When mentioning mages, most people would think of towering mage towers, clean and tidy libraries, wondrous automatic magic tools, elegant mage robes, long beards, and presbyopic glasses that represented wisdom.
But actually, I had never seen any mages who could do all of these things. No, I had only seen very few mages who could keep their rooms clean and tidy.
Actually, most mage laboratories that I had seen before were in complete chaos. Books and scrolls were piled up into mountains, and unwashed laboratory equipment had a nauseating odor. It would be perfectly normal to see magical creatures and Ooze Monsters everywhere if they hadn't been cleaned up for too long.
"Aren't there self-moving brooms and puppets that automatically clean the bookshelves?"
"If those things are charged, daily maintenance will require a large amount of mana, and they'll be quite expensive. If they're single-use, plus the cost of materials, it'll be even more expensive. Those things are only used by the Mage Country to keep up appearances in public. Who knows who uses them in private? "
"But since you're a wise mage, it shouldn't be difficult for you to clean your own room. You can always hire someone to do it for you."
"There are many things that are dangerous for laymen to touch, but it's not safe for professionals to do it. Clean it yourself? I really want to take out twenty-six hours out of every twenty-four hours to do research. I don't have the time at all. That's why I'll leave everything to you. Right, remember to water the garden in the south once a day. You don't have to water it yourself. You just have to open the valve when you enter the core area … Oh, right. If you have time, help me find a gardener. He hasn't come out since three days ago. I wonder if he took his wages and ran away. As expected, they don't pay him in advance. How many times has he done this? "
From a certain standpoint, the mage academies back in the day were quite similar to the current academic institutions. Students studied under teachers, which counted as working for them. Since it was inconvenient for teachers to hire outsiders to do odd jobs for them, it was quite normal for students to work as servants.
Back in the day, I had done research under Senior Emily as an apprentice, so I didn't really mind doing odd jobs. However, my very first mission completely changed my impression of mages.
"Mage robes? That's inconvenient to move about, so I don't need it at home. Convenient to use magic materials? Heh heh, at my level, there's no need for that. "
Back in the day, my friendly upperclassman had only subverted my common sense at first, but she was surprisingly friendly. However, the task of cleaning up the research lab almost cost me my life.
Don't even think about the bonus storyline of a beautiful teacher exposing her naked body to the world or having her own personal portrait drawn. I would have to accumulate two rooms worth of personal portraits, and the quest that gave me the greatest "surprise" was actually to water the plants in the garden.
That daily quest allowed me to completely abandon the beautiful illusion of Amelia and finally see her true colors.
At this point, perhaps everyone understood.
Back then, Amelia hadn't yet viciously planted the Seven Virtues in her own backyard, but I had first enjoyed the predation of man-eating flowers, the entanglement of the Black Forest Magic Vines, and then played an exciting wilderness survival game and Resident Evil. If it wasn't for the fact that I had some skills back then, I probably would have died mysteriously like the previous gardener.
Most of the lessons that followed were similar experiences. I finally understood why this senior sister with a good reputation always needed new acolytes …
I roared from the bottom of my heart as I swung my sword to kill that familiar mutated man-eating flower.
"Following that fellow to become an acolyte, without the strength of a Sword Saint, it's impossible to survive."
"Why are you suddenly roaring!? Are you deaf? "
Alright then, I accidentally roared out all the resentment in my heart. I really couldn't be blamed for everything that happened back then. Perhaps Amelia really didn't have any ill intentions back then, but even I, who had the power of a Sword Saint, was on the brink of death multiple times. Who else could I blame but her?
Now that I thought about it, tricking her back then was actually a good deed. At the very least, there would be fewer victims in the future, such as those missing gardeners and acolytes.
"Oh my, that's so ridiculous."
The reason why I brought up the past was because the scene before me seemed so familiar. This was a forest overgrown with weeds. Man-eating flowers and other such things were as common as weeds. The poisonous fragrance of flowers permeated the air, and thirty-meter tall mushrooms were actually swallowing each other. The most ridiculous thing of all was a pumpkin carriage that was being dragged around by a giant rat. At any rate, this was an absolutely dangerous area where all sorts of dangerous plants could roam freely.
After returning to Karo, I heard that Amelia actually hadn't left yet, so I had some guesses.
"Also, where else would be more suitable for doing as she pleases? Without the country's Supervisory Council and law-breaking investigators, she can probably try all sorts of forbidden experiments."
Should I say that I didn't let her down? I actually saw such a scene when I arrived at her temporary residence. Obviously, either she wasn't intending to write an experimental report with several hundred thousand words, or she had gone overboard yet again.
"I suggest that we go around in circles. Since Amelia hasn't come out yet, she's probably trapped. Any one of her 'virtues' going out of control will be an unbearable pain. "
I unhesitatingly turned around and left.
What? Worried about Amelia? Calamities could live for thousands of years. Using this as a standard, it would be quite easy for Amelia to live for ten thousand years. For her, no matter how much she played, she would only go overboard for a moment. She would be fine as long as she figured it out herself.
"Didn't you say that you were going to invite her to your birthday party? No matter what, she's been working so hard to help you recently. That's so rude of you. "
The silly cat … perhaps I should call her a silly loli now. She grabbed onto my clothes and refused to let me leave. Judging from her expression, she seemed rather dissatisfied.
I had a headache now. Ever since I revived, Heloise had become far too emotional. It seemed that she was cuter when she was in her silly cat form. At the very least, most of the time, she wouldn't be interested in anything that had nothing to do with her. She wasn't like her current self, where she was basically a curious baby. Her emotions would change incredibly quickly, and her fangs were becoming more and more convenient.
"Would I bite you if you didn't make me angry? Stop making wild guesses. You didn't say it out loud, but your expression is so obvious. Who wouldn't understand? Right, why did you suddenly want to hold a birthday party and invite guests everywhere? No matter how I look at it, you don't seem like someone who values anniversaries like birthdays at all. "
"In your eyes, I'm probably supposed to have a serious expression all the time, plotting behind the scenes, and preparing some backup plan? Then, no matter what I do, I'll have to come up with a series of schemes? "
Alright then, this fake loli actually dared to vigorously nod at me. Just wait for my revenge. Hmph, starting from next week, you'll have no breakfast, lunch, or dinner. You'll either have to go out into the wilderness with me to complete your Cooking God achievement, or you'll have to eat Amelia's experimental subjects … It seemed that if you chose the latter, you'd still be able to complete your Cooking God achievement.
"Rose's dead. She's the first major character on this list to be crossed off. You should be happy now."
Heloise nodded lightly. On the list that she gave me to hate, this former top three Elf True God was the target that she was determined to take revenge on.
"No matter what, you're alive again …"
"If you're trying to convince me to give up on revenge, don't even think about it. Even if I'm alive again, the grudges of the past will never be resolved! "
"Don't get so worked up … I'm not foolish enough to try and convince you to give up on revenge. I'm just looking forward. Living a better life for yourself has no conflict with revenge."
Some words had been on my mind for a long time. I was quite hesitant, but I finally said them out loud.
"Actually, I'm the same. I'm constantly haunted by the past. No, I should say that we're the ones who can't let it go. All these years, the scene of the capital's destruction has been haunting me in my nightmares. It's really unpleasant. "
I paused for a moment. I had held it in for so long that I didn't even know how to express myself.
"I won't tell you to let go of the past, nor will I tell you any nonsense like 'hatred is meaningless'. That's because to us, whose goal in life is revenge, that's just an insult. But just like how Rose's death made you feel much more at ease, the Mist Kingdom's revival in a different way is also a form of release for me. "
I was starting to feel a little embarrassed after saying all this, but it seemed that stopping would only make things worse, so I could only brace myself and continue.
"If it's impossible to forget the past, then let's focus more on the future. In any case, we're no longer lone avengers, and we can barely be considered a family. If there's any trouble, just leave it to others to help. At the very least, I've made up my mind that even if I fail in the end, I'll make full use of my time in the future and enjoy what I missed out on previously. "
Alright, when I said all this, I felt my face turning red.
"That's why it's normal to find a few friends to hold a small birthday party. How could I have known that they would make it so big?"
"Don't Eliza and the others know that it's your birthday?"
"Kelly probably forgot about it. It's something that happened several centuries ago, so who would remember it clearly? As for Eliza … in Sulfur Mountain City, we don't celebrate our birthdays. We have our own anniversary, and it was invented by me. "
"Then what do you celebrate?"
"We're all undead, so the day we die is a new beginning. We all celebrate our 'death anniversary,' and I just happen to have a few death anniversaries, so I'm too lazy to celebrate them. It's normal that they don't know about it."
Hearing this, Heloise was speechless. How dare they say that they don't know how to enjoy life? Back in Xiluo, she had never heard of any undead celebrating their death anniversary to commemorate the day they died. These undead of Sulfur Mountain City really knew how to have fun.
"Wait a moment, all the high-level undead in your army died on the same day, so wouldn't they all celebrate their death anniversaries together?"
"Yep, that's why we call that day 'Annihilation Day'. We'll continue to have a grand celebration, parade the entire city, and turn everything upside down. In order to not scare people, we'll even put on ridiculous makeup. Sometimes, we'll dress up as a traveling circus, sometimes we'll dress up as a stage play with an epic story, and sometimes we'll even go into battle naked. At that time, there'll even be a market and a float show. Gradually, in the mouths of the living, it became a strange Undead Sacrifice, Sulfur Mountain City's signature holiday — Ghost Festival. "
When talking about the past, it was inevitable that people would sink into their past memories. Harloys nodded thoughtfully as I sank into the hallway of my memories.
"You really do have a scheme. Can't you just say it openly?"
"You can tell?"
"I heard you say it already. It's so obvious, how could I not know? I'm afraid that those hounds of yours already know what's going on. "
"Yep, even if I don't say it, they'll understand. In this generation, since the Mist Kingdom has already been revived, it's too pitiful to still celebrate Ghost Festival or Annihilation Day on the Annihilation Day. From now on, there'll only be 'Day of Peace' Celebration, which represents victory and peace. Since I intend to walk out of the shadows of the past and look forward, I naturally hope that they can do the same. "
"… You're so willful and selfish."
I shrugged, but I didn't deny it. I was self-conscious about that.
"Every year's celebration is different, but I believe that since my intentions have been expressed, my Knight definitely won't disappoint me. Bastian's rolling ball performance is the finale of every year's celebration. Then, here's the question … cough, beautiful Princess Heloise, are you willing to walk together with a selfish fellow like me at the celebration? It should be quite enjoyable. "
Bowing slightly and lifting the hem of her skirt, the young golden-haired princess showed a pure smile as she performed an ancient courteous etiquette.
"Of course, esteemed Prince Roland. It's my honor to be your companion at the celebration."
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