Mage Manual-Chapter 271 - 234 Great Values _2
Chapter 271: Chapter 234: Great Values! _2
Chapter 271: Chapter 234: Great Values! _2
Ash instinctively wanted to say “Tell us about your misfortune and let us have a laugh,” but he suddenly remembered his promise to the Witch not to pry into her life, so he swallowed the schadenfreude right back down his throat.
He was someone who took promises very seriously, perhaps because his father had bought him a gaming console after he scored perfect hundreds in elementary school, or perhaps because he had seen his beloved elder brother top his grade, leading their father to withstand the teacher’s pressure and allow his early romance.
Ash’s father was not a traditional good father, having no ambition, spending his life at his post, loving his nightly drinks, not caring for the children, and spending his life obsessed with forging swords—he even had a forge back at home, where the hammering sounds on Saturday mornings were even more piercing than an alarm clock. Other kids might have sweet dreams, whereas Ash dreamt only of being hammered by the iron, and his brother had it even worse, his sweet dreams abruptly ending with the same hammering.
Despite all the negatives, it was hard for Ash and his brother to speak ill of their father. Besides being able to show off their father’s unsharpened swords to their friends and earn some respect, it was also because their father respected them.
A spanking when necessary, a scolding when warranted, fulfilling promises without coddling or compromise, he had seemingly no expectations of Ash and his brother, much like he wouldn’t expect anything from the swords he made other than them hanging on the wall, yet he was faithfully ironing out the brothers’ adolescent rough edges. Yet, if the brothers could show their own “backbone,” he would not be stingy with his respect. As a child, Ash didn’t think there was anything special about respecting his father, until he grew up and met various people, only then did he realize not everyone had a father.
However, compared to his father, his mother was even more of an extraordinary character, but that was irrelevant right now.
Just as Ash decided not to delve into the Witch’s bad mood, the Sword Maiden turned to him and initiated, “Tell us about your misfortune and let us have a laugh?”
Ash would never admit he had influenced the Sword Maiden.
Diya seemed to be full of complaints, but besides herself, her other sisters didn’t really care about such trivia, although the Sword Maiden’s tone was odd, she still obediently spilled, “Today I encountered a despicable man, in a fair and just duel. Knowing he was going to lose, he unashamedly used external factors to influence me, resulting in my defeat. Yet, he had no remorse, and left after arrogantly humiliating me.”
Since saying she was good at gaming sounded odd, Diya decided to use the term “duel,” after all, the game they were playing was “Mage Duel 14.”
“It’s utterly despicable!” Ash was furious, “There are actually men in this world who can’t accept losing! I have no respect for him!”
“Exactly,” even Sonia couldn’t help but agree, she wasn’t against using external tactics, but with her current social status, she was destined to be a ‘victim of external influences,’ so her stand was firmly on the side of ‘justice’: “A fair and just duel should not be disrupted.”
“Yes, yes!” Diya finally found her group to rail against him, excited as if she had made new friends, “That man is really terrible…”
Sonia didn’t really have much intention to improve relations with the Witch, but Diya’s state was like a fruit can that needed only a gentle pull to open. Sonia’s instinct in ‘networking’ prompted her to skillfully echo Diya—women know best how to please other women.
Soon all of Diya’s negative impressions of Sonia disappeared, and she even felt that Sonia understood her better than her sisters, and also had very upright morals.
Morals that happened to be as upright as her own.
While Ash drove the sports car chasing the Heavenly Carriage Bull, Diya slightly adjusted her glasses and had a conversation with her sisters.
White Queen: “Do I really not need to step in for communication and information gathering this time? Just last night you strongly refused to contact them.”
Diya: “I can’t rely on you forever, and it’s only the Observer and Sword Maiden, I should be able to handle it. Tonight, like usual, let me take care of the Void Realm.”
Black Butler: “Last night you still disliked the Sword Maiden, now after a slight interaction you’re all chummy with her, and you think you can handle it? I bet in a while you’ll betray us completely clean… If not for the arrival of the little witch, Princess, you would undoubtedly be the most socially inept among us.”
Red Death Cultist: “Even including the Witch, the Princess is still at the bottom of social skills.”
The source of this c𝐨ntent is freeweɓnovēl.coɱ.
Diya: “Red, you dare to say that to me?”
Black Butler: “Red is not antisocial; she just lacks social interactions. It’s like not playing games versus being bad at them — they’re not in the same dimension conceptually, so she’s qualified to judge you.”
Diya: “Queen, look at them!”
Queen: “Since the Princess wishes so, let’s follow her ideas. After all, we had agreed from the beginning — the Princess would handle Void Realm adventures, I would handle negotiations, the Deacon would handle schemes, and the Death Cultists would handle combat… An occasional change of roles is fine, but if possible, let’s delegate tasks to the respective persons. After all, we all want to feel needed.”
Black Butler: “Speaking of which, I haven’t worked in a long time, so are you really not planning to let me participate? The delicate state of the bond between the Observer and the Sword Maiden is something your nurturing approach can’t unveil, Queen. Let me handle it. I can cause a qualitative change in their relationship — perhaps for the better, but I will strive to guide it towards the worse. Although I can’t do much in the Void Realm, our bodies are already deadly weapons.”
“No, I don’t like that!”
“No, the Observer and the Sword Maiden are our important allies right now.”
Diya and the Queen simultaneously objected.
“Ah, it seems I’m benched again today. But I’m not in a hurry,” said the Black Butler. “Since I exist, it means… we need me.”
“I will eagerly await the day I’m called upon.”
Despite some controversy, Diya regained her position as the decision-maker for the Void Realm Exploration.
The Queen gave her a piece of advice: the focus of Void Realm Exploration now is not merely exploration but to elevate one’s status within the exploration team.
Now that she could communicate amicably with the Sword Maiden, the next step was the Observer.
The Observer had just agreed with her opinion, indicating that although he’s a nasty person, his values are actually sound, and she should have no problems getting along with him!
“Observer!”
Faster than Ash was Sonia, who turned her head to see what this ‘new sister’ wanted to do.
Diya racked her brains over her social skills: it’s said that the best way to close the gap is to compliment someone’s appearance.
However, the Observer’s face was a haze, completely indiscernible, dressed in a trench coat, typically the self-inflicted comic villain in fairy tale books, so…
“Your hands are so beautiful, may I touch them?”
Ash blinked.
Sonia was stunned.
Are we being so straightforward? Isn’t the usual approach to say something like ‘I’ve put on too much hand cream, let me share some with you’?
