The Secret Code of Monsters.

Chapter 37: Mystical Triangle and Training

Enid didn't seem too worried about what happened to Roland.

After she finished listening, her face remained indifferent, and she even had time to lower her head and observe her reflection in the coffee.

"What do you think?"

She asked casually, staring at the cup in her hand.

Roland was not completely ignorant.

But with the 'knowledge' I've recently acquired, I can't make any correct decisions.

"The ritualist often doesn't need to have his hands 'correctly'...put out."

Enid asked him to place one hand flat, palm up.

Then, Roland realized that she touched his palm with her 'tentacles'.

Different from his own grey and cold one.

Enid was on fire.

“Mystery, or mystery. It’s an energy from the sleep world, which I think Fernandez has explained to you.”

"Tentacle is really nasty, you are not allowed to say that in front of other people."

She asked Roland to observe his palms in the same way.

Soon, two inverted and overlapping purple triangles appeared in his palms.

Like a somewhat deformed hexagram.

"The Mystical Triangle."

Enid looked at Roland, a hint of admiration flashing in her indifferent eyes: "This proves that you have the qualifications and have been favored by a certain path. You have mastered the "secret" and become an apprentice."

As she spoke, she suddenly leaned forward and used her fingers to play with Roland's black hair, revealing two clear amber beads:
"It's time to trim your hair... Do you want my help?"

Staring at him with eyes fixed.

Roland smelled a scent similar to licorice.

Very light.

"It's Violet."

"...Uncle will cut it for me, ma'am."

Roland turned his face away slightly.

"Oh? Pushou Collins is in charge of a lot of things." The woman raised her eyebrows and slowly withdrew her arm.

These words...

That didn't sound like a compliment.

"You should have agreed."

"What bad intentions could the big bat have? She just wanted to help this blind golden-eyed kitty."
-
Wrench, could you shut up for a while? -
Just for a short while.

"You can think about it. Let's talk about it."

"how long?"
-
a hundred years.

"..."

"You are such a vicious person."

Enid looked at the thoughtful boy and tapped the table with her hand. "What are you thinking about, Roland? The road that is unfolding before you?"

No, I'm fighting the voice in my head.

"I am the one who beat you unilaterally, okay?"

"Honestly speaking, the moment you become an apprentice, life is like a leaf in a storm."

"An extraordinary ritualist will have to go through countless dangers and make countless choices before the end of his life."

"But there is one thing that is difficult for us to control."

"That is... the great road."

Roland repeated what she had said: "The road chooses the man, not the man chooses the road."

Enid nodded: "That's it. Some people are very suitable for a certain path, but it may not be what they want. You are chosen by an unfamiliar path, perhaps some quality in your soul attracts it."

The woman thought for a moment and came up with a solution:
"Since you cannot go to Eden, then there is no need to try the other principles of the Benefactor. As for the other paths..."

The rest of the way involved his teaching.

Pagans were involved.

"I can ask my friends in the Maelstrom and the Ring of Eternal Silence, but I can't guarantee it."

"Because items with rules attached to them are almost never leaked."

"You can't even join their sect."

Roland knew that this was the only way.

"You don't have to worry about that, actually," Enid said. "Even if it's a path without gods, even if there's no Great Mysteries (Grand Ceremony)..."

"You are still an executive officer of the Inquisition."

"When you are able to operate the Secret, I will transfer you to a safe position... but your weekly salary will not be reduced by a penny."

She mentioned someone Roland had met recently.

The lady who measured him and taught him the uniform.

"You can do these jobs without having to run around with Fernandez and face dangerous cultists and xenomorphs."

"Just find a tailor and learn for a few days."

Roland was not at all surprised by Enid's attitude.

For some unclear reason, Roland was not only not surprised, but even a little used to it.

"Not clear?"

"I know it very well~"
-
Didn’t you promise me not to speak for a hundred years?

"I didn't promise you."
-
Then you promise me now.

"Why should I promise you?"

"It's not the road I'm worried about, ma'am." Roland collected his thoughts and shook his head slightly: "I'm worried... about disappointing you, and Fernandez."

"If it were anyone else, it would be true." Enid brushed her long hair and sank back into the high-backed chair, her mouth curled up, looking very happy: "But I won't be disappointed in you."

"Besides, the Inquisition..."

"It's my call, Roland."

She tilted her head slightly towards the boy, looking proud, like a cat who thinks she has saved the world and needs to be praised.

need…

Someone touched his chin. "This has nothing to do with me. You asked for it."
-
I admit.

"Beyond that, I can't give you any more advice, Roland." Enid fiddled with the spoon with her scarred hand, lifted it up, and knocked it against the wall of the cup, making a 'ding ding' sound.

"Whatever you choose, that is your destiny."

Her eyes, which were usually filled with contempt and indifference, now contained countless red-hot gravel, which rolled and spread in her pupils, raising dazzling fiery dust.

fate.

Roland didn't like the word very much.

"Of course, before you think about these things with a sad face, you should pay more attention to two other things," she said: "training, and writing and reading - I mean the most basic ones."

The most basic.

basis.

Whenever Roland heard this word, his head started to ache.

Because all the knowledge he had heard recently seemed to be considered 'the most basic' by Enid.

"Knowledge?"

"I meant the body, Roland."

Enid grasped his wrist, lifted it, and shook it a few times.

Ok…

Soft, like shaking a hibernating snake.

“The most basic combat, the use of cold weapons and firearms;

Physical training, including the rituals and holy water required to deal with lower-level ghosts;
Regarding the treatment of cultists, the correspondence between xenospecies and dream dumping situations;
How to release and manipulate the secret, and how to replenish it by immersing yourself in the sleep world at night - you can see a little bit now, and it's time to learn how to fight with your body."

“It takes some getting used to.”

"I'll let Fernandez teach you little by little."

She let go of her hand, leaned back in her chair, and yawned lazily.

"It's all up to Fernandez."

"Leave it all to him."

"Study hard, Roland."

What does the so-called "basic" physical fitness and combat training look like...

In short.

From that day on.

There was nothing good about Roland.

There are bruises every day.

Sometimes, my face is swollen.

"The big guy is really a cold-hearted person."
-
If you say so, aren't you just a pure villain?

Since talking to Enid, he was often invited by Fernandez to the training ground of the Inquisition:
He came with a cane during the day and limped home with the cane at night.

This made my uncle look at me with a strange look.

"Everything has its time, don't you think, kid?"

Roland did not understand the veiled hint until he spoke more bluntly.

'Sometimes, you have to learn to say no.'

"If your waist is injured, your life will be ruined. How old are you?"

However, one day, he found that Roland's body was covered with bruises (plus he had been drinking), and he looked like a volcano about to erupt. He leaned on the table, roared, and waved his arms, which he thought were muscular:

"I'm going to sue her!!"

"This unwanted kinky whore—"

Roland explained it many times.

I just don’t know whether he believes it or not.

The bruises on my body really had nothing to do with Ms. Enid.

"You can say that it was a man who made you like this."
-
Why does this sound wrong to me?

"Do you believe me?"
-
you still need to ask.
-
Of course I don’t believe it.

But with the wrench by my side and the occasional quarrel, the pain wasn't so unbearable.

Mr. Fernandez said that it would be difficult to improve his physical fitness to the minimum standard line - the lowest standard line - in a short period of time.

In fact, the 'minimum standard line' has been lowered several times.

Even so, Roland still failed to pass.

It seemed that no matter how much he trained, his physical fitness could not match those of men of the same age.

This is not surprising, some people are just born weak.

no way.

"I doubt you can beat the woman selling cardboard boxes next to your uncle's shop," Fernandez said.

The square lady who is five feet tall and almost five feet wide?
"I am worried about your future, Roland. Many paths have their own "Great Rites", some strengthen the body, some strengthen the mind and soul - but your path has none of them..."

'Your body is still so weak...'

After a few days, the priest gave up.

He changed his teaching method and stopped teaching Roland boxing and kicking.

Start directly with the dagger.

Eyeballs, chin, neck, heart, genitals, coccyx, kidneys, arteries.

"You are too fragile, Roland. Maybe it's caused by nature. I don't care whether you can change it in other ways in the future..."

'But now, this is all I can teach you.'

'Be careful not to use it against drunks or to show off in front of girls.'

If it is not for the purpose of killing, there is no need to use sharp weapons.

Fernandez said.

Pulling out the dagger means killing the enemy.

Interestingly, Roland learned this much faster than he did fists and feet.

Surprisingly fast.

(End of this chapter)