Chapter 62 62: Bringing Her Back
Chapter 60 has been updated, i added some more to the chapter, you can read the new add parts after the comas
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and Chapter 61 has been posted to but in place of the previous one, so you can now see it without opening the chapter again. sorry again for the mistake. and 3 more chapter will be posted today *^
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'My lord'
After Eileen left, Maria's demeanor and address toward Renji changed significantly. Her intense gaze was fixed on the young man, revealing her burning desire for this moment.
Finally, the moment she had been waiting for had arrived.
Dangerous monsters surrounded Lord Ashen, and the only one who could stay by his side, the only one who could protect him until the end, was her!
This was a carefully prepared reunion scene by Suthia.
She believed that Lord Ashen must have been utterly disappointed with that female scavenger by now. The hug and conversation they had shared upon parting were nothing but Lord Ashen's final "kindness."
After all, if something was of no use, it should be discarded. The female scavenger was no longer capable of dealing with the current battle environment. Her contract should be terminated, her resources should be spat out, and her equipment should be stripped!
This was a creed Lord Ashen firmly believed in five hundred years ago.
And for her, from the moment Eileen hesitated to protect Her Lord for her mother, she had already lost. She had lost her qualification to stay by her Lord's side.
'After all, I...'
'I am the only one who is willing to give up everything for My Lord, no matter what!'
'Up until now, everything had been developing according to my plan'
'As expected, My Lord didn't try to retain the girl.'
'He let Eileen leave voluntarily'
However, what slightly surprised Suthia was,
"Lord Renji, what are we going to do next?"
"Let's head towards the 'Relic' first."
Renji finished speaking and prepared to move on. However, at that moment,
Maria swiftly moved in front of the young man.
"But, my lord, you just said you have two things to retrieve here."
"Maria doesn't understand."
"Besides that 'Relic,' could you let Maria know... what is the other thing here that is very important to you?"
The nun's hands were crossed in front of her, and she looked up at the young man with a curious and interested expression.
Although her expression and tone were still that delicate and weak appearance, Renji glanced at her and realized that his path had been completely blocked by Maria, who stood in the middle of the passage.
After that, Maria didn't say much more, nor did she show any intention of moving aside. She just kept staring at him, waiting for his answer.
"It's not exactly a thing... What I want to retrieve is actually a person."
"A person?!"
Maria was completely caught off guard by Renji's answer.
'A person?'
'Could it be that besides the female scavenger, there was someone else here that Lord Ashen cared about?'
'Or...'
'Someone who could be "retrieved"?'
The smile that had just formed on the nun's lips after Eileen's departure quickly faded, replaced by a faint glimmer of red light emerging in her eyes.
However, the young man facing Maria seemed completely unaware of the "ominous" change in the nun.
Renji tilted his head slightly upward, as if lost in memories.
He seemed to be speaking to the nun, but also as if he was talking to himself.
"Yes, she's someone very important to me. Well, it's a bit embarrassing to say it, but let's just say she was my first love."
"I invested a lot of emotion in her. She accompanied me and helped me through my most difficult and darkest times. Maybe she doesn't know it, after all, we're from different dimensions. But back then, I used to confine myself at home, unwilling to step outside, let alone communicate with others. I thought the world was wrong, full of deceit and malice, so I chose to escape reality, living only in my own world."
"But... everything changed after I met her. She showed me what true kindness is, and let me realize that there really are people who are foolish enough to sacrifice themselves for others. She was like the white moonlight in my heart, slowly dispelling the negative energy engulfing me, making me willing to step outside, continue to believe in the beauty of this world, and giving me the courage to communicate with strangers, becoming more open and cheerful."
His words suddenly came to a halt, and Renji refocused his gaze on Maria. He stared at those unfamiliar eyes, the unfamiliar skin, and let out a light sigh before shaking his head.
"Unfortunately, later on, for some reason, I was separated from her for a long time. When I finally returned, I found... she seemed to have changed, changed in a way that made me feel like a stranger."
"But after all, it was my fault from the beginning. I 'abandoned' her first, so I have no right to blame her. But I still want to try... if I can retrieve her, retrieve the person I used to know."
"So... will you help me, Maria?"
As he finished speaking, Renji had already come to stand in front of the nun.
Just moments ago, the nun who had been staring straight at the young man, blocking Renji's path, and nearly losing control in a "red warmth" when Renji mentioned that the second important thing was a "person," now seemed like the opposite. She couldn't bear to meet Renji's gaze, the red light in her eyes dared not show again. She lowered her head to stare at her toes, using the bangs on her forehead to cover the upper half of her face, hiding her current expression.
The nun opened her mouth, wanting to say something, but found that her throat seemed to be unresponsive. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't let out a sound, and in that moment, she even considered turning around and running away.
Until she felt a warm touch on her head.
"All right, all right, I know I'm being a bit greedy, asking you for such a big favor all at once."
Renji reached out and gently touched the nun's lowered head.
"After all, to be honest, this task is quite challenging. If she were a bit weaker, I could just grab her and give her a few spankings to educate her. But the most infuriating thing is that I can't beat her now. I have no chance of winning, not even the slightest bit of confidence. I feel like no matter how hard I try to think, I'll never win, and I even have to worry about her turning the tables on me."
"Ah, forget it, I won't talk about it anymore. The more I talk, the more scared I get."
"In any case, the first step..."
"Give me your hand, Maria."
Without waiting for a response, the young man took the nun's hand, and in the next moment, the nun's small hand quickly clasped his, holding onto it tightly.
And so, the two of them continued to explore deeper underground, although it would be more accurate to say that they were taking a leisurely stroll.
Originally, when Eileen was with them, they would encounter Tainted Corpse monsters blocking the passage or suddenly attacking from the corners or forks of the tunnel after walking just a few steps. However, at this moment, as if they had made some strange agreement, all the monsters seemed to intentionally pass them by.
Even more bizarrely, in some narrow sections of the sewer with only one passage, where they couldn't avoid the approaching Tainted Corpse horde, the monsters, who were just a few steps away from them, seemed to ignore the two of them and continued to wander aimlessly.
Renji and the nun seemed to have accepted this strange phenomenon and didn't break the pleasant atmosphere. After all, sometimes romance didn't care about the background, did it? Their lighthearted conversation filled the eerie and terrifying abandoned sewer.
"Maria, what do you think about me secretly drugging her to make her faint? How about that?"
"No, that doesn't seem like a good idea."
"Then what about playing the emotional card with her? Would that work?"
"I, I don't know..."
"Maria, have you ever heard of the term 'yandere'?"
"No, I haven't. What does it mean?"
"You don't need to know the meaning. Just remember, it's a very bad term, and you definitely shouldn't learn it."
"Okay."
Happy times were always short-lived.
Every story must have a climax at its conclusion.
Unbeknownst to them, the two had already strolled to the deepest part of this underground space.
There, in the center, was a large grey altar, shrouded in a thick red mist. Above the altar floated two rotating emblem brands.
And beneath the altar...
There awaited a priest, who had been anxiously anticipating their arrival for some time.
He had been anxiously looking around and could be seen getting a bit impatient. Finally, he saw Renji's figure appearing from the entrance.
Gleefully, the priest opened his arms, as if a burden had been lifted.
Finally, a sound fitting the current backdrop emerged.
It was a sinister, evil laugh, echoing through the underground altar engulfed in red mist.
"Hehehehehe!"