Reunion with an Old Friend

Benjamin had another dream.

This time, the dream finally had nothing to do with his boss. He dreamt that he was submerged in a deep blue ocean, surrounded by a school of merfolk swimming around him. The faces of these merfolk were those of every person he had met since arriving in this world.

Their expressions were cold and unfamiliar, looking somewhat terrifying.

However, these swimming merfolk soon turned into blue characters one by one, flying faster and faster around him. The vast ocean suddenly vanished, and his surroundings dissolved into an endless, boundless darkness.

Benjamin tried hard to identify those characters, but for some reason, he just could not see them clearly.

A buzzing sound came to his ears.

He looked at everything around him and suddenly realized, isn't this his own consciousness space? He recalled the scene of opening his consciousness space back then, and listening to that faint, strange sound, a flash of inspiration struck his heart.

He chanted the incantation for the Water Ball Spell toward that buzzing sound.

Nothing happened.

Benjamin found it strange. Thus, he pricked up his ears and began to swim toward the buzzing noise.

As the distance closed, the sound grew louder and louder. He suddenly had a premonition that this sound could tell him all the mysteries of the consciousness space and grant him supreme power. Therefore, he swam even harder, summoning a level of focus a hundred times greater than when he practiced English listening comprehension, concentrating entirely on listening to that sound.

The sound slowly became clear.

It sounded like a sentence.

Benjamin felt very excited; he was only one step away from the answer.

Finally, like the first breath of air taken by a marine creature evolving onto land, like the contact between a bubble and the tip of a needle at the most critical point, the sound emerged from the chaos and suddenly became clear:

"Young Master, you must not die!"

Benjamin in the dream was stunned. What did that mean?

Suddenly, as if a great force had struck him, he gasped sharply and opened his eyes.

He had woken up.

"Young Master... Young Master, you, you're finally awake?" A voice filled with surprise called out from beside his ear.

"You... keep it down for a moment."

Benjamin felt dizzy and disoriented. He sat up, feeling a splitting headache, and covered his forehead to steady himself. After a while, he gradually regained his clarity and had enough energy to observe his surroundings.

The surroundings... these were his bedroom in the Riser Family estate.

He was lying on his own bed.

Seeing this, he let out a long sigh of relief and flopped back down with a thud.

He had been brought back.

Michelle's curse... it was truly fucking agonizing. It was fortunate that he had passed out from the pain toward the end; otherwise, he would have truly experienced the dual pleasure of childbirth and having his balls crushed.

However, from another perspective, he had to thank this curse; it had flared up at just the right time.

Recalling the farce in the castle, Benjamin still felt a lingering fear—having a gun pointed at him was no fun. If the curse hadn't flared up while he was struggling with Dick, if Dick hadn't assumed that shot had hit Benjamin, and if that shot hadn't actually missed Benjamin...

The outcome of the situation would have been much harder to predict.

A perfectly good transmigration, why did it have to be so miserable?

"Young Master, are you alright?"

Hearing this, Benjamin snapped out of his thoughts and looked up. He saw Jeremy standing by the bed, looking at him cautiously.

"...It's fine, don't worry, I'm alright." Although he knew Jeremy was just doing his job, Benjamin was still a bit touched.

"I'll go tell the Madam and the others right away." Jeremy smiled sheepishly, turned, and ran off. He disappeared in the blink of an eye before Benjamin could even call him back.

He had wanted to ask him to run another errand...

Forget it, there was no rush. His head was still hurting! He would just temporarily cast those troublesome matters to the back of his mind and get some good rest.

Benjamin closed his eyes, relaxed his entire body, and buried himself deep into the soft bedding.

However, he hadn't been lying there for long.

"Lord Riser, long time no see. I wonder if you are satisfied with my little gift?"

A voice rang out abruptly in the room.

Benjamin jolted awake and opened his eyes. He sat up from the bed and looked toward the source of the voice.

"...Michelle."

He saw a figure wrapped in a dark green robe standing in the shadows in the corner of the room. Michelle's attire was exactly the same as last time, like an assassin lurking in the dark, making it impossible to see what was hidden beneath the robe.

Benjamin took a deep breath.

His mood was calmer than he had imagined. Perhaps he should have been shocked by Michelle's ghostly movements, but he wasn't. He simply looked at Michelle, as if they were two old friends reunited after a long time—estranged enough to be hostile, yet familiar enough to feel a hint of nostalgia.

How could he not have guessed it? The curse had just flared up once, and its lingering effects had not yet faded. For Michelle, this was the best time to appear; the psychological advantage would allow her to seize more initiative in the negotiations.

As for how she had snuck in here—she had already been able to leave a note under his pillow without anyone noticing, so what else was she incapable of?

Benjamin felt the bedding start to grow cold.

He had the intention to call for help immediately. The people of the Riser Family were all around, and the knights sent by The Church to watch him shouldn't be far away. If he spoke up, there was a high possibility that Michelle would be forced to leave.

However, Benjamin also knew that if Michelle dared to appear here like this, it meant she was confident she could escape unscathed. If he couldn't deliver a fatal blow, forcing her to retreat temporarily would be meaningless and might even annoy her.

He decided to see what Michelle wanted.

Feeling the cross hanging around his neck, Benjamin felt a bit safer.

At the very least, he still had some leverage, didn't he?

"Time is short, so I'll keep it brief." Finally, after a moment of confrontation, Michelle spoke. "I don't have the time to teach you magic. I'm leaving this Bible for you; you will find what you want in it."

As she spoke, she took out a small booklet and tossed it onto Benjamin's bed.

"A Bible?"

Benjamin was puzzled. He looked at the book lying on the quilt but didn't touch it.

He couldn't understand what Michelle was up to.

"I know what you're thinking," Michelle replied. "It is different from the hypocritical hymns distributed by The Church. This is our Bible, which records true magic. If I'm not mistaken, your magic was learned by accident, and I believe you will need this."

Hearing this, Benjamin glanced at the booklet again. He suppressed his curiosity about magic and asked instead, "You wouldn't give me a benefit for nothing. What is it that you want?"

They say a weasel wishing a chicken a Happy New Year has no good intentions; he wanted to know what Michelle's purpose was in doing all this.

She had gone to such great lengths—leaving a note saying she would come in ten days, sending a letter to The Church to create a smokescreen, and then today, pulling off this surprise attack. It couldn't just be to give Benjamin a book.

"My goal has always been simple, as you should know." Michelle seemed unwilling to waste more words. "You can consider this an equivalent exchange: the Treasure Vault in exchange for your life."

Hearing this, Benjamin was silent for a moment before he spoke quietly:

"Believe it or not, I truly do not know how to open the Treasure Vault."

He had confirmed it with the system long ago; Benjamin's memories did not contain the method to open the Treasure Vault. Perhaps Grant, whom Michelle had originally intended to kidnap, knew how to open it, but unfortunately, Benjamin did not.

He didn't intend to continue the lie about opening the vault through his family's bloodline either. Times were different now, and he wasn't afraid to tell Michelle the truth. What else could she do, kill him? Besides, in his heart, he vaguely felt that Michelle already knew this.

Sure enough, Michelle was not surprised.

"I know, Lord Benjamin Riser." Although her voice was calm, Benjamin detected the anger in her words. She was probably embarrassed and furious about having kidnapped the wrong person. "But you are still the Young Master of the Riser Family. You don't know how to open the vault now, but by the time I come back, you will."

"Why would I know by next time?"

"That is not a problem I need to worry about." Michelle was clearly angry, and she was clearly taking that anger out on Benjamin. "I believe in your intelligence; please do not disappoint me."

Damn it.

Benjamin could only get angry himself.

From the moment he learned about this curse, he had anticipated this moment. There was no helping it; he was at the mercy of others. Michelle was also set in her ways, wanting to make him work like a beast of burden for her again.

But he still wanted to try to gain something, even if it was just to understand a few things.

"What's the deal with this Bible? Where did it come from? Do you have any other similar th..."

However, Benjamin stopped mid-sentence as if he had seen a ghost.

Michelle was gone.

There was a cabinet in the corner of the room blocking the light, casting a shadow. And within that shadow, Michelle, who had been standing there in her robe just a moment ago, had vanished without a trace, as if she had never been there at all.

Holy shit, she left?

Benjamin felt his skin crawl.

He suddenly felt that he might have truly underestimated Michelle's strength.

From existence to nothingness, he hadn't seen how it happened, and he hadn't even felt a trace of magical fluctuation. Relying solely on schemes and tricks would never allow someone to achieve this. No wonder she could maneuver against the powerful Church for so long.

A headache—a headache in both senses of the word.

He was afraid he would really have to inquire about that Treasure Vault.

Although doing things for Michelle made him feel a bit unhappy, looking at the booklet tossed on the bed, his mood calmed down quite a bit.

...A mage's version of the Bible?

He carefully picked it up.

As a book titled after a religious masterpiece, it seemed too thin. Compared to any version of the Bible, it was pitifully thin, like a health promotion pamphlet.

But since Michelle had said so, Benjamin believed this was a book worth looking forward to. Or rather, Benjamin was already looking forward to it, unable to suppress his eagerness to try it out.

He was just about to open it.

"Young Master, the Madam and the others have all retired for the night. I'll ask them to come see you tomorrow."

Jeremy's voice suddenly came from the doorway, scaring Benjamin into quickly hiding the book under his quilt.

He suddenly understood why Michelle had said time was short and why she had disappeared so suddenly.

Jeremy, oh Jeremy...

But he couldn't blame anyone else; Jeremy was just doing his duty.

"Young Master, do you have any other instructions?" Jeremy asked, standing by the bed, dutiful as ever.

"No, you go down and rest. I'm going to rest too. We'll talk about anything else tomorrow."

Benjamin's mood at this moment was like that of a child secretly watching TV while their parents were away. When the parents suddenly returned, he could only hurriedly turn off the TV, all while still thinking about the plot of the show, anxiously urging his parents to leave quickly, yet not daring to make it too obvious.

He was about to learn new magic!

Could everyone just leave him alone, please?

"Alright, goodnight, Young Master." Jeremy nodded and turned to leave.

"...Wait."

Benjamin suddenly called him back again.

Jeremy turned around again, looking at Benjamin with a face full of question marks.

"That, the errand I asked you to run last time, how did it go?" Benjamin had just remembered this and had to suppress his impatience to continue the plan of excavating Annie's belongings.

Although, among Annie's belongings, it was unlikely that anything was as valuable as this Bible.

"Ah, right." Jeremy also looked as if he had been reminded, and replied, "I just remembered. You said last time that the carpenter would understand, but when I asked the carpenter, he said he didn't understand."

"No, he will understand," Benjamin said expressionlessly.

"But he said he didn't understand."

"No, you don't understand. Go tell him, he will understand."

"...Really? I still don't understand."

"Really, it doesn't matter if you don't understand. Go tell him, he will definitely understand."

As if he would understand; Benjamin didn't even understand what he was supposed to understand himself.

He was almost starting to not recognize the word "understand."

Jeremy was clearly confused as well, standing there staring at the ceiling for a long time. Then, he snapped out of it and suddenly asked with some horror: "Right now?"

Benjamin nodded, showing a kind expression:

"Right now."

Jeremy stood there blankly. This time, he didn't say anything about it being too late or the road being too long. He just nodded blankly and walked out of the room with heavy, dragging steps, looking like his soul had been hollowed out.

It is said that after that night, the carpenter in the east of the city suddenly fell ill, closed his shop, and stayed behind closed doors for a whole month. Those who saw him said he was running a high fever and kept muttering: "I don't understand... I don't understand..."

But those are stories for another time.

At this moment, tonight, Benjamin sent Jeremy away and confirmed that the doors and windows were locked so that no one would disturb him again.

He took the book out from under the quilt again. He held it like a true fanatic holding a real Bible, and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Finally.

He could finally learn magic other than the Water Ball Spell.

What else could he say?

It's time for the main course; let us pray together.

Thanks for the tip from Jiangliting~