Everything Goes Smoothly

Catherine looked at the wooden cup in Anbaixiu's hand and asked doubtfully, "The stakes are still the same?" Anbaixiu said nonchalantly, "Of course. As long as you can carry the cup out of the city, I'll do whatever you say." Catherine gave Anbaixiu several long looks, snatched the cup, and hurried out of the tavern. Before long, however, Catherine returned dejectedly, fuming with anger. "You played me! I was stopped again on my way out of the city! They claimed there had to be something suspicious about me leaving so quickly, and during the inspection, the cup was smashed to pieces by them!" Anbaixiu smiled and said, "I didn't play you; it was the arrangement of fate. Having experienced this twice, you should clearly understand that things that seem simple can actually be impossible to achieve. Right now you might still be thinking that if you'd just pushed through back then and charged straight out of the city, you would have won. But it's useless. No one can change a predestined fate—not even the gods." Anbaixiu had used his Destiny Weaving ability to weave two failed destinies for Catherine. Therefore, no matter how hard Catherine tried, winning was impossible. Yet only petty bets like this allowed him to weave fate at will. Having Anbaixiu weave a fate where the Ryan Empire collapsed tomorrow was out of the question; doing so would guarantee spell failure followed by a backlash from destiny. This ability could be understood as dipping an oar into the river of fate to steer part of the current. Stirring up a few small whirlpools was no problem, but attempting to block the entire river's flow with a single oar would only snap the wood. Unless Anbaixiu himself were a massive dam blocking the river, attempting to alter the fate of such colossal entities would inevitably end in being ground to dust. Although Catherine could not fully understand all of this yet, she believed Anbaixiu's words. She no longer dwelled on the topic of Naomi, remarking instead with emotion, "If it's truly as you say, divination mages have it too rough. It's like being slaves to fate." Anbaixiu: "..." "Say another word, and I'll weave a future where you go bald!" Anbaixiu snapped furiously. Catherine clutched her head, instantly terrified into silence. Going bald was far too horrifying. After a moment, Catherine asked again, "Then what do we do now? Just wait for Harvey here?" Anbaixiu nodded. Back then, Harvey had carried Anbaixiu's phylactery to this city and appeared in this very tavern. Calculating the time, Harvey would appear in two days at most. Before that, however, some preparations were in order. "Catherine, let's go pick up a commission in a bit," Anbaixiu said. Catherine asked, "Pick up a commission? What kind?" "Anything. As long as it's an exploration task—underground ruins, a monster's den, whatever works. Later, take off your mask and have the bartender recommend one." "Huh? Aren't we supposed to wait here for your student?" Catherine asked, puzzled. "Don't ask so many questions. You'll understand when the time comes," Anbaixiu replied. Catherine had no choice but to obey, walking over to the counter to chat with the orc bartender. Taking off her mask not only got Catherine the best commission recommended by the bartender, but also earned her a promise of free drinks at the tavern for life. Catherine flaunted her complimentary sea-buckthorn wine in front of Anbaixiu, only to receive a roll of his eyes. Did this girl really not understand what free drinks meant? A tavern offering free drinks to a beauty was just using her to attract men overflowing with testosterone and desperate for an outlet. Seeing Catherine so pleased, however, Anbaixiu didn't bother bursting her bubble and turned his attention to studying the commission. Someone in Sweetdew City had posted a commission to investigate a magical cave outside the walls. Because tensions were currently high and no one knew when Ryan would march on Sweetdew City, the bounties for expeditions outside the city had doubled. Catherine's beauty had certainly delivered; one glance was enough to tell this commission was pure profit. It claimed that subterranean sand lizards might be haunting this cave, requiring adventurers to scout it out and find definitive proof of whether subterranean sand lizards were present. The reward was thirty gold coins. The subterranean sand lizard was an Underdark monster; an adult sand lizard could reach legendary rank, though their numbers were scarce. Such beasts rarely appeared on the surface, so the commission merely asked for reconnaissance. Thirty gold coins was already an exceptionally generous payout. Anbaixiu didn't even need to visit the cave; a roll of the Dice of Fate was enough to confirm there were no subterranean sand lizards there at all. It was likely another magical beast that had left similar tracks. Yet Anbaixiu hadn't come for the reward. He had come to prepare Harvey's "death." In the prophecy Harvey had witnessed, he would venture into a dark place on an exploration with an adventuring party, only to be ambushed by magical beasts, and Harvey himself would die in that sudden attack. Because Harvey himself hadn't seen many details clearly, his description to Anbaixiu had been quite vague. What Anbaixiu needed to do was fabricate this false prophecy for Harvey while keeping every element firmly under his own control. An adventure? Sure. An adventuring party? Sure. Magical beasts? Absolutely. But death? Out of the question. The simplest approach was undoubtedly to find a commission himself, script a performance for Harvey, and guide him out from the shadow of this death. This commission to track subterranean sand lizards was an ideal fit—the perfect stage. No wonder he had brought Catherine along. Praise the gods—everything was indeed an arrangement of fate. After downing a few drinks, Anbaixiu left Sweetdew City with Catherine and arrived at the monster cave. Anbaixiu inspected it briefly and quickly reached a conclusion. These weren't subterranean sand lizards; it was just a nest of sand worms. Sand worms and sand lizards sounded similar, but in reality they were entirely different creatures. A subterranean sand lizard capable of hunting on its own was at least fifteen meters long, with jaws wide enough to swallow the sturdiest orc in a single gulp, highly venomous teeth, and scales so tough that even a paladin would need multiple Divine Smites to breach its defense. What was more, the creature excelled at burrowing underground to launch ambushes; ordinary adventurers were swallowed into its belly before they could even get a clear look at it. Sand worms, on the other hand, were exceedingly weak desert critters, virtually harmless to humans, but they also excelled at burrowing. The crawling tracks left behind by a whole nest of sand worms tunneling through the ground looked remarkably similar to those of a sand lizard. Anbaixiu could easily catch a few sand worms and head back to claim the bounty, but naturally, he wouldn't do that. With a thought, Anbaixiu opened his personal space and brought out a massive pile of stark-white bones. Catherine frowned at the sight, as the bones reeked of rot. "Are these... bones of subterranean rothé?" Catherine asked. "Indeed. A gift from a friend. Previously, I used these bones to assemble several skeleton tanks and taught those paladins an unforgettable lesson. But now, I'm going to assemble them into something else." Anbaixiu worked swiftly. One bone after another was pieced together according to his vision, soon forming a lizard-shaped skeleton. Subterranean rothé were originally herbivores, so Anbaixiu embedded some human canines to create a gaping maw lined with sharp teeth. Immediately afterward, Anbaixiu shaped a Simulated Soul and stuffed it into the skeleton. The skeleton of this "sand lizard" began to move. Although it moved clumsily, it still looked quite formidable. Anbaixiu then cast Leira's True Mirage on the "sand lizard," shrouding it in an uncanny layer of sand lizard hide that made it look virtually identical to a real one. Catherine clicked her tongue in amazement. Had she not witnessed Anbaixiu fabricating it with her own eyes, she would have believed it was a genuine subterranean sand lizard. Yet while the creature looked ferocious, it was actually just an oversized low-tier undead. A few heavy blows with a warhammer would likely shatter it completely. Anbaixiu looked it up and down, refining various details, before saying in satisfaction, "If it's just to fool someone, this should be about enough. Burrow into the sand and take a nap, little fellow. It's not your time to take the stage yet." At Anbaixiu's command, the undead sand lizard clumsily scraped open the yellow sand beneath it and buried its body within. Its speed couldn't compare to a real sand lizard, but as long as it hid in the sand, it wouldn't be easy to spot. With all preparations complete, Anbaixiu returned to the tavern with Catherine and submitted "proof" of the subterranean sand lizard's presence. The proof was simple: a damaged subterranean sand lizard scale, taken directly from Anbaixiu's collection. The scale of such a magical beast was an obscure alchemical material, of which Anbaixiu happened to have a small stockpile. The orc bartender couldn't tell the scale's age either. After submitting it, Anbaixiu quickly collected his thirty gold coins, while the original cave investigation commission was changed into a hunt for the subterranean sand lizard, with the bounty raised to one thousand gold coins. Unfortunately, none of the adventurers in the tavern were willing to accept it. If it turned out to be an adult subterranean sand lizard, that was legendary rank! Who would take that on for a mere thousand gold coins? Yet the client couldn't possibly pay legendary-tier rates either—what if it wasn't a legendary beast? Regardless, if the quest hung there long enough, someone would eventually take it. Everything was proceeding just as Anbaixiu had envisioned, so smoothly that he could hardly believe it himself. After waiting in the city for two days, Harvey indeed appeared in the Sweetdew City tavern, exactly as Anbaixiu had calculated. However, Harvey looked far more battered than Anbaixiu had anticipated. His head was wrapped in yellowed, blackened bandages, and his right arm hung in a sling, as though he had suffered a severe beating. And Harvey wasn't alone. Beside him was a dark-skinned... Seeing the young woman supporting Harvey as she stepped into the tavern, Catherine frowned and said, "That's an elf-orc half-breed!" The dark-skinned young woman before them had the long ears of an elf and the tusks of an orc. Her facial features were softer than an orc's, yet rougher than an elf's—plainly a cross between the two races. Elves rarely intermingled with other races. On the rare occasions they did, it was usually with humans, and mostly between exceptionally attractive men and women. For an orc-elf hybrid to exist, there was usually only one possibility: some unfortunate elf had been abducted by orcs, and then... Only in such a manner could a half-breed of both races come into the world. In other words, the presence of this young woman signified the tragic fate of an elf. Catherine clenched her fists. As the Elven Queen, just imagining it brought immense heartache. Anbaixiu comforted her, "Don't be sad. Maybe the other half was a drow elf." Catherine glared at Anbaixiu. Though she found his comment rather unethical, thinking of it that way did make her feel much more relieved. She truly couldn't tell whether he was being wicked or kind. Anbaixiu, however, had no such wandering thoughts. Harvey had arrived, and as soon as the young man had his epiphany, his redemption could be completed.