Embers of Embers

Chapter 685: Retirement and Re-employment
Close your eyes, and you can feel the power flying away, pulling away from the dilapidated body, like the overflowing mist. They are constantly breaking away, spanning a long distance, and then injected into another body, reshaping the withered body. Fill, bulge.
The stagnant heart beats powerfully again, squeezing the blood and spreading it to every part of the flesh and blood, reviving the old body again.
Dots of will-o'-the-wisps lit up under the steel mask, and the fire expanded and became bright, like the scorching sun.
The strong light lasted for a brief moment and then went out. Instead, a faint light shone in the darkness, allowing those who peered into the darkness to barely feel the presence of eyes in the darkness.
Lawrence could feel the sluggishness of his body, he was not as keen as before.
This is inevitable. He has devoured too many people's [gaps], and those destroyed memories are scattered into countless fragments. No matter how he cleans them up, there will eventually be some redundancies, and they are increasing day by day, making Lawrence's The will becomes bloated.
Just as Lorenzo saw in Lawrence's [Gap], countless dead souls stretched out their hands, dragging Lawrence, trying to drag him into the endless hell, but Lawrence relied on his own willpower , carrying these dead souls on his back, moving forward with firm steps.
With the establishment of the legion, these influences began to be gradually reflected on Lawrence. His consciousness began to slow down, and complex thoughts and memories flashed before his eyes. Some were his, some were other people's, and some seemed to be pure hallucinations.
It was as if he was in a torrent of memories. A cold wave passed by, washing away every last bit of his memory. Even his past and past became extremely blurred.
[How much longer can you go forward?Lawrence. 】
There was such a voice in my heart, questioning myself.
Lawrence was silent and looked at the mirror aside. What was reflected in the mirror was just a monster wearing a steel mask.
After so much experience and so much time, Lawrence could no longer remember his original appearance, but also, this kind of thing didn't matter, he didn't care at all.
"We are walking on ice that is on the verge of breaking. The ice under our feet is full of cracks. Cold seawater is constantly seeping out. From the dark abyss, the bloodthirsty screams of monsters can be heard..."
He muttered to himself.
"Facing the biting cold wind, and under the gaze of the stars, we walked on a road destined to be broken.
Our bodies are so heavy that they are almost crushing the ice, so in order to go further, we need to give up more and more and make ourselves lighter and lighter until there is no more weight and we reach the end of it all..."
This is a long poem like a ghost. Lawrence's soft narration stopped soon after, and the surroundings fell into tranquility again, until another person came towards here.
Liya knocked on the door, then pushed it open and walked in.
"Your Majesty."
Staring at Lawrence's dark back, Liya asked. She didn't know if Lawrence was here.
"what happened?"
Lawrence turned his head. This time, unlike what Liya guessed, Lawrence's consciousness existed in the body, rather than wandering in the world.
"The rest of the preparations have been completed. All that remains is for you to convince Cornell and Corey."
Liya is like Lawrence's assistant, she handles everything perfectly, and shares a lot of worries for Lawrence.
"I know, I'll pick a good time to clarify all this with them."
Lawrence said faintly that these things did not seem to be a problem for him. Whether it was soft or hard, with this great power of sublimation, he was in an absolutely dominant position.
"You have something else to do, right?"
Lawrence seemed to see through the girl's heart, and he pressed forward step by step.
"Huh? Don't you want to talk? You never bother me for such a trivial matter."
Lawrence said again, Liya was a little afraid to look at him, her eyes kept wandering, and at a certain moment, she accidentally fell on the steel mask, peeking at the faint flash of light under the darkness.
The unknown magic power caught Liya's eyes, making it difficult for her to look away. As a last resort, she said slightly stiffly.
"I...I hope to be one of you."
"One of us? Aren't you already one?"
Lawrence's voice was slightly confused.
"No, I mean..."
"Like us, become monsters? Possess the power of this forbidden secret blood?"
Lawrence said, stretching out his hand and peeling off his sleeves, revealing his pale wrist. Under the pale skin, dark blood vessels could be clearly seen, in which the sins of this world were running.
"I want this. I'm just an ordinary mortal. I can't change anything, but if I have such power..."
Liya recalled Huao's death in her mind. If she could have had such power at that time... maybe, maybe everything would be completely different.
"Please let me join in."
Liya is anxious.
The atmosphere was silent for a few seconds before Lawrence slowly spoke.
"Liya, sometimes you have to know that being a mortal is the most precious thing. As for such power, no matter how noble or touching your reasons are, you will regret it in the end."
"I won't regret it."
Liya said immediately, and Lawrence burst out laughing after hearing this.
"No, let's forget it, Liya."
In the end, Lawrence rejected Liya and refused to share this great blood with her.
"Why... why?"
Liya didn't understand that for all this, she had tried her best to do everything. She thought she would be appreciated by Lawrence, but in the end it was still the case.
She tried not to let herself have any emotional tremors, but she couldn't help but feel a sense of loss.
"This world is a grand show, a prosperous stage!"
Lawrence opened his hands, his old voice full of emotion.
"Everyone plays a different role in the performance, the protagonist, the villain, the protagonist, the supporting role... or the audience."
He reached out his hand and gently stroked Liya's head, as if comforting her.
"You mean, this is not my role?" Liya asked.
Lawrence nodded, confirming her words.
"Yes, there are already too many monsters on this stage, and there is no need for new monsters to enter."
"But……"
"You also have your own role and your own performance, Liya."
"what is that?"
Liya asked, she didn't know what she, a mortal, could do in this crazy show.
It was Orthodoxy that gave her everything she had now, and it was Orthodoxy that made her fall into such a contradictory vortex.
"How about being a spectator?"
Lawrence thought for a moment and added, "Of course, this is a little different from what we usually call an audience. You are not sitting in the audience, but with us."
He also looked like he was suddenly enlightened and continued talking.
"Yes, that's it. This is a performance by angels and devils. I think I need a mortal to be the audience to record all this. You will be with us, and the outcome of our war will affect your final outcome."
After saying this, Lawrence looked at Liya and asked.
"What do you think?"
……
Kestrel was lying on Lorenzo's bed, looking at the overlapping posters on the ceiling. To be honest, Lorenzo's posters were actually a bit artistic, just like blooming flowers, but these flowers Every petal is a strange poster with some strange slogans written on it.
He stayed here for a day. Although he slept on a sofa, it was much better than living on the street.
Perhaps it was too boring. From the second day onwards, Kestrel began to annoy Lorenzo, like a curious dog, trying to get in when it found a gap. Now, he was so bored that he started to read the posters, and Because of these, I fell into another kind of thinking.
"Tell me, if I really retire, what should I do?"
Kestrel said to himself.
"I've been idle like this these past few days. Once I retire, I won't be too busy to panic, right? But apart from chopping down monsters, I really don't seem to have any special skills... But if you ask me to come back and continue chopping Monster, I think it’s better to panic with nothing to do.”
Surprisingly, Kestrel usually has a very clear self-understanding of himself. This guy is very sober, but sometimes with this sober understanding, he also has some strange expectations, which makes Kestrel's thoughts always very strange. .
"Do you have any suggestions for finding another job as a witcher? Lorenzo."
Kestrel turned over, tilted his head, crossed his legs, and looked at Lorenzo who was busy at the desk.
This guy opened a thick book, wrote and drew on it, and didn't know what to do. If the Kestrel peeked at it, he would be beaten up violently.
No way, Kestrel really can't beat Lorenzo, so he can only lie on the side obediently.
"Fisherman, I see you really like fishing, don't you?"
Hearing Lorenzo's answer, Kestrel sighed.
"Lorenzo, you don't understand the purpose of fishing."
"The...bookstore owner? You have a chance to read it all for good reason."
Lorenzo said, remembering Kestrel's other hobbies.
"Well, this sounds good, but it feels a bit...too monotonous?" Kestrel imagined himself becoming a bookstore owner, "I feel like there's something missing?"
"What's wrong?"
Kestrel frowned, thinking for a long time, and then he thought of it.
"I need a bookstore proprietress!"
Lorenzo stopped what he was doing, slowly turned his head, and looked at Kestrel like he was looking at garbage. His eyes were like swords, easily cutting the Kestrel's young heart.
"Do you have any objections? Ah! How do you think I got here! This is a lousy place like the Purification Agency. I can change my colleagues seven times a week! Office romances can't develop at all!"
Kestrel screamed, thanks to the high death rate and extremely busy tasks of the purification agency, the lucky Kestrel has never experienced these things that normal people have already experienced.
Lorenzo didn't bother to talk to this guy, he contacted Blue Jade, and as long as the purge agency had a place for him, Lorenzo would kick Kestrel out of the house without hesitation.
But speaking of which...
Lorenzo looked to another page in the book, with a photo attached to it.
Lorenzo took this from his previous photo album. During these days of vacation, he has been working on these things, just like writing a diary, writing what he wants to say under each photo.
Under his gaze, another photo was revealed, which was taken when they were in Nalo, Gaul. Lorenzo saw the long-lost face in the corner.
"If you feel bored, you can become a caregiver."
Lorenzo said suddenly.
"Nursing worker? No, no, I can't take care of the patients."
Kestrel quickly waved his hands and said, he can't do such a thing.
"No, I mean the children's caregivers. You don't have to bandage their wounds. You just need to play with them. For you, this kind of work is easy, right? It's not boring."
"Playing with children?" Kestrel thought seriously for a moment, "It sounds interesting... What's wrong?"
"You may not believe it, but I am still the director of an orphanage."
Lorenzo said duly.
"Yeah, I heard something." Kestrel remembered who mentioned this, but it was so long ago that he couldn't remember clearly.
"Even though I am the dean, you also know that I am not capable of doing this kind of thing, so I entrusted the work to Mrs. Van Rude, who is now the dean."
"Oh, it turns out that the landlord was placed there by you."
Kestrel never asked Lorenzo much about his life, and he didn't ask if he didn't talk about Kestrel.
"Yes, it's just that she is getting old and will probably retire. If you want, you can go there and be the boss."
Kestrel's mood didn't change much when he heard about being the dean, but when he heard about being the boss, his eyes obviously changed a bit.
"so good?"
Kestrel sounded suspicious.
"Otherwise? What do you call this...a good brother who has been through life and death!"
At this time, Lorenzo and Kestrel became brothers again, and then Lorenzo said meaningfully.
"By the way, I left a surprise for you there."
"surprise?"
Kestrel looked at Lorenzo suspiciously. This guy was so enthusiastic all of a sudden, and it felt weird.
"What kind of look are you looking at? Have I lied to you?" Lorenzo shouted.
"Although...it doesn't seem to be the case, but why do I always want to refute it?"
Kestrel felt more and more uneasy, he was sure that Lorenzo must be planning something.
He lay back down again. Lorenzo's bed was extremely hard, and he didn't know how this guy slept. Looking at the posters one after another on the ceiling, he was really interested in a few Kestrels. , wanted to take a look, but was told by Lorenzo that part of it was destroyed in the heavy rain.
"By the way, Lorenzo, don't you feel bored after living such a boring life for a long time?"
Kestrel asked slightly curiously, Lorenzo was silent for a while, and then said.
"No, only when you go deep into hell will you know how precious this kind of boredom is."
Lorenzo said no more. He knew very well that everyone wanted to continue such a boring life, but darkness would always come and they could not escape.
Kestrel sighed, then saw the snowflakes falling from the window and shouted.
"Hey hey hey! It's snowing!"
(End of this chapter)