The God of Jesters
Chapter 239 - 4.07.1 A welcome guest.

Chapter 239: 4.07.1 A welcome guest.

An unexpected visitor she was, with her dark hair and emotionless eyes. But the distrust on her face can’t be hidden from Sheva’s eyes.

Who was she to come here? How dare she come at this time? It was better when she had left, leaving Max with her, because in no way can she expect a woman like Fahna to take care of Max.

She was selfish and had sacrificed many of her soldiers on the battlefield just to hunt her regiment down. Things like loyalty, kinship, and mercy were alien to such a woman. Even Max had claimed as such when he spoke about her.

In this world, few things remain constant. There would only be the new that will replace the old and some people accept that fate as it is. Even the gods in their eyes can’t escape such a fate. There had been countless Divine and Daemons throughout history that had disappeared with time.

Even with their apparent immortality, they remain nothing more than insects, trying to claw their way back to the totem pole. But as they had long lost blessings of true death, they can never achieve their peak ever again.

A common trope among legends, once fallen they can never truly rise back. Their resurrected self will always be forced into mediocrity, their new life will be nothing more than to act as a guide to others.

A curse brought to them by denying Death its purpose and retaining their knowledge. It is why, although this can be considered a kind of immortality, it was truly not a fate any higher being would wish to suffer from.

It was why they had invented many ways to "wake up". If Death had never claimed you to begin with, how can you deny its purpose and be cursed?

To each Divine and Daemon, their methods vary, some achieving a kind of pseudo immortality in a bit to escape that hellish fate.

"Going again?" Vegal wondered, looking at Crow’s eyes that appeared more tired than usual. "Yes, that guy is teaching me Knight techniques." Who the guy was, Vegal knew too well.

A pawn in the game of a mighty being that denied death and lived as a wandering Wraith. A being that had survived the century-long hunt by one of the strongest forces in the world, the Hall of Radiance, and had made a mockery of countless forces just to gain some enjoyment.

His last feat was also something that had shaken Vegal to the core. Successfully reviving the Daemon of Incarnation. A being considered closest to achieving true immortality free in front of death’s grasp.

A being he was envious of.

It was why he felt that his choice of requesting Bizarre Wraith’s help was perfect. Although things went a bit extreme in Bothal by the end of it, he still succeeded in obtaining the research on aspects he was weakest at.

"That failure, who is the reason we are living in this dump?" Vegal cursed, giving Crow a deep look while seeing how he willfully drank the protein shake he had given him, before asking. "Another three to four days?"

"Missing me already? Old man, the work in this village is not much, to begin with, stop being such a crybaby." As the crow said those words, a slap struck his face, throwing his body out of the shop.

It was dark of night, otherwise, such a slap would have attracted some unwanted attention from the people in the village.

"What was that for?"

"Speak to your elders properly, otherwise, next time, it will be your ass." With those words, Vegal closed his doors, leaving Crow to rub his face in annoyance. "Fucking feels like Iron." He cursed while rubbing his cheek, before picking up his cycle and some supplies.

"That man really is not so simple." Fahna thought while she remained focused on the shop from where Crow had crawled out from.

Unlike what she had claimed before, she didn’t dare to venture into the village considering how the city was shaken due to the actions of a bunch of humans.

This was a country of dwarves, and this was not a city like before. A human in a dwarven village would stand out too much and would obviously earn some ire. Not to mention, the disaster in Bothal was all blamed on humans, and they were not wrong. So if Fahna were to find a place to stay in the village, she would obviously be asking herself to be detained.

Leaving her no choice, but to do the job like she used to do. In the shadows and using small underhanded tricks to achieve her goal. Which in this case was abducting Max.

But all of that required preparation. Her enemies or those that are hiding in the dark were much smarter and harder to deal with than she could fathom. Not to mention, these people had basically been ingrained in this village and the area surrounding this village for a far longer time. Giving them an edge against her.

So she needs to make sure. She needs to ensure that when she sends her men to abduct her teacher, they succeed and there is no other unexpected variable appearing out of nowhere.

And although all of this looked bleak, it was much easier than last time. There were no grandmaster-level figures to break the game, nor monsters that slept under this land.

Just a bunch of rats that hide in the dark biding their time. And if she didn’t think wrong, then that man, the old dwarf was probably one of them.

Otherwise, why would he keep up with this boy, support his teacher with food and be in such a close distance to them as well?

He seemed like a protector, a supporter of sorts that would help Max survive, while the boy was mainly a messenger who lucked out on an opportunity of life.

So, with her blade in hand, she reached the shop’s edge, peering deep into it through the windows, and found the old man tinkering with a small watch.

"Still not enough." He spoke as the ticking sounds of the clock started turning slower and slower. "Hmm, a bit more." Then he fiddled with it for a while before smiling with content. All of which was seen by Fahna.

’Pretty normal.’ She had assumed him to be a cultist like her brother had mentioned, but here was an old man who just worked on what seemed to be a clock. ’Stay here.’ She said in her mind before climbing into the room on the first floor.

Missing out on the scene as the old dwarf slowly puts the small clock into his check cavity, right in the place where a heart should be. Before turning his head where Fahna had disappeared.

"A true guest or a false one?" He wondered, before shaking his head. "It’s a true one." He was sure of this, as Jester’s men wouldn’t have to make such a drama to meet up with him. They would directly announce their arrival in a grand fashion, just like the man or thing from before.

"Well, whoever it is, you are not going to find anything good there." He spoke before humming an old tune that Vegal’s Father used to humm while working in the mines.

To him, the existence of Fahna was nothing special, there had been countless security personnel who had entered his shop in the dark of night to make sure that he was not a dangerous individual. And if he can fool them, then he can do the same with this new one.

’But I wonder, who was it this time? Who has so much time to bother an old mechanic like me?’ No matter what the answer was, it didn’t matter to him.

He just wished for his guest to do their work and leave soon.

But while he was having such thoughts, his eyes lit up.

’No, this is not like before. The suspicious one is the boy, he must have been followed. So why is one here?’

Earlier, he was not going to involve himself, he was going to let the intruder do what they were here for and let them leave as long as they didn’t reach their hand toward him.

But just now, these people must have seen Crow leave his shop in the middle of the night while carrying supplies.

’A mistake.’ He made a mistake.

Whether he was infected with happiness and didn’t think straight due to the notes he received, or was it the joy of finally finding a way?

Whichever it was, he had made a big mistake.

Although he can’t confirm if his inference is true or not, there is nothing wrong with making sure that nothing happens to his precious boy.

"You in the room, it’s immoral to enter someone’s room without consent." He spoke while opening the door.

But there was no one in the room.

"No one?" He wondered, before running toward the window.