little rat before Kalen. It seemed to have eaten something poisonous. White foam clung to its mouth, and its body hadn’t yet begun to breed maggots.
A hopelessly dispirited look settled over Tass’s face. He sighed at least a hundred times in front of Kalen before finally entering the dead rat’s body.
The instant the dead rat stood up, several nearby rats shrieked in terror and fled in a stumbling panic, cheese clutched in their mouths.
The Dragon… Rat Fae: “Heh.”
“Next, I’ll direct the other rats to assist you. If you encounter danger, scream, and I’ll have them throw you the obsidian,” Kalen instructed earnestly.
“Fine.” Tass struggled forward on all four legs. He wanted to sigh again.
He had to admit that once he had this shield of flesh and blood, the influence of the strange magical turbulence weakened immediately. No wonder Myss had experienced the environment so differently.
The only problem was that everything he was used to had grown several times larger, while a stiff tail now trailed behind his rear. Tass walked with exceptional irritation and wanted nothing more than to bite someone.
When they returned to the barred gate near the central sanctuary, Kalen stopped.
Countless spells had been attached to the gate. It wasn’t that he couldn’t break it open through brute force, but this was too close to the center of the church. He would be discovered almost immediately.
Three dark-brown rats, including the remarkable Tass Ga, slipped through the hollow patterns and continued onward in his place.
Light from the corridor danced across the cutout designs, casting faint shadows.
“May His Veil shroud you, unseen and unharmed.”
Kalen solemnly placed one hand over his heart.
Under the complicated gazes of the other two rats, Tass squeezed through the gap in the door with a display of heroic determination despite his physical limitations and successfully infiltrated the preparation room.
Two priests stood inside, one old and one young.
“Both honored guests have entered,” Priest Garnet said, bowing his head to the elaborately dressed old man.
The old man’s beard reached the floor. He wore broad white robes, and the sweet fragrance of nut oil concealed the particular scent of old age. He leaned on an emerald staff taller than himself and gazed at the tightly closed door.
“May our God’s wish be fulfilled,” the old man sighed.
Priest Garnet looked far more expectant. He gazed longingly at the door. “I heard that you were chosen by the Blind God when you were young. I’ve always hoped that God might grant me the same honor someday. Unfortunately, this year He chose outsiders.”
Tass strained his neck upward to examine Garnet.
The priest had a strong and attractive build, smooth skin, and spotless white teeth. It was clear that he took great care of his appearance. His features were indeed handsome and proper, but he was still a level below Salaar. Even the plain and honest Kalen surpassed him.
Tass was actually quite curious about the Blind God’s standards. Usually, followers of other faiths would be treated as literal living sacrifices rather than recipients of divine blessing… Tass was no longer young. He refused to believe the Blind God had gathered two attractive young people merely to play matchmaker.
Perhaps humans found it romantic to receive a spouse of exceptional appearance whose character had been guaranteed by a god. But Dragon Fae possessed no sense of “romance” whatsoever. Tass firmly believed there was some kind of conspiracy involved.
The magical conditions here resembled the environment in which magical creatures were born. That couldn’t possibly be a coincidence. Unfortunately, the old man only smiled silently and didn’t respond. His gaze remained fixed on the nearby door.
“Choosing two outsiders and choosing a pair of lovers are both unprecedented,” Priest Garnet continued. “It appears Lord Blind God wishes to alter His selection method…”
“Garnet, say what you truly mean,” the old man said calmly.
“High Priest, is this change truly… ‘positive’?”
For the first time, uncertainty entered Garnet’s voice.
“What exactly does our God desire?”
“The prayers that night were like one long dream. When I awoke, she and I retained only a faint impression of the taboo, along with a sense of intimacy toward each other.”
At the mention of “her,” the old man revealed a faint smile. But as he continued, it quickly disappeared.
“…At the same time, I remember an inexplicable sense of loss. We must have disappointed Him. Later, I questioned other ‘blessed couples,’ and they all had similar feelings.”
“Child, I do not know what He seeks from us, but that desire must be extremely urgent, and it has never once been fulfilled.”
Garnet fell silent. Viewed that way, the Blind God certainly had a reason for choosing outsiders, but…
“Why doesn’t He tell us what He desires?” Garnet asked.
“Garnet, oh Garnet. How could a god make a wish to humans?”
The old man laughed. “Besides, He is the great being who raised our ancestors from the marsh and restored these ruins to glory. If even He can’t fulfill this wish, what use would there be in telling us?”
“You’re right,” Garnet said humbly.
Humans really did love overthinking things. The Dragon Fae snorted through his rat nose and nearly toppled over from the stench of his own breath.
As magical creatures, Dragon Fae had no faith and therefore no instinct to idealize gods. In Tass’s view, this Blind God was deeply suspicious. Perhaps He refused to reveal His purpose simply because that purpose was too dangerous.
Listening to the two humans speak in riddles had yielded little useful information. Tass’s eyes shifted. He quietly crawled toward the tightly closed door.
He wouldn’t go inside. He would merely use his height advantage to peek through the gap beneath it. That should be safe enough.
The Dragon Fae was a creature of action. He shook off the other two rats and, while the priests weren’t looking, crept close to the crack beneath the door.
There it was again. This time, even through flesh and blood, he could feel that turbulent, chaotic aura. The gap beneath the door was extremely narrow. Tass forced his head into it, but after a great deal of effort, only half his nose fit through. Fortunately, he had pressed his head low enough to barely see the room beyond.
The interior was pitch-black. Salaar and Myss lay near the door. Soft cushions had been placed beneath them in advance. Their breathing was long and shallow, and they appeared to be in a deep sleep.
Farther inside, everything was submerged in darkness, and Tass couldn’t see clearly. But within that ambiguous blackness, he smelled something.
It resembled raw meat soaked in water for far too long, rotting honey, and moldy medicinal herbs. Faint heartbeats sounded from the darkness. There was more than one, yet they beat in perfect unison, like ten thousand drumsticks striking at the same time.
Tass’s tiny claws tensed. The center of the chaotic magical turbulence was inside that darkness.
Something within the shadows cast its gaze outward, watching the two sleeping figures near the door. Tass couldn’t resist stretching one tiny mouse paw into the room, trying to grab a loose strand of Myss’s hair.
Before his paw could even cross the threshold, a cold flash appeared, and the tips of his claws were sliced off entirely. Fortunately, he was using a dead mouse as his body. The wound neither bled nor hurt.
But if this body were damaged too severely, his true form wouldn’t survive either.
Tass could only curl himself up and continue observing. Since he had come this far, he was determined to see what that thing truly was.
As if sensing his thoughts, a face gradually emerged from the darkness.
Most of it remained covered in shadow, leaving only a faint outline. Even so, Tass could tell that it was a young human face.
It hung upside down, its scalp pressed against the ground at a grotesque angle. If it came any closer, it would certainly see Tass through the gap.
The Dragon Fae’s fur stood on end. He staggered back two steps, then turned and hid behind the doorframe.
On the brightly lit side of the door, the two priests stood together and prayed with absolute devotion.
“May our God’s wish be fulfilled.”
“May our God’s wish be fulfilled.”
……
Inside the “room.”
Although he found the child abnormal, Myss bravely finished every last piece of fried meat.
“Tell me. What do you want me to do?” The Archdemon wiped his mouth and set the empty bowl on the table.
Sogné pretended not to hear.
This brat was becoming more and more like Salaar. Myss drew a deep breath and clenched his teeth. “Tell me. What do you want ‘Mommy’ to do?”
“Nothing special,” Sogné said. “Mommy only needs to be herself. Of course, it would be even better if Mommy played with me.”
Myss truly had no idea how humans played. There was nothing like that in the slave’s memories.
He thought for a long while, then had no choice but to imitate Salaar. He rummaged through the ingredients and pulled out several mushrooms.
“Watch carefully. I’ll throw them, and you bring them back.”
Sogné: “…Mommy, I’m not a dog.”
“Your father likes this game. He even plays it by himself,” Myss stated honestly.
Sogné considered this in silence for quite some time before swallowing his frustration.
“All right.”
Myss gave a small hum and casually threw a mushroom far away. Sogné sprang lightly into the air. Using movements no ordinary child could possibly perform, he ran along the wall and landed beside the mushroom.
He picked it up without enthusiasm and trotted back to Myss.
“Mommy, now it’s my turn to throw.”
“I’m not a dog either,” Myss said.
Sogné looked somewhat aggrieved. “But you said Daddy…”
Myss was utterly merciless. “Why do you think he played by himself back then? Because I refused to play with him.”
Sogné pursed his lips and made a pitiful look. Myss, on the other hand, felt inexplicably relieved. Perhaps the Blind God would find him so irritating that It would kick the two of them out. That would count as freedom too.
Putting the thought into action, he pinched Sogné’s round cheeks and stretched them out.
“Mommy, don’t do dat,” Sogné said indistinctly. “Let’s play something else. What does Mommy like to play?”
What did he like to play?
The question genuinely stumped Myss. From the moment he became conscious, he had never had time to explore his preferences. He had spent all his time observing Salaar.
After entering the human world, he had also remained inseparable from Salaar. Every activity that could be called “playing” somehow involved Salaar. But if he had to name the activity he enjoyed most…
“I like playing with your father,” he concluded solemnly.
Sogné sucked in a sharp breath. “You shouldn’t say that to a child.”
Myss: “…”
Sogné: “…”
Myss: “Then I have nothing else to say.”
Interacting with young creatures was truly irritating, though this little brat might not actually be human. If Salaar hadn’t stayed awake for so long and needed more sleep, Myss would have dragged him out of bed already.
Seeing Myss stand there distracted, Sogné sighed, somehow sounding even more world-weary than Myss.
“You’re tired from playing, aren’t you? Go to sleep,” Myss suggested hopefully.
“I don’t need sleep,” Sogné muttered. His blue eyes stared unblinkingly at Myss. “If Mommy is tired, you can rest. I’ll read by myself.”
“Let me think. You don’t want parental affection, and you don’t need us to do anything. You only want us to remain here and…” Myss wrinkled his nose. “…And love each other. Do you have some strange hobby?”
“Hobby?”
Sogné gazed steadily at him. Those eyes, so similar to Salaar’s, were perfectly clear.
“Mommy, I’m only learning.”
“Learning how to be ‘born.’”
The author has something to say:
Dragon Fae: I thought I was responsible for at least part of the good looks.
Dragon Fae: (Heartbroken inside a rat’s body)
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