Chapter 1493: The Drunkard Drives the Body

’Zzz...’

<Anton!>

’Zzzzz.’

<Anton..>

’ZZZZZZZZZZZ.’

<ANTON!>

’Huh? Oh. What’s up?’

<We need you to pilot our half-conscious Lord, or else he’s going to die by the hands of a counterfeit angel bastard with stolen wings.>

’...what the fuck?’

<You heard me. Now, get your drunken undead ass over here so that I can transport you deep inside him. Wait, her? Doesn’t matter.>

’I repeat, what the fuck?’

...Legit, the fuck?...

’Ah...crap...can’t hold it up for much longer...’

When Zhen Liu got blasted with the aether-induced drowsiness of three different Kaijin, he thought he could simply power through it.

Zhen Liu had powered through the pain of Hurricroak’s hands getting shocked and the myriad of times his zakos got defeated, and he could feel their last moments like flicks of the finger against his skin, but having to fight off this feeling was...different.

Zhen Liu had learned to actively defend against the influence of aether music; he really didn’t want to suddenly dance a jig in the middle of nowhere just because somebody was practicing nearby, but he had never learned how to defend against the effects that would occur after the fact.

Even so, he had no choice except to try and power through long enough that he and Jinju Ren could roll out of this shitty situation.

Unfortunately, his body had other plans in mind.

’Oh shit... I’m starting to get to the point where I might pass out...’

Already, Zhen Liu could feel the [Chaos] maintaining his current form starting to fade.

Any moment now, his consciousness would fade and the energy disperse, leaving him and Jinju Ren vulnerable to the vicious machinations of-

’Oh fuck, you really are mentally fucked right now. Well, don’t worry, buddy, because I’m going to be in control for a bit.’

’What the—ANTON?! How are you—urk! Takes too much energy to be alarmed. Going to sleep soon...’

’Don’t worry about it, little buddy,’ Anton assured his successor. ’Just let me handle the body...ah, I see you started dabbling in form changing. Huh...you seem oddly natural to this too, weird.’

...Alright, back to the actual meat of the drama...

^Our inn should be up ahead soon,^ Ren Jia (Jinju Ren) informed Alain and Alder. ^ Thank you for escorting this far.^

^It’s no problem.^ Alder assured in a polite voice that sharply contrasted the tense atmosphere of the carriage. ^ It was the gentleman thing to do.^

^Yes, gentleman thing...^ Alain weirdly trailed off, his eyes never leaving Mei Yue’s lethargic form.

At this point in time, Jinju Ren wanted to bust out her [Dragon-Taming Saber] and cut out Alain’s eyes before he had the chance to determine the truth about Mei Yue’s nature, but she knew better than to act on her emotions.

Thankfully, she wasn’t going to have to put her patience to the test quite yet.

^We are now approaching the Scaled Tunic Inn, ladies and gentlemen,^ the carriage driver notified his passengers. ^Exit will be to my left.^

As the carriage came to a stop, Mei Yue had still yet to regain consciousness in a meaningful way.

The fact that she managed to maintain her current form was enough to indicate that she was at least somewhat cognizant, but to everyone who didn’t know the truth, she might as well have been sleeping.

As such, Alain’s offer at this moment wasn’t considered unexpected...but it was considered unwelcome.

^It appears your lady-in-waiting is still somewhat unconscious. If you would like, Alder and I can help bring her in for you.^

^Oh no, you don’t have to trouble yourself like that. I can just have my guard bring her inside.^

Hearing his "title" being mentioned, Hermit Zhong Wei made it a point to open the door to the carriage and prepare to carry Mei Yue into the inn...despite them not actually having a room at the place.

^Oh, but I insist, ^ Alain said a touch more forcefully. ^It would besmirch our honor if we couldn’t do something as simple as carry someone into their—^

^Nobody touch me, I’m awake.^

^Whoa!^

^What the fuck?^

Much to the shock of everyone in and outside of the carriage, Mei Yue suddenly shot awake like she hadn’t been unconscious for the past thirty or so minutes. In fact, she looked a little annoyed about being awake.

^Now, while milady and I both appreciate the...gentlemanly behavior from you and Sir Alder, there must still be some form of intrigue between us,^ Mei Yue stated with an unusual smoothness and tone to her voice that was unnoticeable to all save for Ren Jia. ^ As such, we’ll be taking our leave now.^

^Wait, what?^

Mei Yue’s actions in this moment were so decisive, so sudden, that Alain and Alder were essentially stunned silent and still as Mei Yue exited the carriage with Ren Jia by her side and using Zhong Wei’s offered hand as the only assistance out.

^Ciao bella, boys,^ Mei Yue stated as she walked away from the carriage with her party in tow. ^Hope to see you some sunny day.^

^...^

^...^

Flabbergasted by this turn of events, Alain and Alder simply continued to sit in the carriage with confused expressions...at least, that’s what Mei Yue saw before getting out of their line of sight.

It took Mei Yue, Ren Jia, and Zhong Wei a couple of moments of walking before they were certain that they were out of earshot. That, and it helped that the carriage that was carrying Alder and Alain had finally decided to leave.

Once the carriage was out of sight, and the group had decided to duck into an alleyway, Ren Jia dropped all pretense to interrogate Mei Yue. At the same time, Zhong Wei left them alone to act as lookout.

This gave plenty of time and space for Ren Jia to ditch her disguise and push Mei Yue to a wall.

"Alright, you’re clearly not my darling, so who the hell are you?" Jinju Ren growled while keeping a dragon force infused hand next to Mei Yue’s shoulder. "You don’t feel like a Kaijin."

"Okay, that’s a hell of an introduction. Couldn’t you have bought me a drink before yelling like that?," Mei Yue taunted in an incredibly nonchalant voice. "But to answer your question, you can call me Anton the Damned Drunkard. I am the closest thing to master that Zhen Liu here has, and the only reason why he was able to keep most of his focus on this transformation while only being half conscious. You’re welcome."

At this answer, Jinju Ren just gave MRI Yue a deadpan stare of disappointment and annoyance.

"Okay, but that doesn’t answer why or how the fuck you’re piloting my fiancee. Explain it or I start using my dragon force to exorcise you," Jinju Ren growled.

"Hey, no need to get violent," Mei Yue said in a placating voice. "Logos and Pathos sent me one of their esoteric methods to help. Whatever the fuck is affecting Zhen Liu wears off, I’ll be on my merry way."

"Okay, that is the second time you mentioned something affecting my darling. What is happening to him?"

"Three of his kaijin got caught up in the sleep-inducing effect of an aether treasure that was being wielded by some weird asshole that was attacking your friends back at Axer’s forge," Anton explained in straightforward manner. "They should be fine, but those mortal warriors that they were protecting also got caught up in the attack and may or may not be completely conscious."

"What the fuck?! Open with that, next time!"

Understanding that things were actually more dire than what she was being told, Jinju Ren immediately alerted Hermit Zhong Wei before dragging Mei Yue along.

"Master!"

"Huh?"

"We gotta get back to the forge!"

"On it!"

"Wait, what? I thought we were supposed to hide out until—"

"Plans change," Jinju Ren interrupted Anton. "Especially when enemy forces are attacking. Now, can you fight while inside of my darling or what?"

"Once he releases this transformation, sure."

"Good."

Once that little question was addressed, Anton, Jinju Ren, and Hermit Zhong Wei proceeded to make tracks back to the forge.

Aware that danger was afoot, but unaware that their presence wasn’t required.

After all, there was one more person over at the forge area that Anton had failed to keep track of.

Then again, even the curators kind of forgot he existed as well.

...Anyways, what did the planners of this crazy idea think of how things played out?...

<Haha! Told you that would work.>

=Well, color me surprised...wait a minute...=

<What?>

=Couldn’t we have just tapped into one of our Lord’s allies who wasn’t busy at the moment?=

<What are you talking about? They’re all occupied or otherwise elsewhere.>

=Lythero? Our Lord’s first ally when he got stuck here in Dozing Salamander? Last I checked, they were still at the forge with the others.=

<Oh yeah...wait, how did we forget about him?>