Chapter 616: Godwalker–Hermes |
About the Matter of Me Becoming a Witch and Doing Daily Quests
“Ines, tell me everything about how you discovered that ice valley. Explain the entire process.”
Hearing Janna’s words, a trace of confusion appeared in the eyes of the Frost Guardian Ines, after which it shook its head.
“You mean to say… you don’t remember at all?”
“Yi yi.”
Receiving the Frost Guardian Ines’s reply, Janna frowned slightly.
“Alright then, let’s head back first… oh right, help me carry one Flesh Meteor over.”
Hearing this, the Frost Guardian Ines walked to one of the Flesh Meteors and tried to lift it. However, no matter how hard it exerted itself, it couldn’t move the Flesh Meteor even the slightest bit.
“Yi yi…”
“Looks like, as a plant-type spirit, Laura’s strength far surpasses that of fire and ice elemental spirits.”
Seeing that the Frost Guardian Ines was unable to handle the transport, Janna had no choice but to use the old method—placing the Flesh Meteor into the interdimensional space of the White Tower Ring. She then activated her talent “Spirit Traverse” to enter the Glacier Plane and neatly arranged the Flesh Meteors from the ring onto the snowy ground.
“Alright, just stay here and guard these Flesh Meteors. No need to come back with me.”
“Yi yi~”
After reassuring the Frost Guardian Ines, Janna activated her talent and returned to Zoe Star, making repeated trips back and forth until all eight Flesh Meteors had been transported to the Glacier Plane.
“Looks like I’ll need to find an interdimensional storage item with a larger capacity in the future…”
Due to the frequent use of her talent, Janna’s Soul Power had been significantly consumed. Combined with her earlier battle of wits with the Bloodred Archduke, her mind felt extremely exhausted.
“Aph, when you return to the Holy Realm of Heaven and meet Lord Lucifer, remember to pass along my greetings.”
Because the passage between the Holy Realm of Heaven and the Material Plane was still sealed, Aph, even after evolving into a Lower-Rank Angel, couldn’t head there immediately and could only remain temporarily on Zoe Star.
“Understood, Master. Your current spiritual state is very poor. Please return and rest as soon as possible. Leave things here to me for now.”
Perhaps due to this leap from a Holy Light Spirit to a Lower-Rank Angel, Aph had grown considerably. From her tone and attitude alone, Janna could clearly sense a maturity in her personality that was different from before.
“Alright, I’ll leave this place to you for now. If anything goes wrong during Laura’s evolution, notify me immediately.”
Swish—
With her Soul Power already nearing its limit, Janna immediately severed her consciousness link with Zoe Star. In an instant, her spiritual body returned to her physical body in the Material Plane.
“Mr. Godwalker Hermes, have you been waiting here the whole time for me?”
The moment she opened her eyes, Janna saw the scarecrow-like Godwalker Hermes silently standing guard beside her, waiting for her to awaken.
“Sor—ry… the… let—ters… you… en—trusted… to… me… I… didn’t… de—liv—er… any… of… them…”
Hearing the hoarse, “stuttering” voice like a broken tape, Janna was momentarily stunned.
“Not a single letter was sent?”
“Yes…”
After receiving confirmation from Godwalker Hermes, Janna could finally be certain that both the Victor-Allwise and the Yoya–Bauhinia had indeed been secretly monitoring her movements all along.
Before entering Zoe Star, aside from the wizards stationed at the Turin Wizard Congregation, Janna had sent distress letters to all the wizards she knew in the White Tower, as well as several familiar wizards from the Witch Sect.
But what she hadn’t expected was that the usually reliable Godwalker Hermes hadn’t delivered a single one this time.
“Was it because you couldn’t find them?”
“No… it’s… be—cause… I… for—got…”
“Forgot?”
Hearing Hermes’s words, Janna’s first reaction wasn’t anger, but disbelief.
“When… I… left… this… place… all… mem—o—ries… re—lat—ed… to… de—liv—er—ing… let—ters… dis—ap—peared…”
After listening with difficulty to Hermes’s explanation, Janna wasn’t entirely certain yet, but she had roughly guessed the reason.
After all, what Hermes described was very similar to the subconscious deception she had experienced earlier when discussing the Flesh Star Trajectory with Richard-Eva or when reading the White Tower’s emergency notice.
“If Aph hadn’t successfully evolved into an angel, the Bloodred Archduke’s plan would likely have succeeded this time…”
Even though she had been in what should have been the safest place in Dordogne—the White Tower—the Bloodred Archduke had still managed to exploit a loophole, using an unexpected indirect method to nearly destroy her Zoe Star.
Although the plan ultimately failed, Janna still felt a lingering chill in her heart.
“Mr. Hermes, I don’t think this was your fault. The enemy is simply too powerful. With our current strength, we couldn’t have defended against Him anyway.”
“This… is… my… fail—ure… of… du—ty… please… pun—ish… me…”
Even though Janna had explained the reason, the single-minded Godwalker Hermes still placed all the blame on himself and insisted that Janna punish him.
“Punishment? Is that also a rule of the Spirit Realm?”
From deciphering the memories within the Thread of Obsession formed toward Tifa, Janna roughly understood that many Spirit Realm messengers worked diligently to deliver letters in order to earn contract fragments and thereby comprehend the Law of Contracts.
However, she didn’t know what kind of penalty a messenger would face if they failed to complete a delivery.
“Please… pun—ish… me…”
Seeing Hermes so persistent, Janna, though somewhat helpless, still cooperated with him.
“Then your punishment will be this: for the next month, when delivering letters for me, you are not allowed to accept any payment.”
“That… is… not… e—nough…”
Clearly, Hermes was not satisfied with such a mild punishment.
“Please… pun—ish… me… to… for—ev—er… be… your… mes—sen—ger…”