Sealed Artifact 3-0771

Had this been yesterday, Xie Yu would not have thought much of it. He would only have assumed that a teacher was out for a stroll, had happened to pass his student's clinic, and had dropped in to take a look-a friendly visit.

Any normal physician's assistant would have thought the same.

But Xie Yu could no longer think so "normally." The cloak's words and the many passages in the books surfaced before his eyes. At the thought of the elderly mage, concepts such as danger, death, and souls came to mind.

His wariness of the old man had already risen to an extreme.

His mind was in turmoil, and a host of wild thoughts came rushing up.

He wanted to turn and run, climb out the back room's window, and shout for help in the street.

He wanted to find a cabinet to block the front door and do everything he could to keep the old man out.

But each of those ideas was rejected in turn.

It's no use. He's a mage... None of those methods will work... I can't stop him, and I can't escape...

After a moment of panic and heart palpitations, Xie Yu forced himself to calm down.

He needed to play the part of a physician's assistant now, one who had never seen a cloak speak or chatted with a wooden house.

He forcibly gathered his thoughts, steadied his steps, walked forward, and opened the door.

Even if the old man was a murderer, a so-called soul eater, and an unbeatable mental and soul mage, that did not necessarily mean he had come to kill Xie Yu. Xie Yu was Physician Kaiming's assistant, Kaiming was his student, and he treated Kaiming fairly well... Xie Yu had met him only once and had never offended him.

When Xie Yu looked at the old man's face, it was gentle and kindly. The slanting orange-red light of the setting sun shone from the end of the street, illuminating the deep lines on his face.

Perhaps he really had been overthinking things just now.

Xie Yu spoke.

"Physician Kaiming is out on a house call, and I'm minding the shop for him. Please, whatever you do, don't tell Mr. Kaiming I was slacking off."

The young man smiled playfully. His smile held both the innocence of someone unworldly enough to see everyone equally as a friend and a young person's respect for his elder.

At the same time, he explained why he had been frightened just now.

Everything was perfectly natural.

The old man studied Xie Yu, unmoved by his smile, and asked coldly:

"When will Kaiming be back?"

"Please come in. Mr. Kaiming won't be back for another hour. Would you like some tea?" Xie Yu took the initiative to start a conversation. "By the way, I don't know how to address you yet."

"You weren't nearly so talkative when I saw you this morning." The old man raised an eyebrow and walked straight in.

He neither answered Xie Yu's question nor said what he had come for. He strode imperiously into the house, looking around as though he were its new owner.

Then he turned back and said rudely to Xie Yu:

"What are you standing in the doorway for? Come in and pour me some tea."

He wore a long, deep-black robe that covered his whole body, giving him the appearance of a classical scholar. Around his neck hung a humanoid pendant the size of a thumb.

Xie Yu's gaze, however, was fixed entirely on the pendant. Words floated into view above it:

[Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (hostility 20) is staring at you and says:]

[You are, a little, very hard to imitate.]

[(Note: hostility is calculated from negative affection.)]

I'm hard to imitate? Xie Yu was stunned by the words, and some unpleasant guesses surfaced in his mind again.

It seemed that he had not imagined it earlier. This old bastard really had come with ill intentions.

The door was still open, night had yet to fall, and a few pedestrians were still on the street not far away.

If I suddenly ran out now... could I get away from here?

Xie Yu remembered what the old man was capable of and looked away from the open door. Taking a deep breath, he closed it after all and walked toward him.

The old man was unfamiliar with the rooms in the house, but he showed none of a new guest's restraint. Without waiting for Xie Yu to lead the way, he went to a door and pushed it open. Once he saw that it was a reception room, he walked straight in.

He picked up a stack of sorted case records from the desk and began reading them right in front of Xie Yu.

Then he rapped his knuckles on the walnut desk and remarked in an amused tone:

"The outside of the house is shabby, but the furnishings inside are quite nice."

What exactly did he come here for?

Xie Yu entered the tea room outside the kitchen. Under the wooden house's guidance, he used the hot water in the iron kettle to brew finely ground tea leaves, almost powdered. Tea was prepared somewhat differently in this world from the way he remembered it in his previous life. People here preferred a strong aroma and flavor and liked to drink the leaves along with the water.

As the aroma of tea rose, Xie Yu could not relax.

Why had the old man come? Why was he carrying a legendary sealed artifact? Why had the sealed artifact said that he, Xie Yu, was hard to imitate? Why was the sealed artifact hostile toward him?

Every one of those questions seemed to hint at an intense danger, more pungent than the tea in the cup.

Xie Yu himself knew very little about sealed artifacts. He had only heard that they were some kind of manifestation of magical power, attached to a physical object and existing in a stable state over a long period. That was what the general knowledge book said about them.

Then there was what The Petulant Test Paper had mentioned while explaining advanced question one to him.

A sealed artifact's rank was determined by its first digit. "3" was equivalent to a human One- to Five-Star Mage, "2" to a human One- to Five-Star Magister, and "1" to a human Saint or Sage. A power that could not be defined and tamed even at the Sage rank was classified as "0."

Beyond that, Xie Yu knew only a little about sealed artifacts: for example, they were a popular field of magic, there was a very impressive sealed artifact academy in the capital, and every sealed artifact had a name...

He did his best to recall what he knew, hoping to see his situation more clearly and find a way out.

The 3-0771 around the old man's neck was the first actual sealed artifact he had ever seen.

[The three-story wooden house that loves reading (affection 50):]

[Who's that old man? He's so discourteous. Why is he so rude? Why aren't you saying anything?]

[You don't need to heat that water. It's already hot. Look, there's a miniature fire-element self-drawing continuous combustion array underneath, keeping the water at Kaiming's favorite temperature at all times... Why won't you talk to me?]

"The tea is ready." Carrying the tea tray, Xie Yu walked toward the study used to receive guests.

The door had remained open. Inside, the old man was leafing through A Complete Guide to Mental and Soul Magic, from Apprentice to Sage, which Xie Yu had not finished reading and had left on the corner of the desk.

Only when Xie Yu came in with the tray did he look up with interest and smile for the first time.

"Is this the book you were secretly reading just now?"

Xie Yu recalled how, from inside the forest ranger's lodge, the old man had watched the administrative building through a hundred meters of woods. When the old man was walking nearby, he had perhaps already seen Xie Yu sitting in Kaiming's chair quite clearly. Lying would be useless.

"Yes. The title caught my attention," Xie Yu said.

"Did you understand it?" the old man asked.

"I've only read the beginning."

Xie Yu chose his words carefully, not wanting any of them to provoke the old man's anger.

"You didn't answer my question." The old man rapped his knuckles on the desk, weariness with the conversation showing in his eyes.

"Never mind. There isn't much time. Come here. I want to book a service. I need Kaiming to help arrange a funeral. Since you're his assistant, register it for me."

Xie Yu walked to the desk, picked up the ledger and notebook Kaiming had left, and recorded the old man's request in the format of Kaiming's previous business records.

"May I ask whose funeral it is?"

"My funeral. Wig Brown. Write it down," the old man said with a smile.

Brown was his family name. In this world, only noble families were permitted surnames. Ordinary people, such as Xie Yu and Kaiming, were not entitled to one.

While Xie Yu was still dazed, the old man saw that he had finished writing the business record. He reached for the pendant on his chest, his tone abruptly becoming respectful.

"Honored Lord Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll, I believe we can begin."

In front of Xie Yu, the old man began to pray.

"I pray to you for the complete replacement of my fate and body. I am willing to forget all that has passed and bury my former body."

"I know this wish can never be reversed. I know this act is heinous. I know all your rules. I have prepared the full price and made my decision."

Suddenly, the humanoid pendant on his chest glowed red and flew into the air with such force that it nearly lifted the old man off his feet.

The metal chain dug deep into the back of his neck. The old man struggled to stand and rose onto his toes, which seemed to ease it somewhat.

The humanoid pendant spoke.

"Whose fate do you wish to take? Make your selection from those you have recorded."

Xie Yu watched from the side. Encountering a magical event for the first time, he was unable to react for a moment.

The pendant began changing into human forms, taking on face after face: some middle-aged, some young, and some old.

Some looked familiar to Xie Yu. He seemed to have seen them at the banquet at Black Pine City Forest Magic Academy that day. They were alumni from Black Pine City, while some were teachers in Black Pine City. Xie Yu did not know their names, but he could not be mistaken about the familiar faces.

The old man pointed lightly, bringing the flickering changes to a halt.

In the end, the changing humanoid doll stopped between two figures: one was the Two-Star Mage Kaiming, and the other was Xie Yu.

The humanoid pendant flickered between the forms of Xie Yu and Kaiming, awaiting the old man's final decision.

Kaiming's figure appeared on the pendant with perfect clarity. Though the humanoid pendant was tiny, his face and hair were rendered perfectly and vividly, like a replica of the real person.

Xie Yu's figure, on the other hand, was somewhat blurred.

The old man smiled at Xie Yu and, regardless of whether he understood, said arrogantly, "I originally preferred a younger body, but after seeing you in person, I found that the fate of a mere assistant was still too stifling. All that messy business of dealing with people sounds troublesome just to think about. I don't much like it, and neither does the Fate-Substitution Talisman Doll... So please continue being a good assistant, and be my assistant."

Finally, the pendant settled on Kaiming's form.

When the old man touched it, his own body was enveloped in red light.

In an instant, amid the wooden house's cries and the astonishment of the books filling the room, he became Kaiming.

The wrinkles on his face rapidly faded, his sparse white hair turned dark brown, and his scholar-mage's robe became a formal vest. The spots and veins on his hands faded, he grew half a head taller, and even his shoes became the leather boots Kaiming had worn when he went out.

[The cloak created by Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (affection 0) is looking at you.]

[The coat created by Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (affection 0) is examining you curiously.]

[The top hat created by Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (affection 0) is ignoring your existence.]

The pendant's red light faded, and the old man's raised feet returned to the floor.

But now, he was no longer an old man.

He was not "Wig Brown," whose name followed the word "funeral" in the notebook, but Kaiming.

He had Kaiming's eyes, Kaiming's nose, and even the slightly crooked angle of his mustache matched the Kaiming Xie Yu had observed.

[The three-story wooden house that loves reading (affection 50) says fearfully:]

[Oh heavens, what is this?]

[No, that isn't Kaiming! Kaiming is outside, across the street. I can see him coming back. The one outside is the real Kaiming. This one is a fake!]

This Mr. Kaiming, holding a cane and wearing a smile, walked toward Xie Yu.

"Assistant, it's dark. Go to sleep. I'll take care of everything... When you wake up, I'll be back, and you'll have forgotten this little interlude."

His voice, too, was Kaiming's.

He held out a palm as broad as Kaiming's. A disorienting white light poured from it, seemingly capable of eroding a person's soul and difficult to resist, and he pressed it heavily against Xie Yu's forehead.

Inevitably, Xie Yu fell asleep.

Rain pattered outside the window. Night had fallen.

Xie Yu woke up. He found that he had been so absorbed in his reading that he had accidentally fallen asleep at the desk.

A Complete Guide to Mental and Soul Magic, from Apprentice to Sage lay in front of him.

He seemed to have forgotten something.

Outside the room came the sound of a door handle turning.

Then came the tapping of a cane on the floor and the sound of leather shoes striking the ground.

After that, the handle of the reception study door turned. The door was pushed open, and Kaiming's face appeared before Xie Yu.

"I didn't hire you to sleep, Mr. Assistant."

He took off the rain-spattered [coat created by Sealed Artifact 3-0771] and hung it on a wall hook, then removed the [top hat created by Sealed Artifact 3-0771] and shook the droplets of water from it.

"Let me check your work." Kaiming seemed not to mind Xie Yu's idling at all. He came closer and opened his notebook.

"It seems you brought me a new piece of business: Wig Brown's funeral... Wig Brown... That seems to be him." Surprise showed on Kaiming's face.

He raised [a loyal, gem-inlaid solid wood cane (affection 0). The cane is weeping and wailing in agony, with no heart to pay you any attention], tapped it against his palm, and asked Xie Yu:

"This is..."

"Your teacher." Xie Yu rubbed his forehead, feeling as though he really had forgotten a great many things. "He came by this afternoon, booked a funeral, and then left."

Why have these things changed?

Where did the shy cloak go? I finally managed to max out its affection.

Xie Yu felt a throbbing pain in his head.

"Teacher was getting on in years. Powerful mages always have a premonition of their own deaths, so that's normal." Kaiming sighed regretfully.

Xie Yu looked up and noticed that Kaiming seemed to be wearing a necklace he had not had on when he went out.

[The three-story wooden house that loves reading (affection 50) cries out to you:]

[You're finally awake!]

[The guy in front of you is an impostor! He killed Kaiming! He isn't Kaiming, he's Wig Brown! Right at the door, he killed Kaiming in front of me. Oh heavens!]

[He burned Kaiming to ashes with white flames!]

Xie Yu took a deep breath, his expression unchanged.

In his memory, the old man had tapped on the desk, and then he had written down the old man's funeral request and name. After that, everything was hazy. The old man seemed to have left, and then Xie Yu had fallen asleep.

But his fear of the old man before that, and the [Sealed Artifact 3-0771 (hostility 20)] around the old man's neck, had remained in his memory.

So, compared with his own hazy memories, he was more inclined to believe the wooden house.

Kaiming picked up the tea, which had already gone cold, looked it over briefly, and said to Xie Yu:

"Teacher was very particular. It looks like you received him quite well, but slacking off and sleeping is hardly a good habit. I can forgive you this once, but there had better not be a next time. Get enough sleep tonight. See you tomorrow morning."

He intended to leave. Tomorrow would be a brand-new day.

But in the darkness of the night, there was another knock at the door.

"Kaiming, open up! Minister Yize needs to see you immediately. Immediately, right now! You infuriating fire fellow! Do you know what kind of assistant you've hired?"

The person outside shouted.

Kaiming frowned, apparently trying to remember, as though the banquet that had been underway that morning had already faded in his memory and grown unfamiliar.

"That loudmouth... that's Fry's voice..."

Only then did Kaiming slowly turn to look at Xie Yu, confusion and bewilderment in his eyes, as though asking:

What's special about this ordinary assistant?