Chapter 82 Chapter 83
The door was lightly knocked on.
Saint Jeanne quietly got out of bed, the room was dark and quiet, only the steady breathing of the dark-haired demoness across the room.
The darkness could not obscure Saint Jeanne’s gaze. She saw Jima smiling like a child. Jeanne felt a pang of envy; she had seen too many unfortunate and tragic patients during the day. In this increasingly desperate city, only the lively and mischievous Jima could still laugh happily.
Jeanne got up, put on her magic pendant, and quietly walked towards the door. She opened it to find George, freshly bathed, standing there with his great sword slung over his back, the cloth around the hilt completely soaked.
Even when he was bathing, he could not part with his sword.
George asked softly, “How is she?”
Saint Jeanne felt a sudden tightness in her heart. She worked hard to smile, not wanting George to notice, and said, “Yes, she had a beautiful dream and was smiling happily.”
“That’s good.” George said, and they walked side by side towards his room.
If only he cared about me a little.
This thought suddenly popped into Saint Jeanne’s mind. She recalled the desperate faces of patients from earlier in the day, and her heart ached. Relatives begged her to treat them, desperately trying to describe how their loved ones were in worse condition, how much good they had done in the past.
In short, there were a thousand reasons to cut in line and receive rescue early.
At first, Jeanne would patiently explain, but later she could only respond in silence.
The relatives could not take it anymore and screamed at her, only to be driven out by other family members who feared Jeanne would indeed give them preferential treatment.
“I heard today that a patient yelled at you? Even hit you?”
Saint Jeanne felt a warmth in her heart as she said, “It’s okay, it’s normal for people to act out of desperation; they could never hurt me. Although one person did shout, I treated thirty-nine others, and the rest were very grateful to me.”
George said, “I’ll have a few soldiers help you maintain order tomorrow. Although it’s normal, that doesn’t mean they can indiscriminately harm doctors and disrupt order. With the green skins attacking, there will be more injured, and a good order is essential.”
They reached George’s room, and the door closed.
Saint Jeanne immediately cast a spell, muttering incantations, raising her index finger, pointing to the sky.
A faint layer of film isolated the room. Suddenly, everything quieted down, and Saint Jeanne could hear George’s solid and powerful heartbeat.
The bitterness she felt before vanished, replaced by a kind of joy.
What am I jealous of? No matter how Jima is, she is the only one who is George’s legitimate wife, fighting alongside him against difficulties. Jima is merely a child, not even necessary to be included in serious and important discussions.
“Isn’t there still a teleportation scroll left?” Saint Jeanne said, “Give it to Jima; it’s too dangerous here.”
“You’re right.” George said, “The difficulty of this mission has exceeded expectations, and Jima’s abilities are not of much use. By the way, has there been a reply from the temple today?”
“No.” Jeanne replied, “There should have been a reply the day before yesterday.”
“According to the regulations, we can basically confirm that our means of communication have been intercepted. Dru has sent out fifteen messengers, none of whom have returned. Without support from the temple, I can’t put Dru on trial and can only watch him commit crimes every day.” George said, “Let Jima escape, let her seek help; she is good at running away.”
…
…
In the dream.
“My power is limitless! Hehehehehe!”
Jima’s manic laughter echoed over the castle. Below, swirling rumors in the yellow mist continuously fed lies and power into Jima’s body.
Although she didn’t know why the rumors in the city held such power, like an inexhaustible cash cow. But it felt good, so that was enough.
Filled up, the yellow mist of rumors stopped swirling, becoming far more wilted than before. Jima had no concept of sustainability; anyway, these rumors weren’t her biological daughter, simply something she did with the attitude of earning some extra cash.
Moreover, these attacking rumors were not strictly disseminated by Jima but were things she claimed as her own when the rumors showed signs of surfacing.
Jima landed on the castle, propping up her chin, feeling a strange happiness, like suddenly stumbling upon fifty million but not knowing how to spend it.
She cast her gaze outside the city; the green skin encampment was hazy, the ground dotted with balloons symbolizing dreams.
The green skins were just too numerous and cheap.
She wrote some novels to earn a bit of gold, but it caused a small side effect. These green skins actually embarked on a desperate chase because of a woman’s scream? And collaborated with the ribs they usually looked down upon.
This batch of green skins was no good, this time’s waghhhh should be nailed to the pillar of shame in green skin history.
“But what can I do?” Jima pondered, “What lies can take down this disgraceful group of green skins? Am I actually going to invoke the divine right of the second brother? Trick that bunch of dim-witted orcs… haha, forget it, I have no muscles, nor am I big enough to subdue this group of brawling green skins.”
For a moment, Jima felt that her profession was really lacking. With no destructive power, all her skill points were spent on causing trouble.
“… Copy the dance of Shalin City once? No, the green skins won’t be attracted to me; from a certain perspective, they are very loyal and pure. Other than brawling, they don’t want to do anything else.”
Suddenly, Jima had a flash of inspiration, clapping her hands.
“Although my output is effectively zero, I can trick others into outputting…”
She turned her gaze to the north, where at the distant Le’an Port, there was a group of energetic knights who loved to fight and kill.
“… guided by the goddess… heroic war.” A smile curled on her lips, “Although it may attract the attention of the lady of the lake, bringing those hot-blooded fools to fight the green skins seems justified… what I’m doing is just delivering a message, just adding a bit of special effects to it.”
Jima straightened up, raising her hand towards the seed of dreams in the direction of Le’an Port.
A force of attraction wrapped around her, soaring over the land as the earth below rapidly retreated, becoming blurred. When everything came into focus, Mr. Dongdong’s dream appeared before her, and Jima became excited, reaching into his dream and entering it.
In an instant.
Jima found herself in a terrifying nightmare.
In the center of Le’an Square, the Cupbearer, wearing a flower crown, was coldly watching Mr. Dongdong tied to the stake in the middle of the square, surrounded by knights.
Mr. Dongdong was tied up like a rice dumpling, with a fire burning beneath him, shouting:
“Goddess above! I’m being forced! I’m innocent, I was coerced, please spare me!”
The audience was agitated, throwing a barrage of rotten eggs and vegetables.
“Burn him!”
“Burn the devil’s lackey!”
“He scammed all our money!”
Jima shook her head and laughed, “Poor mortals, bound by morality, actually fear retribution.”
She became invisible and switched to a hoarse, heavy, yet authoritative male voice, which she internally named the Voice of the King.
“My cowardly servant, do you want to live?”
Mr. Dongdong trembled, momentarily speechless.
Ah, mortals are clearly intimidated by my imposing Voice of the King.
Mr. Dongdong shouted, “He, he spoke to me! That devil.”
The Cupbearer, holding a sword in one hand and a staff in the other, coldly gazed at Mr. Dongdong.
“Ridiculous mortal, since you made me laugh,” Jima said, “I will give you one more chance. Do you want to live? Do you understand the meaning of life?”
For a moment, this serious philosophical question left Mr. Dongdong dumbfounded.
But the fire below wouldn’t allow him to think too much. He shouted, “I want to live, Master!”
“Good.”
Suddenly, a bolt of lightning struck down from the sky, lighting up the entire earth.
Jima transformed into a three-meter tall, heavily armored figure with silver-white steel wings and a massive flaming sword. The armor was extremely heavy, round and plump.
“I come, I see, I conquer!”
With that, she swung her sword, and the Cupbearer serving the goddess was instantly engulfed in flames, turning to ash in the blink of an eye.
The knights were no exception, melting into molten steel. The onlooking crowd screamed in terror, running for their lives.
The fire beneath Mr. Dongdong disappeared, and he tumbled to the ground, kneeling before Jima, saying, “I, who am invincible in attack and undefeated in battle, am your servant, and your supreme power fills your servant with pride and trepidation. Even the goddess herself wouldn’t dare to appear before you.”
Jima said, “This is your dream.”
Mr. Dongdong paused, “Dream?”
Instantly regretting having spoken blasphemous words. Yet he had not expected that it was the devil who made him have this nightmare.
“This dream was created by you.” Jima said, “Some dreams are projections of the future; haha, when the time comes, you can choose again.”
Mr. Dongdong hurriedly exclaimed, “I am wholeheartedly devoted to you.”
Jima quietly laughed, did not respond, and asked, “Has the knight tournament ended?”
“It just ended today.” Mr. Dongdong, too afraid to look at Jima, shrank into her shadow, “Because there were particularly many knights participating, the count, in his joy, even offered the armor of his deceased son as an extra prize, so more knights showed up, and the tournament was delayed to today, one named Shan—”
Jima interrupted, “Have the knights left?”
“They held a grand banquet, drank five carts of wine, and even the steward just urgently bought thirty chickens and ducks from our trading firm.”
Such gluttons, they can eat and fight.
Jima asked, “Which direction are they headed?”
Fifteen minutes later.
Outside Le’an Port, the drunken knights, along with their attendants propping them up, made their way back to the tents by the forest.
Along the way, knights occasionally shouted for duels, and the group was soon embroiled in a brawl.
“This is really disgraceful.” Sam burped; he was propping up with three other knights.
The past few days of team battles during the day and reading competitions at night had deepened their bonds of camaraderie.
“Today, you fought really well.” Another knight said, “Your spear thrusts were very accurate.”
“With the goddess’s protection,” Sam replied, “but it would have been better if the prize was the author’s next book; that unscrupulous merchant refuses to reveal the author’s identity, it’s truly infuriating.”
The other knights echoed, “Damn it!”
“What about the tents? They’ve been gone for so long?”
At that moment, a gust of forest wind rustled the leaves. Sam and his party stopped in their tracks, only then realizing they had wandered into the woods.
Sam seemed to hear a faint voice in the wind, “…the goddess guides the knights in the forest to wage a heroic war, slaughtering the orcs; this couldn’t be more justified.”
He asked, “Did someone just say something?”
Another knight chuckled, “Are you thinking about women?”
Just then, a light suddenly illuminated before them; it was a lake, dotted with fireflies rising from the water’s surface. In the clear lake, a beautiful woman in a white robe with golden hair floated up, holding a golden holy cup in her hands, suspended above the water with her bare feet dipping into it, drifting towards them.
The knights instantly sobered up, drew their swords, and knelt half-heartedly, plunging their knightly swords into the ground before them.
“Goddess above!”
The “goddess” smiled, “A group of filthy green skins from the south is attacking the city; go forth, brave knights, raise your banners of heroism, and prove your valor.”
That night, many knights in their dreams saw themselves surrounded by green skins, with some claiming to have seen the goddess descend.
