VIP Chapter 402: Please Give Me a Score (3k)
“Open your eyes wide, use your brain, and think with your heart –”
“Now, who is it that wants to return to the past even more, wants to struggle out of the mire even more, wants to stand in this world again even more, and needs a spiritual pillar even more…”
“Who… is it?”
It was like thunder in his ears.
“So, do you understand?”
Iaar’s eyes widened, and Will could feel her slowly contemplating.
“Iaar, Iaar seems to understand… a little…”
She answered with some hesitation.
Her hesitant response reminded Will of her usual “confusion” when he used to teach her “Blackening 300 Questions.” It seemed like she understood in the end, but not completely.
“It’s okay. We have a lot of time… I have nowhere to go right now, and for a very, very long time, it will just be the two of us.”
“Miss Liya, she…”
“She has her own things to do.”
Will wasn’t lying to Iaar.
Since “Ya’er’s” whereabouts were also of great importance to the witch, Liya herself had to investigate where Ya’er was.
She should have gone to the Dungeon of The End Ash first, to learn enough about the BOSS there – especially the Fire Dragon Emperor.
“A very, very long time?”
Then, as if after a long period of thought, she slowly spoke:
“Okay, Young Master… Iaar… understands. Although, Iaar might not be able to hand in the correct answer, but…”
She smiled a little shyly.
“Iaar will give the answer Iaar thinks is correct, just like before, for Young Master to ‘grade’.”
“…”
Listening to Iaar’s calm words, Will suddenly felt that wearing sunglasses might not have been a “good idea” because while Iaar couldn’t observe his eyes to gauge his emotions, it also meant…
He couldn’t just judge what she was thinking from her voice.
After all, Iaar was someone who wore all her emotions and thoughts on her face. If he could see her expression, it might be easier to understand her.
She licked her lips and swallowed, as if to suppress the nausea and the coppery taste of blood.
“Regardless, let’s get up first. I have your wheelchair ready, Iaar. Lunch – well, it’s already lunchtime. Breakfast is cold, so let’s just have lunch.”
“…” Will sat up, leaning on the bed. Listening to Iaar’s explanation, he was a little at a loss. “Okay.”
Noon.
“Today’s meal is a very healthy vegetable salad, which Young Master has always wanted Iaar to eat.”
Through the dark sunglasses, he could vaguely see green things on the plate, though not clearly.
From his perspective, the contents of the bowl looked like an unidentifiable mass.
“Young Master, open your mouth. Here –”
Iaar certainly wouldn’t let him do it himself. She had already picked up a fork, twirled some of the contents, and brought it to his mouth.
She didn’t force-feed him but held it by his lips, letting him eat it himself.
He hesitated but then opened his mouth and put the mass in, chewing.
He immediately tasted its quality. The cabbage and lettuce were washed very clean and were fresh. Rolled inside were even cherry tomatoes and roasted small bread.
He hadn’t tasted a lunch made by Iaar for a long time. In his memory, Iaar had always been a maid better at making “cooked food” and “pastries.”
This wasn’t surprising. In this era, excellent cooked food and pastries were for nobles to enjoy, so they were always present on noble tables.
It was he, who brought some strange “healthy foods” from the “modern era,” who seemed more out of place…
“How is it? Actually, Iaar has been eating like this for a long time.”
As she chatted, she twirled more vegetables on her fork and fed them to Will again.
“Because, after listening to Young Master, eating like this makes me stronger. It seems to have some effect…”
Will wasn’t surprised by Iaar’s change.
When he decided to “temporarily die,” he had anticipated what changes everyone would make and what they would become after his death.
Now he saw it. Iaar was… the excessively obedient child who would persist in moving forward even if he wasn’t there.
“It tastes good,” Will said with a relieved smile. “But it doesn’t make one happier…”
“What do you want to eat? Iaar can make anything for you!”
As Iaar spoke, she twirled her fork and put a large piece of vegetable into her own mouth, eating it with relish.
“Iaar has money now! Although I don’t know why, but every time I complete a mission, I receive lots and lots of money. It’s so much more than the pocket money I received when I worked at the Hysterm Family…”
She spoke excitedly, and just listening, Will could imagine her tail wagging.
“Uh… maybe… beef? Something more expensive, like salmon or seafood…”
These were things Will often tasted when he was still a “Young Master.”
But after his “death,” they had become luxuries. He could only get a taste of them occasionally by defeating monsters in the dungeon, and then licking their corpses.
“No problem!”
Afternoon.
Will began to ponder what Iaar truly wanted to do.
Especially…
When she placed a cup of steaming black tea in front of him that afternoon – the timing was precise, exactly the same as when she served black tea at the Hysterm Family before.
“Please enjoy.”
“…Okay.”
Likewise, Iaar raised the cup and brought it to Will’s lips, letting him take a shallow sip.
Just with that first sip, Will was reminded of the past.
There was no change at all, whether it was the temperature or the taste, whether it was the sensation on his tongue or the aftertaste, it was exactly the same.
Identical to the black tea he drank every afternoon at the Hysterm Family, which the head maid considered perfect.
He found it hard to imagine how many cups of black tea Iaar, with her poor memory, who only relied on repeated practice and repetition to remember things, had brewed alone in the past few months to ensure that her next cup would be exactly the same.
“How is it? Is it Young Master’s favorite flavor? Is it the same as before?”
“Mm. It’s indeed the same as before…”
Will recalled the very beginning. This was just an “experiment” of his. An experiment to see if their “fate” could be changed without altering their own abilities.
He didn’t like drinking tea. It was like that in his previous life. Even when his colleagues invited him for milk tea, he would refuse and order a coffee for himself to cope with potentially working until midnight.
But…
As he needed to taste Iaar’s black tea over and over again, and to detect Iaar’s progress within it, he seemed to have started liking black tea.
“The weather is good today. Outside the window… hmm, is that dog from the next house over again? Young Master should be able to hear its barks too?”
From outside the window she had opened, Will could indeed hear a few barks. It had the tranquility of a rural life. Especially since these barks were so clear, suggesting they might be from a very young puppy.
“…Iaar, can you understand what it’s saying?”
“Eh?”
Will discovered…
It seemed Iaar had indeed given him an experience of “returning to the past.” Although his injuries were all an “act,” there were moments when, like Iaar, he had returned to his most cherished “past.”
In the past, on an afternoon in the garden, he would indeed ask such questions.
“Hmm… perhaps, when I was very, very young, I could understand it?”
“You could actually understand it…”
“But, in order to learn human language, gradually, these long sounds like ‘ao’… and these short sounds like ‘wu,’ I could no longer distinguish them well, and eventually, I couldn’t understand them anymore.”
Iaar earnestly imitated the sounds of barking she usually heard – it even sounded a bit like a wolf’s howl.
“I’m sorry, Iaar is a wolf after all. Imitating dogs might not be accurate, right?”
“Actually, the dogs we see now were domesticated from wolves in the first place. Even… in some aspects, they can be considered the same species?”
“Is… is that true?!”
“…You didn’t know that? No… did I never properly tell you?”
More than whether Iaar knew, Will first doubted if he had ever told her. He believed Iaar would definitely remember every word he spoke.
“I see… so, when Young Master always said ‘let you be my dog,’ it meant… taming Iaar, who is a wolf, the meaning…?”
“Uh…”
Will never expected Iaar to remember that sentence so well. It was originally just something he… said a little impulsively.
“Ah, it’s time for dinner. I did see fish at the market, but Iaar isn’t very good at preparing it, so Young Master, be careful of the bones when you eat!”
Evening.
The fish Iaar chose was indeed a bit bony, but under her preparation, it was very delicious.
However…
Will was still contemplating whether what Iaar had done today was truly the “answer sheet” she was handing in.
If… if she still wanted to spend every day like this, he might need to give her a little “hint” that she had something she needed to do.
“Young Master, if you want to take care of your health, you should sleep early tonight.”
Iaar carried him to the bed and knelt in front of him, speaking thus.
“…”
Will remained silent.
“…”
And so, Iaar didn’t leave, standing there obediently.
“Young Master, can you give Iaar a score for today?”
After asking, she carefully sat on the bed, next to Will, opened her palm, and placed Will’s hand in hers.
“The score can be written down. Although Young Master cannot pick up a pen to correct a number like before, you… can write the number here.”
