"Igola, how's the pressure?"
"Need more water? Let me get it! Want some french fries? Come on, open wide, ahhh—"
In the ground-floor restaurant of the hotel, the Swindler watched Yaxiu, who had been heaping attentive courtesies on him all morning. Pushing aside the fry being offered to his lips, he let out a long sigh. "Speak up. How are you looking to trample my dignity this time? Want me to hypnotize someone into being your girlfriend? Or help you rebuild the Four Pillar Cult?"
"How could that be!" Yaxiu answered with resounding conviction. "I just realized I never properly thanked you before, so I wanted to deepen our bond... Purely as an academic discussion, though, how long does that hypnosis of yours last, and what kind of effect does it have?"
"Really no ulterior motive?"
"None! But Igola, how old are you this year? What are your plans after the Weaving Ceremony? Have you ever thought about settling down and starting a family..."
"Ohhh..." Igola let out a knowing drawl. "Then why do you only care about me? Harvey isn't any younger than I am. Why aren't you asking him?"
"What's there to ask him? The answer is obviously digging up ancestral graves across all of the Gospel."
Harvey swallowed his mouthful of sandwich and shook his head. "A layman's prejudice. Just like fresh flowers, which are at their most resplendent and moving only when in full bloom—after which they are mere withered wreckage—I have zero interest in ancestral graves. To necromancers, the forty-eight hours following a person's death are known as the 'epiphyllum window.' Livor mortis gradually sets in, internal organs undergo autolysis, and the corpse can exhibit supravital reactions to external stimuli. It is the peak period of enjoyment. The fact that corpses are never kept beyond forty-eight hours back in the Blood Moon is for a similar reason..."
Yaxiu suddenly felt something was amiss. Even though Harvey was spouting such sickening details, it didn't impair his appetite for breakfast in the slightest. The same went for the others; even Lisi was eating with relish.
He definitely had to put some distance between himself and Harvey once the Weaving Ceremony ended. Yaxiu did not want his first reaction upon seeing a corpse in the future to be appreciation rather than dread!
"In any case," Yaxiu said warmly, kneading Igola's shoulders, "you must want to settle down too, right, Igola? You must've had enough of wandering from place to place like this."
"Mm..." Igola relaxed his shoulders, enjoying the cult leader's massage service. "Indeed. I'm not particularly interested in traveling. It's time to build a proper life for myself."
"Right, right?" Yaxiu nodded repeatedly. "And without a doubt, your best choice for settling down is—"
Igola reached up and clamped a hand over his mouth. "That's right: running the Four Pillar Cult."
Yaxiu: "!?"
"Just joking," Igola said, taking his hand away with a laugh. "Though Rust Crow's Four Pillar Cult does align remarkably well with my career path. Even without the Four Pillar Gods' help, I planned to found a secret organization to gradually seize fame, power, and wealth, carving out an enterprise here in the Gospel—"
"But wouldn't marrying into the Burdette family give you all of that directly? Plus, you'd get a super cute... genius daughter as cute as Lisi!"
Only then did Lisi look away with grudging satisfaction. Igola said exasperatedly, "That was all made up by the Gospel. Anfiel and I would never end up together like that. Besides, why do you keep urging me to marry into the Burdettes? What good does that do you?"
"I'm doing this for your own good." Yaxiu's eyes darted away. "Though, of course, if you're willing to lend your former cellmate a helping hand once you make it big, that wouldn't hurt either."
Igola glanced between Yaxiu and Lisi, instantly catching on to his true motive. With an exasperated huff, he turned toward Annan. "Did you find work in the surface city?"
"All sorted," Annan said. "One job in municipal sanitation, one as a costumed mascot, and one as restaurant waitstaff. We leave right after breakfast."
Yaxiu asked, "Huh? Eldest Young Lady, aren't you going?"
"Of course I am."
"But there are only three jobs—"
"Only the three of us are going: me, Igola, and Harvey. You and Banjie are staying at the hotel." Annan fixed her gaze on Yaxiu. "Your task is to keep Banjie company all day. Don't be apart for long. Understood?"
Catching the worry in Annan's eyes, Yaxiu quickly realized what was going on. "Is it because of the Assassination List?"
"Yes," Annan said. "Banjie ranks second on the Assassination List and is an Echoer neutralized by 'you.' The Isu royal family is very likely to send someone impersonating you to assassinate Banjie, thereby fulfilling the future woven by the Assassination List—just like Helaifeisi and Rog on the Evil Arts Board... Leaving Banjie alone is far too dangerous. A sorcerer must stay with him no matter what."
"My apologies," the blue-haired butler said, hanging his head in shame. "I'm holding everyone back..."
"To preserve the Gospel's credibility, the Isu royal family definitely wouldn't dare kill me, so as long as I stay by Banjie's side, their people won't dare show up to commit murder!" Yaxiu grasped the situation completely. "Go do your jobs and earn money. Leave things at home to me!"
While the logic was sound, coming out of Yaxiu's mouth, it somehow sounded rather odd...
After breakfast, the Funeral group split into two teams. Before parting ways, Igola pulled Yaxiu aside and asked, "Have you still not thought about your life plans after the Weaving Ceremony?"
"It's not that I haven't—"
"Which means you haven't." The Swindler paused. "If you're interested, you can come help me."
"Help you?" Yaxiu blinked. "I don't know how to swindle people, and I don't really like doing it—"
"I have no interest in letting you ruin my business either." Igola glanced at the white-haired little girl. "Aren't you just looking for a place to settle down with Lisi? You two can just stay home and study sorcery. You won't need to do anything."
"That generous?" Yaxiu grew wary. "You don't have some hidden motive, do you?"
"...I actually quite like Lisi too." Igola's eyes flicked to the upper right. "I can't just watch her keep wandering the world with you, can I? While starting a business certainly won't make us rich right away, providing for two loafers like you is more than doable."
"Too true. Who wouldn't like Lisi when she's this cute?" Yaxiu nodded in heartfelt agreement. "To think a day would come when I'd have to rely on my daughter acting cute to feed the family... In that case, I'll accept your kindness with a clear conscience!"
...
After seeing off the work crew, Yaxiu and the others returned to their hotel room. The trio—one blue, one black, and one white—exchanged blank stares until Yaxiu mimed twiddling a gamepad.
Understanding immediately, Banjie pulled an ancient gaming console and an entire case of cartridges from a suitcase; projecting the display onto the wall was all it took to play.
"Lisi, you have to finish today's study assignments for Gospel Basic Education before you can play games!"
"How am I supposed to study with you guys playing right beside me?!"
"Fair point." Yaxiu thought for a moment. "Then I'll study with you this afternoon. No slacking off, deal?"
"Deal!"
The three spent the whole morning thoroughly enjoying classic games of a bygone era in the room, and Banjie's wistful expression gradually gave way to smiles.
When Yaxiu suffered his ninth consecutive defeat against Banjie in Sorcerer Duel 14, he wailed, tossed down his controller, and completely threw in the towel. "Case solved! There's no way in hell I offed you for some bullshit reason like assassinating the Empress—it must be because you wrecked me so brutally that I just made up an excuse for revenge!"
"To tell the truth, I find it hard to believe you would kill me either, Mr. Yaxiu," Banjie said with a chuckle. "It feels as impossible as imagining a Mr. Harvey who detests corpses, or a Madam Qinna who acts like a pampered coquette."
Yaxiu blinked. "Is there some subtle hint in that?"
"Of course not." Banjie raised his teacup and took a sip. "Only that if you and the Young Lady end up together in the future, please try to keep your distance from Madam Qinna."
"The Gospel makes everything up; you're worrying over nothing, Banjie." Yaxiu chuckled and shook his head. "Besides, you know your young lady has her own hidden ambitions. Feelings are merely seasonings to her, while her ideals are the main course... A man would only slow her down."
He stood up and said, "It's almost lunchtime. I'll go down to the restaurant and grab some takeout."
"Thank you, that would be wonderful."
Lisi dusted off her bottom, hopped up, and said, "I'm heading back to my room to use the bathroom!"
Hearing the door click shut, Banjie stood up and glanced out the window at the subterranean city. Though it was midday, the underground lacked a day-night cycle and clearly remained a city of eternal night.
Banjie knew that before long, not just Nabistin, but the entire Gospel would undergo cataclysmic upheaval because of Funeral's actions, sending countless people's destinies on a complete hundred-and-eighty-degree turn. Yet he lacked the power to change it, nor did he wish to interfere.
He was the Doran family's butler, steadfastly loyal to the will of Funeral.
For now, he only wanted to enjoy a few more days of peaceful, ordinary life, and then, like ice, melt silently away into water.
Since they would be eating soon, the blue-haired butler went to the washroom to wash his hands. Suddenly, the water from the faucet stopped. The washroom light flickered, and at the same moment, the sound of hinges turning came from the outer door.
Yet he heard no footsteps whatsoever.
Banjie looked up. In the mirror, he saw a man standing outside the doorway, clad in a dark red trench coat and wearing a face mask.
Chapter 460