Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1428 Intuitive Metaphor (Second Update)

Laura Crawford had met the Emperor more than once, and she was one of the few who knew his secular identity, given that he had supported her adventures even before he became monarch. But she also understood that the Emperor's secular identity and the identity he represented were two entirely different people; the latter possessed all the wisdom and rationality of the former, but lacked his sense of humor—she dared to say this only because she had witnessed the Emperor in battle—a scene she couldn't express in words, because no words processed by the human brain could vividly describe that thunderous brutality and swiftness. While she didn't entirely agree with the bloody reforms in Latvia, she understood their necessity and the Emperor's determination. As a historian, she knew that the turmoil in the Balkans required strong authoritarian measures and force—knowledge that the ivory tower of University College London could not teach her.

She expressed both protest and understanding to the emperor, who greatly appreciated her advice and independent thinking.

It was in the Amazon rainforest, on the eve of the decisive battle between the Paytiti and the Trinity mercenaries. She had witnessed how the Byzantine homeland of Kitt had become an isolated airport, and how its people had become the Emperor's soldiers; she feared the Paytiti would suffer the same fate. This was one of the few things Laura Crawford disapproved of, aside from the agricultural subsidy and purchase agreements the Emperor and the Paytiti Queen had signed.

She walked alone through the rain, catching up with the Royal Guard and finding him amidst the armored vehicles and campfires. Just being near him brought warmth; the heat carried away by the rain seemed to return to her body in a supernatural way. She paid no heed to this small detail until she was struck in the heart by that ghost bullet in the Kamar-Taj Library.

Only then will she feel that supernatural heat again.

"But we have no time. The entire Balkans must be transformed and fortified as quickly as possible. I apologize for the price to pay in this process, but I haven't denied them a choice: a more prosperous future or meaningless superstition. The vast majority will choose the former. We are talking about survival and freedom. Those people have the freedom to choose a better life, or the freedom to die in ignorance." The Emperor's voice was as magnetic as ever. "Apart from armed groups based on blood ties, religion, and ethnicity, not many innocent people will die in meaningless wars. This is the only promise I can make to you. Every drop of human blood will be shed in the war against aliens, not for the selfish desires of any one person."

"My lord, she is still alive."

"I know that bullet won't kill her." The sound of turning the pages was unusually loud in the quiet hospital room. Even with the air conditioner blowing a comfortable breeze into the room, Laura Crawford still felt as if a blazing star was standing to her right, her skin almost being scorched, while the icy, stinging pain in her heart made her shiver uncontrollably. This alternating hot and cold sensation made her nauseous. The moment she managed to open her eyes, the burning sensation vanished, leaving only a heavy, icy coldness in her heart, as if the extreme temperature difference she had just experienced was merely an illusion, a figment of her imagination.

"Look, she's awake." Salomon flipped through a few more pages, as leisurely as a middle-class patriarch reading the newspaper on a 20th-century morning. "Our rescue was timely; she won't have many long-term effects. Give us some time alone, Hammurabi."

"Yes, my lord." The golden-armored giant nodded and left the ward, leaving a shimmering golden glow in Laura Crawford's blurred vision. "I will await your summons at the ward door."

“First, I want to apologize to you, Laura.” The tall man bent down and helped her sit up from the hospital bed, supporting her back. “Giving you access to the library wasn’t to kill you. What happened to you in the library was an accident. As the master of Kamar-Taj, it was my dereliction of duty to allow a guest to be in danger.” Laura Crawford, her vision and reason gradually clearing, just realized who was sitting beside her bed. She wanted to ask something, but Salomon stopped her with a finger. “Everything you want to know will be answered later, but not now. Kamar-Taj will provide appropriate compensation for the accident you encountered, and I also hope that you won’t lose your adventurous spirit because of this… I know this is quite strange, but you’ve encountered many strange things, this is nothing, isn’t it?”

The final upward inflection of his voice and the corners of his mouth indicated that the one speaking here was not the emperor, but the charming Salomon.

"Let me answer your questions one by one, okay?"

"Have you seen the ball of yarn? It's a woman who's a bit crazy, she..."

"Don't worry, our lovely prophet lady is perfectly fine. In fact, she's having a great time; if you walk out of her room, you'll see her sitting on the sofa eating dessert. You can have some if you like."

Laura Crawford breathed a sigh of relief. "Okay, where am I now?"

"Still in Kamar-Taj, this is the hospital I built."

"Did you go to the library to rescue me?" Laura Crawford asked. "So what exactly happened?"

“Yes, when I learned of your encounter with the ghost in the library—and I hope you understand—I returned to Kamar-Taj.” Salomon pulled up a comfortable-looking chair and sat down. “The library is one of the most heavily guarded places in Kamar-Taj, but the protective spell malfunctioned, allowing some beings from other worlds to try and come here, then mold themselves according to your memories and subconscious… I admit, I knew about the malfunctioning spell before I knew you had entered the library. And you bypassed the procedure of entering the library with Supiluliumas, otherwise you wouldn’t have been harmed.”

Laura Crawford tried to raise her hands in surrender, because the whole thing stemmed from her inability to contain her curiosity and her early entry into the library. If Superuliumas had been there, she wouldn't have had to run around being chased by those strange things and wouldn't have been able to read many books. However, as soon as she raised her hands, a sharp pain in her left rib made her gasp.

"What happened to me?" She felt a sharp pain in her chest, but looking down, she couldn't find any wounds. Only then did she realize how bold her actions had been, completely disregarding the fact that she had pulled open her hospital gown without considering the only man in the room. He seemed unfazed, shrugging at her and giving her an approving look as he looked her up and down. "I remember being shot? Or was that just my imagination?"

Salomon gave her the diagnosis report and told her to look at it herself.

"It's nothing serious, just some hypothermia. As for the bullet wound you remember… if I'm not mistaken, it wasn't a physical bullet that hit you. Have you seen The Hobbit?" Seeing Laura Crawford nod, he continued, "Then you should remember that the Ringwraith stabbed Frodo in the shoulder, and invisible shards of the blade remained inside Frodo's body. The bullet that hit you was similar to the Ringwraith's bullet; it wasn't from this world…"

The analogy was so vivid that it really startled Laura Crawford.

“Of course, your situation isn’t that serious.” Salomon reached out and flipped to the back pages of the medical report, which included images from the MRI scan. “I healed you with a spell; there’s nothing in your body that shouldn’t be there. Of all my identities, the most important is that of a spellcaster, remember?”

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(End of this chapter)