VIP Chapter 405: Almost Stepped Into The Past (3k)
Ia’s eyes lingered on Will’s fingers, which traced the worn, creased corner of the book. A faint shadow fell on the page under the sunlight.
His fingers were calloused and bore some scars, yet to Ia, they still appeared as slender as before.
A sudden urge, a desire to lick them gently, surfaced.
She found herself worrying. If it were the Young Master, he could likely discern the creases on the page, perhaps realizing the book was old and worn from her constant handling.
Ia was incredibly, exceedingly, terrifyingly afraid of the Young Master after his return. She felt he had become particularly distant.
Perhaps, as he himself had said, he desperately needed someone’s “salvation” to pull him out of his current state of “helplessness.”
But…
Ia clenched her fist.
Even though she had promised the Young Master that he would be the one to defeat the Fire Dragon in the end, in reality…
She might not possess such “confidence.”
In that battle, none of the combat knowledge and skills she had learned from Will could be applied. The opponent could not only read them, the Adventurers, but also employed similar strategies.
She had never encountered a Dungeon monster like this before…
“The corners of the book pages have been folded like this repeatedly…”
—As expected, he spoke!
“Ah… Um, I’m sorry, does the Young Master find this book too old? Should Ia re-copy it? It won’t take long to copy, Ia can do it right away…”
“No.” Ia heard a hint of relief in his tone. “I just meant, you’ve really read this book many, many times. It’s quite unexpected.”
“Yes. Because the mission the Young Master left for Ia clearly stated to continue learning, so Ia studies it very, very, very diligently every day.”
She found a chair, pulled it closer, and sat beside Will, deliberately leaning towards him.
Because…
This position was more akin to the afternoons when the Young Master used to teach her, perhaps it would bring back some memories.
Memories of when, in Ia’s eyes, he was once omnipotent.
“It’s just a shame. Ia hasn’t been able to truly understand this book since the Young Master left.”
“Really?”
“The Young Master once said that Ancient Magic books require comprehension, not rote memorization like ‘Blackening 300 Questions.’ Ia used to think that if memorizing ‘Blackening 300 Questions’ led to comprehension, then perhaps this book was the same?”
“So, you tried to memorize this book?” Will’s tone was tinged with disbelief. “Most of the content in Ancient Magic books are merely tedious experimental results. These books… compared to magic that can be used just by looking at it, they are more like ‘treatises’ pieced together by teachers from their theses in school.”
“Is that so? I haven’t read treatises, but ‘Ice Array (Attack)’ does feel like that. As expected, the Young Master knows more.”
“That’s why it requires comprehension. And… Ancient Magic is theoretically translated from garbled code…”
Will paused, intending to say something else, then stopped.
“Never mind. So, did you memorize it?”
“…I really couldn’t memorize it. Ia also tried rote memorization; if I just kept reading, it would imprint in my mind, but in reality, every time I reached this page, it felt like it wouldn’t enter my brain at all…”
“Wouldn’t enter your brain?”
Will flipped a finger, turning the book over to the front. He stroked the cover.
Ia recognized this gesture; it was a habit of his, one she often saw.
“When I woke up the next day, I had forgotten it—Ia even wondered if some magic had been cast on me.”
“…It’s not impossible. Considering the origins of Ancient Magic books, perhaps they inherently possess a side that doesn’t want to be understood…”
Ia could only see the side of Will’s sunglasses, the thick temples obstructing his eyes. It made Ia feel a little sad; she had thought that by sitting beside him at eye level, she would be able to see his eyes beneath the sunglasses.
However, even without seeing his eyes…
Ia’s gray eyes were filled with Will, reflecting only his profile.
She was like a dog, head raised, gazing at its master who was engrossed in work, waiting for a bone to be tossed.
“Ia really likes the Young Master at times like this.”
“Why all of a sudden…”
“Because the Young Master is thinking, and he possesses an extraordinary charm when contemplating questions Ia cannot understand.”
“You… you don’t have to praise me at a time like this…”
Ia suddenly “naturally” reached out her hand and clasped Will’s other hand, which was hanging loosely at his side.
“Ia?”
This was the moment Ia had been waiting for, the moment that would remind her—
Of a long, long time ago, standing in the garden, Will, with 300% patience, had placed ‘Blackening 300 Questions’ before her, even offering to teach her himself.
Now, she had learned.
Although she didn’t have black cloth on her hands, the Young Master, whose eyes were hidden by sunglasses, was much the same.
When he couldn’t see anything in front of him, without line of sight, he had no choice but to believe you. What you said in his ear, he could only choose to obey—
This was all she had learned.
Naturally, things Ia could do as the smiling, calm Ia—
“Young Master, if Ia reads it to you, will you teach Ia, just like before?”
She leaned close to Will’s ear and spoke.
“This is something Ia believes the current Young Master can do.”
“Without this step, we won’t be able to defeat that Fire Dragon.”
“…Right?”
“……”
Will listened to her words, turned his head, intentionally moving his ear away from Ia’s whisper.
But Ia noticed.
Will’s ears were slightly red, something she had never seen before. He even intentionally covered them with his palm.
“Probably…”
Ia inwardly applauded. She was delighted to find that Will hadn’t refused her.
She was foolish.
She truly didn’t know what to do when faced with such a distant Will, a Will less confident than she was now, a Will filled with problems and disabilities.
But…
She knew. She had always, always loved the Young Master of the past. She had always wanted to return to the time before anything began, the time that belonged only to the two of them—
As long as she did this… the Young Master would surely return to his old self…
“For example, ‘Ice Array (Attack)’ is indeed a ‘military text,’ just as the Young Master said…”
Ia smoothly took his hand. The Half-Beastman’s hand was slightly warmer, especially in the sunlight. Ia felt his fingertips were a little cold.
She guided Will’s fingers upwards, to the very top of the book. As if treating him like a child just learning to read, she made his finger trace the words on the page, and then she read them aloud.
“The final formation should be a method to end everything before it begins.”
“There are no ancient guards, nor modern magic. Relying solely on the method you can conceive to best restrain the opponent—”
“The extreme of Sū Liè Wēn Biāo…”
“The extreme of Sū Kuò Líng Bīng…”
“The extreme of Sū Qīng Chéng Xīn…”
“None of this is coldness; it should be like the ordinary days of remembrance.”
The words were incredibly difficult to pronounce, but Ia read them all without any impediment, despite their complexity and obscurity.
After listening, Will shook his head.
“Did you remember something, Young Master?”
“I think I might have flipped through this content before. Hearing you read it, I do recall some things…”
“Really?” Ia leaned closer, pen already in hand, ready in her notebook for Will’s next words. “Then the Young Master must understand the meaning of this sentence! Indeed! Having the Young Master like this by my side is what can solve the problem that has troubled Ia for so many years…”
Following the method of ‘Ice Array (Attack)’…
Ia had actually learned defensive techniques far beyond what a normal Shield Saint could. Whether it was blocking, reflecting, controlling, or various other methods used to counter flying, running, or jumping BOSSes, she knew them all.
Her application of these techniques was also very close to the “military strategy” nature of ‘Ice Array (Attack)’. On the battlefield, Ia was more of a controller than a mere support using a shield.
Yet…
The final move seemed unrelated to all of this.
It wasn’t like the “military strategy” for the “battlefield” that Will had told her about before. It was more abstract, more like a description of a state of mind and a condition.
Even though Ia treated ‘Ice Array (Attack)’ as everyday practice, using it constantly, she hadn’t comprehended the meaning of the ultimate move through its increasingly frequent use.
“Did you remember something, Lin Méng Qì Ěr, Lín Sī Jiǔ, Jiǔ Qī Sì Ji Temple? Speaking of which, the meaning of ‘ice’ in ‘Ice Array (Attack)’ should be…”
Will’s words trailed off, and as he turned to say something to Ia…
He paused again.
Ia, however, clasped his hand in response, not letting him “escape” from her grasp.
“Speak, Young Master—tell Ia.”
“It’s… like before, isn’t it?”
“See, you, who leads Ia forward, have never… never changed…”
Ia felt it.
She was close to succeeding.
Will hadn’t “changed”; he would teach her, and she could still be the one who followed everything he had arranged, and everything would be fine.
She had managed to make everything the same as before.
The Will she wanted to “protect” was, in reality, the one holding the leash around her neck.
It appeared as though she was the one controlling Will, but in truth, she couldn’t accept that he didn’t “arrange” every single moment of her life.
“Give me orders, Young Master. Ia, what should I do?”
She saw that throughout the entire process…
Will was being guided, step by step, back into becoming the former Will.
The Will who truly treated her as a pet, and who, by simply being a good pet, could receive his caresses and affection—
Ia’s gaze grew distant. The Will before her seemed to have taken off his glasses, slowly, slowly detaching himself from his current self and transforming into the Will of the past.
Until—
Will realized something and quickly pulled his hand from her grasp.
“Hoo… hoo…”
Ia felt it. Her hand was very, very close to Will’s heart.
“Ia… I’m sorry, I… I can’t remember anything at all.”
