Author: 年终 / Nian Zhong
Translator: Kinky || https://kinkytranslations.com/
Chapter 19: Chanter of Flesh
“I’ll go in first.”
When Myss’s name was called, Salaar passionately cut in line.
The mustached man keeping order at the door: “Huh?”
Salaar: “I’m in a hurry to use the restroom. If I miss my time slot, Lord Fabian would have to wait for me.”
The mustachioed man flipped through the list and saw that Salaar was last. They certainly couldn’t keep Lord Fabian waiting, so he readily agreed.
Salaar straightened his collar. As he walked past Myss, he tilted his head with meaningful intent.
While Myss lacked common sense, he wasn’t stupid. When it came to serious matters, the Demon Lord knew how to show restraint. For example, at this moment Myss quietly met his gaze and said nothing more.
Salaar stepped into the room and gently closed the heavy wooden door.
“Good afternoon, Mr. Salaar. May the cycle remain unbroken.”
Hearing that name made Fabian smile slightly. Then he gazed into Salaar’s blue eyes for a while.
“Please stand at the center of the circle and don’t move. The duration of the exorcism depends on your constitution. It won’t exceed five minutes at most.”
“By the God of Cadence above, may the cycle remain unbroken.”
Salaar swiftly sorted through his recollections and responded naturally. “Thank you for the explanation. During the ritual, do I need to remain silent?”
“No need. You can think of it as a physical checkup,” Fabian said with a calm tone. “As long as you don’t leave the center of the circle, even singing is fine.”
Salaar obediently went to the center of the circle.
The center was pleasantly warm. It felt as if he were stepping into a hot spring and every pore loosened.
Those fine threads of magic bored into his body, and Salaar took a moment to savor the sensation. The blessing spell was trying to merge into his magic in order to enter his magic circuits and filter out impurities.
However, that power and Salaar’s power were like oil and water and couldn’t merge at all. From Fabian’s perspective, Salaar’s magic itself was an oversized impurity.
Without changing his expression, Salaar dispersed the foreign magic and resolved the blessing spell. The whole process flowed smoothly, like wiping dust from a window lattice.
From what he observed, once the circle began operating, Fabian had nothing more to do. The old man only needed to replenish the circle’s power at intervals. He didn’t need to chant the entire time and wouldn’t notice this small anomaly.
By his count, he still had about five minutes. That was… more than enough.
As he had told Myss, this was a rare chance. He could make full use of the Demon Lord’s new discovery.
Recalling the look of satisfaction when Myss had shared that discovery, Salaar let one corner of his mouth lift. Then he briskly rolled up his left sleeve.
For this moment he had worn a loose linen shirt on purpose. He pushed the sleeve to the shoulder, baring the elegant length of his left arm.
Under Fabian’s puzzled gaze, Salaar’s right hand slowly brushed across the skin of his left arm.
With the sound of flesh turning, six milky-white tendons rapidly grew. Like sprouting plants they pierced through the skin, stretching from Salaar’s left shoulder to his left palm, their bases anchored in faintly quivering flesh.
Salaar extended his left arm slightly, and those strange tendons went taut, forming a shape somewhat like… six strings of a lute.
Salaar lowered his eyes and tilted his head slightly to the left. His posture was exceedingly gentle, as if cuddling an invisible lover or cradling a child who didn’t exist.
Framed by that black hair and the dark blue cast of his eyes, he looked like a wraith half hidden in a chilly sea mist. Strikingly handsome and equally dangerous.
Fabian was about to speak in shocked inquiry when Salaar laid his right hand on the strings.
“Come, Mina. Calibration is complete,” he said with a smile. “This time let me assist you.”
Before his words finished, the strings took on a faint wash of pink.
Salaar’s fingertips glided, and soft notes rose and fell lightly through the room. Mina’s magical fluctuations were caught and magnified by the melody and flowed around Fabian like the wind.
After a heartbeat of confusion, tears rolled down Fabian’s cheeks in large drops and soaked into his white beard.
“Ah, Mother…” He stood up unsteadily and stretched out both hands, his clouded eyes fixed on Salaar.
“Look at me. Look at what I have achieved now… I know you will be proud of me.”
Salaar plucked the warm strings of flesh and blood. The tone was winding and gentle, like murmured whispers. Fabian wept like a child and confided in a mother seen only in his mind.
“Yes, I have always overseen Rosha’s Magibase Summoning Ritual and never had an accident… I still remember the day you took me to attend a ritual…”
“Something memorable at the ritual? Not recently… Ten years ago? Ha, there was something odd ten years ago…”
Fabian kept sniffling and his words tumbled about. Even so, Salaar quickly put the story in order.
In this world there are a very few so-called “Chosen Ones” who can use magic before receiving a Magibase.
People generally believe that such children have extraordinary magical talent and can summon exceptionally powerful Magibase.
Ten years ago in Rosha’s Lower City, there was one such child.
Her name was Scintilla. Back then many big names in the Upper City took notice of her and she received considerable support. Unfortunately, her performance at the Magibase Summoning Ritual fell short. She summoned only a caterpillar.
After that the important people withdrew their kindness. Rumor had it that Scintilla couldn’t accept the sudden change in her prospects. She fell seriously ill, grew quiet and withdrawn, and gradually vanished from public view.
…Aside from this small episode, the records of Rosha’s rituals are plain and unremarkable and not worth mentioning.
The music cut off. Mina’s magical resonance dispersed at once and failed to touch Fabian in the slightest.
The wound on Salaar’s left arm healed rapidly. The overgrown tendons and flesh lost their anchor, sloughed away like scabs, and were then cleared completely by magic.
At the same time, a warm wind of brilliant gold brushed away the old man’s memories and tears, like a mother’s hand saying farewell.
Fabian’s eyes became vacant again, as if startled awake from a dream, and exactly five minutes had passed.
“Ah… forgive me, child. I think I nodded off for a moment.”
The old man tightened his throat and wore the look of someone who had woken from a beautiful dream, both nostalgic and relieved.
“May you find a brief moment of peace,” Salaar said softly. “There’s no need to dwell on it. Being able to receive your exorcism and consecration was already my honor.”
Fabian nodded and smiled again. For some reason, his smile was much more relaxed this time.
“Don’t worry. Just quietly erase Fabian’s magic and then come find me,” he whispered to Myss after leaving the room.
……
“By ‘excellent opportunity’ you meant asking Fabian directly?”
Myss had passed the exorcism and consecration with ease, and he was heading to the Hammer Tavern with Salaar.
Salaar: “Yes. I made a small use of Mina’s aura so Fabian would trust me completely. If you hadn’t identified Mina’s magical traits, it wouldn’t have gone so smoothly.”
That was right. Thanks to himself. Salaar did have some discernment.
Myss hummed. “So what did you learn?”
“A child named Scintilla.”
Salaar rubbed his chin. “Scintilla had astonishing talent. She could use magic before summoning a Magibase, so she received quite a lot of support from the Upper City. I would guess she also had decent educational backing.”
“Yet ten years ago she failed at the Magibase Summoning Ritual and then disappeared from view.”
“A magical prodigy, a decent educational background, a ritual ten years ago. Does that sound familiar?”
It did sound a bit like “Patience”. Myss said, “What about her mother?”
“Not sure. That is exactly what we need to confirm,” Salaar said. “Luckily we happen to have a good connection.”
After a moment’s thought, Myss realized he meant Hailey and Huey.
Scintilla had once been a Lower City celebrity and had attended the Summoning Ritual with Hailey. Those two were certain to know something.
At this hour Hailey would be at the Hammer Tavern. On her days off she had been working there part time as a waitress, so they could see her shortly.
Excellent, Myss thought. If Scintilla was Patience, they could investigate Scintilla directly and give up participating in the Magibase Summoning Ritual. That way the bird-beaked demon wouldn’t immediately trouble them.
But would things really go that smoothly?
After all the highs and lows before his unsealing, Myss had a bit of trauma when it came to the word “smooth”.
Facts proved the Demon Lord’s jitters weren’t without cause—
“Scintilla? I haven’t seen her in a long time.”
Hailey hesitated, her expression somewhat complicated. “Her health isn’t good. She’s always in a daze and rarely goes out. We’re the same age, but we’re not really close. She hardly speaks to anyone.”
“In earlier years she would sometimes edit letters for people or go to the Upper City to buy and sell used books. Later she stopped going out altogether. No one knows how she gets by.”
She pursed her lips and added quietly, “But there are lights on at her place every night, so she should be all right.”
Salaar: “I heard she took part in the summoning ritual ten years ago, the same year as you.”
Hailey nodded. “I remember that. But we were too young then. I only remember she summoned a caterpillar. For the details you would have to ask my uncle.”
“When would Mr. Huey be free?”
Hailey hesitated for a moment. “I don’t know, but he shouldn’t be here right now.”
“A priest just came by to ask about Scintilla. Mr. Hammer didn’t know her address. I wanted to lead the way, but he turned me down. The priest said that was work for adults.”
“So I recommended my uncle and said he could help… The priest was carrying a Kingdom Religious Certificate. If something happened to him in the Lower City, it would be trouble for everyone.”
Salaar’s eyebrow twitched. “A priest?”
“Yes. Very tall and very polite. Why are you all looking for Scintilla? Did something happen to her?”
“Nothing, there’s just a document that needs her confirmation,” Salaar said with a soothing smile. “Please tell me her address. A simple sketch map will do.”
Outside the window, a crow perched quietly on the eaves, its pupils reflecting the blood-red sunset.
The author has something to say:
Saint Salaar’s skill set isn’t all that holy.
He’s somewhat of an unorthodox bard.
Myss: Got it. No wonder you told me not to trust bards. Turns out it was professional rivalry. (x
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