Chapter 145 Chapter 143 A Beautiful Dream
The corridor of the flower boat.
Disturbing loud noises came from the deck, and there were shouts and arguments behind the door. For some reason, the elderly maid seemed to sense everyone’s anger, and she scolded a pair of maids who were fighting and still making noise.
The ceiling trembled. The elderly maid felt extremely uneasy, and while tugging on Ji Ma’s hand and hastily walking, she said, “Girl, you need to see clearly; he came to save you only to satisfy his sense of justice, willing to kill so you cannot live a happy life.”
“Old maid, I have something to do.”
The elderly maid tightened her grip on Ji Ma’s slender hand and said, “You can wait until that murderer is driven away to talk about it.”
However, Ji Ma suddenly stopped, and the elderly maid angrily turned her head to find Ji Ma’s bright golden eyes fixed forward, smiling as she said, “George, you came to save me.”
The elderly maid’s heart jolted; she quickly turned her head but saw nothing. She angrily exclaimed, “You little brat, are you trying to scare me?”
After saying that, she tried to pull Ji Ma away forcefully.
“Wait!” The Voice of the Great Benefactor came from behind. At that moment, all the disturbing sounds on the deck stopped, and the entire ship returned to a soothing calm.
The elderly maid turned around and saw at the end of the corridor, the Great Benefactor Bransy sheathing his sword, addressing her, “Everything is fine now. Thank you for your work, for the slave contract.”
The elderly maid was momentarily bewildered; hadn’t that demon been fighting on the deck just now?
She asked, “What happened?”
“The slave contract has been established. Now the demon girl is trapped in a lifelong deception and cannot resist.”
The elderly maid found it hard to imagine; when she pulled Ji Ma off the ship and looked back, wasn’t that demon heading to the deck? How could it be resolved so quickly?
She tentatively asked, “What about the wanted criminal from the Holy Hall? Is it resolved?”
The Great Benefactor Bransy just smiled and said, “Do you think his entrance was grand enough, beautiful enough? Be bold; if you were Ji Ma, how would you feel?”
The elderly maid thought she grasped something and said, “It’s simply a beautiful dream.”
“Yes, a beautiful dream.” The Great Benefactor Bransy’s fingers confidently tapped his sword hilt, “It’s also a dream for the clients. Now, the clients are eager to be the brave ones rescuing the demon Ji Ma.”
The elderly maid suddenly understood, as if a clear concept had been injected into her mind.
The Great Benefactor Bransy had orchestrated an illusion, a grand illusion. It deceived the demon Ji Ma and everyone else, allowing Ji Ma to resist the slave contract even less. She had heard that extraordinary beings had resistance to slave contracts; even the weakest could face the risk of failure.
This trick, half true and half false, reduced the risk of failure in the slave contract; truly, he was the Great Benefactor.
The elderly maid had no doubt about this thought. Just like in a dream, one would unquestioningly accept the dream world.
Next to her, the demon Ji Ma’s gaze gradually dulled, repeatedly mumbling, “George, you came to save me.”
“Right now, she is stuck in the illusion of George coming to save her. Quickly take her to the clients; they are waiting eagerly in the garden.” The Great Benefactor continued, “I’ll remember your contribution. Soon, I will reward you with two hundred gold coins and that Red Stone Plantation you’ve been talking about on the outskirts. The three hundred slaves inside will be yours for free, along with a carriage.”
The elderly maid’s muddy eyes brightened, and she felt excited. She had long wanted the Red Stone Plantation; it had fertile land and a vineyard that produced excellent wine, and it was ownerless. Many people hoped to ask the Great Benefactor for it, and even she had once said in front of Ji Ma that if she could be rewarded with that estate, she would be blissfully happy.
“Thank you! Thank you! The Great Benefactor is merciful!”
The elderly maid bowed in respect. When she raised her head, she found that the Great Benefactor had already left.
At that moment, another young maid with long red hair asked, “Old maid, what’s wrong? Why aren’t you taking her back quickly?”
The elderly maid turned her head and admonished, “Didn’t you hear what the Great Benefactor said?”
“What did he say?”
The elderly maid felt that the other was jealous of her, pretending to be deaf. She raised her voice, “The Great Benefactor said to take her to the garden.”
“But—”
The elderly maid interrupted loudly, “There is no but; have you gone deaf!”
After that, she grabbed the already dazed demon Ji Ma’s hand and hurried back. The young red-haired maid was puzzled for a moment but quickly followed without saying anything.
The elderly maid couldn’t help but begin to fantasize about her later years. In the courtyard of the estate, like a noble old lady, wearing a black lace hat, sitting in a rocking chair, with a bottle of homemade wine on the round table beside her. Watching the green wheat fields in the distance, the serfs bent over to work, she would pick up a silver cup, chatting leisurely with guests while sipping slowly.
How beautiful! The elderly maid felt increasingly good, even feeling light as she climbed the stairs.
She pulled Ji Ma up to the deck. Glancing around, indeed, there was no trace of the paladin who would take away her beautiful old age; the railing on the ship’s side was intact, without a single gap.
The three walked up the stairs leading to the ship’s garden; for some reason, there were many people. The elderly maid was bumped several times; honestly, these brutes had no manners, even after the fight, they were still so crowded.
Finally, they reached the entrance to the reception hall. Two guarding soldiers stopped her, asking, “What do you want?”
These soldiers must have drunk and forgotten what the Great Benefactor had ordered.
The elderly maid said firmly, “The Great Benefactor ordered me to bring the girl here; open the door quickly.”
The soldiers opened the door. The reception hall was only one door away from the garden.
“Wait here.” The elderly maid ordered the young red-haired maid, tugging at the dazed Ji Ma, and walked toward the garden.
Upon opening the door, indeed, the esteemed guests were gathered around a long table, smiling, discussing, celebrating, toasting, and talking about topics the elderly maid couldn’t comprehend.
The Mediterranean wizard stood by the table; his sparse hair surrounded his head, exposing a shiny bald spot, looking at the elderly maid and saying, “You finally came, quickly, where’s a dagger for the girl? We need to hold the ceremony; I forgot mine.”
The elderly maid always carried a sharp dagger for self-defense. Normally, she wouldn’t easily take it out or tell others. But now, eager to quickly receive her reward, she pulled out a dagger about the size of her palm from her bosom and handed it to the dazed Ji Ma.
Ji Ma took the dagger and stared blankly at the elderly maid.
The Mediterranean wizard said, “Crouch down and pull down your collar with both hands. Yes, expose your neck. Hurry up, this is a necessary part of the magical ceremony.”
The elderly maid felt that magic was indeed strange, but obediently crouched down and pulled down her collar. Ji Ma held the dagger, her eyes darting, and she said, “Fool!”
Before the elderly maid could react, Ji Ma wielded the dagger and forcefully slashed across the elderly maid’s neck, taking a few steps back immediately. The elderly maid only felt a chill at her neck, unable to believe it as she touched her neck, her fingers wet. She felt a deep wound, followed by severe pain; she opened her mouth, her throat letting out a wheezing sound.
The demon Ji Ma had actually killed her.
The elderly maid turned her head toward the Mediterranean wizard for help, only to find the once-occupied long table now empty, with the Mediterranean wizard also gone. At that moment, the comforting calm of the flower boat suddenly vanished, and sounds of fighting and shouting surfaced.
Her eyes widened, feeling the life ebbing away with the blood:
“What… is… happening?”
Ji Ma maintained a three-step distance, whispering clearly, “I can pull people into dreams; how was the beautiful dream just now? Considering your old and failing mind, let me put it simply: everything you just saw and heard was fake. I made it all up. Really foolish, there were so many flaws, and you didn’t see them.”
The elderly maid glared at Ji Ma, and although her neck was cut with a large gash, the aged body suddenly burst with strength, reaching for Ji Ma.
But Ji Ma maintained her distance. She lightly dodged the elderly maid’s lunge, plunged the dagger into the elderly maid’s belly, and whispered in her ear, “When I slit your throat, I deliberately avoided the arteries so that you could die in clarity and pain.” After saying that, she twisted the dagger, and the elderly maid let out a muffled groan. “Die.”
With that, Ji Ma pushed the elderly maid away, leaving her on the ground to await death, and opened her personal information panel, deleting the elderly maid’s little black book. When people die, enmities vanish; Ji Ma always believed she was quite magnanimous.
When George came to save her, Ji Ma had already planned how to escape. She was not a frail princess who placed all her hopes on George’s rescue. The important thing was that if she did nothing and waited for George to save her, the extraordinary items taken from her treasury would very likely say goodbye to her.
Ji Ma ran to the tree described by the Shadow King Arcanis, brushing aside the grass, she dug with the dagger. After just a single dig, she hit something hard. Ji Ma hastily dug out a horn filled with blood, sealed tightly with leather, and a golden ring. She put on the ring, and as she stood up, footsteps approached from the reception hall, followed by the soldiers’ screams and the sound of the door being kicked open.
Someone was coming.
Ji Ma, like a thief, quickly tried to hide the “blood horn cup.” She checked herself and found that her pure white dancing dress had no pockets to hide things. She placed the horn cup at the bottom of her dress and used her agile tail to tie it around her thigh, then immediately hid behind the tree.
The colorful glass door was kicked open with such force that the door panels flew off.
“Ji Ma? Ji Ma!”
It was George’s voice. Ji Ma peeked from behind the tree and saw George, whose silver armor was stained with blood. Overjoyed, she shouted, “George, you came to save me!”
“It’s me.”
George rushed towards Ji Ma, and Ji Ma couldn’t help but get teary-eyed; she ran towards him and leaped into his arms, her white dress soaking up the blood on his armor as she said, “You finally came.”
“Yes, I came.”
George set Ji Ma down.
Ji Ma noticed that one piece of his arm guard was missing and asked, “Are you okay?”
“I sustained a minor injury,” George said, handing his sword to Ji Ma, “Hold on to the sword; we need to escape.”
Ji Ma clutched the sword just like before. George raised his hand and summoned a celestial warhorse. Behind them, the pursuers arrived; he quickly scooped Ji Ma into a princess carry, and as she called out, George mounted the warhorse, which leaped off the ship and onto the water’s surface.
