Mage Manual
Chapter 548 - 445: Where is the Princess

Chapter 548: Chapter 445: Where is the Princess

"Will this ’apocalypse’ state continue indefinitely?" Ash glanced around, "And none of your next steps involve work...so are we just going to disband the Funeral Service Office right here?"

"Now is not about work, but about building relationships through daily interactions," Hanna said. "However, the ’apocalypse’ is definitely not an all-time thing, in the underground city, there’s only a five-minute quota of apocalypse per hour."

As soon as Hanna finished, Harvey finally ’pff’ lit up his cat grass smoke. It seemed like a signal of liberation; Igula instantly relaxed and returned to normal, Banjee closed his notebook, exiting the coding pig mode, and Hanna let go of Ash’s hand but still sat next to him.

Only Liss bowed her head and buried it in his arms, adopting an ostrich stance as if afraid to face people.

"How does it feel?" Ash asked.

"Honestly, it feels quite good," the Necromancer replied, blowing a smoke ring towards the underground city. "An irresistible addiction suppressed by a more exalted rationality, absolute will dominating all hormones... It’s like going back to the relaxed days before I was incarcerated."

"Indeed," Banjee also couldn’t help but nod. "It’s like a clogged sewer suddenly clearing up; thoughts flow freely and understanding sparks quickly, truly living up to the name of ’apocalypse.’ Moreover, unlike Vatican Mura’s ’white fog,’ the ’apocalypse’ brings mental satisfaction, not physiological fulfillment caused by forceful stimulation of receptors by stimulant gases. If there are five minutes of such bliss every hour, it’s no wonder so many people choose to stay in the underground city."

"That does sound pretty good," Ash looked at the Swindler. "But Igula, why do you look so pained? Can’t you just act on instinct?"

Igula glared fiercely at the Cult Leader, "Who do you think caused this?!"

Ash spread his hands, "Could it possibly be me?"

Taking a deep breath, the Swindler turned his head and said, "...As a thoroughly prepared Spirit Mage, I had already made my choices, I don’t need the ’apocalypse’ to judge what’s best for me!"

"Ash," Hanna suddenly asked, "Did you not enter into apocalypse just now?"

"At least I didn’t feel any change," Ash pondered. "Maybe I’m normally as smart as the ’apocalypse’?"

Harvey immediately choked on his smoke at that, Igula twitched his mouth, Banjee spilled some tea, Hanna giggled, shoulder-shaking held back tears, and Liss laughed so hard her shoulders shook uncontrollably.

Seeing this, Ash got angry. He could not defeat the others, but he could still pick on Liss, continuing to furiously rub her head.

However, no one was surprised that Ash didn’t experience the apocalypse; after all, in the Gospel, Ash was classified as a ’Chaotic Life,’ which means he wasn’t even considered a migrant worker, at most a highly threatening invasive species, naturally ineligible for the citizen benefit of ’apocalypse.’

"Alright," Hanna stood up and said, "Whether it’s Empress Yisu’s family or anyone else, whoever is mimicking Ash’s actions is actually a trivial matter. Our target has always been the Divine Lord’s desire; the ’assassinate the Princess’ plan must not be altered by these little mishaps. Let’s go, my appointment is soon."

"Where to?"

"The person most likely to know where the Princess lives in Nabistin."

...

...

Outside the sewer entrance, Ash watched as Banjee stuffed three Rusted Crow motorbikes into a suitcase, and couldn’t help asking Igula and Harvey, "How come you two don’t have such good leaderboard rewards?"

"My leaderboard reward is quite good," Harvey said, "Ghost King Chains allow me to transform directly into a Necromancy creature, this reward means as much to me as transforming into your favorite game character might mean to you."

Maybe it was an aftereffect of the apocalypse, but Harvey’s eloquence had suddenly increased, leaving Ash speechless and unable to argue back. He turned to Igula, who raised an eyebrow, "My leaderboard reward is Kingdom Gold Coins that can protect one’s spirit; I gave them to Anfeier, for—"

"I’m sorry," Ash immediately apologized.

"What apologies—"

"Sorry, I was too arrogant, daring to inquire about your tokens of affection."

Then Hanna signaled them to enter, and the Funeral Service procession delved into the sewers of the underground city. Though it was called a sewer, it wasn’t filthy or smelly, but under the dim yellow lighting, it couldn’t be described as clear either. Different from normal sewers, the walkway was in the midsection of the water channel, with water on both sides, where Sea Demons wielding weapons watched them with keen eyes.

Walking through, Ash and the others felt like they were voluntarily walking onto a dining table, an indescribable sense of panic stirring inside them.

Led by a Sea Demon, they reached the end of the sewer, Nabistin’s Mermaid Palace. Much like the outsourced services above, the palace had many office areas divided into ’Characters,’ ’Events,’ ’Forces,’ ’Magic’... Apart from them, there were also quite a few individuals cloaked in cloaks, exercising and handling businesses at the same time.

Seeing such a formal service place, everyone couldn’t help but breathe a sigh of relief, but Hanna then asked, "Weren’t we going to the ’Character’ area?"

"Please follow me," the Sea Demon didn’t answer but continued to lead them deeper into Mermaid Palace. When they arrived in front of a conference room, she gestured for them to enter.

The Funeral Service Office members exchanged glances, sensing something amiss, but with Sea Demon guards surrounding the water, they had no room to retreat.

Hanna pushed open the conference room door and saw a brightly lit room with a long table, but instead of chairs around it, there were waterways, with ten Sea Demons distributed within, and various exercise equipment placed around, their viscous moist gazes unabashedly sweeping over the Funeral Service Office members.

"Sirimoro?" Purple Moth spotted a familiar face, "Why are you in Nabistin too?"

Sirimoro, a Sea Witch from the underground drains of Azura, was whom Hanna had asked to help create fake resumes for Ash and the others, even spending the favor that helped Sirimoro become a Sea Witch—this favor brought a price discount that could save the Funeral Service Office thousands of Gospel Points annually.

"The night after you left Azura, I was also called back to Nabistin," Sirimoro shrugged, looking towards the main seated Sea Witch, "But the spokesperson here isn’t me."

Hanna looked over and felt this Sea Witch seemed somewhat familiar, "I booked mermaid services as an ordinary customer, do ordinary customers now get the personal attention of ten Sea Witches?"

"Ordinary customers certainly don’t qualify," the main-seat Sea Witch said, "But the arrival of Purple Moth, Rusted Crow, Ghost King, and Mage Lord deserves the highest standard of hospitality."

"You could foresee our arrival?"

"Water knows everything," the Sea Witch extended her hand, "You also know our rules, please choose your favorite exercise equipment."

Mermaids’ most peculiar hobby: watching people exercise. Especially when discussing business deals, if you don’t break a sweat, mermaids feel insulted. Knowing this custom beforehand, Ash and the others weren’t surprised and each chose a piece of equipment to start exercising on.

Igula, with the worst physical fitness, chose the elliptical machine; Harvey chose parallel bars; Banjee chose the horizontal bar; Ash and Hanna both chose bicycles, and Liss chose a jump rope.

Once they had all started exercising, the Sea Witch said, "Please allow me to introduce myself, I am the chair of the Ten Sea Witches Council, one of the seven seats of the decision-making group of Lower Nabistin, the head in charge of Nabistin Mermaid Palace—"

"The First Sea Witch, Helaphis."

The Funeral Service Office members were slightly startled, then their expressions drastically changed, and they all drew their weapons—

Click!

Gun turrets swiftly rose from the ceiling and walls, cold, merciless steel aimed at the guests daring to cause trouble on someone else’s turf.

However, Ash and the others had no choice, for their opponent was Helaphis!

The second on the ’List of Evil Magic,’ ’Chaotic Witch Helaphis’!

Although the list had already shown Helaphis as a Sea Demon, there were plenty of Sea Demons in the Gospel, with Sea Demons in every City and even among the Six Emblem families. They hadn’t expected that coming just to buy some intelligence, they would encounter Helaphis, who was also the leader of the mermaids!

It was like going out to buy cigarettes and running into an enemy who wanted to eat Ash!

Organizational leaders’ names, such a piece of information, they wouldn’t get if she didn’t voluntarily reveal it, and Hanna couldn’t collect it either!

If the meeting had been before evening, Ash and the others wouldn’t have been so nervous, but the fifth on the ’List of Evil Magic,’ Roger, had just committed suicide, and they were going to meet the second, Helaphis. Putting themselves in their shoes, they felt like they were just asking for trouble!

Just when the atmosphere was extremely tense, Helaphis raised her hand, and all the gun turrets withdrew.

She said, "Are you still planning on doing business? Life is in motion, Sea Demons are in flow, if you want to discuss business, don’t stop."

The Funeral Service Office members exchanged glances, Hanna nodded slightly, and they put away their weapons, continuing to exercise amid intense tension.

"Let me guess," Helaphis propped her chin and said, "I guess the information you want is about the whereabouts of the next Empress Yisu, the princess who is soon to become the First Gospel."

"Do you know?" Hanna asked.

"I do," Helaphis responded.