Assassin's Chronicle - Chapter 190

Chapter 190

Chapter 190: Mirage

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio  Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

After a short rest, Anfey, Riska, and Suzanna continued traveling to the west . Anfey decided that it was very unlikely Dardanibry would come after him . The Shansa army just battled the necromancers, and had suffered great losses . As the heart of the army, Dardanibry should stay with the soldiers . However, he could not eliminate the possibility of Dardanibry sending an elite team to hunt him down . He only had Suzanna and Riska with him, and would be severely outnumbered . If he could make it to Moramatch, he could stop worrying about having an elite team on his trail . However, Moramatch could be placed under siege .

Shansa Empire’s Griffins Aerial Unit had less than a thousand riders, but every single griffins knight was a treasure to the nation . Destroying an entire squadron was disastrous . Anfey could only imagine how much Edward VIII must hate him . Even though he was the one that warned the Church, Shansa Empire could ignore that and still try to kill him .

The three did not stop until the moon was high in the sky . Anfey stopped and estimated how much they had left to travel, then gestured for Suzanna and Riska to stop . They were lucky, and found a hole in a tree where they could rest .

The trio was ready to rest, but not before they prepared the hole . The tree was very large, and the hole was big enough for Anfey to stretch himself out . However, it was infested with ants, insects, and venomous animals like snakes .

Anfey was responsible for the cleanup . For someone who could control hundreds of fireballs, it was a very easy job . After a few minutes, the entire interior of the hole was charred . Touching the wall would result in a handful of soot . Anfey looked at his hand, reached over and wiped the dark soot on Suzanna’s face . Anfey could control his emotions, but Riska couldn’t . His reaction tipped off Suzanna, who wiped some soot on Anfey’s face as retribution .

Anfey and Suzanna kept wiping soot on each other’s faces and laughing . Riska sat nearby, and was bored and jealous at the same time .

Riska though of the saying about women and crooks being hard to keep under control, meaning that if one became close with a woman or a crook, the person would forget that he was not the one in control . If one try to distance himself, than they would began to hate him .

Many believed that women should obey men’s every order and respect men, and men did not have to do anything .

Anfey had alway thought the belief to be nonsense . When he was still an assassin, he believed that a home was somewhere he could be by himself and completely relax . Since he could not and would not relax, he had always rejected every woman . For the longest time, he had never had a relationship that lasted for more than a night . If Anfey hadn’t believed that home was a place where he should relax, he might have already married .

Since he and Suzanna began their relationship, the two of them had became incredibly close . For some more conservative men, perhaps even disrespectful . However, Anfey loved that about Suzanna . In the past, Suzanna had been so sullen because of her past . Now, Suzanna was acting more like a young woman her age .

In the end, Anfey admitted defeat and called Riska over to use water magic . Anfey wanted to help, but Suzanna insisted on Riska helping . She didn’t know whether Anfey really wanted to help her or he simply wanted to play another prank .

After Suzanna and Riska fell asleep, Anfey sat there and played with some leaves . Then he closed his eyes and began taking slow, deep breaths .

His usually calm state of mind was different . Anfey discovered that this time, the meditation was a whole new experience . Not only his surroundings, but almost the entire forest was clear in his mind . If he wanted to, he could see everything .

If he was a normal person, maybe he would try to see as far as he could, or try to see everything . However, Anfey knew the effects meditation could have . When a person’s mind was calm enough, he could see many realistic mirages . Like the woman he fancied, the beasts he feared, his troubles and joys . Everything was a simple mirage, and it was a difficult step in achieving the next level in his skills . If one really believed the mirages, he risked losing himself .

When he was learning, his mentor stressed that he should be calm at all times . Nothing was real . Anfey was not moved by the mirages . He took a deep breath and began to calm his mind down .

A colorful snake slithered towards the hole . It stopped outside, hissing . It turned away and left as if it could sense what was inside . Two bugs nearby were mating, but before they could finish, a bird swooped down and pecked them off of the ground . The bird chirped happily . Normal birds could not see in the dark . Clearly this bird was not a common species . A group of rats were ripping chunks of flesh off of the body of a small magic beast . There were too many rats, and the body was soon picked clean . A wounded rat limped over, but the small magic beast had no flesh on its bones anymore . Driven by hunger, the wounded rat began licking the bones . The rats swarmed the wounded one, and soon only bones were left .

Anfey frowned . Usually, he only needed to concentrate and calm himself to make a mirage disappear . This time, however, the mirage lingered . What was even stranger was that the mirages happened all at once instead of one after another . In this moment, his mind seemed infinite, large enough to hold everything .

Anfey decided he should stop meditating . He took a deep breath and opened his eyes . The leaf on his chest burst into blinding white light . Anfey’s heart skipped a beat . What was even more shocking than the glowing leaf was the fact that he could see the forest even after he had opened his eyes .

He realized he might have just lost himself meditating . Anfey took another deep breath, and did not panic . He kept his breathing steady, and began to search for ways to escape the mirages .

Even after more than three hundred breaths, Anfey still could not find a way to escape . Mirages could cause people to lose themselves because people chose to believe the mirages were real . Anfey always tried to keep warning himself that what he was seeing was not real .

After a few minutes, Anfey began trying to move his body . He couldn’t just sit and wait for the mirages to disappear . It would take forever . Waiting wasn’t the right thing to do .

He could see the inside wall of the hole and the tree’s bark . He could even see something between the inside and the outside of the tree . He closed his eyes, then opened them slowly, but he discovered that no matter what he did, the image did not change .

There was a caterpillar climbing down the tree . Anfey walked out of the hole and poked the caterpillar . He flicked the insect away, and felt its body on his fingers .

He had to admit that the mirages were unbelievably real . No wonder so many people lose themselves because of these mirages .

A normal man might have already believed that the mirages were real, but Anfey kept reminding himself that they were not . He still had so many things he hadn’t done . He did not want to die this way . He couldn’t let himself believe it was real .

But how would he find a way out? Anfey frowned and walked back into the hole . His gaze fell on Suzanna and he noticed something strange . In the mirage, he could see through the tree and see what was inside it . Logically, he should be able to see what was inside Suzanna, as well . However, she was simply lying there, no different from how he had normally seen her .

Perhaps Suzanna would provide a way out for him . Anfey walked over and sat down next to her quietly . He lifted her head up with his hand and let her rest in his arms . Suzanna’s eyes flickered open, and she stared at Anfey .

Anfey knew that mirages were the reflection of what he was thinking . In the mirage, Suzanna would display the expression Anfey believed she would display . Anfey felt angry . He didn’t like the mirage controlling Suzanna’s expression . His hands reached down and grabbed her breasts . Her body was warm and soft under his fingers .