Why Did You Summon Me?

Baiyi did not mind going back to Mia’s house for a visit but actually, the timing was a little unsuitable. The matter with Undine was not settled yet, his new servant Attie had not fully settled down yet, he had not started making the staff that he wanted to make for Tisdale yet, and even the repair of the black gold armor had to be shelved for a period of time.

But there was nothing that he could do at all. Looking at Mia who draped herself on his arms with her little mouth slightly opened and puppy eyes that were looking at him pitifully, all that he could do was to agree to it. Hastily, he tidied up the matters on hand, set the homeothermal formation properly in the house, left behind a huge amount of gold coins in the house, bought a piece of magic-plated slate and carved a communication formation on it. Since Tisdale was tied down by her work in the workshop, she could not join in on the trip so Baiyi decided to leave the communication tool behind. Worried that she would be lonely staying in such a big mansion, he also left Attie behind to keep Tisdale company as he went on the trip alone with Mia.

Before they left, he purposely bought two sets of beautiful clothes for Mia and dressed her in a youthful and elegant clothes. Then, he rented the most expensive carriage available in the market and the two of them set out early in the morning.

Actually, Mia’s house was situated not far from the south of Arfin city. They would arrive in no time if they use the Flying spell but she still insisted on going back in a carriage. Apparently it was so that she could have the feeling of going back home. After some pondering, Baiyi decided to give in to her. After all, it was a good thing if she was willing to spend a long time stuck in a small space together with him, wasn’t it?

Other than Mia in the carriage, there were also the plants that were planted in the animal coin banks that Baiyi brought along with him. Although it was quite troublesome to bring all of the plants along, he did not trust Attie and Tisdale to take good care of them at all— particularly Attie who kept going against his order and insisted on plucking out the newly sprouted tender seedlings. With no other choice, he brought all of them together with him.

In the beginning, Mia high-spiritedly enjoyed the idyllic countryside scenery through the window but after some time, she began to feel bored and started to lie down lazily on the soft seat of the carriage. With her head on Baiyi’s thigh and her black long waterfall-like hair spreaded beneath her, she observed the ethereal patterns carved on top of the carriage as she sighed with admiration, “What a spacious couch! It’s so steady and the seat is so soft and comfortable. Even the ceiling is carved beautifully with dainty patterns. This is the most comfortable carriage I’ve ever been in before! Thank you so much, Mr. Hope!”

Duhh! Just this trip itself costs us almost a month income of an ordinary household, you know. Of course it’s comfortable! Baiyi thought to himself. Reaching out his hand, he lifted Mia’s head before he quickly inserted a soft cushion between her head and his legs, “Use this to pad your head. It’d be softer.”

“Mmmmmm...” The little girl sighed in satisfaction, her big eyes squinted slightly. It seemed like she was really enjoying herself.

She was wearing a new aqua blue dress that Baiyi had bought for her yesterday. Although the neckline was relatively higher and her neck was fully covered up, the dress was actually an off-shoulder dress that exposed her round sweet shoulders. Unlike other ordinary dress, the waistline was tight, fully revealing the outline Mia’s slender waist. The highlight of the dress was the special dye used to color the clothing. Under the bright sun, patches of light shone from her dress as if it was weaved from the water of a deep blue lake. Coupled with Mia’s delicate small face, the dress made her looked even more dazzling and attractive.

Even if the dress was high-necked and long skirted, it was able to fully bring out her beauty to the highest degree.

“Take off your shoes and put your feet up. You will feel much more comfortable that way,” Baiyi suggested again.

To his surprise, the girl shook her head in refusal. She was wearing a pair of open-toed sandals on her feet that had a black silk bow on her heels. In truth, she really liked the pair of new shoes and ever since she had put it on, she was very reluctant to take it off. She even lifted up her legs high and admired the shoes that was sitting on her lovely feet, “The new shoes are so beautiful! I don’t want to take it off!”

Because of such a bold action, the blue skirt that was originally covering her knees slipped and exposed the full view of her fair and pale thighs in front of Baiyi. Still, not aware that she was particularly seductive in such a pose, she even swung her legs in the air unwittingly, causing five certain Walkers in the Void to be banned from speaking again.

“You’re a big girl already! Aren’t you afraid of being seen by others?” Baiyi cast his eyes away as he instinctively lifted up a hand to pinch her little face.

“Well, there’s nobody here other than you. I don’t see any problem with it,” Mia adopted an indifferent attitude, “Anyway, haven’t you already seen my entire body, Mr. Hope?” As she was saying that, she took hold of Baiyi’s hand that was going to pinch her cheeks and rubbed her face against it. Then, in a kid-like tone, she purred, “It’s still gonna take some time before we reach home. Can you tell me a story pleaseeeee, Mr. Hope?”

Baiyi was enjoying himself very much in such a father-daughter-like moment. Joyously, he caressed Mia’s face gently as he asked, “I have many stories, which one do you want to hear? A love story about a girl who loves singing and a boy playing a guitar with a shameless third wheel intruding on their lovely time together?” ¹

The little girl shook her head. It seemed like she did not particularly like that kind of story.

“Then, how about the story of a boy who falls in love with her father’s incompatible partner and for the sake of a non-existent hoax, he becomes locked in a deathmatch with his classmates, sister and his own teacher?” ²

Mia shook her head again. Thw story was too sorrowful for her.

“Alright. What do you think about this one then? A boy bringing his powerful yellow rat around, who works hard and goes all out but always gets disqualified in the semi final of the annual pet contest ³ every year?”

Mia started to become a little upset. She did not understand why Baiyi kept telling her stories that were so glum and gloomy. Unhappily, she lifted her face away from his hand and murmured, “I-I like heroic stories! Like Mr. Hantai the Paladin!”

Err... Is that so? Baiyi pondered and started to have a quick glance over at the group of Walkers in the Void, trying to find somebody who had suitable background stories that would fit Mia’s liking. After a while, he became slightly dejected as he discovered that nobody seemed to fit with Mia’s heroic fantasy. As for that Mr. Hantai whom Mia mentioned just now, he had already been banned for making comments about wanting to lick her legs some time ago.

Is there anybody else that could be considered as a hero? The Thane? Well, he was recorded as a good person in the history but he’s the kind of person who would sacrifice the lives of a few people for the sake the majority... Urghhhh... It’s too messy... I’d better not tell her this story.

Perhaps, the Cleric? Wait a minute, he has been banned from speaking, too, with the Paladin. The Archmage? The emperor, *cough* tyrant *cough*, who relied on his weapon to bully the people around him? Errr... He’s far from being heroick, I think... The Fairy? Well, she’s indeed a hero but she’s also the one who created all of the problems in the first place. Oh, yeah, not to mention the fact that she doesn’t like Mia too...

“Why don’t you just tell her my story?” Seeing Baiyi in dilemma, the Scholar suggested.

Tell her your life story about how you were stuck in the Mage Tower for your entire life to the point that you became single forever?

“You can tell my story! I have a few wonderful assassination stories, remember?” the Assassin joined in as well.

Why should I let Mia know about the sinister means of assassination? How gory would that be!

After a long while, Baiyi decided to talk about the Knight. Although he was a little promiscuous in his past life, but at least he’s quite a hero who was positive and always looking forward. There should be no problem telling Mia his story.

Before he could even start on the third sentence of the story, he was already interrupted by Mia, “Oh, I know, this is the Sacred Knight’s story! I’ve known this story since I was little. At the end of the story, he killed twenty thousands of enemies with just one slash of his sword, didn’t he? He’s really an amazing person!”

Baiyi suddenly became silent. Turning to the Void, he asked the Knight who was usually taciturn, “Why didn’t I know about this story of yours?”

“Seriously? You really believed that ridiculous story? Twenty thousands people? I can’t even finish killing them all if they were to line up and stand in a line waiting for me to slaughter them! What? Did you really think I’m a reaper machine or something?” The Knight scoffed sarcastically.

In truth, the Knight actually brought a squad of two hundred men with him and ambushed the vanguard troop of one thousand men of his enemy. At that time, because of his renown fame, along with his magnificent swordsmanship and embellished visual effects, the defeated troop of one thousand men spreaded the story of his might and horror everywhere after they fled, creating a tense atmosphere in their own army. It just so happened that he led an elite squad to the enemy camp after they fled and killed the commander of the army, so in the end, the whole troop of 20,000 men immediately plunged into chaos and hastily withdrew their attack all at once.

Well, in a way, he did defeat the enemy all by himself, which was not a hard task for a Demigod Level fighter. But in order to boost his reputation, his own men added extra untrue details onto his story, from him defeating the entire army all by himself to him killing the entire army all by himself. By the time the story reached Mia, it had evolved into him killing the entire 20,000 army with just one slash of his sword.

For that reason, there was a saying that said the real truth was often different than the legends that one used to hear. It was also because of this, that Baiyi did not know how to tell Mia the story of the rest of the Voidwalkers.

Still, Mia was a well-behaved and a sensible child after all. Looking at Baiyi’s awkwardness, she stopped acting spoiled and shook his arm gently instead, “How about you just tell me your own story, Mr. Hope?”

“My story?” Baiyi shook his head, “I was just a naive, kind, optimistic, cheerful, generous, positive, humble, introverted, reserved, modest, good man ⁴ who stayed in one place that has many things that you’d never understand. I don’t have any interesting story at all. It’s only after I met you that my story started to become lively, Mia.”

“I-Is that so?” Mia wrinkled her thin brows slightly, “I guess, you must be pretty lonely before, am I right, Mr. Hope? Hmmm, but it’s alright, I’m by your side now..” Then, as Baiyi had suggested just now, she took off the beautiful shoes off her feet and curled up her body on the seat as she quietly laid on Baiyi’s thigh with her eyes close, not saying anything anymore.

Baiyi gently stroked her head. His heart filled with emotions.