CH 24.1

Cut in half because this chapter is too long : )

“……How are you?”

Looking at the silent Clarice, Ji Mingjiang asked cautiously.

Leiden maintained the posture of looking at him. He felt that in addition to the fine drizzle, there was a breeze with the fragrance of soil in his spiritual sea. The black dragon successfully calmed down, found a mountaintop to close its wings, and fell into a brief sleep.

How strong is this mermaid’s counseling ability? And he didn’t even try to hide it.

Leiden was a little surprised.

Does he really have nothing to do with the Federation, or was it also taught to him by those defective Federation people?

It’s unknown when Rowlett walked out, and now there were only the two of them in the room.

Leiden looked down at the somewhat wet floor, but he didn’t pay attention to it. He sat cross-legged as he lifted the back of his coat.

The tailored military trousers tightened slightly with his movements, outlining the tight and powerful muscle lines of his thighs.

Ji Mingjiang’s eyes stayed there for a moment, then he quickly moved away, looking at Clarice, who was about to have a long talk with him.

“Your name is Lance?”

The translation of this sentence is okay. Ji Mingjiang nodded after hesitating, then shook his head again.

“It was suggested by my keeper. You can call me by my original name. My name is Ji Mingjiang.”

Unlike during the daytime, he doesn’t feel repulsive toward His Majesty now. On the contrary, his intuition told him that this person was in a relaxed state and had some inquisitive thoughts about him.

It’s a good time to sound him out. After all, if he doesn’t want to maintain this dependence on external objects and wants to obtain some learning tools through his current match, it’s necessary to be open and honest.

Unexpectedly, the biggest problem lies with the translator again.

Ji Mingjiang’s eyes widened when he saw Clarice nod thoughtfully and say, “So you have a surname? Ji Lance, right? I’ll remember it.”

No! ! ! What do you remember! ! ! Does this first name and last name sound like they go well together? ! !

He violently reached out and pressed his hand on Clarice’s knee, leaving a moist handprint, and shook his head with a serious expression.

“Lance, just call me Lance.”

“Okay.” Clarice glanced at him, forgiving the fickle mermaid.

Ji Mingjiang’s forehead twitched.

He withdrew his hand and made a gesture of listening, intending to see what this majesty, who was completely different from what he imagined, was going to say.

Then he realized that His Majesty, who didn’t seem to like mermaids very much before, probably didn’t realize that the translator was actually a defective product because he didn’t know much about mermaids.

Ji Mingjiang just watched Clarice sit firmly in front of him, look at him seriously, and open his mouth to say a lot of words.

But after being processed and filtered by the translator, only a few words were finally passed to his ears.

“You…spiritual counseling…teach, very strong… help…what do you want…”

Thankfully, he was able to piece together the meaning of these bits and pieces, and the most important words were translated.

If he helped Clarice with spiritual counseling, then he could ask Clarice to fulfill some of his wishes?

Ji Mingjiang’s eyes lit up. Is his great cause of language learning finally on the right track? He doesn’t know if Clarice supports an advance salary.

With this thought in mind, he put his hand on Clarice’s wrist, wearing the light brain, and felt the momentary tense muscles under his hand. Ji Mingjiang glanced at him with some uncertainty.

Are the emperors in this era still under attempted assassination? How could Clarice be on guard so easily?

But the wrist that was held by him quickly relaxed again, and Ji Mingjiang took this as a habit of Clarice not fond of being touched by strangers. He pointed his finger at the light brain case and said, “I want this.”

After deciding to have a talk with this seemingly unusual mermaid, Leiden planned to follow the method written in the precautions to build a relationship with the mermaid.

The first step is to improve the goodwill and affection for the unfamiliar match by calling the mermaid’s name to remind him of the state he was in when the keepers were around.

Although the manual feels a little strange to a novice who doesn’t understand this kind of creature, Leiden still endured the feeling of numbness in the scalp and prepared to follow it.

…Wait, what’s the name of this mermaid?

After glancing at the file on the light brain, he cleared his throat and called out the name of the mermaid in the softest tone ever.

To his surprise, after being called by his name, the mermaid hesitated and said a word.

Ji?

The file Oddo gave him didn’t say that this mermaid had a last name, and the last name didn’t quite match the first name either.

Could it be the previous name?

Thinking of this, Leiden sent a message to the minister in charge of household registration.

“Clarice: Go and find out if there is a family named Ji in the Empire that has contact with the mermaid, and hand it over to me after the morning meeting next week.”

Then he contacted the people in the federal bureau and asked them to investigate the family surnamed Ji in the Federation without causing any alarm.

After giving out two instructions, Leiden felt a sense of helplessness when he looked at the little guy, who had a disgruntled face and imprinted a wet handprint on his thigh after he pronounced the name Ji Lance.

That’s why he hates dealing with creatures with such a delicate personality and appearance the most.

But this one named Lance is different; at least his mental strength is several times stronger than that of other mermaids.

After realizing that he couldn’t understand the mermaid’s delicate emotions, Leiden simply threw everything written in the precautions behind him and planned to ask directly.

“Your spiritual counseling ability is very strong. I don’t know who taught you, but thank you very much for your help just now. You can ask for anything.”

If this mermaid is sent by the Federation, then he should make some very purposeful requests, such as working with him by his side or giving him a communicator.

And if this mermaid just happened to have strong mental ability and didn’t have ulterior motives, he should make some requests for food or activity space.

Just as he was guessing the answer the mermaid might have, Leiden suddenly felt a few cool fingers with moisture on his wrist.

The delicate and soft touch caused his hand muscles to tense up and relax.

Then he saw a long, thin, strong finger tapping his light brain, and Lance, who was lying in the pool, looked up at him and said cutely, “I want this.”

The corner of Leiden’s mouth twitched, and he felt a little headache.

Want his light brain?

What is this? None of the people in the Federation have given this mermaid any instruction? If you want to steal secrets, do you directly ask the emperor of the enemy country?

For the first time, he took a serious look at the mermaid that was also looking at him.

From the beginning, he was different from other mermaids.

He has a slender physique and a visual appearance of at least 1.8 meters. And whether it is the tail that is much wider than other mermaids or the tight muscle lines that appear and disappear under the water, it all indicates a healthy and powerful body.

As for the face that is more easily noticed at first glance, even if it’s not fully unfolded due to being underage, it can be seen that his facial contour is not as soft as a typical mermaid but more clear and distinct.

And for those eyes—the most outstanding feature—compared to most mermaids’ rounded eye shape and sensitive, evasive eyes, the look in those eyes was clear and firm, giving a rare sense of sharpness.

…He really is different everywhere.

Retracting his surveying gaze, Leiden reached out and grabbed the finger that was still tapping on his light brain.

“What do you want this for?” he asked casually.

If this mermaid is really smart but careless, then there should be many loopholes in his answer for him to find.

“Learn to speak; I want to learn your language.”

Ji Mingjiang didn’t expect Clarice to ask this question. He thought about it and answered truthfully.

After all, this translator is so unreliable that it may swallow his very important phrase or pass it off.

And how does Clarice’s mood suddenly seem to be much worse? Is a light brain very expensive? It shouldn’t be. He only mentioned it because Carrie, a college student who just graduated, can afford it.

“Learn Interstellar Common Language?”

Seeing Clarice repeat what he said just now with some surprise, Ji Mingjiang nodded.

He couldn’t conceal the fact that he wanted and could learn the Interstellar Common Language. Anyway, the system has guaranteed that his combat power is the best in this world, so it is not impossible to let this emperor, whose character seems to be okay, know.

If something goes wrong, he can run away in time to stop the loss.

Thinking this way and worried that Clarice would not believe his words, Ji Mingjiang took off the translator from his ear.

Recalling the title those people used today when they met Clarice, and after summarizing the word that appeared most frequently, he tentatively said, “Your Majesty Clarice?”

The ups and downs of the tone are a bit unnatural, and the pauses between words are also a bit stiff, but the advantage of the mermaid’s own voice makes up for this shortcoming very well, and on the contrary, this sentence has a unique rhythm.

It cannot be denied that this is indeed a standard pronunciation of the Interstellar Common Language.

Leiden froze in place after he finished speaking.

Could it be that he doesn’t care about mermaids so much that he doesn’t even know that mermaids have evolved to speak human language?

Wait, if this mermaid wants a light brain to learn Interstellar Common Language, then he must have misunderstood him just now. So does this mermaid have anything to do with the Federation…

For a moment, many complicated thoughts flashed through his mind, and the sleeping black dragon flapped its wings as if it were about to wake up.

But fortunately, Ji Mingjiang quickly buckled up the translator again, looked at the surprised Clarice, and was concerned: “Are you okay? I can only say your name right now, but I’ll learn quickly.”

A breeze with the fragrance of flowers brushed the black dragon’s wet nose. After exhaling a burst of hot air, it turned over, buried itself under its wings, and fell asleep again.

Leiden rubbed his swollen forehead after receiving too much information, looked at the expectant mermaid, and nodded, agreeing to his request.

“Tomorrow I’ll give you a custom learning light brain that will have my contact information stored on it, so you can ask for anything after that on the light brain.”

After saying this, he opened the door and left the villa. As soon as he turned around the courtyard, he saw Rowlett sitting in the gazebo waiting for him.

“What’s the matter?” A few steps away, Leiden had calmed down his emotions and asked with a normal expression.

Afterwards, the steward looked puzzled and said, “Your Majesty, it was Marshal Chen who sent me a message. He asked me what punishment would be imposed if he messed up the private mission His Majesty gave him.”

The galaxy that Chen Yuanchuan is in charge of is currently in a period of peace. Rowlett isn’t sure what tasks Leiden has given him now, but in any case, this shouldn’t be asked of him.

Whether it’s out of professionalism or to avoid suspicion, he has never interfered with His Majesty’s handling of military affairs.

“What mission…” Just as he uttered the puzzled words, Leiden suddenly remembered that he had indeed met Chen Yuanchuan alone before.

What task did he entrust to the young marshal at that time?

“You go to the matching day next month. There is a mermaid named Lance. Try to match him successfully, and then take care of him normally and observe whether he has any unusual movements.”

Leiden glanced back at the small villa where the mermaid lived, from where he had just come out.

“…”