r18novel Page 213
Page 213
When Latis returned to the house, Jennifer was already dressed in armor and sitting on the stone table, lost in thought.
Although their relationship made great progress last night, the night was too short, and they didn't have time to be intimate.
"Ahem." Latis cleared his throat, smiled, stepped forward, pinched Jennifer's cheek, and asked in a deliberately deep voice:
"I have observed the celestial signs and tonight is sure to be a beautiful night. I wonder if my lady would be willing to share a bed with me tonight?"
Jennifer's eyes widened slightly as she looked at Latis in surprise. After thinking for a moment, she stroked her chin and said with a troubled expression:
"Well...it's not entirely impossible..."
Latis's face lit up with joy, and he quickly asked, "But?"
“But…” Jennifer poked Latis’s shoulder with her finger and shook her head regretfully, “Unfortunately, I have to go to the Holy City to report for duty today! First, there’s the issue of naming the new divine spell. The Holy Book records that the birth of a divine spell is accompanied by a trace of the will of the gods, so the creator usually has some feeling about the name of the divine spell, but I don’t know why I don’t have that feeling…”
She tilted her head in confusion, then rested her forehead against Latis's chest, took his hand in hers, and examined the lines on his palm as she spoke:
"The second thing is that a message came from the Holy City, seemingly to discuss something about the God of Light. The third thing is that something seems to have happened to two prospective knights. I will only know the details when they return to the Holy City."
"I see."
Latis clasped his hands together, easily taking Jennifer's hands in his, and sighed, saying:
"My little knight is such a busy man!"
Jennifer chuckled, looking down at Latis's large hand stroking the back of her own, then leaned down and kissed his hand before jumping off the stone table and saying:
"My lord, obediently return to Londia and wait for me!"
"Okay." Latis nodded, and just as he was about to say something, a light kiss landed on the corner of his mouth.
“We’ll add the center one when we get back.” Jennifer blinked, spun around Latis, and waved lightly as she spoke.
"wait for me."
Latis touched the corner of his mouth, shook his head helplessly, and sighed as he watched Jennifer's departing figure.
Suddenly, two dwarf girls ran out of the room with their gold-devouring dogs. Their excited expressions betrayed the fact that they had been eavesdropping the whole time. Bellbell coughed, adjusted her woolen hat, and said:
"Lord Latis, Gangan and I plan to stay a while longer. We need to study the defects of the Tower Castle mentioned by the necromancer further, so we will not be returning to Lundia with you for the time being."
"Gangan will remember you." Gangan gave a thumbs up, patted her Book of Hatred, and praised:
"Latis the Demon Bird Slayer!"
“Alright.” Latis paused, looked at the dwarves who had run out of the house and headed towards the tower, scratched the back of his head, looked around, and gasped.
"How come I'm the only one left?"
He straightened his clothes, put on his hood, and left the house, closing the gate behind him. Just as he was about to head to the post station to rent horses, he suddenly noticed a badge lying in the pile of rubble at the base of the wall.
Latis stepped forward, picked up the badge, wiped off the dust, and was surprised to find that it was the same badge that Torso had worn earlier, which he had discarded during the battle yesterday and swept into the pile of stones.
"The Mandarin Duck Flower and a certain family crest..."
He examined the cursive "D" on the badge, pondered for a moment, and then suddenly frowned.
"The more I look at it, the more something seems off... It looks so familiar!"
Latis's mind began to race, and objects he had seen or owned before flashed before his eyes. His expression gradually turned serious, and a sense of impending doom made his heart pound faster. Suddenly, he shouted:
"stop!"
The object that comes to mind is also a badge.
Against a silver background resembling a bird's nest, a black top hat with a round top is printed, which is the badge of honor that the robin gave to Latis during the simulation when she became the leader of the Black Hats.
Latis took a deep breath, took out the Black Hat Family Honor Badge from the dimensional rift, and solemnly brought Torso's badge closer.
He then rotated Torso's badge ninety degrees.
The cursive "D" that protruded from top to bottom and the edge of the black top hat... were completely overlapping!
Latis stared at the two badges for a long time, stroked his arm with its hair standing on end, and put them back into the interdimensional space.
Details of his several battles with Torso flashed through Latis's mind. He slowly clenched his fist and murmured:
"I was wondering why he, a free-spirited wanderer, looked so frustrated... Oh, it was you, Black Hat Organization!"
Chapter 224 Fighting a dragon for too long turns one into a dragon oneself.
"In the end, it's still impossible to avoid feeling lost..."
Torso looked up and realized that he had once again ridden his eagle-horse onto the trade route to the holy city.
Scattered memories of the past began to surface in his mind.
That year, he was a poor and destitute commoner with no skills, and could only barely survive by planting wheat seedlings on a few plots of wasteland he had reclaimed.
One year, autumn and winter came exceptionally early. Before he could harvest his wheat, monsters had already taken over his fields. Left with no other choice, he had to become a servant to a nobleman in order to survive the harsh winter.
However, it is said that serving a ruler is like serving a tiger, and serving a nobleman is even more difficult than serving tigers and wolves. In an accident while entertaining guests, Torso spilled ale, and was implicated. He and three or four other servants were pushed out of the city and were about to be executed. Just when he was in despair, a young nobleman named Bernard who was passing by saved them.
Torso thanked Bernard and discussed with the other servants who had narrowly escaped the calamity where to go next. In the end, a young man named Grando decided to go with him to the Church of Light to become a prospective knight and earn some money to support himself.
Not long after, Grando and Torso, having saved up a sum of money through frugality, planned to travel along the trade route to Mayan City to try their luck at the apprenticeship school there. If they could become apprentices, they would have the opportunity to go to Lundia and find a kind high-ranking mage to take them in as his disciples.
The two met Bernard again at the academy. By this time, Bernard was already a spirited magic apprentice. However, fearing that the two might not be able to challenge the pinnacle of magic, Bernard thought for a moment and decided to stay and carefully guide them in their after-class spell practice.
His good fortune didn't last long. Grando's parents fell ill, so he had to return home first. Before he left, Bernard gave him some money and told him to take good care of his parents and come back the following year to continue learning magic.
Torso was disappointed, but there was nothing he could do about it. Soon after, he successfully advanced to the apprenticeship, and before heading to Lundia, Torso sought out Bernard to express his heartfelt gratitude.
Bernard was delighted to hear that Thor was about to embark on the true path of magic. However, when asked if he would follow the same path, Bernard shook his head, saying that during his time at the academy, he had deeply felt the hardships of ordinary people's lives and witnessed them come and go, ultimately losing their dreams. Bernard finally couldn't bear it and chose to change his path.
"I am going to the capital to speak to His Majesty the King, so that everyone will have the opportunity to access the Magic Network and the confidence to face life's changes without fear!"
Bernard left in high spirits, promising to return with Torso the following year to help Grando, who was about to return, become an apprentice.
A year passed quickly, but only Torso returned to school.
The same thing happened the following year.
Later, Torso forgot when he stopped keeping the appointment; in short, people forget things very quickly.
Many years later, while wandering the wilderness, he encountered a gentleman wearing a black hat, who described to him many ideals for the future. Remembering their past promises, Torso joined the gentleman's organization.
……
"I never thought that when I was feeling lost, the Church of Light would be the first thing I thought of..." Torso shook his head with amusement, turned his horse around, and headed back.
Suddenly, a thin, frail girl came running out from the fork in the road. There were scattered bloodstains on her coarse cloth robe. Although she was panting heavily, her face was calm. She passed Torso at a steady pace.
Torso frowned slightly, feeling that the girl looked somewhat familiar, so he turned and called out:
"Miss!"
Leafa stopped and turned around curiously.
Torso looked at her face, then at the bloodstains on her body, and asked gravely:
"Madam, do you need any help?"
Leafa smiled, shook her head, gave a knightly salute, and said:
"May the God of Light bless you, kind-hearted sir."
Then she turned around and continued running.
Torso lowered his head, pondered for a moment, sighed, and chuckled as he murmured:
"It's a pity I'm no longer a boy!"
He squeezed his legs together, flicked the reins, and galloped off towards the capital.
People are dynamic and in a superposition state; today and yesterday may coexist within them, but they can only move towards tomorrow.
……
……
"Your Excellency has summoned you for a duty report."
The messenger walked up to Torso, patted him on the shoulder, and said...
Torso snapped out of his daze, pulled his hands out of his sleeves, and nodded.
"Where should I go from here...?"
He exhaled, his disappointment with that gentleman finally prompting him to scrutinize everything that the gentleman had said, and it all proved so flimsy that he now felt a sense of betrayal and anger.
But the anger quickly dissipated into a faint ripple, after all, promises are indeed easily forgotten over time, and at this moment he just didn't know where to go.
Suddenly, the book in the messenger's hands caught his attention. Torso quickly stopped the departing messenger and asked:
"Excuse me, what are you holding in your hand?"
The messenger looked at him with a puzzled expression and said:
"This is the list of candidates for the upcoming aristocratic examination, and the recommenders will answer questions this afternoon."
"Oh, oh." A thought suddenly struck Torso, and he said with a smile, "Could I take a look? I'm quite curious about these nobles."
“Uh… fine, I’ve already submitted the report anyway.” The messenger nodded and handed the list to Torso.
Torso took the list, quickly flipped through it, and after a few pages, he immediately spotted the simple three words "Latis" among a bunch of complicated names.
"Latis, Latis! Mage, newly promoted noble, it really is you! I knew I wasn't mistaken!"
He suppressed the urge to burst into laughter, returned the list to the messenger, and, with his hand on his sword hilt, walked toward "Your Excellency's" tent under the messenger's questioning gaze.
"Latis, you've kept things well hidden! I'm starting to wonder why 'Your Excellency' sought you out... There must be many more secrets about you, perhaps even more intriguing than the mysteries of the magic network and the future you supposedly created together!"
Torso strode to the tent where "Your Excellency" was located. Just as he was about to walk in as usual, he suddenly stopped and stood still in front of the tent.
He looked up at the heavy tent, and for some reason, a flood of emotions welled up in his heart.
The seasons in Siyuanhua Fortress are always a bit more subdued than those outside. At this moment, the winds of the mountain wilderness are biting cold, but the capital is still peaceful. Warm sunlight shines down from the sky, but is blocked by the heavy tents. In this quiet place, the tents appear unusually deep, so much so that when Torso looks inside, he feels that he cannot see the end.
"Torso, what are you doing standing outside? Come in and talk."
The voice of "Your Excellency" came from the deepest part of the tent. Torso snapped out of his reverie, glanced at the line between sunlight and shadow at his feet, and said with a smile:
"I just came back from the wilderness and I'm still cold. I should go outside and get some sunshine."
"Your Excellency" fell silent, and another slightly cunning voice came from the darkness: "I didn't expect that Lord Torso would already be unaccustomed to the temperature of the tent after only a few days in the Wilderness Territory."