Azure Scepter

Page 38

Noi tilted her head blankly, and after a moment, she raised her eyebrows in confusion, blinked innocently at the elf, and then asked, "Fodia, are you alright?"

“The edges of the iris flowers show signs of burning.” Ignoring Noy, Futia quickly scanned her surroundings. “There are very powerful spirits nearby. Be careful!”

“But those…those spinal spirits that can keep resurrecting, they’re all spirits—the scorch marks on the irises don’t fade after they come into contact with them.” Noi looked even more confused, her soft voice even carrying a hint of etherealness. “There aren’t any spirits around here, yes, none.”

Futia subconsciously looked at Noy. The usually intelligent and learned nun looked dazed at this moment. Her eyes were as clear as a calm lake or as pure as the whitest sheet of paper.

At this moment, the elf's strange feeling grew stronger. In her impression, Noi had always been reserved and unpredictable. Although he always pretended to be gentle and kind, it was easy to find out that it was just a kind of hypocritical decoration after getting to know him for a while.

After all, a truly kind person would never use suggestive tactics on their teammates!

But now, the nun, whose thoughts were always unfathomable, could be read at a glance...

Faudia's lips moved slightly, as if she wanted to say something, but she didn't know where to begin.

Suddenly, Trier's voice came from the left: "Noye has been hit hard on the back of the head, and she will need some time to recover."

“Yes, I’m not quite used to this, this state yet.” Noi rubbed the back of her head, her silver hair flowing like soft mist between her slender fingers. “Right now, I’m still a little dizzy… dizzy.”

Am I just being paranoid?

Fythia frowned; she felt something was amiss...

After a moment's thought, she sighed.

Perhaps I was just being paranoid, since Trier had already said there was no problem.

“Let’s collect Harlan’s body first, and then go back,” Trier said. “It’s getting late, and if we delay any longer, the wandering zombies might damage Harlan’s body.”

When the three finished collecting Harlan's mutilated body and returned to the hotel, the stars had once again covered the night sky.

As soon as they stepped through the gate, a host of complicated and difficult urgent matters came rushing in. Just hearing about the extremely difficult and tedious tasks made Futia feel a tightness in her chest, but Trier only stood there for a moment to observe before arranging everything with incredible efficiency.

Those urgent matters, as chaotic as turbulent currents, were like water hitting a dam in Trier, and they were all guided in an orderly manner to their respective channels.

Although Trier spoke slowly, within just over ten minutes, all those dauntingly complicated matters were arranged and resolved in an orderly manner. Even more remarkably, under Trier's arrangement, almost no unexpected situations occurred.

After efficiently arranging all matters, Trier immediately began treating the injured.

The room used as an emergency room was originally a wine cellar used to isolate infected people. Inside the wine cellar, the anti-magic plague ritual is still in operation.

At this moment, Futia was leaning against the door of the wine cellar building with a utterly shameless air. With all the matters settled, she was now completely free.

"These three days have been so exciting." She looked up at the starry sky and muttered to herself, "How boring. Maybe I should go to sleep."

Suddenly, an interesting thought popped into Fythia's mind: she wanted to see how Trier actually treated his patients. As far as she knew, Trier and Noy had already used up all the divine magic they had prepared for the day, so Trier's only remaining hope was his surgical skills.

With this thought in mind, Futia tiptoed into the building.

Light footsteps echoed like shadows on the wooden stairs, and soon, Futia stealthily reached the entrance to the cellar.

The cellar is completely different from what it used to be. Bright lights have dispelled all shadows, illuminating the dark cellar as if it were daytime; the stuffy and suffocating air of the past is now exceptionally open; and a faint fragrance has replaced the negative stench of the past.

There were no soldiers guarding the end of the stairs; only a warm and holy white light occasionally peeked out from between the half-open doors.

Everything seemed very warm and harmonious.

Futia slowly walked to the door, her fair fingers gently reaching for the doorknob.

"Crack!"

The door suddenly opened, and Noi's pale, ghost-like face appeared behind it, her eyes meeting Futia's.

Looking into those eyes that exuded a strange charm, Futia felt a brief dizziness and subconsciously looked down at her boots.

Her deerskin boots were covered in mud and blood, and dirty, bloody footprints stretched from her feet all the way up the stairs. Next to her footprints was another row of wider and deeper bloody footprints.

Suddenly, Futia froze.

Only two people's bloody footprints? Where are Noe's?!

The gaze slowly moved upwards—there wasn't a speck of mud or blood on Noy's boots, not even a speck of dust!

Futia felt a little thirsty. The boredom that had been lingering in her mind was instantly shattered by a sense of panic after discovering a secret, and a bead of cold sweat slowly condensed on her forehead.

Noy has truly become an undead! But she was a high-ranking priestess; anything capable of turning her into an undead must be some unimaginably powerful evil! If that's the case, then Trier too...

A complete and terrifying guess instantly flashed into Fati's mind.

Harlan wasn't the only one who died in the afternoon battle; Neu and Trier were also killed by that unimaginably powerful evil, which then resurrected and enslaved them.

A sharp, aching pain surged from my heart like a tsunami, then transformed into a numb, tingling sensation that traveled from my chest to my limbs and bones.

If she felt a sense of unreality and alienation when she learned of Harlan's death, at this moment, she felt as if she were trapped in a nightmare.

This feeling is similar to when I suddenly discovered my sister's mutilated body the day before yesterday...

The next moment, Futia forced herself to take a deep breath.

Calm down, be calm!

Her fingers rested lightly on the hilt of the scimitar, then she looked up at Noe.

Noy's eyes seemed much more lively than in the afternoon, and a stiff smile slowly tugged at the corners of her mouth, like a doll learning how to smile: "You noticed?"

Amidst the distant ringing in her ears, Futia heard her own heartbeat. The groans of the wounded mingled with the light in the room, and the warm and harmonious scene before her eyes, amplified by her imagination, transformed into a terrifying zone where something unspeakably horrifying lurked.

"You can actually see angels too?" Noi said in a daze.

Angel?

Fatiya froze, and she subconsciously glanced inside the door.

Inside the room, Trier was performing surgery with an instrument he couldn't name, and holy white light would occasionally appear out of thin air around him.

Seemingly sensing her gaze, a beautiful humanoid figure with pure white wings suddenly vanished in an empty spot...

"Huh?" Futia opened her mouth wide in disbelief.

[Perfect healing, you have gained the background specialization "First Aid Specialist"]

A line of cobalt blue information flashed past Trier's eyes as he glanced at the dense list of expertise achievements.

[You have acquired the personal feat "Master of Immortality"]

[You have acquired the personal skill "Mastery of Chopping with the Force"]

[You have obtained partial information about the personal skill "Tranquility"....]

P.S.: This is to make up for yesterday's performance; sorry, I performed some performance art.

Chapter 68 Interlude (Part 1)

Trier's gaze swept quickly across the information panel.

"I've learned so much, I can't finish looking at it all at once. I'll organize it before I go to bed." He thought to himself as he focused his attention on the wounded soldiers in front of him.

The soldier before him had his humerus broken by a blunt object, and the dented plate armor was stuck into the fractured bone like a snap fastener. After a moment's thought, Trier slowly cut along the midline of the triceps towards the periosteum with his scalpel, then mechanically cleared away the hematoma and removed the plate armor fragments.

A few minutes later, he successfully completed the preliminary treatment once again. He nodded to the angel behind him, and the angel cast a healing spell on minor injuries—the preliminary surgical treatment could effectively reduce the number of divine spell rings required to restore health.

"Thank you, sir, really, thank you so much," the soldier said sincerely.

Trier smiled gently and gestured. The next moment, he had a thought, and Noy, who was outside the room, silently floated back and pushed the injured person to the next room to rest.

Through the half-closed door, he saw the dumbfounded elf.

The elf's face flushed crimson, the blush spreading to the tips of her ears. Her azure eyes glanced slightly downwards at the ground, as if a dragon's treasure lay there.

Trier's gaze swept quickly over the cold sweat on the elf's forehead, his long, slender, white fingers resting on the hilt of his scimitar, and the trembling muscles in his calves.

“Fodia really has a wild imagination,” Trier thought. “She probably suspects that Noy and I have become ghosts. However, she should already realize that Noy has been turned into a bound spirit by me.”

Upon seeing herself, Futia gave a dry laugh, then awkwardly raised her right hand in greeting.

“Fodia looks so guilty—it seems I guessed right.” Trier couldn’t help but chuckle.

Now that the enormous threat that had been looming over him since his transmigration had been resolved, Trier was quite relaxed, and he suddenly wanted to play a joke on Fythia.

So he didn't explain anything, but instead imitated the elf's movements and gave a stiff greeting in a way that conformed to people's stereotypes of the dead.

However, Futia was not afraid. Instead, she suddenly made a funny face.

"I saw an angel, don't scare me."

Trier chuckled awkwardly, about to apologize for the inappropriate joke, but then he thought better of it and said in a deep voice, "Did you just suspect that Noy and I had become undead?"

“Where…where could that be? How could that be?” Frythia’s gaze darted around again. “I mean, I didn’t think that!”

Suddenly, Trier heard a snicker and turned to look behind him.

The angel, who always had a stern face, actually laughed out loud. Although she tried her best to hide her laughter, the ever-upturning corners of her mouth still betrayed her true thoughts.

“She’s always been this stubborn,” Harlan’s spirit explained. “She’s even more stubborn than Beatrice.”

Trier coughed lightly, deciding to abruptly change the subject: "That should have been the last injured person. Thank you for your help."

The angel who guided Harlan's soul nodded slightly: "May the radiance protect you, Oathbreaker. The path of the paladin is quite arduous, like climbing a steep, cloud-piercing mountain. Although your actions are understandable, enslaving and twisting the will of others is extremely evil—may you regain your honor and walk this difficult but glorious path once again."

“But he didn’t twist my will; he broke his oath to fulfill my wish.” Noi floated through the wall and then materialized again.

After an afternoon of recovery, Noe's language and thinking abilities have improved considerably. Although she is still a little dazed and sometimes does some outrageous things unconsciously, she is almost fully recovered.

The angel looked at Noe with a complicated expression: "It's hard to imagine that you would be a priest who believes in a benevolent god; it's even harder for me to imagine that you believe in radiance; and what I find hardest to imagine is that an evil soul like yours can still radiate a benevolent light. Seeing what you have done, I even start to wonder if there is something wrong with the materialized standards of good and evil."

“We can see a person’s outward appearance, but it’s hard to see their inner self,” Harlan’s spirit sneered. “Luckily, Trier stopped you in time, otherwise you would have committed unimaginable atrocities.”

Noe lowered her eyelids and hid directly behind Trier.

The angel sighed: "May you recognize your mistakes and redeem yourself from the sins you have committed."

The next instant, she gently raised her head, and in the dazzling light, she and Harlan's figures completely disappeared.

In the blinding white light, Harlan's last words echoed in Trier's ears: "Good luck, Trier! Remember your vow!"

[Gained Background Perk: Harlan's Blessing]

Time passed slowly, and although it was already two in the morning, the hotel was still bustling with activity.

The survivors are celebrating, and after surviving the ordeal, life seems to have become more vibrant and precious.

The dwarf blacksmith, lute in hand, tuned and sang his newly composed legend of Beaver Town over and over again; amidst the clinking of glasses, the surviving militiamen laughed heartily, their cold wine and foam spilling onto the fireplace; while the usually conservative Futia sat upright by the window, meticulously savoring the sumptuous meal before her.

Happy laughter echoed in the warm fire, and although people occasionally sobbed as they thought of the deceased, it was not the norm.

“Let me tell you,” the tall, thin moneylender said to the standard-bearer, “Lord Trier must possess some unknown power. This is the bandage he wore when he was injured; it will surely help you recover faster. Perhaps you too will receive the revelation of the radiance!”

The stern-faced flag bearer asked with a hint of disbelief, "Then why don't you carry it yourself?"

“It’s for making friends, of course.” The lender smiled. “If you don’t want it, then I’ll keep it as a family heirloom. When I’m old, I can brag to my grandchildren about my glorious experiences in my youth.”

The standard-bearer remained expressionless. After a moment of silence, he said, "Do you think Lord Trier will leave Beaver Town? You want to establish new connections beforehand..."

The lender nodded frankly: "Your wisdom makes me feel ashamed of myself."

"What do you know about Lord Trier?" The standard-bearer took the blood-stained bandage without hesitation.

“I used to know him,” the moneylender said with a smile. “He’s the Earl’s nephew.”

Fythia's pointed ears twitched slightly.

At this moment, Trier was in his room on the second floor of the hotel, sitting at the table and writing furiously.

He is arranging the organizational structure for the survivors of Beaver Town after they leave, as well as the problems they may encounter and how to solve them.

Beaver Town is an important military supply town in the northern part of the Earl's territory. Although it is currently cut off from the outside world, based on basic geography and the principles of military operations, it is easy to see that the rescued Beaver Town is capable of becoming an important military stronghold during the Blood Plague outbreak.

A moment later, he put away the completed document and looked at the flickering fireplace.

A warm orange glow spilled onto the back of my hand, a comforting and reassuring feeling.

"It's time to check the harvest," he murmured cheerfully as he accessed the control panel.

P.S.: 14 chapters still owed...

Chapter 69 Interlude (Part Two)

A sky full of stars sprinkled down their light, and the cobalt blue information panel slowly unfolded like mercury spilling onto the ground.

Looking at the densely packed harvest, Trier couldn't help but smile. In order to organize it in an orderly and efficient manner, he first made a simple classification of the harvest in his mind: "The harvest is roughly divided into three categories: legend level, experience points, and feats. There are too many new feats. Let's check the legend level first."

"Savior of Beaver Town [Dragon Slayer]: In mid-March of the Year of Stars and Crimson Moon, in the Kingdom of Orco, you rallied the remaining survivors in Beaver Town and engaged in a fierce battle with the Silent Whisperers who attempted to kill the weakened Copper Dragon. Despite the overwhelming disparity in strength, you ultimately achieved a complete victory. This near-miraculous victory profoundly impacted the balance and course of the entire region, and your fame and deeds will gradually spread throughout the Kingdom of Orco. You have already attracted the close attention of an ancient evil, and even some beings in the Celestial Realm and the Dream Realm have begun to notice you—over time, you will gain a maximum of 3 Legendary Points."

Trier tapped the table lightly with his index finger, his mind racing: "Now I'm truly at odds with Lorcy. Although I misled her with magic, framing Rakwald of the Great Swamp for stealing Noi's soul, Lorcy isn't stupid. She'll soon find out that I did it."

"In other words, I already have a personal grudge against it. Given its performance in the game's history, it certainly won't ignore or let this go, so the best solution is to eliminate it."

"This also aligns with my promise to Harlan: the best way to protect the people of the Southern Duchy from harm is to eliminate the lich Losevie."