Chapter 561: 420, The Last Adventure
Outside the transparent one-way glass, clouds obscured the sun, casting a shadow that enveloped the young girl sitting across the table.
Aiko hung her head low, her expression unreadable.
“Why would you do such a thing?”
Lin Da asked with complicated feelings.
He felt it was incomprehensible, beyond reason.
The occasional sense of being watched that he had felt when staying in Snow Goose was not an illusion.
...
In a corner he had not noticed, a blonde girl in a white dress pushed the door open a crack, peering through the gap, staring intently at every move he made.
Just the thought of such a scene made Lin Da feel sick.
Only a pervert would engage in such behavior.
But the impression Aiko had given him was of a kind-hearted and gentle person.
Her flaw was that she was somewhat lazy.
During the adventures, Aiko did slack off, but even slacking off, she was still stronger than a normal mage, which wasn’t too unacceptable.
Now, to suddenly be told Aiko was actually a voyeur.
A great impostor who feigned a limp.
The three years spent in Snow Goose, with ulterior motives, harboring some unknown purpose…
It was too much of a shock for Lin Da.
Was this blonde girl, showing a self-deprecating smile, her gaze somewhat indifferent, really Aiko?
“Could it be, the pants I lost…”
Remembering something, Lin Da gaped in astonishment.
Aiko smiled, “Yep, I did it.”
“Why?” Lin Da slammed the table, his voice filled with anger.
Liar, voyeur, thief…
All these despicable acts had been done by Aiko.
Lin Da felt a bit dizzy, his hands propped on the table as he slowly massaged his temples, trying to calm himself.
If a stranger had done these things, he would have already bound them with the Dark Whip and delivered them to the Knights Order.
But after three years of working together, Lin Da believed his own eyes; Aiko wasn’t rotten to the core, so there might be extenuating circumstances for these actions.
He knew a girl whose innate skill was to increase her strength when in pain. Perhaps Aiko stealing his pants was also related to some innate skill.
While it was a far-fetched reason, Lin Da would try his best to convince himself to believe whatever Aiko said.
Lin Da looked at Aiko with an inquiring gaze, waiting for her to continue.
“Let’s start with the first one, why I had to lie to you all.”
Aiko said indifferently.
With her disguise removed, Aiko’s mature and gentle demeanor was gone, replaced by a certain laziness, an air of cynicism.
She slipped her hands into her dress pockets, leaning back against the chair with an air of nonchalance, totally out of sync with the title of ‘Holy Mage.’
To Lin Da, she felt like a delinquent girl who might have come from the Adventurers’ University.
It wouldn’t be surprising if Aiko, in the next moment, pulled out a magic wand and started bullying Beastmen with it as if it were a club.
The Aiko in front of him differed too much from the “Aiko” Lin Da remembered. It was as if his brain stem had been punched, buzzing with noise.
“This isn’t a dream, is it?” Lin Da pinched his own face.
“Of course not, the one before you is the real, genuine Aiko.”
The blonde delinquent girl snorted and said, “You should know that I come from the Holy Light Church, but what you don’t know is why I ‘graduated’ early.”
“I really don’t know.” Lin Da nodded.
He had tried to find out, but all information was locked down by the Holy Rock Adventure Team.
Probably something shady.
These details were never mentioned in the game’s storyline.
In the game, Aiko didn’t have much screen time; including Klrona and Klyne, all members of Snow Goose were like background boards for Lia, serving to highlight Lia’s growth.
With a self-mocking smile, Aiko continued, “The reason I was asked to leave was that I attacked my own mentor, ambushing and severely injuring him while he slept.”
As if oblivious to Lin Da’s surprised expression, Aiko was absorbed in her own world, speaking only to herself, as though performing a one-woman show no one else watched.
“His Magic Circuit was half-destroyed, and he’ll never be able to adventure again, still lying in his sickbed crying out to this day.
But my father is Rocher, the leader of Holy Rock, so even though I seriously injured my own mentor, I didn’t have to go to jail.
Then, I came to White Dove City, thinking sitting in a wheelchair would elicit sympathy, attention, and make things more convenient for me, so I lied about being lame. In reality, I’m quite strong—I could lift three little ones like Chloe without using magic.”
The seemingly weak mage, in fact, was a cold and ruthless impostor, who severely injured her own mentor and pretended to be lame.
Quite despicable, right? But that is Aiko, the ‘Blackheart Mage’ Aiko.”
After finishing in one breath, Aiko’s chest heaved dramatically, she mumbled, “Now, I’ll be completely despised.”
At first, Lin Da watched Aiko in shock, but as she went on, he gradually became thoughtful.
“The Aiko I know wouldn’t do these things without good reason, whether it’s ambushing her mentor or pretending to need a wheelchair. I believe there’s another reason.”
“Nope.”
Aiko lifted the corners of her mouth playfully and said, “Even the Eye of True Knowledge can be wrong about people sometimes.”
Lin Da looked at her with sympathy, a gentle hand placed on Aiko’s head, caressing lightly as if to soothe a stray cat. The other hand took out a blue handkerchief from the Space Ring and offered it to Aiko: “Then stop crying.”
“Eh?”
Aiko touched the corner of her eye, finding her fingertip slightly wet.
She didn’t take Lin Da’s handkerchief, frantically wiping with the back of her hand.
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This made Aiko totally unable to tell whether it was an act anymore; since midway, the plan had begun veering off into uncontrollable directions.
Her original intention was to throw out some inconsequential contrasts to catch Lin Da’s attention and improve her image as a loser.