The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

Page 110

Before the sound of the painting had even faded, the one-horned devil, who was in charge of the human realm, was already laughing hysterically.

Who would have thought that the secrets hidden beneath the blood-soaked mist of that day of weeping were such romantic tales that she had never heard of yet was eager to hear?

"Pfft... Hahahaha... I thought that day was just you, a peerless actor, acting rashly for your lover, leaping out of the play and staining the heavens with blood. Who would have thought there was something else hidden behind it all... No wonder Lily obediently followed your wishes that day, stepping down from her throne to personally bestow an award upon you, a mere actor. And only after you kissed her hand and pulled her into your arms, stealing her breath, did she look utterly bewildered, her brain overheated. It turns out she did indeed conspire with you, but only for one part..." Halfway through, by the time I came to my senses, you had already twisted off Gabriel's head, burned off Metatron's feathers, and were heading to the throne of the Heavenly King to settle your blood debt with your brother, a fight to the death... Were those damned guys brainwashed by dualism? Hahahaha... Brother, brother actually fell out with Lily for this reason! Is there nothing left in his brain except dualism and dogma? Pfft, hahahahahahahahahaha... Oh dear, I can't take it anymore, I'm about to die laughing, I'm going to die laughing, meow!"

After a long while, when the laughter subsided, Azriel wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes, then stared at the languid face of the believer with seductive eyes.

The man seemed completely uninterested in the secret, and even yawned.

When a man loses interest, a good woman always feels she should do something.

Therefore, Azriel casually unbuttoned his shirt, leaned down, and breathed softly into his ear.

"As you wish, Messiah."

……

Chapter 163 Interlude: Dusk

"...Hmm...I see...Are you sure...I won't take responsibility if your sister cries...Ha...So that's what you were planning...I guess...you're still a little unwilling, aren't you..."

The next day, as the sun rose, the believer was chatting with the other party through another encrypted channel. The conversation was intermittent, and a pleasant smile lingered on his lips.

A pair of jade-like arms reached out from the darkness between the bed and turned his face back from the side. The projection of the encrypted channel also shifted and was suspended above the bed.

"An insatiable dog... Which little vixen are you flirting with this morning, meow?"

The emerald-haired devil lazily peeked out from under the sky-blue blanket, pressed her cheek against his chest, and pinched him in a way that was half resentful and half coquettish.

The believer didn't seem to care, casually tidying her hair and turning the projection from encrypted to public.

A silver-haired girl then appeared above, her silvery eyes filled with laughter, like crescent moons. She wore a plain white dress, with little adornment, pure and dignified, like a fairy from a fairy tale forest. Only her pair of hideous, skeletal wings dispelled the fairy tale aura surrounding her, imbuing her with the solemnity of death.

The Angel of Death dwells in the courtyard of a temple forgotten by time. The lush vegetation blends harmoniously with the ruins of the silver temple walls. A clear stream flows beneath the roots of the trees, heading towards an unknown destination, its clear waters echoing.

“Iota, your sister Az just asked you which family’s little fairy you are.”

The believer gestured with a half-smile toward the girl on the other side, offering a casual remark.

"Well, I guess you could say that, since we used to have a lot of fun, didn't we, Messiah?"

The pure white angel of death rested its thumb on its chin, seemingly deep in thought. It frowned slightly at one point, then smiled.

"Huh? Iota? You bastard, you didn't even tell me you were in the Twilight Tomb! My dear sister, I've missed you so much, meow!"

Azriel caught a glimpse of the girl's appearance out of the corner of her eye, then turned to lie down, resting her head on the believer's right arm, and affectionately called out to her while looking at the light screen.

"My Lord Messiah, my dear sister Azriel, it's been a long time."

The angel of death seemed to be used to the scene before her. She nodded slightly and greeted the two old friends on the other side with composure and good manners.

"You've turned back into a well-behaved girl again. I still prefer the carefree you when you were temporarily staying in Hell, meow." Azriel said with some emotion.

"Because at that time I was in self-exile, during my time in Gomorrah, I was fortunate to be taken care of by my elder sister."

"It's alright, it's alright. Little Sally has always been my good sister, and you are Little Sally's daughter. Since you've come to Hell for a trip, I certainly won't treat you badly, meow."

"Your Majesty, your habit of calling everyone 'sister' can be quite troublesome at times. Actually, Mother was just discussing matters with Lord Messiah when she heard that you were there. She turned around, entrusted the matter to me, and left."

Iota turned her head and glanced in the direction where a certain hellish lord, who was in charge of the gods of death and the moon, had left earlier, and couldn't help but cover her mouth and chuckle.

"Waaaaah, Sally hates me now, meow..."

Feeling utterly frustrated, Azri immediately started biting her handkerchief with tears welling up in her eyes.

"Ouch... If you're going to cry, just cry. Why are you biting my shoulder?"

The believer, who was resting with his eyes closed while the women reminisced, suddenly felt a pain in his shoulder. He gasped and opened his eyes to see a bloody tooth mark on his shoulder.

"I don't have a handkerchief on my lips, meow." Azriel looked at him with a pitiful expression.

"With your character, how dare you go to a young girl and complain that my nails are too long?" The believer laughed angrily.

"Waaaaah meow..." Azriel then bit back, tears streaming down her face, her sobs gradually subsiding as she ignored those around her.

"..."

The believer knew that this meticulous woman had deliberately chosen this exit to leave him room to speak, so he used his other hand to soothe the emerald cat and looked up to face the angel of death.

Iota naturally understood the monarch's thoughtfulness, and thus looked towards the dragon of the end.

Like the believer, a faint smile lingered on her lips.

"His Majesty Messiah looks much better than before."

"Yes, after you left, I quit smoking and only drank a little."

Do you eat three meals a day on time?

"Of course, my friends know that I eat light meals every day, but I never skimp on them."

“My Lord Messiah, you’ve already made some new friends.”

"No... I just found one or two old friends, and I don't think there are any others left."

"Well then, please keep up the good work. By the way, do you still often stay up late at night?"

"Hmm... does this situation count?"

"Hmm... this situation doesn't count."

"No, that's all. Putting that aside, I usually go to bed at 11 pm every night and get at least 8 hours of sleep. Before bed, I take a nice bath, drink a glass of warm milk afterward, and then do 20-30 minutes of yoga to fully relax my body before going to bed and sleeping soundly until dawn. I never leave fatigue or stress for the next day, and I wake up every morning feeling refreshed and energetic, like a baby. When my routine physical exam results came out during my first winter of university, the doctors said I was perfectly normal..."

"Phew, apart from the loneliness of sleeping alone, everything else is on track."

"Ha...so you heard everything."

"After all, Miss Shiki and I have always been watching over you. We are both very happy that Lord Messiah is living a good life now. This is almost the only common topic that Miss Shiki and I had when we made peace."

"...How are you two getting along?"

"Not so good. Miss Shi is the defender, and I am the attacker, so our relationship is naturally not good. Fortunately, Miss Shi has her own unique way of doing things. We are currently managing the affairs of Shihai together. If she appears in the world, I will take over. It goes on and on. The only time we can sit down and fight together is probably when you, Lord Messiah, are out having fun."

“Iota, you know me, I’ve reformed long ago.” The believer’s gaze was intense.

“Compared to my old life as a bard knight who would spend every other night or early morning rummaging through women’s dens, you have indeed reformed now,” Iota said, bringing up the past.

"..."

"I still remember the anxiety I felt when I first asked Sister Azriel for the key to the apartment where the handsome young man who played the piano so well at her shop was staying. But when I mustered up the courage to run up and push open his door, what I saw was truly an eye-opener for Iota, who had just left the rigidly dogmatic heaven."

“Iota, that was beyond my control. Every time I finish a hard day’s get off work and close the piano lid, I look up and see that I’m surrounded by girls, three or four layers deep. You know that your sister Az’s shop has no shortage of girls. They’re all colleagues and they can’t refuse my invitation to have a drink after get off work. How could I let them down? Besides, they always started it. I’m just a victim. After you dragged me into the industry, I cut off contact with the girls. I didn’t have a choice before. Now I just want to be a good person.”

The believer cleared her throat, slightly embarrassed.

"Of course you've lost contact with the girls in the shop, because you took the boss's wife with you."

Iota stared meaningfully at Azriel in his arms.

"Hmph meow"

Azriel made a sound that seemed to enjoy herself.

“Your sister Az is different from them. This is gratitude. She saved my life. Without her job as a musician to make a living, I would have been running to the bottomless abyss to survive, let alone meeting you later.”

"My Lord Messiah, do you think Miss Shiki will listen to your excuses? The only thing you can be thankful for is that Miss Shiki was truly unconscious during that time, until I rushed into the Sea of Time and shook her awake. Of course, when she woke up, you and the White God had already fought your way from Heaven to Thranheim. At that time, you were already in your ascended form, but she still recognized you at a glance. After you swallowed the White God's remains and began your second ascension, she went to the center of the Sea of Time without hesitation to coordinate the divine authority of the light and dark poles for you. I think you should reflect on this for this alone."

“You’re right, Iota. It’s time to put an end to those ridiculous things from the past. I’m truly reformed now. If you don’t believe me, ask your sister Az.”

"Hmph, I only recently started secretly raising a pair of little girls. I don't believe her when she says she's reformed, meow."

"Stop stirring up trouble for me. The Rhine family's child has been split in two by his elder brother's dualism. I was already in the lower realm with human intelligence, following the thirteen pages of fragments from the Divine Comedy to find the lost Crown of the Sky. Since the host of the Crown of the Sky has taken the initiative to chant my prayer, I naturally won't go to such lengths."

"I think that girl is unusually clingy to you."

“I have always treated that girl like my own daughter. She has experienced the coldness of the world since she was a child, and she has no relatives or friends. Her life has been full of hardships. It is normal for her to be a little attached to me, her teacher. As she grows up, she will make more friends and have her own circle of friends.”

"Pah! Do you even believe what you're saying, meow? My place spans the entire world, what kind of little sluts haven't I seen? These past two years, she's been following you around calling you 'teacher, teacher' so affectionately. In a couple of years, she'll be crawling into your bed with her pillow at night. She's already stealing food at such a young age, I don't even dare to think about what she'll steal when she grows up, meow meow meow."

……

"Hmph... So, Iota, I'll just let things slide regarding Xiao Ji sneaking down to the mortal realm, as you wish?"

The believer breathed a sigh of relief, casually wiping the blood from her lips. The blue blood droplets quickly turned into mist and returned to the sea of time. Before things got any worse, he spent some effort getting the emerald cat to shut her mouth. Then he looked up at the angel of death on the other side and said solemnly.

"It's alright, just do things your way. My disobedient sister has grown up in the best of times and doesn't know anything about human relationships. If a beating can make her mature, that would be too good for her."

Iota shook her head dismissively, and this time, a wicked sense of humor, similar to that of the Shinjo, surfaced in her smile.

"I see. You're such a great older sister, Iota."

The believer saw the wicked smile on her face and immediately understood.

"But Xiao Ji is still a child after all. It doesn't matter if she cries from being hit, but it would be a big problem if she gets hurt. My little girl can be quite ruthless when she hits."

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Messiah, to cover for Little Ji."

"a piece of cake."

"As part of an equivalent exchange, let me also do some insignificant work for Lord Messiah."

"Iota, is it really necessary for us to be so clear about things?" The believer was slightly surprised.

“There’s no need for that. But I just looked down at the material world from the Twilight Tomb and saw that Kaguya is almost losing control. They’ve already discovered that you’ve secretly run away. Are you sure you don’t need Iota to pull Shiki back into the Sea of Time? I don’t think you’ll be able to get away from here anytime soon—you’ve just reignited Azrael’s anger.”

This time, Miss Iota's smile was exceptionally sweet.

"..."

"My Lord Messiah, what is your opinion?"

Faced with that sweet smile, the believer readily surrendered.

The biggest change in him now compared to the past is that he no longer insists on fighting alone, but has begun to learn to rely on the power of his accomplices.

"My princess, your knight is in grave danger, please be merciful."

……

Chapter 164 Epilogue: Preview of Act Two

The Fate of Azure Moon

Miss Reinhardt, do you believe in the legend of making a wish upon a shooting star?

[I don't believe you. Besides, what I hate most is someone who falls from the sky.]

The dark knots of the past,

I have the utmost respect for those brave souls who turn a blind eye to their unborn children…

Because you never know when you might get stabbed three times and have six holes in your body.

The absurd days of adolescence

[Step back! You gossipy scoundrel, Chloe is an exceptional woman who could be my mother!]

[Hearn! Is your brain filled with engine oil?!!!!]