Chapter 885: Chapter 883: Dispute Between the Witch Demon, the Dragon, and the Dog
Richard turned to Jia Lie and said, “Jia Lie, go and tell Marquis Wei’an that I appreciate his kindness. However, I have some tasks to attend to, so I won’t be able to visit.”
Also, tell Harry and Cathy that I might not have time to tutor them in the coming days. If they wish to learn, they can check out the handbook I gave them.”
As he spoke, Richard took out a Papyrus Scroll from his pocket and handed it to Jia Lie.
Jia Lie took it, nodded, indicating he had noted Richard’s words.
Richard waved his hand, “Go ahead.”
“Yes.” Jia Lie turned and left.
As he reached the door, he heard Richard instruct further, “By the way, during dinner, make sure the kitchen prepares an abundant feast so everyone in the estate can gather together for a meal, as a celebration of the Agricultural God Festival. As for me… don’t worry, I’m occupied.”
Jia Lie paused, turned to look at Richard, somewhat stunned. After a moment, he nodded, “Yes, Master.” After saying this, he left.
Richard watched Jia Lie depart and returned to his study table to sit down.
He picked up some tea that had grown a bit cold and drank it sip by sip, spending a moment alone.
During this time, he said nothing, nor did his expression change; he simply maintained silence.
After a while, Richard silently rose, walked to the door, and left Blue Lake Estate. Then, he cast a spell, flew into the air, and headed towards Shambhala Mine.
…
By the time he arrived at the Shambhala Uranium Mine, it was evening, and the entire mine was brimming with a lively atmosphere.
Miner Waltz, being clearly a local figure, took the Agricultural God Festival seriously, making sure the dining hall improved its meals for the miners to celebrate.
The miners were delightfully excited about the free feast, which somehow influenced the Witch Demon Elder’s large yellow dog, causing it to romp around all day, occasionally howling.
“Woof! Woof!”
“Awoo! Awoo!”
The howling was unhurried, but the spot of the howling—right in front of Pandora’s door—was inappropriate.
This seriously disrupted Pandora’s train of thought as she worked.
So when Richard met Pandora, she was chasing the Witch Demon Elder’s big yellow dog across the landscape, intending to teach it a lesson.
Pandora’s chase wasn’t swift; she could easily catch up to the yellow dog but deliberately maintained an equal pace, forcing the dog to run to exhaustion.
On a small hill, Witch Demon Elder Ah Fu watched this, his beard bristling in anger, and couldn’t help but say to Richard upon his arrival, “Hey, you saw that, right? This little girl is really overboard. My dog only barked more because it’s the Agricultural God Festival and ate quite a lot of meat and bones. Is it worth her behavior?”
After complaining for a while, the Witch Demon Elder suddenly asked Richard, “By the way, do you know today is the Agricultural God Festival?”
“I know.” Richard nodded.
“Sigh.” The elder sighed, shook his head, and said with some reflection, “It’s really hard to understand why this festival exists, causing my dog to be unlucky. I remember in my time, we didn’t have any Agricultural God Festival, but there was a Recovery Festival. It happened every March 3rd to celebrate the arrival of spring, the revival of all things, praying for a good harvest.”
“Sounds similar enough.” Richard replied.
“Hardly!” The Witch Demon Elder rolled his eyes, decisively rejecting, “Recovery Festival is Recovery Festival, Agricultural God Festival is Agricultural God Festival, they can’t be the same!”
“Though not the same, there’s some likeness to it, right? You can simply treat the Agricultural God Festival as a Recovery Festival for celebration.”
“Impossible.” The Witch Demon Elder again firmly denied, appearing very stubborn, “Even if I did treat the Agricultural God Festival as a Recovery Festival for celebration, my memory would immediately tell me that’s a joke. Modified memories and the soul will sense something amiss, telling me it’s fake.
Only March 3rd is the real Recovery Festival, and only at that time will I celebrate. But the odd thing is, nobody in the current era knows about the Recovery Festival. I asked around in the morning, and everyone shook their head. It means there’s no one else to celebrate the Recovery Festival with me.”
“Perhaps this is the price to pay.” After a pause, the Witch Demon Elder said with some sadness.
“Price? The price of becoming a lich?” Richard connected.
“Yes, the price of becoming a lich.” The Witch Demon Elder nodded, “I remember someone telling me, becoming a lich does indeed grant long life, near eternal life. But in this process, difficult prices must be borne.
That is, only able to watch all familiar family and friends die one by one, even waking from a long sleep to find the world completely changed, totally unfamiliar, just like now—a completely new era.”
“By saying so, are you somewhat regretful about becoming a lich?”
“Regret?” The Witch Demon Elder’s expression was somewhat complex, “Honestly, I’m not sure. But I do know clearly, this current era isn’t better than my time.”
Richard pursed his lips, looking at the Witch Demon Elder and asked, “Then if there was a chance, um, I mean if. If you could choose to return to your time, would you?”
The Witch Demon Elder froze, didn’t immediately answer, instead fell into deep thought.
After quite a while, he spoke, “Originally, when I woke up and knew this was a new era, I was somewhat happy. Because in a new era, there are none of the past enemies, no longer needing to worry about being chased.”
But in hindsight, even if there were enemies, my era was better, at least the enemies knew me. If I really had the chance you mentioned, I think I’d choose to go back, even if I had to give up all extraordinary powers.
You know, a few days ago I had a dream. It was nothing but returning to my childhood, without the Maria Saintess Monastery wizard organization discovering my talent, living a life of mediocrity in the town.
Growing up, marrying the chubby cousin who liked me, having several mischievous kids. Finally, at the age of fifty, falling ill and dying, living an ordinary lifetime. When you think of it, such a life doesn’t sound too bad.”
After saying this, the Witch Demon Elder suddenly laughed self-deprecatingly, looking at Richard, “But no matter how you say it, there simply isn’t the chance you mentioned, I simply can’t go back, right?”
Right… Richard was about to respond, suddenly seeing the Witch Demon Elder stand up excitedly, glaring at the bottom of the hill in annoyance, “Hey, little girl, stop! Didn’t you see my dog collapsed? You’re still bullying it. Damn, you’re even pulling its fur, you… it’s too much!”
At this moment, at the bottom of the hill, the yellow dog was completely exhausted, lying flat on the ground, while Pandora was fiercely grabbing its fur.
The Witch Demon Elder shouted several times, finding Pandora completely ignoring him, furiously complaining to Richard beside him, “Hey, you saw it all. Is there any rules? Are there any rules?! You quickly manage this, quickly manage this!”
After talking for a long time, he didn’t wait for Richard’s response. Only when he turned his head did he see Richard had already stood up, quietly walking away.
“Where are you going?” The Witch Demon Elder asked loudly.
“Of course, there’s something I need to attend to.” Richard shrugged, showing an uninterested look in the dispute—as this was a dispute between a lich, a dragon, and a dog—stepping towards the mine’s underground factory.
Walking away, hearing the continuous wailing of the yellow dog and the Witch Demon Elder’s angry voice behind him, Richard suddenly felt the festival was quite lively, and couldn’t help but smile slightly.