A brave man may not live, but he cannot die

Chapter 261 Blues Time
"So, it's just a cliché hero-saves-the-damsel-in-distress story?"

Amamiya Nene sat casually by the windowsill, like a noblewoman from ancient Egypt, half-covered by a blanket. Quinn sat in the corner, idly flipping through a book, satisfying the woman's gossipy nature.

"Yes. I rescued her casually at the jewelry store, and she fell in love with me without any resistance... Perhaps this is the reward for helping old ladies."

Quinn spoke in a disjointed manner.

He didn't mention the goblin cave, but instead shifted the focus of their relationship to a later point.

Although people always say that Amamiya Nene is a silly woman, she is actually very quick-witted. When the goblin cave is mentioned, she will definitely think of the strange phenomena of heaven and earth that day and the demon totem, and she might guess something.

"tsk"

Amamiya Nene scoffed dismissively, "You low-quality human male can actually have good girls liking you?"

“It’s not low quality,” Quinn laughed.

Actually, couples of average-looking men and beautiful women are quite common on Earth. The woman may not necessarily be after money; perhaps she's after emotional value, or perhaps she's simply infatuated. But in any case, for a relationship to last and remain intact, a harmonious sex life is essential.

In this respect, he belongs to the coarse-quality male category of humans.

"Did you reject her?" Amamiya Nene asked in a casual tone.

Quinn paused in his flipping through the book.

This page in the book happens to be a love story. A young woman marries a shepherd, raising his children and tending his flock. Life improves thanks to her diligence, and the family grows stronger, but the young woman gradually ages and loses her beauty.

But as the years passed, the unfaithful shepherd abandoned her. He drove her from his home, exchanging his sheep and fields for the merchant's gold bracelets and fine clothes, and happily married the merchant's daughter. The woman was heartbroken and contemplated suicide by jumping into the river, but in the valley she saw the Holy Spirit Flower and the white Milky Way. A bell rang, and the goddess of order and the Holy Spirit appeared in the sky, bringing justice to her poor believer.

The merchant was convicted, his wealth was squandered, misfortune afflicted him, and he died in poverty; the merchant's daughter was convicted, her wicked tongue was stripped away, her body became wrinkled and scarred, and she was ridiculed whenever she went out; the shepherd was convicted, his gold rusted, his fine clothes turned to dust, he forgot all his shepherding skills, and he eventually starved to death in a forgotten corner.

The believers gained the merchant's wealth, the wicked woman's youth, the shepherd's skills, and lived a happier life with the children of the White Religion...
Quinn looked at the story, lost in thought.

"Hey, I'm asking you a question." Once a woman starts gossiping, she can't stop.

"Sometimes I think about it. I've been thinking about it a lot lately—"

Quinn said slowly, "If I can't go back in this life and have to stay in this world until the end, then maybe one day I'll stop thinking about the past and start living a good life, getting married and having children. Xia Dai'er is an ideal candidate, isn't she? She doesn't have any strange powers, just a simple, ordinary person, beautiful, with a good figure, and rich."

"You're so tacky."

Amamiya Nene said disdainfully, "Hero, can't you say something more refined? Like, 'Sorry, I can't bring myself to hurt a girl's feelings. A woman's tears are too spicy as a snack with drinks.'"

This is a famous quote from Link, the first hero. He used this to argue with the Pope who was officiating at his wedding when he married four girlfriends.

“We’re all just ordinary people, but when an ordinary person becomes a hero, the world forgets that fact and glorifies his every move,” Quinn said.

So, you're planning to marry my neighbor's daughter?

"It's a bit too early to talk about this now."

Quinn thought for a moment, "But with my qualifications, it would be hard to find someone better."

"Isn't there one in the class?"

“Hey, that’s a purely platonic teacher-student relationship.”

Quinn spoke with a strange lack of confidence.

"Pure?" She grinned mischievously. "If Celia and Chaldale appeared in front of you at the same time, who do you think is prettier?"

Quinn calmly asked as he flipped through the book, "Why aren't you included?"

"."

The little witch's mischievous smile froze, and she was somewhat at a loss for words after being countered.

"Then, then add me."

“Celia. She’s more to my liking.”

"? Then why did you bring me up?"

"I just don't want my girlfriend to be at the bottom."

A cherry tomato hit him on the forehead, but he just grinned mischievously, not annoyed at all, and picked it up and ate it.

As Quinn read, he was surprised to find that the theological texts in the study were not commonplace; they contained prayers intended for use by clergy.

Given that Amamiya Nene's mother is a cardinal at the Divine Court, it's quite reasonable that these books are displayed here.

The Ron royal family must have a considerable collection of valuable books, but unfortunately, his palace, which has been largely untouched for years, hasn't housed many of them. Those ancient kingdoms, which have endured for millennia, possess unique historical records, undoubtedly containing secrets that even the academy hasn't yet documented.

The system clearly indicates in the "Faith" section that his White Religion faith value is '1', meaning he can use low-level White Religion prayers.

The White Cult's "Order" path wields the power of arbitration, but unfortunately, low-level prayers are largely unrelated to arbitration, consisting mostly of simple healing spells. Judging from this prayer book, using prayers requires the use of White Cult ritual implements…
He glanced at Amamiya Nene. Despite her mother being a core member of the White Cult, she should have been a devout and patriotic goddess. However, she seemed far less pious than Xia Dai'er. At least Xia Dai'er would carry a prayer pendant with her and would solemnly take it off and put it away before going to bed.

Quinn rarely saw Amamiya Nene pray; she usually spent her prayer time playing with the dog.

"Do you have any ritual implements from the White Sect? The kind that can be used as a medium for prayer. If so, could you lend me some?" Quinn began to beg.

"what?"

“I want to try praying,” Quinn said honestly.

"Pfft, you, prayed?" Amamiya Nene chuckled. "I didn't."

"You don't have it? You don't even have the White Sect's silver bell necklace?"

Amamiya Nene shook her head. "I'm just a peripheral believer. My mom won't let me learn to pray. My dad doesn't want me to either. In your world, isn't there a god who was burned at the stake, what's his name... Ke?"

“Jesus,” Quinn corrected.

“Oh, right!” Amamiya Nene nodded. “My dad said that when he was a child, he prayed to Jesus for an Apple product, but he didn’t get anything. He stopped believing in religion and said that God is a liar.”

“Your father’s approach is wrong; that’s not how Christianity is used.”

Quinn sneered, "He should just steal an Apple and have Jesus atone for his sins."

Amamiya Nene was filled with awe; the gods of the earth were truly useful.

"Could you ask your mom for some religious artifacts? Something better than the souvenirs the church uses to rip off believers, the kind of religious artifacts that clergy would use," Quinn continued, trying to plead.

"Sure, but I can't give it to you for free." Amamiya Nene looked at the man sitting in the corner with sparkling eyes, she had a mischievous idea.

"That's so insincere!" Quinn exclaimed. "What kind of relationship do we have? How dare you ask me for money?"

"Colleagues."

"Tsk. So, how much?"

"I don't want your money, just answer one question for me."

"what is the problem?"

Amamiya Nene sneakily leaned closer and asked in a low, suggestive voice, "Have you ever been intimate with Miss Branson?"

“What is ‘enen’?” Quinn feigned ignorance.

So Amamiya Nene made a circle with her left index finger and thumb, and stretched out her right index finger, making a lewd gesture that every man in the world could instantly understand.

Quinn asked, speechless, "What does this have to do with you?"

"Don't talk about knocking me down."

Quinn could only nod helplessly. There was no point in hiding it.

"How are you feeling?" she asked immediately afterward.

"You've gone too far," Quinn said, barely able to contain his excitement. "Is this a virgin's repressed thirst for sexual knowledge?"

"Tch, what's there to be so smug about?"

Amamiya Nene rolled her eyes, her mood seemed to worsen again, and she started ignoring him.

"Speaking of which, that piece of clothing..."

"Don't talk to me, you perverted, pornographic foot fetishist," she said irritably.

This woman's moods changed faster than the summer in Ayswell, unpredictable, her joys and sorrows coming and going like the wind in a single night.

Quinn was used to it, and he continued, "The clothes you brought back from the Abyss, the ones you threw in my bathroom. When you came back from the Falling Layer last time, the clothes from the Abyss didn't come back with you, did they?"

"The deeper the abyss, the more likely it is to produce relics."

Although Amamiya Nene was very unhappy, she still continued, "That dress was draped over your shoulders at the time, and I thought it might be useful, so I put it in the suitcase and brought it back with me."

"What about this?"

Quinn took out the diamond ring from his pocket.

Amamiya Nene glanced at the ring and sneered, "I'll accept the gift, but don't say anything weird like proposing again."

"This is from that dress."

"How should I know? I didn't check. At the time..."

She paused, bit her lower lip, and turned her head away. "Anyway, I didn't check. Don't you know what's in your own clothes?"

"This should be my parents' wedding ring. But my memory seems... a bit off; I can't be sure if this is the one I took."

Amamiya Nene didn't remember what style Qin Weizheng's wedding ring was, but it must have been quite small—Quinn's diamond ring seemed small to her too, as her diamonds were the size of quail eggs.

"Why don't you try it on? If it's your dad's ring, it should fit you pretty well, right? You two are about the same size anyway."

This reminded Quinn.

He put the diamond ring on his hand, held it up to the light, and finally breathed a sigh of relief as he looked at the perfectly set ring.

Is this due to genetic inheritance? My hands are so similar to my father's.

The moment the ring was securely on, a warm current flowed down my ring finger and through my entire body—

A sense of power and solidity filled his limbs and bones, and he felt that he was in an incredibly good state, like an athlete who had gone through months of preparation and was ready to step onto the track.

He instinctively took off the ring, and the power vanished instantly.

He put it back on, and just like that, his energy surged back!
【Ding--】

[Unknown item detected, loading the illustration.]

The blue dotted lines framed the wedding ring, and under Quinn's gaze, several lines of small text gradually appeared:

【Pampered Ring】

The goddess's favor is as elusive as a fluttering butterfly.

[It can simultaneously enhance the wearer's stamina, strength, and recovery. Prolonged wear may increase libido and allow one to hear the echoes of the goddess of lust. It can be used as a ritual implement for the Pleasure Cult, for performing partial Lustful Prayers.]

"I admire your naturalness and your elegance, and I will loudly profess my love for you, even though it's cheesy."

Based on Quinn's understanding of the Pokédex system, although the descriptions given are always Riddler, they ultimately follow certain patterns.

The system's description of items can be roughly divided into three parts: the first part is a riddle, the second part is a relatively clear description of the 'item's function,' and the third part reveals part of the item's origin.

This must be what Qin Wei said when he proposed. Is he such a romantic person?
Perhaps so; he doesn't really understand his own father.

Increased stamina, strength, and recovery. Quinn felt the boost to his body. The increase in strength and recovery was not obvious, but his stamina was very good, probably more of an endurance boost.

As for wearing the aphrodisiac for a while, Quinn did not feel any lustful impulses. After his battle in the abyss, his resistance to lust was far beyond that of ordinary people, and he remained as immovable as the abbot of Shaolin Temple.

But he still took the ring off, saying with a puzzled look, "This thing seems to have become an abyss relic."

“Is that so?” Amamiya Nene was not surprised. “If something brought out of the Abyss is well preserved, it will be distorted into an Abyss relic in reality, no matter what it is.”

"It can increase my physical strength, but not by much."

"Are you planning to destroy it?"

Quinn hesitated for a moment, feeling a strange reluctance to part with the ring.

"Then keep it. It's Mom and Dad's belongings."

Amamiya Nene's face darkened, perhaps triggered by the sight of the surroundings. "Just don't let the Church catch you. The side effects of the Abyss Relics are actually far less terrifying than those of the Sealed Artifacts; they're only forbidden by the Church because they're related to the Seven Deadly Sins."

As if suddenly remembering something, she asked seriously, "After you got up, did you feel any discomfort?"

Quinn shook his head.

"Fortunately."

"And what about mentally?"

"a bit tired."

"Do you want to do that?"

Which one?

So Amamiya Nene did the lewd action again.

"Damn, am I really that depressed?!"

"That's good. You need to be especially careful about lustful pollution."

Having just fought against a lustful superhuman, Quinn took it as a casual reminder and nodded in agreement.

He heeded the advice and put the ring in his pocket, intending to wear it only in case of an emergency.

It's unclear whether the enhancement from this favor ring is fixed or increases based on physical condition. If it's the latter, the stronger he is, the more useful the ring will be.

After running out of things to talk about, the two of them, one leaning against the windowsill and the other against the wall, were both flipping through books.

Time ticked by, and the sound of the pendulum gradually filled the night.

Amamiya Nene was reading the history of the Hakukyō Church, while Quinn was researching materials related to prayer, trying to find a useful prayer from the vast array of Hakukyō parables and dry scriptures.

The two did not speak again.

During this time, Amamiya Nene went to the restroom once, and it took her quite a while. When she came back, she had put on her underwear and then continued flipping through a book. It's unclear what she was looking for.

As dawn broke, she let out a long yawn and put down "The Holy Spirit and the Origin of Myth," which she had been reading all night.

"I'm going to sleep. Get lost, go find your little girlfriend."

Quinn looked out the window. Mirror Lake was calm, its shimmering surface reflecting the sunlight filtering through the morning mist.

"Drink more hot water." Quinn held the book in his arms, showing no intention of returning it.

Amamiya Nene was too lazy to care about his petty theft.

"I'll investigate that thief; it's none of your business. Next time you come into my house, please knock... and hopefully there won't be a next time."

"Can you at least buy me a meal before kicking me out?" Quinn realized he was quite hungry after getting up.

His extraordinary power made him like a glutton, and he hadn't eaten for almost half a day, so he was belatedly aware of his fierce hunger.

Amamiya Nene glanced at him and noticed that he was looking at her slippers.

Quinn was actually just looking at the panda drawn on the slipper. It was actually quite lifelike, except for the lack of ears, it looked a bit like a black and white Doraemon.

There was a soft layer of sunken footprints on the mat, small and beautiful.

Unfortunately, its owner quickly put it on. Amamiya Nene, with a helpless expression, scoffed, "You perverted foot fetishist..."

"I was just looking at the pandas."

Quinn explained.

However, it's hard to say what they're looking at now. Beneath the panda, her fair feet still have a hint of red from being hit, which is quite pleasing to the eye.

Despite her grumbling, Amamiya Nene still walked to the door and shook the servant's bell.

It had nothing to do with arcane magic; a line connected the bell to the butler's room. One ring meant calling for someone, two rings meant food was served, three rings meant the carriage was ready to leave, and a sudden, forceful ring meant the master was in danger.

About fifteen minutes later, the maid brought a sumptuous breakfast.

Egg rolls, seaweed and crab roe soup, shrimp dumplings, and a dish of sour-smelling tomato sauce were also prepared.

"You only eat this little bit at each meal?"

“That’s too much.” Amamiya Nene looked at the two sets of knives and forks on the plate and felt a headache coming on.

She pushed her plate toward Quinn, saying, "I have no appetite."

"You're too temperamental, sis."

Quinn said, "I'd rather obey than be polite; pigs eat."

She lit another cigarette and took small puffs, while the sound of a man chewing rather inelegantly came from beside her.

Night faded from her bewildered eyes, and sunlight, like a faint kiss, appeared from the horizon.

"Foot fetishist, what's the sunrise like in your hometown?"

Her voice had a hazy, confused quality.

"The sun will rise in the east."

Quinn gestured with the egg roll on the plate, saying, "But not in the sky, but below the horizon. Then the sunset colors the sky red like lines."

"But before that, there was a very, very short one."

He paused, looking out the window.

If this were a movie, the view of the sky at this moment would be enough to be enjoyed in slow motion for a minute.

The stars faded, the moonlight faded, the sunlight, the breeze, the cicadas chirped, the oars glided across the lake, and all sounds became quiet under the blue expanse. Nature and the earth waited silently.

“In my hometown, this time of year was called ‘the time between when the night birds are asleep and the day birds are not yet awake.’ Later, I watched La La Land, and the girl next to me told me it was called the Blues Hour.”

Quinn's voice also became low, and he was somewhat emotional.

"So this world has it too..."

It was a rich, deep blue mixed with a soft purple, and under the gentle light of the sky, city lights lit up one by one.

Night, day, reality, and dreams blurred at this moment, transforming into a breathtaking blue sky.

The two watched silently until the sunlight took over the sky, the sun transforming from a tiny speck into a majestic ray of light. Unbeknownst to them, the city was bathed in sunlight and reflections, and the quiet nature once again became bustling. It was morning.

The smell of oranges, the steaming food, and the dusty scent of books filled the air, yet Quinn could still detect a hint of sandalwood, as if it were seeping into his nostrils.

The sandalwood scent emanated from her long hair, perfectly complementing the drowsy beauty before him, leaving him feeling somewhat empty inside, as if he should say something.

"Thank you." He paused. "You're treating me to a meal."

Amamiya Nene looked like she was about to fall asleep. She lay there on the hard windowsill, covered with a blanket that revealed her little feet.

"Finish your food and get out of here," she whispered, unsure whether she was speaking to herself or responding to Quinn in her dream.

(End of this chapter)