Mage Manual

Chapter 1742: Chapter 1289: Teammates Are Acceptable, Lovers Are Not

"Freyja, why do you care so much about this person?"

Vishi looked at the most emotional Meiwa in the room and raised an eyebrow, "Didn’t you forget him like the rest of us?"

Freyja puffed up and said, "But I’ve remembered now!"

Vishi pressed on, "You remember every moment with him? His voice, his appearance, and the impression he left on you? You remember the feeling of liking him?"

"No, but it’s written in the diary!" Freyja shook off Siflin’s secretly tugging hand on her sleeve and faced the Ghost Prophet’s pressure fearlessly. "He lived with me for several days after he escaped. If he hadn’t rejected me, I might have followed him out of Blood Moon... This means I must have liked him! And just by reading the diary, I know I would undoubtedly like him, he’s strong, kind, never discouraged, and deeply affectionate..."

As she spoke, her eyes turned into the shape of hearts, and she clenched her fists, her face full of longing. "No wonder he’s our lover; he indeed transcends everything, is the color painted on all by the Divine Being, the most perfect lover."

Felix brushed his bangs and muttered, "I think ’our lover’ and ’perfect lover’ are probably contradictory propositions..."

"So we must find a way to save him!" Freyja said anxiously. "There must have been an accident, causing his entire existence to be completely erased. Now only we can change this erroneous world line!"

"Erroneous world line?" Vishi crossed her legs and leaned lazily on the sofa. "Is this world line really wrong?"

Freyja was genuinely a bit angry, standing up angrily on the bed and glaring at Vishi. "Isn’t it wrong that his existence has disappeared? Don’t you want to say this diary is fake now!? You’re just so, so..."

Meiwa flushed with anger and wanted to curse, but before she could, Siflin hugged her tightly and covered her mouth.

Vishi didn’t mind Meiwa’s offense. She ran her fingertip around the rim of her wine glass, slowly speaking, "Freyja, you’re mistaken. It’s not me who wants to admit this diary is fake now."

"Even though from the abnormal memories of the past few months, I have to acknowledge that Ash Heath and I indeed had intimate physical contact, it’s just that, after all, I was bound by him with a ruby chain, and to survive, I fawned over him like a girl slave without shame."

"But here’s the problem," Vishi gestured for Felix to pour some wine, then she seriously asked Meiwa, who was struggling in Siflin’s embrace, "Do I have any obligation to save an enemy who chained me?"

Freyja’s body stiffened. She opened her mouth but couldn’t speak, only managing to say after a moment, "But in his confession on the last page—"

"Let’s assume I indeed had a romantic relationship with him, if you think a ’master’ and a ’subordinate’ can have love," Vishi said generously, swirling her wine glass. "But even if we were lovers, do I have an obligation to save him? Is Blood Moon’s culture really that simple-minded, with undying devotion once in love, sacrificing everything for each other, and no chance of just fooling around?"

"I never owed Ash anything, unless you say not killing me was a great favor, then I have nothing to say. But from my personal perspective, not kicking him when he’s down is already more than enough."

"I am the Ghost Prophet!" Vishi suddenly crushed the wine glass in her hand, red wine flowing down her wrist as her face contorted with rage like crushing a heart. "He dared to dominate me for a whole year! And made me, made me..."

Even as daring as Freyja was, she didn’t dare to provoke further at this moment. The room fell into silence, filled with an overwhelming hostility.

"Vishi," Weiser suddenly said, "your Divine Being, your Wonder, your World Secret Domain, who do you think gave them to you? Sonia?"

Vishi’s tone paused. After a moment of silence, she said, "Even if he did, it doesn’t prove anything, because he can take back whatever he gave at any time, no matter how powerful I am, I’m just his tool."

Weiser softly snickered, no longer speaking. Felix looked at Vishi, wanting to say something but hesitating, his expression quite conflicted.

"I know what you’re thinking," she looked up at Weiser and the others. "But I can still use this excuse to lessen my sense of responsibility. I am shameless and cold-blooded, but you don’t even have this excuse. The diary clearly states that he had unforgettable romances with each of you."

"Witch, he protected you lovingly when you were at your weakest, considered you his most important family, even risking becoming the container of the Gospel Divine Being for you. Silver Lamp, you’re even more significant. You first hurt him and later fell for him. He ventured into the lowest layer of the Silent Spiral for you, fought against the Divine Being for you... heh, I was even a witness."

"And you, Sword Maiden." Vishi looked at Sonia: "Before encountering him, both the Witch and Vishi managed to become Mages and ventured through the Sea of Knowledge independently. As for you... you even became a Mage with his help. Frankly speaking, all your achievements to date stem from his blessing. Without him, you would probably still be an unremarkable Village Girl at Sword Flower University, perhaps without even awakening your swordsmanship talent!"

Sonia clenched her fists as she listened, then gradually relaxed them. Although she might claim that her swordsmanship talent played a crucial role, as Vishi pointed out, had it not been for Ash, she would never have realized her aptitude for swordsmanship... She hadn’t realized it for the past 18 years, nor during a year’s close proximity to Sword Masters at Sword Flower University. It wouldn’t be surprising if she remained unaware for the rest of her life.

Without Ash, she couldn’t even talk about becoming a Demigod Mage; she might have lived a life as merely an ordinary beauty.

"I may shamelessly refuse to save him, but you cannot, because he is not only your lover but also a companion you cannot give up." Vishi took the towel to wipe her hand: "So Freyja, do you understand now? I don’t care whether this diary is real or fake; at worst, I’ll admit to being bitten by the dog. But the ones who truly hope that the diary is fake are actually them!"

"They’re the ones most unwilling to rescue Ash!"

"Ah?"

Freyja stared blankly at them. Diya turned away, her hair color becoming chaotic, Sonia bowed her head in silence, while only Weiser met her gaze with a polite smile.

"But, why?" She asked dumbfoundedly, "He’s so good to you, sacrificing so much, why are you unwilling..."

"It’s probably because Mr. Ash is not just a companion, he’s also their lover."

Dedarose, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke: "If Mr. Ash were just a very good companion to them, they would likely be happy to search for his whereabouts."

"I don’t understand!" Freyja scratched her head, looking puzzled: "Why? If it’s a lover, shouldn’t you be more anxious? You can do it for a companion, but not for a lover? What kind of logic is that!"

"Because, Meiwa, your mindset is different from ours." Weiser sighed and calmly explained: "In this room, only you would fall in love with the diary owner after reading a diary. But to us, it’s like a perfectly normal life, and suddenly someone appears saying he’s our destined lover, making us abandon all pride to love him wholeheartedly."

"Isn’t that good?" Freyja’s eyes showed a clear naiveté.

"Not good at all." Siflin couldn’t resist knocking Meiwa on the head: "Not everyone shares your love-struck mentality! Romantic relationships are inherently unsuitable for the Mage community, and having a partner you barely know come into your life, normal Mages would respond with panic."

"And if he only liked one of us, it might be okay..." Diya lay sprawled on a bean bag chair, her tone quite complex: "But from the past few months’ memories, he seems to like all of us, and we somehow played along, willing to serve him together..."

"Not just that," Vishi said, "from the confession written on the last page, it seems he even held a developer conference with you four, aided by the Fifth Pillar God. Haha, four by his side, four outside, did he really have time for cultivating magic?"

Felix concluded: "Is there really any need to search for this piece of trash who crawled out of the dumpster? Would normal people even like someone like that?"

Freyja was completely speechless, even if she had quite a favorable impression of the diary owner, she had to admit Ash was indeed a very absurd lover, digging him out seemed to offer no benefits whatsoever, even her opposition’s voice softened: "But you like him..."

Vishi casually remarked: "Not anymore."

Freyja hastily said: "When you find him, you’ll remember your feelings of liking him—"

"Isn’t that even scarier?" Vishi spread her hands: "We’re all independent individuals who don’t need love right now. But once we find him, we become love-struck for him? Even among the Wonders I know, this counts as a particularly evil brand."

"But, but—" Freyja was on the verge of tears, turning around with teary eyes to look at Siflin.

Ultimately, the little bat couldn’t bear to see Meiwa being bullied and mustered up the courage to say: "Vishi, that’s a logical error. If you really find Ash, he wouldn’t force you to fall for him at first sight; the biggest impact might be letting you reclaim lost memories, potentially making you ’re-like’ him."

"If you feel he’s not worth loving, no one will stop you from leaving. At least from the diary’s perspective, he’s never imposed any restrictions on you, even Vishi wasn’t enslaved by him—he simply ’prohibited’ you from doing certain things without ’demanding’ you do anything for him."

"But before that, correcting the altered world line and reclaiming lost memories is beneficial for everyone."