Chapter 192: The Final Adventure
Evernight Empire, Iron Fortress.
Skele-Avarice drifted in mid-air, like a shadow merged with the night, quietly watching the dilapidated hut below. He had been guarding this spot for a full month. An Lich's life is long and tedious; a month is usually but a blink of an eye. Yet, this month felt more draining to Avarice than any magical research he had ever conducted.
He watched the man named Potter repeat a fixed routine every day. Like a beast driven by an invisible lash, the man scoured every corner of Iron Fortress, trading his most primal strength for the most meager of wages. And then, he traded every cent of that for vials of diluted Emerald's Respite, bringing them back to the woman lying on the bed.
Avarice could not parse this behavior. He had witnessed the rise and fall of countless lives, dissected the roots of desire in myriad races. Greed, wrath, envy, pride—these were the underlying logics driving all activities of sentient life. But this man was an utter anomaly. Avarice could see no desire for power or greatness in Potter. He was simply burning himself away, trying to light another lamp that was about to go out. Stupid, and entirely meaningless. That was Avarice's initial judgment.
Until the final day of the month, when everything changed.
That day, Potter did not head out to work as he usually did. He simply sat quietly by the bed, watching Shira, who was becoming increasingly gaunt. Frequent consumption of diluted Emerald's Respite had built up a tolerance in Shira's body; the medicinal effect had grown weaker and weaker. Her life-force was now so faint it seemed it might snuff out at any moment.
Potter sat in silence for a long time, then bent over and gently lifted Shira onto his back. "Let's go for a walk." His voice was calm, devoid of any visible emotion.
Shira did not resist, simply resting her head silently on his shoulder, greedily breathing in his scent. They walked out of the gloomy, damp rental house and onto the bustling streets of Iron Fortress. Sunlight spilled onto them, warm and inviting. Potter walked along, introducing everything by the roadside to Shira, like a country bumpkin in the big city for the first time.
"Look, that's the Evernight Mall; they sell everything inside."
"That's the new bookstore opened by the Literature Department; I hear the audio-manga inside are particularly interesting."
"And that over there is the Bone-Dragon Aviation ticket office; if you board one, you can fly into the sky and see all of Iron Fortress."
Residents passing by caught sight of this strange pair and offered kind smiles. A young elf girl selling flowers even ran over and tucked a small, dew-kissed flower behind Shira's ear. Watching the friendly faces around them and listening to Potter's feigned ease, Shira's tears could no longer be held back; they slid silently down her cheeks. She buried her face deep into Potter's back, stifling her sobs. "Potter... if only we could live in this Empire as ordinary people, how wonderful that would be..."
Potter did not answer, his pace never wavering. He carried her through the bustling city districts toward the wilderness outside the city walls. This was their final adventure. They sat beneath a large tree, just as they had done countless times when camping in the wild.
"Shira, remember our first adventure? I said that no matter what we encountered, we would stay together."
With that, Potter pulled the crystal vial from his chest, twisted off the cap, and drank half of it. Then, he handed the vial to Shira. "Shira, drink."
"What is this?" Shira looked at the unfamiliar liquid in the bottle, confused.
"A very potent medicine. After you drink it, you will die naturally in a month, without any pain."
Shira's complexion changed instantly; she grabbed Potter's arm. "What did you drink? Spit it out, quick!"
"It's useless. It's already down; now it's just a matter of peeing it out." Potter waved his hand, feigning indifference.
Shira was frantic, on the verge of tears, pounding his back desperately. Potter, however, seemed to truly feel something. He stretched his limbs and said with genuine surprise, "I don't know if it's just my imagination, but I feel... so much lighter now."
Seeing Potter's reaction, Shira froze. She hesitated, and finally, she took the vial and drank the remaining liquid in one gulp. Perhaps, this is the best ending. At least in the final month of their lives, they could complete their own adventure, just like in the old days. They huddled together, falling into a deep sleep under the breeze of the forest.
The next morning, the first rays of dawn pierced the gaps in the leaves, dappling Potter's face. He rubbed his eyes, waking up in a daze. The moment he looked up, he saw a figure in a gray cloak sitting on a tree branch. Under the sunlight, within the shadow of the hood, two balls of ghostly blue soulfire were burning quietly.
Undead?! Potter jolted, instantly wide awake. Though the undead were no longer synonymous with evil in the Empire, encountering an unidentified undead in the wilderness was definitely not good news. He instinctively looked toward Shira, ready to flee with her at any moment.
But as he looked, he froze completely. Shira's face had a healthy, rosy glow; her breathing was steady and powerful. She looked even better than she had before they encountered the wraith's curse.
"Shira! Wake up!" He shook Shira's shoulders violently.
Shira rubbed her sleepy eyes, muttering discontentedly, "What is it... I haven't slept this comfortably in so long..." Her voice was clear and powerful, full of vitality.
Under Potter's incoherent reminders, she realized belatedly that the curse that had been clinging to her like a maggot in the bone had vanished without a trace. "This... what is going on?"
Potter suddenly remembered the potion they had drunk last night. He quickly had Shira bring out the bottle. It was a verdant green glass bottle, with a few drops of liquid shimmering with the brilliance of life still clinging to the walls. This isn't the crystal vial at all! This is... this is genuine Emerald's Respite!
But, when did... He looked up sharply toward the undead in the tree. The branch was empty. The cloaked figure had vanished.
Potter stared blankly in the direction of Iron Fortress, tears of relief streaming down his face uncontrollably. Beside him, Shira was startled by his breakdown, hurriedly wiping his tears. But he simply murmured the same thing over and over: "The Gods... really did listen to my prayers..."
Meanwhile, Skele-Avarice, having just finished his observation, was flying toward the Arcane Legion's laboratory at top speed. What the hell, two experienced adventurers actually daring to fall into a deep sleep in the wild without any precautions! He, a Tier 6 Lich and Deputy Commander of the Arcane Legion, had been forced to spend the whole night guarding them in a tree like a common nanny!
He pulled the crystal vial containing the pale purple liquid from his chest and let out a long sigh. I lost. Lost completely. At the thought of facing Skele-Lust's gloating face, and that "any request" clause, the soulfire in his eye sockets twitched violently.
Last night, the moment Potter had raised the vial to drink it, a figure had appeared beside them at speeds exceeding the limits of vision. It was Avarice. With the power of a Tier 6 expert, he had frozen time around them. Avarice had easily swapped the medicine in Potter's hand with the Emerald's Respite original solution he kept on hand for emergencies.
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