Chapter 76

As he spoke, he pressed my hand to his heart, tears welling in his eyes. He bit his lip, looking incredibly wronged, and whispered, "I... I was planning a grand wedding. I wanted to see Xipei in her wedding dress, I wanted the whole world to know we were getting married..."

He sighed softly, "If Xipei wants to pursue other paths, of course I won't... I know, Xipei has gone so far and so fast on the path of magic. Actually, it's always been me who needs to work hard to catch up with you, so..."

Oops...

I quickly hugged Mel, patting his back and saying, "How could I not marry you! Of course we'll get married, and we'll let the whole world know, just like you said! You're worrying too much. I won't abandon you and run off to Shadow Moon."

"Then let's go home and get married!" Mel said.

"Okay, sure!" I nodded.

"Xipei, I love you so much!" Mel was overjoyed, giving me two big kisses on the cheeks. She then proudly pulled out her phone, quickly registered a social media account, and posted:

Mephistopheles is getting married!

Hmm...

Seeing his excited expression warmed my heart. He didn't seem like a renowned and powerful mage at all; he was just a lovestruck little boy who hadn't grown up yet! When I first saw Mel on TV, I thought he was a proud and arrogant genius mage. Who knew that when he threw a tantrum, he had one trick after another, which really left me helpless.

I shook my head, feeling both annoyed and amused, utterly helpless.

I turned my head and saw Anna and Moli side by side, mouths agape, like two apprentice statues, staring blankly at Mel. Anna even slowly and stiffly extended her hand, giving a thumbs up. "Wow, teacher, you are truly... resourceful!"

I sensed that she probably didn't originally intend to say that word, but because of the two spells we cast on them, she could only choose a positive one.

I feel...

Forehead?

Something feels off to me all of a sudden.

Turning back again, Mel took my hand. "Xipei, I have a phonograph spell, you've already agreed to the proposal, you can't change your mind!"

Well?

Proposal?

... Isn't it... a bit too fast?

Wait, weren't we just searching for the enemy's location? Why did it suddenly turn into a marriage proposal? Did I... did I travel through time for a while?

Oh! Mel, you pulled a surprise attack!

I glared at him, and he laughed in a way that perfectly matched the legendary, chuunibyou (delusional) title of "Evil Shadow Manipulator."

He said with great enthusiasm, "Let's go, first we'll raze the fanatic organization's headquarters, then we can go home and get married in peace!"

Chapter 76

My spirits relayed information about the surroundings to me, but this made me frown—the terrain was chaotic, and there were countless targets... These souls, having been dead for so long and whose intelligence had long since vanished, couldn't provide me with much more information. They told me where the living were, but...

It's possible that because they died before the advent of Magitech, they couldn't distinguish which of the living people were cyborgs.

One of them excitedly pointed to a city not far away and told me that there were so many people there, and if I killed them all, I could create an undead army to rule the world...

I was so angry that I just crushed that ghost.

--What kind of immature, antisocial youth did I just dream about? At most, I'd join the tourist shopping crowd in the city; I have absolutely no interest in the army of the dead. I'm not a cemetery caretaker, much less a security guard in a hospital morgue!

No wonder my old book of sages specifically noted, "This damn spell is good for creating atmosphere, but it's useless for actual work. It's not even as useful as a knight. They can't do anything more intelligent than helping deliver love letters; or help you kill an enemy you were already about to defeat. That kind of work doesn't require intelligence."

At first, I didn't quite believe it, because when I summoned the undead to help me bite my second teacher to death, although he was being Hellfire and screaming, he still seemed quite energetic and would continue to scream for a long time, even casting curses at me. So I used a Ten Thousand Trees Return to Spring to devour his soul. Now that I see it, biting an enemy to death is indeed the simplest and least intelligent thing to do.

This is really troublesome; in the end, I still have to let my fellow disciples go.

Forget about the teacher. I'm afraid Goliath might see my teacher and his professional instincts might kick in, and he might just chop me down. Although it was just a demonic puppet, not a precious undead creature with its own consciousness, it was still the corpse of a dark mage. Lusien said he could help me apply for organ donation, and I guess what would be donated would be knights or warriors.

Well, speaking of which, this sage who wrote the notes could be considered my true teacher. When it comes to Black Magic, this predecessor I've never met is my true mentor. My second teacher naively thought I learned it by secretly watching him, but actually I found the notebook he threw away while rummaging through the storeroom... The sage's notebook was a mess, unsigned, with blank spaces filled with doodles, and the style was very realistic. It detailed how he used unbelievable methods to torture a paladin (maybe that wasn't a big deal for a dark mage in the legendary era?), so my second teacher threw it into the junk pile in the cellar.

Looking back now, I realize how remarkable my anonymous teacher was. However, his notebook was incomplete; the first half was missing, which is why I had no way of knowing his name.

I pressed my hand to my chest, where the curse hidden there was throbbing in unison with my heartbeat. At the same time, I kicked all my fellow disciples imprisoned in my spiritual world out. I instructed them to investigate thoroughly and help me gather together those wandering souls.

... But when Goliath saw my fellow disciple, he abruptly slapped off the dragon plaster clinging to him, and his expression hardened. This expression finally made him look like a Grand Commander of the Temple Knights, no longer the nanny of some overgrown dragon; he looked at me with a sharp gaze that made me feel inexplicably guilty...

Was my magic too terrifying?

He wouldn't suddenly want to arrest me and lock me up, would he?

... I've heard that the Temple's Inquisition is very powerful. Although the God of Light always presents himself as merciful, his priests and knights are not gods, so of course they won't be merciful every day. In fact, the clergy who are rotated to the Inquisition all become like-minded people of Lady Crow. Otherwise, how could the God of Light be more efficient at interrogating criminals than the Federation Prosecutor's Office?

Hmm... I admire Goliath, so I have absolutely no desire to engage in a battle of wits with him in the inquisition!

But I didn't continue to worry, because Goliath looked away, reached into his pocket and rummaged around for a while before handing me a card.

Huh?

Goliath leaned closer and whispered to me, "This is my business card. You can take it and come to the Temple to find me anytime, anywhere. Even in the middle of the night is fine. Even if I'm not at the Temple, you can take this directly to the High Priest, anytime."

Why?

This crystal card is semi-transparent, with Goliath Sanglan's name written in gold on it, along with a circular design—half flame and half wings, rotating to form a circle—this is the symbol of the God of Light, representing the flame of hope and the wings of freedom. This symbol is quite famous; even those who don't believe in the God of Light will know it—because it's tested every year in elementary school history class!

Moli had previously complained to me that anything involving exams would trigger widespread student aversion. She estimated that the decline in the number of followers of the Temple of Light in recent years was partly due to the Education Bureau's negligence.

Well, even though I took the magic exam, I didn't hate studying, so I gave Moli a stern lecture and warned her not to find external reasons to skip class.

Mel was looking at us too, and I got a little nervous from their sudden attention.

Then, Mel casually took the card from my hand, put it into her spatial ring, and solemnly said to Goliath, "Thank you."