Chapter 3: The Waterball Spell
Translator: J_Squared Editor: J_Squared
"Michelle, when we’re done with this, let’s leave this place and go to Ferelden."
After having a moment of intimacy, they continued their journey.
But the atmosphere became entirely different. There was a lot of interaction between them, just like those between biological sisters, and no longer repressing any warmth for each other.
"Sure, I’ve been thinking of leaving here for a while." Michelle answered softly.
Of course the warmth was not applied to Kubei.
He was treated the same as before ---- ropes tied tightly to the point where his hands were numb, his legs were shivering from all the walking, and he had no right to talk. If he opened his mouth, the ever smiling Annie would probably whip him a couple of times.
The saddest thing was, he could only interact with the System.
"Here, try my homemade carrot shred fried noodles."
"This noodle, it’s so sweet it’s giving me a toothache..."
Kubei interrupted it: "Have you thought of a way for us to escape?
The System became quiet as a hen.
Kubei knew, he could not rely on this unreliable System. He asked the System the question just to silence it.
He continued talking to himself:
"We have to come up with a way, to direct the troops to us without letting Michelle noticing. I need to make sure she won’t be able to kill me in time..."
The System interrupted: "The success rates are too low. Why don’t you try seducing Michelle instead, the rates are at least twenty-five percent."
"..."
Kubei thought of this suggestion for a while, then finally said to the System: "Get lost."
The three continued to advance. Kubei followed Michelle, all the while acting as if he was about to die, which made Annie worry, but he was actually conscious of what he was doing and secretly plotting on how to escape.
Suddenly, he raised his head and looked at Michelle, then he came up with an idea.
"This will do for now, there’s no other way."
Annie was hurrying him to continue moving, and he seemed obedient as he stumbled his way through. Out of the blue, he stopped moving, and pretended to have passed out and fell to the ground.
He closed his eyes and did not move at all.
Michelle stopped walking and turned around. Annie went closer to inspect Kubei for a while, and shook her head:
"He fainted."
Michelle did not say anything at all, but lowered her head in deep thought. There was no way to tell what she was thinking.
"These nobles are all useless."
Annie was unsatisfied, so she gave Kubei a kick.
Kubei managed to resist the pain and tried not to flinch.
At the same time, he wrote the words ----"Treasury" with the back of his hand that was behind his back on the ground.
This was what Kubei thought of: He pretended to faint to leave a mark, so the troops would know what Michelle’s objective was. With this, they can probably wait in ambush at the treasury.
Due to his subtle movements, Annie and Michelle did not notice that he had left a mark on the ground.
"You really think this would be of help? Even if the troops noticed this marking and managed to catch up, Michelle would still have the time to kill you."
The System said this in his mind.
"It’s better than doing nothing at all," Kubei thought to himself.
In fact, if the troops managed to ambush them and kill Michelle in time, his chances of surviving were huge. The System’s attempt to discourage him was useless, seeing that Michelle was taking this rather seriously, the Lithur family probably were capable people.
He had high hopes for his plan.
Right when Kubei was done leaving the mark on the ground, suddenly he heard a strange, unknown speech.
It was Annie, she was reading an incantation. Her voice was different from her normal talking voice. These low pitched yet mysterious voices echoed through the jungle, and they seemed to contain magical power, it made Kubei panic.
He could feel that even his soul trembled.
Before he had time to respond, suddenly, a waterball appeared out of thin air, soaking him straight away. The sudden force made him unable to continue pretending.
Following the shivering of his body, he "woke" up.
"How troublesome, wasting my magical force." Annie said, her voice now returned to normal.
Kubei was left in a state of shock.
What was that? A curse? Magic?
Even though from the previous conversations, Kubei had already learnt of the setting of this world, and understood that Michelle and Annie were both mages, but he had yet to witness a mage’s magical force himself.
The moment the spell was casted, it felt like his world went upside down.
Time seemed to have stopped. The surrounding muddy ground and trees appeared to fade away. The fear and excitement in his soul interweaved, everything around and within him seemed to be…...to be...
Kubei could not describe the sensation.
"To be more natural." The system suddenly said.
Right, to be more natural!
Kubei seemed to be abuzz. The moment the spell appeared, he felt that he just had a conversation with his true self.
The kind of feeling that felt like it was his first time, but it was even more memorable than his first time. It was like he was in a state of trance, but it was like pain from the endless abyss as well, making him unable to shake the feeling.
His body could not stop shivering.
"This…...is magic?"
Kubei could not resist from speaking out.
He wanted more.
In that moment, he was remembering the lingering sounds from the spell.
"Yes, magic."
What was more surprising was that Annie answered him.
As if she was deeply hurt, she raised her eyes and spoke with a voice filled with hatred:
"What’s so unusual? You and your kind don’t even understand magic and would rather bury it in a coffin deep in the soil. How could you ever comprehend it?
Kubei regained his consciousness, then looked at Annie with curiosity.
It was as if something got Annie emotional as her speech filled hatred came out one after another:
"You are all weak, you are all scared of what’s different from you. Your kind will only rest when everyone becomes as useless as the rest of you. You’re all shameless, and wear evil as a hat, making it seem as if you were geniuses. Being normal is just an excuse for you to commit sins."
Annie became agitated even further.
"Annie, that’s enough!"
Michelle interrupted her: "What’s the use of you saying all these to him?"
Annie stopped for a while, and stopped her harsh words. She was aware the she had lost control of herself, then looked at Michelle:
"Sorry, I became too emotional."
Michelle nodded and did not seem to mind.
"We’ve wasted enough time. Don’t forget, we’re wanted criminals by the Church now." She stared at Kubei then said hurriedly: "Let’s move."
Annie nodded in agreement. She turned around, gave Kubei a kick, then made him stand up quickly.
"Useless thing, keep up!"
Kubei was not angry at all. He did not react to her rambling at all. He only seemed to be a bit weaker than before, and followed Michelle obediently.
No one knew how happy he was.
"One more time! One more time!"
He screamed at the System in his mind.
Half an hour ago, he did not know that such a cold robotic voice could get him so excited. He did not expect that he would be eager to hear the System’s voice and not to stay quiet.
The usually talkative System seemed to shy away instead, after seemingly half a day, it only said a single sentence.
A single sentence, that Kubei could not understand a word of.
But that did not matter, because this was Annie’s Waterball spell.
The System recorded every word of it as it was uttered by Annie.
This also meant that he could listen to this spell anytime he wanted now!
When this spell was broadcasted by the System, it sounded like a madman rambling, it did not have the mysterious and magical sensation it had before. But Kubei did not mind, he knew he needed something else to turn this into an actual spell, giving him extraordinary power.
He was determined to find that catalyst.
That’s right, from the moment he heard the spell, Kubei decided that he wanted to become a mage.
Not only because he wanted power, he wanted to become a legendary figure.
From the moment he was teleported up till now, he had been thinking why had he teleported? Why was he brought here? Maybe this was a coincidence, but coincidences always have a purpose.
Right now, he felt like he had found the answer.
Magic was calling to him.
He had not escaped from the ordinary life he had, travelling through time and space in order to get here, only to once more become an insignificant gear amongst thousands and million others toiling along in the factory of life.
Like a butterfly fluttering its wings for the first time, Kubei felt like he had just left his cocoon and found purpose.
Right now, all he could do was focus on this spell.
"You can repeat this spell the whole day. I won’t ask you to keep quiet anymore."
Kubei was filled with excitement as he said this.
"...Sir, I believe you’ve contracted Stockholm Syndrome."
The robotic voice seemed to contain some sort of helplessness.
Right when Kubei was trying to figure out the spell, something else was broiling in another part of the world.
Havenwright, under the evening sky, was quiet and solemn.
Saint Peter’s cathedral.
Hurried footsteps could be heard between the white marble pillars, and these footsteps stopped in the corridors of the sanctuary. The sanctuary at night was empty, but it gave off the wrong impression that it was full with people.
"Bishop, there seems to be some change happening with ‘it’!"
A young priest stopped in his tracks and said anxiously.
"It’s been so many years already, every year ‘it’ will cause some sort of trouble, you don’t have to panic,"
The bishop replied nonchalantly.
His stood at the podium with his back facing the main entrance and his head lowered and flipped through a collection of books. His huge red robe was neatly ironed.
On both of his left and right sides, there were pure black chairs and white walls that seemed to match to a tee, with the crimson red in the middle, when merged together, it looked like a lively piece of art.
The moonlight shone through the stained glass, outlining every carving there was on the glass.
"Bishop, it’s not the same this time!" The young priest could not calm his nerves down, and continued: "Not only ‘it’, the sacred items are behaving unusually . Also, we received a holy revelation!"
Drips of sweat flow through his forehead.
The bishop finally turned around. He had an aquiline nose and a sharp stare that came from his deep eye sockets.
"Has the revelation been translated?"
The young priest nodded, his eyes revealed not just anxiety but also fear,
"Translations have been completed."
The bishop did not sound angry at all, "Tell me, what is it?"
The priest swallowed some saliva, his Adam’s apple moved up and downwards again.
He opened his mouth, and tried to calm himself down, but got scared by his own terrifying voice. His voice was frighteningly hoarse as if he was as dehydrated as the pagans that were not allowed to drink water in the rehabilitation centre.
These were the words he repeated,
"God said, on the seventh day, the bells stopped ringing."