“So, Vesser knows both the you in the Virtual Realm and the real you, just like the Witch…”
Sonya’s tone carried a subtle implication.
Deya blinked and hurriedly explained, “Before you gave the ‘soul summoning spirit’ that holds the ‘secrecy concept’, Ashe, I had no idea the Observer was you! I never ant to hide it, but so much happened right after-I beca the Gospel Incarnation, Empress Yisuo, and had to rely on the secrecy power within the ‘secrecy concept’ to resist deity pollution. At that ti, even if I wanted to confess, I couldn’t.”
“Now, it’s only because I’m barely suppressing the Gospel Deity’s influence with the ‘Rebellion against authority’ Miracle that I dare to reveal my true identity.”
Ashe was taken aback and asked, “So when I first t Lise, you actually didn’t know my real identity? You didn’t recognize in the Virtual Realm?”
“Did you forget your silver blessing, ‘Observer’s Visage’?” Deya retorted. “I couldn’t see your face clearly at all in the Virtual Realm… It wasn’t until you left the Gospel Kingdom that your ‘Observer’s Visage’ finally stopped working on .”
“And you deliberately didn’t reveal your real-world situation in the Virtual Realm, so how could I possibly connect the Observer and Ashe as the sa person?”
Ashe murmured, “I didn’t expect it was really like this…”
He paused, looked at the two, and said, “Then I might have t another Witch, another sword Princess.”
He told them about the black-and-white pair who signed the ‘mutual non-inquiry pact’ with him, and the Death Maniac who once visited him in Shattered Lake Prison. Sonya and Deya both shook their heads repeatedly. “I never did anything like that. Wait…”
Deya blinked, pondering, “Then I think I might have t another Observer.”
“ too,” Sonya murmured. “He appeared around two or three tis…”
Ashe asked curiously, “It’s one thing if I couldn’t tell, but you two couldn’t notice the difference either?”
“No, because…” Sonya mused, “His tone and personality were pretty much like yours, not as obvious as the Death Maniac I told you about. But thinking back, he was a bit stricter and colder than you, only at that ti I wasn’t very familiar with you either, so at most I just thought your personality changed from ti to ti.”
“After we got to know each other, he never appeared again.”
“I’m the sa as you two,” Ashe said. “At first, we weren’t that close, so I didn’t think much of it, but once we got familiar, they stopped showing up.”
Now Ashe was certain that there were still hidden settings in Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook that he didn’t know about. The Death Maniac who guided him into the sorcerer world in Shattered Lake, the black-and-white pair in Gospel who intentionally or unintentionally prevented him from reuniting with Lise Deya, and the Observer responsible for smoothly recruiting the sword Princess and Witch into the team-who exactly were they?
Their dark sides? Shadows? New lives born from the sorcerer portraits? Or were they all AI incarnations of Aurora’s Sorcerer Handbook, just wearing different skins to better serve different users?
Or had Substitute spirits gained sentience?
There were simply too many possibilities for Ashe to judge. He summoned the ga interface, opened “Operator Managent” to look for clues, but imdiately saw the grayed-out Yolan Vesser portrait.
Ashe paused slightly and sighed softly, “This kind of brain-consuming work was clearly Vesser’s responsibility…”
On the other side, Sonya was thinking about the Death Maniac.
She recalled how Ashe had felt a strong closeness to her from the very beginning, even relying on her without any concealnt. Back then, she thought this ‘legend reincarnate’ was acting like a child. Now, it seed that the one Ashe truly depended on was the Death Maniac who helped him through his hardest days in Shattered Lake Prison, not her, Sonya Therave.
So, even the very beginning of everything was born from a misunderstanding…
“Do you rember the Observer saying he planned to help Lise realize her wish at the Weaving Festival?”
The Witch suddenly walked up beside her, leaned close to her ear, and said.
“I rember.” Sonya lowered her head. “He really dotes on you.”
“It’s Lise, not ,” Deya said. “Besides, helping Lise was actually his second choice. He was just afraid to realize his own wish, so he gave the wish to Lise.”
“Afraid?”
“He said he had soone he wanted to et, far away in another Kingdom. If he could make a wish, he’d actually want to see that person.” Deya said softly, “But he felt he wasn’t ready, and thought the other person wasn’t ready either, afraid that eting would disrupt the other’s life, so he wanted to keep things as they were.”
“You hate that I t Ashe in reality first, and I hate that you t the Observer in the Virtual Realm first.”
Sonya was stunned for a mont, then slowly walked up to Ashe. Under Ashe’s puzzled gaze, she pressed her right hand lightly to her chest and introduced herself, “I am the sword Princess, a second-year student at Swordflower College in the Stars Kingdom, Sonya Therave. Just call Sonya.”
Ashe blinked and replied earnestly, “I am the Observer, a social drifter, Ashe Heath. Just call Ashe.”
“Ashe, Ashe, Ashe, Ashe…” Sonya savored the na, as if she could taste sweetness from it. She gently reached out her hand, and Ashe instinctively grasped it. First their palms aligned, then their fingers interlocked, fitting together. Since they were Swordmasters, they naturally didn’t keep their nails, so even gripping tightly wouldn’t hurt each other.
“Ashe, hello.”
“Sonya, hello.”
They exchanged a glance and couldn’t help but burst out laughing. Ashe said, “It feels weird to hear you call by my real na, there’s this inexplicable sense of embarrassnt… How about we go back to calling each other Observer, sword Princess, Witch?”
“No, you can call whatever you want, but if Lise Deya calls you by your real na, I will too.” Sonya said, “Ashe, are you done talking about your reunion?”
“Probably not, but we can talk about your topic first, Sonya.” Ashe said, “We have plenty of ti, we can take it slow.”
“I’m still on that topic.” Sonya’s fingers gently scratched his palm. “I’m ready now. Are you ready to co to the Stars?”
“Speaking of which,” Deya sat down beside Ashe and wrapped her arm around his, saying, “Ashe, you didn’t enter Wishflux Celestium, but were sent sowhere else by the spatial turbulence caused by Vichy. So where are you now? Wonderland, Abyssal Depths, or back to the Blood Moon Kingdom?”
Ashe blinked and said, “By the way, have you noticed there’s a pattern to my recent ti trave between Kingdoms? Even though the reasons for ti trave are different, in Blood Moon I was a fugitive Death Row Inmate, in Gospel I was a blaspher following Annan to desecrate deities, in Senlo I was hunting Silver Lantern…”
“No matter which Kingdom I’m in, I’m always a restless traveler, either being hunted or hunting others.”
Deya and Sonya blinked, not understanding what Ashe was rambling about.
“So…” Ashe said slowly, “sword Princess, do you know that three Sanctuary fugitives have recently appeared in the Stars Kingdom?”
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