680: One hundred ninety-nine.
She chooses to stay.
680: One hundred ninety-nine.
She chooses to stay.
Invisible tentacles extended with the sound, and the Sanity Value Counter ticked maniacally “tick-tick” amidst the whispers of the Mother of the Marsh.
Standing at the back, Lilia let out a lanting scream, clutching her head which felt like it was nearly splitting in pain.
Terrifying hallucinations were brutally stuffed into her brain; she felt like she was transforming into a monster, even sensing the abnormal touch of flesh buds rising beneath her skin.
Lu Li’s humanity helped him resist part of the corruption, and aside from the whispering that rose with the sound, he felt no other abnormalities.
The Mother of the Marsh seed to realize that she was speaking with ordinary people, so fragile that even hearing their own mutterings could drive them into madness.
After a brief pause, the voices under the black robes, a collective of Believers, reiterated the voice of the Mother of the Marsh, “This way…
you will feel much better…”
The Sanity Value Counter slowly normalized, but Lilia just stared blankly at the back of her hand, as if an eyeball was squeezing out of her flesh, staring back at her.
Lu Li woke her from her delirium, and she hastily lifted her skirt hem, making a gesture that might have stemd from an ancient ritual of the Duchy of Saint Mark, “I am Lilia Toyalargon, the 21st descendant of the Toyalargon Family…”
Lilia forgot how to continue; the Toyalargon family had been commoners for too long.
“Toyalargon…”
The Mother of the Marsh whispered, the surna awakening certain mory fragnts buried in the deepest recesses.
Lu Li took out several books Lilia had given him from the carriage and handed them to the figure in the black robe, “The story of your past and your family.”
The black-robed figure fluttered like a curtain, catching the books.
“When we arrived, the Marsh Road had already been invaded by thickets from the northern marsh,” he recounted the scene he had seen not long before, inquiring about the situation.
“Its invasion has slowed…”
The Mother of the Marsh certainly knew of the troubleso neighbor next door, but the good news was that its visit seed to be delayed by sothing—if not, by now half of the Mother of the Marsh’s territory might have been taken over by thickets.
“Where is Aidanvoya,” Lu Li asked.
“She’s still in the church…
my servants are watching over her.”
“Thank you.”
Lu Li expressed his gratitude, allowing a Six-legged Monster to lead them towards the ruins of Shadow Town, while leaving Lilia ti to communicate with her “ancestor.”
…
The church seed to have undergone so poor repairs.
The repairs were described as poor because the collapsed parts of the church were crudely patched up with layers of wooden boards, resembling the unsightly huts of a slum.
These seed to be the handiwork of the Mother of the Marsh’s servants.
When Lu Li and Anna arrived, Aidanvoya had even asked them to express gratitude to the Mother of the Marsh.
Even though she was a specter, it was indeed much better than having to hide in the confines of a dark basent.
“Have you had dinner?” Aidanvoya asked Lu Li, who carried an oil lamp.
The Six-legged Monster had collected food from the ruins of Shadow Town.
So canned goods were sent to Aidanvoya and even a stove was brought over—they thought she needed to eat.
Aidanvoya did not refuse, as she rembered that Lu Li might be in need.
“Please do,” Anna replied.
“It’s just a small token of thanks,” Aidanvoya said with an indifferent smile, going to help Lu Li prepare dinner.
Limited by the ingredients, Aidanvoya couldn’t make anything too delicious, just re-cooking the canned goods with so spices and beans.
Yet nothing could be more heartwarming than a bowl of hot at soup on a cold night.
Lu Li left a portion and returned under the great Banyan Tree to give it to Lilia in the night.
Not far away, the black-robed figure stood under the Banyan Tree’s arch-like structure, looking this way.
“Canned cooking, huh?
It tastes really good,” Lilia praised as she sat on a tree root that resembled a short stool.
She thought it had been made by either Lu Li or Anna.
The spices covered up most of the preservative taste that resembled wall plaster, and at tis like these, to be able to enjoy a hot al, what more could she wish for.
What delighted her wasn’t just the food, but also Mother of the Marsh’s attitude: “Princess Ailen has accepted …
I am helping Her Highness rember her forr self.”
On the way here, Lilia had thought it would be difficult, and she might even have to pay with her life to help Princess Ailen wake up—but the princess was far easier to communicate with than imagined.
Lu Li had no intention of stopping Lilia.
Letting an Evil God possess human traits was not a bad thing, at least for humans.
Even though this Evil God was facing invasion by a powerful enemy.
“Mr.
Lu Li…” Like she had made up her mind, Lilia’s age-worn eyes showed determination, “I wish to stay here and serve Princess Ailen.”
“You’re just an ordinary person,” Lu Li said.
And an elderly one at that.
The Evil God’s presence perated throughout this swamp.
Even though Mother of the Marsh was always weak and tried as much as possible to restrain her presence, the omnipresent aura would still corrode a person’s Sanity Value.
Even if Lilia didn’t mind, the dampness, chill, and gloom were enough to quickly bring down an old person.
Lilia answered, “Before that, I will ask Princess Ailen to transform into one of her Followers.”
“Are you sure?” Anna asked, more concerned about the body than anyone else.
Lilia wore a bitter smile, “It’s just a worn-out body; even alive, I can’t do anything…”
She had even felt tired from talking too much just now.
Lilia had made up her mind and Lu Li didn’t say anything more; after bidding farewell to Lilia and Mother of the Marsh, he returned to the church, picked up Aidanvoya, and under the gaze of the Shadow Figures, drove the carriage out of the ruins of Shadow Town into the night.
Anna liked to listen to interesting stories, while Lu Li liked to hear useful information, so Aidanvoya told them many events from Tesla’s younger days in the carriage.
“You would never imagine that Tesla was always very timid when he was young, and he hasn’t overco it to this day,” Aidanvoya said with a smile on her face.
“The first ti he encountered the Visible Song, he was nearly scared out of his wits, and Michael feared that kind of slowly-approaching horror the most.
If it weren’t for the investigator with him who covered his eyes, there might not have been any of those stories afterward.”
“But with other terrifying things, he was unexpectedly brave.
Even the sudden appearance of the Crowd of Suffering right beside him wouldn’t scare him off.”
“How did you two et?” Anna asked.
Two won together invariably ended up talking about love.
“It was chance…” reminisced Aidanvoya with a soft look in her eyes.
At that ti, to so extent, they were on opposing sides—Tesla had been sent to investigate the haunted rumors in the town, and it so happened that Aidanvoya was part of those rumors.
The annoying little ghosts collapsed the haunted house after Tesla entered, trapping him inside.
Aidanvoya appeared, kept him company for a few days, and in the end, rescued him—
The young investigator thus fell for Aidanvoya.
Listening silently to the story, Lu Li lifted the carriage curtain.
Ten miles away, the brightly lit Himfast seed even more dazzling and bustling than Belfast had been.
If viewed from the air, it was the brightest spot on the dark Ailen Peninsula.
He hoped it wasn’t just a fleeting mont.
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