Phi-Fic Chapter 953: Granbell (7k3)
Chapter 953: Granbell (7k3)
Chapter 953: Granbell (7k3)
Time passed normally and it was June 6th.
The return of Shizue Izawa not only made the children extremely happy, but also surprised Rimuru. He seemed to work with more energy than before.
With Shizuka and Hinata taking care of the children, they no longer need anyone else to worry about them. The Demon Federation is running at full capacity, preparing for the grand founding festival.
This day was the day before the National Day. The town of Rimuru was decorated with lights and was as lively as New Year's Day. Even though hundreds of thousands of adventurers had entered the underground palace to buy Ji Xing's skills, there were still crowds of people everywhere.
Walking through the crowd, an old man and a young girl stood out. The old man looked like an ordinary old man, with only his unusually straight back. The little girl he was holding, who looked about 10 years old, had blonde hair and blue eyes, like a living doll, so cute that it sometimes made people lose their minds.
They walked through the commercial street like ordinary tourists. Both of them had a string of candied haws in their hands, and the girl had a cute butterfly hairpin on her head.
While sipping the sweet and sour candied haws, the old man had a worried look on his face.
The little girl beside him understood the old man's thoughts completely and said with emotion: "It's even more amazing than I expected. Humans and monsters are completely integrated together. And this city... It's really built to be scary, grandpa."
The old man looked at her. The little girl pointed to the gourd lid at her feet and said, "This thing is called a sewer. Grandpa, you have noticed that there are many sewers in the streets and alleys, right? This shows that the town has taken a perfect sewage system into consideration when it was built. The dirty and sour smell in ordinary towns will never be found here."
She pointed to the distance again and said, "The track being laid over there is even more amazing. I told you that it is called a train, a 'means of transportation' that can connect the Western countries.
When the train is officially operational, goods from all over the country will be able to circulate quickly, and the Demon King Rimuru will have control over the economic lifeline of the West, or in other words, this place has become the economic center of the West.
No one understands the power of finance better than me, Grandpa. There is no need to resort to force. Those merchants and nobles who have benefited from the Demon King Rimuru will spontaneously support her. If a country offends her one day, Rimuru only needs to cut off the logistics of that country, or just raise the price of raw materials, and that country will not be able to bear it and will kneel down and beg for mercy.
Furthermore, if the demon king knows how to seize resources by manipulating exchange rates, it will be even more terrifying."
Knowing so much, she is naturally not an ordinary little girl. She is Marianbell, a human being who was reincarnated into this world after death like Rimuru. And she was not an ordinary person before her reincarnation.
She was the emperor who ruled Europe. She was known as a financial prodigy since she was a child. She manipulated the exchange rate through the country's prosperity and accumulated wealth. She lived to the end of her life and was reincarnated. She accumulated a lifetime of experience and became more intelligent.
But compared to life experience, Granbell, who has lived for a thousand years, has more.
After hearing her words, Granbell remained silent and did not express his opinion.
Marian Bell was a little anxious.
"Grandpa! What on earth have you been thinking about during this period? Have you forgotten the long-cherished wish of our Luozuo clan? I don't believe that you will be frightened by the death of those six idiots!"
From the moment she was reincarnated into this world, she was determined to become the ruler of this relatively backward world, just like in her previous life. At the age of three, she met Grambell, who shared the same ideals as her, and became Grambell's granddaughter.
The two of them should be companions moving towards a common goal and an ideal, and now it is obvious that the existence of the Monster Federation has gradually shaken the foundation of the Rosso clan. However, apart from adding fuel to the fire when dealing with Hinata last time, Granbell has been slow to act and even prevented her from taking any action.
She was very confused and even said she was angry.
Facing her doubts and dissatisfaction, Granbell just shook his head gently: "It's noon, let's eat, Marian Bell."
"I……"
Before she could object, Marian Bell was pulled by Gulan Bell into a restaurant with a very imposing facade next door - Pinhailou.
Obviously, this is a high-end restaurant that mainly serves seafood, but the Jura Forest is not near the sea, so one has to go southeast through the Beast Kingdom to find the coastline and go fishing.
Not only does it require crossing thousands of kilometers, but the monsters bred in the sea are also extremely dangerous. Therefore, inland countries, even princes and nobles rarely eat seafood, and they don't like it.
Marian Bell had eaten everything in her previous life, but in the past ten years of this life, the food she occasionally tasted was always stale and tasted bad.
Therefore, when she walked into the Pinhai Tower, she couldn't help but be distracted for two seconds.
This hall seems like a miniature ocean world, with rows of large aquariums inlaid in the walls and central area of the restaurant.
Each one shimmers with a mysterious and alluring blue sheen, and is home to a variety of marine life - colorful fish species swim and play among the emerald green anemones, their orange and white stripes standing out in the water, while a few more graceful fish, with ribbon-like fins, delicate blue and yellow patterns painted on their bodies, and their tails wagging like dragons, swim slowly not far away.
Marian Bell even suspected that there might be traces of dragon magic in the body of this fish!
Then, she was attracted by a spectacular sight—a huge flat fish was quietly hovering at the bottom of a water tank. Its huge body was covered with gray-brown scales, and it glowed with a metallic luster under the light. Its length was surprisingly over eight meters. Even the monsters in the ocean might not dare to provoke it easily.
In addition, there were various exotic shellfish, colorful corals and turtles flying by from time to time in other tanks, which made her realize for the first time that the world's seafood was so rich.
Even she was like this, so other guests who walked into the restaurant were even more shocked. They all forgot to eat and order food and leaned on the water tank.
The humans and monsters dressed in standard shop assistant uniforms warmly welcomed the guests and introduced the marine creatures to them - most of them were new names, because Marianbell heard many familiar names from her previous life.
"What a luxury..." she murmured.
She couldn't imagine how much it would cost to build such a restaurant in this world, and how extravagant it would be to maintain the supply of seafood. Even the Luo Zuo family would find it difficult to make such a grand display.
Soon a clerk noticed her and Granbell and came over to greet them: "Sir, do you have an appointment?"
"Oh, do I need to make a reservation to eat here?" asked Granbell.
"No, no, no, it's because some dishes require long-term preparation and can only be prepared in advance." The waiter said quickly: "As long as you don't order dishes marked as requiring pre-preparation, we have seats here, you can come anytime."
Granbell nodded slightly: "We are here to look for someone in that room."
He raised his hand and pointed to a room on the third floor. The clerk looked over and his expression changed slightly: "Excuse me, sir, are you sure?"
"That's right."
"Then... please follow me."
When did Grandpa make an appointment? Marian Bell was a little surprised. She looked at Granbell inquiringly but got no response. She followed the clerk all the way and found that the restaurant had installed a simple elevator.
But think about it, we even have cable cars, so there’s no need to be particularly surprised by this level of technology.
Arriving at room 306, the clerk knocked gently on the door and said, "Master Ji Xing, there is an old man with a little girl who wants to see you. Do you know them?"
Marian Bell's face changed.
Ji Xing? Skill merchant?!
"Invite them in."
"Yes!" The clerk looked respectful, pushed the door open sideways and invited the grandfather and grandson to come in.
Marian Bell frowned and immediately observed the situation in the private room.
There were three people. The young man sitting in the main seat had an indescribable temperament and was looking at them calmly. The woman with long crimson hair on the left lowered her head to taste some kind of fish. She seemed to have no time to care about anything else, and did not seem to care much about the arrival of the two.
Marian Bell had never seen Ji Xing, the skilled merchant, or Shyvana, the dragon-blooded warrior. But she could recognize them, and she was very familiar with the woman standing to Ji Xing's right, gently stirring the soup pot on the table.
Cagalli who was with Yuuki before!
Seeing the two people, Cagalli nodded to them calmly, without any of her previous restraint.
"Tsk, Yuuki broke free from my skill control the first time he came to the Demonic Federation and ran away. Is he really related to the skill merchant?"
Marian Bell, who was unaware of the situation, did not say anything. Gran Bell said, "Excuse me, Mr. Ji Xing."
"Since you are here, why are you being polite?" Ji Xing said, "Please take a seat. It's a good opportunity for you to taste the dishes of my Pinhailou and give me some suggestions."
"So this restaurant was built by Mr. Ji Xing. No wonder it's so generous." Granbell nodded politely, motioning for Marian Bell to sit down and said, "This is my granddaughter Marian Bell, a reincarnated person. Marian Bell, say hello to Mr. Ji Xing."
Although Marian Bell was still in her heart, she was already used to pretending, and immediately smiled sweetly: "Mr. Ji Xing, hello, I heard that you are also a summoner? I wonder which country you are from?"
"China."
Marian Bell hesitated for a moment, obviously not expecting it. "I see. I am European and I often taste the food from the Eastern countries. When it comes to food, I think no country in the world can compare to your country."
She sat down with hypocritical courtesy, and when she looked down, she suddenly found a set of unopened tableware in front of her.
So she subconsciously looked around the round table filled with various dishes and found five perfectly arranged sets of tableware, and the two unopened sets were placed in front of her and Granbel.
As expected, my grandfather had made an appointment with him, and he even kept the time and date of the appointment a secret from me.
"If you like it, eat more." Ji Xing nodded and said, "In order to determine which marine fish in this world are delicious, Shyvana was busy for almost a month, and the ones left are all top quality."
It turned out that the Demon King personally carried it, what a luxury. Marian Bell complained inwardly, while Gran Bell laughed and said, "That's a real treat, I won't be polite."
He quickly unpacked the tableware and took a chopstick of the 'mixed fish' stewed with several kinds of fish in front of him. The rich aroma of the sauce permeated his throat and tongue. He was slightly distracted and shook his head: "I am really ashamed. Thinking carefully about my thousand years of experience, I can't think of any food that can compare with its deliciousness."
"The most important thing in life is eating, drinking and having fun." Ji Xing smiled and said, "The existence of magic elements makes this world actually have many food conditions that our world does not have, but they are just lacking in development."
"I can only half agree with this."
Granbell said: "There are always things that are more important than eating, drinking and having fun, such as ideals, family, and...race."
"You are right." Ji Xing said, "But you and I have different mindsets and ideas. I am afraid it will be difficult to reach an agreement on this point."
"Is that so?"
Granbell showed disappointment: "The incompetent have been searching for thousands of years but have never been able to obtain it, while the capable have it within easy reach but have no interest in it. This world always disappoints people. Perhaps this is the truth of the world?"
"You are too modest to call yourself incompetent." Ji Xing said, "It is impossible for the Western Saint Church to unite the Western countries. Luminas is a guy who doesn't care much about things. If it weren't for your hard work over the years, there would be no peace and no war between the Western countries."
"So what? In the end, it's all in vain." Granbell sighed, "My life span and abilities are limited. A sudden change can ruin my hundred years of planning. After all, this world is heading towards a future that makes me uneasy."
He is a 'racist'.
In Granbell's eyes, monsters cannot be trusted, and demon kings are people who need to be guarded against.
Over the years, with the help of Luminas's power, he united the western countries. The former brave men became excellent politicians, and he brought the Rosso clan to the pinnacle of power.
There was peace in the West, and humans united as one to resist monsters. Ninety percent of the credit should be attributed to him, but he was not satisfied.
Monsters and demon kings are not trustworthy after all. He wants to change the state of the world, wants humans to truly control the world, and is even ready to turn against Luminas and die.
As long as he could move one step closer to his ideal, he would be happy with it, but the appearance of Ji Xing overturned all his plans and left him helpless.
He couldn't even fully trust Luminas, whom he had served for a thousand years, so naturally he didn't trust Rimuru even more. However, he also knew that as long as the person in front of him interfered, no matter what he did, he would not succeed.
The Ji Xing in front of him was an existence on a completely different level from Luminas and Rimuru. He could not be able to defeat him even if he burned everything.
And the most crucial point is that Ji Xing is a human being, which makes him unable to feel any hostility!
Ji Xing knew this. He had eliminated six of the Seven Stars, leaving only Granbell in front of him. It was not because the former hero could receive any special treatment, but because he really had no hostility towards him.
Even now, when he rejected the hints in his words and said that he was comfortable here in Rimuru and had no intention of changing, he did not feel the slightest bit of hostility towards Ji Xing.
Therefore, Ji Xing does not dislike Granbell.
"Those who are not my kind must have different hearts." This sentence can actually be applied in any world. It is difficult to create a world where all races are integrated and happy. Therefore, the philosophy and ideals that Granbell upholds are not without reason.
A brave man who can carry out his ideals and will to this extent is worthy of admiration.
In comparison, the little girl next to Granbell was far inferior.
Marianbell seemed to understand the implicit content of the conversation between Ji Xing and Gulan Bell, and thought that her grandfather had been keeping a low profile during this period because he wanted to secretly contact Ji Xing and form an alliance with him.
This was different from her original plan to use her own skills to influence and control Ji Xing, but she also knew that it was difficult to do, and it would be easier to do it this way.
So she asked, “I wonder what Mr. Jixing did before he was summoned?”
Ji Xing shook his head and smiled, “I forgot.”
"..." Marian Bell choked: "I have heard the legend of Mr. Ji Xing selling skills a long time ago. It is said that after you gave those adventurers skills, you just asked them to donate to some welfare organizations after a year. Now it has gradually been fulfilled. It is really a great deed and admirable.
But there is one thing I don't understand. You can obviously gain countless followers with your own abilities and easily stand at the top of the world. Why do you seem to have no interest at all?"
She tried to arouse Ji Xing's desire, and her unique skill Greedy was already working quietly.
This was not an attempt to control Ji Xing. She had heard that Ji Xing had defeated the Burning Dragon and ridden the cable car. Although she was confident in her skills, she felt that if she wanted to control Ji Xing, it would take a long time and he would definitely find out. So she just wanted to grasp the thread of Ji Xing's desire and take control of the conversation.
Just like she had done countless times.
Granbell did not stop him, nor did he even care. Instead, he lowered his head and started enjoying other dishes.
At this moment, the doll-like Marian Bell suddenly began to tremble.
Her pupils dilated, as if a hideous evil ghost appeared before her eyes. Sweat quickly seeped out of her body, soaking her clothes until she fell off the chair, gasping for breath as if she had survived a disaster.
No one in the room showed any strangeness, including Granbell. Cagalli raised her lips slightly in disdain, and returned to her intellectual secretary mode, serving Ji Xing a bowl of soup.
"Please use it, Master Jixing."
"Well, you can sit down and eat too."
Ji Xing smiled and said, "Shivana, Granbell, if you want to drink soup, serve it yourself. This fish ball soup is even more delicious than the wild mushroom soup. It is several times more delicious. I guarantee you will never forget it after you have tasted it."
"Really? Then I won't be polite!" Granbell stood up, and seeing that Shyvana was faster, he gave way for three seconds before serving the soup and sitting down.
The four of them quietly savored the delicious seafood feast. Granbell exclaimed in admiration from time to time, while Shyvana lowered her head and focused on eating, as if to make up for the hard work she had put in over the previous period of time.
Marian Bell, who was sitting on the ground, seemed to be forgotten. She climbed up tremblingly after a long while. Her feet slipped several times. Even the fact that she didn't wet her pants was the result of her two lifetimes.
"What, what is that?"
The moment she used her skills to spy on Ji Xing, her mind entered a black hole, which seemed to be filled with boundless malice, greed for power, greed for beauty, greed for money, greed for the whole world...
She had never felt such a huge amount of greed from anyone before. Even the greed she had felt in the past ten years of reincarnation was not as great as the one she saw this time! Her skills were madly attracted by the greed, and even her soul sank into the bottomless abyss and was swallowed by greed!
Why? Is this really a human?!
She wanted to escape from the room frantically, but finally managed to control herself, climbed onto the chair, lowered her head and gasped for breath.
Seeing her look, Granbell finally felt a little sorry for her. He put down his chopsticks and sighed, "Please teach her this lesson, Mr. Ji Xing. I think Marian Bell will learn her lesson in the future."
“I didn’t do anything,” Ji Xing laughed.
Granbell nodded and gently touched Marianbell's wet head: "This is my fault, Marianbell. Because I need your ability, I have never taught you a truth, a truth that this world is completely different from the world you come from.
Quantity is ineffective in the face of quality.
A top-level combat power cannot be replaced or offset by a million ordinary combat powers. Ji Xing sitting here is already the pinnacle of the world."
"You have memories since birth and have controlled countless people since childhood, but do you remember seeing me when you were three years old? Why didn't you control me? Because you knew you couldn't do it. You said my will could restrain my 'greed'.
But these years have been too smooth, and you have forgotten what you once knew. The stronger the power, the stronger the desire, and the stronger the will, unless he has become a slave to his desire. I think the desire you see in him is perhaps... ten times that of me, right?"
Marian Bell was silent, ten times?
"You asked me why I didn't take any action during this period. It's because my original plan was to revive the strongest hero." Granbell shook his head: "My hero's heart has been tainted by life over the years. My will can no longer control my desires, and I can't be sure what I will do next.
I want to revive Chronoa, let her use her power to intimidate the demon kings, and at least guarantee a fair living environment for humans, that's all."
"You... have been lying to me? You don't want the Rozo clan to become the ruler of the world?" Marian Bell said in a hoarse voice.
"No, I do have such an ideal." Grambell said, "But... it is just an unattainable dream."
"The appearance of the skill merchant Ji Xing made me happy and worried before today. To be honest, Ji Xing..." He looked at Ji Xing: "I may never understand why you, as a human, can associate with monsters and demon kings without any scruples, but seeing you today makes me feel relieved.
If one day humans are oppressed by monsters, you are not someone who will stand by and watch. With you here, Chronoa is no longer necessary. You are not a hero, but you are enough to continue peace for humans for another thousand years. By then... who knows."
Marian Bell secretly felt resentful. We had agreed to be the masters of mankind together, but you were secretly acting like a brave hero?!
But when she noticed Ji Xing's eyes, she suddenly shrank and trembled, and the sense of superiority from her previous life disappeared completely.
Ji Xing shook his head and said, "You have to educate this child well. Another thing, Rimuru is also a reincarnator, a human who was reincarnated into a monster. You can try to believe her."
"...She is also a reincarnated person?" Granbell was startled, his expression gradually becoming complicated: "I see, but it doesn't matter whether I trust her or not. The most ridiculous thing is that I don't have faith in humans either."
There are many racists like him. Can this monster kingdom really be peaceful? Can the misunderstanding between monsters and humans really be eliminated?
He was not optimistic about this, and he could not rest assured about Rimuru who had been reincarnated as a monster. Although it was rumored that the 20,000 troops of the Farmus Kingdom were destroyed by the Storm Dragon, Granbell, who knew about Rimuru's awakening, knew the details best.
Even if Farmus invaded first, how can we guarantee that such a thing will not happen again in the future? A monster needs to sacrifice 10,000 human souls to become a demon king. This is a natural enemy!
At this moment, the door of the private room was knocked again. Granbell turned around and saw a familiar figure appear outside the door.
“Jisung, you were looking for me… huh?”
Hinata, who had hurried over, paused for a moment and suddenly raised his guard: "Granbell?!"
This guy disappeared after planning something that was detrimental to Lady Luminas more than two months ago. How dare he come here?!
Granbell was also stunned for a moment, then his old eyes sparkled and he asked in surprise: "Egg of a hero? Hinata, when did you obtain the qualifications of a hero? No, when did you... forgive your past self?"
This guy... Hinata's face was icy cold. Granbell actually knew the burden I had not let go of before. How did he know my secret? !
Granbell ignored her hostility and was lost in thought for a while. Hinata Sakaguchi was the successor he favored the most during his time as the Seven Stars, but his spiritual flaws were also obvious. He had gradually lost hope in the past two years, but when he saw her today, he had unknowingly walked out of the shadow of the past?
Is it the help of skilled merchants?
Or is there another reason?
He remembered Hinata's two attacks on Rimuru, and Ji Xing's words before: 'You can try to trust her.' So Granbell suddenly asked without any context: "Hinata, what kind of guy do you think Demon King Rimuru is?"
Hinata frowned but didn't answer.
But Granbell already had the answer.
Hinata, who was the most ruthless to monsters before, hesitated. That was the answer! The wrinkles on his face relaxed and he suddenly laughed: "Hahaha..."
"Hahahaha!" He laughed harder and harder, and the younger his old voice sounded.
At the same time, his old face changed rapidly, and his body seemed to become more upright, from an octogenarian, he quickly transformed into a young man who looked only about twenty years old, with his brilliance fully revealed!
Hinata was shocked: "You...unlocked Lady Luminas's 'blessing'?! Are you crazy, Granbell!"
A hero can be reincarnated, but he cannot live a thousand years with just one life. Granbell has survived until now thanks to the power given by Luminas, but now he has expelled that power from his body and restored his youthful appearance, which also means that his life has entered a countdown!
"Although I didn't get the best answer I expected, I have found a future that may make the world more perfect. This future doesn't need me, and I've been tired for a long time." Granbell said in a clear voice.
The brave Granbell, who has been quietly serving under Luminas and protecting humanity for a thousand years, now unloads the burden of being a brave!
There was only one last thing he wanted to do, and that was to teach his 'granddaughter' well. So he took Marianne Bell's hand, walked past Hinata, nodded approvingly to her, and walked away.
Hinata couldn't help but ask, "Jixing, what happened? What happened to Granbell?"
"Another Izawa Shizue, someone who has had a harder life than Izawa Shizue, has decided to let go of everything and enjoy his old age."
Jisung commented, pointing to the seat.
"Sit down and eat."