Chapter 760: Photographer and End-of-Life Caregiver

Chapter 760: Photographer and End-of-Life Caregiver

It’s funny-though the sword Princess always wanted Ashe to come to the Stars, and Ashe always wanted to come to the Stars to see the sword Princess, the two of them never discussed what to do after meeting. It’s like in fairy tales, where the prince and princess just need to be together for the story to end; the daily grind that comes after is never considered.

Mainly, they both thought that time travel between Kingdoms was a distant thing. Before inheriting Wishflux Celestium, they didn’t even have a concrete plan for time travel between Kingdoms. It’s like not buying a lottery ticket, so naturally you’re not bothered to fantasize about how to spend the jackpot.

Who could have expected that after they inherited Wishflux Celestium, the Void Gate concept and Void Gate Spirit would erupt, and by a twist of fate, Ashe and the others would arrive in the Stars Kingdom?

If this time travel had happened a few years later, Ashe wouldn’t have had any doubts: by then, they’d definitely be legendary peak sorcerers, able to rampage wherever they pleased by sheer force; if the Stars Kingdom refused to submit, they’d just beat it into submission.

If this time travel had happened a few months earlier, Ashe wouldn’t have had any extra thoughts either. Without enough strength, he’d just go with the flow, obediently get locked up in prison and await trial-there’d be no room for resistance.

But time travel happened right as Ashe had just entered the awkward phase of legend. Call him strong, and only sorcerer troops and top sorcerers could defeat him; call him weak, and only sorcerer troops and top sorcerers could defeat him.

Of course, if Ashe wanted to resist, even if he couldn’t destroy the world, he could still devastate thousands of miles and punch a hole through the Stars Kingdom. But the problem was, he came to see the sword Princess-Ashe had imagined many possibilities for appearing in the sword Princess’s life, but not one of them involved showing up as a wanted notice.

More crucially, after meeting the sword Princess, then what?

Take the sword Princess away? But her connections, career, and family are all in the Stars. She’s made more and more friends, she’s gradually become dazzling, and everything she loves-except Ashe-is in the Stars. Would she really be willing to give up nearly twenty years of her life for Ashe and start over?

He never thought this would be difficult-no matter how much the Stars Kingdom hated invaders, surely they wouldn’t push away a legend, right?

What, the Stars Kingdom doesn’t trust me? Well then, I’ll marry a Stars native-surely that proves my sincerity!

But Ashe didn’t expect that the Stars Kingdom hadn’t left any green channel for high-end talent sneaking in-if you’re an invader, you die!

So now Ashe was even hesitating about whether to meet the sword Princess at all: in this situation, unless the sword Princess was dead set on running away with him, any contact would only bring her unnecessary risk.

But no matter what, Ashe was determined to see the sword Princess.

Even if it was just to keep his promise, even if it was just to feel each other’s warmth, even if it was just to confirm each other’s existence, he was willing to risk everything to sneak into Galaxia.

When he saw the sword Princess, what should his first words be?

“So, is this our last journey?”

Hearing Harvey’s question, Igor thought for a moment and replied, “Though you make it sound like we’re about to die… you’re right, this should be our last journey.”

“Whether Ashe stays here or goes back to the Gospel, he definitely won’t keep adventuring, and neither will we… Actually, back in the Gospel, if we hadn’t gotten close to the vine that sprouted from Ashe, we’d already be living a quiet life in the Gospel Kingdom.”

“A quiet life…” Harvey murmured, “Sounds like it has nothing to do with us.”

“What do you want to do after you settle down?” Ashe looked at Igor. “The Gospel is already your niece Lise’s Kingdom, you’re not thinking of running some crime syndicate, are you? Of course, if you want to be Lise’s black glove, I’d still welcome you. By the way, you haven’t forgotten Anfel is still waiting for you to give her a home, right?”

“We’ll see when the time comes,” the Con Artist said. “But I really have no interest in going back to my old ways. As for what I want to do…”

“I want to be a photographer.”

The Cult Leader and necromancer were stunned, then scratched their heads together.

Ashe guessed, “You want to photograph the filth and secrets in people’s minds, then threaten them for money as a Mental photographer?”

“I think it’s more like directly capturing people’s ugliness, then using the photos as spellcasting materials for hypnosis, brainwashing, curses, and so on-a curse photographer,” Harvey offered his own idea.

“Just a regular photographer,” Igor said, a bit speechless. “Photographing the starry sky, mountains, clouds, ruins, all kinds of natural scenery. Ashe, you know I don’t really like human society-I only wandered among them to make money. Now that I have the means, there’s no need for me to share the disgusting, foul air with hundreds of thousands or millions of people.”

Ashe asked, “Do you find it disgusting sharing a room with us?”

“How could I?” Igor shrugged. “We’re all covered in Alice’s corpse stench-I can’t even tell the difference between the three of us anymore.”

“You’re welcome,” Harvey said. “The Necromancy Sect always turns out to be unexpectedly useful, right?”

“Sounds great, but you as a photographer…” Ashe bit his nail. “If it ever comes out that the organization manipulating the world behind the scenes is called the ‘Photographers’ Guild,’ I wouldn’t even be surprised.”

“So what about you, Harvey?” Igor asked. “Still with the Mortuary Services Section, right?”

“Of course, that’s always been the research site I’ve been longing for,” Harvey said. “But I plan to expand my business a bit, move my work node from ‘after death’ to ‘before death.’”

Ashe and Igor exchanged a glance, then Ashe asked cautiously, “Do you mean you want to be an assassin, a war maniac, or just a simple serial killer?”

“Palliative care,” Harvey said. “I’ve always been fascinated by humanity’s approach to death, and palliative care not only lets me watch the living gradually cross the veil of death, but if I can help them calmly accept its arrival, I’ll surely get better corpse materials… Chikara has shown me a brilliant path.”

“He’s a qualified palliative care worker, and also a qualified necromancer. I’ll realize his potential.”

Ashe was slightly stunned, then turned to Igor and asked, “Is it because of Gwen?”

Igor gazed at the star-filled sky outside the window and said softly, “Maybe.”

Gwen and Chikara’s departure had been too sudden and too fast, and then Ashe and the others were immediately swept into events like the Gate of a Wishflux, the Vichy attack, time travel through the Stars, with no time to pause; plus, so many Senlo people had died, it was easy to become numb; and the three of them were all psychological oddballs who kept everything bottled up, so emotional outbursts were a shame to them.

But just because it wasn’t spoken didn’t mean it was forgotten. When they entered Senlo, there were only three of them; when they left, there were still only three. But some invisible, indescribable things had already been quietly engraved deep in their souls, becoming both their armor and their weakness.

“What about you, Ashe?” Igor asked. “Besides eating, sleeping, and gaming, do you have any other plans?”

“Let me clarify, as a sorcerer I don’t sleep,” Ashe said. “Unless by sleeping you mean a physical activity involving more than one person.”

“If I can stay or take her with me, there are only two things I want to do: try to return to the Wishflux Celestium-I’m not afraid Tamashi will break it, I’m only afraid she’ll starve to death inside; and then, I have to go back to Senlo once.”

“Senlo is already destroyed,” Harvey said. “Going back is dangerous.”

Ashe: “I know, but I have to retrieve something.”

Igor was taken aback, then sighed softly. “The Silver Lantern?”

“If being a legend isn’t enough, then I’ll step into the Divine Dominion; if a year isn’t enough, then three or five years,” Ashe said seriously. “I won’t leave the Silver Lantern in the dark.”

Igor was silent for a moment, then asked, “Do you really like her, or do you like everything she’s done for you?”

Ashe spread his hands and smiled. “Do I really care about you two, or do I care about everything you’ve done for me?”

“At this point, everyone’s a mess of debts, impossible to sort out. She saved me from death, so I have to pull her back from the darkness.”

“Some people say they want to give up, but their goals are grander than anyone’s,” Igor shook his head. “Not to talk about things that far off-what do you plan to do after entering Galaxia?”

“First, find a local to blend into the city,” Ashe mused. “Best to find someone with a moral stain, hypnotize or threaten them, then live in their house, eat their food, and use them to gather intelligence and pass messages.”

Igor said, “If there’s a gang, that’ll make things much easier…”

As they were discussing, a sudden gale burst through the door between carriages, quickly filling the entire compartment.

Mental Miracle: Mental Insider Barrier.

Swordsmanship Miracle: Slash Me in Progress.

Flame Miracle: Internal Combustion Wasteland.

They immediately judged this was a wind spell Miracle. The Sanctuary couldn’t completely stop air flow, so each of them used a Defensive Miracle to block it. The few other passengers in the carriage all fell asleep, and the three of them exchanged a glance, then pretended to be asleep as well.

At that moment, a handsome blond guy suddenly ran into the carriage-the very one Harvey and Igor had commented on earlier. He glanced around, saw Ashe’s group sitting together, and his eyes lit up. First, he conjured a gust of wind to blow open the next carriage door, then turned into a stream of air and slipped into their seats, squeezing in between Ashe and Igor-his figure was so slim he was like a shadow, and with the help of the airflow’s cover, he blended in with the three of them quite naturally.

Just then, several masked men burst into the carriage, holding guns and melee weapons, wearing strange masks with six lamps on their heads, moving utterly silently. They first scanned the passengers, then glanced at the carriage door that had just been pushed open.

Seeing that they were about to rush through the door to pursue into the next carriage, the leading Six-Lamp Guest suddenly stopped and said, “No footprints-he’s in this carriage!”

Thump!

Ashe could almost feel the violent heartbeat coming from beside him.

“Second Young Master, the game of chase is over. You’ve lost.”

The Six-Lamp Guest looked at the sleeping passengers in the carriage and said coldly:

“Come out, Felix Vlozrada. This is the end of your road.”