Chapter 95: Chapter 095: The Thorn Bug’s Desire
Translator: 549690339
“Old Phil, cut your finger; I need you to smear blood on this bottle,” Liszt said unequivocally. Philip was dead, and who knew how many of the indigenous people of Dodo Island remained—this old tanner was probably one of them.
As for whether he had the bloodline of the “Descendant of the Sun,” Liszt did not know.
All he could do was try.
Although the old tanner did not understand why, he must comply with the commands of Lord Landlord. He pricked his finger with a needle, squeezed out the blood, and smeared it on the beautiful golden bottle.
Liszt had already deployed his Eye of Magic.
He was intently observing the metal drift bottle.
The moment the blood touched the bottle, his vortex-like pupils suddenly expanded as he witnessed a miraculous scene—the blood seemed to activate the magic of the metal bottle, which flowed along the engraved patterns, quickly outlining the lines of the sun, a big tree, a bow and arrow, a lyre, an eagle, and a bear.
A man composed of lines emerged from the bottle, taking up a bow and arrow, shooting at the sun.
A woman composed of lines also emerged from the bottle, picking up the lyre and gently playing it under the big tree.
The eagle landed on the man’s shoulder, the bear snuggled up to the woman, and the magic lines on the body of the bottle were lively and vivid.
Suddenly, the sun pierced with arrows fell, and a well made of lines emerged, spouting a fountain that shot straight up to the mouth of the bottle.
Pop!
A crisp sound.
All of the lines formed by magic dissipated, leaving no trace of magic on the metal bottle; and where there had been no seam before, the mouth of the bottle cracked. Liszt gently pulled and the cap came off. He turned the mouth of the metal bottle down and shook it, and out fell something rolled up into a small stick.
It was a very delicate, thin piece of leather paper, which Liszt unfolded.
On it was a line of hieroglyphics—no, more precisely, a line of Sun Script. Liszt remembered seeing these drawings but could not discern their meaning.
His heart was full of puzzles waiting to be solved.
Yet outwardly, he was in no hurry. He rolled the paper back up and glanced at the old tanner, “Old Phil, are you related to Philip?”
“I don’t know, Lord Landlord, maybe I am. Philip once said, he said we were all exiled criminals of some sort,” replied the old tanner.
In fact, they should be relatives.
Looking at the old tanner’s hunched figure and aged expression, Liszt felt he was meant to complete the last mission issued by the Smoke Mission—to at least give Old Phil a son, or rather, to at least facilitate a kinship contract between him and Jessie. It was the right thing to do, both morally and to aid in his mission.
“Old Phil, what do you think of Jessie?”
“Jessie is a good boy; he always helps me with chores, diving, sweeping… Thanks to him, the Tanners’ Shop smells much better,” the old tanner replied.
“Do you know Jessie is an orphan?”
“I’m aware,” said the old tanner.
“Have you ever thought that the two of you could form a contract of kinship?”
“What? This…” The old tanner was evidently a bit flustered, “Jessie is a servant of the castle, and I’m just an old tanner. He could have a better life; I wouldn’t want to hold him back. Lord Landlord, Jessie is a sensible child. He likes his work at the castle, and he works hard. I will tell him not to come here anymore, so he won’t be distracted from his duties.”
He thought that his relationship with Jessie had displeased Lord Landlord.
“You misunderstood me; I don’t blame Jessie at all. It was merely a suggestion,” Liszt suddenly felt that getting involved in such trivial matters of commoners wasn’t befitting of his noble status. Why should a landlord concern himself with such trifles of the populace?
He stood up, ready to leave the Tanners’ Shop, saying, “Decide for yourselves. I will inform Mr. Carter to oversee it.”
To be or not to be, it was just a suggestion.
After returning to the castle, Liszt casually mentioned his task to Carter and then set aside these miscellaneous matters to start working on the translation of the message from the drift bottle.
With “Philip, Descendant of the Sun’s Diary,” he found the corresponding meanings for the figures in the drawing one by one.
Soon, he had finished translating the message.
“The tower has collapsed, Tree City is burning, XX has perished, and the Child of the Sun will ascend with the flames. Children who are lost abroad, you are now free.”
The “XX” is a series of Sun Script, but there was no corresponding explanation in the diary, and its style was rather abstract. Liszt couldn’t make out its specific meaning, but he could roughly guess that it should represent the dwelling place of the Child of the Sun—perhaps a country or possibly a continent.
That is to say, the drift bottle brought bad news.
“The Child of the Sun, which country’s nobility calls themselves that?” Liszt had read knight’s novels, not a thousand, then at least one hundred, but none contained any record of the Child of the Sun.
Stroking the parchment in his hands.
He suddenly felt that this country might not be on this continent: “The parchment on the continent is made of thick animal hide, not easily preserved, and not convenient to write on. But this parchment in my hand doesn’t seem to be made of animal hide. It’s very thin; such technology hasn’t appeared on this continent yet, right?”
But apart from the continental countries, the Duchy of Sapphire was the first to venture out to the sea and establish their nation.
Immediately afterwards.
Liszt came up with a possibility: “Could it be that the Child of the Sun is not a human from this continent, but from beyond the Sea of Azure Waves?”
Fresh Flower Town’s East Coast faces the Sea of Azure Waves, and on the other side of it lies the legendary Devil’s Sea, where no one can navigate.
Legends are not entirely credible.
If this Different World is also a planet, then by comparison to Earth, perhaps the so-called Devil’s Sea is just a larger ocean.
On the other side of the ocean, there might be another continent.
Separated by an impassable ocean, perhaps there are also humans living on another continent.
“Well, there’s too little information to make any effective judgments. For the time being let’s assume that there’s a continent on the other side, and a group of humans called the Child of the Sun.” Liszt reined in his speculative thoughts, “For now, I have neither the capability to unravel this perplexing mystery.”
He put the metal drift bottle into the Gemstone Space without closing the lid—just in case he couldn’t open it.
The thin parchment as well as “Philip’s Diary of the Descendants of the Sun” were also placed in the Gemstone Space.
“Now, it’s time to focus on the Thorn Bug!”
The Thorn Bug, eight years of age, unwilling to die alone in solitude, wanted to struggle one last time. Liszt could feel that this Thorn Bug was indeed somewhat different from the other Elf Bugs.
He went to the Worm Room that Carter was taking care of and saw the Thorn Bug deep asleep in its box—Elf Bugs could sleep 24 hours a day.
An intermittent telepathic connection kept Liszt constantly aware of his own Elf Bugs.
“Little fellow, I can feel the deep weariness within you, as well as your desire for evolution. Even though I know the chances of you evolving are slim, I am still willing to help you to the best of my abilities. Not for the Magic Medicine Thorns or to complete the Smoke Mission,” he said as he gently touched the grey-white body of the Thorn Bug.
The Thorn Bug seemed to sense Liszt’s presence and opened its little black sesame seed-sized eyes, turning its head to look at Liszt.
Among the seven Elf Bugs, it was the ugliest one, with a duller color compared to the vibrant colors of the other Elf Bugs, and its body was also thinner and had a harder skin—Elf Bugs nurtured by shrubs and trees always seemed rougher than those nurtured by herbaceous plants.
Its black eyes gave away no discernible expression.
But Liszt could still feel the Thorn Bug’s closeness and docility towards him.
“I have instructed Goltai to stop supplying the compost to the farms for the near future. As long as your Cordyceps can absorb it, it will be prioritized for your use,” he said.
