Chapter 68: An indescribable smell

Kiyome stared at Aldric for a long time after hearing the name Elias Halden.

The man in front of her no longer had even a trace of the mysterious air he had carried when he summoned her to the abandoned estate with an anonymous letter two days ago. One of his eyes was still slightly red from lack of sleep, his right arm was immobilized, his chest was wrapped tightly in bandages, and there was still a swollen bump on his forehead from yesterday’s series of accidents.

Yet the moment he heard her subordinate say that Elias had come into contact with Lathel, Aldric immediately sat upright.

"Where are they?"

The female subordinate looked at Kiyome before answering, "The northern registration area of the Magic Academy."

Aldric immediately braced himself to stand, making Kiyome frown.

"Where are you going?"

"The Academy."

"Looking like that?"

"They’re only a few injuries."

Kiyome looked at his immobilized arm, then lowered her gaze to his chest, which still made him frown slightly every time he took a deep breath.

"Right. A few injuries."

Aldric did not want to argue any further. He knew very well who Elias Halden was, because in the original plot, that idiot would become one of the most outstanding candidates in this year’s entrance examination. He came from an ordinary background but possessed extremely high combat talent, while his personality was troublesome enough that whenever he saw something unjust, he absolutely had to interfere.

More importantly, Elias was only supposed to enter the storyline after the official enrollment period began.

Yet now he had already met Lathel.

Once again, people and events that should have had nothing to do with Lathel were being drawn toward him one after another, making it impossible for Aldric to continue sitting still.

"I’m only going to take a look."

Kiyome smiled faintly. "Last time, you were also only going to take a look at the arena."

Aldric immediately fell silent.

She slowly opened her fan and continued, "The result was five Healers having to put your bones back together."

"That was an accident."

"I know."

Kiyome’s tone was so calm that it only irritated Aldric more. He had no desire to waste time arguing, so he immediately walked toward the door. Kiyome did not stop him and merely turned toward the female subordinate standing nearby.

"Go with him."

The woman immediately lowered her head. "Yes."

Aldric stopped and looked back.

"No need."

Kiyome had already lowered her gaze and resumed reading the report, too lazy to even look at him.

"I didn’t ask for your opinion."

"I don’t need anyone watching me."

"I do."

Aldric turned around completely. Only then did Kiyome raise her head. Her two fox ears were still drooping slightly from lack of sleep, but her golden eyes were more alert than anyone else’s in the room.

"If something breaks a few more of your bones on the way, at least someone needs to come back and tell me."

"Nothing will happen to me."

Kiyome nodded naturally.

"I hope so."

The female subordinate immediately followed Aldric, and in the end, he no longer felt like saying anything else.

...

The carriage had not even been away from the auction house for ten minutes before Aldric began regretting bringing this woman along.

She sat across from him with her back straight and both hands resting on her knees. From beginning to end, she barely said a word.

Normally, Aldric did not need anyone to talk to him either, but having someone constantly observing him and occasionally lowering her head to write something in a notebook was extremely irritating.

Finally, Aldric could no longer endure it.

"What are you writing?"

The female subordinate raised her head.

"Your condition."

"What condition do I have?"

She looked at his right arm, then at his chest, and finally at the swelling on his forehead before calmly concluding:

"Quite a few."

Aldric: "..."

"Erase it."

"I can’t."

"I said erase it."

"My Lady ordered me to record everything."

Aldric gritted his teeth.

"Don’t you have anything else to do?"

"My current assignment is to follow you."

"To protect me?"

The woman thought for a moment before answering:

"Observe."

Aldric stared at her.

"So Kiyome doesn’t trust me?"

"My Lady didn’t say that."

"Then what did she say?"

The female subordinate calmly flipped back one page in her notebook and read it word for word:

"’He’s extremely prone to accidents. Don’t let him die outside and make me deal with the aftermath.’"

Aldric: "..."

Morgana immediately burst out laughing inside the ring.

Aldric closed his eyes and forced down his anger.

’You be quiet too.’

"I didn’t say anything."

’I heard you.’

"Is it my fault that you can hear me laugh?"

Aldric decided that from now until he got out of the carriage, he would not respond to anyone.

At that exact moment, a very faint sound came from beneath the carriage.

Crack.

The carriage tilted slightly to the left.

Aldric opened his eyes. The female subordinate sitting across from him also immediately looked down.

"It seems there’s a problem with the wheel."

Aldric replied coldly, "The road is just rough."

She nodded.

"Perhaps."

Crack.

A second sound rang out.

This time, the carriage tilted much more noticeably, making the driver immediately pull on the reins.

"Wait! There’s something wrong with the right wheel!"

Aldric frowned and ordered, "Stop and check it."

"Yes!"

But before the driver could bring the carriage to a complete stop, the horse in front suddenly neighed.

At the same time, a faint whisper sounded right beside Aldric’s ear.

"...It’s so hot..."

He immediately turned his head.

There was no one there.

The horse neighed even louder, as though it too had just sensed something, then suddenly bolted hard toward the right.

The driver immediately shouted, "STOP! STOP!"

The carriage veered off the main road.

Aldric immediately grabbed the side of his seat, while the female subordinate across from him remained perfectly steady, only frowning slightly as she looked ahead.

At that exact moment, a section of road under repair came into view.

Several workers had dug up an old drainage system, and beside it was a waste pit temporarily covered with thick wooden planks and soil.

The moment the driver saw it, his face turned deathly pale.

"NO!"

The misaligned right wheel rolled directly over the edge of the planks.

Crack!

The wood immediately split.

One second later,

BOOM!

Half the carriage collapsed.

Aldric had no time to react before the seat beneath him tilted almost vertically.

"What the hell..."

He immediately slid downward.

The female subordinate quickly grabbed the doorframe, but Aldric was not as lucky.

His entire body shot through the broken door and dropped straight into the pit below.

SPLORCH!

A sound that was extremely difficult to describe echoed out.

Then everything went silent.

The female subordinate clung to the edge of the pit and looked down, her expression unchanged.

The driver also leaned over to look, but the moment he saw what was below, his face turned green.

A bubble rose from the brown-black waste.

Glug.

Then another.

Glug.

One second later, Aldric’s head burst out of the surface.

"HUH!"

By reflex, he immediately opened his mouth and took a deep breath.

A mistake.

Something immediately flowed in.

Aldric froze.

His eyes widened so much they almost bulged out of their sockets.

"BLEGH! COUGH! COUGH! BLEGH!"

He coughed violently while trying to grab the edge of the pit, but every time he opened his mouth, the horrible smell rushed even deeper into his nose, turning his face from white to green.

Morgana was completely silent.

Perhaps even she had no idea what to say at a time like this.

The female subordinate standing above watched for a long time before calmly commenting:

"As expected of someone My Lady Kiyome values."

Aldric looked up, his eyes bloodshot.

"You..."

He broke into another coughing fit.

"...said... what?"

The woman remained completely serious.

"You can even eat feces."

The entire road immediately fell silent.

The driver lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly.

A worker standing not far away also hurriedly turned his face away.

Aldric stared at the female subordinate as if he wanted to kill her with his eyes.

"GET ME OUT OF HERE!"

"Yes."

She immediately went to get a rope.

...

It took nearly half an hour to pull Aldric out of the pit, followed by almost another hour to find a Mage capable of purification magic.

During the first purification, magical water sprayed directly into his eyes, leaving him almost unable to open them.

By the second, his clothes were completely clean, but his hair still smelled, so the Mage was forced to perform a third purification before daring to guarantee that nothing from that horrifying pit remained on Aldric’s body.

He stood in the temporary bathing room, his face deathly pale.

"Can you still smell it?"

The female subordinate stepped closer and actually leaned down to smell him once.

Aldric watched her nervously.

The woman thought for a moment before answering:

"Yes."

His expression immediately changed.

"Where?"

She stared at Aldric for a long time.

"Perhaps in your memory."

Aldric: "..."

"GET OUT."

The female subordinate calmly turned around.

"Yes."