N-A-A Chapter 863 Countermeasures (3)
Chapter 863 Countermeasures (3)
Ying and her companions stepped into the Adventurers' Guild, located on a street corner, through the dappled afternoon shadows of the trees in Sumeru City.
Sunlight streamed through the vine-covered window frames, casting dappled patterns on the stone surface, while the air was filled with the faint scent of parchment and ink.
Catherine, the always dignified and gentle-spoken android receptionist, stood behind the counter.
The moment he saw the three figures, he gently placed his hand on his chest, a rare smile curving his lips, and softly greeted them, "Towards the stars and the abyss, we meet again, the three of you."
Ying paused slightly, her eyebrows unconsciously twitching.
This greeting... seems different from usual?
There was an indescribable hint of mockery in his tone, like an undercurrent surging beneath a calm lake.
She glanced at Paimon beside her, only to find the little guy looking around with great interest, oblivious to anything amiss.
So she dismissed her doubts as her own illusions and quietly suppressed them.
However, Ying did not, and Yi Ya, who was standing next to her, showed a surprised expression when he saw Catherine.
As the representative spokesperson for the three-person team, Paimengfei stepped forward and greeted them with a cheerful smile:
"Hi Catherine! Do you have any suitable requests for us today? Preferably something light and fun~"
Catherine tilted her head slightly, tapping her chin with her finger, lost in almost deliberate thought. "The commission... um... let me think..."
Her voice was drawn out, and her eyes gleamed with a cunning light that didn't belong to a machine.
[This tone sounds a bit off, doesn't it?]
Is this really Catherine? Could it be that the Fools messed up the core program during repairs?
"I hope that's really the case. I have some knowledge of mechanisms; if there's a problem, I can help check it."
[↑You'd better really be checking, not taking the opportunity to peek at something strange.]
After a moment of silence, Catherine suddenly smiled, a smile like a flower bud just beginning to bloom in the morning dew, yet carrying a hint of unsettling playfulness.
“Alright,” she said slowly, “please come up on stage and recite a love poem at the academic report sharing session held at the Faculty of Education this afternoon.”
"Huh?" Ying's eyes widened, looking completely bewildered.
"What?!" Paimon's eyes widened and his mouth slightly agape.
"...?" Iya remained expressionless, but a hint of surprise flashed in his eyes.
The three looked at each other, as if they had heard a fantastical story.
Seeing their stunned expressions, Catherine maintained her serene smile and added, "It would be best to take a picture of the audience's reaction after you finish reciting the poem."
"How could there be such a request!" Paimon stomped his foot in anger, his cheeks puffed up. "This is not something an adventurer should be doing!"
(Player dialogue options:)
(1. Just imagining it is incredibly embarrassing.)
(2. The audience's reaction will likely be very strong.)
Ying rubbed her forehead and sighed helplessly, "Just imagine that scene, it's so embarrassing it'd make you want to disappear on the spot... But,"
She paused, then said with a twitch at the corner of her mouth, "I think the audience's reaction... will indeed be 'very' strong."
Yi Ya's lips twitched slightly, and he whispered with a complicated expression, "I suddenly feel that the requests I've taken on recently—jumping mushrooms, knocking on mushroom beasts, and chasing jellyfish—seem surprisingly normal."
"It's as normal as it gets." Ying and Paimon echoed in unison, their voices filled with the relief of surviving a disaster.
Catherine's smile remained unchanged, and she showed no remorse whatsoever; on the contrary, she seemed to be enjoying their predicament.
"Is that so? It seems this request doesn't suit your taste."
She nodded slightly, as if she had expected this: "Then let's try another one... How about we go to Port Ormos and persuade the members of the local gilded troupe to take odd jobs at the children's welfare home?"
"What is this now?!" Paimon instantly bristled, hands on his hips, protesting angrily.
(Player dialogue options:)
(1. We're going to get beaten up, aren't we?)
(2. The atmosphere between mercenaries and children's welfare homes is too incompatible.)
Ying looked speechless and complained, "We'll definitely get beaten to a pulp, right? Besides... mercenaries and a children's welfare home, the difference in their auras is too big, they're completely incompatible!"
Suddenly, Iya sat up straight, his expression as solemn as if he were about to read a divine oracle.
He slowly drew the blood-red longsword from his waist, its cold light illuminating his stern features. His tone was resolute: "Whether our auras align or not is unimportant. In my opinion, this commission still has a chance of being fulfilled."
He lightly swung his sword, a sharp arc of light flashing through the air. "If we are allowed to persuade them 'physically,' it will be a piece of cake."
He said calmly, "After all, although we are not good at verbal sparring, we are quite adept at subduing people with force."
“…That does seem to make sense.” Ying and Paimon exchanged a glance and nodded as if by some strange logic.
“Hmm,” Catherine chuckled, her eyes sparkling with pleasure, “Indeed, mercenaries and orphanages may be incompatible.”
"But that's precisely why I imagine those mercenaries who are usually so fierce will have a particularly interesting reaction when they put on aprons and hold children."
Paimon finally floated in the air, his little face filled with despair and disbelief, and he wailed in a trembling voice:
"I...can I ask? Who posted these outrageous requests?!"
Is this really something a human could come up with?
No, this is something no ordinary person could do.
After watching Sino's voice recording, I seriously suspect that he was the one who orchestrated all of this behind the scenes...
[On a other hand, would anyone actually post such a request in real life? It's hard to imagine.]
[Confirmed, this is definitely not Catherine.]
Are you deliberately picking a fight?
Just as everyone was exchanging bewildered glances, filled with doubt, Yiya slowly spoke, her clear, cold voice breaking the silence like morning dew falling on a lake:
“Sister Paimon, perhaps we can set aside the client’s identity for now.”
His gaze shifted to "Catherine," who was dressed in the uniform of an Adventurers' Guild receptionist and whose smile remained as gentle as ever, but his eyes revealed a hint of scrutiny and uncertainty.
“From the moment we stepped in here, I sensed something was off—Miss Catherine was acting strangely today.”
"Although the familiar metallic smell of mechanical parts still lingers, cold and orderly, a faint, refreshing scent of grass and trees has quietly seeped into it." Iya frowned slightly, as if recalling some long-lost aroma. "That scent... fresh, tranquil, carrying the lingering fragrance of a breeze beneath the Tree of Wisdom..."
His tone gradually hardened, as if the fog had parted to reveal the moon: "...just like my sister."
"So, there wasn't actually a client, right? This was all just you—wanting to see firsthand how we'd handle these absurd tasks, right, sister?"
Before the words were finished, the figure suddenly chuckled softly, the smile gentle yet unlike the mechanical rigidity of the past.
Then, her voice suddenly changed, transforming into an ethereal and clear female voice, like a whisper in the forest—
"correct answer."
In an instant, light and shadow shifted, and her face subtly changed, her features replaced by soft greenery.
Ying's eyes widened suddenly, so shocked she was almost speechless: "You...you're not Catherine? You're...Narcissus!"
Paimon's eyes widened, and she covered her mouth with her little hand, exclaiming in surprise, "Eh~ So you're the Grass Goddess Nasita?!"
They never expected that the seemingly ordinary receptionist was actually the God of Wisdom from Mount Sumeru himself.
Even Iya, who was the first to discover the truth, couldn't help but show a hint of astonishment. "So it really is my sister..."
He murmured, still deeply shocked even though he had already confirmed it: "Even if my perception is correct, I cannot easily believe that you are actually hiding here."
“Hehe…” Nasita smiled, her eyes sparkling with a cunning yet gentle light, “I really thought you would obediently complete all these commissions.”
"After all, this is a fantastic opportunity to observe human behavioral responses, isn't it?"
“Sister,” Yiya couldn’t help but complain, her tone tinged with helplessness and teasing, “you call this ‘serious observation’? This is clearly a perverse experiment…”
He suddenly remembered something, and his gaze became profound again:
“Speaking of which, the aura you exude now… is exactly the same as that of ‘Miss Catherine’ that I met on the eve of the Flower Goddess’s birthday.”
"Could it be..." Iya stared at her, his voice trembling slightly, "that the Catherine of that time was actually you?"
Narcida nodded slightly, making the gesture through Catherine's body seem particularly magical: "That's right, it's me."
"My people have meticulously prepared this birthday celebration for me. Such a grand occasion, if I cannot personally attend and experience it, wouldn't I be letting them down?"
"But..." Yiya asked, full of curiosity, "Sister, how did you do that? How can you move freely in someone else's body?"
Nasita's eyes flickered slightly, as if a myriad of wisdom flowed within them. She slowly said, "This is one of my powers as the Goddess of Wisdom—whenever I wish, my consciousness can quietly descend into the depths of the mind of every resident of Sumeru City and briefly take control of their body."
Her expression became more serious: "But under normal circumstances, I would never do that. Forcibly interfering with someone else's will is the deepest offense against freedom."
"Therefore, when I wished to walk among the common people in a different guise, I chose Miss Catherine. After all..."
She smiled slightly, with a hint of relief and understanding: "She is a puppet created by the Fools, and has no real soul."
“Borrowing her form will not hurt anyone, and it will also allow me to get closer to the true pulse of this land.”