novelraw Chapter 622: She Chooses to Stay
Chapter 622: She Chooses to Stay
Invisible tentacles reached out with the voice, and the Mind Level counter clicked frantically to the sound of the Mother of the Swamp's whisper.
Lilia, standing behind him, cried out in pain, clutching her head, which felt as if it were about to split open. Horrifying visions brutally forced their way into her mind, and she felt herself turning into a monster, sensing the deforming touch of growths beneath her skin.
Lu Li's humanity helped him partially resist the contamination. Aside from the whispers that accompanied the voice, he felt no other ill effects.
The Mother of the Swamp seemed to realize she was speaking to ordinary people, whose minds were so fragile that even her muttering could drive them mad. After a pause, the cloaked figure's voice changed, sounding like a chorus of believers repeating the Mother of the Swamp's words: "This... will be easier for you..."
The Mind Level counter slowed, but Lilia was still staring at her hand, as if an eye were staring back at her from beneath the flesh.
Lu Li snapped her out of her delusion. Agitated, she smoothed her dress and addressed the cloaked figure with a curtsy, one perhaps inherited from the Principality of Saint Mark: "I am Lilia Toyalagon, a twenty-first-generation descendant of the Toyalagon family..."
Lilia faltered, forgetting what to say next—the Toyalagon family had become commoners too long ago.
"Toyalagon..." the Mother of the Swamp murmured. The name stirred fragments of memory buried in the deepest recesses of her mind.
Lu Li took out the books Lilia had given him in the carriage and held them out to the figure. "Stories about your former self and your family."
The cloak shifted like a lifted curtain, and the figure took the books."When we arrived, the Swamp Road had already been overrun by the thickets of the Northern Swamp," he said, describing what he had just seen, hoping to understand the situation.
"Its encroachment has slowed..." The Mother of the Swamp was, of course, aware of her malevolent neighbor, but the good news was that something seemed to have delayed its advance. If not for this delay, half of her domain would have already been consumed.
"Where is Adamfuya?" Lu Li asked.
"She is still in the church... My servants are protecting her."
"Thank you."
Lu Li expressed his thanks and asked one of the Six-Armed Savages to guide them to the ruins of Tenebrae, leaving Lilia to speak with her ancestor.
...
The church looked clumsily repaired.
"Clumsily" because the gaps in the walls had been haphazardly boarded up with planks, making it look like a shoddy slum shack.
Apparently, this was the work of the Mother of the Swamp's servants. When Lu Li and Anna arrived, Adamfuya asked them to convey her gratitude to the Mother of the Swamp. Even though she was a ghost, not having to hide in a dark cellar was a blessing.
"Have you had dinner?" Adamfuya asked Lu Li, who was holding an oil lamp.
The Six-Armed Savages had been gathering food from the ruins of Tenebrae, and they had given some of the canned goods to Adamfuya, even bringing her a stove—they had decided she needed to eat.
Adamfuya hadn't refused, remembering that Lu Li might need food.
"Thank you for your thoughtfulness," Anna replied.
"It's nothing," Adamfuya simply smiled and set about preparing dinner for Lu Li.
The limited ingredients didn't allow for a masterpiece, but she seasoned the canned food with spices and sweet potato. Still, on a cold night, there was nothing better than a bowl of hot soup to warm the soul.
Lu Li saved one portion and returned to the enormous ficus tree in the dead of night to give it to Lilia.
Nearby, the cloaked figure stood watching from beneath the arch of the giant ficus.
"Is this from a can? It's delicious," praised Lilia, who was sitting on a root as if it were a stool. She assumed Lu Li or Anna had made the soup.
The spices masked the plaster-like taste of the preservatives. Besides, in times like these, a hot meal was a luxury.
But that wasn't the only thing that pleased her. She was touched by the Mother of the Swamp's attitude. "Princess Rolan has accepted me... I am helping Her Highness remember her former self."
On the way here, Lilia had feared it would be difficult, that she might even have to sacrifice her life to awaken the princess—but she had turned out to be far more approachable than expected.
Lu Li didn't try to dissuade Lilia. Imbuing an Evil God with humanity wasn't such a bad thing, at least for humans. Although this particular Evil God was threatened by a powerful enemy.
"Mr. Lu Li..." A flicker of resolve hardened Lilia's determined eyes. "I wish to remain here to serve Princess Rolan."
"You're an ordinary human," Lu Li pointed out.
And an elderly one at that. The swamp was saturated with the aura of an Evil God. Even a weakened and restrained Mother of the Swamp couldn't prevent the erosion of one's mind. Moreover, the damp, cold, and darkness would quickly break an old woman.
"Before that, I will ask Princess Rolan to turn me into one of her attendants," Lilia replied.
"Are you sure?" Anna asked. For her, a physical body meant more than it did to anyone else.
Lilia smiled bitterly. "It is just a withered body, useless even in life..."
She was already feeling tired after their long conversation.
Lilia's decision was made. Lu Li didn't argue. After bidding farewell to Lilia and the Mother of the Swamp, he returned to the church, collected Adamfuya, and drove the carriage out of the ruins of Tenebrae under the watchful gaze of indistinct shadows.
Anna loved to hear amusing stories, while Lu Li preferred useful information, so in the carriage, Adamfuya told them a great deal about Tesla's youth.
"You wouldn't believe it, but Tesla was terribly timid in his youth, and he still hasn't shaken it off," Adamfuya said, a smile gracing her lips. "When he first encountered the Visible Song, he nearly died of fright. Michael was most afraid of that kind of slow, creeping horror. If the investigator with him hadn't covered his eyes, perhaps none of the stories that followed would have ever happened."
"But in the face of other horrors, he showed surprising courage. Even the sudden appearance of the Swarm of Sufferings couldn't frighten him."
"How did you two meet?" Anna asked.
The two women had inadvertently strayed into the topic of love.
"By chance..." A tender note entered Adamfuya's voice as she reminisced.
At the time, they were adversaries of a sort. Tesla had been sent to investigate rumors of ghosts in the town, and Adamfuya, by an unfortunate twist of fate, happened to be one of those ghosts.
Some troublesome children caused the house to collapse while Tesla was inside, trapping him. Adamfuya stayed with him for several days and then rescued him.
And so, the young investigator fell in love with Adamfuya.
Listening to the story, Lu Li drew back the carriage curtain.
In the distance, the lights of Khimfast shone brightly, appearing brighter and more vibrant than the Belfast of old. From this vantage point, it was the brightest spot in the darkness of the Allen Peninsula.
One could only hope it wasn't just a fleeting flash.