Chapter 42: Towards the End of the Ocean

Dawn enveloped the brick and tile walls.
The glorious city awakened once more.
Bell towers, churches, spired tall buildings, round spires, and houses were the iconic architecture here.
This place was the main capital of the Holy Nation of Mancius, the holy land for believers, the Holy City—Yebosta.

White walls and golden tiles, with spires lining the sky.
This thousand-year-old city, which combined religious culture and architectural aesthetics, was truly magnificent.
And under the sunlight, it was even more resplendent.

Perhaps the people of the Holy Nation all wanted to live here for a period of their lives.
Some fanatics would even go bankrupt to make a trip.
Faith makes people fervent.

But in a dim corner of this city, a secret conversation was taking place.

In a circular hall made of marble, six large, vertically striped stone pillars supported the dome.
The circular dome was painted with intricate and exquisite pictures.
At first glance, it was three different patterns surrounding the sun.

A serpent, a stalk of wheat, and a cross.

These three patterns each occupied a side, connected to each other yet maintaining a distance.
And looking down from the patterns, directly below them were three lavishly and redundantly carved stone thrones.

Someone was sitting on them, their figure hidden in the shadows, only a faint outline visible.

“So, the disaster in Norn City, the turmoil in Port Otas, the Holy Tribunal didn’t handle a single thing well.
Instead, they lost a lot of personnel and supplies.
This is truly regrettable,” a man’s voice echoed in the grand hall.
The content of his words was particularly harsh to the golden-haired man’s ears in the center of the hall.

Immediately, the man spoke, his tone neither servile nor overbearing.

“The matter was sudden and the changes were unpredictable.
The Holy Tribunal has already done its best to resolve the turmoil.
Although the result is not satisfactory, it was truly helpless.”

“Hmph… are you trying to justify your own negligence, Your Excellency, the Executor?
Or, are you covering for your daughter?”

“Neither. I just feel that this series of problems should not be the sole responsibility of the Holy Tribunal.
We do not know the source of the disaster, so we have no way to judge whether this is a natural disaster,” the golden-haired man paused, looked up at the figure on the stone throne, and continued word by word, “or a man-made one.”

Almost without a pause, the voice from the stone throne immediately replied:
“By the gods above! Of course it’s man-made.
A witch, a black dragon, two taboo things appearing at the same time.
No one wants to see this.
It’s just that I didn’t expect your side to handle it so embarrassingly.”

“Then please don’t forget that Rosius, who was just transferred from the Healing Sanctuary to serve as a Grand Inquisitor in the Holy Tribunal, handed over a divine artifact to someone.
This matter…”

“Young people are impatient. Who can say they didn’t make mistakes when they were young?
And he has already paid the price by being half-dead.
But speaking of which, your daughter…”

“My sister is well aware of her own inexperience and has voluntarily resigned from the position of Grand Inquisitor.
She has also paid the price,” a soft, gentle, and moving voice suddenly appeared.
In the empty grand hall, a woman in a pure white long dress slowly walked out and stood beside the golden-haired man.

Just a rough glance, and you could see that the man and the woman were somewhat similar in both hair color and facial features.
Their relationship was self-evident.

The appearance of the woman in the white dress suddenly quieted the undercurrents of the scene.
No one spoke again.
Even the dust fell silent, as if plunged into an ice cave.

After a long while, the figure on the stone throne spoke again, his tone and voice unchanged.

“Her Excellency, the Saintess Ophelia, didn’t even send someone to inform us.
Today’s pilgrimage is not yet over.
If it weren’t for our Lord’s mercy, this action would be inappropriate.”

“Thank you for your concern. The pilgrimage is a tradition that has been passed down in the church since ancient times.
As the Saintess of Mancius, I will naturally not neglect it.”

“I hope so.”

At this moment, the man on the stone throne finally opened his eyes.
His dark green pupils were like those of a poisonous snake, staring intently at the father and daughter in the center of the hall, but he said no more.

Sailing.
Perhaps because of a certain anime from my childhood, I had always wanted to experience what it was like to sail on the sea.
But I never had the chance.
Perhaps most people in my past life never had the chance to take a cruise, to take a trip around the world by sea.
And I was lucky.
Not long after I was reincarnated, I set sail.

And then, I was no longer curious about any of that sailing nonsense.
My longing for Mother Earth has never been so strong.

The unchanging sea surface made its presence felt every day.
Even in the cabin, I could hear the high and low “thump, thump” of the waves hitting the hull.
Obviously, this kind of sound could not be used as white noise to help me sleep.

Poor sleep, that’s one thing.

As the saying goes, people are made of iron, and rice is made of steel.
You have to eat your fill, and you have to eat well.
If I don’t eat well, I’ll be unhappy.

So I’ve been unhappy all this time………

Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, every day the menu is fish, seaweed, and bread.
And then there’s fish, fish, fish, fish, fish.
It’s just different kinds of fish.
I wouldn’t be surprised if one day I turn from the Thorn Witch to the Seaweed Witch.

Poor food, that’s the second thing.

Finally, and a more crucial matter—Elvira is awake, and she’s full of energy, with nowhere to vent it.
So I’m the one who suffers~

In a room in the ship’s cabin, a kerosene lamp burned brightly beside the bedside cabinet.
The firelight dyed the room an orange-yellow color.
The atmosphere was indescribably warm, but also a bit… hot?

Two shadows, pressed closely together, were reflected on the wall.
One was sitting upright on the bed, motionless.
The other was wriggling and struggling, but didn’t dare to make too much noise.

Today is the third day of sailing.
As usual, I checked on Elvira’s condition and was about to wipe her body.
But I didn’t expect that before I could even start, she suddenly got up, grabbed me, and pulled me into her arms.

She skillfully pinned both my arms behind my back with one hand.
Now, apart from wriggling my body, I couldn’t make any effective resistance.
And her other hand was like an inescapable chain, wrapping around me, as if to erase the distance between us, leaving only the closely connected touch.

“Elvira! How long have you been awake? Stop fooling around and let me go!”
I shouted in a hushed, feigned serious voice, and shifted my butt, trying to get off Elvira’s lap.
But it was all in vain.
Instead… it had a hint of playing hard to get.

“I just want to hold you,” Elvira replied.

“Is this how you hold someone!”

“…It’s a side effect of the blood-sucking. You’ll help me with it, right?”

“Use your brain a little when you lie. It’s been three days.
If you had any side effects, you would have woken up long ago!”

This little female dragon is going crazy and talking nonsense in broad daylight.
Could she have injured her head in the previous battle?

Suddenly, my body stiffened, and my back straightened.
My thighs also clamped tightly together.

Elvira buried her face in the nape of my neck, greedily breathing in my scent.
An inexplicable heat rose from within my body, like the earth’s unrest before a volcanic eruption.

“Verona, I almost lost you…”
A soft whisper brushed past my earlobe, its breath as fragrant as an orchid, dyeing my earlobes red.
I felt my heart in my chest skip a beat, and then slowly accelerate.

The tips of her jade-like fingers, which were wrapped around me, moved lightly, like a feather brushing across the fabric, slowly moving down, to my lower abdomen, then down again, to my thigh, and then kneaded twice.
She moved to my inner thigh, and at this point, the tendency of her hand to go deeper did not diminish at all…

I held my breath and clamped my thighs together.
I thought it was a useless struggle, but it really stopped the advance of her jade-like fingertips!

But… this seemed to have aroused Elvira’s dominant side.
The next moment, her dragon tail, in coordination with her long and powerful legs, forcibly pried my legs apart, putting me in a wide-open position.
Then, those fingers were about to go deeper, and I was about to explode!!!

Wait! What is she trying to do?!

What is this little female dragon trying to do?!!

I treat you as a friend, bleed to save you, and you actually want to…

Knock, knock, knock—

At an unexpected moment, the door was knocked.
The words that came through were a life-saving straw in a moment of crisis, and also possibly… the final echo of my shattered image.

“Verona, you’ve been in there for a long time.
How is Miss Elvira? Is she awake or not?”

I was overjoyed and was about to answer when I heard her breath gushing out by my ear again, carrying with it demonic words…

“Tell her to leave, and I’ll stop here.
But if she comes in…”
Her fingers playfully fiddled a couple of times, sending a numb electric current through me.
“I’ll continue. Choose.”

Hmm?!?!?!!?!

What kind of dragon, tiger, and leopard words are these?

Is the dignity of your dragon race to take advantage of someone’s plight?

Damn it, then I’ll let you, this wicked dragon, see the unyielding spirit of me, Verona!

“Nadiesse,” my tone was firm and powerful.
“………I’m fine, don’t worry.
Elvira… still needs someone to take care of her.
I’ll be out in a while.”

“Er… but you’ve been in there for a long time.
If you need any help, just say so.
We’re all sisters, don’t be polite.”

“No need! I can handle it myself… really.”

“Then… alright then. You take good care of Miss Elvira. I’ll go to the deck first.”

“Mm-hmm…”

The sound of footsteps grew fainter and fainter.
Nadiesse was far away.
I wanted to let out a long sigh of relief, but unexpectedly, one wave had not yet subsided, and another had already risen.

“I knew Verona was smart and would make the right choice.”

“Then… can you let me go now?”

“No.”

Just as Elvira’s words fell, my vision spun.
She had made me a little dizzy.
When I groggily opened my eyes again, I found that I had been firmly pressed under her…

“When I said I would stop here, I meant only a small part.
But there are still many parts of Verona that I want to become more familiar with.
After all… I don’t want to lose you again.”

As she spoke, those golden eyes got closer and closer to mine.
Her crimson lips parted and pressed against my body.
The dragon began her conquest again.

“Don’t worry, I won’t do anything excessive.
I really just want to hold you,” she said, but sometimes, whether the words of a conqueror are trustworthy, no one can say for sure.

Slosh— slosh—

A wet sound came.
It was the noise of the waves hitting the hull, sometimes fierce, sometimes anxious.
The light from the sky pierced through the clouds and the sea, straight into the deep ocean.
There were undercurrents surging.

I was deeply trapped in an enchantment more magnificent than the ocean, constantly falling, until the end of the sea, towards a more distant place.

Listen, the echo from the bottom of the sea is faint but present.

“I was right. You are the one I’m looking for…
Verona, you’re still alive.
I’ve seen you again…
In the future, I’ll make it so you can’t leave me, just like how I can’t be without you now.”

The white noise of the waves was a bit annoying, but that sweet voice struck straight to the heart, ancient and eternal, as if heading towards the end of the ocean.