Chapter 1695: Chapter 1252: A Wonderful Beginning
After transferring through Star Bridge Hall, Ash and the others boarded the Kingdom of Blood Moon’s sightseeing train within just ten minutes; the transportation among the five countries is incredibly efficient.
Hanna prepared identities for them as Evangelist Travellers, luckily they were headed to the Kingdom of Blood Moon, otherwise, the tourism visa wouldn’t have been so easily acquired. Currently, Earth Abyss, Paradise, and Dazzling Star only allow business visas, with official personnel accompanying throughout, while Blood Moon is releasing a large number of tourism visas, welcoming travelers from all countries to visit the Kingdom of Blood Moon.
Although they could enter illegally, like last time Ash took Sonia to Dazzling Star without anyone noticing. But this time they’re here for a vacation, wanting to enjoy social services, so they need legal identities; they can’t always rely on Vishi to control the staff.
Of course, they could also directly showcase force, as Heaven surely wouldn’t dare send down Angels, ensuring that wherever they go, all beings would bow, much like an emperor visiting his palace. But the downside would be no thinking of relaxing, as ambitious opportunists would go to any lengths to approach and appease them, any intention or inclination they leak would be magnified infinitely, causing ripples on the societal level... Just thinking about it feels suffocating.
Disguising themselves as ordinary tourists entering Blood Moon like this is quite good, they can enjoy a full holiday, while also having a sense of superiority over ’these ignorant tribesmen surely don’t know there’s a Supreme of Magic among them, right?’
The sightseeing train will traverse the Blood Moon lands, passing several stops, including Kaimon City, Ash’s Newbie Village, unfortunately, he hadn’t had a good look around before being thrown into the Desperate Dungeon Shattered Lake Prison.
"17, 17... here!"
Diya opened the compartment to find a four-seater inside. Unlike ordinary carriages, the luxury carriages on the sightseeing train are divided into small compartments, with a four-seater facing each other inside, a table in the middle, and thoughtfully prepared card games on the side, providing a pleasant time with friends if one tires of the scenery.
The compartment has excellent soundproofing, allowing for loud conversations inside without affecting other passengers. On closer thought, this design is surprisingly good, appreciating the rushing scenery with friends and family in a private space, without worrying about other people’s gaze, there’s nothing better as an ideal start to a wonderful holiday.
These compartments are only sold to groups of three or more travelers and not individually. Ash, Sonia, Diya, Weiser, Vishi, Felix, Dedarose happen to be seven, so Hanna booked two compartments for them.
However, seeing the interior of the compartment, the Female Mage simultaneously realized a problem:
One compartment is four-seats, meaning besides Ash, only three more people can sit.
"Ash," Sonia casually asked, "You make the seating arrangements, which three want you to share a room with?"
The atmosphere suddenly became tense, Felix looked at the others, subconsciously held his breath, too nervous to move, as if Sonia’s previous question wasn’t ’Which three of four people do you choose?’ but rather ’Which one of four do you want to abandon first?’
However, knowing Ash’s personality, he’d likely say ’The five of us can squeeze in together’... Actually, Miss Weiser doesn’t have to sit, as a Divine Being she can float around... Hmm, another possibility is Ash sitting under the table, letting everyone step on him...
While Felix was lost in thought, Ash glanced at the card games and asked, "Who wants to play tabletop games?"
To sit at the tabletop games table? Throwing the question back, but it’s pointless... Felix saw all four operators raising their hands, even Vishi raised hers without exception.
"Great, since you all want to play tabletop games, you four share a compartment."
Ash opened the adjacent compartment and said, "I want to watch shows, so I’ll be with Dedarose and Felix."
The four Sword Maidens could only watch as Felix and Dedarose entered Ash’s compartment with apologetic faces, then they entered their compartment peacefully, due to the seating they had to face each other, unable to even pretend they didn’t notice each other’s frustrated expressions.
"Vishi, aren’t you too old for tabletop games..." Diya mumbled.
"Exactly, someone who wants to have kids shouldn’t be at the age for tabletop games." Weiser immediately followed.
Vishi coldly looked at them, suddenly a mocking smile curved at her lips, "That’s right, I don’t actually like tabletop games, I just raised my hand because I want to be with Ash, who wouldn’t like to have kids with him?"
"It’s great that you all don’t have plans for children."
She raised her chin, folding her arms across her chest, and leisurely said, "That means my child will be Ash’s first child... the first always gets the most love and attention, wouldn’t you agree, Sword Maiden?"
Diya and Weiser were momentarily speechless, not expecting Vishi to lose her shyness with Ash not around, this Ghost Prophet shamelessly had them at a loss for words. They looked at Sonia, only hoping the college student could dampen the maid’s arrogance.
Sonia rested her cheek on her hand looking at the scenery outside, as the train slowly started, she said, "I disagree."
"You disagree he didn’t have his first kiss with you." Vishi laughed, "What good does your disagreement do?"
"I disagree, you won’t have a chance."
"You can’t stop him, just one time—"
"Not even one time for you!" Sonia stared wide-eyed at Vishi, and said word by word, "I’ll keep him busy with me till there’s nothing left!"
Diya quickly followed, "Me too!"
Weiser suppressed her laughter with a hand.
Vishi snorted coldly, disdainfully, "You? You underestimate me and overestimate yourself."
"What’s the point in arguing like this?" Weiser reached out, took a box of poker cards, and said with a smile, "Let’s bet on something."
"Bet on what?"
"Whoever loses the most has to skip the next developers’ meeting, how’s that?"
Sonia quickly understood what she meant and replied, "Why not have the winner get to develop something alone?"
"Because the three losers would argue, like Sword Maiden, if you lose, you’d surely team up to annul the results." Weiser explained, "But now if four agree on three, this way even if you lose you can’t turn the tables, right?"
Sonia blinked, turned her head to look at the scenery outside, "...I won’t."
This guy is truly as shameless as Ash, everyone thought.
"Come to think of it, aren’t four people too many." Diya seriously discussed, "Though one person is best, two or three could exchange a bit of comfort for more fun."
"Isn’t four people just right?" Vishi casually responded, "Left, right, up and down, just perfectly occupied."
"If it’s just you alone, then all directions serve you," Sonia said. "It’s not that simple like 1+1+1+1; that sense of being immersed in the ocean is unparalleled... Hmm?"
She suddenly looked up at the walls at the front and back of the compartment, pointing to the side ahead, "Did the wall over there come down?"
Weiser and Vishi looked back and indeed found the back wall had descended a bit. Weiser realized something, searched around the armrest, found a button, pressed it hard, and the back wall silently descended, revealing the other side’s compartment.
They stood up, and Ash was indulging in the light screen movie in the other compartment, while Dedarose and Felix were flipping through magazines.
"Huh?" Felix turned his head in surprise, "So these walls are adjustable... That’s great; we aren’t in separate rooms anymore!"
Sonia tightly pressed her lips, took a deep breath, and asked, "How much did you hear?"
"Hear what?" Felix blinked, "The walls’ soundproofing is pretty good; we can’t hear anything here."
The pink-haired maid suddenly asked, "Do you think four is too much?"
"It’s a bit too many—" Felix quickly covered his mouth, making pitiful muffled sounds. Dedarose buried her head lower, and Ash couldn’t hold back and burst into laughter after three seconds.
After throwing several bottled waters at Ash, the four operators finally decided to sit down. Weiser and Diya were quite indifferent, but Sonia and Vishi blushed so much they seemed about to bleed, pretending to look at the scenery to reduce embarrassment.
"Still up for cards?" Diya asked, "Sitting idle is boring."
"...play."
"Still betting?"
"Bet!"
"Wait." Sonia stood up, looking at the compartment where Ash was, squinting her eyes slightly, "We’re on this train for several hours..."
"So what?" Diya asked, "Exchange stakes here? Whoever finishes last swaps with Ash?"
"That’s not exactly what I meant, but close."
"I understand." Weiser knelt on the seat, looking at Felix and Dedarose in the other compartment, "Letting Ash stay in the same space with two women is too risky."
"I won’t even mention your bias against me." Ash’s mouth twitched, "This isn’t a closed space; you can stand up and see me!"
"Technically, we can only see you above the table," Sonia said. "What happens below the table is beyond our view. Weiser, Vishi, you—"
"Okay."
"That’s fine."
Weiser and Vishi combined Wonder, three collars latched around Ash, Felix, and Dedarose’s necks.
Ash was dumbfounded, "What is this?"
"Detection collar," Weiser replied. "If you attempt to get under the table, the collar at table level will activate and chop your head off."
"Soul binding; can’t take it off," Vishi added.
"Sonia hasn’t even elaborated on what to do, and you two can create this Wonder?" Ash was shocked, "When did you become so in sync?!"
Felix also panicked, "I won’t try to get under the table! Believe me! And why would I even go under the table?"
"Apart from retrieving things, anything’s possible." Vishi shrugged, "Maybe you’ll want a drink—"
"I’m not that shameless!"
In the next moment, Felix was sure she saw the Death God, as four streams of dark killing intent rampaged inside the compartment, nearly scattering Vosloda’s second miss like fog. Dedarose buried her head even lower, trying to minimize her presence. Ash sighed, stood up, turned Felix’s head to face him, and said, "There’s only one shameless person here, and that’s me, got it?"
"...Got it."
The raging darkness slowly subsided, and Felix realized her back was covered in cold sweat.
She looked down at the magazine on the table, and after a while, whispered, "I’m sorry."
Ash glanced at her and casually said, "Enough. Actually, it’s their fault initially; suspecting me of being a trash can is one thing, but suspecting someone would willingly jump into one?"
"...Mm."
"No wait, I have a complaint!" Ash suddenly raised an issue, "Why collar me? I’m not sneaking under the table!"
Weiser popped up and looked at him, "Hold on, we’ll discuss it."
After about ten seconds, Weiser popped up again, "After the discussion, your collar is justified."
"Why!"
"It’s a reasonable risk assessment based on your performance last night."
This time, not only Felix but Dedarose also couldn’t help but look at Ash. Ash opened his mouth, his face flushed as if burning, silently picked up a magazine beside him, and held it up to cover his face.
Meanwhile, the four operators gave each other high-fives, celebrating the little victory.
