The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

"No."

"..."

Wait, this guy almost led me astray again.

“Hearn, wait, you know that’s not what I meant.”

"?"

“I mean, that’s not what I want to ask. What I really want to ask is what happened today? About Van Mielion… Miss Lily.”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Dominic regretted them and felt ashamed.

Because the bartender across the bar suddenly looked pitiful, and the way he looked at Dominique made her feel like a mentally challenged child in dire need of emotional support...

"Dominic."

“Hearn, you… uh, just say it, I mean, please.”

"From Mr. Hearn's humble little lesson in life experience, the first lesson is: to have a healthy, bright, and positive life, you should learn to stay away from older women who are much older than you and much more cunning than you; otherwise, you will become unhappy—"

"Gu..."

……

Chapter 263 Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night (Part Fourteen)

He accepted the box and the book, bid farewell to the people seeing him off, and knew that his journey home was imminent, and that they would have no further connection in this life.

That's how it should be.

The young people who were "seeing off" left so decisively, so without any lingering attachment. Even their farewell, which was like waving goodbye with their backs turned, had a sense of never seeing each other again and a refreshing feeling of clearing away all trouble.

For some reason, it seems like he dislikes me.

Under a leaden sky, amidst the sea fog, in front of the seaside train station, a silver-haired woman named Lily Van Mielion, who was spending a short holiday there, was half curious and half hesitant about whether to say goodbye to him.

In the end, however, everything fell silent.

After the black car disappeared silently into the sea fog, Lily stopped looking back and turned to walk into the seaside train station.

Just like when we arrived, it was empty. The offshore node on the border of Gomorrah was nothing more than a formality, and the so-called train station was nothing more than a formality.

A thousand travelers, a thousand forms; in this way, they do not disturb each other, and it is quite peaceful.

Lily's steps were light, and she often stopped. The train for her return journey was already waiting on the platform, but she didn't seem to be in a hurry to board.

Without a doubt, she was a true traveler, captivated by the myriad different landscapes along the way, but if she had started her journey home too early, she would have been greeted by the same unchanging scenery.

It's not that it's not good enough, it's just that I'm a little tired of it.

That's why she would often pause on the platform. For Lily, even the misty sea fog, the leaden sky, the sound of waves coming from beyond the fog, the silver-star-like iron dragon docked there, and the sin city sleeping in the sea fog were all novel sights.

Although they are not necessarily all "good".

Pure vision was obscured in an instant.

They were not completely plunged into darkness; their consciousness remained clear, and even a faint light shone through the darkness.

"Guess who I am?" A soft voice called from behind, the tone barely concealing amusement.

"Iota".

Miss Lily, with silver hair, smiled and removed the hands that were covering her eyes. She turned around and, as expected, yet unexpectedly, saw another silver-haired girl standing behind her with a mischievous grin.

As expected, the visitor was, just as she had anticipated, an old friend she had known for a long time.

Unexpected, because...

"Uh, Iota?"

Lily blinked, and with some disbelief, asked her old friend again to confirm.

"I'm here, Aunt."

The old friend in front of her responded with a bright smile, and even reached out to touch Lily's forehead.

That was probably a gesture used by mortal beings to test whether the other person had a fever or was delirious.

"Uh, okay."

Lily blinked again, accepting the current situation of the younger girl in front of her.

……

In Lily's long-held memory, her most outstanding junior was a holy girl dressed in white robes, as compassionate, solemn and dignified as a martyr, the most promising successor to Sariel and Gabriel, and the one on whom her elders, including herself, placed high hopes.

That image of a well-behaved girl is completely different from the image of the silver-haired tomboy in front of me, wearing a baseball cap, goggles, a windbreaker, denim shorts, hiking boots, looking like she just returned from a hiking or camping trip, with souvenir stickers on her face and her hair tied in a single ponytail.

They have absolutely no connection whatsoever!

“Iota, I know that losing your inheritance rights is a huge blow to you…”

Although she was the youngest among her siblings and therefore very close in age to her younger relatives, as an elder, Lily still felt it necessary to offer some guidance to her older sister's eldest daughter.

“It’s alright, dear Aunt, Iota doesn’t care about that at all anymore.”

"..."

"Huh huh huh~"

"Really?"

"real."

"I do not believe."

"Just because those two positions are what I've been striving for since I was born?"

"Because those two positions are what you've been striving for since you were born."

"As expected, I can't convince you without some solid evidence."

"exactly."

Lily briefly stated her position, and this concise reply made her feel that she had finally regained her authority as an elder in front of the younger generation.

A little bit.

This feels amazing!

"Aunt, what do you think of him?"

My niece, who seems to have given up on herself and entered a rebellious phase, suddenly threw out a word that was off-topic, a metaphor.

he?

Lily took a moment to review all the male creatures she had encountered on this trip, and finally naturally turned her thoughts back to the young man who had just handed her the secret manual and the golden box with a cold face and then left without a second thought.

Believer Hearn.

"Didn't your matter get resolved smoothly, Aunt?"

Iota glanced at the object in Lily's hand, then stopped investigating and simply chatted.

Seeing this perfect sense of proportion, Lily knew that the person beside her was still the same well-behaved niece she knew.

"The matter has been settled, but it seems that I have incurred Lord Hern's displeasure."

"It's alright, it's alright. That's just how he is. He's a handful, he doesn't like anyone, and he hides away when trouble comes his way. If no one bothers him, he can stay in his hole for a month. But if he gets really angry, he can get rid of a lot of trouble before his interest wears off. In short, he's a talented but unmotivated weirdo."

Ms. Iota introduced it with considerable dissatisfaction.

Lily listened quietly to her niece's introduction, which was half complaining and half showing off, with a slight smile on her lips.

“There are plenty of unmotivated freaks out there, but this is the first time my little niece has personally praised a man as ‘talented.’”

As she finished speaking, thanks to her gossipy nature, Lily's eyes lit up, and she winked at her niece, her gaze conveying a clear "something's not right" message.

"No chance."

Faced with her aunt's gossipy gaze, Miss Iota spread her hands, her expression remarkably unique and insightful.

"Huh?" Lily's gaze became puzzled.

“It means there’s no chance.” Iota’s tone became indifferent, or at least that’s how it sounded.

"why?"

"You can tell just by looking at his half-dead state, right?"

"..."

I'm sorry, my aunt's knowledge in this area is limited, so she really can't tell anything.

Lily's forehead began to sweat; the unfathomable elder's authority made her feel as if she were walking on thin ice.

"Actually, I didn't understand at first either. I couldn't understand why such a talented man would be so clean and decisive in Gomorrah, a barbaric place where even a dog wants to get ahead, wants to stand out, and wants to become a big shot. Even if he wasn't in Gomorrah, but in heaven or hell, such a person should have become a rising star, hanging high in the sky, instead of falling into the mud and eking out an existence. But he has indeed fallen into the dust."

"So, Iota, how did you come to your senses later?"

“How could I possibly find the reason? There’s no such exception in the education I’ve received since birth. Like I just said, I can’t understand why he’s ended up in such a state. He’s so young, talented, has the time and opportunity to build his own castle from scratch, recruit his own army within the castle, expand his territory from the castle as the starting point, build his own city-state, establish his own country. The path was so obvious, yet he didn’t take a single step. Do you really think I’m deliberately making things difficult for him? I’m just giving him something to do, so he doesn’t just rot away.”

“Iota, to be honest, this isn’t like you. Although your style of dress is completely different from before, in my eyes, you should still be the same persistent, ambitious, competitive, and time-conscious girl you used to be. You don’t seem like the kind of girl who would waste time on something that seems hopeless, unless…”

"Unless this person and this situation are not beyond redemption, unless he just happened to run into my line of fire."

"Iota?"

“Dear Aunt, my education is not enough to give me a definite answer. At most, I only have a vague feeling. However, I am not the only one in this world. If I can see him, then others can see him as well. I don’t think I have mentioned to you that, apart from this temporary commissioned work, his main job is playing the piano in Aphrodite and working part-time as a bartender to make a living. He was there before I met him.”

"Aphrodite...Az's sister's shop!?"

"Correct."

No wonder it's in the Bay Area.

Only then did Lily belatedly realize what was happening.

As the projection of the Queen of Pleasure's power, Lily was well aware of the Bay Area's form of existence. Apart from this form, she also vaguely understood why that young man would stay in the Bay Area and spend his days there.

The kingdom of the Queen of Pleasure is a place that will shelter lost souls who have strayed from the path.

"In short, I only understood after talking to Aunt Azriel. I have to say, she has a very good eye for people, especially men."

"In other words, Sister Az gave you the answer regarding Lord Hern."

"Yes, I still remember His Majesty's words. They were concise yet profound, far beyond what I had been taught."

"What did Sister Az say?" Lily asked curiously.

Iota cleared his throat, paused for a moment, and then spoke with a disdainful and sarcastic tone, as if imitating one of his elders.

"【What's so strange about that? Aren't all little boys who have lost their hearts to women like this? I've seen it all before】."

"..."

Having said all that, the two silver-haired women looked at each other, their lips twitching involuntarily.

……

Parting is inevitable after all. Lily stood outside the train door, turned around, and realized some things, which made her a little uneasy.

“Iota, to be honest, your aunt is both relieved and worried.”

"You seem contradictory."

"Of course, I am relieved that my lovely little niece has not been discouraged by the temporary setback. You are still young and have a long time ahead of you. Changing your path is not such a difficult thing. But I am also worried because you are still the persistent, competitive and highly proactive girl I know. You have the talent to put your dreams into practice and the decisiveness to match it."

"It sounds like there's no difference between the two, my dear aunt, you're overthinking it."

"Iota".

"I'm here, Auntie."

"Iota, are you obsessed with that dead person in Hearn's heart?"

"..."

“Iota, don’t lie to your aunt, you know that.”

"……Yes."

……

Chapter 264 Good Morning, Good Afternoon, Good Night (The End)

It looks more like a plant than an animal.