In the blink of an eye, time, with an unseen hand, gently waved goodbye to another day.
I immediately started blinking furiously, and in half a day, I became a thousand-year-old Nascent Soul Ancestor!
Cough, cough, just kidding.
The final month of summer vacation, laden with the students’ laments, finally drew to a close.
Gazing at August, which was slowly reaching its end on the calendar, I couldn’t help but sigh, feeling as though June had been just yesterday, and remembering the July I had never truly experienced.
“Big White!!! I really don’t want to go to work!!!”
Extended periods of rest inevitably lead to an unconscious decline into idleness.
A certain S-rank adventurer, who had also enjoyed a full summer vacation of rest, now lay sprawled on the sofa, his gaze hollowly fixed on the ceiling.
Ever since the clan meeting, Fire Finch had remained in Finch God Village.
A whole month!
With Fire Finch absent from the guild, Aya Tone would occasionally drop by for a stroll.
After all, as Yan’an City’s guardian, even if his role had become little more than a title after the disappearance of S-rank dungeons, he still held a position.
But no matter how one looked at it, he was still one of the guild’s ‘hi-i-igh-ranking members!’
It was… odd, to say the least.
It seemed whether the two of them were present or not, the Vermilion Bird Guild continued to run perfectly fine.
This was a tale both fortunate and sorrowful.
The dungeons within Yan’an City also displayed a remarkably stable situation.
Rather, without Aya Tone, the ‘Fish-Blasting King,’ around, the adventurers within the guild seemed even more lively.
On the adventurer channel, news of B-rank dungeons in the city being cleared could be seen intermittently.
With fresh blood stepping up, Aya Tone, now flush with wealth, couldn’t help but succumb to idleness.
Once he indulged in this laziness, then…
September was fast approaching.
“Papa~ will Aya Jiu be able to go to kindergarten and play with her friends soon?”
Sitting amidst a pile of toys, her little legs splayed out, little Aya Jiu, who had been playing a game with Big White, suddenly lifted her head.
Having been on holiday for so long, she truly missed her kindergarten friends.
She longed to return to kindergarten quickly, eager to share the fun experiences she had with her papa over the holiday, certain that her friends would be green with envy.
She could even introduce her newly met older sister to her teachers.
“Yes, you will, Aya Jiu. Are you happy?” Aya Tone replied, his voice devoid of energy.
“Wow, yay~”
Aya Tone lifted his gaze to his lively daughter, sighing inwardly.
‘Kindergarten life is truly the best, so carefree.’
‘Unlike him…’
‘Work is so exhausting, and if I’m not careful, I might even be propositioned by my boss.’
‘Ugh—’
‘The filthy adult world…’
The time spent cooped up at home had been quite leisurely, and aside from Li Jia occasionally dropping by to play with Aya Jiu, the house remained relatively peaceful.
‘If only life could continue like this forever.’
Just as he was lost in these thoughts.
Suddenly!
The phone beneath Aya Tone’s body vibrated, and he expressionlessly unlocked the screen, watching as a series of messages appeared before his eyes.
[Guild Master: I’m back.]
[Guild Master: Remember to register on September 1st.]
[Guild Master: Open the door!]
[Aya Tone: ……]
“Big White, could you open the door?”
However, before Big White could even rise to open the door, the sound of keys turning already echoed from the entrance.
The main door clicked open and swung inward, accompanied by Fire Finch’s cheerful voice.
“Aya Jiu~ did you miss your big sister?”
Upon seeing that it was Fire Finch, little Aya Jiu no longer cared for the toys on the floor; she scrambled up and, with her short legs, scurried towards Fire Finch, launching into a ‘Meatball Scallion Chicken’ attack.
With the warm jade in her embrace, Fire Finch burst into delighted laughter.
‘She hadn’t seen this little darling in a month, and she had truly missed her.’
“Boss, you have your own key, so why bother sending messages?” Aya Tone asked, still sprawled on the sofa like a salted fish, his lifeless, fish-like eyes staring blankly.
‘Taking without asking is considered theft.’
‘By the same logic.’
‘If I tell you beforehand, and then take it, it’s not stealing.’
‘Genius!’
‘Discharged!’
“Hmph, wasn’t I just letting you know to avoid any awkward situations?”
Fire Finch hugged Aya Jiu affectionately, completely ignoring her ‘salted fish’ dad.
“Miss Huo, please have some tea.”
Big White emerged from the kitchen, carrying tea.
“Oh, oh, thank you… What the hell!”
Little Aya Jiu was startled by Fire Finch’s sudden outburst.
Her body trembled violently.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, big sister didn’t mean to.” Realizing the little darling in her arms had been frightened, Fire Finch quickly offered comfort.
However, her eyes were constantly fixed on Big White; not only Aya Jiu, but Fire Finch herself had been given quite a shock.
After scrutinizing Big White from head to toe, Fire Finch noted that, apart from a few minor details, wasn’t this clearly a perfect replica of Aya Tone?
‘Could it be that in just one month, Aya Tone had been ‘trained’ by Li Jia into this appearance?’
‘No, that couldn’t be right…’
‘If this in front of me was Aya Tone, then who was the salted fish lying on the sofa?’
Finally.
Fire Finch, her mind swirling with confusion, couldn’t help but ask, “Did you get a body double?”
Pffft!
Aya Tone, who had just picked up a cup of water from the table and taken a sip, heard this and immediately choked, coughing repeatedly in surprise.
‘A body double?’
‘So there’s a master at this!’
“Big Sister Fire Finch, what’s a body double?” Little Aya Jiu asked, leaning in Fire Finch’s arms with a look of pure curiosity.
Aya Tone, temporarily incapacitated by the drink, couldn’t speak, so he shot a meaningful glance at Big White.
Big White, too, understood implicitly.
“Little Master, that’s a bad word; we shouldn’t learn it.”
Big White then introduced herself to Fire Finch.
“Miss Huo, long time no see. I am Big White.”
“You’re Big White?” Fire Finch’s surprise, far from diminishing, only intensified.
‘It wasn’t as if she hadn’t seen the chubby white Big White before, but this one was…’
‘Hmm…’
Fire Finch’s gaze slowly drifted to Big White’s chest.
‘It seemed… quite chubby white there too.’
‘Pah!’
‘This is different!’
Hadn’t Aya Tone said that Big White was his magical creation, and sexless?
‘This Big White, who bore a seventy to eighty percent resemblance to Aya Tone, with those two prominent peaks, how could she be sexless!?’
‘What’s more, she was almost catching up to Fire Finch, a pure-blooded female!’
“Boss, she really is Big White…”
Aya Tone slowly recovered from his choking fit.
‘Damn it!’
‘He almost became the first S-rank in history to be ‘solo-killed’ by a drink…’
“She’s really Big White?” Fire Finch still sounded somewhat incredulous.
‘She had certainly seen ability users who could awaken ‘substitutes’, but a magical creation like Big White, possessing independent thought…’
‘Now possessing a human appearance, it seemed… not entirely unacceptable.’
‘It was practically a miracle…’
‘No, rather, it *was* a miracle!’
“Has Li Jia seen Big White?”
Given that Li Jia knew Aya Tone’s identity, and based on his understanding of her, she was bound to come knocking.
‘Then Big White’s appearance…’
“She has. She said she wanted to buy Big White, but as you know, Big White is family to me, and not for sale.”
Big White, at this moment, also recalled the girl who seemed intent on devouring her.
‘That gaze was terrifying.’
‘She had no idea where her master had met such a terrifying girl.’
‘If Little Master were to get too close to her, it might have a negative impact on Little Master’s development.’
Consequently, Li Jia had already been added to Big White’s danger list.
“You didn’t just come here to tell me this, did you?” he asked. ‘If that were the case, the Guild Master would be incredibly bored…’
“Of course not; I mainly came to discuss matters concerning the academy.”
“Ohh—” Hearing that it was about work, Aya Tone’s back, which he had just been about to straighten, sagged once more.
‘Didn’t want to listen, didn’t want to move.’
Fire Finch: ……
‘Her fists hardened.’
‘What was this sudden urge to kick this salted fish?’
Li Jia is dangerous.