Mage Manual

The pink-haired maid sat in Ash’s arms, counting his eyelashes with her fingers, then lightly nibbled on his earlobe, writhing in his embrace like a snake.

It was very strange. In Ash’s heart, he was both enchanted by Vishi’s affection and felt a huge sense of guilt about himself, like a student indulging in the pleasure of playing instead of doing homework.

He leaned over to peck at the maid’s thin lips until Vishi’s face turned red from his kissing, then he asked, "So, only during the transaction do we pretend to love each other?"

"That’s right." Vishi laughed, "Besides the transaction, what other reason would we have to like this bastard in front of us?"

She tightened her legs around Ash’s waist, as if she wanted to fit her whole body into his, proactively sticking out her tongue to gently nudge Ash’s teeth, unabashedly showing her enthusiasm.

When she stopped to wipe her lips, Ash showed an impatient expression as if dealing with a task: "Is that enough?"

"Not enough." Vishi said, "Speaking of which, how can you kiss for that long? There’s no taste, it feels pointless... Do you have more cotton candy?"

"I just finished it."

"I have a little left, you can help me take it out."

Ash looked at her lace maid outfit, "Where’s your pocket?"

"I didn’t say it’s in the pocket," Vishi suddenly pulled him backward, and they switched to a position where Ash was pressing her onto the ground.

"It’s right where you first see something that can hide things when you look down."

Ash’s gaze slowly moved down, seeing the elasticity of the maid’s bodice stretched to the limit, squeezing out a mysterious crevice.

"What’s the matter?" Vishi’s voice trembled a bit, "Hurry up and find it."

"Yes, just like that, be careful, don’t miss any spot, and you can use a bit of force."

"If one hand can’t find it, two hands should be more efficient..."

"Ying!"

The maid’s calves tensed sharply, her neck straightened, her skin tingled all over, her body uncontrollably shaking as if electrocuted, staring blankly at the ceiling pattern.

This damn guy ought to be soul refined a thousand times, I clearly only told him to use his hands, who let him... do this...

Vishi’s high-heeled tall boots constantly rubbed against Ash’s steel-bottomed long boots, like two snakes entwined with each other, no longer discerning who is master and who is slave... But only at this moment could their roles be those of master and slave.

Because without a reasonable reason, they should be guardians and prisoners who loathe each other, and they must be. Vishi would rather die than admit she might like someone unless she becomes the Supreme of Magic, and fate can no longer take anything away from her hands, otherwise, she would never let anyone become her weakness.

She had to ensure she could leave at any time, even if Ash died suddenly, she could sneer and move on with her journey. No one in this world is worth her stopping or putting in her heart, so she must find a reason to rationalize her behavior.

Just for the transaction, so it’s all pretense.

Because there are chains, resistance is futile.

I don’t like it at all; I just want to create a rift in their emotions... Vishi suddenly covered her mouth, fiercely hit Ash’s head twice, wishing she could directly unleash a Soul Scream on him. This bastard is too good at this, did he practice his skills with others!?

It wasn’t just Vishi; Ash needed reasons too.

The Sword Maiden, the Witch, the Silver Lamp, none of them allowed him to develop feelings for the Ghost Prophet.

The most fierce Sword Maiden even stated explicitly that when Ash’s heart flutters, Vishi’s head falls... When Vishi heard it, she wanted to curse. Your heart flutters, cut off his head, or even his tool of the crime, why chop mine!?

But the people around were just secondary influences; what Ash truly couldn’t surpass was his moral beliefs. The education he received, the life he lived, at most allowed him to be a boyfriend who clawed out of a dumpster, but not to truly accept trash... Admitting he likes Vishi would shatter his moral beliefs, denying the kindness he has maintained all along.

They can only be like this, and they must be like this.

What a strange relationship, where true words must be spoken as lies, true feelings must be disguised as falsehoods, like a pair of inherently repulsive bird and fish; without this layer of self-deceiving disguise, they wouldn’t even have the qualifications to intersect.

Vishi tightly held her mouth until she felt she couldn’t suppress the sigh in her throat any longer, then hurriedly pulled out a marshmallow, saying in a trembling voice, "I found it, you don’t need to look anymore, no need anymore..."

She hurriedly tidied up her clothes, lightly bit her lip and glared at Ash. Ash also felt a bit embarrassed, obediently tore the marshmallow open, and ate it in one bite.

"Why did you eat it?"

"Aren’t you supposed to eat it?" Ash was stunned.

Vishi gave him a sidelong glance, full of allure between her eyebrows and eyes. She took out a marshmallow with her lips, wrapped her arms around Ash’s neck, and kissed him.

The experience was quite strange because the marshmallow was rather large and not very suitable as a tool for deepening the kiss. Instead of focusing on intimacy, they were more concerned about how to keep the marshmallow from falling, and by the end, it almost turned into a marshmallow tug-of-war.

When Ash accidentally ate the tortured marshmallow, Vishi made a sound of disgust, her face showing a grimace: "Why did you eat it, that’s gross."

Ash’s brow twitched wildly at her words: "What happened to pretending? At least be professional about it!"

"Simply pretending to like you already takes 100% of my effort; even the Ghost Prophet has limits," Vishi said, taking out another marshmallow and cautioning, "Don’t you dare eat this one."

"Next time, buy smaller candies..."

"Already looking forward to next time?"

Vishi squinted her eyes, a smug smile on her face, holding a cotton candy in her mouth, "Don’t let it become real..."

As the cotton candy melted on their tongues again, Ash kissed for a while, then noticed something was off. He looked at Vishi, who was chewing, and said, "Why did you eat it this time? Didn’t you just say it was disgusting?"

"Yeah."

Vishi’s eyebrows arched, and her finger tapped Ash’s lips as she softly said:

"So we’re both disgusting."

After the last piece of cotton candy was consumed, Ash instinctively wanted to continue, but Vishi stopped him with her finger on his lips, smiling, "That’s enough."

"Is it enough?"

"Mm, I’ve collected all your soul fragments." The maid looked at him and said, "There’s no need to continue the ritual."

Ash was silent for a moment, his arms around Vishi’s waist gradually stiffening. He exhaled lightly, adjusted his mood, and said calmly, "Then let’s end it."

Vishi saw his look of disguised disappointment and guilt and nearly burst into laughter, rekindling a bit of the Ghost Prophet’s joy in toying with others. She lazily lay in Ash’s arms, smiling, "But the ritual took a lot out of me, I haven’t recovered yet, so let’s just rest for a while."

Of course, Ash had no objections. In the secret hall a hundred meters below ground, they quietly embraced, surrounded by the fragrant scent of rising steam. For perhaps a moment, they could temporarily forget the constraints of reason, emotionally follow their true feelings, and enjoy this wrongful serenity.

"Should we go rest at a hotel?"

When Vishi said this, not only was Ash startled, but even Vishi herself was shocked. The splendid image lasted for a second in Ash’s mind before he suppressed it with strong rationality and genuine fear, saying seriously, "I promised the Sword Maiden." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Vishi regretted it as soon as she said it. Ordinary contact with Ash almost made her lose herself, and she wasn’t ready for a more advanced challenge... If she couldn’t maintain her true self and turned into someone like the Sword Maiden or Silver Lamp, she’d rather choke on cotton candy.

But not only did Ash refuse, he even used the Sword Maiden as a reason, which ignited a nameless fire in Vishi’s heart. She stared at Ash without speaking, hugged him tightly, and her body swayed like a rocking chair.

Ash immediately sensed something wrong, "What are you doing?"

"Snakes have two ways of killing, kissing and hugging." The maid looked at him with a playful face, lazily saying, "I’m just stretching, you don’t need to care."

"Now that the ritual is over, there’s no need to maintain the false pretense, you don’t have to pretend you’re interested in me anymore."

"Could it be that even with a Ghost Prophet sitting in your lap, you’d feel a heartbeat?"

"No way, no way, I nearly killed you and Silver Lamp in the Kingdom of Senluo, and almost slaughtered you in the Allstars Prison. If not for this chain," Vishi tugged at her illusory collar, "I’d be looking for chances to avenge myself on you day and night."

"We’re in a live-and-death relationship, huh." She looked down on Ash proudly and disdainfully, chuckling behind her hand, "You surely wouldn’t feel desire towards me, right? Even the scumbags of the Garbage Constellation wouldn’t be this... promiscuous?"

The more arrogant Vishi got, the more Ash’s face turned dark, and he felt as if the lost memories were returning, and the Ghost Prophet was almost triggering his stress response. Finally, he couldn’t tolerate it anymore, embraced Vishi, adjusted his posture a bit, and then looked at the maid calmly, "Go on."

When Vishi swayed again, she instantly felt as though she’d been scalded by searing lightning, her spine shivered, and her entire body tensed. She clenched her lips, her face flushed to the ears, but when she lifted her gaze and saw Ash’s disdainful expression, Vishi gritted her teeth, intending to fight him to the death—

"Whimper."

Ash blinked, watching the maid tremble for a moment before she melted like ice cream in his arms. He stood there dumbfounded for a while, a seemingly unbelievable thought popping into his head, "Don’t tell me—"

"Say another word, and I’ll kill you." Vishi’s voice was more enchanting than ever, but the killing intent in her words was more intense than ever.

Ash stifled his laughter, "Then shall we head back?"

Vishi let out a slight nasal sound, burying her head in his chest, too embarrassed to even want to speak. Indeed, this relationship was wrong; she was so enraged that she lost her reason, trying to embarrass Ash with such banal things...

"Rest up before you get up."

"...After we get back, you need to take a bath immediately, understood?" After a moment of silence, Vishi said suddenly.

"Okay."

"And make sure to toss your pants into the washing machine first..."

"Pffft."

Ash couldn’t hold it anymore, his shoulders shaking with laughter, feeling as though his abdominal muscles were about to cramp from laughing too hard.

Below, a Wind Mage about to switch shifts for lunch suddenly looked around, asking his companion beside him, "Did you hear laughter?"

"No."

"But... listen, the laughter stopped abruptly, almost like a scream. Didn’t you hear it?"

"Are you hallucinating from too much overtime?"