A man among dragons, building a mysterious ancient church.

Chapter 57 Let's take a bath together

Erii Uesugi found it difficult to describe the feelings she had at that moment.

She felt like a red-feathered sparrow, longing for the blue sky yet fearing the storm, and the person who could calm the storm had opened the cage for her as promised and come to take her away.

Erii's deep rose-colored eyes lit up with joy. She lowered her head to write, then occasionally looked up, as if worried that Xu Lie might suddenly leave.

She would write a few words, then look up to make sure Xu Lie was still there, patiently waiting for her with a smile, before she would feel at ease and continue writing.

After repeating this process three times, Erii happily held up her notebook: 'I thought I had to go to the crossroads to see Xu-kun. Did Xu-kun not see me at the crossroads and come to pick me up? I'm so happy!'

Erii held the notebook up with both hands, making sure Xu Lie had finished reading, and only noticed Sakurai Takashi next to her when she put it back.

Erii's eyes seemed to speak volumes. Even though her mouth was tightly shut and she didn't utter a single word, you could still read her thoughts from her slightly disappointed gaze.

He was worried about Sakurai Takashi and wouldn't allow her to leave or go out with Xu Lie anymore.

Sakurai Takashi sighed and excused himself, saying, "Please rest assured, Head of the Uesugi family, I will keep your and Xu Lie's secret."

After saying that, she left without looking back, leaving Erii with her mouth slightly open in surprise, blinking her cute eyes.

She took a bold step forward, squatted gracefully, grabbed Xu Lie's sleeve with one hand, afraid that he would suddenly leave, and first laid the notebook out on her lap with the other hand before finally picking up the pen to write.

'Xu Jun is amazing! Did you do this? You made that person not restrict our movements. Can I learn how? If I can learn, I can go out to see Xu Jun more often.'

Erii, holding onto Xu Lie's sleeve this time, felt much more at ease and didn't look up again.

Xu Lie was well aware of the pitiful young girl's longing and yearning for the outside world, and his tone softened as he said, "Don't worry."

"You don't need to put in the effort to study. I've already talked to him, and he won't restrict you anymore."

"Perhaps, we no longer need to be restricted by this place."

"?" Erii didn't understand. She tilted her head about 5 degrees to the left, and her innocent and confused expression almost made Xu Lie laugh.

"Let's go inside and talk." Xu Lie followed local customs and took off his shoes outside the vault door, put on slippers, and stepped into the tatami room inside.

In stark contrast to the all-black metallic style outside, Erii's room is quite exquisite and cozy, with tatami mats and various anime-related cards, decorations, and posters everywhere.

In the center of the living room is a huge screen TV, connected to the latest game console and a controller. Opposite the TV is a brown rectangular coffee table and a pink plush cushion for kneeling.

Erii's cool face showed a hint of joy. This was the scene she often saw in anime and manga: 'good friends come over to play together'!

Over the years, as far as she can remember, only her older brother, Genjiro, would occasionally come to visit her and play games together.

Even his nominal adoptive father, Tachibana Masamune, has only visited this place no more than three times.

This is the first time a friend has come to my "home" to play. What should I do?
Erii can only recall the anime she has watched. You should serve her tea and snacks, share things she likes, and finally play games together.

'Ta-ta.' Erii, transformed into a worker bee collecting honey, walked back and forth on the tatami mat with her smooth, fair little feet.

It caught Xu Lie's eye; the round and lovely toes were white with a hint of pink, like cardamom, and connected to the slender arch of the foot in a beautiful arc.

Before she could watch for long, Erii had already poured two glasses of juice and taken out her snacks, piling them all over the table.

After finishing all that, Erii sat down opposite Xu Lie with her notebook, writing furiously. Finally, she proudly held up the notebook, saying, "Eat and drink quickly, then Xu-kun, let's take a bath together."

"Cough!" Xu Lie's eyes widened as he choked on his juice.

A Sequence 5 powerhouse, placed in the mysterious world, would be in the top tier below demigods. Yet, he choked on a sentence in his notebook, a statement that would only elicit laughter.

Erii bent down and began to write again, holding up the notebook: 'You don't need to drink so fast.' "Cough, cough, no." Xu Lie coughed twice to ease the tightness in his throat: "Erii, why do you have the idea of ​​taking a bath together?"

Xu Lie understood that although the girl in front of him appeared to be an adult, she was actually raised in seclusion, isolated from the world, and imprisoned for many years, so her mental capacity was far inferior to that of an ordinary person.

Therefore, if you have any doubts about Erii, it's best not to beat around the bush and just say it directly.

Seeing that Erii was about to write again, Xu Lie quickly stopped her, and at the same time used the Stealing Technique: "Just speak, I've temporarily sealed your Word Spirit."

After advancing to Sequence 5, Dream Thief, the stolen words of power can be preserved for a week, enough for Erii to speak her mind to her heart's content.

Having learned from her previous experience, Erii had great faith in Xu Lie's ability to seal the Word of Judgment, and tentatively began, "I, I..."

After confirming that everything was alright, Erii's smile widened even more: "I saw it in anime that when friends come to your house, you should serve them tea and share things you like."

"My favorite things are taking a bath and playing video games. We take a bath together and then play video games together."

Xu Lie tried hard to control his expression, but unfortunately, as a thief, he didn't have the ability to control micro-expressions like the clown, and his face twitched uncontrollably.

No, girl, this isn't how you share things you like.

Xu Lie began to patiently teach Erii that men and women should not touch each other, and that things like taking a bath together should only be done when they are with someone they like.

"But I like Xu-kun." Erii asked, both puzzled and innocent. "Is that not allowed?"

Erii's limited social interaction doesn't mean she's stupid.

She was acutely aware that she was a monster of royal blood, and every time the doctors and nurses outside the vault came to draw her blood, they were terrified, their bodies radiating a strong aura of fear.

From a very young age, Erii knew that she was like a little monster from a tokusatsu drama, capable of hurting many people and destroying many precious things.

So unless she was so lonely that she couldn't bear it anymore, she would sneak out to take a look; otherwise, she would just stay obediently inside the prison.

Xu Lie was the only one who treated her kindly, and the only one who knew she was a little monster but still bought her crepes and asked her out for another date.

With this kind of psychological journey, Erii was able to frankly admit that she liked Xu Lie.

Xu Lie had anticipated this, and used anime that Erii was familiar with as an example: "It's different. Erii must have watched a lot of school romance anime, right?"

"The male and female leads are lovers, and it's the kind of love that lovers have for each other. But they also have friends, like the male lead's best brother and best buddy, and the female lead's best friend. It's the kind of love that friends have for each other."

"Eri and I are friends, and we have the kind of liking that friends have for each other, but taking a bath together or something like that requires the liking that lovers have for each other."

Erii blinked in confusion. Is that so? Erii, who had only ever watched anime and never actually met Xu Lie, nodded in belief because of her trust in him, and kept it in mind.

"Alright." Xu Lie was slightly relieved to see that Erii accepted this viewpoint, and then brought up the old topic again: "Do you remember what I said when I came?"

"From now on, this place will no longer be able to restrict you."

"Eri, would you like to leave this place with me?"

As he spoke, Xu Lie quietly reached into his right pocket, where a talisman made entirely of black crystal was stored.

The Lucky Stealer's Charm is a Sequence 2 Destiny Trojan Charm that can only be obtained in advance after advancing to the Dream Stealer level.

It is also a talisman specially prepared for the erroneous path to godhood.

　Thank you so much to 'The Upright and Perverted Old Man of the Exploding Sky Gang' for the generous donation! O(∩_∩)O; and thank you also to the passerby who ate bamboo shoots, and 20230120084330615 for the recommendation votes~
　　
　
(End of this chapter)