Outside the villa, there had originally been a swimming pool, but at Yaxiu's vehement insistence, it had quickly been converted into a steaming hot spring. Igola was hugging his knees as he sat by the edge, watching the stardust radiance drift across the undulating water.
"If you want to go in and soak for a bit, go ahead. No one's stopping you."
Igola pondered for a moment, then actually took off his boots and socks, rolled his trousers up to his knees, and tentatively dipped his toes into the water. Letting the hot spring submerge his ankles, he quietly watched the ripples stirred by his swinging feet.
He looked back to see Yaxiu sitting in a wheelchair. "Are you really using that toy to get around?"
Yaxiu jerked a thumb toward the villa behind them.
"Rose is watching. She's not joking around. If I hadn't adamantly refused, she'd definitely be pushing the wheelchair behind me right now... Give me your hand."
Igola glanced at his bloodstained fists and casually offered a hand.
The surrounding villa district was far from quiet. The din of dump trucks and fire engines constantly pierced the night sky. The aftermath of the Golden Rain Catastrophe had smashed into the commercial center servicing the villa complex, leaving 132 dead and 12 injured. The official report called it a meteorite disaster, yet not even a shard of meteorite could be found at the scene. The rescue excavation of the ruins was still underway, compounded by burst sewer pipes, broken fiber-optic cables, and various other chaotic damage, leaving the entire villa district as restless as ants on a hot pan.
And this was merely a minor mishap caused by a stray Pyroblast that slipped away when the Curse Elf Fire Sorcerer was casting a spell.
As for the main battlefield of the Demon War, in the words of the television host: "Every resident of Jiashi lost a lover, a family member, or a friend on this day."
Sometimes Yaxiu was genuinely curious about the pastoral era from thousands of years ago that Weixi often spoke of. In those days, Divine Lords did not yet rule the mortal realm, and the world was divided into various nations formed by alliances of sorcerers. It was an era of freedom that Weixi longed for, brimming with conflict and opportunity everywhere.
Yet freedom had a synonym: chaos. Yaxiu could not begin to imagine what kind of catastrophe it would be if a host of legendary sorcerers waged war against one another across the land without restraint. Even if sorcerers could establish a peaceful order, it would be meaningless. A chaos zealot like Weixi was the finest example—when untold mighty power converged in a single individual, the strong could trample rules at whim and escape all punishment.
There had never been any shackles capable of binding sorcerers.
The Blood Moon's Bloodline Prohibition Act, the Gospel's Gospel System, Senluo's religious faiths, the Country of Stars' nobility... Though the systems of the six nations differed, upon closer inspection, they were all simply devising ways to guide the sorcerer demographic. Yaxiu did not know whether the six nations could remain peaceful and serene, but it was still far better than returning to that pastoral era where Weixi would thrive like a fish in water.
As the siren of a departing fire engine faded into the distance, Yaxiu completed the healing. Letting go of Igola's hand, he said, "You weren't actually expecting me to give you psychological counseling, were you? At least between the two of us, I'm usually not the one playing that role."
"I never expected you to be an enlightened mentor, but I didn't think you'd fail even at being a companion." Igola shot him a sidelong glance. "I believe I have made it abundantly clear that I have no desire to talk. I can resolve my own emotions. All you need to do is shut up."
Yaxiu breathed a sigh of relief. "Great. I wouldn't know how to comfort anyone anyway. After all, whenever I'm in a bad mood, either you or Sword Princess and Witch are the ones comforting me."
Igola couldn't help but ask, "And what if Sword Princess and Witch are in a bad mood?"
"Well... probably just like you. They only need me to stay by their side." At that, Yaxiu had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Wait, you only need my company too. Does that mean my place in your heart is now comparable to my place in Sword Princess and Witch's hearts?"
"I just want you to shut up!" Igola nearly yelled in exasperation, his feet thrashing and splashing water in the hot spring.
"As you wish. I'll quietly stay by your side and become the emotional pillar from which you draw strength." Yaxiu nudged his electric wheelchair forward a bit until he was beside Igola. "What can I say? I accidentally became a beautiful and important part of your life."
Igola silently grasped his wheelchair. "As long as you don't deliberately touch the ground, Miss Rose won't resign, right?"
"If you dare push me in, Rose will file a restraining order banning you from coming within a kilometer of me," Yaxiu said hastily. "She listens to me on everything else, but she will never compromise on safety. She refuses to stand by and watch me run into danger—she'd consider it her own responsibility..."
Mid-sentence, Yaxiu realized he had said the wrong thing. Sure enough, Igola gazed silently at the water, swinging his feet with an unreadable expression.
Yaxiu sighed. "That's not your responsibility either. It's... If we're being honest, the Nation of Stars is far more likely to claim our lives than the Hell secret poison. And the key reason we have to remain in the Nation of Stars is because we came to the Country of Stars. And the reason we came here was because we couldn't reach the Kingdom of Thousand Wishes and were ambushed by Weixi... That's right! All the blame lies with Weixi! Tonight I'll punish her by making her wash my feet! That root of all evil must be thoroughly disciplined!"
Igola gave him a faint glance. "Do I look like the kind of person who deceives himself?"
"Didn't you say that the first person a deceiver deceives is himself?" Yaxiu replied.
"Deceiving oneself is done to wear a mask," Igola said softly. "Lies are the patterns on the mask. The more exquisite they are, the easier it is to beguile others."
He cast his eyes down at his reflection in the water.
"Yet you lot are so foolish that I could win your trust even without any patterns on my face."
"Then you should also understand that Harvey did it on purpose," Yaxiu said. "How could any legendary sorcerer be an idiot? He intentionally chose to court death alongside us."
Earlier, while Igola and Weixi were discussing so much crucial intelligence, Harvey hadn't paid attention to any of it—except when he asked Igola why he was undertaking the promotion ceremony, pretending he understood as well while inquiring into every detail of the Hell secret poison. With just a moment's thought, Yaxiu grasped what Harvey had been doing.
"I know," Igola said. "That's why I can't forgive myself... I was actually fooled by a necromancer!"
"I should have realized it the moment he asked a question unrelated to necromancy!" Igola ground his teeth. "He never pays attention to important intelligence! If we hadn't taught him about the Colorless Dream secret poison, he wouldn't even have known he was infected! This is like a chef getting bitten by a mop! To think I let someone who can't disguise himself in the slightest extract intel from me! I'm an utter disgrace to deceivers—I might as well roll back to the rearing institute and look after little kids!"
Yaxiu laughed. "Your retirement plan is to go back to the rearing institute and care for children?"
"The secret of deception lies in treating the mark like a child," Igola said. "The vast majority of people in this world never truly grow up; they simply can't continue being children. Personally, I think I have quite a talent for early childhood education."
"So you're only angry that you were duped by Harvey, not furious with yourself for putting Harvey in danger?"
"What else?" Igola replied. "We should have kicked Harvey out of the team long ago and left him to fend for himself."
Yaxiu chuckled and reached over to pat Igola's shoulder. Igola kept his eyes on the water, his golden hair falling down and concealing his expression. Time flowed quietly as the evening breeze stirred ripples across the water's surface.
"He really shouldn't be following us," Igola said softly. "He's not like us."
"You are a vortex of disaster. Wherever you go, trouble follows, and nowhere can you stay for long. Even though I was dragged along to run all over the place because of you, I've always craved grand spectacles and momentous events myself. Besides, traveling the six nations has always been my wish. So even if you're not exactly a good teammate, charging recklessly across the land with you... has indeed been an interesting adventure."
"Let me make one thing clear first," Yaxiu said. "I don't go chasing after disasters on purpose. The Gospel was because of Lisi, Senluo was because of Black Crow and Silver Lantern, and the Country of Stars was pure bad luck. It has nothing to do with me, alright?"
Igola patted his hand, wearing an expression that said 'Fine, seeing the state you're in, I'll humor you.'
"You're right."
"But Harvey neither antagonizes troublesome people, nor wants to travel, nor has any interest in getting involved in events. From start to finish, he has only wanted to be a coroner lining his own pockets. Unless it's a paradise where everyone has eternal life, he could settle down anywhere."
"Following us, on the other hand, has only derailed his own life."
"He doesn't care," Yaxiu said.
"He should care." Igola kicked up a sheet of spray. "He's a genius."
"He's not like you, tangled up in good and bad luck. He's not like me, a sorcerer with nothing more than petty cleverness. He has genuine talent."
"Back in the Country of Stars, I took the time to watch a drama film. The protagonist was exceptionally brilliant, but because of a poor background, she hung out with a bunch of lowlifes, drifting through each day. A supporting character said to her, 'Every day I come to find you, I hope you won't answer. Then I can be glad to find you've moved away, that you've gone to a better place to unlock your talents, and from then on, vanished without a trace, never to see each other again.'"
Igola looked up at the stars across the canopy of the sky. "I've always been hoping that one day, he and his coffin would suddenly vanish... before we end up getting ourselves killed."
Yaxiu was slightly dazed, then suddenly burst out laughing. "I really didn't expect..."
"Of course you didn't. You probably thought we were gladly following you through life and death, didn't you?"
"No. I didn't expect that you, of all people, would have such soft, weak thoughts."
Igola raised an eyebrow. "'Also'?"
"Do you know when I felt the most uneasy and anxious?" Yaxiu said. "It was when we first arrived in Senluo."
"There was no arrangement of fate, no oppression by the powerful. The two of you came to Senluo entirely of your own accord because of me, even though staying in the Gospel would have allowed you to live happy, peaceful lives. Back then, I kept thinking that if only we had parted ways earlier, I wouldn't have dragged you down."
"Later on, things happened, and I hurt Sword Princess. So I thought again: would Sword Princess have been better off if she had never met me?"
"But later, I let it go."
"Why?" Igola asked.
"Because Sword Princess forgave me, of course," Yaxiu replied. "Could it possibly be because of you two?"
"But I also know that you two never blamed me," Yaxiu continued. "My anxiety came from believing there was a path where you could be better off. But from the very beginning, I had already become a beautiful and important part of your lives. You can't part with me at all—hey, don't push! Rose really will beat you up!"
"Conversely, if you run into trouble, there's no way I could sit by and do nothing," Yaxiu said with a smile. "I can't banish you from my life anymore either."
"It's the same for Harvey. That path you imagined was never an option for him. He does love studying corpses, but he insists on studying corpses near us. Even if he hadn't contracted the secret poison, he would have marched into Hell with us at the head of an undead army."
Igola sighed. "Although this seems like a moment where I ought to be touched, necromancers are truly disgusting..."
Yaxiu's feelings were equally mixed. "Yeah... I'd lay down my life for Harvey, but I really wouldn't want to invite him to my wedding."
"It's fine. You can just pick one wedding to invite him to. That way, he'll only ruin one at most."
"Why do you make it sound like I'm going to have multiple weddings?"
"Did you think you could get away with holding just one?" Igola arched an eyebrow. "Do you think they'd agree to hold it together?"
Yaxiu looked at him for a moment, then suddenly said, "Actually, I have a way to block the Hell secret poison."
Chapter 891