nagpurpolice Chapter 16 The Great Snowball
Chapter 16 The Great Snowball
When he opened his eyes again, Zag found himself lying in bed, and it was already broad daylight.
Snowball curled up beside his arm, its fur singed, its tail half-bald, revealing the grayish-white skin underneath. Its once glossy black fur was now mottled, and its pink nose was smeared with black ash, making it look as if it had been brutally abused.
He didn't wake Snowball immediately, but instead propped himself up and looked around the room.
The fire has been extinguished, the table is completely burned, the chair is not much better, and all the files that were not saved in time are destroyed. Fortunately, Zag has retained the original body's habit of putting the files into the safe in the basement every day after sorting them out. At least only the two files that had been copied yesterday afternoon were destroyed. They only need to be copied again, so the workload is not too troublesome.
There was still a puddle of water on the ground, and the bucket had rolled to the side. Apart from that, there seemed to be no other damage.
Judging from the location of the water stains, the "dragon flames" he spewed out did not seem to be extinguished by the water.
How did it disappear?
Zag struggled to get up, but suddenly felt a tearing sensation on his skin. He cried out in pain as all sensation returned to his body.
First, there was pain, excruciating pain.
The most painful spot was his forehead. He couldn't help but gently touch it with his hand, only to find a patch of uneven bumps, accompanied by a burning sensation.
It's probably a burn.
"You're not dead!"
Snowball woke up at some point, looking unhappy, and said sarcastically while wagging its tail.
There was only himself and Snowball in the house, and the fire was still burning when he lost consciousness. It was obvious that Snowball must have saved him and put out the fire.
Well, it's also possible that these two things are happening in reverse.
But that's not important. What's important is, how did Snowball, such a tiny Hakimi, manage to do that?
Zag felt rather guilty and reached out to pat Snowball's head, but to his surprise, Snowball yelled, turned its head and bit Zag, then flew away in a strange posture, glaring at Zag.
"Meow—"
"Snowball!?" Zag was startled, not expecting Snowball to react so strongly. He guessed, "Are you injured?"
Snowball immediately bristled and retorted loudly, "Bullshit! The great Snowball is a fairy! How could it possibly be burned by mere flames! You should worry about yourself, whose skin is covered in sores! Foolish Modo!"
He was indeed burned!
"Uh, I," Zag understood in his heart, but on the surface, he decided to fully protect the stubborn Hakimi's face and changed the subject: "What did I do earlier?"
"Foolish Modo! Foolish! Foolish!"
Speaking of this, Snowball was furious. It cursed several times, even uttering several elven phrases in its own language, before finally calming down and continuing to explain to Zag through its own insults: "Are you an idiot?! Don't you know how fragile that Modo body you're using is?! It can't withstand the spell you just used! And that wasn't even a spell! What you spat out was dragonfire! Who do you think you are?! A dragon?! Do you think Modo's body can withstand a dragon's spell?! Foolish! Foolish! Utterly foolish! I should have made you die from your own dragonfire! You will become the first stupid dragon on the entire Dawn Continent to die from its own dragonfire!"
Snowball seemed convinced that Zag was a dragon, muttering curses incessantly, but its ears were pressed against its head and turned backward, resembling airplane ears, as if it were somewhat afraid of Zag.
"Well, first of all, I'm not a dragon," Zag said sincerely. "Secondly, as you know, I don't know anything about magic, so I really didn't know it would cause such serious consequences..."
"Feel sorry."
Snowball was frozen in mid-air by Zag's apology, and its incessant chatter stopped involuntarily.
After a long while, it turned around, facing Zag with its rear end, its tail tip twitching slightly, and a muffled voice came: "Great Snowball forgives you."
Zag remained silent for a moment, then coughed lightly and asked, "Do fairies know ice magic? Or something else? How did you put out the fire?"
"The great snowball doesn't need to explain itself to the foolish Motoro!"
Snowball said this habitually, and then slowly, maintaining the obviously strange posture from before, flew back to the bed, lay down at the foot of the bed furthest from Zag, and assumed a classic feline peasant pose.
It looked like he was enduring pain.
Instead of mentioning this observation, Zag propped himself up from the bed, grabbed a handful of coins from a wooden box by the door, picked up the keys, and said, "I'm going to buy some alchemical potions for burns. Will that be useful to you?"
He knew that fairies were magical creatures that were not sensitive to magical fluctuations. Or rather, they were not insensitive; their perception was terrifyingly strong, but they were not easily affected by magic. Whether it was an attack, any other magical damage, or even the pollution of the Dark Realm, it had little effect on them. They were almost like creatures that were inert to magic.
This left Zag unsure whether the alchemical potion would work on Snowball, so he could only ask one question.
Instead of answering directly, Snowball suggested, "You could try contacting the monks at the Church of Meritla; that would be cheaper."
"I don't want to be forced to do any prayers or worship demons. Alchemy potions are much better."
Zag made up an excuse and left the sentry post.
Mrs. Weyland's aromatherapy shop was not yet open at this time.
That old geezer shop owner sometimes keeps the lights on until 10 p.m., and sometimes closes the shop at 3 p.m. He does business as if he's just in a bad mood, very capriciously.
The only constant is that he will never open for business in the morning. He will sleep until the sun is high in the sky, and then open the door while yawning when the sun has fully risen.
Fortunately, since Zag was indeed a loyal customer of the shop owner Matthew, he was able to successfully knock on the door.
"You'd better really have something urgent to do."
Matthew's tone was not very friendly. He had a sour face, was wearing clothes that were obviously pajamas, and opened the door with heavy dark circles under his eyes.
"Mr. Matthew, I'm sorry to bother you at this time, but you can tell from my appearance," Zag followed Matthew into the shop, pointing to the large burns on his body, and said, "I accidentally burned the table at home while resting. If the sentry post hadn't been made of stone, I'm afraid I would have had to sleep at Felix's place tonight!"
Although Matthew has a bad temper, it doesn't mean he doesn't have emotional fluctuations, especially since Zag is actually one of the people in town he's closer to.
So when Matthew saw Zag's miserable state, he looked at him with surprise and pity: "Oh my God, Mother Goddess, the kerosene lamp has fallen over? You're so careless!"
As he said this, Matthew skillfully took a bottle of [Healing Hand] from the shelf full of potions.
"This is your 'old acquaintance,' it can cure anything, and restore your body to its healthiest state a week ago! You know, it costs 12 shillings!"
That old geezer is obsessed with money! He's burned like this, and he's still trying to rip people off!
Zag inwardly scoffed, but outwardly maintained a sincere demeanor: "Isn't there a cheaper potion? It's just a burn! I have to buy an expensive bottle of [Healing Hand] every week to maintain my mother's health; I simply don't have the extra money to buy one for myself!"
Matthew was prepared and immediately pulled out a bottle of light blue liquid medicine, introducing it as: "【Blessing of the Sea God】, a newly acquired item. It can heal most minor wounds, though not as fast as 【Hand of Healing】, but it only costs 1 shilling."
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【Eastmarch Hold】: Eastmarch Hold is the southeasternmost county of the Eternal High Kingdom. The current lord is Barton Oliver Goldhelm of the Goldhelm family.
Before the Great Cataclysm, the Eastern Frontier was a vast territory, including a large desert area. But the Great Cataclysm not only struck the Gryn but also eroded the territory of the Eastern Frontier. After the Northrend, Gryn, Tara, and pure-blood elves built the Everwall together, the Eastern Frontier shrank by more than two-thirds.
Today, the Eastern Frontier Territory is the smallest territory within the Eternal Supreme Kingdom, and its map is as follows: