Chapter 489 - 202: Cute...

Wei’en stared at the items listed on the parchment, frowning in thought for a few seconds. He gritted his teeth and continued to write. ’In that case, I might as well set a loftier goal—I’ll make it my research objective to upgrade Shawa to the Regent—no, the Legendary grade!’

’With a Legendary-grade undead-mechanical fusion as the research objective, even if I fail, surely no one would doubt my research capabilities... right?’

While Wei’en was busy, outside his workshop, three people and a zombie sat at the dining table, engaged in a very "friendly" conversation.

"...I’m sorry, Lady Clelia, but I refuse to join your guard," Pavla said, her expression resolute.

Clelia chuckled, filing her nails. "Then you’d rather be a maid here? I don’t quite get it. Is being my guard really so much worse than being a maid?"

"Not at all," Pavla said gravely. "I’ve remembered who you are. As a Dawn Believer, I will never work for a heretical organization like the Eternal Life Association! Unlike that Mutated Mage, I have my principles."

"Even if I were to threaten you with the lives of other Dawn Believers?"

"Hmph! According to the Church’s records, over the centuries, the Eternal Life Association has slaughtered enough Dawn Believers to exceed the population of an entire kingdom!"

"Oh, is that so?" Clelia flashed a seductive smile. "And what if I told you that Wei’en has also joined our Eternal Life Association?"

"He..."

Pavla’s expression froze. "He... He’s a Wizard from the Ghost Soul School, isn’t he?"

"But it’s true," Clelia said, putting away her nail file and rising to her feet. "There’s no rule that says a Wizard can’t be a member of the Eternal Life Association. Even the Ghost Soul School doesn’t forbid it, does it?"

"I..."

Before Pavla could finish, Clelia raised a hand to cut her off. "You should understand that neither he nor I can bring ourselves to truly bear you ill will, but that doesn’t give you the right to constantly lecture us about the ’Dawn Radiance’!"

"I can accept you not joining the guard. But if you continue to try and bind everyone here with the Dawn Doctrine, I guarantee you will regret it!"

"Since you know who I am, then you should also know that if I wished it, every single Dawn believer in an entire city-state could, overnight..."

Clelia raised a hand and drew a finger across her throat. "Trust me, you don’t want to see that happen."

With that, she nodded to Tina and Shawa and turned to walk toward the training area. In her mind, however, she thought with exasperation, ’I can’t even threaten her properly... This Authority of Benevolence? Damn it all!’

Pavla watched Clelia’s retreating figure, biting her lip as her eyes welled up with tears.

’Great Dawn, what should I do?’

"Actually, before Caster, Wei’en hadn’t joined the Eternal Life Association."

After Clelia had entered the training area, Shawa spoke stiffly, her head still buried in the Gonzalez script on the parchment. "It was your Dawn Church, the nobility, and the Council that forced him to make that choice."

Hm?

Hearing Miss Zombie’s words, Pavla wiped her eyes and asked in confusion, "But what happened there... wasn’t that the work of the Director of the Secret Investigation Department and Wei’en?"

"The results don’t always match the reality," Shawa said, raising her head. Her ghastly white eye and the mechanical one fixed on Pavla. "Before that night, Wei’en had no intention of harming anyone."

"I wasn’t there that night, but I’ve listened to Wei’en and Clelia talk. I know that the catastrophe was caused by the nobility and the Dawn Church. They joined forces to pressure him, and that’s what led the Director to do what he did."

"As for Wei’en, he was just trying to survive. It’s like with the Undead Creatures in the Undead World who carve out their own territory—if you don’t devour other undead, you’ll be the one trampled underfoot forever."

"Is that so?"

Pavla thought back on her recent interactions with Wei’en, finding it hard to imagine what he had been like before.

’Just what kind of experiences could have twisted him into the "evil" person he is today?’

’Perhaps the feedback from my power is real... Wei’en... isn’t actually evil...’

Shawa said no more. She had only said that much because she didn’t want this woman, who gave off such a "delicious" scent, to misunderstand Wei’en. That was all.

Tina, meanwhile, was completely absorbed in her Gonzalez studies, acting as if the others weren’t even there.

Only the clown doll in her hands, hearing the words of these ugly women, began to speculate maliciously about what the future held for them and Wei’en.

’Will it be "Ludwig’s Tragedy"?’

’Or "Bill Kiril’s Comedy"?’

’Or maybe "Da Silva’s Philandering"?’

’No, it can’t be Da Silva. This young Wizard is far too ugly compared to him. How could he possibly attract Dawn’s Favored?’

’The little zombie and Little White Fur, hmm... he can have one of them, at most. Definitely not both!’

"Ao, Cody, Piyi."

"A kind zombie."

Shawa translated the phrase from Gonzalez, then used her mechanical arm to grip a quill, attempting to write the complex characters on the parchment.

"Tina, kind, Cody."

The white-haired girl copied her, her lips slightly parted as she recited the phrase in a cool, detached tone. Seeing Miss Zombie writing, she felt an urge to try it herself. But after a glance at the teddy bear in her hands, she simply slammed the clown doll onto the table. "Tina, write."

The clown: "..."

It stared with its button eyes, raising a fluffy palm to point at itself. ’Are you serious?’

’I’m just a damn doll! Not some lowly tutor, and certainly not one of those "noble instructors" who are just a rank above a servant!’