Chapter 111: Disaster Evaded

Northern Region, D’Arc County.

Copper Town.

It was close to midnight.

The scale of threat from the monsters Vincent warned about to Vanessa and the Valley Kingdoms never actually came.

There was a monster tide but nothing like a sea. It was small and completely wiped out by Vanessa.

Leona had mass produced a lot of piercers and was exhausted. She was notified by Vincent himself that there wasn’t a need to develop these piercers anymore and that she could rest.

She wrapped up everything in the workshop and decided to have a good night’s sleep first.

She reached the D’Arc Manor and was pleasantly surprised to find that her fiancé was here.

Though, he seemed to be injured and was being treated.

Leona was told that he was in the midst of treatment and she couldn’t see him yet.

Leona told the maids to convey her words of concern and went to sleep.

The day felt really long. She met Vincent when she was working, then continued the work in the train, and then in Copper Town without any break.

Her mind and body couldn’t take it anymore and she passed out the moment she touched the bed.

Vanessa was still busy hunting monsters outside with Felicia.

She wasn’t satisfied with the little groups and decided to hunt some more until dawn.

Many groups of Railguards were mobilized to find the said monsters for her.

The townsfolk were sleeping peacefully, completely unaware of the disaster they had evaded.

Anastasia was showering in Vincent’s bedroom when Leona walked in and passed out on the bed.

When she came out, she saw Leona smelling like charcoal and iron.

Leona was an absolute beauty and well-mannered, but looking at her now, still in her dusty greasy work clothes and lying on the clean bed made Anastasia frown.

She understood that Leona might be really tired but a lady should always look after her hygiene and cleanliness.

She wore her clothes and then called in maids to have Leona be cleaned up and changed into proper night attire.

The bedsheets were changed too.

Leona did not wake up throughout the ordeal. She was too tired.

Anastasia thought that being in the D’Arc residence must’ve given her a sense of safety to not get worried by the change in the surroundings.

Anastasia shared a similar feeling and understood her.

She tucked Leona in bed and then slept on the other side, leaving a spot in the middle in case Vincent came in to sleep.

Lamps were extinguished and she went to sleep too.

It had really been a long and exhausting day for her too.

…

On the second floor of the manor, the study was converted into a healing room.

Candles provided a soft and comforting brilliance while the moonlight seeped directly inside and illuminated everything further.

It was not dark but it wasn’t too bright either. The light was just right.

Though, there was a slight problem with things.

Before Vincent could dwell on it, he got the system notifications.

[Rewards calculated.]

[Would you like to open them now?]

Vincent hadn’t forgotten the special condition he obtained from the special compensation.

He’d get better rewards if he was around people he shared high entanglement with, and so he wasn’t in a rush to open them right now.

He cleared the notifications and then stared at the ground.

Currently, the problem with things was that the study was now a healing room, and in the middle of it was a massage table.

Lying flat on his stomach on the said massage table was Vincent, and staring down at the ground through the cushioned hole within it made for the head placement.

There was just one towel protecting his dignity.

Linda was running her hands along his back and massaging him with a scented oil that brought a calming effect while he was sure that his mother was likely standing nearby.

“…it is indeed the case, Madam. The young master’s body is in a mess.” Linda said.

Vivienne stepped close to the table.

Her hands glided smoothly over Vincent’s oiled back and she could feel what Linda said.

His veins were in an absolute mess with his foundation cracking in multiple places, making everything seem like only divine intervention could actually do some miracle.

Thankfully, Vivienne knew how to do so, but unfortunately, it wasn’t needed.

There was an easier and better method out there which Vivienne was sure her son would prefer more.

There was a third method too which was to refine him in an alchemy furnace with rare ingredients but Vivienne didn’t know of any good alchemist.

This made her give Linda a reminder that they needed a talent suited for alchemy and the maid nodded in understanding and stated she would keep it in mind.

Eventually, Vivienne asked Vincent about the crystal.

“Mhmm…” Vincent hummed while feeling a strong but comforting pressure on his lower back.

He pretended to feel satisfied for a few seconds longer, then raised himself a little and looked at Vivienne.

“Can you feel Fate, mom?” He asked.

Linda stopped massaging him for a moment and looked at him.

Vivienne nodded lightly. “I can, but to a limited range.”

“It’s different for me,” Vincent replied. “I feel it more vividly like I’m changing it and stuff when I do something. Due to this, I encounter opportunities sometimes that result in treasures. I don’t know if it’s going to be a treasure or trash though, so I pick up everything I can find.”

Vivienne shook her head and said, “My dear, I didn’t understand a word you meant.”

“Basically,” Vincent collected his words and then continued, “I encounter opportunities or items every so often due to changes of Fate but I don’t know whether they’re useful to me or not. This crystal I found was also really random. I thought it’s just a cool looking stone and kept it in my pocket, but it suddenly began resonating when I was near that egg. Then, I finally realized what it was when I felt meaning flow through me.”

“Meaning?” Vivienne raised her eyebrow slightly. “The Dao?”

Vincent shrugged. “No idea. But I understand a few things from it. Like that crystal was actually the Primordial Azure Dragon’s tear in crystallized form. Then I somehow understood that there’s not just one but…”

Vincent basically told Vivienne the truth but while hiding crucial information.

The crystal was obtained randomly, this was true. But then he added he thought of it as a stone and put it inside his pocket, which made Vivienne and Linda think in the direction that Vincent randomly picked it up from the ground.

It wasn’t the Jester’s ability making him do this. He really was getting better overall.

He didn’t wish to lie to his mother but he had no choice. The system’s existence could not be divulged.

He also knew a crucial fact from the cultivation talks that meaning can indeed descend and people can definitely know of information from the Dao.

Divination and prophecies were not a scam in this world but actual cultivation related things that can happen.

Fate was broad and vague, so anything and everything went in it.

Vincent thus did not have much difficulty making Vivienne think of what he wanted her to think.

He knew she loved him dearly and would trust what he said. He didn’t wish to break her trust so he didn’t lie, but the partial truths mixed with random words were slightly misleading.

There was nothing Vincent could do about it.

Once he was finished speaking, Vivienne realized Vincent maybe had some ability related to chance encounters or foresight or something unusual. However, he was limited by his own knowledge and experience so he picked up anything and everything he could find.

“Like you know, I have a wooden horse I snatched from a poor villager in exchange for…”

Vivienne and Linda just facepalmed when they learnt of Vincent’s tyranny.

There was no need to take something so precious from someone, but he did so anyway because it was related to Fate and Karma.

“Alright. I’ve heard enough.” Vivienne made him stop.

The way Vincent sent a telegram made her spend a lot of time getting the clues and context, but the way he spoke in real life was like reading ten of those telegrams in one go.

It was either her catching up in age or her son being too young or Vincent failing to frame his thoughts into words better.

Whatever the case was, she heard enough for tonight.

She asked him to focus on the massage now, and Vincent internally heaved a relieved sigh, going back to lying flat on the massage table.

He really dodged a bullet this time and had to be careful going forward.

Soon, he felt Linda’s hands on his bare back again and groaned in pleasure, losing himself to the comfortable pressure.