novelonline Chapter 1018 The Last Routine 197
Chapter 1018 The Last Routine 197
Chapter 1018 The Last Routine 197
After everyone had worked hard, the Angels team finally finished cleaning the mansion, and by then everyone was covered in sweat.
Darkness looked at the spotless mansion and exclaimed with satisfaction, "Good, it's much cleaner now."
"This side is finished too, go report it over." Lynn stretched as well. She was an adventurer, but now she was working as someone's maid. She wouldn't have come if she didn't really owe someone a favor. At this moment, she turned around and looked around but didn't see the person she owed a favor to. She couldn't help but ask in surprise, "By the way, where did Cecily go?"
"I just ran into her," Alice said quietly, sounding a little happy. "She said she was going to let everyone know the cleaning was finished and asked me to go cook dinner first—"
"No, this is bad, I have a bad feeling." Darkness's expression immediately changed, and she quickly walked towards the adventurers' room, hoping that Cecily wouldn't do anything outrageous or foolish before she got there.
Meanwhile, Cecily had already arrived at the adventurer's room. Without any hesitation, she knocked on the door and entered, saying, "Excuse me, the cleaning is finished. It's almost lunchtime, and we're cooking now. How about we eat later?"
"Hmph, can you really make anything decent?" the adventurer noble scoffed, as if he held their craftsmanship in utter contempt.
“My Miss Alice is a great cook, so please look forward to it!” Cecily said with great pride, then asked somewhat strangely, “Ah… speaking of which, it must be very difficult for one person to live in such a big house.”
"What do you want to say?"
“How about letting them move in? It’s such a waste to leave so many rooms empty.” Oblivious to the old man’s displeasure, Cecily continued, “On the condition that we occasionally look after you, we can let our unfortunate but devout followers—”
"Don't talk nonsense!!" Darkness burst into the room, angrily shouting at Cecily, "What were you doing while you were out of sight for a moment?!"
"Anyway, they want the Axis Cult... cough cough, bad people to live here, right?" Chris swallowed the words she was about to say. Although the Eris Cult did not hate or despise the Axis Cult, it was still not a good thing to do to them in person.
"Don't worry about the details!" Cecily waved her hand dismissively, saying with great enthusiasm, "Even this one, so tragically destroyed, will surely have a spirit—"
"Who's the one who's miserable?!"
The old adventurer suddenly shouted, and Darkness and Chris knew very well that Cecily had stepped on a landmine again. At the same time, a sharp and annoyed shout came, "This kind of unnecessary care is enough. You just said it on your own... cough cough cough!"
He suddenly started coughing violently, his face turning red and his body hunching over. His chest heaved rapidly as saliva flew everywhere, startling Chris, who quickly came over and helped the shaky old man, who was nearly falling over from his agitation.
"Ah, are you alright?" Chris patted the old man's back and said gently, "Please take a deep breath, inhale slowly, exhale... I'll massage your back for you."
Thanks to her help, the old man quickly calmed down, his breathing became much smoother, and his expression relaxed slightly.
"Phew...phew...much easier."
It seems that he has escaped the pain.
However, the person responsible for this has not yet been punished. Darkness looked at the beautiful priestess of the Axis Cult beside him with some dissatisfaction and said, "Cecily, I think you should have something to say?"
“That…” Cecily’s eyes darted around slightly, then she shamelessly said, “It’s that one, the operation to deliberately get him excited and cheer him up…?”
Seeing the unfriendly expressions on Darkness and Chris's faces, she knew she had done something wrong and quickly said, "Ah! It's almost time to eat, I'll go check on the situation!"
"Hey, wait a minute! You can't possibly get away with something like that!"
Then, ignoring their condemning looks, she turned and ran towards the kitchen. Darkness, of course, wouldn't let her off easily and immediately chased after her, ready to teach her a lesson.
Watching her run out of the room, the old man sighed softly and said, "Oh dear, it's best to just leave old men like me alone... You've grown into a kind old man."
At this moment, he revealed his kind side. Even though he refused to admit he was old, he was not heartless in the face of the erosion of time and Darkness's kindness.
“Yes, you and Darkness are old acquaintances.” Seeing that the time was right and understanding that the old man was eager to confide, Chris quickly said, “Could you tell me those stories if you could?”
“That’s possible…” the old man nodded and said, “When her father brought her here, the child was very young—”
He began slowly, recounting his past, a smile constantly on his face, as if reminiscing about bygone days. Chris didn't interrupt him, listening quietly to the old man's tale, like a true goddess... no, a priestess.
After some time, the old man finished his story.
"Oh, I didn't know that happened." Chris's expression of surprise was perfectly timed; she wasn't feigning ignorance, but genuinely astonished. "Looking at Darkness now, I simply can't imagine..."
Although she was Darkness's friend and descended from heaven because of prayer, she didn't pay attention to her all the time. At least, she didn't pay attention to her before Darkness became a Guardian Knight.
“It’s amazing that the child who used to hide behind his father has now become a knight of the cross who can stand on his own.”
It seems he spoke with Chris, and the old man is in a good mood. This is the first step in changing his stubbornness, and it seems to be very effective.
And at this time——
"Ah! Here it is!" Youyou and the others walked in and said to the two who had finished their conversation, "The food is ready, it's getting cold, come and eat."
"I tasted a little, and it's absolutely delicious! No wonder it's Alice's!"
"Hehe. I used all my skills. I used lots of delicious vegetables, so it's packed with nutrition."
Hearing Lynn's praise, Alice was very happy to say so, after all, it represented her skills and hard work.
"Still those noisy folks..." The old man shook his head helplessly, but he wasn't as stubborn as before. Instead, he said to them, "Excuse me, could you take me to the restaurant?"
"Okay! Leave it to me!!"
Upon hearing the request, Chris readily agreed. Youyou watched their intimate relationship with a mixture of curiosity and envy.
"It seems like your relationship has improved?"
"Hehe, something happened."
Chris said this with considerable pride, and then the group headed to the dining room. Alice indeed displayed her true skills, preparing a very lavish lunch—to have the princess cook for him was something to boast about to others.
I had a very satisfying lunch.
At the others' suggestion, Youyou said, "Grandpa, let me give you a massage after you finish cooking... Oh my, your arms are quite firm."
"I heard you used to be an adventurer. I've been doing all sorts of quests lately too," Alice said, her eyes sparkling slightly. She really loved adventure and the stories of adventurers, and being able to go on adventures herself truly gave her a sense of fulfillment.
"Hehe, it's been a long time since I've heard of something like this. What kind of mission did you do?" The old man seemed to want to offer them some advice as someone who had been through it all.
Lynn spoke up decisively: "I recently went to a strange ruin with my companions, and something big happened there..."
She recounted her adventures, and the old man listened quietly without interrupting.
Seeing this, Chris smiled slightly and said, "Grandpa is listening very happily."
"Ah, ah." Darkness nodded with satisfaction, and asked with a grateful tone, "Chris seemed to have become much gentler after talking to him. What exactly did they talk about?"
"What was it...? They asked about Darkness's past."
"What?! Didn't you hear anything strange?!"
"What's the strange thing?"
"Th-that is...!"
Seeing Chris's mischievous, teasing smile, Darkness didn't know what to say. The embarrassing things from the past were too difficult for her to talk about, so she could only change the subject.
"Don't worry about it, it's nothing serious! Anyway, it would be good if he could recover a little. By the way, um...?"
"what happened?"
"It's nothing. I'm just a little bothered that Cecily isn't here..."
Just as Darkness was feeling a bit strange and worried, he suddenly discovered a sticky, blue, soft monster in the mansion—it was a slime!
"What?! What's going on?! Why is a slime here?!"
Chris said this somewhat nervously.
At the same time, Cecily ran out from the direction of the bathroom, shouting to everyone, "I was growing dessert agar slime in the bathroom, and it accidentally escaped! Catch it quickly!"
"You, you bastard—"
Although Darkness complained loudly about how unhappy she was about this, her body involuntarily rushed forward to fight the slime. After the difficult battle, she simply lay down on the stretcher.
"Hehe...hehehe...what a great battle." She said, her face flushed. "Slime, I never expected you to defile my body in such a way..."
"Ugh, really. Why did you rush over there when you were clearly missing?" Chris said helplessly. "Anyway, let's go get some treatment over there first."
“Darkness’s condition is like an illness,” Lynn said with a sigh, seeing Darkness’s actions. “If only there were a way to cure it.”
"There's nothing we can do about it..." Youyou sighed, then asked with concern, "Grandpa, are you hurt?"
"Hmph, this level is nothing... Ah!"
The old man wanted to show off in front of everyone, but before he could even make a move, he simply fell to the ground.
"Ah—!" Alice rushed over anxiously to check on him. "Grandpa, are you alright?!"
"So, he really is injured!? But, it doesn't look like he's injured anywhere—" Chris didn't see any signs of injury on him.
Cecily shouted angrily, "This...this must be the curse of the evil god Eris! She's going to cause trouble at the church!!"
“How could that be!” Chris retorted, clearly annoyed, but Cecily had already slipped away, leaving no chance to stop her. “…She’s gone. Anyway, let’s get Grandpa back to his room first!”
With the priestess present, they quickly treated the old man, but he wasn't injured; he had only fainted. After a careful examination, Chris patted her chest with some relief and said, "Hmm, he seems to be just a little tired. I'm relieved."
"Okay, lift your head up, lift it up a little more." Lynn helped the old man onto the bed and placed a pillow behind his back so that he could sit up.
"I'm so sorry for causing you trouble, I'm fine now..." the old man said apologetically, bowing slightly, then asked, "But, that slime..."
"I'm sorry, I'll give Miss Cecily a very stern talking-to later!" Chris bowed her head decisively.
"No..." The old man shook his head happily and said, "The battle just now reminded me of when I was an adventurer, fighting against slimes. It brought back many memories."
“Grandpa lived through those times too,” Alice said, leaning closer with interest. “I’d like to hear more stories like that.”
She really loves listening to adventurer stories, whether good or bad.
The old man stroked her head, smiled, and said, "Actually, when I was young, I also faced difficulties with my companions. All sorts of requests came one after another. During the slime-slaying mission, I was disliked by the arrogant old man who was the client, which made me feel very resentful. But now I've done the same thing to you... I'm really sorry."
In the end, he lowered his head deeply, as if the old man's past actions made him feel ashamed.
“No need for apologies!” Darkness immediately put his arm around his shoulder and said, “You have the same expression as before, what’s the point of us coming here?”
"Of course." The old man smiled with satisfaction and said, "It's so good to be able to talk to you all. I would be so happy to be able to come again..."
He looked at everyone with a mixture of anticipation and fear of rejection.
“Of course!” Chris readily agreed, saying, “I’d also like to hear about Darkness’s childhood. Well then, shouldn’t we take our leave now?”
She glanced at the others, gesturing with her eyes. Lynn understood what she meant and said, "Yes, Darkness and the old man should have a good chat."
"Chris, everyone... thank you so much for today."
"It's so great that we could be of help as members of the Axel Angels! Well then, goodbye, grandpa!"
Then everyone left.
However, they later remembered that Cecily had gone to the Church of Eris to cause trouble, and it took a lot of effort to get her out.
(End of this chapter)