Good Feelings and Goodbye
“You and I are of the same type, and I had the ability to save you. How could I just leave you?” Leylin spoke in a righteous tone.
“Fool,” the snake girl snorted coldly, but it pleased Leylin inwardly to notice her gaze softening considerably. She continued in a gloomy voice, “Mixed bloods like you are actually very rare.”
Listening to Leylin’s words, the snake girl immediately became uncommunicative. Her expression grew so damp it seemed like she could drip water. Leylin secretly nodded to himself as he saw this scene, ‘I wasn’t wrong. A half-breed will always suffer discrimination, no matter what world you live in.’
Leylin understood from the snake girl’s bitter expression that she had suffered a lot. However, she was still able to show incomparable concern for those who were similar to her. He took advantage of this ‘misery loves company’ attitude to gain her full trust.
“Oh, that’s right, I still don’t know your name.” Leylin smiled sunnily at her.
“Belinda. Yours?” Belinda stared at Leylin, focussing especially on his facial scales. Her eyes grew dreamy.
“My name is Nick, my lovely lady!” Just this little praise caused Belinda to flush, showing her lack of experience in dealing with others.
“So, Belinda, what do you intend to do next? And what was that at the port? Why were you attacked?” Leylin asked her as if he had no idea about what had happened. He acted as if he wasn’t the one who spread information on her.
“Nothing, just the final struggle of a group of Beholders.” The mention of the earlier incident caused Belinda’s expression to turn cold. It was evident that she felt extremely resentful.
Leylin understood her feelings. After all, her organization hadn’t planned to act against Port Elias. At most, their plan was to turn the port into a hub and use it to smuggle some goods. Thus, it was normal to feel resentful when their plans went down the drain.
“Nick, I have a question” Belinda looked at Leylin with a solemn expression, “Are you a follower of the Snake Dowager or a part of the Beholder crowd? Or do you believe in other dignitaries?”
Identifying which dignitary you followed was an extremely serious matter in the Purgatory World. The hostility between opposing factions often led to battles to the death.
“I am a wanderer. I have yet to choose an Exemplary” Leylin naturally caught the hidden meaning behind these questions and answered without the slightest hesitation, “I am, however, more inclined towards the Matriarch. After all, she is our progenitor”.
The Matriarch! This was the title that the snake descendants, in the Purgatory World, mainly used to address the Snake Dowager.
“Since your belief is skewed towards the Matriarch, there is no risk of conflict between your belief and mine in the Beholders!”
Leylin expressed his understanding. It seemed as though the Snake Dowager and the Trial’s Eye made an alliance.
“I am under the command of the Trial’s Eye. I came to Port Elias to receive some resources to use in the rebellion against the powers of evil and chaos.” Belinda told Leylin of her origins. She explained the conflict between the Trial’s Eye and the Filthbird and went through the history of how civilization had developed in this world.
And in the Purgatory World, where the two Exemplaries’ original bodies were located was an endless conundrum.
There was no peace at all between the Sacrificers on both sides. Every time they met, there would be a fight to the death.
“No wonder you were attacked. Port Elias is the territory of the Nefarious Filthbird,” Leylin showed a shocked expression.
“The Port is a territory of the Chaotic power. There isn’t much hope for them!” Belinda saw Leylin’s expression and snorted coldly.
“Oh? What do you mean?” Leylin asked interestedly.
“I already reported what happened to my superiors. The organization will surely send support. The head of the organisation is, at the very least, a Rank 5 Sacrificer!”, a flash of gloominess appeared on Belinda’s face, “Port Elias dares to forcefully seize our goods and kill our members. This is the Hail Continent’s territorial waters. No matter how powerful Elias’ backer is, this place still belongs to us”. At this point, Belinda was very confident.
Port Elias had been sneakily founded through the Bird’s influence. It had not received approval from the Hail Continent’s Holy City nor the Snake Dowager. After all, the Snake Dowager had allied herself with the Trial’s Eye.
As a result, even if Belinda and her compatriots destroyed the entire port later, and even killed the Governor of Elias, nothing much could be done. The most Port Elias could do was to secretly order the arrest of Belinda and the others.
“A Rank 5 Sacrificer?” , Leylin was rather curious. He had seen the frightening abilities of a high-ranked Sacrificer from the Elias’ governor and witnessed the capacity to go through your limits without any bottlenecks.
‘This kind of high-ranked Sacrificer should be the favourite offering of hostile Exemplaries.’ Leylin stroked his chin as the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.
Since Leylin decided to practice in the Path of Offering and the Beast Spirit Magic, he gained some understanding of these two cultivation techniques. Although it wasn’t a lot, the information he got, the practical data and the A.I. Chips deductions allowed him to gain deep knowledge on the two systems.
In the Path of Offering, choosing an Exemplary was the most important step. It was also important to choose one whose doctrine aligned with your beliefs. Sacrificial rites were based on equivalent exchange; as long as an offering was made, power would be lent by the Exemplary you followed. But truly devout Sacrificers would be able to receive greater benefits.
Moreover, worshipping opposing Exemplaries was an incredibly stupid thing to do. Even if such a Sacrificer managed to not get targeted, his benefits would be greatly reduced.
‘As for myself, becoming a Snake Dowager or a Trial’s Eye Sacrificer would be courting death. The best option is the Nefarious Filthbird.’ Leylin thought to himself, ‘Furthermore, if I make a great sacrifice when I first communicate with the Exemplary, I should be able to reap great benefits. I might even receive the Unspeakable Baptism.’
Presumably, the Bird was enemies with the Trial’s Eye and the Snake Dowager. Consequently, it would be happy to see Leylin grow strong and break through the Snake Dowager’s seal.
The Bird was not an almighty Rank 9 so it couldn’t remove Leylin’s Allsnake Curse. But perhaps, it would be able to temporarily suppress the curse.
Leylin himself could only suppress the curse for 2 years, which was too short. Possibly extending the suppression time would become a great advantage.
Even though Leylin had gone through a great amount of thoughts, on the surface he only seemed to hesitate for a moment, “Belinda, you should be a high-ranked Sacrificer under the Trial’s Eye, right?”
“Yes, that’s right. I am already a peak Rank 3 Sacrificer and should be close to breaking through. Too bad I wasn’t able to finish this mission.” Belinda admitted it without the slightest hesitation.
“Why don’t you follow the almighty Matriarch? She is our benevolent and beautiful progenitor”, Leylin had an expression of incredible disbelief.
Although the Snake Dowager had allied herself with the Trial’s Eye, it was still considered a betrayal for a descendant to believe in a different Exemplary. If she ran into a more radical snake, it might try to eliminate Belinda, the ‘Disgrace of the Mother’.
“The Matriarch? It is true that she is everything to us but she is just too aloof and remote. We belong to the lowest rung of society so we only need fairness and justice. And the only one who can give us that is the God of Contracts.”
Belinda laughed coldly at some unknown thought and became excited. Her expression revealed that she was remembering an unbearable event of the past. It was probably the oppression she had once suffered from the purebloods, something she could never forget.
“As a mixed-blood, don’t tell me you have a good impression of those so-called ‘pureblood’ Alabaster Devilsnakes.” Belinda stated as a layer of translucent tears appeared on her eyes.
Leylin pretended to become silent in response.
“Well, let’s not speak of these unhappy memories! I have already issued the signal and reinforcements from the head of the Order will arrive very soon. You should leave!” Belinda exhaled a deep breath, glancing at Leylin.
“Alright.” the organisation was approaching and, since they had different beliefs, staying any longer would arouse suspicion.
Besides, he had made a lot of profit today. Not only had he eliminated hidden dangers, he had even established a good relationship with Belinda. In the future, he would arrange another ‘coincidental meeting’, so there were no problems at all.