341 A Little Stain In A Series of Perfect Executions

Just like that, the finale of the script was reached, and it was a very simple one at that. Baiyi hovered in the air like some sort of deity while the glowing book flipped through its pages on its own. In a matter of moments, the survivors were sent out of the realm, back to the real world. 

Even though he could have sent them all out once, he did not do that; it would not be theatrical. First, Baiyi simulated more violent mana surges, and the earth tremors became full-blown earthquakes, emulating the scene of an impending apocalypse. The castle trembled and began to fall apart, causing the survivors to panic even more. Each of them pleaded with Baiyi to send them out first, as soon as possible.

The last two survivors to be teleported out the realm were Baldy Kris and the maiden cleric. Before he sent them out, they bowed deeply with gratitude. At that point, even the ceiling had begun to fall apart.

"We'll meet again," Baiyi said, calmly, and sent the two back to Isythre.

Suddenly, the earthquakes stopped, the mana surges ceased, and silence encompassed the realm; he was all alone. Now, the swan song was upon him.

Baiyi snapped his finger, and the decrepit basement instantly transformed into the golden interior of an opulent palace. Gigantic pillars and neatly-aligned stairs appeared, and a throne emerged atop the tallest dais. The only thing that was lacking in this place was a crowd. 

"This should resemble the image in our memory, right??" Baiyi murmured. He dragged his battered armor of body to the throne and sat down. He looked around the empty royal hall and sighed, feeling a little lonely.

"This would do. This would do nicely…" He murmured to no one in particular and stretched out his right hand. Suddenly, golden orbs from every nook and cranny of the hall soared to Baiyi's outstretched hand, coalescing into a book atop his palm. The dimension began to tremble again, heralding a collapse, and this time, it was not fake.

The small dimension still existed because the Book of Servitude had sustained it for all this time. Now that Baiyi was going to retrieve it, the realm would have to succumb to the ruling of the Laws.

"In summary, this was a perfect trip, right?" Baiyi said, flatly, as he watched the book slowly take form. His show was a masterpiece, and he was sure that there had been no mistakes; nothing would give him away, he thought. Every one of the survivors was sure to sing praises of his good deeds to the public, and he would once again be coined a savior.

Of course, this excludes those in the comment section…

Baiyi chose to teleport himself to a location in Isythre that was more remote than the other locations he sent the survivors to. In fact, it was far away from the little village where he had opened the gate of light. When he appeared out of thin air, there was no one in the vicinity; this was just the way he liked it. He could imagine how large the uproar preceding recent events would be, and he had no patience to offer any explanations. The lesser visitors he had, the better it would be for him.

That night, under the cloak of darkness, Baiyi quietly returned to the manor. The three barbarians were already there waiting for him, carrying large crates full of corncobs.

When Baiyi spotted them, he almost laughed."Exchanging items with the villagers again?"

"Nope. No one is in that village anymore, so we just grabbed all we could," Huskar replied, with a huge grin on his face. 

Baiyi was speechless. 'We had just been through one of the greatest events in Isythre — an event that will eventually be recorded into history by a historian somewhere and might change what the future holds for mankind — yet you three were only interested in stealing some farmers' corncobs?! Are you modest at heart or just bonkers in the head?'

"...You know what? Whatever. Get the goats; we're leaving, now," Baiyi replied, with a sigh.

"To where?" one of them asked.

"Home. Our respective homes. It's over. You can return to your ancestors and tell them that I now have the object in my possession. They need not worry; I'll forever remember our friendship," Baiyi said. "Anyway, time's almost up. Let's go."

"Oh! Oh." Huskar, who had been scratching his head a little in confusion, suddenly nodded enthusiastically, finally understanding the directive. He whistled for his mountain goats to come to him, and when they did, he placed metal backpacks on each of them. Then, they all took into the air with Baiyi and flew off.

When Baiyi and the barbarians reached an unpopulated wasteland, they parted ways. Before the barbarians, who were being guided by Cuckoo, left, however, they gave Baiyi a few bags filled with corncobs and reluctantly bade him farewell. 

After flying for a while, Baiyi found a small town nearby, and he used its transporter portal to return to Arfin City.

When he finally reached the Aegis Mansion, the little kids were in the bath, after which they would be ready for bed.

As soon as Baiyi entered the gate, he was welcomed by the Jaw Flower, which rushed at him with a wide-open maw, ready to snap at its behind. Baiyi responded to the gesture with a well-timed kick, which sent the enormous bizarre plant flying. He walked to the door and opened it, and the first person he saw was little Mia, who had just come out of the bath.

The little girl's hair was still wet, and she had donned a snow-white sleeping gown, which left her soft shoulders and feet exposed. She stared at him for a while, aghast, and leaped right at him before wrapping her arms tightly around his neck.

"Awwww! Mr. Hope, you're finally home!" Mia murmured coquettishly.

'Huh-hey! My youngest daughter is still as clingy as ever!' Baiyi rubbed on Mia's little head contentedly, then he raised her up and rubbed his face mask against her soft cheeks.

He knew that time in the small dimension flowed no differently from time in Isythre, so there was no chance for him to open the door and see something as heart-wrenching as a grown Mia cradling the child of an unknown boy.

"H-huh? Your... wounds!" Mia noticed the scars on his body, and her face paled. She struggled to imagine the terror of the battle Baiyi had been in that caused him this much damage.

"Nothing to it. These are only small bruises," Baiyi replied nonchalantly and placed the girl down on the couch. The other kids heard the noise and came down the stairs, and then they happily surrounded Baiyi and began to ask him various questions about his adventure.

Baiyi, however, gently sent the kids back to their rooms because it was too late for storytelling; they all had to sleep. 

Soon, only he and his teacher remained.

"Did it go smoothly?" The Archmage whispered.

Baiyi nodded and opened his right palm, and a big black book appeared atop it, out of nowhere. It resembled any ordinary book one could find at a bookstore.

"That's a lowkey design. I supposed it fits your personality." the Archmage nodded. "At least, it's finally back in hands that deserve it. This is comforting — really comforting. Now I have given even my most important treasure to you."

Baiyi was a little saddened by the Archmage's words, prompting him to come up with something, but the Archmage continued, "Alright. You've had your fun, and I should really be going back. We can always just discuss there. Remember what you promised me, though: my gacha game! Gimme more of those sweet, sweet Saint Quartz—"

As soon as Baiyi heard that, his sadness disappeared into thin air.

The two returned to the underground Magus Lab. Baiyi undid the secret Pseudo-Descent spell, and the militia armor fell to the floor piece by piece. Amongst the mess were two storage pouches.

Baiyi picked the pouches up and peered into them; he saw only two nickels.

He instantly shifted his attention to the Archmage, who had just returned to the Void, and hollered, "There were five million gold coins in both pouches! How did you spend it all in a few days? What did you even do? Bought lottery tickets? Downloaded free-to-play mobile games? Was Steam having some kinda sales?"

"How about you start by offering me a smartphone?" The Archmage retorted. "You wretched brat, raising your voice just because I used a little of your money! Do you even know that a royal has to do things the way royals do? Especially when said royal has to bring a bevy of adorable girls with them. Naturally, this would cost more money than usual! I gave the kids the money that remained as their allowance! Besides, I should be the one asking you a question: why is it that, despite earning this much, Mia-chan still doesn't have enough nickels in her pocket?"

'That girl gets one hundred gold coins as her monthly allowance; it's a hundred times more the average child's allowance! If this was considered a little, then how much should I even give? Plus, what does she even need so much money for? She only needs enough for pretty clothes and miniskirts. It's not like there are other outlets for her to spend money!'

"Sigh. Fine, fine. Let us move on from these trivial matters; there are more important issues at hand." Baiyi quickly closed the previous topic of discussion and proceded to share the memory of his past few days with the Archmage.

After watching his student carry out all sorts of schemes, the Archmage pondered for a short while before saying, "You actually turned a normal inauguration ceremony into this… I guess I really did underestimate you, after all. Where are the three prisoners? Have you gotten any intel from them, yet?"

"The Warrior Walker and the rest are on it. I guess we will be hearing from them soon."

The Archmage decided to spend the free time his gatcha game, but every time he tried to summon them in ten trails, they all ended in a second, without a single Super-Super-Rare ever falling into his hands. This made him start to wonder if Baiyi had secretly lowered the rate of SSRs in retaliation for his spending, but his thoughts were interrupted by a notification from the Cleric Walker.

It was a piece of bad news. The old priest went hysterical the moment he realized he was in the presence of his venerated Deity, Apostle Joel, whose pictures adorned the walls of too many cathedrals in the real world. The shock made the old priest begin to laugh and cry at the same time; he had most likely gone insane and was now unfit to provide any intel.

"You! Bloody dimwit!" Baiyi almost spewed fire from his mouth. "You had one job — One! Job!"

That old priest was one of the old higher-ups in the Church — the very organization that was the number one enemy of the Voidwalkers! His intel would have been priceless and most critical for their future mission, but the Cleric Walker had now ruined it.

"What was I supposed to do? I'm just as helpless!" The Cleric Walker protested, voicing his grievance. "I even tried to teach him how to accept life in the Void, but he wouldn't listen. Is that even my fault?"

'By 'teach', you mean degenerate into a horny a** gentleman, isn't it? Why would you even tell someone something like that? Do you even realize that by letting him know how low you have sunk, you may have forced him deeper into insanity?'Ooh, you caught me redhanded, hee hee! But just because you're savvy enough to know doesn't mean you're not craven!