“The Witch is the Gospel Empress in reality?” Sonya’s eyes widened in disbelief.
“Am I a lolicon?” Ashe clutched his head, looking utterly incredulous.
“Of course not!” Deya grabbed Ashe’s shoulders and shook him hard, her face flushed with anxiety. “I’m , Lise is Lise, we’re separate! The one you like is Witch Deya, the one you dote on is your daughter Lise. Your feelings for Lise are purely familial, and what we have is friendship and love!”
“Actually, I think my relationship with Lise is also just friendship.” Ashe’s expression was complicated. “I’ve always wanted Lise to call ‘brother,’ or just use my na, but she just won’t change… But isn’t it weird for a daughter to say, ‘Dad, let’s look at big-boobed babe pics together’?”
“But since you don’t do anything for fun except gaming, that’s all that’s left, and Lise just wants to get close to you.” Deya said, “Besides, we really do want to see them too. I can’t believe you actually discovered this function in the Gospel system.”
“Isn’t that normal?” Ashe said righteously. “Don’t you ever want to ask, ‘Gospel, Gospel, who’s the prettiest person in this world’?”
“But would a normal person then ask, ‘Show more of her photos’?” Deya muttered, “Annan would never have guessed you’d spend points on this…”
“By the way,” Ashe suddenly rembered those friends who had stirred up the Gospel Kingdom with him, “how are Annan and Banjeet and the others?”
“They’re all doing well. Banjeet even calls Annan ‘Mom’ now.” Deya said, “Annan is now the First Sorceress of the new departnt, the Sorceress Governance Bureau, responsible for defining the limits of the Gospel system and adjusting social policy. We don’t want to keep relying on the Gospel system; we hope to use our own will to create the Kingdom we dream of.”
She paused. “As for Yvaren, Anfel, Aunt Nona, Aunt Qenna… they’re all doing well, and they’ve joined the Sorceress Governance Bureau too. Although they surely have their own motives, at least they genuinely want to help and Annan.”
“That sounds exhausting. You’ve chosen a tough path.” Ashe reached out and ruffled Deya’s hair, smiling softly. “Other Yisuo Empresses don’t have so many worries. You’ve worked hard.”
“Other Yisuo Empresses don’t even have a ‘worry’ function.” Deya pouted. “I’m not Lise, don’t treat like a kid who needs praise. Next ti I’ll bring Lise to the Virtual Realm, and then you can spoil her however you like.”
Though she said that, she didn’t move Ashe’s hand away.
“If Lise ca in your current adult form, I probably wouldn’t dare get close to her.” Just imagining adult Lise pouncing on him and acting cute made Ashe feel like he was sliding into the Abyss of cri. “And how could I treat the Empress like a child? There can’t be two suns in the sky-there’s only one Empress in my heart!”
“In Stars, we have three suns,” Sonya suddenly said.
Ashe and Deya were both startled, realizing they’d unknowingly left the sword Princess out.
“Oh, don’t mind , you two keep talking.” Sonya stood straight at the side, hands behind her back, tilting her head slightly. “After all, you haven’t seen the Witch in ages, and it’s been a long ti since you saw Lise Deya too, so your reunion score is at least double mine. It’s normal for you to be a bit clingy.”
Ashe blinked. “Are you upset?”
“Why would I be upset? Upset that you’re reunited after so long, or upset that you have a relationship beyond friendship in reality, or upset that you share precious mories that belong only to you?” Sonya turned away from them. “I’m not petty, why would I be upset?”
Of all the people we know, probably only Igor or Aunt Bukin are pettier than you…
Deya hurried to clarify, “I’m not close with Ashe in reality! The one who makes Ashe brush her teeth, sleep with her, feed her, and go to the amusent park is Lise, not . Lise is Lise, the Witch is the Witch… Anyway, whatever relationship you have with Ashe, sword Princess, that’s what I have with Ashe!”
Sonya’s mouth twitched as she gave Ashe a strange look. “You actually sleep with a little girl?”
“Don’t look at like that. She’s really strong. More than once, when I ca back from the Virtual Realm, I found she’d kicked out of bed.” Ashe looked like he was recalling a traumatic past. “One ti her foot almost ended up in my mouth…”
“Don’t worry, I don’t sleep like that,” Deya said, hugging Ashe’s arm. “Lise is just too mischievous.”
Ashe suddenly rembered, “Now that you’re Empresses, Lise isn’t slacking off on her studies, is she?”
“How could she? Even though Lise does want that, the White Queen and Black Butler are always supervising her. She studies for five minutes and then plays for an hour.” Deya said, “We sisters are of one mind, so she’s not really afraid of us elder sisters. It’s you and Aunt Bukin who can keep her in check… Oh, by the way, how are Aunt Bukin and Uncle Harvey?”
“How should I put it?”
Ashe found a pile of protruding rubies to sit on, crossed his legs, and said, “If you ignore the fact that Igor was almost torn apart like a doll, and that Harvey’s entire body except his right eye has been replaced, then they’re actually fine. Over this past month, we’ve been through a lot in the Senlo wasteland… Vesser is dead.”
This sudden turn left Deya and Sonya both stunned. They’d already wondered why Yolan Vesser wasn’t here-was her soul especially wounded? Or did Ashe just want to reunite with them first on the first night, so he left Yolan Vesser out?
As Ashe recounted the story, they finally learned that the quiet, gentle Truth sorcerer in their team was actually the Silver Lantern who had ravaged Senlo.
And in just this one month apart, Ashe had gone through one life-and-death crisis after another, even more dangerous than the Specter’s Ordeal. The World-Ending Ritual, the three gods of the divine era, the Specter Seer Vichy all appeared on stage. If not for the birth of the Void Gate concept, if not for Ashe holding the key to the Wishflux Celestium, everything would have ended in irreversible tragedy.
“The Heart of Wishes Command should be in Tamashi’s hands now, and we can’t get it back for the ti being.” Ashe said, “I believe that as long as Tamashi can survive in the Wishflux Celestium, he’ll keep it safe and return it to . But the Wishflux Celestium is our joint property, and I handed it over without your consent. I’m sorry.”
Deya shook her head and sat beside Ashe. “I don’t mind. We can’t use the Wishflux Celestium for now anyway.”
“I don’t mind either.” Sonya mused, “But that ans Vesser intended to hide her identity and deceive you from the start. After all, you wanted to hunt her down at first. She learned your intelligence from the Virtual Realm, then countered your actions in reality. But in the end, she had a change of heart, sacrificed herself to beco a god, and turned into the Silver Lantern to help you slay a god?”
“That’s right.”
“No, that wasn’t a change of heart. Soone with her resolve would never regret her actions.” Sonya lowered her eyes. “You said before that the Silver Lantern once forcefully kissed you in the Divine Fire Trial Cicada Lurk… She wasn’t trying to protect the Kingdom she was already set to destroy. She just wanted to protect you.”
“I still prefer to believe she wanted to protect the world.” Ashe said, “Even if she really just wanted to save , the mont you’re willing to save soone, you’re already saving the world.”
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