The Strange Adventures of Hearn the Believer

Yonglin has had an amazing talent for medicine and pharmacology since childhood. The Far Eastern doctors also have a good impression of this local Rosetta boy who worked hard to rescue the crew members on the night of the shipwreck and eventually collapsed from exhaustion. Doctors are compassionate, and Yonglin wanted to learn, so they were willing to teach her. Before long, Yonglin learned the skill of pulse diagnosis. Although she has only just entered the door, with the medical books left by the Dragon People doctors and the accumulation of experience in the future, it will not be difficult for her to master this skill.

At that moment, Yonglin casually took Mr. Hearn's right wrist pulse, which was resting on her right shoulder.

then

! ? ? ? ? ? ? ?

Yonglin's expression gradually changed from eagerness to confusion, then to disbelief, and finally to raging waves.

Dead! ? ? ? ? ? ?

He turned his head sharply and was met with a pair of calm, blue eyes that were very close to his.

At the same time, Yonglin finally felt the steady pulse of a normal living being between her right fingers.

"Mr. Hern, who were you just now?" Yonglin hesitated for a moment, then lowered her voice and asked in a trembling tone.

“I’m practicing my fake death technique, or you’re not skilled enough. Choose one,” Mr. Hearn said, giving him a disheartened look.

"Emmmmmmmm, I think it's because I'm not skilled enough." Upon hearing this, Eirin's ears twitched, and she chose a reply based on her heart. In her heart, she attributed the real reason to one of the ten thousand little secrets of sorcerers.

"That's true. Then please continue to take my pulse. I haven't been feeling well today," the believer said casually, gazing wistfully into the distance beyond the forest.

According to the map he remembered, the group was almost at their destination, the mining town of Mystaril.

At most, by evening—no, given the marching speed of this small team, which is essentially unaffected by the vegetation in the forest, they should arrive before noon at the latest.

The timing is perfect; we have half a day left to scout out the town before making our move after sunset.

So, Mr. Hearn, who had no psychological burden at the moment, let the white fox take his pulse in a very professional manner.

It was indeed a careless oversight. The woman had not had such a harmonious physical contact with a stranger, especially a strange doctor, for many years, to the point that her long-dormant biological signs had been stagnant for a moment.

This is why Yonglin couldn't feel his pulse at first.

After the believer realized something was wrong, his biological characteristics began to mimic his last human self, which led to the scene that followed.

"I always felt that Mr. Hern was very young," Yonglin remarked after taking his pulse for a while.

“Of course, I’m only seventeen this year,” the believer replied matter-of-factly.

"Huh? Ju is actually a year younger than me?" Yonglin was a little surprised. Comparing the two, she felt that she had wasted eighteen years of her life. However, after thinking about it, the lifespan of the Gozan dragon people seemed to be at most one hundred and fifty years. Compared to the lifespan of the Rosetta people, which was often more than one thousand five hundred years, she felt much more at ease.

I am still young, I am still small, and I still have room to grow.

Yonglin reassured herself inwardly, then jokingly spoke up, trying to ease the embarrassment caused by her slight slip of the tongue.

“Indeed, Mr. Hern’s pulse is very similar to mine; we both have the pulse that young people have.”

"Hmm? What kind of pulse does a young person have?"

"The medical books of doctors in the Far East say that if the pulse is broad, full and strong, and the pulse is strong at the beginning and weak at the end, like waves, it is often a sign of a child."

""

click!

I've been a little busy these past few days, but I'll try my best to update every two days.

Chapter 115 Reciprocity

The rest of the journey went as Mr. Hearn had predicted, and the group soon arrived safely at the mining town of Mystariel.

It even arrived a little earlier than expected, and the reason for this was...

The moment they stepped out of the dense thicket of trees, both Deedlit and Pandora cast curious glances at Mr. Hearn and Eirin, whom he was carrying like a dead dog on his back.

However, Mr. Hearn ignored both curious glances with a disdainful look.

Judging from the results alone, the team's marching speed actually increased after Yonglin's feet left the ground.

Unaware of what was going on, Deedlit felt a subtle sense of relief, as if she had turned misfortune into blessing.

Pandora still couldn't grasp the details of what had just happened in her Prometheus particle monitoring network that were unknown to her, but she began to notice something—about the fact that Mr. Hearn seemed to have a built-in shielding observation field.

"Let's go, Yonglin is just tired, let her rest for a while."

Mr. Hearn seemed uninterested in the events that had just occurred and appeared unwilling to discuss them further.

Deedlit glanced at the white fox sleeping soundly on Mr. Hearn's back, except for the slightly unnatural tilt of its neck, and didn't ask any further questions. She then walked to the front of the group and resumed her role as the tour guide.

Only Aoko deliberately turned her face away as she passed by Shinonome, seemingly gazing at the scenery of Mistaril in the distance, and shouted a few times in cooperation, but Shinonome always felt that the voice sounded very pretentious.

So the believer performed a "good show" on the spot, opening one subspace rift and then opening another in the direction that Aoko was facing.

Aoko was caught off guard and made eye contact with Shinju. She saw that Shinju's expression was normal, but there was a hint of her emotions that were about to break down.

Seeing this, Aoko couldn't help but give an awkward but polite smile.

Now that things had come to this, Xin Nu could easily guess what the sharp-eared woman had overheard. With a dark expression, she closed the rift and strode towards the town, dragging the dog-like Eirin along with her.

Mistariel is situated in a rare, treeless valley within the vast Rosetta Forest. The river system, which the forest spirits call the Moon River, meanders around this mining town before flowing straight north.

The team had just emerged from the forest onto a high point. After crossing a verdant suspension bridge spanning the Moon River, they would descend along the opposite bank to finally reach Mistaril.

This is a typical town in a forest, with walls made of living wood grown by druids. Squads of guards patrol the watchtowers and walls, working together to maintain the town's security.

For a small town, the number of troops stationed there is excessive, but for a mining city of significant economic importance, the number is not excessive.

With identification documents prepared in advance by the Mercenary Guild in the Clouds, the believer and her companions easily entered Mistaril, led by Deedlit, a member of the Forest Elf clan.

The three non-residents of the Tree Sea expressed varying degrees of curiosity about the houses that were formed from plants throughout the city, while Deedlit, as the "host," enthusiastically introduced the local customs and culture of Mistaril.

The pureblood Rosetta fox, Yonglin, slowly woke up from Mr. Hearn's back and happened to overhear this. She waved her hand, seemingly quite unconvinced, and told Mr. Hearn and the others that she was actually very skilled at building houses. She said that if Mr. Hearn planned to settle down somewhere in the future and liked this kind of living wooden house, he could just ask her to build it for him.

It turns out he was a Druid who worked part-time in the civil engineering department in addition to being a doctor.

Upon hearing this, the believer Hearn once again felt a deep respect for Mr. Yonglin.

Under Deedlit's guidance, the group finally settled down at an inn called Shiraki Garden. The innkeeper was someone Deedlit knew well; she was an older beauty with green hair, fair skin, a voluptuous figure, and a captivating dark beauty mark under her left eye. Unlike Deedlit's dashing style, the innkeeper exuded a mature charm that was captivating, radiating a kind of masculine hormone that stirred the heart of a pure boy like Eirin.

At the tender age of twenty-nine, in the prime of his life, Mr. Yonglin silently recited his morning prayers to Ms. Rosetta several times before he could finally calm himself down.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw that Mr. Hern had left his spot at some point and was now chatting warmly with Ms. Lin Jing across the counter.

“Beautiful lady, please forgive my intrusion. Although this is our first meeting, I can miraculously sense a long-lost and cherished maternal aura emanating from you. I smell the scent of destiny within you. This encounter must be the will of Lady Heinari Seraniel.”

Wait, Mr. Hearn? Isn't your perspective a little different from most people's?

Although Yonglin had previously mingled among the mercenaries and watched from afar Mr. Hearn and Mr. Joshua fight over Ms. Jiang Xue many times when they were at the Cloud Inn, the cause of the conflict was usually that Mr. Hearn would start to take Ms. Jiang Xue's hand after only a few words, holding her hand to read her palm or discussing the ninety-nine ways to care for a woman's nails.

Ms. Jiang Xue is a rather young and elegant oriental beauty. In terms of charm, she is clearly not in the same direction as the elven proprietress of Bai Muting, who makes people want to bury their face in her. So, during the time when she was temporarily staying at the Cloud Inn, although she saw Mr. Hearn fall ill more than once, Yonglin really did not think in that direction.

Mr. Hearn seems to have an innate weakness for mature older women or even more sophisticated intellectual beauties, and his action-taking ability in this regard is inexplicably off the charts. As a result, the scene of him fighting with Mr. Joshua has almost become a regular feature of the Cloud Inn.

After leaving the clouds, things seemed to calm down for a few days, but before long, Mr. Hearn's illness relapsed.

Miss Deedlit stood aside, seemingly expecting this, but covered her mouth and couldn't help laughing, looking like she was watching a good show.

Miss Pandora stood to the side, completely bewildered, reaching out a hand towards Mr. Hearn's retreating figure. The hand hovered in mid-air, seemingly unsure whether to pull it or not. She appeared not to have fully grasped why Mr. Hearn had suddenly fallen ill.

As the only remaining male in the team, Yonglin knew it was his turn to step in and stop this outrageous scene. In his eyes, Mr. Hearn should be a dashing young swordsman in flowing white robes. Even if he were to flirt, he should be a refined and elegant gentleman, not someone who just barges in like he's looking for his mother!

Wait a minute, why was Ms. Lin Jing not scared into shrinking behind the counter under such a direct attack, but instead allowed Mr. Hearn to hold her hand and talk eloquently?

Upon closer inspection, Yonglin noticed that her eyes were like water, and her brows held a subtle charm.

“Mistaril is such a charming town, and it’s a pity I don’t know enough about it. If I had the chance, I would love to experience the town’s culture and customs firsthand under the guidance of a fascinating local.”

"Mr. Hearn, if you insist, there is time tonight."

Upon hearing this, Yonglin felt it was time to step in. Before things got out of control, he cleared his throat, as if to encourage himself. His small body gathered great strength, ready to plunge into the strange atmosphere and pull his ailing friend, Hern, back to reality.

however

click!

With a strange noise that Yonglin found inexplicably familiar, Mr. Hearn's figure, which was leaning towards the counter, was forced backward by the external force, and then slid limply to the ground.

"No need."

With a forced smile, Aozaki Aoko stood in front of Lin Jing's proprietress Tiffany in place of Shinjo, her right arm, which glowed with a blue circuit, cradling the head of someone sleeping peacefully.

"I'm sorry for the trouble caused by my poor management. Also, please arrange two guest rooms, the quieter the better, as we are tired from our journey and need to rest."

Tiffany, the proprietress of the Whitewood Pavilion Inn, was naturally a charming and shrewd woman. Given the current situation, how could she not understand the tense and subtle atmosphere that filled the inn? Seeing her acquaintance Deedlit's sly smile, she understood perfectly. So, although she couldn't hide the regret in her eyes, she quickly rallied, took out two room vouchers, handed them to Miss Rosetta who was about to explode, and waved her hand to indicate that she "had no such intention."

Yonglin breathed a sigh of relief. In fact, he was very bad at interfering in such matters, and it was great that Miss Tian Lanlan could take his place. Soon, he saw Miss Tian Lanlan throw another room voucher to Deedlit, and then, carrying Mr. Hearn's head, she disappeared like a dead dog at the corner of the stairs leading upstairs, without ever looking back at her teammate.

It's worth mentioning that Yonglin once again inexplicably felt that Mr. Hearn's dead dog-like posture looked strangely familiar.

Miss Pandora belatedly followed after them.

Eirin and Deedlit were left staring at each other in bewilderment.

When adventurers spend the night in unfamiliar towns, unless they are traveling alone, they rarely stay in a room by themselves. The reason is simple: if there are two or more people, they can at least look out for each other if something happens in the middle of the night.

Deedlit seemed completely oblivious to this, clutching her room pass and dashing upstairs as if eager to watch the show.

Yonglin hesitated for a moment, then went to find the landlady Tiffany and booked another room. After completing the formalities, she finally came upstairs late.

Chapter 116 Felines

As the false moon climbed once more into the sky above the sea of ​​trees, the believer opened her eyes from her slumber. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Pandora sitting quietly by the windowsill, her light gray bangs obscuring her violet eyes, making it impossible to tell whether she was asleep or not.

On the other side of the bed, due to the angle of view, the believer could only see a few strands of long, dark red hair hanging loosely.

Mr. Hearn, who was sleeping on the floor, sighed silently.

Three people are forced to live in a single room, and the three people living there are not even human. To make matters worse, none of them need to sleep.

Anyone else would probably have given up on the idea of ​​sneaking out in the middle of the night long ago.

In other words, the believer was able to think of a solution when faced with this stalemate.

Deedlit and Eirin are outsiders kept in the dark. They still don't know that their employer—the Far Eastern princess—is a pure-blooded earth child. Therefore, the matter of exploring the ruins of the Yale Empire was never revealed to the two of them from the beginning.

As for the other two

Well, you know, Mr. Hearn's favorite thing to do is to work alone.

Just as he tentatively opened a subspace rift on the floor beneath him, Pandora, under the windowsill, sensed the movement of the Prometheus particles and immediately opened her dozing eyes, staring intently at the Nobunaga on the floor.

The believer naturally noticed those pleasing purple eyes and quickly blinked to signal Pandora not to act rashly. At the same time, she opened a second subspace rift at Pandora's location.

However, just as he blinked to signal, another pair of pale blue eyes peeked out from the bed and cast a vicious glare at Mr. Hern, who was making small movements.

Mr. Hearn rolled his eyes silently, then reluctantly opened the third subspace rift.

There are no visible open-pit mines near the town of Mystariel. According to Deedlit's previous explanation, the real mine entrance is located beneath the roots of a small World Tree that grows in the very center of the town and shares the same name as the town.

Here we must mention the city-building culture of the Forest Elves. The so-called World Tree is not the towering tree in Norse mythology that supports the nine realms, but rather a general term for all giant living trees that can support more than one city. The capital of the Forest Elf Empire, Ulthuan, was built on a giant World Tree of the same name, while towns like Mystariel were built from a small branch cut from Ulthuan.

The large silver vein that once flowed with silver streams was naturally an accidental discovery after Mistaril took root in the area, as its roots continued to extend into the strata.

In short, the tree is alive and has enough passageways inside for the miners to go up and down daily.

As for why Mistaril, a small mining town, doesn't even have a man-made road for transporting ore, there is no such thing as a road around it.

Deedlit's answer was quite generous—because of the close relationship between Mystariel and Ulthuan, all the mined ore did not need to be transported by road. It could be transported to the capital of the Forest Elf Empire simply by relying on the natural hubs within Mystariel.

What an overly convenient environmentalist! Mr. Hearn marveled at the ingenious structure and connection of the mother and child trees, and secretly made up his mind that after exploring the Yale ruins, he would go directly to Ulthuan via the teleportation array in Mistariel, and no longer linger in the vegetation of the forest.

“Mr. Hearn, Miss Aozaki will kill you when you get back.”

Pandora's voice, as if prophetic, came from beside me.

The believer shrugged helplessly, her expression a mixture of emotions, and finally nodded resignedly.

Here, beneath the roots of Mystariel, in a man-made spiral mine shaft, the believer had no time to walk steadily, and slowly descended with Pandora through the hollow in the center of the mine.

Pandora mastered flight in no time; a studious and diligent student will always win the teacher's favor.

Although the believer has never publicly mentioned taking Pandora as a student.

There are still some unclear things that need to be clarified and resolved. In short, there is still a long way to go.

Mystariel's defenses were no less formidable than those at the city walls, but for the elusive and swift-moving Believer, infiltrating such a heavily guarded miniature World Tree was not a difficult task.

A moment ago, he opened three rifts, two of which led to the interior of the Mistariel Tree, and the remaining one led to the bed where Shiraki Aozaki Aoko was lying.

Yes, that's right. After being exposed, the woman made a final effort and threw Aoko back onto the bed.

This is the fundamental reason why Pandora made that assertion earlier.

In fact, she wasn't the only one who foresaw it; the believer was also quite aware of it.