Chapter 117: Are You the Proprietor's Wife?
What is scarier than death?
Vita couldn't fully explain, but one thing was certain - the unknown hanging over her head.
After a day and night of travel, she got off the carriage only to find herself face to face not with an executioner wielding a weapon, but with Sylph's soul trapped in a magical crystal ball.
"How are you still alive?"
Vita couldn't help but say hurtful words, as she was too shocked.
But for Sylph now, those words didn't really matter.
Seeing the harm caused by Vita and Loria's affectionate display hurt her much more than a few words.
But it's okay, after all, it's Vita.
Even if Vita said mean things and did bad things, everything can still be forgiven.
And most importantly, starting from today, she will completely become one with Vita.
From now on, neither Loria nor the instructor can separate her from Vita. Only God can do that!
"Come on, Vita, let's become even closer than we were in the training camp!"
In the magic crystal ball, Sylph's soul opened its arms, making a hugging gesture.
"What are you guys trying to do?"
Vita turned around, anxiously looking back at the law officer who brought her here.
She spent over a decade in Hidden Leader, but she never truly understood Hidden Leader.
The law officer remained as indifferent as ever, as if there would never be a smile on her face.
"Your disguise as a reporter has been revealed, and your body has been further infected, but you are not completely worthless."
"？"
"Open your heart further to the Weaver, my dear."
"No." Vita shook her head, "I'm not quite sure what you mean."
She initially thought she had been brought here because her killing of the instructor had been exposed, but now it seemed that wasn't the case at all.
The magistrate said, "I know you won't obediently comply, so the best way is to let Sylph's spirit merge with your consciousness, allowing Sylph to control this extraordinary infected body of yours."
She clapped her hands, and immediately someone began to surround Vita.
The shadows drew closer.
In that moment, Vita suddenly understood.
"I became a reject?!"
"You can understand it this way."
"Just because I exposed myself?"
"And also because your body was further infected."
Vita clenched her fist tightly, "In order for the organization's mission to be successfully completed, I deliberately borrowed the power of the Weaver Lord, which led to further infection!"
The magistrate said calmly, "The process is not important, what matters is the result."
Anger coiled in her chest, Vita struggled hard to maintain her composure, "I have worked for the organization for more than ten years. Even if I have no achievements, I have put in hard work. In the end, just because of such arbitrary reasons, you want to kill me?"
The magistrate didn't reply.
Vita immediately took a step forward, but was blocked by an arm that was stretched across. She could only question from a distance, "Treating those who have contributed like this, isn't the organization afraid of losing loyalty from its subordinates?"
The judge extended his right index finger and shook it gently, saying, "You need to understand one thing, those who come out of the training camp are tools, not 'humans'."
"..."
Vita stood frozen in place.
The judge said, "You are very special, still maintaining 'humanity' in that kind of environment. But 'humanity' is unnecessary for you. Now, it's time to take everything away and start."
The people surrounding easily subdued Vita's attempts to resist.
In the blink of an eye, Vita realized all her limbs were broken and she was thrown into a glass enclosure.
Sitting paralyzed on the ground, watching the spreading crimson blood next to her feet, Vita's mouth suddenly formed a strange smile.
She was really foolish, truly.
This way, she wouldn't die for sure, but her soul and body would be dominated by Sylph.
What would happen if one day, Sylph brought her body to be with Loria?
The sudden pain in her chest overwhelmed the pain in her body.
Vita could barely breathe.
She wasn't afraid of death, she was afraid of her own life, and of her dream life being manipulated by others.
If she had known it would turn out like this, why would she choose to go in the opposite direction of Loria?
It's better to remove the weaver's mark directly and spend the last few hours of her life creating memories with Loria.
This way, even though she dies, she will always live in Loria's memories.
That would be enough.
After avenging her parents, Vita never wanted much.
However, even with this thought, she was not allowed to have it. Everything she had would be taken away.
Name, memories, body, soul...
Inside the glass enclosure, Vita lay on the ground, her forehead gently resting on the pool of blood. The searing heat completely evaporated her heart.
She could feel Sylph getting closer, and then invading her body, beginning to erase her existence.
No!
She is not a tool, and she doesn't want to be a tool!
Vita remembered her childhood, when she was carefree.
Vita remembered the Loria in her eyes, the dazzling Loria that made her feel inferior.
Whether it is the former or the latter, both are what she wants to embrace.
"I absolutely cannot let all of this be erased. If I lose these things, I would rather destroy myself!"
Vita's awareness kept sinking, knowing that she suddenly grabbed onto a piece of darkness, filled with invisible "spiderwebs."
Is this the weaver that has already "fallen" into her body?
It is said that weavers gain pleasure by weaving lives and weaving worlds.
So...
"I want to offer my entire life in exchange for enough power to protect myself!"
There was no movement, but Vita was surprisingly calm.
She quietly waited.
After a short half-minute, boundless darkness suddenly surged, completely covering her.
She continued to wait quietly.
Finally, a beam of light descended and fell into the darkness. A smile appeared on her face, matching the smile of Sylph in the light.
"Vita, we can finally be together!"
"But I don't want to be with you."
In response to Sylph came freezing words, accompanied by a hand gripping her throat.
"Waaah-"
A few seconds later, Sylph's soul suddenly dissolved, disappearing into the boundless darkness with Vita.
...
The morning after the end of the wave of creatures.
After finally calming down the panicked hearts of the people in Creek Town, Loria decided to leave immediately.
Although the previous simulation results showed that she wouldn't encounter any accidents even if she stayed a few more days, she didn't want to continue dragging it out.
Defeating the onslaught of monsters was only the first step of her plan. The second step was to uncover the true intentions of the Hidden Leader and deliver a heavy blow to this group of troublemakers.
"All the hard work I've gone through for the past few days, and I won't even get to enjoy any good juice like you guys!"
Bright and early, Loria prepared herself for the long journey. She packed clothes and food in her inventory, and she even specially brought a wheelchair to push the guildmaster.
"So, let's set off like this!"
"You have all worked so hard."
The remaining members of the Adventurers Management Guild, as well as adventurer representatives and public representatives, all came to see them off.
Loria also had the task of reporting everything that happened here to the Province of Claren on this trip.
The rebuilding work in Creek Town took a long time and a lot of money and manpower. Without the help of the Claren Province, we wouldn't know when the rebuilding work would be finished.
"I will urge them to send people for research as soon as possible!"
Loria waved to the crowd behind her.
She smiled brightly.
But beneath the brightness, there was a hidden sadness that was not easy to notice.
After this departure, it would probably be very difficult to come back, right?
It wasn't until she was truly about to leave that Loria felt reluctant.
Last night, she specially went to bid farewell to the neighbors near her apartment, including Grandma Lily who had always taken good care of her.
Everyone's spirits were not very good, but when they heard that she was going to Claren City, they all sent their blessings, which moved her greatly and made her hesitate to leave.
"Feelings in the world are very complicated, not only romantic feelings can bring happiness."
At ten o'clock in the morning, Loria carried the guildmaster onto the rented carriage from the carriage shop.
Then, Loria, Doris, the guildmaster, and Miss Plump Sheep finally set off on the road to Claren City.
The journey took more than a day.
Overall, Loria had a fulfilling time.
Although she couldn't swing swords and dance with Miss Plump Sheep from start to finish like in the game, or navigate dry and wet land, or row on the water until her legs went weak and her eyes rolled back, playing mahjong with the four of them in the carriage was also quite fun.
"I win, all of one suit!"
Clatter.
Loria excitedly knocked the tiles over.
Miss Plump Sheep's face turned green. Knight Loria came up with this mahjong game and it was really addictive. But the problem was, she had been playing all day and only won three times.
Unlike the worried Miss Plump Sheep, Loria always had a bright smile on her face.
She was already out of money, and even owed Miss Plump Sheep twice for helping her with moving the Magic Crystal Mine from the warehouse. But playing mahjong with Miss Plump Sheep helped her save a lot of money.
"Now, there's no need to stay in those narrow and smelly low-level rental houses when we reach Claren City!"
Loria was overjoyed.
Just as she finished rearranging the mahjong tiles, getting ready to ask Miss Plump Sheep for some food money, she heard the guildmaster say, "We're here."
They had arrived at Claren City.
Loria opened the carriage curtain and was greeted by a massive city that exceeded her imagination.
Steel, magic, clock towers, gigantic statues...
This is her first impression of Claren City.
Even though she had been to Claren City many times in simulations, this was her first time in reality.
"GoGoGo！"
After parking the carriage at the carriage shop, Loria, disguised a bit, carried Doris's suitcase in her left hand and pushed the guildmaster with her right hand to find their accommodation.
After finding the accommodation, Miss Plump Sheep didn't follow them into the house and instead turned back to her own home.
After being away for a while, she started to miss home, and she couldn't wait to share her heroic deeds with her father.
Loria settled the guildmaster and Doris in their new place, and then she started to act.
Earlier on the way, she had already done a simulation.
The simulation involved disguising herself as a refugee from Creek Town, spreading the news of the Hidden Leader trying to capture a special magic puppet that escaped from Mist Forest Mining and was willing to destroy Creek Town in the process.
This process went very smoothly.
Loria did become a thorn in the side of the mayor's group who were involved in corruption. However, because messages were not being delivered smoothly between the two places, they still didn't know what she looked like.
And when she put on makeup, the people on the side of the mayor couldn't recognize her even more.
Once the news spread, the Hidden Leader was "shocked" just like in the previous simulation, and within less than a week, they started a war.
"It can be seen from this that the piece of the Hollow Stone that Doris has eaten is very powerful and important to the Hidden Leader, otherwise they wouldn't have become 'senile' like this."
Loria decided to change her approach.
She not only wanted to get revenge on the Hidden Leader, but also on the group of politicians.
"Are you going to accept an interview from Claren Late Night News?" the guildmaster looked at Loria in astonishment.
Loria nodded vigorously.
In the simulation, she suffered a lot at the hands of that cruel owner. Although she later confronted and defeated the owner, she still felt unsatisfied.
After all, the owner's wife and the owner themselves were never on the same page.
This sense of satisfaction was far from the irresistible feeling of "Madam, don't you want your husband to get into trouble?"
Moreover, if Loria remembered correctly, the owner knew the secret location where the slave trading organization conducted business in Claren City.
"I may not have the ability to kill the treasurer now, but I need to gather evidence of his wrongdoing in advance, so that I can deal with him later!"
"Then be careful."
The guildmaster still approved of Loria's plan.
Loria patted her chest, causing ripples from top to bottom, "the guildmaster, just trust me."
Someone as mature and level-headed as her would never fall into the hands of that owner!
"The little troublemaker tried to dig a hole for me, to force me to sell myself to repay the debts. Now I've caught you!"
Putting on a delicate and pitiful makeup again, Loria nervously walked into the Claren Late Night News office.
"I...I...I... I have important news to sell to you."
"Important news?"
Walking towards them was a tall and curvy figure, wearing high heels and star-shaped earrings, looking mature and captivating.
"It's definitely news that can ignite the entire empire and make your newspaper the talk of the town!"
"If you have such news, why would you want to sell it to our newspaper?"
"I'm not familiar with the Claren City newspaper, but when I was in Creek Town, I saw your reporters, so I thought of you."
"Are you from Creek Town?"
"Yes, let's talk about the news. I really need some money now."
The big sister pondered and said, "I can't make decisions about money."
Loria looked disappointed.
"It's really big news. It's about a magical prop and a war. I just escaped from Creek Town and urgently need money. Otherwise, I wouldn't have come to find you in such a hurry."
The word "war" caught the attention of most people in the newspaper office.
Loria said, "I can give you half of the information first, and then you can decide how much it might be worth."
The people around neither agreed nor disagreed.
So Loria directly told them about the attack on Creek Town by the Hidden Leader, but she deliberately didn't reveal the Hidden Leader's target.
"This news is very important, extremely important." The big sister paced back and forth, and finally, she gritted her teeth and said, "My husband is not here now, so technically I shouldn't say much, but I have to exercise my power in his absence."
Husband?
Loria was confused for a moment.
From what she could tell, this big sister is probably the same person who was playing with her and almost got caught cheating in bed by the proprietor's wife.
Loria's face suddenly looked strange.
She started to understand why her simulated self liked to have an affair with the proprietor's wife so much.
