Academic gathering with a lich-Chapter 134 - 129 Reporter’s Intelligence Gathering
Lyle couldn’t clearly hear the voice Vena transmitted into his mind, because that voice was so faint in Lyle’s mind.
In Lyle’s mind, there appeared a deep sea.
Merfolk, sea monsters, bizarre fish, crustaceans, cephalopods. In the eyes of land creatures, the dark and dangerous ocean, Lyle could feel the abundance and strangeness of life within. Their skeletons, their pulses, Lyle felt them as if they were as familiar as his own heartbeat.
As a part of his innate talent, Nia experienced the same sensations. Her body expanded in the water, with strong tentacles, sharp talons, and dark knowledge.
"We should go back now, Plague Doctor," Vena’s expression became painful, as the leeches on the back of her neck were tearing at her skin, causing her nearly to faint from the pain. Arnold seemed quite angry.
Holding Lyle in her arms, Vena swam back towards the surface.
Lyle was thrown onto the shore, soaking wet, with evaporating steam robbing him of his warmth. The cold made his head a bit clearer, and Lyle, supporting his brain that felt as if it had rushing torrents inside, struggled to look at Vena.
She lay prostrate on the steps, the mermaid out of water was just a disheveled girl, with her underwater miracles completely dissipated. Her figure was still graceful but not even a tenth as beautiful as it was in the water. Bluish-green blood changed the color of her scales as it flowed down her spine, finally running into the pool following the pattern of her fins.
Her face bore no expression, other than weariness. But Lyle knew that if he joined hands with her, he could feel her inner pain. Her pupils turned deep purple, and her eyes looked at Lyle blankly, wordlessly.
Bearing a splitting headache, Lyle crawled towards Vena, just wanting to grab her hand and feel everything about her.
A pair of dirty, mud-caked, deformed legs blocked his path.
Arnold wore a nasty smile on his face, revealing rotten teeth from his mouth like small triangles of a shark’s.
"Andrey’s rule, members’ private property must not be violated. Your peculiar animal experience is over, worm."
Vena is not your peculiar animal, she is a homesick girl with her own thoughts.
Even though filled nearly to the brim with indignation, Lyle ultimately didn’t break Andrey’s rules. Because he was right—Vena was already under his control.
"What would it take for you to give her freedom?"
Arnold’s eyes narrowed slightly, and through those narrow slits shone the look of a shark that smelled blood.
He outstretched his slimy hand, grabbing Lyle by the throat.
His voice was slow, so the filth from his mouth flowed coherently in front of Lyle’s mask, soaking half of it.
"Exchange her for Arnold’s beauty, Arnold can feel that she’s on you. But Arnold can’t find it, you have to hand her over to Arnold yourself, worm."
"You wish, I will never hand Nia over to anyone."
Arnold showed a big, filthy smile, spitting something that resembled sludge or excrement onto Lyle’s mask. 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞
"Arnold is very merciful. Arnold will give you time to think. One week from now, Arnold will begin the bio-modification experiments with the precious mermaid but will be waiting for you all the while. You’ll also love it when the precious mermaid grows two heads, won’t you?"
......
Lyle walked back absently.
"Plague Doctor, how well do you grasp the knowledge of flesh?"
"It’s all in my mind, teacher."
"Great, let’s start the review immediately, I can’t wait to see your new creation."
Lyle stopped in his tracks, turned around, and faced the dragon, bowing apologetically.
"I’m sorry, teacher, but I’m afraid it will be difficult for me to focus on the creation and modification for a while." Although such a decision was trivial, Lyle could not let go of those eyes that watched him. The Sword of Damocles, hanging over his head for a week, was pressing down on him so hard that he could not concentrate.
"You are enchanted, Plague Doctor. Merfolk are an ocean species adept at enchantment. They hunt with their attractive looks and legendary singing, dragging their prey down to the seabed to devour."
"No, that wasn’t a charm, Teacher. I can confirm that I genuinely felt everything about the merfolk, their thoughts, their emotions, their memories. Merfolk communicate through Mind Communication." We’ve been charmed more than once or twice, so I can tell the difference.
"Mind Communication, that is indeed a quite rare ability. If it’s true, this could be a significant discovery, as our knowledge of merfolk is very limited."
"Eh, do scholars in Andrey not know about merfolk?"
"Of course, merfolk are very rare creatures, and very few Andreyans can truly understand them. In fact, many creatures maintain a sense of wariness and fear towards us, but you seem to be an exception. Perhaps that’s also a power of the pure."
"Possibly."
"So, you plan to rescue the mermaid?"
"Yes, I’ll do everything in my power."
"Should you need my assistance, feel free to let me know, Plague Doctor. I’m always happy to help my students and, incidentally, to be a thorn in Arnold’s side."
.....
Mr. Dragon and Lyle split up, taking different paths as he had other matters to attend to and chose another branch.
Lyle moved through the light and shadows of Andrey, his mind still pondering ways to rescue Vena.
Until that unavoidably noticeable figure appeared before him.
Enveloped in a curtain-like white fabric with floral patterns, antlers poking out from among the flowers on the head, such a figure leaned against the lavish door of the Cup of Luxury, writhing like a worm.
A wave of nausea hit Lyle, and he thought he should probably come back in a few minutes.
"Mr. Plague Doctor, don’t go, it’s me!"
The wriggling figure hopped over.
Lyle reluctantly picked up his manners again.
"What are you doing at the door of our club, Mr. Reporter?"
"Ah, I was planning to dig up some gossip about Alianna over here, but halfway through, the belt on my frill floral skirt broke, and I’ve been sashaying along quite awkwardly, which is a bit troublesome."
So, you were putting on a skirt just now? Lyle regretted asking.
"Mr. Reporter, draped in that curtain, even if you wore nice clothes underneath, no one would be able to see it."
"This isn’t a curtain! This is the Fasnuo Royal Glory Fabric Limited Edition! Do you know, just a small piece of this cost all of my and other gentlemen’s speculative labor earnings! This is fashion, this is art, I follow fashion not for others to see, but to satisfy myself! Never mind, you wouldn’t understand. Plague Doctor, I’d like to ask you a few questions, I hope you could answer them."
"If I’m able to answer them."
"Recently, some members of Andrey have seen Lady Alianna strolling in the Castle of Andrey with someone suspected to be her daughter. Are you aware of this? Do you know how Alianna got a daughter? Do you know who the child’s father is?"
"Alianna’s daughter?" Lyle pondered, just as Nia’s black tentacle prodded his spine. Maybe it was Alianna walking with disguised Nia.
"I’m quite familiar with the situation, but I must clarify beforehand, that’s not Alianna’s daughter. It’s my avatar; you might understand it as my creation."
"What? This is huge news!" Mr. Reporter hurriedly scribbled on parchment.
"Lady Alianna of Andrey, it seems, has an indescribable relationship with Andrey’s newcomer, the pure Seed of Holy Light, the Plague Doctor. Shocking, the Plague Doctor is suspected to be the father of Alianna’s daughter! Moreover, Alianna has also been entangled in a dispute over her child’s legitimacy, even risking the loss of her identity as a mother. Only recently did she plead to meet with the Plague Doctor and her daughter. Where will this family end up? What sort of status does the Plague Doctor have behind him, to make the Naslan family bow and scrape? What role does Holy Light’s bane Raymond play in this oppression? Regardless, please give the child a complete family. Keep an eye out for the 1423rd issue of Andrey News, entwined in Naslan and Holy Light’s love and hate story. I am a reporter; I will follow up on the story’s progress, so stay tuned."
Lyle looked at Mr. Reporter in surprise.
"Are you even human?"
