Quadruple split.

Chapter 2636 Reunion

Game time AM06:12
"Woo..."

Accompanied by a blinding flash, a petite girl with short blonde hair and fair skin, wearing a simple gray cloak and a hood, stumbled out of the teleportation array, her steps somewhat unsteady.

"Miss?"

The mage apprentice standing guard by the teleportation array quickly caught him and asked with concern, "Are you alright?"

This is the center of the teleportation hall on the third basement floor of the Yale City Mage Guild. Since only the wealthy and powerful can afford such a VIP fast teleportation channel, the junior apprentice assigned here to serve the big spenders looks quite nervous.

"Excuse me."

Originally intending to push the other person away immediately, but after seeing that the mage apprentice was a half-orc rabbit-eared girl, she stopped resisting and let the other person hold her arm. Xiao Ai shook her head slightly and walked out unsteadily, saying softly, "I'm just a little dizzy, I'll be fine after a while."

"Um... do you seem to have had some rest?"

Noticing the VIP customer's light 'smoky eye makeup' under her eyes, the thoughtful bunny girl hesitated for a moment and whispered, "Although we encourage you not to sit on the teleportation array right after eating, if you have been fasting for too long... that is, if you are very hungry, you will also feel dizzy and uncomfortable after teleporting."

Xiao Ai, who then realized that she hadn't eaten anything since last night, nodded and reached for the black 'magic bag' at her waist that looked just like a belt but could hold a lot of things.

That was a gift Cole bought for her when she first arrived in the City of Freedom. The reason was that there wasn't much food near the Sun Church where Ai lived, and this belt, made of special materials, had a large capacity and could hold a lot of snacks.

"Eat it when people are confessing their sins. Anyway, the person on the other side can't see you, and you can hear all sorts of gossip while you eat."

The boy's cheerful voice rang in the girl's ears, causing her to momentarily lose herself in thought.

I don't know when it started, but the distance between the two of them seems to be growing further and further apart.

But the reason for this is that the distance between the two is getting closer and closer.

It seems like it's been a long time since I've confessed to anyone.

When was the last time I went to church?

When did that belt, which was always full of snacks, come to be filled with quill pens, warrants, and all sorts of lengthy documents?

【Eh? ! 】

The girl's eyes widened as she instinctively reached into her belt and touched a small bag that looked somewhat unfamiliar, yet whose origin she could somehow guess.

Upon taking it out, she immediately realized that it was a specialty baked sweet cookie from the Wanderer's Inn in the Nightless District. Because it was said to be baked by 'Sakura-chan' with love, it was always in high demand and would be sold out in less than ten minutes.

However, Xiao Ai and Cole, who were quite familiar with Boss Junwu, knew that those cookies were not made by 'Xiaoying-chan' at all. In fact, Yu Ying, who was the biggest customer attractor in the store, had not been to the kitchen for a long time.

So here's the question: who made the cookies?

There is only one truth: Mr. Crowe, who appears dashing and debonair but is actually exploited by Junwu, is the apprentice of the owner of the Wanderer's Inn. This young master, who should be enjoying a good life and not being criticized even if he indulges in wild activities, is living a life of misery. And these cookies, with recipes from Junwu, ingredients from cholera, and 70% of the revenue coming from "Clown Brand," are all his doing.

"Heh, I'm starting to think highly of you."

Xiao Ai frowned slightly, marveling that the jealousy that someone had shown a few days ago seemed to have disappeared. She then opened the bag of cookies that Cole would never have wanted her to eat, which were baked by Crowe himself, and then burst out laughing.

The reason is simple: although the bag does contain baked cookies, compared to the sharp, angular, and exquisitely shaped hearts, bears, and stars of Chrome, those "cookies," while still very "cookies," are somehow a little less like cookies.

Simply put... it's pretty ugly.

Xiao Ai swears that even if Brother Crowe, who was practically trained into an all-rounder by Boss Jun, were to die the next second, he would never be able to make a whole bag of such rough and ugly cookies. On the contrary, a certain thief who should be skillful but is unusually nervous and clumsy in the kitchen is very likely to make such strange and cute things.

"You flattered me for nothing..."

The girl, who put a slightly ugly but surprisingly delicious cookie into her mouth like a squirrel eating, mumbled something indistinctly, and then complained with a slightly flushed face, "Mind your own business."

Although it's unclear when the bag of snacks was placed there, considering the original plan was to have breakfast at Caeves Estate before leaving, it's clear that someone had anticipated that they would likely leave hungry early, and thus was willing to make a literal 'embarrassment' by bringing themselves some food at the last minute.

Moreover, because of some inexplicable jealousy, she refused to buy ready-made snacks from the hostel.

I shouldn't have told him I liked this.

Xiao Ai pouted, then ate another pastry that was theoretically heart-shaped but had been baked into a triangle. She smiled slightly and said, "...Delicious."

【What a nice view!】

But when she accidentally caught a glimpse of the big client's faint smile, the bunny-eared girl, who was also a girl, felt her heart skip a beat and twitched her ears. She was amazed by the expression that was a mixture of shyness, reproach, and satisfaction in that instant.

"Well then, thank you for accompanying me."

A moment later, Xiao Ai, who had been escorted to the entrance of the Mage Guild, smiled and casually took out a gold coin and stuffed it into the rabbit-eared girl's hand: "Goodbye."

"Bye...goodbye."

Staring blankly at the petite figure disappearing at the end of the street, the mage apprentice, who was probably a year or two older than the other woman, held the tip for a while before snapping out of his daze and hurriedly turning around and running back.

……

fifteen minutes later

Hey, ma'am!

In a somewhat deserted corner of the tavern, a hot orc waitress with a fiery personality and figure glanced with some puzzlement at the small customer who was constantly munching on cookies, and asked curiously, "Aren't you going to order something to eat?"

"Oh? I'm sorry, then... then I'll have a white bread and a bowl of vegetable porridge."

Xiao Ai paused for a moment, then casually said something before hesitantly looking at the last cookie in her hand. After a long silence, she seemed to have made up her mind and ate it in one bite with a "whoosh".

"Pfft-"

The orc waitress next to her couldn't help but burst out laughing, then waved her hand vigorously at the slightly blushing girl and said, "Sorry, sorry, it's just that you were just too cute. By the way, our white bread portions are quite large, and with the vegetable porridge... you might not be able to finish it."

Xiao Ai nodded and obediently changed her mind, saying, "Then let's just have vegetable porridge."

"Okay, wait a moment."

The waitress grinned, then waved to Xiao Ai and swayed her slender waist as she walked towards the kitchen.

Xiao Ai stared blankly at the empty cookie bag in front of her, and inexplicably... perhaps not so inexplicably, felt a pang of regret.

This regret quickly overwhelmed her, so much so that the girl, sitting alone in the corner, suddenly felt a pang of sadness, and her eyes slowly welled up with tears. *Squeak—*

As the aged wooden door groaned, Xiao Ai instinctively looked up towards the doorway. Although she knew perfectly well that the caring person would never be here, she couldn't help but think that if it were during her most vulnerable moment, he...

"Cole!"

The next instant, the girl's eyes widened in disbelief as she stared at the boy who was constantly looking around as if searching for something, and she exclaimed in surprise.

Just as Xiao Ai had predicted, in that instant, even though she could regain her composure in just a few more seconds, even though she had been strong to the very end when she needed to be, even though she had shown her weakness in the least likely situation, in such an absurd situation, the girl who had seen the boy finally lost her composure. Before tears could fall from the corners of her eyes, she suddenly stood up and ran towards the guy who had made her no longer like herself.

At that moment, her mind went blank, and all she wanted to do was throw herself into his not-so-broad arms, loudly berate him for how heartless he was, and loudly question him why, even at this point, he still wouldn't let her go.

After that, she would definitely send him back to where he belonged and sternly order him never to come back.

But until then...

Just a hug, no, just a little while, just a short while.

The girl pursed her lips and lunged at the bad guy in front of her.

Then, the other party dodged it without hesitation.

"Eh?!"

Losing her balance, Xiao Ai was immediately stunned. Although she was saved from falling because someone helped her, her cheeks still turned bright red, and she gave the person in front of her a rare reproachful look—

“That’s going too far, sir.”

The girl pouted, frowned at the seemingly smiling 'Cole' in front of her, and repeated, "That's too much."

"Haha, sorry, sorry. I just suddenly thought that my face might disappoint you, so I had a flash of inspiration and changed to a face that won't disappoint you."

Mo Tan casually plucked the [Hundred Forms] and winked at the girl with a grin, feigning surprise, "But I really didn't expect that you two are already this close. How about this, although I was a little shy because I wasn't prepared, if you'd like, I can bring the [Hundred Forms] back and let you hug it again, for as long as you want..."

"gentlemen!"

Xiao Ai, her face flushed red, stomped her foot, interrupting the man's wicked self-indulgence, and said helplessly, "Stop bullying me!"

"Ahem, it's my fault, it's just that I haven't seen you in so long, I got a little excited."

Mo Tan obediently raised his hands in surrender and said cheerfully, "But if we're talking about a long time apart, this person must have been separated from you for even longer, right?"

"this……?"

Xiao Ai froze for a moment, then turned sharply to look at the person who had just caught her from the side to prevent her from falling because of Mr.'s despicable prank. She then froze as if she were being watched by a hundred Medusas.

One minute passed, then two minutes passed.

It wasn't until the third minute that Xiao Ai's eyes met that she let out a scream that nearly gave the orc waitress a heart attack—

"Lorna!"

Tears that she had been holding back burst forth. Xiao Ai suddenly hugged the familiar yet unfamiliar face in front of her, who was calmly watching her with a faint smile on her lips. She embraced this friend who seemed to have not seen her for a century and called out her name in her suddenly hoarse voice: "Lorna!!"

"I'm here, Ai."

Lorna Moonshine nodded meekly and replied in a voice as familiar to her friend, "I'm here. I'm back."

"Yes! You're back! I knew you'd come back! I knew you would definitely come back!"

The clown-like [Manager], tears streaming down his face and completely disheveled, hugged his best friend tightly, sobbing uncontrollably, "The boss promised us! The boss told us a long time ago! I knew the boss would definitely do it!"

"Um……"

Lorna wrapped her arms around her friend, whose body trembled as she vaguely remembered him, and whispered, "Sir is very capable, so I came back."

"you……"

Finally calming down a bit, Xiao Ai pursed her lips, wiping her tear-streaked face with her sleeve without regard for her image, and asked while sniffling, "Are you alright? During this time... before... now... I'm sorry, I..."

"I'm fine, Ai."

Lorna chuckled as she interrupted her panicked friend, gently wiping away her tears as she said softly, "It was fine before. Although I can't remember some things clearly, I always had a warm feeling, as if you were all by my side. And now... it's fine too."

"Uh-huh!"

Xiao Ai nodded happily, but soon, when he realized that the temperature of the other person's fingertips was unbelievably low, his smile immediately froze.

"I am fine."

Noticing her friend's change, Lorna, unsurprised, simply maintained her gentle smile and repeated, "I'm fine."

"You...your body..."

Xiao Ai suddenly grabbed Luo Na's cold hand and turned to look at Mo Tan: "Sir..."

"Just as you guessed."

Mo Tan, who had been watching the show with the orc waitress by his side, shrugged and nodded, saying, "Although Rona Moonshine has returned, she has not been truly 'resurrected.' In other words, although her current state is no different from that of 'living,' unfortunately, she is still a dead person."

"That's it...that's it."

"Hehe, as expected of a proper clergyman, it seems you were prepared for the possibility that she wouldn't be able to 'come back' normally."

"Yes, after all, both Cole and I know that true resurrection doesn't exist, and given that you know someone as powerful as Master Winter, so..."

"so?"

"Thank you so much for bringing my most important friend back."

"Well, you're welcome."

Chapter 2627: The End