Chapter 121: Chapter 125 Getting to Know Each Other
Nina’s focus seemed to be on a very subtle aspect, but for Sherry, this was a good thing.
She had, from the bottom of her heart, considered the seemingly innocent and ordinary girl before her a Subspace Shadow’s kin—and not just any kin but one akin to a favored daughter. The less negative impression she made in front of this kin, the higher her own chances of survival in front of the big boss would be.
But Nina was unaware of the myriad thoughts hidden beneath Sherry’s awkward and rigid smile. At the moment, the girl was surprised and a bit excited, for she had never been in such close contact with a real Transcendent (visits to the church didn’t count). Her understanding of these matters was limited to books, and in her eyes, Sherry, who seemed to use some “supernatural illusion” to sneak into school and investigate, was already shrouded in a mysterious and formidable aura.
She even momentarily forgot the slight “deceit” the other had played on her and turned all her attention to the extraordinary life and adventures of a Transcendent—though these adventures were mostly conjured up by her own imagination: “Where do you usually live? Do you have your own secret base or something? Or belong to a mysterious organization?
“Do you hide in caves? Or places like sewers? Do you have a warehouse-like place to store various ritual items?
“Are you born with special abilities, or do you have some powerful Transcendent item? Are you one of those legendary ‘Arcane Mages’? I’ve heard of this ancient profession. Arcane Mages can cast Spells without relying on any gods, and they say their power comes from their bloodline…
“What do you normally eat? Do you have to drink herbal concoctions or the strange blood of animals often? Huh? You eat normal food? Really?”
Nina’s questions poured out one after the other, nonstop, and Sherry broke out into a cold sweat while trying to cope—Not because she couldn’t answer the questions, but because Duncan was beside them!
Since the beginning of their conversation, Duncan had been silently observing Sherry, with a smile that was warm and friendly—as if he were a parent accommodating a child’s classmate who came to visit.
Simple, friendly, harmless.
But at his smallest smile, Sherry would break into a sweat.
“You seem to be quite afraid of my uncle,” even with Nina’s slow reactions, she couldn’t help but notice Sherry’s odd behavior. Coupled with her recall of the other’s reactions back at the museum, she couldn’t resist asking, “What… exactly happened between you two?”
“Nothing… nothing at all! Really!” Sherry nearly jumped to sit upright, flailing her hands, “I… what could possibly happen between me and your uncle? I’m just a child…”
Upon hearing this, Duncan felt something was off. He knew he couldn’t let the two girls go on freely any longer and hastily, before Sherry could blurt out more nonsense, he coughed lightly to interrupt her: “Actually, it’s nothing. She was just caught by me fare-dodging once.”
“Just for that?” Nina looked at Sherry in surprise, “That shouldn’t leave such a big impression… But Uncle’s right. Dodging fares isn’t good.”
Tears were nearly falling from Sherry’s eyes: “I really won’t dodge fares again, is that enough?!”
Nina nodded and then, as if she remembered something, she looked seriously at Sherry: “Then… can you tell me what exactly you’re investigating? Is being friends with me also part of your ‘investigation’?”
Sherry’s body stiffened, her eyes started to drift to the side, but halfway through, they met Duncan’s calm gaze.
“I’m investigating the fire from eleven years ago,” Sherry suddenly lowered her head slightly, as if she had suddenly understood something or simply given up, her voice low, “The one the official records mention, the leak at the factory in District Six…”
“The fire from eleven years ago?” Nina immediately widened her eyes, her tone carrying shock, “Wait… you know about the fire from eleven years ago?!”
“…You know about it too?!” Sherry seemed equally surprised, standing up from her chair, “You also experienced that fire?”
“Of course, I know. My parents died in that fire—I was six years old then, and it was Uncle Duncan who saved me,” Nina spoke rapidly, subconsciously gesturing with her hands, “But everyone has been saying that the toxic smoke in the streets confused me, they all deny there was such a fire. Even the newspapers later stated it was just an accident at a factory…”
“That year… I was also six years old. My parents died in that fire too, I remember it clearly,” Sherry looked straight into Nina’s eyes, “But people around me also told me there wasn’t any fire… No wonder, no wonder the Abyssal Hound said it smelled a familiar scent on you…”
As her words finished, Duncan’s voice suddenly came from the side: “So, it was the Abyssal Hound that guided you to approach Nina and infiltrate the school—and you didn’t know why you had to do it, which is why you were so surprised after hearing Nina’s words.”
Facing Duncan’s calm gaze, Sherry quickly nodded, while Nina showed a somewhat puzzled look, “A’Gou? Who is A’Gou?”
“A’Gou, it…” Sherry began, but hesitated the next second. She glanced at Duncan, then back at Sherry, “A’Gou is my friend, it’s right beside me, but its appearance might be a bit scary…”
Although Sherry said this, she felt extremely strange inside—because right there was a Subspace Shadow, countless times more frightening than A’Gou, sitting beside them, and this Subspace Shadow was constantly in Nina’s company. Yet Sherry had to comply with the “personal hobby” of a big shot, pretending that A’Gou was the scariest entity here and to regard the big shot as an ordinary human…
To be fair, she usually utilized A’Gou’s disguise capabilities to move around, had dealt with Heretics, City-State Sheriffs, and even the priests of local churches. But all those added up were still not as nerve-wracking as sitting in this antique shop for ten minutes.
To her eyes, this unremarkable shop was almost on the same level as a Subspace entrance.
Yet, Nina was merely looking around curiously, searching for “A’Gou” beside Sherry. She peered around for quite a while before curiously asking, “Then, could you let ‘A’Gou’ come out to meet me? Since it’s your friend… what do I have to be afraid of?”
Sherry still hesitated, but then Duncan suddenly tapped the table gently and said to Nina, “Then you should be mentally prepared. I’ve seen ‘A’Gou,’ and it’s really ugly.”
“…I’m even more curious now,” Nina became more intrigued upon seeing the reactions from Uncle Duncan and Sherry, “I really want to meet Mr. ‘A’Gou’ and find out why Sherry’s friend has such a strange name…”
“Alright then, since you wish to see it,” Duncan shook his head with a hint of resignation and looked toward Sherry, “let A’Gou come out to say hello, after all, it’s also a ‘guest’ today.”
Under normal circumstances, Sherry would never expose the secret of herself and A’Gou, because in the order of the City-State, associating with Profound Demons was an extremely taboo affair. The clerics of the Deep Sea Church could confront her with eight-pound cannons and six-barreled machine guns if they sensed even a hint of the Profound.
However, now, a being of the Subspace Shadow’s level was requesting her to summon A’Gou.
“…Oh.”
She nodded, and then slowly raised her arm.
The next second, to Nina’s astonishment and a touch of nervousness, pitch-black flames and thick smoke suddenly rose beside Sherry!
Chains extended from the flames, and at the end of the smoke and black fire, the figure of the Profound Demon took shape.
The Abyssal Hound appeared amidst the flames and quickly curled up into a ball in one second, using its front paws to hug its head, concealing its most frightening eye sockets, and greeted Nina from within a wisp of smoke with its muffled voice, “Good evening, miss. I am A’Gou, Sherry’s friend and guardian hound. My appearance does not conform to human mainstream aesthetics, but you can regard it through an abstract and generous view. Then I’m merely a pile of cleverly stacked bones and a clump of oddly colored flames…”
Duncan looked at Sherry indifferently, “To be honest, I’ve never seen a dog that’s so emotionally appealing in my life… and in terms of personality, it’s quite adorable.”
Nina, on the other hand, was dumbstruck. After staring at A’Gou for a long time, she finally let out an exclamation, “Ah!”
Sherry quickly interjected, “I told you, you might get scared…”
But before she could finish her sentence, she heard Nina continue after her exclamation, “That’s pretty amazing!”
Sherry: “…?”
“Hello… you there?” Taking advantage of Sherry’s momentary stupefaction, Nina had already begun tentatively greeting A’Gou, “Mr. A’Gou? Uh, are you a ‘sir’?”
“Profound Demons do not possess a gender, but if you wish, you can address me as such,” A’Gou replied in a muffled tone, seeming a bit surprised as well, “You… aren’t afraid of me?”
“Not really, even though it does look quite scary,” Nina pondered for a moment, her face breaking into a brilliant smile, “But I’m quite brave~”