CH 44.3

Galactic history refers to the history of mankind’s departure from Earth to the Milky Way.

Yan Ke then had to correct his previous remark: “Maybe the Marshal was self-taught.”

Xie Jianwei said nothing, but his mind was full of thoughts: Forget about whether or not Lu Li had the time to study the history of the earlier period of ancient Earth on his own — the point is that the Imperial Capital’s library doesn’t even have such detailed records.

Even if he wants to learn on his own, he has to have a place where he could do so, right?

Xie Jianwei, who was still dressed in a black cloak, was walking down the street. No one could see him anyway, so he didn’t bother to change his clothes.

He was about to go look for his target when he caught sight of someone familiar coming out of a shop.

Lorren was dressed somewhat lavishly, donning a feathered hat and a woolen coat studded with gold threads. His long legs were wrapped with tight trousers, making his already tall figure seem like it was stretched infinitely.

He was truly quite a spectacular sight.

One of his arms was held by a lady who was also extremely well-dressed, with a tightly girded waist and a wide skirt that was extremely flashy and elaborate.

Xie Jianwei wondered: [Where’s Yán Kè?]

Lorren going to the Human Realm to pick up girls was nothing surprising. What he was rather wondering was …… Where is his messenger? Didn’t he say he’d bring Yán Kè with him?

As he was thinking this, the lady next to Lorren tilted her head slightly. This action made her face become partially visible under the brim of her hat.

Xie Jianwei: […]

Yan Ke: […]

…… Lorren did bring Yán Kè with him, but another question arose: Why is Yán Kè wearing women’s clothes?

And unexpectedly…he looked pretty nice in it….

Ahem, Xie Jianwei cleared his throat and comforted the exploding Yan Ke: [Don’t think too much. That’s not you.]

During the last dream,  Yan Ke kept yelling at Xie Jianwei that “That’s not me! That’s not me, my lord!”  and now, the wheels have turned—it’s now Xie Jianwei’s turn to tell Yan Ke: “That’s not you..” 

Yes, we’re really not the same person, but we looked exactly the same! Anyone who sees someone exactly like themselves forced to wear women’s clothing would be pissed off, too! Yan Ke miserably complained in his heart.

Xie Jianwei continued to ‘comfort’ Yan Ke, [Maybe  Yán Kè is really a woman?] If he didn’t know Yan Ke, he really couldn’t tell that it was a man dressed as a woman.

Instead of feeling better, Yan Ke cried instead.

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Xie Jianwei had to coax him and said, [Okay, that’s not you, it’s really not you..]

Yan Ke had already passed out crying in the toilet. (t/n: this is of course, in a figurative manner (*^艸^*))

Others couldn’t see Xie Jianwei, but Lorren could. He knew it was him the moment he saw the black cloak coupled with that shiny silver hair.

Lorren winked at him and smiled before walking away with Yán Kè.

The street was crowded, and if he greeted the “air”, he’d be taken for a nutcase.

Xie Jianwei followed him to a secluded place where no one else was around. While walking, he stared at Yán Kè, who was dressed in women’s clothing.

Yán Kè was silent, but he desperately kept his head down.

Lorren explained, “Um …… this is… we need to go to a dance party…”

Xie  Jianwei : “…..” 

Lorren continued to forcefully explain: “The dance party… Um… Bringing a female companion is necessary.”

Xie Jianwei only gave a chuckle as a response.

Lorren could only touch his nose as he tried to change the topic: “Are you here for a mission?”

“Yes.” 

Lorren asked him, “Who is the mission target?”

Xie Jianwei showed him the crystal ball.

Lorren frowned  at the sight of it, “Your target is at the ball I’m going to.”

“By the way, what are you doing at that ball?” Xie Jianwei asked.

Lorren hesitated before saying, “Little Kè  said there’s a demon around there, so I wanted to check it out.”

Xie Jianwei, who now understood the settings better, asked, “Someone here has made a contract with a demon?”

“That should be the case.”

Grim reapers can make contracts with fairy spirits as well as demons, and demons can make contracts with humans.

Demons could do things for humans, but the humans had to exchange their souls for fulfilling their wishes.

With such a contract, the human soul wouldn’t be able to fall into reincarnation, which directly affects the work of the reapers, therefore, they  always try to prevent such things from happening.

But just simply signing a contract was actually fine, after all, it was considered an agreement between a buyer and a seller. The most troublesome thing is when the demon instructs a human who has signed a contract with him to kill, and the death caused by such an accident will cause the soul to run wild. Souls like these had higher chances of entering a demon’s stomach before a reaper could collect them.

Lorren looked at Xie Jianwei: “So, let’s go to the ball together?”

Xie Jianwei said, “Okay .” 

“You have to change your clothes first. That attire would make the demon wary…. Oh, and you don’t have any companion either… Well, I wouldn’t mind taking two at a tim—”

Xie Jianwei held his scythe and it immediately became bigger…

Lorren had no choice but to shut his mouth: “Pretend I didn’t say anything.”

After changing his clothes, Xie Jianwei received the invitation that Lorren had prepared in advance and rode with him in the carriage to the ball.

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Xie Jianwei’s target is a thirty-year-old woman who would fall from the third-floor balcony that afternoon and die. All he had to do is to collect her soul when the time comes, but if there are demons around, the task wouldn’t be that easy, as a demon’s nose is sharper than a death scythe.

If a demon manages to swallow it in one bite, he wouldn’t be able to collect the soul therefore,  it’s best to find the demon first and get rid of it in advance so that the collection process would go smoothly.

The carriage’s speed was not bad, and they soon arrived at the manor where the dance party was being held.

Human beings always love all kinds of group activities, especially the people of this period. In this era of extreme lack of entertainment tools, social gatherings were the source of almost everybody’s amusement, so it was within expectations that a lot of people were in attendance.

Xie Jianwei and Lorren walked into the ballroom together.

Although their faces were unfamiliar, quite a few people still crowded over the two of them because of their good looks.

Lorren couldn’t move his legs as soon as he saw the flock of women. Xie Jianwei on the other hand was too lazy at socializing, so he retreated to a relatively quiet place after saying a few words.

He was busy observing others when suddenly, an elegant male voice sounded from behind him: “Hello, I wonder if I could have the pleasure of getting you a drink?”

Xie Jianwei turned his head towards the voice’s direction. The man in front of him looked mild-mannered and handsome with a decent smile, but his eyes had some unspeakable darkness to them.

Is it him? Xie Jianwei immediately thought of the person who had signed a contract with a demon, but he still replied lightly: “Thank you.”

The man’s eyes just kept on staring at Xie Jianwei

Xie Jianwei smiled and asked, “I wonder how I should address you, Your Excellency1?”

“Surname Lu, named Li.”

Lu Li? Xie Jianwei suddenly raised his head to look at him..

Yan Ke also exclaimed: [The Marshal? How come he doesn’t look like him at all?]

The man seemed pleased with this surprised look on his part.

After a slight pause, Xie Jianwei apologized, “Forgive me for being rude, Sir. I just wasn’t expecting you to have the same name as that of an old friend of mine.”

The man let out an “Oh..” and said “That’s a coincidence, my name is quite special, you see… a lot of people don’t understand what these two words mean.”

Xie Jianwei smiled.

The man became somewhat high-spirited as he explained: “My name is from the far East, but I am not from there.”

Xie Jianwei said vaguely, “Ah, is that so.”

The man then lowered his voice and said slowly, “I’ve heard that the name of a demon is very arbitrary and they name themselves however they want to, so ……  Sir’s old friend, who has the same name as me, isn’t a demon,  is he?”

By this time, if Xie Jianwei still couldn’t sense the problem, then he wouldn’t be called a Military Advisor.

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Translator’s notes:

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