Chapter 143: Outside the Narrative
“There are so many rooms in the building, why do you want to share a room with me?”
It was 3:30 in the morning. Carol was absorbing magic crystals while reading the magic book Kailun had left behind.
She had brought Bella into the small building as Kailun instructed and asked where she wanted to stay. Bella said she wanted to stay in Carol’s room.
Normally, Carol would have refused, but faced with Bella’s request, she hesitated.
Bella gave her a feeling of closeness and familiarity.
“Maybe I have some things I want to ask you. Also, you seem very approachable. I want to chat more.”
Bella touched her right index finger with her left, her gaze darting around the room. Her slender dragon tail tapped the white sheets on the bed rhythmically.
Carol paused in her reading, turned around in her chair, and asked Bella, “Do you want to ask about Master?”
“Wow, you guessed it!” Bella chuckled mischievously. After leaving Fox, she felt one step closer to her dream of reviving the dragon race.
Carol marked her page, closed the magic book, and placed it on her lap. “It’s written all over your face. You look completely smitten. I’m very familiar with that look. I’ve seen it on many people, most notably Saint Chrissy of the Temple of the Celestial God.”
“Lord Kailun is truly powerful. I didn’t expect him to even conquer the Saint. It must be because of his charm, right?”
Bella’s eyes sparkled like a starstruck fan.
“No, Master relies on… coercion and force,” Carol said expressionlessly.
Bella rubbed her ears. “Did I hear that right? You said he relies on coercion and force?”
Carol: “You heard correctly. That’s exactly what he does. Are you still willing to stay here, knowing this?”
Carol saw Bella lower her head and thought she was disappointed by the disillusionment.
If it were any other girl, Carol wouldn’t say a word. She might even help Kailun drug them and prepare props.
But she couldn’t do that to Bella. She felt she had to let Bella know Kailun’s true nature.
To Carol, Kailun was the best person in the world, but he wasn’t suitable for everyone.
What would Bella choose if her rose-tinted glasses were removed?
Carol was curious.
“Isn’t that even better!”
To her surprise, Bella suddenly raised her head and grabbed her skirt excitedly. “Isn’t that exactly what I want? I can feel that I don’t have much time left. Instead of leaving without saying goodbye and hurting him, it’s better to have a pure soul connection. I continue the dragon lineage, and he gets to enjoy it. Isn’t that a win-win?”
Carol: “…”
For some reason, she wanted to cover her face like Fox and sigh. This stupid dragon was truly hopeless.
Sighing, Carol gave up on trying to correct her.
She didn’t need to do anything unnecessary because of that strange feeling in her heart. To her, Kailun was the most important thing now.
A single reminder was already her greatest act of kindness.
“You’ve used up your chance to ask questions. Please don’t disturb me now, or I’ll send you to another room.”
Carol reopened the magic book, intending to study all night.
She felt a sense of urgency, wanting to increase her strength as soon as possible.
It was only a few days until the one-month deadline Kailun had set. Would he really keep his promise and “devour” her?
Carol looked down at her chest, which had developed alluring curves. She felt that she had an extraordinary talent in this area.
Just under a month of “nutritional supplements” had brought about a drastic change in her figure. Compared to her past self, she was like an ugly duckling back then.
Carol felt that she should be more proactive. For example, she could subtly remind Kailun of their agreement next time she saw him.
“Okay, then you go ahead. I’m going to sleep.”
Hearing this, Bella simply flopped onto the bed and covered her head with a pillow. She had always been a carefree dragon.
If it weren’t for the burden of continuing the dragon lineage on her petite shoulders, she might have lived an even more carefree life.
……
At eight o’clock in the morning, Rose asked her grandfather Bruce to skip class and help her contact Philip, the shop manager, and Count Laurist.
In order to better utilize his granddaughter Rose, even Kailson, her real grandfather, participated in their discussion.
The good news was that Laurist and Philip were currently in the Royal City. Around 8:30, they gathered in Bruce’s office at the Magic Academy.
However, there was an extra person in the office when they started their discussion. It was a little girl wearing glasses.
“Don’t mind me. I just happened to be passing by and came back to take a look. You might not know this, but after today, I might not be myself anymore.”
Sitting in her familiar spot, Dean Edlin looked sad.
Just one shopping trip, and she had already owed Kailun 800,000 gold coins. Even selling herself wouldn’t be enough to fill that hole.
All she wanted now was to avoid seeing Kailun for as long as possible, so she wouldn’t have to face her miserable life.
Edlin had never thought that she would turn a sure-win situation into a massive loss. With only 2.5 million gold coins left, she really wanted to run away with the money.
But not only were there two vice-captains of the same rank as her along the way, the contract restrictions made it impossible for her to run away with the money.
She had no doubt that Kailun had known beforehand that the price of magic crystals would skyrocket. There were no such coincidences in the world.
“Sigh…”
Edlin put her feet up on the chair and hugged her knees dejectedly.
Kailson and Bruce exchanged glances and dismissed the idea of kicking Edlin out. In terms of position, Edlin was a vice-dean just like them, so there was no difference in their status.
Most importantly, Kailun had entrusted Edlin with managing five million gold coins. This was an unusual sign.
“Ahem, since everyone is looking at me, I’ll explain why I invited you all here.”
Kailson coughed and took the initiative. “Actually, it all started with a task Lord Kailun assigned to Rose. Yesterday, Lord Kailun invited Rose to meet in a private room. They had a very pleasant conversation, and afterward, he gave Rose a task. Although the task itself isn’t difficult, it’s not easy to do it well and please Lord Kailun.”
Count Laurist asked straightforwardly, “What task?”
“To lure Duke Pit of the Rose Kingdom here for a transaction.” Bruce glanced at Laurist with envy.
In his opinion, Laurist was a prime example of successfully selling his daughter. It was thanks to Winnie that Laurist had risen to prominence, jumping from viscount to count in one step, and now he was even aiming for marquis.
Don’t underestimate the title of marquis. In an ordinary kingdom, even a duke wouldn’t catch Bruce’s eye, let alone a marquis.
But the Xiya Kingdom was different. They knew that behind the Xiya Kingdom stood at least six unknown ninth-rank mages. This power was already approaching that of the Abyss.
And this was just the strength they had revealed. No one knew how big the iceberg hidden beneath the surface was.
In any case, Kailson and Bruce had already decided to cling to Kailun’s thigh. They were determined to sell their granddaughter Rose.
The question now was how to sell her at a good price, how to sell her in a way that would please Lord Kailun.
“I think it’s a bit redundant. Aren’t you both eighth-rank? You could just go to the Rose Kingdom and kidnap him.” Laurist asked, puzzled.
In fact, he had also attended the Chamber of Commerce ceremony yesterday, but he and Philip were sitting in the front row on the first floor. That was why he was able to arrive as soon as he received Kailson’s message.
“Although that method could also achieve the goal, Kailun clearly wants to humiliate and toy with Pit.”
Rose explained. Conspiring against her own noble with outsiders made her feel like a truly wicked woman.
Laurist looked at the woman hidden inside the mage robe. “Who are you? How dare you address Lord Kailun by his name directly?”
Rose: “…”
If anyone dared to speak to her in that tone in the Rose Kingdom, she would have them beheaded and displayed in public.
But when in Rome, do as the Romans do. To satisfy Kailun’s wicked whims, she could only answer dejectedly, “I’m the Queen of the Rose Kingdom, and also… someone close to Lord Kailun.”
No matter what, Rose’s heart wasn’t strong enough to tell others that she was Kailun’s escort without changing her expression. After being a queen for over ten years, she still cared about her image.
“Oh? The Queen of the Rose Kingdom? So the Rose Kingdom has already surrendered?”
Laurist struck again with his sharp words.
“I believe Queen Rose must have her reasons. But deceiving Duke Pit happens to be part of my plan, so I think we have room for cooperation.”
It was Philip who spoke. He felt that if Laurist continued, the former queen would explode.
To ease the awkward atmosphere, Philip became the mediator.
With Philip’s participation, the conversation finally returned to normal.
After a brief exchange of information, Philip, who was more familiar with Kailun, quickly formulated a new plan.
To summarize, they would sell magic crystals to the Rose Kingdom at a ratio of one to sixty-five, and Duke Pit would be appointed as the person in charge of the transaction.
On the surface, this was Queen Rose giving Duke Pit a chance to redeem himself. In reality, it was a trap to lure him in and kill him.
Duke Pit was always cautious. Under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t dare to come to the Xiya Kingdom to die. So they needed to fabricate some believable information to make this play even more interesting.
“Wait!”
Just as everyone was about to make a decision, Dean Edlin suddenly spoke up.
She took off her glasses and looked at Queen Rose seriously. “I have a batch of magic crystals that I can sell to you at a ratio of one to seventy. If the transaction amount exceeds one million gold coins, we can even reach a ratio of one to seventy-five. What do you think, Queen Rose?”
“Is that really possible?” Rose looked at Edlin with bated breath. Compared to Kailun, Edlin was practically a saint!
Edlin smiled confidently. “Leave it to me. It’s just a small matter.”
In Edlin’s opinion, if she could sell the magic crystals at a ratio of one to seventy, her losses would be greatly reduced.
If the Rose Kingdom needed a large quantity, she estimated that she would only lose 200,000 gold coins in the end.
With this profit, she might be able to pay back her debt to Kailun even if she lost all her assets. Even if she was a bit short, it wouldn’t matter. She could just offer him some “benefits” to waive the remaining amount.
As long as she didn’t completely lose herself, she still had a chance to turn things around.
Kailun wasn’t home anyway. It wouldn’t be a problem for her to use his resources to earn some money, right?
Philip didn’t stop Edlin’s “left hand to right hand” scheme. Dean Edlin’s mistake should be dealt with by Lord Kailun himself.
He only needed to report the truth. As for how to solve it, it had nothing to do with him.
As someone who wanted to perform well in front of Kailun, Philip probably had the highest EQ among them.
……
“Achoo!”
Walking on the path in the town, Kailun suddenly sneezed.
“I feel like someone is trying to steal from me. I wonder if it’s just my imagination.”
Kailun rubbed his nose. They had been walking all night, but they hadn’t found Shirley.
They had searched all the houses they passed but found nothing unusual.
It was strange. Shirley’s team had about a thousand people, but Kailun hadn’t encountered a single one of them.
The town was only this big. Logically, they should have encountered someone by now.
Along the way, apart from his own grave, Kailun hadn’t encountered anything strange.
“I feel like the threads of fate here are constantly changing. It’s like this place is independent from the outside world, completely illogical.”
Isabella, holding onto Kailun’s sleeve, analyzed the environment ceaselessly.
“Although I’ve lost my original talent, I can feel the changes here. If it’s not resolved, it might have a very bad impact on the world.”
Fox, holding onto Kailun’s other sleeve, said.
To avoid getting lost in the fog, she and Isabella were both holding onto Kailun, using him as their guide.
Hearing Fox’s speculation, Kailun nodded slightly.
According to the intelligence Shirley had initially sent back, Kuye Town was very likely the location of the ruin.
But after walking for so long, Kailun and his group hadn’t found any trace of it.
It was impossible for just the three of them to dig up the entire town, so they had to find another way.
He had heard Fox’s story before. Over a decade ago, Fox was still a young girl. She looked very similar to a human girl, except for her fox-like eyes.
In Fox’s story, there was always an unnamed old woman.
No matter who analyzed it, this old woman would be an important figure.
Connecting this to the undiscovered ruin, Kailun felt that the key to solving the problem lay with the person who created it. So their seemingly random search actually had a clear purpose.
“This should be it, the Fox’s home.”
Looking at the dilapidated house in front of them, Kailun stopped.
Due to the interference of the unknown fog, they would completely lose their sense of direction in the fog. Even Fox, who was familiar with the town, would get lost.
But their efforts paid off. After a night of searching, Kailun found the place where Fox used to live.
“How do you know this is my home?” Fox looked at him as if he were a monster.
Fox clearly remembered that she had never told anyone about her childhood home, not even Bella.
But how did Kailun know?
Looking at Fox’s gaping mouth, Kailun smiled at her. “Of course Miss Fox told me herself. It was a dark and stormy night. I was riding a fox across the vast grasslands. I asked you where your home was, and you said it was in Kuye Town, next to a small house near a well.”
Hearing Kailun’s words, Fox couldn’t help but want to turn and run.
Crazy, he was truly crazy. She had never said such a thing.
But hearing Kailun’s recounting, she felt like something similar had really happened.
The confused Fox felt like she was going crazy.
“Don’t overthink it. I was just lying to you. I actually divined it.”
Kailun grabbed Fox’s tail to prevent her from escaping. If she really ran away, he might not be able to find her in a short amount of time.
“Liar, you’re a complete liar! Do you think I still believe you can divine? You must know something we don’t.”
Fox stared at Kailun warily. She wanted to uncover his secrets. She felt that he might know the real reason behind the loss of her talent.
“You want to know? I won’t tell you. Come on, let’s go take a look.”
With that, Kailun held Isabella’s small hand in one hand and pulled Fox’s tail with the other as they walked towards the small house.
With her weakness in his grasp, Fox could only grit her teeth and follow behind Kailun.
She had to stay close to him. Otherwise, if they were too far apart, her tail would be stretched taut.
To a creature like Fox, this was unbearable pain.
For example, it felt like having a silver needle inserted between her toenails and then kicking the corner of a wall with that toe.
Hiss~ Just thinking about it hurt.
To avoid falling behind, Fox tried to snatch her tail back while closely following Kailun.
Before she knew it, they had entered the basement.
Under the illumination of Kailun’s magic, Fox saw the familiar surroundings.
In a sense, this basement was the beginning of her sorrow.
If she hadn’t entered this basement, if she hadn’t opened those magic books, the people in the town wouldn’t have died, and she wouldn’t have become homeless.
Releasing her tail, which she couldn’t retrieve from Kailun’s grasp, Fox looked down at her chest.
At this moment, she was a bit envious of Isabella because Isabella could see the ground just by lowering her head.
Isabella: “???”
Isabella tilted her head in confusion, feeling insulted by Fox.
“Can you sense the abnormality here?” Kailun asked, shaking Isabella’s hand.
She snapped out of her thoughts and scanned the entire basement, carefully sensing every aura. Finally, she used a few simple Destiny Magic circles.
“This place is very ordinary, as ordinary as the outside world.”
Kailun nodded with satisfaction. “But here, this ordinariness is the biggest abnormality. I think we’ve found the key.”
“You two stand over there. I’m going to start setting up the magic circle. Fox will be in charge of the illumination for now.”
To fully focus on setting up the magic circle, Kailun entrusted the task of illumination to Fox.
Fox nodded, tucking her freed tail between her legs. She looked at Kailun with a complex expression.
Now, she understood him less and less.
After the two of them obediently stood in the corner, Kailun took out the parchment scroll from his pocket.
He had only partially deciphered its effects. To set it up, he had to meticulously follow the original content, stroke by stroke.
Kailun took out the tools he carried for engraving magic circles and began the long process of setting up the circle on the basement floor.
Adjusting his attributes to focus on mental power and magic power, Kailun concentrated all his attention on the task at hand.
To avoid disturbing him, Isabella and Fox didn’t exchange a word. They both carefully studied Kailun’s technique.
Time passed slowly. The setup of the magic circle, which had taken several hours, was nearing completion.
The reason it took so long wasn’t just because the magic circle was very complex but also because it conflicted with current magic theory. He could only use a more primitive setup method.
“Fox, come and wipe my sweat.”
The exhausted Kailun closed his eyes for a moment. Feeling Fox beside him, he grabbed her tail and wiped his forehead with it.
Fox, holding a handkerchief: “…”
[You are utterly wicked, irredeemable, and insane. Fox’s Goodwill -15, Total Goodwill -70]
It seemed that Fox was still quite resistant, but it didn’t matter. She would get used to it eventually. After all, she was the one who had taught Kailun all these things.
“Didn’t you say the effect of this magic circle is chaos? Why do we need to use it?” Isabella asked, looking at the magic circle on the ground.
“Since this basement is the only ordinary place in the entire town, we’ll make it change and assimilate with the town. It’s a simple idea, but also quite risky.”
Kailun grabbed Fox and Isabella’s wrists, one in each hand. “Actually, my original plan was more conservative, but after coming here, I changed my mind. It’s not gambling, it’s just that the speculation is very unbelievable. By the way, you can go back and tell Afra and the others that I might be delayed for a day or two. The specific time is uncertain.”
Kailun looked at Isabella as he said the last sentence. To this town, she was an outsider, and her current strength wasn’t enough to deal with the upcoming random events.
“What? Are you trying to get rid of me?” Isabella suddenly panicked.
Although she had already gained a lot, it wasn’t enough. She wanted more.
“Clever, you guessed it.” Kailun smiled at Isabella with a familiar, wicked smile.
While Isabella was unable to resist, Kailun imprinted a magic circle onto her body.
Before Isabella could even protest, he activated both magic circles simultaneously.
A flash of red light, and they disappeared from the basement.
As they vanished, a beam of red light shot up into the sky, piercing the clouds. It stood in the basement, at the center of the town, visible to everyone in the Xiya Kingdom. Most importantly, it lingered, refusing to fade.
……
“Thud!”
Isabella fell into a temporary camp fifty miles away from the town. Eve, the young knight in charge of the blockade, immediately recognized her.
She rushed over to help Isabella up and asked, “Aren’t you Isabella? Why are you here?”
Isabella pouted pitifully, looking like she was about to cry. “I was tricked by that heartless Kailun… Wuwuwu…”
Poor Isabella couldn’t hold back her tears.
Hearing Isabella’s cries, Eve sighed. “Master is really something. He even took advantage of such a young girl. It’s really inappropriate. He could have just asked us if he wanted to. There are three of us.”
Hearing Eve’s words, Isabella cried even harder.
……
[Detecting drastic fluctuations in Destiny Magic]
[Your Destiny Magic resistance has increased again.]
[Because your Destiny Magic resistance exceeds the predetermined threshold, initiating judgment.]
[Judgment in progress…]
[Judgment complete. You have resisted the invasion of Destiny Magic and temporarily gained a special attribute: Outside the Narrative]
[Outside the Narrative: As a key figure, you are both an outsider and not an outsider. For the next three days, you have the ability to retain your self and your memories.]
[Special Reminder 1: The Destiny Magic of Kuye Town has been interfered with again, and the threads of fate have deviated. Your actions in Kuye Town will lead to changes in the threads of fate.]
[Special Reminder 2: Fate has noticed you and locked onto you, but the lock has failed due to interference from an unknown thread of fate.]
[Special Reminder 3: You don’t belong here. Remember to return to your world. Before you leave, remember to restore everything to its original state. This will benefit you.]
[Isabella thinks you’re a heartless man. Goodwill -10, Total Goodwill 30]
Except for the last one, all the previous reminders contained a huge amount of information.
In a flash, the white fog dissipated, and Kailun appeared at the entrance of the town.
The town was now bustling with people and laughter. Children were playing and running around, looking very real.
No, in a sense, it might actually be real.
Kailun took out the second parchment scroll and glanced at it. Overall, he had guessed correctly. This incredibly dangerous scroll had become a key clue.
If he had to give it a name, it would be “Fate Sacrifice”.
As the name suggested, it was an incredibly evil thing. Kailun couldn’t set it up yet. He needed more time to study it.
Just as he was about to put the scroll away, a little girl ran past him on the street.
Although the little girl had a human form, she had white hair and pink fox eyes.
She looked just like the young Fox from over a decade ago, innocent, beautiful, and charming.
Before he could think, Kailun immediately chased after her as she was about to disappear around the corner.
He couldn’t let Fox escape this time. Her previous disappearance was the last straw.
With a flash, Kailun vanished from his spot.
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