The Sorcerer's Handbook

Chapter 147: Everyone's the Same

Ashe pulled his hand away, a flicker of discomfort crossing his face. "But if you don't date and don't have a family, doesn't that mean you'll always be completely alone?"

"We've always been... oh, right!"

Freya suddenly remembered something. She pulled her assignment from her bag and began scribbling furiously. "The benefits of the Socialized Upbringing system... fosters independence from a young age... trains you to operate solo... gives advantages in Virtual World exploration... Every citizen of the Blood Moon Kingdom is a qualified sorcerer recruit... okay, if the professor doesn't give me full marks this time, I'll have a reason to protest!"

Ashe watched her write for a moment before asking, "Don't you ever want to experience perfect closeness with a lover, to share joy and vent stress with family, to have someone who cares about you?"

"Why do you ask so many strange questions... You're not trying to become my lover and move in with me, are you?!"

"I already told you. I'll only stay here a maximum of seven days before leaving."

Freya shrugged. "I don't need a lover. A little money at a mud cafe is enough for me to experience perfect closeness. If I want to share my joy, I can show off my grades to classmates in the Curtain; if I want to vent stress, I'll see a therapist. And as for care, doesn't that just count as another form of investment? If someone cares about me, it just means they expect to gain something from me."

"If I have high value, everyone will care about me; if I don't, no one will, not even a lover. That's human nature, plain and simple."

Ashe spoke softly, "But human nature isn't only about self-interest. It's also about truth, goodness, and beauty."

"Then why would I place my hope in others instead of investing all my resources in myself?" Freya smiled. "If I'm hungry, I can go to a restaurant. Need something? Mud cafe. Room messy? Hire a cleaner. Stressed? See a therapist. In fact, psychology is actually one of my future career options. It's the seventeenth century. Any need can be solved with money. Why gamble on human nature?

"Even my gambling-obsessed friend Adela wouldn't dare enter a game where all the control rests in someone else's hands. Getting into an intimate relationship is just too risky."

"But don't you feel lonely?"

Freya wrote the final period, slid her assignment back into her bag, and turned to Ashe.

"Everyone's the same," she said.

She then scooped up Little String and nuzzled the cat's face. Little String pushed her away gently with a paw. "Besides, I've got Little String. How could I be lonely?"

Looking into the pure, joyful eyes of the veela, Ashe suddenly realized that even Fernandez, the ogre mayor, had never truly grasped the core of the Blood Moon Kingdom. Because he, too, was an orphan. He had no family. He could not love.

Just as Freya would never notice the sour smell of her own clothes, most people in the Blood Moon Kingdom never realized they had lost the capacity to love.

Someone who had never seen the sun couldn’t understand its warmth. Someone who had never felt a family’s care couldn’t believe in selfless affection.

Perhaps they believed such love exists and longed for it, but they were more certain it would never come to them.

Just as Fernandez believed the Blood Moon maintained control by sowing suspicion and building walls of discrimination, the truth was that its education system drained the seed of love from every person's heart. This made everyone naturally resist intimacy; discrimination and suspicion were merely the stench of soil long stripped of love.

Ashe suddenly remembered Ronna, the werewolf branded a traitor of Moonshadow. Was it because his desire to love and be loved had been too strong?

Freya noticed Ashe had fallen silent. "What's wrong?"

Snapping back to reality, Ashe smiled. "Nothing. Just thinking about where I could earn some money."

"If you're willing to show your face, I suggest working part-time at a mud cafe. With your looks, you might not be top-tier, but you'd rank at least mid-lower. You'd probably get plenty of customers. I can even recommend a shop. You don't need to work long-term; many decent-looking men try it for a night just to gauge their market value."

"Thanks, but my skills are poor. I don't deserve to earn money that way."

"Beginners can be a selling point too. Many wealthy women love virgins. And if you want to practice, I can help you..."

"Aren't you supposed to have class at 2 p.m.? It's already 1:50."

Glancing at the time, Freya hurriedly slung her bag over her shoulder. "Oh no, I almost forgot... these dishes..."

"I'll wash," Ashe said. "Will you be back tonight to eat together?"

That strange, unsettling feeling rose in Freya again. Here we go again.

It had nothing to do with desire or greed. The feeling left her both repelled and drawn to Ashe. She wanted distance, yet also closeness. It unsettled her. Is it a curse from the Four Pillars Deities? Or some unconscious contamination leaking from the Demonic Saint?

Despite the swirl of thoughts, she answered, "Mmhmm."

"Anything you want to eat?"

"Redflame Lala Fat Fish Roe Rice. Is that okay?"

Ashe waved a hand. "No problem. Be careful on your way."

The strange sensation intensified. Freya nodded quickly, set Little String down, and hurried out the door.

Once she was gone, Ashe decisively closed the food vlog and opened a video titled All You Need Is Your Hands: Mass-Slaying Virtual World Creatures, Fish Dragon Edition. After finishing it, he dressed, put on his mask, and summoned his Substitute spirit.

"Wash the dishes, clean the room, and if there's time, play with the cat. If anything goes wrong, deactivate immediately. Understood?"

The substitute nodded.

Ashe then opened a file in the Knowledge Curtain titled 4.29 University-Wide Class Schedule. The document was only accessible within Caimon General University's internal Curtain, and Freya happened to be a student there.

He had not chosen this household at random. He had prepared for this.

His gaze stopped on one line.

[16:00–18:00, Ancient Ritual Class, Syrin Dorr, Classroom 108.]

With the target confirmed, Ashe was about to leave when he noticed Little String sprawled on the floor like a lazy couch potato, limp and lacking energy.

Something stirred in Ashe. He activated the Sympathy spirit on Little String, and waves of pain instantly fed back to him.

It hurt. It was uncomfortable. Yet Little String showed no distress. Its mood remained calm, as though it had long grown used to enduring pain. It tilted its head toward the Sympathy spirit in Ashe's hand, curiosity flickering in its eyes rather than fear.

Ashe gently stroked its head. "Congenital cartilage disease... Screened from birth. Only the ones that meet aesthetic standards survive. They live in cages, get neutered, then get wrung dry for every bit of value."

"Because they grow up with pain, they don't see it as misfortune. It's just how things are. Everyone endures the same thing, so it doesn't even register as suffering. Naturally, there are no complaints."

He scratched the folded-ear cat under the chin. Little String responded with a goofy, satisfied smile.

"It really is hard being the Watcher," Ashe murmured.