Chapter 176: He's the Most Terrifying Person of All
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
After the beautiful girl left, the Void continued their discussion about her.
"What a lovely girl! But why does she have to be a devotee? She even had a scripture with her. Oh my god, that's so devoted of her! What a pity, I really hope that she will stop pursuing the heavenly path of that stupid scripture," The Cleric said in a particularly disappointed tone. Considering his identity, it did not sound like something that he should say.
"Yeah, she's such a beautiful devotee! Why didn't I come across female devotees like her in the past? Her looks and body are absolutely outstanding! But too bad, the way she is dressed is too conservative, like a village girl. Yet, somehow, this style has a distinctive appeal to it. Maybe we should go and persuade her to stop being so loyal to the Church," the Paladin also added.
After the Paladin was banned from talking, Baiyi queried, Aren't you guys curious why she came to me for directions?
"You evil dictator! Are you trying to flaunt your charms and abiility of being able to get the attentions of beautiful girls? What a demon! Even if I am faced with the possibility of being banned from speaking, I still want to let the world know... Urghhhh!" The Astrologer interjected before he was abruptly cut off.
Again, after banning the guy from speaking, Baiyi continued, I'm not usually an approachable person. When I'm at the academy, other than those retirees' children who knows about my temper yet still dare to approach me, the rest of the students don't even dare to look me in the eyes, let alone coming up to talk to me.
"Well, isn't it because all of them have their eyes on Mia and Tisdale instead of you? With those two girls by your side, how do you expect a normal person to have their eyes on you? And when you're not with them, nobody would give a damn about an ordinary-looking Soul Armature, you know," The Thane answered.
The Assassin understood what was going on in Baiyi's mind. Quickly, she explained to the Thane, "Actually, ever since Sir Hope came back from Mia's hometown, he would mask his aura with the Shadow Assassin's basic technique everytime he leaves the house. It's not that he is completely invisible but it's more like he weakens his sense of existence in front of other people. It is the same as well when he took out the trash. I'm guessing he does that to avoid the attention from the cult. You guys probably didn't realize it at all but since this technique is from me, I can sense it."
Well, technically, what you said is correct but why are you so sure that I learnt the technique from you? I could have learnt it from Sir Hitman, you know? You're not the only one who excels in assasination, Baiyi retorted in his mind.
As a matter of fact, the technique that the Assassin mentioned was a technique that could conceal the sense of existence of the user and make him seem as insignificant as a road-side stone and it included his outfit, behaviour, the way he walked and the route he took. It was a compulsory course that the assassins must learn upon entering this field of work. Basically, they would live like that their entire lives and it would eventually become a habit that was carved deeply into their bones.
One time, in the Assassin's memory, one of her assassin friend was finally going to get married but since she was long accustomed to that pattern of behaviour, she forgot to unconceal herself in time. The priest that was supposed to officiate the wedding mistakenly took the bridesmaid as the bride and the bride as the bridesmaid instead. So, in the end, he directed his speech to the wrong person, giving them his blessing…
If it wasn't for the person who stood beside the real bride acted quickly and pulled her back in time, the priest would probably have his life taken on the spot. Although in the end, everything was resolved, the bride would cry over the matter for a long, long time everytime she thought about it.
Still, nobody could blame the priest for his transgression. All that could be said was the bride was just too professional, to the point that it became an occupational habit in her life. In other words, that was why the Assassin had never gotten married throughout her whole life. In truth, she was actually very beautiful and similar to the beauties commonly depicted in literatures.
As the Assassin said, Baiyi did indeed conceal his sense of existence deliberately in order to avoid the cult's attention but not to the extent like the assassins. He was merely maintaining an unobtrusive presence. Still, that was not the main reason why he was feeling so puzzled. Actually, during this period, as there were too many flies who kept coming to pester both Mia and Tisdale, he had been been maintaining a low profile and used a little bit of the Charlatan's illusion technique to deceive bystanders, making them look away every time they saw him.
With both the Assassin's technique and the Charlatan's illusions, it would not have much of an impact on his acquaintances but usually an average stranger would not be willing to look at him for even more than one second. However, it did not seem to affect the lovely devotee. Not only did she managed to see through Baiyi's disguise and came up to ask for directions, there was no sign of disgust at all in her eyes. Instead, they were filled to the brim with kindness that seemed to be able to tolerate all kinds of evil in this world.
"If that's the case, then this beautiful girl should not be just a simple devotee, right? She could be a notable clergy or something. An ordinary clergy would definitely be fooled by the Shadow Assassin's secret technique," the Assassin continued to add on in the Void, "Did you sense any power in her body?"
No, there's no Mana or Chi prowess in her body at all. The Holy Energy in her is also just at an ordinary level, Baiyi replied but after giving it some thought, he continued, But I think she's quite strong actually. That trunk that she was lugging around seemed quite heavy.
"Then, doesn't that mean that she's just an ordinary village girl? Usually they're much stronger because they do a lot of farm work," the Assassin began to have some doubts, "How could that normal village girl notice you? Could it be that the person you learnt your technique from is Sir Hitman?"
Are you trying to pick a fight right now? Don't look down on Sir Hitman, okay? He is very capable, too! Even though I haven't learnt anything from him, please don't be so prejudice towards him! No matter what, don't you think you should have at least a certain degree of respect towards your senior? Baiyi snapped in his mind.
Just as he was about to poke the Assassin and ask her to take back her words, a Walker who was usually taciturn poked him first. It was the Fourth Walker, the Oracle. Without saying anything, he shared three short memories with Baiyi.
What is this weird con artist trying to do now? Wary, Baiyi took the memories and unlocked the first one. It wasn't a particularly special memory, it was just a playback of Baiyi's encounter with the girl from the Oracle's point of view. However, at the end of the playback, the Oracle added his own comment, "This must be destiny!"
The reason he shared this piece of memory was probably so he could say that, right? This idiot con artist! Why can't you just tell me things straightforwardly? Why do you have to beat around the bush? This so troublesome and stupid! Baiyi snapped before playing the second memory. The second memory was basically a playback of Baiyi playing back the first memory that the Oracle shared with him with an additional comment of "How stupid!"
Somehow, you knew that I would curse at you, huh? Is that why you prepared the second memory in? You even prepared a comeback before you're actually cursed at? This is getting a little strange, don't you think? Baiyi was so pissed that he wanted to ban him from speaking but then again, what use would it be?
I hope you will be a mute for your entire life! Baiyi thought angrily and opened the third memory.
The third memory contained a sentence.....
"I like being a mute."
... What a scary way of communicating with this con artist! In some ways, it was much more horrifying than mind-reading.
After telling the rest of the Voidwalkers about the memories that the Oracle shared with him, the Void was suddenly filled with a series of gasping sounds. It looked like they had the same reaction and thought as Baiyi... The Oracle was definitely the most terrifying person in the Void.
"So he'd rather use this gift of his to clapback at Sir Hope instead of helping us out of our dire situation?" the Archmage asked with a tint of regret in his voice, "It's a pity that he refused to talk to me after he entered the Void. It's only after you have appeared that we finally got to know who he is. Still, until now, we don't even know what his name is."
There's no need to talk to this con artist! Especially a con artist with social anxiety like him! Baiyi added on, I've talked to the Apprentice and the Astrologer before but they said that they have never seen any mention of him in the records. I think he might just be the most mysterious person among us.
"Perhaps, the reason is just as simple as him not being recorded in history or it could be that somebody had deliberately wiped him off from history," The Apprentice whose name was mentioned quickly chimed in, "Actually, it's extremely hard to leave footprints in history for those who are in the metaphysical department like the Oracle and the Astrologer. They usually have to cause some tragedy that wrecked the country and bring calamity to the people in order to have their names recorded. Those people are usually a phony and are totally different from the one with us in the Void."
How are you so sure that he's not one of them, too? Baiyi scoffed.
"Anyway, as an introvert who rarely opens his mouth, there must be something important for him to use such a method to talk to you. It's better for us to pay some attention to that little girl, Sir Hope," the Apprentice added.
I understand, Baiyi nodded his head in real life as well, Sure, I'll keep an eye on that girl if I happen to run into her again.
However, wanting to find a person in Arfin city would be a remarkably challenging task especially during such a busy period, even if that person had distinctive characteristics on him. Baiyi went to the Church area and searched multiple times but it yielded no results at all. The only good news was his original plan of giving tedious lessons was cancelled, so Mia and Tisdale managed to escape from that 'tuition buffet'.
Still, those two little girls were unaware that they had narrowly escaped what could be the worst time of their lives. Presently, they were camping out in their room together with Attie, talking and trying on the new clothes that they bought. Every now and then, laughters of joy could be heard coming out from their room.
Just like that, the first day of September finally arrived. The 2500th anniversary of the Celestial Fortress Academy had officially started.