Arknights, but the sickly pretty girl starts

"—Well, Viviana, you might not believe this, but I'm very strong right now." Noah bent his arms to show off his biceps, a physique-like pose. However, Viviana didn't see any biceps, only an arm of perfect thickness and fair skin. Viviana looked at Noah with caring eyes, and perhaps even Noah felt embarrassed and silently withdrew his arm.

"Ahem...what does a warlock need muscles for? I'm just trying to emphasize that I'm not someone who can be bullied by others."

"Is this related to your plan to walk into a trap..." Viviana said helplessly, "If you really want to go, I'll go too. At least I'll have someone to look after you."

"Can you spare the time?"

"If it were anywhere else, I really wouldn't have the time, but this place—" Viviana glanced at the address on the ticket and nodded. "Viana Golden Hall, Leithania's most exclusive concert hall, is also its oldest. It's said that the former Witch King once visited this concert hall... But the owner of this concert hall is a mystery. It's been through countless changes of management over the past century, but the management style remains the same. It makes one wonder—is there an unnamed noble behind it?

"You've done a very thorough investigation, haven't you?" Noah nodded thoughtfully. "It's normal for the boss behind the scenes to be reluctant to show his face, right?"

"—If that were all," Viviana shook her head. "But I'm suspicious. Leithania's largest and most sophisticated concert hall, housing a vast collection of artifacts from the Witch King, has never been attacked by members of the Echoes of Herhunzoren."

"...Coincidence? Or..."

"Of course, His Majesty investigated before me, but he didn't find anything. Or rather, he couldn't catch the person behind the incident, nor could he find evidence to convict," Viviana explained. "So, if we apply for a private investigation into the Vedina Golden Hall under the guise of a private investigation, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Wow, even Lord Candle Knight has learned to abuse his power."

"Call it a flexible style—I learned it from you," Viviana said unhappily. "The time is tonight. Let me confirm once again. Do you really intend to go and see what's going on?"

"I can protect myself, and VIP tickets allow you to bring your entourage in. With the mace here, what are you worried about?" Noah said with a smile. "Then, I'll leave the ticket for Chapter 2 to you, Lord Candle Knight."

"Can I take this as you inviting me to a concert?" Viviana asked half-jokingly, her lips curling up unconsciously. "I'm truly flattered."

"Of course, it's my honor to invite the most beautiful marigold in Leithania, Ms. Viviana Droste." Noah even put on a gentlemanly look and placed the ticket in Viviana's palm.

"Slippery tongue—have you been learning the court etiquette of Leithania lately?"

"You know, I like to read books when I have free time. I can definitely learn something from reading." Noah explained, "But maybe it's a bit old. After all, the books in the library I go to are quite old, there are not many new books."

"Is the library you go to that bad? Do you want me to help you apply for admission to the Leithania National Library?" Viviana suggested with a wink. But Noah smiled and shook his head.

"Old doesn't mean bad, Viviana. And if the owner of the library heard what you said, he would probably be furious again."

——A-choo!

At this time, the old lich in Ludwig's tower suddenly sneezed, and the spells in his hand were scattered. The sophisticated spells were disturbed, and a small explosion occurred directly, blowing the old lich into a mess. Although he was not injured by such a degree of experimental failure, the old lich was still very depressed. He didn't know whether it was because Noah Kyrielight always came to him saying that he was learning, but actually came to deceive him, his recent experimental failure rate has skyrocketed.

"Bah! This guy Herhunzollon, the apprentice he taught is also a difficult guy!" The old lich was so angry that he simply pulled in the void and pulled out the dozing Ermengarde along the line. The little lich was also pitiful. Since Noah came, not only did his homework double, but he was also often compared with Noah. But to be honest, Ermengarde was already one of the best geniuses of this generation, but there was still a difference between a genius and a monster.

Noah is a pure monster, sitting at the same table with people like Logos. He can only be ranked third at best, and even the third position is not very stable.

Comparing people is a recipe for disaster, and comparing goods is a recipe for disaster. As a Buddhist lich, Ermengarde was actually too lazy to roll himself up, but apparently, his teacher didn't think so, so Ermengarde's usual slacking time was forced to be cut short. Just like now, he was about to be caught and scolded.

—Lao Deng! Sooner or later, your gold coins will explode!

Although he was complaining in his heart, Ermengarde still got up and looked at Frémont in front of him with an innocent face.

Unfortunately, Frémont didn't have that much patience these days. Because Noah was so exceptional, the more he looked at his junior, the more he disliked him. He slammed the table. "Why are you sleeping?! Have you finished your homework from last night?! Sleep, sleep, sleep! At your age, how can you even sleep?! I'm so pissed! How could Helhunzollen get such a gem, while I only got a mediocre like you!"

"I'm just lucky," Ermengarde complained matter-of-factly. "If people like Noya were everywhere, then we liches wouldn't be the ones calling ourselves the gatekeepers of the Hall of Knowledge."

"What are you talking about! Don't you have any ambition at all? Diligence can make up for lack of talent! Where is your diligence?!"

"—The early bird catches the worm—" Ermengarde grumbled softly, "If hard work is still useful in such a situation, what's the point of genius?"

"Wrong ideas! All wrong ideas! Where on earth did you see these wrong ideas!?" The old lich was really furious this time. He could recognize the difference in level and understand the difference in talent. After all, Ermengarde was not bad, he just couldn't compare with those monsters.

But Ermengarde's willingness to touch anything was really irritating, so the old lich didn't intend to let Ermengarde continue to slack off. "Get out! Get out! Now go back to that girl! Watch carefully and learn! Learn something and come back! Otherwise, don't even enter this door!"

"Seriously?" Ermengarde's eyes lit up. As Frémont's student, or rather, his closed disciple, she was supposed to report any time she went out. But maybe Old Deng had gone crazy this time and actually let her out. This was perfect for her. She could just go out and have some fun, and come back when she'd had enough. And then, could Old Deng kick her out? After spending so much time together, Ermengarde had already seen through him.

Lao Deng is a person who has a hard mouth but a soft heart. He has a sharp tongue but a soft heart. As long as he cries bitterly, he will probably sigh and let himself come back.

When I think about it this way, I'm just on vacation, isn't this—

Ermengarde was amused. "Really? It's a deal, don't go back on your word!"

"roll roll roll!"

Ermengarde happily flew out of the window on the little cube, while Frémont's face gradually calmed down, his eyes narrowing slightly. "It's time. Although staying in the tower is safe, if you really want to take over my position, you can't just be an apprentice in the tower... Ermengarde."

Of course, he only talked to himself after Ermengarde ran away. He couldn't bear to lose face.

However, Noah's arrival is indeed an opportunity. Although it seems that Noah is just a warlock with some academic achievements, Fremont understands that the current Noah Kyrielight has officially become one of the [Monsters].

With her around, nothing would go wrong for Ermengarde.

and……

"Who says you're worse than her?" Frémont shook his head. "Aren't you a complete monster yourself?"

He turned around and looked at the spell patterns on the wall. These were runes restored from ancient books, called "Great Runes". Although there were some fragments of these runes recorded in the library, they had been lost for a long time.

But Ermengarde rebuilt the foundation of the Great Runic script in just ten years. As Frémont said, Ermengarde's talent was no less than anyone else's.

Chapter 25: Meeting Gift

After leaving Ludwig's Tower, Ermengarde once again felt the pleasure of having the sea open and free for fish to leap.

As a lich, she is an outlier in the group. She doesn't like to delve into magic like other liches. Although she also likes various interesting spells, she is a person who gets bored easily. For her, those rigid knowledge is just like the saying that reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. It is a good thing for her to leave Ludwig's Tower, but there must be something to do after leaving the tower. According to Lao Deng, Ermengarde decided to go and see what Noah is doing now.

Although Lao Deng often compared Noah with her, perhaps Ermengarde was very generous and didn't mind being compared at all. She also felt that Noah was indeed a person who was so outstanding that it was a bit exaggerated. In short, she still had a good impression of Noah. Riding on the little cube, she ran all the way to Noah's destination, which was Viviana's mansion. It was a three-story building with a garden. It was said that it was the private residence where Viviana's father used to live.

Ermengarde's little cube landed in the garden. She didn't make any noise on her own initiative, as she also wanted to see what Noah usually did.

In her opinion, Noah could achieve such an exaggerated achievement because he must be obsessed with research like Lao Deng every day. He is the kind of person who never leaves the house and only lives between his residence and Lao Deng's tower. However, she soon realized how naive her idea was.

As she walked through the corridor, she saw a window ajar. She looked inside the window curiously, and then she was stunned.

This is a dressing room. Noah was trying on an evening gown for tonight's concert with the help of a shop assistant. Due to the specifications of the concert, the dress code for entry was very high. Noah herself was too lazy to match any clothes, so she had to ask Viviana, who was particularly excited for some reason, to help her find a store that specializes in planning outfits for guests to help Noah choose clothes. Noah was like a dress-up doll, being changed into one evening gown after another. She was completely numb.

However, she was the only one who felt that it was boring to keep switching around like this, while the shop assistants in charge of this job were getting more and more excited. They had been in this business for many years, but it was still rare to find a customer like Noah who looked good in any clothes. People in this business all had some artistic aesthetic pursuits, and what they looked forward to most was meeting a customer like Noah who was cooperative and would not give orders.

What's more, the brilliance that the clothes they chose brought out on Noah also satisfied their inner career pursuits.

"I think this white dress is the best. It can reflect Miss Noya's temperament. Look, Miss Noya has such a good figure. With a little waist corset, her curves will be outlined, right? And white is very versatile, so it is also suitable for the design of Lady Viviana."

"Nonsense! Black! It has to be black! Black makes you look thinner, and Miss Noya's skin is so fair, it would be a waste for you to wear white—black has a higher contrast! It really brings out Miss Noya's skin! Look at this skin, what do you mean by texture? What do you mean by aesthetics?"

"Nonsense, red, look at this crimson dress, what is elegance, what is perfection! You people don't even understand what art is!"

These people... seem to be about to fight...

Noah watched them arguing and sighed inexplicably in her heart, so...could they just come up with a solution? She only needed an evening dress.

However, these people did not start fighting in the end. Perhaps they felt that it was too embarrassing to fight in front of Noah. After discussion, people came to the conclusion that because Viviana's dress was black and white, in order to correspond, Noah's clothes were chosen to be the same type as Viviana's. Although the theme colors were the same, if Viviana's style was mainly black with white as embellishment, then Noah's style was mainly white with black as embellishment.

The two of them standing together really looked like two roses in full bloom.

Ermengarde was staring out the window in a trance until Noah looked over and their eyes met, then she belatedly squatted down.

"What am I doing?" Ermengarde crouched under the window, her face flushing. What was she doing? Peeping? And she'd been caught! This was the end.

"Viviana, you stay here first, I'll go out for a while." Noah didn't say anything. Ermengarde appeared here, he must have something to look for her, so she smiled and greeted Viviana, picked up her skirt and left the dressing room, and then found Ermengarde squatting in the flower bed and muttering in the garden.

"What's wrong, Miss Ermengarde? What do you want to talk to me about?" Noah didn't mention the topic of her peeping through the window. Instead, she asked with a smile, "Does the master have any instructions?"

"No, I was kicked out." Ermengarde stood up awkwardly. "Well... I had nowhere to live, so I came here to ask if there was any..."

"...Kicked out?" Noah tilted her head. Unaware of the old lich's teaching methods, she thought Ermengarde had angered him. Technically, Ermengarde was still her junior uncle, so she couldn't just ignore him. So she nodded. "How about this, Viviana and I ask. If possible, we'll prepare a room for you. She's the one who has the final say here. But what exactly happened? Did you have a fight with our master?"

"They said it was a quarrel... but really, it was probably just that the teacher had some new ideas and didn't want me to get involved, so he kicked me out." Ermengarde knew Old Deng's habits very well. Although he spoke harshly, he was soft-hearted. He probably kicked her out because he had some new ideas and didn't want to play with her. "Anyway, the teacher should know what's going on, so there's nothing for me to worry about."

"Okay... well, before you go back, Junior Master, please stay here with me." Noah nodded, agreeing to Ermengarde's request for asylum.

"Don't call me Junior Master anymore, it sounds weird." Ermengarde twirled the hair by his ear with his fingers. "Just call me Ermengarde. I'm not living here for free. So, don't you want to go to the warp? I'll help you!"

"......?" Noah didn't expect the other party to put forward such a condition. However, such a condition was indeed very attractive to her. "What do you mean by helping me?"

"We liches have a natural gift for roaming the Warp. Ah, in our culture, that place is called 'the beginning and end of a thousand threads.' The Warp is kind of the name for Helhunzollon," Ermengarde explained. "You could think of our phylacteries as external souls stored in the Warp. In this way, liches are virtually indestructible to outside forces, and this body is just a shell."

Ermengarde pointed to the black square on his chest. It looked empty, with a white line inside. "This line is connected to my phylactery. You can think of this body as a simple puppet, or a shell. I control it through this [wired connection]."

"So this line is connected to... the warp?" Noah understood what Ermengard said. Since the body of the phylactery was in the warp, and this line was connected to the phylactery, it meant that Ermengard had the ability to go to the warp.

"You could say that," Ermengarde said, hands on his hips, looking quite pleased. "Although I may not be as skilled as you, my abilities as a lich are still quite complete. If you wish, I can take you to the Warp. However, I must make some preparations before I can. Otherwise, taking you there would be like sending you to your death. My teacher refused to take you there out of concern for your safety."

"I've never doubted this—" Noah shook his head. "Master is just worried about my future. In fact, many people are worried about me and are reluctant to tell me the whereabouts of my parents. But for me, there are always things that are more important than life. Thank you for understanding me, Ermengarde."

"Don't thank me so quickly. I didn't say I could definitely take you there. I'm not a teacher—the portal he can easily open is very difficult for me to open." Ermengarde waved her hand quickly, explaining that the specific operation would still be a little difficult, but she didn't intend to write a blank check. "I'll make some preparations. I'll explain the details to you when you come back. You're dressed like this, you should go out, right? I'll wait until you come back to talk."

"Okay." Although Noah wanted to go to the subspace to find her parents immediately, she also knew that she couldn't get what she wanted in a hurry. She could only suppress her inner impulse temporarily and reached an agreement with Ermengarde.

Ermengarde knew her decision would likely earn her a reprimand from Old Den, but she was also curious whether the Warp was truly as dangerous as Old Den claimed. After all, she'd been exposed to the Warp before, and in her opinion, the dangers of the Warp were avoidable; all it took was caution. But since Old Den had said that, perhaps she hadn't realized the true threat of the Warp?

Or did the lich's natural resistance to the Warp cause her to underestimate the dangers of the Warp?

Ermengarde is not a fool. She must verify and make sure that she can bring Noah back before trying to enter the subspace. Otherwise, it would not be an adventure, but a suicide.

"Come to think of it, you've called me Uncle Master so many times, and I've never given you a welcome gift. How about this?" Ermengarde clapped his hands, reached out, and wrote a strange symbol on Noya's palm. "Consider this my welcome gift to you. It's something I developed, called the Great Rune. It's not very useful, but if you encounter danger, you can use it for self-defense. This symbol can temporarily stun the enemy, or even send them flying. To use it, just point your palm at the enemy and silently say [Ur] in your mind."

"Ur?" Noah repeated, but forgot that it was Ermengarde in front of his palm. With a bang, Ermengarde was directly blown away, and fell headfirst into the bushes in the garden, leaving only two pairs of long legs in black silk stockings fluttering on the flowers.

"I didn't ask you to read it now!!"

"Sorry!" Noah quickly stepped forward and pulled Ermengarde out of the bushes. She looked a little disheveled now, and her black stockings were torn by the bushes in several places. She looked as terrible as she could be.

"Really...you're too impatient."

"I thought it would only work if I recited it silently..." Noah grumbled softly, "Who knew it would work if I recited it directly..."

"But that's the effect of the Great Rune...it can be considered as teaching you how to use it." Ermengarde shrugged. "Don't underestimate this thing. It took me a lot of effort to create it. And theoretically, it's been lost for a long time. It's good enough that it works. I also know some other scripts. If you want to learn, I can teach you. It's also my rent."

"Indeed, being able to activate it just through text... is incredible." Noah exclaimed in amazement, "This thing doesn't even require Originium?"

"...I haven't studied this aspect. After all, it's difficult to eliminate the Originium environment when I'm experimenting. Knowing how to use it and understanding the principles are two different things. What's more, I'm only restoring the Great Rune, not creating it." Ermengard honestly stated that his research was still in its infancy. However, even so, this move was not weak. After all, even Ermengard himself could be ambushed, so it was obviously launched at an extremely fast speed.

"Anyway, thank you." Noya glanced at the runes in his palm. This time, even Herhunzoren had to take a different look. After noticing the runes' composition and usage, this warlock, arguably the most powerful in Terra's history, gave it a high evaluation. It was extremely fast to activate, easy to engrave, and required almost no Originium environment. The only problem was its somewhat weak power, but considering the opponent's activation conditions, that was tolerable.

If we continue to study it, it is estimated that it will become a very practical set of spellcasting skills. Verified by Herhunzolen and the Witch King, it can be said to be quite valuable.

"Speaking of which, how many times can this be used?"

"...three or four times," Ermengarde said uncertainly. "This has a time limit and will gradually lose its effect. If used within a short period of time, four times should be fine. However, after one use, it will take a while to recharge, about a few minutes. If it lasts more than three days, the effect can only be activated twice at most. It may be because the text itself is affected by sweat and other factors."

"Two or three times..." Noah looked at the words in his palm and nodded in understanding.

In any case, this is the first gift Ermengarde gave her, and she will cherish it.

Chapter 26: Concert Hall

In a sense, concerts in Leitania are also social venues for the upper class, especially this place, the Vedina Music Hall, which is the oldest concert hall in Leitania. Countless great musicians have performed here, and it can be said to be a high-end venue among high-end venues in Leitania. It not only has historical heritage, but also has a large number of top performances by legendary music masters. It can be said that the heart of Leitania may be the Twin Towers, but the soul of Leitania is definitely in Vedina.

Everyone gathered here at this moment was dressed in luxurious clothes. They were basically either wealthy businessmen or nobles, all of them Old Money. Although Leitania had been regarded as one of the few powerful countries on Terra since the War of the Four Emperors, many people believed that the so-called title of Leitania as a powerful country mostly came from the exaggerated and frightening power of the Witch King and the financial resources brought by part of the Gauls' inheritance. It cannot be said that Leitania was a nouveau riche - but the rise of Leitania's status was indeed a recent thing.

It can be said that the Witch King has brought this country to a height that does not belong to him, and naturally he has to bear the ancillary problems brought about by this rapid progress.

Even a genius like the Witch King couldn't lead the entire Leithania to become a superpower with both internal and external strengths, right?

After checking their tickets, Noah and Viviana came to the VIP viewing seats. Noah had long been accustomed to this kind of occasion. When she was in Casimir, even if she did not like such a place, her partners were very fond of discussing business in such an [artistic] and [elegant] occasion. In order to adapt to Casimir's business world, Noah had seriously learned all kinds of etiquette, which was also an important reason why she could thrive in Casimir.

On the one hand, Noah was born into a knight family and received a knight family education, so she has a good temperament. With the help of her abilities, she is fully qualified even to be a professional psychological counselor. Generally, she only needs to meet a few times to win over the general partners. Many people have even proposed to her. The proposal is even considered relatively traditional. It is estimated that they are attracted by Noah's appearance. There are even some who are interested in this and invite Noah to spend the night with them.

Of course, most of these people were easily dealt with by the mace. Some were beaten into pig heads, while others were thrown into the streets to die.

If Noya remembers correctly, she'd been featured in the Red Wine News a few times, with stories about a fat old man in an SM uniform and tortoiseshell bondage, walking down the street with a ball gagged and groaning like a piglet...

Uh...it makes me sick just thinking about it, so I'd rather not think about it.

Noah shook his head. Fortunately, he was still blind at that time and did not see that scene. Just imagining it made his scalp tingle.

So, when people have money, they want power, and when they have power, they want immortality. In short, desire is endless. Noah doesn't think he's immune to this. He has friends, family, and a lover, seemingly everything, yet he's never satisfied. This is also a form of greed. If the world's desires were measured on a scale, Noah would probably be at the top.

But desire is desire. After Noah sat down with Viviana in the VIP viewing seat, he immediately set his eyes on the various small desserts provided for free. The ticket price alone is enough to make many nobles look embarrassed. It can be said to be a place with super high consumption, so the quality of the free small desserts in the VIP room cannot be too low. They are all specially prepared by senior pastry chefs. Noah likes these small cakes that can be eaten in one bite, and he eats them with great pleasure. Viviana on the side wanted to pretend to be reserved at first, but seeing Noah eating so happily, she swallowed silently.

"Is it delicious?"

"The tickets are so expensive, if the food is still bad, I'm really going to complain." Noah couldn't help but complain, "Don't you usually eat snacks in the private room, Viviana?"

"...How should I put it...after all, we didn't come here just to eat snacks..." Viviana blushed slightly, "And it doesn't seem very polite to just eat in the VIP seats."

"We're already in the VIP seats, isn't it for private space? If we don't eat here, where else can we eat?" Noah said confidently, "Even though it's impossible to buy back the ticket price, if we don't eat, it would definitely be a huge loss."

"...That makes sense?" Viviana was tempted. Since the show still had some time to go, she decided to start savoring the dessert as well. Compared to Noya, she ate more slowly. She felt embarrassed to indulge in a large portion in front of him, and she wanted to remain elegant. Noya had a reason for eating this way. For one thing, she'd been in poor health, and she couldn't eat desserts like this. The excess sugar and fat in desserts didn't sit well with her.

But now it’s different. With gray matter, Noah can eat any dessert without gaining weight. He has no worries and can fully satisfy his taste.

"But I remember our tickets were free, weren't they?" After eating for a while, Viviana suddenly came to her senses and turned to ask, but her mouth was stuffed with a piece of cake. "Okay, okay, eat yours, don't think too much."

She gently pushed the cake into Viviana's mouth with her fingers, doing it casually. Of course, she didn't pay attention to control it. When she moved her fingers away, they accidentally stained a little red on Viviana's lips. She then licked the lipstick mark on her fingers curiously and said in surprise, "It's sweet?"

"..." Viviana froze. She never thought that Noah would do such a thing. Of course, she was definitely not dissatisfied - rather, she was actually very happy about this faint sense of ambiguity, which meant that Noah had no defenses against her at all. But after realizing this, she felt a little guilty. After all, she was very clear about her feelings for Noah. She had impure feelings for Noah, but Noah might not have thought about this aspect. She simply regarded herself as a close friend, but she took advantage of this relationship and enjoyed Noah's ambiguous behavior.