Skadi, My Wife

Texas didn't quite understand why they were talking about leaving already.

Had they spotted someone they needed to avoid here, just like in Lungmen?

"It's precisely because the Obsidian Festival is about to begin that we need to leave quickly."

Looking at the two of them, still clueless and unable to figure it out, Chen An said bitterly, "You two used to be Penguin Logistics elites and met Emperor all the time. Don't you know what kind of personality Emperor has!?"

"Emperor?"

Exusiai looked baffled. "What does Emperor's personality have to do with us? We're not even in Lungmen right now. No matter how formidable Emperor is, he can't meddle with us, can he?"

Texas: "!?"

Her fluffy ears shot upright. Having realized something, Texas's normally cool expression turned horrified.

Chen An hadn't reminded her, so she hadn't thought of it. But once he said it, Texas remembered.

As a rapper, Emperor had always been rather unrestrained and sharp-tongued. Of course, that wasn't the important part. The important part was that its mind was as small as its body.

Once, it had gone to the Lower District for a private banquet hosted by a friend, only for some passerby to remark, "Isn't that a penguin? Why is there a penguin in Lungmen? A penguin raised in Lungmen probably won't find a mate for the rest of its life, huh?"

It bore a grudge over that. After returning, it ordered her and Exusiai to take revenge on that innocent passerby who had dared mock it for not being able to find a female penguin—pull a sack over his head and beat him senseless. Once every half month, for a full six months!

Just for provoking Emperor like that, it had carried out such vicious revenge. And she and Exusiai, as subordinates Emperor trusted fairly well, had run off with Chen An without even saying goodbye. If Emperor caught them, wouldn't it torment them mentally with its indescribable penguin shrieks while executing them with that toy pistol of its for two hours!?

—Emperor was a penguin. The kind that was supposed to live on glaciers, had a pair of little wings, looked round and plump, and waddled when it walked.

Exusiai wasn't stupid. After Texas, she thought of all that too.

She swallowed involuntarily and said nervously, "N-no way, right? Texas and I didn't betray Emperor or oppose it. We just resigned and changed jobs. Emperor wouldn't be so petty that it'd hold a grudge against us, would it?"

Chen An considered it and felt that made sense, so he happily changed his mind. "I think so too. Fine, then we'll stay in Siesta a while longer. My relationship with Emperor is pretty good too, so I can ask it about Lungmen's recent situation when the time comes. We'll leave after the Obsidian Festival. What do you think, Exusiai?"

What did she think?

She thought this vicious man wanted her dead!

Dead friends instead of poor me, right? She'd heard that line from his mouth more times than she could count!

He wanted to watch Emperor take revenge on them, then stand off to the side and gloat, right? Did he think she, Exusiai, didn't know exactly what he was thinking?

Chen An, she had long seen through his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys!

After fiercely cursing Chen An inwardly for not standing firm, Miss Exusiai declared decisively, "Why attend the Obsidian Festival? What's so great about it? Let's go! We'll leave in a few days!"

Texas nodded solemnly. "Agreed!"

At Chen An's reminder, Exusiai and Texas suddenly realized Siesta wasn't a good place after all. If they stayed any longer, they were doomed, so they decisively agreed with Chen An's decision to leave Siesta in a few days.

After that decision, however, a new question arose—where should they go after leaving Siesta?

Skadi had no ideas. Wherever Chen An went, she'd go too.

Marry a chicken, follow the chicken; marry a dog, follow the dog. Husband sings, wife follows. A loving couple, just like that.

Texas didn't really have any ideas either, but since they were discussing it, she shouldn't keep silent the whole time. So she offered a suggestion. "How about Columbia? I'm more familiar with that place and know quite a few good spots."

Texas and Lappland were old acquaintances, and Lappland had a powerful obsession with Texas.

But the two didn't come from the same place. Lappland's hometown was Siracusa, while Texas's hometown was Columbia.

Still, despite their different hometowns, their experiences were quite similar. Both had been forced to leave home and ended up alone.

It was just that after losing her family, Lappland had gone mad under the effects of Oripathy. Texas, on the other hand, hadn't changed much because of what she'd gone through. She lived rather freely and didn't cling too much to the past.

Columbia was a painful place for Texas, but she held no particular taboo toward it, just as she held no taboo toward her past. She rarely mentioned it only because nobody asked, and because it was over. She simply couldn't be bothered to talk about it.

That was why, when they discussed where to go next, the first place to surface in her mind was her hometown—Columbia.

She continued, "Columbia also has Rhine Lab, a medical institution highly skilled in Originium research. Chen An, you used to work as medical personnel at Dawn. You should be interested in that place, right?"

"I'm not interested. I can treat Oripathy, but I'm not interested in the things you mentioned. Shining and the others would be more interested."

Chen An stated his opinion concisely.

"Yeah, yeah. What's so good about Columbia? It's so far away."

Exusiai nodded, raising a jade-like index finger as she offered her own opinion. "How about the Yan Nation?"

She said eagerly, "I've lived in Lungmen for years, and I've long been interested in the Yan Nation, which shares the same roots as Lungmen. There are so many interesting festivals and things there. I never had a chance to go because there were no missions in the Yan Nation. How about it? Let's go to the Yan Nation! It isn't far, and I think you'd like its customs and things too, Chen An, right?"

"No!"

Unlike before, when he had merely stated his view on Rhine Lab without directly rejecting Columbia, Chen An decisively rejected Exusiai's suggestion this time.

"We absolutely can't go to the Yan Nation. Not only the Yan Nation—the Higashi next door is off-limits too."

"Why?"

Chen An sounded so resolute that Exusiai couldn't help feeling puzzled. "Shouldn't the Yan Nation and Higashi be places you like? Why are you so resistant to going there? Did they do something to you?"

"They didn't do anything to me, but I offended people from the Yan Nation."

Answering Exusiai's question reminded Chen An of the unbearable memory of nearly being tricked into marriage in the Yan Nation. He said awkwardly, "Before I reunited with Skadi and went to Lungmen, I was active in the Yan Nation. I met quite a few friends there, and they were all good people. But due to certain circumstances, I had disagreements with some of them. Until those disagreements are resolved, I'm not going back to the Yan Nation."

Higashi was out too!

Those bastards who wanted to trick him into marriage were active in Higashi as well!

Lungmen, on the other hand, was a mobile city, and Wei Yenwu didn't want the Yan Nation interfering casually in Lungmen's affairs. Rarely enough, it was a peaceful place.

Otherwise, Chen An and Skadi wouldn't have stayed there for over half a year. If Nian and Dusk hadn't appeared, they would have planned to remain longer.

Without giving Exusiai a chance to ask questions or offer more terrible ideas, Chen An gave his own opinion. "How about Siracusa? I know quite a few friends in Siracusa too, and I didn't get to see much of the place when I was there. How about we go to Siracusa together this time and take in the scenery? Besides..."

Chen An gave a sly chuckle. "I know this super easy-to-bully little brat there. She's soft-natured. If I tell her ghost stories, she'll get so scared she can't sleep at night. The next day, even after being frightened sleepless, she won't blame me when she sees me. She'll only look at me pitifully. What do you say? Should I go tell her a few more ghost stories?"

Texas and Exusiai: "..."

He was so proud of doing something as shameless as bullying a little kid. Truly worthy of him!

Texas and Exusiai glanced at Chen An disdainfully. Neither could be bothered to respond. They had no interest in something as tasteless as bullying a kid. Bullying Chen An would be more like it.

Chen An didn't care about Texas and Exusiai's scorn. He continued cheerfully recounting his glorious exploits of bullying the little brat.

But as he spoke, he suddenly remembered something, fell silent, and sank into thought.

Wait, that little brat was easy to bully, sure, but she seemed to bring plenty of trouble too.

Every time he scared her with ghost stories, she needed him to hold her the next day before she dared sleep and recover her energy. Otherwise, she was still too scared to close her eyes.

Because she couldn't go out whenever she wanted, she was incredibly curious about stories and constantly pestered him to tell her more.

She had even foolishly said that she would become his bride when she grew up... Though children said silly things, and he'd never agreed to it, weren't there plenty of stubborn little brats who talked themselves into something as children, accepted it themselves, then stubbornly persisted in that inexplicable childhood promise after growing up?

Thinking about it that way, Chen An suddenly felt Siracusa was very dangerous.

Ending the topic of Siracusa, he said seriously, "Siracusa is nice, so I think we'd better go to Victoria instead."

I'll Molest You!

Some wilderness where the person involved didn't even know she was.

Sitting high in a tree with a blade of grass between her lips, Specter swayed her head as she looked toward the distant sky.

The sky was blue, the clouds were soft, and the scenery was quite nice.

Specter had no interest in appreciating the scenery. After looking for a while, she suddenly frowned, braced a hand against the branch beneath her, and lightly dropped to the ground.

Walking up to Gladiia, who was leaning against the tree with her weapon in her arms and her eyes closed in rest, Specter said energetically:

"Captain, I keep feeling like the direction we're heading in is wrong. This isn't the way to Chernobog. What do you think?"

Gladiia cracked her left eye open and gave Specter a sidelong glance. She snorted, ignored her, and continued resting with her eyes shut.

She had long known this road wasn't leading to Ursus, and she'd stressed it to Specter before. But Specter never took it seriously. When she got agitated, she'd even confidently pat her chest and swear that her intuition couldn't be wrong, that she had only found her captain by relying on that intuition.

After saying it several times without any result, Gladiia couldn't be bothered to mention it anymore.

She had clearly told her the direction was wrong, yet Specter refused to believe it. And now she was bringing it up?

What had she been doing before!

Specter didn't care about Gladiia's displayed indifference. She had already gotten used to it along the way.

Still full of energy, she continued, "But it's fine. We're only going to Chernobog anyway, and Chen An might not even be there."

She paused, then said in an extremely confident tone, "On the contrary, my intuition tells me that if we keep going forward like this, we'll meet Chen An. Captain, don't you have that feeling too?"

I've never even seen what the man you're talking about looks like, and you're asking whether I have that feeling?!

Calm down! Calm down! Calm down!

Gladiia, you're a mature consul, a mature legion commander, a mature Abyssal Hunters commander. Don't lose your cool over such a tiny matter.

And remember, this chattering bastard is your subordinate, your subordinate! Her teeth ground together.

Gladiia hugged her weapon tightly, lowered her head, and took several deep breaths.

She had to do that. There was no other way.

If she didn't relieve her mood somehow, she was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop herself from beating Specter up.

Sure enough, not returning to Rhodes Island and continuing to act with Specter was the wrong choice.

And Specter really is becoming more and more deserving of a beating.

"Captain definitely has that feeling too, right? Otherwise, you would have returned to that place called Rhodes Island already... Well, going back wouldn't be much use anyway. We'd still have to find Skadi afterward, and Skadi is always with Chen An. Instead of wasting time going back, it's better to search outside with me first. That's what you're thinking, isn't it, Captain?"

You got that right. Otherwise, why do you think I'm still acting with you after realizing the road you led us down wasn't toward Chernobog?

Otherwise, why do you think I've tolerated you chattering endlessly at me every day?

Do you think I want an opportunity to beat you up?

Gladiia ground her pearly teeth, her face turning expressionless.

"Hey, hey, Captain. We've been on land for so long now. Do you know what kind of man you like? Gentle ones, handsome ones, knowledgeable ones, ones who can make you happy, powerful ones—which kind do you like? Let me tell you, no matter what kind you like, Chen An fits them all. So, how about it? When the time comes, should we snatch Chen An together? That idiot is really hard to get. I tried alone, but it didn't work. But if Captain joins me, then..."

"Shut up!"

Finally unable to bear it any longer, Gladiia opened her eyes and erupted. With an angry shout, she punched Specter, who had been chattering at her endlessly for half the day, straight to the ground.

In closing, the direction the two of them were currently heading was—Victoria!

The weather by the sea always changed without warning.

One moment, the sky was clear for miles. The next, dark clouds filled the sky, lightning flashed, thunder roared, and torrential rain poured down.

Pitter-patter.

As fierce winds rose, a rainstorm fell over Siesta's night.

Countless raindrops battered the balcony and outer walls violently, creating a dense, relentless drumming.

The rain was very loud, but in Chen An's room, where Chen An and the others had gathered to play cards, nobody paid it any attention.

—Because they wanted a different form of entertainment, Exusiai and Texas had dragged Chen An into his room to play cards not long ago.

They weren't gambling money. They were playing a punishment game, and the punishment for losing wasn't serious—just sticking a little paper strip onto their face.

The rules resembled Fight the Landlord, except there was no bidding. The three of them fought individually. Whoever played all their cards first won, and the remaining two were both losers.

Only three rounds had been played since the game began, but Exusiai and Texas already each had three paper strips on their faces. Only Chen An's face was spotless, without a single one.

Having lost three rounds in a row, Exusiai and Texas both looked extremely solemn. Chen An alone appeared calm and relaxed.

Skadi sat beside him, occasionally looking at Exusiai and Texas with pity—didn't they know what Chen An's luck was like? Why were they so determined to play cards with him?

Exusiai and Texas had played cards with Chen An many times and were long used to Skadi's gaze, so they both ignored her and merely watched Chen An shuffle with the vigilance of facing a great enemy.

Shuffle, cut, deal.

With Chen An's smooth, pleasing sequence of motions, the cards were dealt into Exusiai and Texas's hands.

"Good cards, good cards, good cards!"

After receiving her cards, Miss Exusiai didn't immediately look at them. She first covered them with both hands and muttered an incantation for a while before finally opening them.

Threes, fours, fives, sixes, and sevens—all pairs. The remaining four cards were a bomb of tens.