nycdaug Chapter 256 Crows, White Doves, and Red Swallows
Chapter 256 Crows, White Doves, and Red Swallows
Strange...
Emotions! Feelings! Entanglements!
Kuromon Haruya stared in disbelief at the notebook resembling a princess's diary at the entrance of the elementary school, trying to pierce through it with her eyes.
Speaking of which, I received this book on the first day of the new year, and the various scandalous rumors circulating in the organization have indeed only recently emerged.
hiss...
He thought it was springtime, the restless energy of biological reproduction, that made the assassins in the organization burst with boundless energy. They even deliberately brought forward three or five strategic objectives, aiming to keep everyone working non-stop so they'd want a vacation after completing the mission...
It turns out that it wasn't that the spider's illusion magic was particularly powerful, but rather that it was simply a friendly backstab!
Speechless and choked with emotion, Kuromon Haruya silently accepted the fact that he had dug his own grave.
After all, he deliberately took the wrong book and didn't return it; to make it easier to read, he even carried it with him in the shadows.
"Should I say I'm just glad I haven't been at the base lately..." he muttered helplessly. He took out his phone, raised his hand, and asked for leave: "Um, Ms. Hongzi, could you wait a moment? I have something more urgent to do!"
Contact list, call, Sogrid.
"Beep, beep, beep... The user you dialed is temporarily unavailable. Please..."
After hanging up the phone, Kuromon Haruya's eyes turned cold, and he frowned unhappily.
What's going on? Is Sogrid busy interrogating Sindora and didn't turn on call alerts? Or has the reconciliation gone awry?
He pressed the button and tried to dial again.
"Beep, beep... beep."
Kuromon Haruya: "Sogrid?"
The call was finally connected.
"Good night, Boss. I apologize for the delay in responding to your call due to cleaning up the grime. Do you have any instructions?"
Weak, feeble wails echoed in the background of the communication. Hearing the calm apology from the other end, Kuromon Haruya's anger subsided temporarily.
Although the reply was a bit late, I hadn't forgotten the basic etiquette, so I barely managed to get by.
"Notify all codenamed members to undergo collective psychological testing within five to ten days. Anyone found to have abnormalities will be suspended from important missions and placed on file for observation."
The specific details will be agreed upon by Gin and Rum, but both of them must personally oversee the process and objectively assess each other's condition.
"All the codenamed personnel? That includes Butber, who was tested not long ago..."
Just in case, Yoruichi Kuromon will still make time to attend and check the test results. "Let's do another test, just in case. Being too independent and conspicuous isn't good; it might attract Gin and the others' attention, which is counterproductive."
Haruya Kuromon: "Once everything is arranged, I will arrange for the single malt to make its official debut. It's time to complete the whisky lineup."
"Yes, as you command."
After hanging up the phone, Kuromon Haruya slowly turned around, her face showing honest distress, without a trace of guilt: "That's how it is. Akako-sensei, do you have any solutions?"
Koizumi Akako covered her mouth as she watched the commotion, chuckling as she waved her hand: "It's alright, if the contamination isn't too serious, you can just purify it with exorcising items~ You can go to a shrine or church and borrow some blessed water... Pfft! Hahaha, I forgot you're not well-liked!"
Haruya Kuromon: ......
Haruya Kuromon: (▼?▼)
"uh-huh!"
Realizing that if she continued to mock him, this disciple who had strayed to the crooked path might reveal his true nature, Koizumi Akako quickly stopped herself: "But don't forget! I—the only legitimate successor of Red Magic—have countless magical materials, and sharing some with my disciple is no problem at all."
I happen to have a batch of Egyptian salt here that's about to spoil—I mean, I have some leftover. It's top-quality Natron salt left over from the Parthian ceremonies performed by Tutankhamun's dynasty. It'll be perfect for fighting poison with poison.”
'Natron salt?'
Kuromon Haruka briefly searched his memory bank: Ancient Egyptians often used natural salt from Lake Natron to make mummies, primarily to dehydrate and preserve the body, ensuring it wouldn't decay...
"Isn't that bath salt left over from dried meat over 3,000 years ago? I remember it was non-recyclable waste, right?"
Koizumi Akako clenched her fists and stomped her foot: "I have a whole bunch of them piled up in my storeroom, so just tell me if you want them or not!"
Yoruichi Kuromon raised an eyebrow in surprise: "Why do you ask? Of course I do."
What a joke! Every member of the codenamed team is an exceptional individual; what wouldn't they dare to do? Let alone using them, they'd be willing to eat them with rice every day!
Anyway, it's not like it's the boss I'm using.
Just as the two were about to go their separate ways after agreeing on a delivery time, the smartwatch on Kuromon Haruya's wrist suddenly turned on a strange switch and started beeping erratically.
hum hum hum!
The violent tremors made Kuromon Haruya's wrist go numb: "Wait! I almost forgot the important thing, Akako-sensei, let's sign the contract!"
As he spoke, he activated the holographic projection mode on his smartwatch and introduced the sphere of light that had appeared to Koizumi Akako, saying, "This is..."
“Zawada Hiro, the ‘Hiro’ of ‘to promote,’ please address me that way,” Noah’s Ark added, surprising Kuromon Haruya.
Hiroki Sawada is his creator. After Noah's Ark shed the erroneous idea that "he is Hiroki," it wanted to try to remember him in other ways. A name is one of the eternal gifts that parents leave to their children. Since Hiroki is Hiroki, then he is half of Hiroki, which is Hiro.
As for his appearance, he hasn't figured it out yet, so it looks like a ball lightning bolt.
"Hmm? I've never seen an electric fairy like this before! Where did you catch it?" Koizumi Akako circled around him excitedly, and somehow pulled out a huge scythe from under her skirt.
Seeing this, Haruya Kuromon quickly stepped in between: "Wait! Hiro... is my partner, not a rare Pokémon!"
When considering what to call him, Haruya Kuromon paused for a moment, which was uncharacteristic of hers. She had originally thought of addressing the boy as "XX-kun" in the Japanese way, but after a moment's thought, she felt it was a bit strange, something only her family would understand.
"I see. If demons are involved in creation, then it's not surprising." Using his magical senses, he could indeed detect that the aura of this orb of light was somewhat similar to that of Kuromon Haruya.
Having interpreted Noah's Ark as a creation of the Raven Demon, Koizumi Akako regretfully withdrew, casually tossing over a sheepskin contract: "Here, this is an equal contract with the fairies. You use the blood of the black goat's cub as ink, write the treaty on the back, and then repeat and swear it under the moonlight."
As she spoke, Koizumi Akako covered her mouth and yawned: "Is there anything else?"
"temporarily unavailable."
"Alright, I'm off then~ I'm so sleepy~" Pulling a broom from under her skirt, Koizumi Akako lightly flew into the night sky with a light touch of her toes, her crimson figure disappearing into the clouds.
Kuromon Haruya looked down at the Little Ark smartwatch: "Then let's do it today, shall we?"
"Row."
......
Inside the study of the safe house, following the procedure explained by Koizumi Akako, the contract was successfully signed by one person and one machine.
Noah's Ark will offer its full assistance in exchange for a promise from Kuromon Haruya: that "within the next five hundred years, Kuromon Haruya will find a way to resurrect Hiroki and give him a happy and fulfilling life." In return, Kuromon Haruya guarantees that she will never guide Hiroki Sawada's soul into corruption and decay.
This also means that another planned milestone has been reached.
As the emerald faded, Heimen Yaoye carefully sank his consciousness into the depths of his soul and indeed sensed a binding force—its power was indeed strong, and if violated, it would instantly crush a person's soul.
But in essence, it only destroys the soul of one person.
As a demon that devours souls, Yoru Kuromon happens to have an abundance of souls.
Sawada Hiroshi trembled slightly, excitedly saying, "That's it! The agreement is successful! It's a pleasure working with you! Can you share the information with me now?"
"Well, it's a pleasure to work with you."
Black Gate extended a fingertip and gently poked the orb of light: "Now that you've joined the organization, shouldn't I give you a codename?"
"Black, white, and crimson birds—which color bird would you prefer to be?"
"What color bird...?" Hiroshi Sawada asked, somewhat puzzled, but still tried to answer. "If I had to choose, I would prefer to be a bluebird that brings happiness to Hiroki."
"Bluebird... then there's no problem."
If a melodious and beautiful Eastern language is sung, Noah's Ark, which encompasses almost all the world's languages, will naturally recognize that this is the official language of China, a major Eastern power not far from Japan.
Kuromon chuckled awkwardly, waved his hand, and said in a casual tone, as if chatting with a neighbor, "Sorry. I was startled when you called yourself 'Red,' so I was just testing the waters. Where were we? Sharing information, right?"
"Yes."
After tilting his head and pondering for a moment, Hei Men moved to the bookshelf at the far end of the study, his fingertips tracing the books before pulling out a folder filled with various pieces of information.
"Hmm~ Let me think, the story of Noah's Ark in the Bible has already been told... Do you know the oldest version of the story of Noah's Ark?"
“Of course,” Hiroshi Sawada replied. “The earliest version of the Noah’s Ark story can be traced back to the Great Flood described in the eleventh section of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest epic poem in human history.”
"In the epic, the gods decided to send a flood to exterminate humanity because of the noise that disturbed their sleep."
But the righteous Utnapishtim (meaning "he who has eternal life") received a revelation from the god of wisdom, and so he built an ark, taking his family, craftsmen, and the seed of all life with him.
The terrifying flood lasted for seven days and seven nights, submerging even the high mountains;
The goddess of love and war covered her face and wept: "The humans of yesteryear have turned to dust!"
The gods huddled in a corner, licking rainwater like dogs to stave off hunger.
At this moment, the ark was anchored beside Mount Nimsh.
To test whether the floodwaters had receded and whether life could return to the land, Utnapistim released pigeons, swallows, and crows to probe the water level.
After the pigeon flew away, it circled once, but returned to the ark because it could not find a place to land.
After the swallows flew away, they returned to the ark because there was no food on land.
Finally, the crows were released. Seeing that the floodwaters had receded, they began pecking at the rotting flesh on the corpses. They pecked, flapped their wings, and cawed, but never returned.
—So the righteous knew that life could be found on land, and they brought all living things back to the land, and were blessed by the gods as eternal beings.
"Yes."
Looking up, Kuromon saw that the shadows had obscured the bright full moon, and a light drizzle had begun to fall in the damp air.
"And now, I will tell you the whole story."
Long, long ago, a flood that lasted seven days and seven nights destroyed the world. Only the righteous man on the ark survived because he possessed immortality. He promised to reward the three pathfinder birds accordingly.
The black raven, named Nigredo, deserves the most credit for bringing 'immortality' beyond death.
The crimson swallow, called Rubedo, carries away the 'cycle of life' as it continues its migration.
The pure white dove, named Albedo, returned empty-handed, its mission a failure. So, carrying the power of 'purification,' it sets out to prove itself once more.
"Now, the crow is cursed with immortality, the white dove is caught in the extreme of purifying the world, and the red swallow has disappeared without a trace."