The Emperor’s Daily Nitpicking - CH 47

The Honourable Kevin Fassbender was second to none in the whole Mainland when it came to giving people a hard time. Oswald was already suffering from a small degree of mysophobia. He was so disturbed by the word “mouldy” that he couldn’t look at his fingers, especially after he had imagined it.

He glanced at it, then away, then back again, then away again, and finally just stared at the culprit in disbelief.

Kevin stared back innocently. “What’s wrong? What’s all the fuss about a mould growing in this season when it’s so humid?”

Oswald couldn’t stand it. “Just shut up.”

Kevin raised an eyebrow, and the corner of his mouth hid a smirk that showed the bastard’s evil nature in all its glory.

He knew he was no good, but he didn’t think he could be this awful at a time like this. Oswald just felt like he was simply out of his mind to have some other thoughts about a man like …… that.

Of course, Kevin wasn’t the kind of person who really couldn’t tell the difference between situations. He laughed for a moment and added as if he had a conscience, ” Ben was forced to change back into his beast form before going down the cliff because Bettan Days had arrived.”

Although the overall environment of the Golden Lion Kingdom was not kind to the Giant Beastman, successive Emperors had treated the race with respect, at least on the surface. But it did not mean that they did not know the habits of these Giant Beastmen. On the contrary, it was because of the previous conflicts and battles that the people of the Golden Lion Kingdom knew some of their special festivals, rituals and habits very well.

Oswald naturally knew what Bettan Days were like. But he also knew that the Giant Beastman was a very exclusive race regarding finding a mate. To be precise, they were not so much xenophobic as they were very picky. From the point of view of the Giant Beastman, people of other races were short and skinny, with a poor physical build, and if they did get together, what if they broke a bone or were crushed to death?

The Giant Beastman, with their dumb nature and respect for the strong, felt that it was better to settle the issue internally for their people’s longevity and for their offspring to remain natural warriors of both sexes.

As a result, the Giant Beastman had few to almost no half-bloods.

Until then, Oswald knew that on Bettan Days, all the Giant Beastman had to transform. But he had never considered the issue of purebloods and half-bloods, let alone that one day, the Bettan Days, which belonged exclusively to the Giant Beastman, would be related to himself.

“But what …… I just said it was just a dream I had.” Oswald frowned slightly and stared at the tips of his fingers as he fought back the discomfort of his “mould.” “What could a dream mean? After all, I have no memory of them, not even my mother or my grandparents.”

He talked about how ridiculous he felt.

Kevin leaned against the wall and relaxed his arms and legs, which Oswald had been strangling for so long, with an unconcerned look. “Don’t you guys have a copy of ‘The Book of the Later Gods’ in your hands? There are plenty of people who believe in the Later Gods. If I remember correctly, there is a saying in ‘The Book of the Later Gods’: Don’t take the dreamland as an absurd and nonsensical journey; there will be an inevitable origin from it.”

“……” Oswald froze for a moment, then gave him an odd look, thinking he had several meanings in that one sentence alone. “What do you mean ‘you ‘? You sound as if you’ve taken yourself right out of the race. But….. you still read ‘The Book of the Later Gods’?”

“That’s not true. I accidentally saw it in old housekeeper Ian’s book once.” Kevin couldn’t resist asking again, “You sound surprised by that. Why? Can’t I read ‘The Book of the Later Gods’?”

Oswald snorted briefly out of his nose, “Would someone like you who desperately wants to get to heaven read something like that? Anything associated with the Later Gods is so lukewarm that I could pass out straight away looking at it. You’d be damned if you could read it. But-”

Kevin didn’t say anything about what he said, but when he heard the word “lukewarm,” his expression was slightly complicated for a moment before he quickly relaxed and asked, “But what?”

“I’ve always been curious about your attitude towards the Old Gods. Do you believe in them?” Oswald finished, paused, and added with a grimace, “Stop with the bullshit about you liking Phae.”

Kevin shrugged, “Actually, I’ve never quite understood what you mean by ‘belief’? There’s nothing to doubt about their existence, so does your kind of ‘belief’ mean believing that they still exist and can give people their salvation and retribution?”

“Something like that…….” Oswald didn’t have any particular feelings about gods, apart from being a fan of Phae, so he could only understand the others ‘faith’ to a small extent. “When some people encounter unrelenting suffering, they must have something to keep them alive. After all, in many people’s eyes, a man’s power is too small, but not so with the gods. Besides, it’s been a very messy few centuries indeed.”

Kevin smiled at the corners of his mouth, not mockingly but rather slightly bemused, “That’ s quite a thought. If that’s what it means, then I don’t believe in anything but myself.”

He said this shamelessly; after all, the bastard had once been a god.

“True enough–” Oswald soundlessly quirked the corner of his mouth: We both have the same idea.

Clearly, the young Lord Fassbinder could easily influence others subconsciously in his thinking. The day-to-day training beneath the gentle skin had accidentally led Oswald, who had not yet formed his three views, astray.

He actually enjoyed listening to Kevin’s ideas, no matter how trivial. It was probably because Kevin was always on the opposite end of the spectrum, between being a jerk and a serious person. Whenever he opened his mouth, it was either to fight or to talk about business, rarely mentioning anything personal about himself.

In short, it’s not very life-like.

Despite his lack of tolerance and the fact that he was constantly at one another’s throats, Oswald was pleased to see him show a more personal side, whether picking at food or complaining about people or things. He loved it as long as it was a side of himself that no one else could see.

This is probably pretty insane, too. Oswald mocked himself inwardly.

But Kevin clearly didn’t have the interest or the patience to keep talking about such nonsense, and his attention soon returned to Oswald.

“Warmer than earlier?” He wanted to pull Oswald’s hand over to see what had happened to the white hairs but felt a warm hand instead–at least the temperature of his palm had somehow returned to normal. He just didn’t know if it would continue to rise and repeat the previous alternating heat and cold.

Oswald let out a “hmm,” not focusing on himself as he spoke. But now that Kevin had pulled him back, he realised he was slowly easing back into the cold, frozen as a popsicle.

But the worst part …… was that he had more white hair on his hands.

The thought of Kevin’s “mouldy” metaphor made him feel sick, and he had a vague urge to chop off his hand, which was a crime to look at.

“It’s not bad. It’s not ugly.” Kevin the bastard, instead of being even half-empathetic, put on a straight face, lifted his hand and stroked the handful of white hair, saying, “Sometimes one doesn’t realise how many things one can remember, and the dreams aren’t all ridiculous and groundless. I’d say you’re not far from being …… tsk, it’s quite nice to touch.”

This bastard was unsatisfied with two touches, playfully pulled it again, and asked especially shamelessly, “Does it hurt?”

The emperor looked at him indifferently. “What do you think? Your Excellency, you’re addicted to being handy, aren’t you?”

Kevin had wanted to ask Oswald if he had ever experienced anything like this in the past, but he knew without asking that he hadn’t. Otherwise, he wouldn’t be staring at the white hairs with a stiff and surprised look on his face.

Even though he was handy, he wasn’t just playing around. After a couple of strokes, he raised an eyebrow and guessed, “If it’s true that you inherited the Giant Beastman bloodline from your grandfather, then your grandfather must have been a fierce beast. This fur…… is either a white lion, a demon tiger or a snow wolf. Not bad, it’s not bad to change.”

Oswald: “……” Will you do me a favour and stop talking?

The young emperor couldn’t figure out how it was not bad that he had gone from being human to not being human. Besides, even if the dream was true, could his grandfather, a pure-blooded Giant Beastman, be the same as him, a half-blood? What if he was missing an arm or a leg, or like when Dan had been acting silly and changed everything else, but his head remained the same? Would he still be able to look at it?

He would have changed if he were alone in the tunnel, but someone was next to him. Even worse, he had some other thoughts about him.

What idiot would want to make a fool of himself in front of someone he had feelings for?

Oswald thought condescendingly: Whoever wants to reveal himself can do it. I won’t do it anyway.

“The white lion’s fur feels rougher than yours, so let’s rule it out.” Kevin was oblivious to Oswald’s psychological activity and still teased him by analysing the possibilities.

“How do you know so much about fur? Are you a pervert?” Oswald slapped away his idle paws in disgust, clutching his fingers into his palm to stop him from looking.

“I’ve raised quite a few before.” Kevin thought back to himself for a moment after he finished, and decided it wasn’t good to stick it in his face, so he corrected it slightly and said, “Bred.”

He had once kept many beasts under the temple of the god of light, but he had only set aside a large valley in front of and behind the temple for them to grow freely and occasionally stood by to admire them or lovingly touch their heads when the mood struck him. The man’s taste was straightforward, and he had one and only one criterion – the more beautiful they were, the more he liked them. Therefore, most of the animals he kept were powerful and beautiful lions, tigers and wolves.

There was no need to be particular about the lion, but the tiger had to be an untamed demon tiger with long, sharp fangs, and he preferred the snow wolves on the plateau, which were snowy white with a calm gaze and a strong, valiant look. At one point, Kevin felt that this creature was simply to his liking, and this remark was ridiculed by the goddess Thenez for two years.

He even had a more beautiful celestial wolf than the snow wolf, with an extra pair of wings in addition to the quality a snow wolf should have. Unfortunately, there weren’t many in the world back then, and they had probably vanished entirely since then. After all, the era of the Old Gods was long gone.

“All right.” Kevin clapped his hands and stood up. He thought that half-bloods, especially Oswald, who had only this much lineage, should not be affected by the Bettan Days as much as ordinary Giant Beastman. Transformation should be unlikely, at most growing a few tufts of hair and transforming into claws, so he was teasing him with his analysis.

“Your temperature is normal, right? Let’s move if it’s normal. Let’s not spend time here.” Kevin didn’t spare any effort to help this time and reached out to pull the reluctant emperor to his feet, leading the way in stride.

The path of the secret passage was, after all, artificial and hard-cut, uneven, with occasional puddles of water seeping in from nowhere, forming a shallow pit in the hollows. So much that the sound of footsteps, splashing water, the breathing of the two men and echoes mingled together in a way that did not seem quiet.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Kevin suddenly became aware of Oswald’s footsteps slowing in pace behind him, and he seemed to have been left behind for a while.

“What’s wrong with you?” He stopped and turned to ask, but a section of protruding curved stone wall blocked his view.

Consequently, at that very same time, he heard an odd rumble coming from behind the stone wall……

When he thought about it, it sounded like something with feathery wings fluttering against the stone wall ……

Kevin’s heart suddenly jumped. Because by the light of the fluorite, he saw a huge shadow cast on the opposite wall of the stone wall, which, by any stretch of the imagination, was not what a person would present.