“Relax, Ashe, it’s quick and won’t hurt at all.”
“Um, I, I trust you, Master. Ah! No, I mean, I trust Mr. Renji!” Ashe accidentally blurted out her words. The cat-girl’s face turned bright red with embarrassment, and she clenched her clothes tightly in her hands.
The few members of the Revolutionary Army sighed helplessly, with Jiu turning his head as if it was a lost cause.
The Dragon Lady glanced at Ashe; her face expressionless.
“Cough, then I’ll start,” Renji quickly steered the conversation back on track, placing his hand on the cat-girl’s head.
They had now returned with the six clans from the borderlines, and what Renji was doing was attempting to make Ashe the first demi-human to become a Shaman.
His other hand held the Shaman Inheritance Stone, with its complex and profound runic language. Ordinary demi-humans would need countless days and nights to study and comprehend it. However, as his own contractor, Ashe didn’t need these tedious steps, thanks to such an external cheat.
The inheritance stone in Renji’s hand began to glow, its runes lighting up one after another. They seemed to come to life, swirling around Renji’s body like a ring of knowledge. Finally, under Renji’s will, these runes flowed through his other hand into Ashe’s head.
Ashe, with her eyes tightly closed, felt a surge of arcane knowledge and voices in her mind. It was initially incomprehensible, but as the contract tattoo behind the cat-girl’s neck flickered, these profound runes began to change, suddenly making it all seem not so difficult to understand. Much of it was easily comprehended and firmly memorized in her mind, as if this knowledge had always belonged to her.
The entire process didn’t last long. While Ashe was still savoring the magical and mysterious knowledge in her mind, it was Renji’s voice that brought her back.
“How do you feel, Ashe? Any gains?” Renji could already see from the character panel that Ashe’s profession had changed to the “Special Ability” branch of Shaman, but he asked again for confirmation.
It’s also worth mentioning that Ashe was originally just a three-star character, just like Eileen. However, after Karl’s inheritance, the cat-girl jumped directly to four and a half stars.
“Um, yes, Mr. Renji, I feel like I have gained many abilities. Let me… let me try them out!”
The black-eared cat-girl nodded her head, quickly approaching a young sapling that had just sprouted a tender green bud from the soil. After taking a deep breath, Ashe closed her eyes, connecting with the newly acquired knowledge in her mind. To the amazement of the watching demi-human clans, a dark green light began to rise around Ashe, gathering towards the sapling like fireflies.
A surge of vibrant life force concentrated on the bud. In the blink of an eye, the sapling, which was originally only the size of a little finger, grew lush and mature, crazily growing to the height of Ashe’s chest before stopping.
After Ashe, Renji found six or seven demi-humans within the Revolutionary Army, which had now absorbed over a dozen clans, possessing the talent for the Shaman profession. However, Renji could only use “Divine Healing” to remove the bloodline curses from these demi-humans. Afterward, as a “Shaman Instructor,” Ashe would continue their training. Their abilities certainly couldn’t be as strong as Ashe’s, but as apprentices assisting her, they should temporarily be able to handle the clan’s food supply needs.
As night fell.
The forest under tonight’s sky was no longer repetitively dark and silent; it was unusually lively. Around each of the vigorously burning bonfires, demi-humans of various clans danced in circles. For the demi-humans, it was a celebration worth century, as they had rediscovered their ancestors’ powers. Even though the future was still a long and winding road, at least they could see the path under their feet, no longer struggling blindly in the dark.
“Old timer, tell me a bit about Nana – she isn’t, she couldn’t be like that Maria from before, right?” While everyone was eating and drinking, Eileen sneakily approached Renji.
The girl was lively and bouncing around just a day later. She was extremely curious about the Dragon Lady’s identity and even had a frightening guess. She leaned close to Renji’s ear and asked nervously:
“Nana, she’s not… like Maria, right?” After the duo’s wild journey through the Swamp, Eileen was thoroughly convinced and even suspected the Dragon Lady’s terrifying power. This suspicion, coupled with precedents in the Holy Kingdom, made her visibly nervous.
“Don’t worry, it’s different.” Renji shook his head. After all, Maria was Suthia’s substitute, while this Dragon Lady was the Empress’s true form, so of course, they were different.
“Phew! That’s a relief, then I’m reassured!” Eileen finally breathed a sigh of relief upon receiving Renji’s affirmative reply.
Afterward, the girl’s mind started to turn, and many dramatic scenarios she had seen before began to surface. ‘Perhaps Nana, also a dragonkin like the Empress, was a sidelined member of the Empress’s clan, expelled from the family due to being ostracized.’
‘Now, as part of the Revolutionary Army with them, Nana was planning to return, not for anything else but to reclaim what she lost from the Empress!’
The more Eileen thought about it, the more likely it seemed. So, she quickly came up with an excellent way to ingratiate herself with Nana.
She intentionally attracted everyone’s attention and then steered the conversation towards the future after their victory. Since they were already talking about the future post-victory, an inevitable topic would be:
“So, when we invade the imperial capital and dethrone that Empress, how should we deal with her?”
Eileen’s words took many by surprise. Due to the Empress’s notorious reputation, they had never considered dealing with her. Their idea of revolution was just to confront the Empress and persuade her to abdicate, not to “deal with” her. 𝑖𝘦.𝑐ℴ𝘮
“Hey, hey, hey, we haven’t even started the war yet. At least get your morale up! The Empress has done so many evils, don’t you want to punish her harshly? Get revenge on her! Humiliate her!” the girl coaxed.
“The Empress was just blinded by traitorous ministers.”
“Shut up, Daggo!” Eileen glared at the centaur.
Perhaps it was the effect of the fruit wine, but Shan, the bear-man, spoke up first: “I would like to see her fight without using her Miasma powers, just relying on combat skills!”
“Err, next, next, Ashe, what about you?”
“Ah, me? I… I hope we can make the Empress listen to our voices, just like that.”
“Err, Jiu, what about you?”
“Of course, we want the Empress to pay us! A lot of money, so we can have endless meat and wine, hehe… hehehe.”
Eileen: “Tsk”
‘Why are their conditions all so bland!?’
Just when Eileen felt this wasn’t enough to satisfy Nana, who was also listening, to her surprise, the next person to speak up was the usually calm and collected Nozomi.
Under the bonfire’s light, the fox lady said with a smile: “If it’s really possible, I’d like to tie up that Empress and whip her, let her taste the pain we suffered as slaves.”
The fox lady licked her lips, and Eileen’s eyes lit up. ‘Yes, yes, yes, that’s the kind of thrilling revenge I was looking for!’
Eileen immediately nudged her nearby maid, 86, with her elbow.
[According to the most popular training entries on the dark web, I would start by blindfolding her to block her vision, then place a gag in her mouth, and finally assist Miss Nozomi from the side with candle wax. As a prop prepared in advance by Miss Eileen] 86 also spoke more and more excitedly.
*Cough cough*
Eileen pretended to cough twice to ease the awkwardness, as the climax of the conversation was approaching. After asking around, she purposefully turned to Nova, who she had imagined in her mind as having a deep hatred for the Empress.
“Characters with such deep hatred, even if they don’t show it openly, must be delighted inside to hear their object of revenge being verbally punished like this, right?”
“Nana, what about you? It’s okay, just say anything, no need to hold back.”
The Dragon Lady calmly looked at Eileen, who was full of anticipation.
Then she stood up and turned around.
“Eh? Nana, where are you going?”
“I’m going to cook for you.” The Dragon Lady replied indifferently.
‘Cooking?’
Eileen was initially startled, but soon felt happy because, see, she wasn’t wrong. Nana must be secretly delighted; otherwise, why would she offer to cook for them as a reward? This must be a sign of satisfaction!
Unfortunately, the girl would probably think differently if she turned around and saw the cat-girl’s face turn pale with “fear” at the mention of the Dragon Lady cooking.
But it wouldn’t take long for everyone to realize this.
In less than ten minutes, the Dragon Lady returned, carrying a big pot of bubbling soup.
As Nova slammed the pot in front of everyone, Eileen, who was excited to be the first to flatter her, had only walked halfway when she smelled an indescribable stench, rotting, even worse than the filthy black mud she had encountered in the wilderness swamp, emanating from the Dragon Lady’s soup pot.
With a tentative tone, Eileen weakly asked, “Nana, what did you make?”
“Chicken soup.”
‘Chicken soup?’
Eileen glanced at the grey-brown soup through the loosely covered lid, with various strange things floating on top, even a pair of twitching chicken feet protruding from the surface, realizing the seriousness of the situation.
But it was too late for her to escape.
Nova pulled her back, also staring at the many others trying to slip away, seriously saying: 𝘳.𝑐𝘰
“Everyone gets a share.”
“Including you, Master Renji.”
Renji, who had been secretly jotting down notes in his notebook, recording everyone’s collective ‘wisdom’ for the “Empress’s Training Manual” obviously didn’t escape Nova’s watchful eyes either.
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