Any Spare Funds?

"Help me ask the school for a leave of absence."

Zhou Yun bowed slightly as he spoke to Tita.

"I'm still feeling a little unwell today..."

Tita's brows immediately knitted together, and suspicion crept into her gaze.

She took a step back, her expression turning wary as she pointed at Zhou Yun.

"You aren't going gambling again, are you?"

"How could I? I just punched Cicero in the face. Why would I..." Before Zhou Yun could finish, Tita raised a hand to cut him off.

"Do you think I haven't read Cicero's On the Soul?"

Zhou Yun put on a suitably confused expression—at least, in his current memories, the Scholar truly did not seem to have read anything written by that drinking companion of his.

"Has alcohol really ruined your brain... Though I suppose it makes sense. The old you would never have read this kind of twisted nonsense."

Tita waved a hand in disgust.

"He's a madman and a pervert. He claimed that the human body was merely a tool the soul used to seek experiences, and that human souls came from the metaphysical world into the material world solely to obtain sensory experiences."

"He believed that a person's soul had to gain enough varied sensory experiences, had to pursue stimulation without restraint, and personally experience everything in this world—joy, happiness, pain, and torment alike. Only then could the soul truly gain wisdom, embark upon the path of transcendence, and achieve liberation upon returning to the metaphysical world."

"That lunatic would only treat those two punches you gave him as some novel experience... From the look on his face just now, I think he was even happy about it."

"..." As Zhou Yun listened to Tita, he found himself missing Inquisitor Greyfax.

Inquisitor, get over here! There's a fucking heretic here—send him to the stake!

Zhou Yun had actually felt that there was something off about Cicero just now.

Looking at him again... Cicero, why were you so purple?

Those red leather shoes alone made Zhou Yun uneasy.

That hunter in the woods had been skilled at working with all kinds of animal hides, and Zhou Yun himself had skinned more than a dozen animals while living in the forest.

But Cicero's red leather shoes were unlike any animal Zhou Yun knew. If he had to say, they looked somewhat like monkey skin... but monkeys did not have pores that numerous.

They couldn't be made of human skin, could they...? Zhou Yun became increasingly suspicious that Cicero served that Warp god of lust and depravity.

Yet in Zhou Yun's memories of his previous life, Macragge had never suffered a Chaos invasion, nor had there been any signs of cult activity.

Moreover, the veil around Macragge was astonishingly thick.

Zhou Yun had felt last night that this veil was far heavier than the one around the hive city. After those four moons sank and the sun rose, its thickness increased even further. It had become so thick that it seemed abnormal. There was a reason Macragge had survived Old Night.

But even with all that evidence to counter his suspicions, Zhou Yun did not relax.

He still remembered Greyfax's teaching—suspicion was stronger than evidence.

One suspicion could outweigh a thousand pieces of evidence.

Signs of cult activity meant foolish heretics had exposed themselves.

No signs of cult activity meant those damned heretics were trying to evade punishment.

The reason Zhou Yun wanted Tita to help him take leave was that he wanted to conduct a little investigation.

"I really won't go to the casino again." Zhou Yun rubbed his temples and assured Tita, "I swear it as your uncle."

After hearing that, the suspicion on Tita's face only deepened.

After all, the Scholar had previously elbowed Tita in the face just to shake her off and go to the casino.

And according to Zhou Yun's memories, the bastard had done it more than once—this was actually another reason Zhou Yun felt suspicious. The Scholar's personality had changed far too quickly.

But in the end, Tita still sighed. She seemed to remember the good side of her uncle from the past, and finally managed to squeeze out a little trust.

"I'll help you ask for leave, but if I find out you went to the casino..." Tita viciously shook her fist at Zhou Yun several times.

"I promise you. I swear it in the name of the King of War. If I'm lying, may I descend into the Eightfold Hell... Hiss..." The moment he finished swearing according to Macragge's traditional customs, Zhou Yun felt that something was off again.

King of War was a title held by the governors of Macragge, passed down since its first governor. It was also part of Macragge's religious faith.

After death, the governors who bore the title King of War were deified, worshipped collectively under that name, and served by priests. Those who betrayed or defied the King of War's will would descend into the Eightfold Hell.

That title, along with the Eightfold Hell... Was that Mr. Fear upon the Brass Throne?

"Fine. Even though you sounded awfully guilty when you swore it, I'll help you take leave." Tita nodded, sounding both helpless and indulgent.

Zhou Yun smiled faintly, and then...

"Do you have any spare funds?"

"Could you lend me a little more money?"

Tita's expression froze. The flesh in her cheeks twitched uncontrollably, and her fists clenched tight.

"Wait, wait, wait. Just a little money." Zhou Yun waved his hands. "I didn't bring any money when I left. I want to buy a few things..."

Hearing that, Tita slowly lowered the hand she had already raised.

She took several copper coins from her pocket and stuffed them into Zhou Yun's hand.

"I'm giving you six assi. While you're out, buy dinner. Get two loaves of bread and something to make soup with."

"If I get back tonight and you aren't in the apartment, I'll shove the whole loaf of bread down your throat..." As she spoke, Tita made a vicious expression.

Only after Zhou Yun repeatedly promised that he would absolutely be home on time did Tita let him go.

Tita watched Zhou Yun's back disappear around the street corner, then let out a deep sigh, and then...

Then she raised a hand and gave herself several hard slaps across the face, startling the people around her into hastily backing away.

"Tita and her uncle are actually good people. They're just both a little mentally unstable."

"Yeah... Her uncle was pretty normal before he got addicted to gambling..."

"Tita has always seemed a little... hot-tempered, hasn't she?"

Listening to the whispers around her, Tita's expression twisted even further.

"Tita, Tita, why did you go crazy? Why did you offer Father's compensation money to help repay his debts... That was your dowry."

Tita muttered to herself.

"What if he takes the money and gambles again? What if he..."

But in the end, Tita merely gave a bitter smile. She had originally been wavering, hesitating.

But when that madman Cicero reached for her, when she was afraid—

Zhou Yun punched Cicero in the face...

In that moment, Tita remembered how Zhou Yun had once protected her when she was young. She remembered how her uncle had stood in front of her and driven off the relatives from her mother's side who coveted Father's compensation money.

It seemed that he had truly swept away the depravity of the past few months and become once more the uncle she could trust, even admire.

At that moment, Tita even had an illusion.

Her uncle seemed to burst forth with some kind of golden radiance, like... like a marble statue of a god in a church.

So Tita chose to believe him—believe Zhou Yun.

At that moment, as Zhou Yun walked toward the market, his psychic power rose slightly. His reflection in the Warp also became a little brighter, as though some force had flowed into his body.

But because this body had not yet crossed the Realm, and because Macragge's veil was far too thick, he failed to notice the change.

"I wonder if I can buy papyrus or parchment in the city..." Zhou Yun muttered as he headed toward the market.

He had no intention of risking his life to investigate Cicero when he knew nothing.

What he planned to do was... ask the Emperor directly.