Chapter 173 Chapter 171 Epilogue
The next morning.
The sound of the ship’s horn and the swaying bed awakened Ji Ma from her slumber early.
She curled up in bed, lazily stretched out, got up, yawned, and straightened her waist.
Next to her, George, who had just finished washing up, awkwardly looked at Ji Ma, slightly turned his head away, but seemingly thought of something and turned back, staring at Ji Ma’s chest.
Ji Ma looked down and noticed her thin clothing was slightly pushed up. Two noticeable points were particularly prominent, which felt rather alluring. They weren’t particularly large; Ji Ma preferred them big and full, and if they could produce milk, that would be even better, so her heart was not stirred in the slightest.
Wait, why was George staring?
Ji Ma raised her head, looking at George, her hazy golden eyes filled with confusion.
“Ahem.” George finally couldn’t help but avert his gaze, looking at Ji Ma’s face and saying, “I… thought you were going to have breakfast.”
“Oh, I remembered.” Ji Ma sniffed, inhaling the scent of peach blossoms, her tail poking out from under her skirt, playfully wrapping around her forearm. “I thought you only liked tails.”
When it came to discussing her preferences, George’s calmness and bravery in the face of wicked enemies vanished without a trace, and he said:
“Well… I don’t just like them.”
“I understand.”
Ji Ma smiled, picked up the brand new white stockings placed on the bedside, lifted her slender leg, and put them on.
George’s gaze momentarily fell on her firm calves outlined by the stockings, but he quickly turned his head away, heading toward his desk, displaying the quick reflexes one would need when facing an enemy’s sword.
“Don’t hide, okay?” Ji Ma had already opened up to showing herself, and she continued softly, “I’d like to enjoy a bit longer.”
Ji Ma’s gentle voice evoked a sense of wanting to help. However, this form of help itself brought about a moral shame of confronting one’s desires.
George turned his head, revealing a slightly flushed face, and said:
“I feel uncomfortable.”
As Ji Ma pulled the white stockings up to her thighs, she asked:
“Why?”
“Because it feels wrong to look so… openly.”
Ji Ma replied, “If you’re happy, I’m happy too. You’re not going to hurt anyone; what’s wrong with enjoying the pleasure that comes naturally?”
“It’s wrong,” George stiffened his face, “the feelings that arise in you are certainly nice, but they also give me a sense of guilt.”
“Tsk, poor you, born with morals suffocating your desires,” Ji Ma said, putting on another stocking. “Are these morals really necessary?”
“They are; indulgence disrupts order.”
“Give a specific and simple example.”
“I read a book that said there was a country that allowed the strong to publicly have multiple lovers. As a result, many strong individuals fought with each other over their lovers, leading to social chaos.”
“So the church allows multiple spouses for this reason?”
“We still advocate for monogamy.”
“Tsk.” Ji Ma said, “So you think that by looking at my stockings and the tops of my thighs, the law will be broken, and order will collapse?”
“Where there is one, there will be two. I’m worried that if this continues, I’ll be corrupted by you.”
“Wow, dear holy warrior, you are so smart, easily noticing this succubus’s malicious ambition to corrupt you.”
George recognized it as a lie.
“The word ‘corrupt’ is a bit strong; I admit it’s a bias. I just want to appreciate your beauty purely, yet still, this dirty desire arises.”
“Hmph, the so-called pure appreciation is merely a fig leaf to cover one’s desires, claiming to be nobler than others. I really want to strip away the facade of such people and see if they still have the heart to continue appreciating,” Ji Ma said dismissively. “By the way, are you tired?”
“Tired? Ever since I returned to platinum, my energy has been abundant.”
“No, I mean mentally.” Ji Ma said, “Aren’t you afraid of straining your nerves while always being ready for battle? Even the dullest hunter knows to string the bow before the hunt.”
George did not deny it. He said, “I’m afraid I’ll fall into darkness.”
“Unless the whole world’s prophets predict your fall and the church believes it too, immediately launching a global hunt at any cost against you.” Ji Ma said expressionlessly, “Besides this clichéd reverse psychology, I really can’t think of anything that would make you fall.”
“This concerns a secret of mine,” George said. “Teacher Gregory, while teaching me, secretly showed me many cases of holy warriors and heroes falling. I understand his concerns; if even I fell, the resulting harm would be greater than ten demon kings combined.”
Ji Ma’s facial muscles twitched slightly. After taking so many hits recently, she no longer had the mood to complain.
“It seems you bear the hopes of many.”
“Yes, I don’t want to disappoint others.” George said, “And I definitely don’t want to disappoint myself. I have been working hard and reflecting, and finally achieved a proud accomplishment today. However, this isn’t the end; I can continue on.”
“Then don’t wear yourself out. Sometimes it’s better to take a break amid busyness,” Ji Ma said with a mischievous smile, her pure face looked alluring, making George feel particularly drawn to her.
Ji Ma’s slender fingers pointed to her own face and said:
“Where can you find a succubus like me, basically harmless to you and good at enchanting hearts? It can both help you rest and improve your resistance to succubi, preventing you from still being single at thirty and being turned on the spot by a battle-hardened succubus with a mere seductive glance.”
George felt Ji Ma made a lot of sense; he gradually let go of his moral shackles and scrutinized her.
Ji Ma tilted her head at him, smirking, her tail coiling around her index finger, her cherry lips slightly pursed, gently licking the tip of her tail.
George appeared unusually calm, while Ji Ma took a deep breath, and the air was not fragrant.
A sense of frustration and self-doubt surfaced in Ji Ma’s heart.
Could it be that I’m being too vulgar in showing myself?
Ji Ma gritted her teeth, determined to make a bold move; she learned to stretch like a cat, lying on the bed, extending her back, raising her hips, her tail up, and comfortably squinting her eyes.
“I want to go out.”
Footsteps echoed.
Ji Ma raised her head and saw George hurriedly fleeing.
“Heh, loser, I’ve been through numerous mobile game establishments.”
Saying this, Ji Ma could no longer hold back, diving into the blanket, wrapping herself up, rolling over, tightly enclosing herself, covering her blushing, shy face with her hands.
She almost lost her composure just now.
After more than ten minutes, Ji Ma finally calmed down.
In the spacious captain’s cabin, she was alone. Ji Ma got up, locked the door, washed her face and hands, then reached into her well-hidden dimensional bag.
Dimensional bags, such good items, are very rare and generally have small spaces.
Ji Ma’s bag was used to store gold coins and some extremely precious items.
As her hand reached in, she found the space inside quite wide. Ji Ma shook her hand and touched some cold gold coins. This made her mood somewhat bleak. Originally, this little dimensional bag should have been packed with gold coins, and reaching in would give a pleasant sense of fullness.
But now, thanks to George and the need to buy materials for the “Deceiver” potion, she was broke and had huge expenses. Even though George returned three thousand gold coins, Ji Ma now only had…
Ji Ma emptied the contents of the dimensional bag onto the bed.
Dozens of shiny gold coins and a few silver coins appeared atop the red velvet blanket.
Ji Ma sadly counted them one by one, “Twenty-seven… twenty-eight… twenty-nine… damn, only twenty-nine left, and eight silver coins. Buying a bunch of potion materials is such a waste of money.”
To avoid leaking the potion formulas, Ji Ma intentionally bought four or five dozen rare alchemical materials.
Ji Ma sighed; she truly had no inheritance left, instantly returning to square one. She put all the gold coins into a pouch, tied it tightly, and placed it back into the dimensional bag.
She turned her gaze to the other precious items that had fallen out of the dimensional bag.
A black iron compass lay quietly on the blanket, its needle neither pointing south nor north.
Ji Ma lifted it with both hands, imagining the triangular, golden, shiny crown fragments. After the compass’s needle spun around a few times, it settled in the east, trembling slightly.
Ji Ma felt dizzy and suddenly released her hand, causing the black iron compass to drop back into the blanket.
This was the phenomenon of excessive magical energy consumption.
After resting her forehead for more than ten seconds, her lust slowly replenished the magic, allowing her to recover.
She looked at this black iron compass. This unremarkable object could help her find something she desired in her heart; the clearer the details of that object, the better the effect.
It was the key to obtaining the demon king’s crown fragments.
Having learned from Voldemort’s failure with his horcruxes, Ji Ma carefully sealed the fragments of the demon king’s crown and secretly tossed it into the ocean. Even she didn’t know where the fragments were washed ashore by the seawater.
If it weren’t for considering that she might need the demon king’s crown fragments in the future, she would have already thought of ways to shoot the fragments into space.
“At this stage, the consumption of this compass is not something I, a mere silver rookie, can manage. I need at least gold to barely use it, and it would still lower my combat power.”
“However, when I was weaker, the demon king’s crown fragments were useless to me anyway.”
“At this stage, the most important task is still leveling up. Next, I need to think of a way to deal with the church. It would be great if I could utilize the church’s power, but just pleasing George wouldn’t do much. I really don’t want to return to the church just to be half-constrained.”
Ji Ma suddenly had a flash of inspiration, “If I can fool the church’s faction detection system, as long as I’m deemed neutral or even good, the church would surely be ecstatic, thinking I’m the first succubus in history to be redeemable.”
“In that case, I could level up the Deceiver—killing two birds with one stone!”
With this decision made, Ji Ma felt that she should relax and have some fun in the near future.
For instance, playing with Saintess Jenna and giving George a taste of jealousy.
She chuckled and put the black iron compass away. Dressed in her outer clothes, she draped a small shawl over her prominent points, then put on a cloak and black little boots before stepping outside.
As soon as she opened the door, a cold wind blew in.
Ji Ma tightened her cloak and saw the sailors at the mast pulling ropes to lower the canvas. The sails billowed out, slowly departing from the harbor.
Ji Ma jogged to the back of the ship, watching Sandlin City gradually receding in the light of dawn. The nobility district was a charred ruin, particularly the great benefactor’s mansion, which was all blackened.
Ji Ma felt cheerful, lowered her hood, pulled her long black hair out of her cloak, allowing her waist-length hair to fall onto the cloak. She smiled and waved at the ruins of the great benefactor’s mansion.
Just then, a sailor who was looking at her accidentally fell from the mast, but fortunately, he landed on the deck, quickly grabbing a rope just in time, avoiding a potentially crippling fall.
“How does it feel?” George’s voice came from behind.
Ji Ma did not turn around, fearing she might be hurt by George’s height. “Very refreshing.”
George came beside her and said, “Finally, it’s all over.”
“Farewell, Sandlin City.”
A gust of sea breeze blew from behind her, scattering her glossy black hair, carrying her farewell toward the gradually disappearing Sandlin City.
————
The end of Volume One.
