The Legendary Ending (Part Two) (Continued)
And then, oh dear... the Five-Star Old Man!
I didn't even have time to go in and save him!
The moment I moved, everything went black. Mel quickly grabbed my shoulders and pulled me into his arms, preventing me from moving again—but the Five-Star Old Man's magic was so weak, he'd be crushed to death inside!!!
Hmm... I'm a little dizzy...
I shook my head and leaned against Mel. He was holding me so tightly that I didn't have the strength to break free and go save the Five-Star Old Man.
"Xipei! Stop messing around! Don't use magic anymore, your mental energy is about to be depleted!"
... Hmm... It's not that serious. I have indeed become more delicate now. I used to be like this after killing people in the bunker, but I still had to hold my head high and carry the enemy's head to see my second teacher. If I just collapsed in the tunnel, I wouldn't wake up. I would just become a sweeping corpse!
However, I listened to Mel's advice and didn't move again, because I saw a group of guys in white robes flying over unsteadily. The one leading them was the high priest who was covered in white. This reassured me a little. Soon, the paladins and priests of light began to maintain order, and then they dug out a... well, a flattened iron box from the pile of rubble on the ground.
Uh, no, no, it's a safe house. That safe house is actually quite large, but there's a mage tower flying in the air next to it, and the corpse of a giant dragon, which makes the safe house look small, like an iron box. In reality, it can fit hundreds or even thousands of people inside, although it's quite cramped.
The paladins frantically pried open the iron box, and my heart pounded in my chest, but soon I saw a ragged old man crawl out of it on his own!!!
Phew—Great! The Five-Star Old Man is still alive! He didn't turn into a five-star corpse, so I'll let him go...
"Ciprins! You big liar!"
The Five-Star Old Man jumped up, tears and snot streaming down his face, yelling, "You promised you'd come to save me! You big liar! Do you know how dark and terrifying it is in there?! You're simply...%...%%^$#$@%#￥#￥..."
Hmm... The Five-Star Old Man rattled off a string of adjectives, including classic terms often used to describe dark mages like wicked, narrow-minded, despicable, and insane. I waved to him in comfort, but then, poof...
A familiar green slime bounced wildly on the ground.
Hmm... Why did you have to provoke Mel? I looked at the smug Mel speechlessly and sighed.
Fortunately, Mel was very sensible. Since the Five-Star Old Man was also injured, Mel only transformed him into a slime for a short while before turning him back into a slime.
The Five-Star Old Man, now back to his original form, obediently underwent a medical examination. The high priest even went over and cast two healing spells on him. I saw the dashing Goliath standing in the paladin ranks. I figured that as soon as he landed, he would be bombarded with healing spells by a large group of priests, making it difficult for him not to recover.
Seeing us, Goliath came over and spoke to us. Although his external wounds had healed, his face still betrayed his weakness. However, Goliath seemed to be in good spirits, as he told us, "My vacation can be extended by a month. I'm going to rest well and go on a trip... Oh! Xuefeng!!! Stop--"
A giant dragon flew by, its enormous claws snatching Goliath up, flapping its wings, winking at me, and triumphantly flying into the distance...
Well... it's a pity Goliath, I think even if you take another month off, you still won't be able to travel and see the sights.
"No!!!"
As we watched Goliath depart into the distance, we suddenly heard the roar of the Five-Starred Five-Star Old Man. He rushed towards me, shouting, "No! How can you take such a huge dragon away for personal use! No! That belongs to the research institute!"
After saying that, he childishly grabbed one of the dragon's claws and yelled at me, "No way! I won't allow you to take this precious property without permission!"
"But..." I looked at him doubtfully, "Do you really know how to use it? You... you can't even dissect this dragon, can you?"
The Five-Star Old Man flushed red, and his neck seemed to thicken; he was indignant, but the Prime Minister stopped him.
Hmm, I recognize the Prime Minister! It seems that the rumors about him being hospitalized were all a conspiracy by the sorceress, because I saw the Prime Minister standing perfectly fine in front of me, with the Shield of the New Star behind him handcuffing the captured prisoner.
"Thank you to the two archmages for saving us, allowing the Federation to successfully overcome the crisis and maintain this hard-won peace. Therefore, the Federation will bestow honors upon you both..."
Another long string of polite thanks followed, basically saying that we'd both be some kind of... high-level magic advisors for the Federation from now on, getting paid for nothing, and then stepping in to handle important matters—to be honest, I have no objection to that. I'd be happy to have ten more dragons, you know, these mountain-sized dragons can be used for many years, even if they're a bit wasteful, they can still last at least five or six years. Moli already texted me, because Xuesang had already been expelled from the race. If it weren't for us, he could have slaughtered half the capital, so the corpse doesn't need to be returned to the Holy Dragon. The Holy Dragon said they wouldn't mind even roasting it and eating it.
But I won't bake it; I'll make good use of it!
As we were talking, the ruins over there started making a clattering sound again—I turned my head to look and couldn't help but laugh and cry—a large group of Federation military mages were trying to dig up... the words that Mel had written on the ceiling.
"... This is a precious result of magical research..."
Pfft... You guys really... you might as well not dig it up, just let that incident pass...
I buried my face in Mel's chest. No, no, I'm going to laugh so hard I'll fall over! But I really feel sorry for those mages. Mel is so mean; what if his diaries are discovered...?
"Huh?"
We all turned around, and the reporters craned their necks. We saw the strikingly handsome high priest in white robes walk over, look at a stone slab that had been unearthed, and then read aloud, word by word. "... I really love Xipei..."
He glanced in our direction and then said, "Isn't this a love letter! Truly a remarkable legendary archmage! To write a love letter in ancient Elvish script shows his exceptional knowledge, and the location is so ingenious—very mage-like!"
A gasp rippled through the crowd.
A Federation mage stammered, "High... High Priest, what did you say? A love letter?"
We could only watch helplessly as the white-robed priest, with a gentle smile, replied, "Yes, it's a love letter. What, you've worked in this building for so long and didn't know?"
Seeing the stunned mages, the High Priest exclaimed, "Don't you all know? What a blessed union this is! What an amazing love letter! Look— 'Xipei's fingers are so long, beautiful, and incredibly soft'—well, that's how it should be translated. The next sentence is, 'His spellcasting movements are so beautiful, I really want to keep touching his fingers.' And then there's, ' Xipei's Black Magic is exceptionally powerful; he can skillfully use many profound spells, yet he never flaunts his great power. Xipei is truly the gentlest black mage I've ever met.' And then comes the crucial sentence—'I love Xipei so much!' ending with an exclamation mark."
With each line the high priest recited, Mel and I blushed a little more. By the time he finished, we were both embracing each other, our faces flushed, and Mel was grinning like an idiot.
He told me, "I like Xipei the most."
Hey, the way you're talking sounds like a little kid saying, "I love candy!" Ugh... Ugh! Don't... Don't kiss me in front of so many people!
Mel!
... Mel...
"Hey, hey, no!" I shoved Mel aside. I saw the reporters menacingly pointing their weapons—I mean, their cameras and microphones—at us. I quickly patted Mel on the shoulder. "Run, run!"