This is bad.
I can feel the Buddhist staff reacting to the bad energy, as it seems that it shook by itself, only slightly, but enough for me to notice.
It's been several years that I've been in this world, but why didn't they manage to get rid of...
Ah.
Stupid me.
They can't.
So they just avoided this spot.
It has worsened to the point that the negative energy is approaching the gate near Pinky's family.
Even though they are quite big now and can't move by themselves anymore, they weren't affected.
Yet.
It would be bad if it affected them, as they might turn into demonic trees.
Ten looked at me as he took out his staff, asking me what our plan was.
Uh...
Dispel the bad energy?
He nodded and asked me what we should do first.
The heck?!
Why am I making the decisions when he's supposed to be way older than me? Not to mention he's supposed to be powerful, too!
With a sheepish look on his face, Ten admitted that he just follows whatever Dad tells him to do.
Great.
Okay, so I need to think about what to do first...
After glancing around, it occurred to me that we should avoid being seen.
I asked Ten if he knew a spell that prevents us from being seen.. No! Not invisibility magic!
I mean, a spell to make this entire area unseen while we try to find a way to solve the problem here!
Ten lit up as he understood what I meant and raised his staff, the gem on top glowing brightly as thick, heavy, pinkish-colored smoke...
Pinkish?
I thought when liches performed intensive spells, the colors were usually either greenish, black..
Wait...
Whenever Dad performs a spell, I notice there's no smoke at all.
Very interesting...
After Ten performed the spell, he looked quite cheerful, telling me that he's been wishing he could use that specific spell, but Dad wouldn't allow him to.
Why?
The reason is that it's much too colorful, according to Dad.
Colorful? But all the stuff that he knits is usually in the brightest colors!
Especially the clothes he knits for his underlings, which made them reluctant to wear, but they have no choice.
Oh well.
Dad is certainly mysterious and strange at times.
....
Ten informed me that the area we are in can still be seen by others, but somehow they will just avoid being near here without reason.
How about us?
Ten gave me a long, long detailed explanation about how...
Argh!
In short, nobody will pay us any mind at all.
Then, we cautiously explored the area.
What we saw was worse than what we had expected.
All sorts of demonic symbols were inside the buildings and houses.
And to my horror, there are some weird experiments being done.
Right here, near our castle!
This is certainly the worse!
While Ten was busy with his spell of checking for any signs of enemies, I dispersed the bad energy little by little.
As for the places that required a huge amount of energy to disperse the bad aura, Ten marked them so we could return after handling the minor areas.
There are some minor areas that Ten has no choice but to burn. He said it was too much, even for him.
Pointless destruction and waste of...
At this point, Ten's assistant had joined us and he was tasked to get rid of any enemy that we might encounter. He was assisted by Ten's familiar, which turned out to be deadly when fighting enemies, despite its cute size.
Ten explained to me that he didn't make his familiar any bigger because its movement might get really slow the more it increases in size.
True...
It moved so fast that I almost thought it was using a teleportation spell.
Quite surprising for a golem!
I haven't read a fantasy book that mentioned that possibility.
Not everything I read is applicable here, but it did help me avoid being overwhelmed.
Ah! I got distracted! There's another cultist again!
It was about to attack me when I gave him a terrible whack in the face with my Buddhist staff.
Take that!
And that!
After knocking it down, Ten approached it with glee, as I had a feeling he had another prisoner added to Dad's collection of future unpaid laborers.
Dad and Ten's businesses were quite successful and had just expanded to other areas. It is no wonder that Ten is quite enthusiastic right now, fighting against cultists, demons and whatever creatures or beings we are facing...
Ah! I almost got hit!
Ugh!
Ewww!
Seeing that I was almost hit by a stray arrow, Mr. Golem, the name I've given to Ten's familiar, instantly appeared beside the demonic creature entity... I don't know what to call it, as its appearance is unrecognizable.. He slammed his fist into that entity's face, making all sorts of yucky, yucky stuff splash all around the...
I want to puke!
Gross!
But there was no time to puke because a lot of demons suddenly appeared out of nowhere, so I had no choice but to perform a stronger exorcism.
Now I know the risk I'm taking, but at this point, I'm not thinking about my own safety.
I could feel my hands and arms burning, the pain spreading throughout the rest of my body as I chanted the mantra a Buddhist priest had taught me while dancing the holy dance of the monks.
I'm also affected because of this stupid, stupid, corrupt Transformation Stone. It has demonic blood on it, which is giving me an intense headache that I'm doing my best to ignore.
After an intense moment of dancing and chanting, I finally successfully dispelled the bad energy from this area.
This area only.
There's more for me to dispel and time is running out, as we have to go back or Dad will kill us.
And not to mention, my mates will kill us, too.
Especially Lion.
I really don't want to make him angry. I mean, he doesn't show his anger to me, but I can feel it, despite him trying his best not to show it. What's worse is facing his sulkiness afterwards, which takes a bit of time to smoothen out.
Sigh.
So much dispelling to do, so little time to do it.
As I was about to enter another building, I suddenly found an interesting-looking tome and a shiny gem beside it.
Oohh.. What's this?
Can I sell this? It looks expensive and fancy!
Ten noticed me getting distracted and approached me with curiosity.
His face brightened up instantly when he exclaimed that the tome was Dad's, stolen by an acquaintance of his. Dad had been looking for it for more than a century before realizing it was stolen from under his nose.
Dad held such an intense grudge against his acquaintance that he invented a special curse for him and was planning to deliver it the next time they met.
But unfortunately, Dad wasn't able to find him for more than a millennium, much to his intense rage.
I see...
Then we have something to quell his anger should he find out about our little trip.
Ten noticed something shiny, so I showed him the gem.
He gave me an ear-splitting shriek that nearly bursted my eardrums before explaining that what I had found was the phylactery of the culprit.
Ahahaha!
Now Dad definitely won't be angry with us now!
Ten and I were having the time of our lives laughing with glee.
Now that our minds are at ease, I continued to dispel the rest of the bad energy in the other buildings.
.....
Finally we managed to dispel the bad energy inside the buildings and houses on this street.
I'm stopping at just this street, though, as the pain in my hands and arms has become unbearable.
But it's good.
Now I understand the group's fear of having me dispel the bad energy in the entire territory.
Just dispelling the bad energy in this street alone nearly knocked me out.
Ten gave me several bottles of.. I don't want to know what was in it.. that boosted my energy a bit. It was like drinking an energy drink but had a bad aftertaste, though it somehow helped a lot.
It tasted disgusting.
Can I manage to dispel the bad energy in the newly expanded territory before Maelsa comes back?
I do hope so.
They kept saying that Maelsa might come back soon, but I don't how how soon it will be, as their 'soon' is different than my 'soon'.
But I prefer to think it my way, as it is better to act fast. The group is moving too slowly for me, even if they say it is already fast for them.
Time really moves differently here.
Anyway, both Ten and I are sitting on the ground resting, as Ten's assistant and familiar left already to deliver the rest of the production materials to Dad's domain.
After learning what kind of prisoners Dad has, my mercy for them was limited.
Ten stared at me as I removed my gloves, seeing the burns on my entire arms made him murmur something unintelligible.
Then, a small box suddenly appeared in front of him. He opened it, revealing a delicate set of rolled bandages inside.
He wrapped the bandages around my arms and I immediately felt relief from the pain.
After that, he told me to wear the gloves again to secure the bandages tightly.
Ah, he's right. The bandages were a bit loose.
I did what he said and then we stood up and quietly left the place.
We continued to roam around the area, taking notes on the places that needed dispelling, which thankfully, was not too many. We decided to do it next time, as we didn't have much time for now.
The street where we left looks much better, even though his magic burned down some of the buildings and houses.
After he removed the magical barrier, the citizens who noticed the area just acted like nothing was out of the ordinary.
They just continued on their way.
After shopping to our heart's content, Ten and I rested on a park bench, where we had a conversation about the plans for the festivals, attractions, new events...
A voice suddenly interrupted us, asking if we had fun.
Who the heck is...
Ahhh!! Dad!!
Ten trembled behind me while I faced Dad, whose face looked too calm.
Even though his face was covered with a hood, I could feel his calmness seeping out of it...
After much gulping and prayers, I cheerfully and nervously told Dad to sit beside me, as there was something I wanted to give him.
He didn't move for a while before slowly sitting beside me.
Oh gosh... This is so nerve-wracking! No wonder Ten looked like he was about to puke from nervousness!
Then, in a calm voice, he asked me what I was planning to show him, adding that it better be good, as we are in so much trouble with him right now.
Oh, it's good!
When he saw the tome, his mood suddenly became so bright that he instantly asked me if I wanted to be the ruler of my own territory, as he could make it happen right now.
No thanks, Dad! I'm too lazy for it!
But thanks for the offer!
He was brimming with joy as he kept caressing the tome tenderly.
The scene seemed precious... Until I learned what kind of tome he was holding.
Unfortunately, Ten told me what it was.
It was all about the past experiments the other liches had tried, the successes and the failures...
You get it.
Since Dad was in a positive mood, I decided to take it to the next level by showing him the gem I found.
And with that, Dad allowed Ten and me to do whatever we wanted, but asked us to let him know first if we were planning to leave the castle.
Okay.
.....
Dad kept cackling maniacally as he mentioned to us what he's planning to do to the thief as soon as the thief finds out that his phylactery was taken.
Despite my best efforts not to listen to him, I learned some bits and pieces of his plans, which, to make them sound pleasant, sounded as through death would seem like heaven in comparison.
Anyway, Dad became curious about Ten's appearance and noted, as he examined him, that he didn't expect a lich could transform parts of themselves into another form.
Well...
He rubbed his chin, pondered for a while before mumbling that he had plenty of stuff that he needed to do intensive research on.
I reminded him that he really needed to get out once in a while, as there are things that he can learn from experience rather than from reading.
Both he and Ten nodded, agreeing with what I said. Dad decided that he will visit me every now and then from this day forward.
He's leaving?
Dad reassured me that he's not leaving for now, not until everything gets settled down.
Same with Aagon and Khamsin too.
Oh gosh! I forgot about them!
With a chuckle, Dad said that the meeting wasn't done yet and they couldn't leave the room, as he had placed a powerful spell on it, preventing them from doing so.
Why?
They were having a... lively discussion.. so lively that Dad decided not to let them know about Ten and me having a little adventure.
He gave them time to settle things on their own.
I do hope it wasn't about me.
But after glancing at Dad's face...
Sigh...
I don't want to know.
....
Dad commended us when he saw the area that we managed to clear.
But his face became unreadable when he saw my arms.
At this moment, my arms are not as bad-looking compared to earlier.
Still, even though I reassured him that they look better than before, he became pensive.
After examining the area quietly, he finally admitted that there was no choice but to prevent me from getting seriously injured, since my life was at risk.
I would continue with the dispelling, BUT to minimize the danger, he would accompany me, along with Ten and one from the pack.
The others must resume their responsibilities. Aagon will keep track of the areas needing to be dispelled, while Leon trains a portion of the group.
Khamsin will support those who need help the most, along with monitoring our businesses.
Therefore, dividing the group is a MUST.
I see...
Uh... Does this mean that he will tell the others of our little adventure?
Dad simply gave me a smirk, saying that though he is happy, he hasn't forgotten his responsibilities as a parent.
NOOOO! That's punishment enough on letting them know!
....
Mercifully, Dad performed a spell that healed my wounds faster, though it made me sleepy as a side effect.
When we arrived at the castle, Ten and I returned to our original forms. Dad tenderly wrapped my entire body with a cloth as he carried me in his arms, while I drowsily closed my eyes and felt him removing the spell he had placed on the reception chamber.
I could hear the dismay in everyone's voices as Dad silently told them everything.
Dad gently handed me to someone I presumed was Lion, as I felt nuzzles and kisses all over my face and neck.
It wasn't just him. I felt the rest of the pack giving me affection and comfort, too.
I'm sooo sleepy, but I can hear bits of Dad telling the rest of the group about the plan and...
....
When I woke up, I was washed and cleaned, with fresh bandages on my arms, though my body was covered with a blanket.
I wonder how long I was asleep this time?
After glancing around, it seems I was sleeping with the pack in our shared bedroom.
Lion is holding me too tightly and so is Sly.
Alpha's forehead is resting beside my head, with Orm's tail wrapped around one of my legs, while Ghost is holding my other leg as if it were a pillow.
The way they all held me made it seem like they were terrified I might do that little adventure of mine again.
I won't, though.
But it was fun.
I'm still sleepy...
I should go back to sleep.
.....
I can feel someone nuzzling me all over my face, trying to wake me up.
Then comes another nuzzle on my shoulder and...
It tickles!
I chuckled, though I still kept my eyes closed.
Lion whispered into my ear, telling me that I could continue to sleep as they would bathe me.
I could feel myself being carried by him as he whispered something to the others.
Sly caressed my hair as he gave little kisses all over my arms, murmuring that my arms had finally healed.
Then, I felt Lion carrying me towards the bathroom.
Inside, he tenderly placed me sideways on his lap, cradling me while Alpha washed my hair and Sly washed my body.
Lion was talking to Orm, who sounded like he was sitting behind him.
I wonder where Ghost is?
My curiosity was soon answered as I heard someone entering the bathroom. Lion had instructed Ghost to feed me while Orm was busy making a potion to revitalize my energy, as I seemed too pale and lethargic.
Yeah.. He's right..
My body feels a bit heavy... as if I've collected negative energy instead of getting rid of it.
Lion began to sing a comforting song, in which the rest of the pack joined.
They sounded in complete harmony and I enjoyed listening to them while Ghost fed me.
After a few bites, I gave a yawn and dozed off.
But not before I felt something placed on my ankle and heard a loud CLICK.