SH Chapter 71: Cooperation (Part 1)

Translated by satellite of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Feisha, stunned by the lofty air about him, slowly spoke. “We wouldn’t just happen to be that unlucky, right?”

There was no reply from the man next to him.

He turned his head to check.

Shamal stared, stupefied, his eyes fixated on the sight above. He stood completely motionless, frozen to the spot.

Locktini, who had been monitoring the two of them closely, was the first one to realize that something was not quite right. Right afterwards, Antonio and the rest of them also stopped in their steps, following their gaze up towards the man standing high above them.

The situation was building up to an eight or nine on the scale of bad luck. Feisha sighed. Sure enough, whatever could go wrong, always managed to. (1)

Shamal whispered furtively. “He’s coming.”

His voice was very soft, but Feisha could still pick up on the faint tremor in his words.

“Does he have any weaknesses?” The situation didn’t look good, and it seemed he might not be able to con his way out of this one. Feisha began calculating the odds that they could win in a brawl.

Locktini backed up towards them and said indifferently, “About a thousand years ago, it would’ve been Shamal.”

Shamal seemed to go even stiffer at Locktini’s words. “Back then, I had to pretend to arrest him in order to rescue him.”

He actually used someone’s feelings for him in to escape from them. .Feisha added another mental note to Shamal’s declining track record.

Shamal was suddenly roused from his stupor, and charged forward without hesitation. “Quick, run!”

Feisha looked toward the small black dot disappearing towards the horizon and sighed. “No loyalty, no loyalty at all.”

Locktini glanced over at Feisha with a face of displeasure. “You still have the chance to beg me to take you along.”

The Black Star of Hell flashed for a moment, and Isefel’s voice came through. “Rushing up there now is a death sentence.”

Feisha turned to look towards the mountain top, and the figure from before really was gone. Locktini frowned, and, like a flash of lightning, raced after Shamal.

Feisha stroked his chin in thought. “Shamal and Locktini’s relationship actually isn’t bad.” Despite seeming like oil and water (2), but whenever something happened to Shamal, Locktini was always there to bail him out.

Isefel reminded him. “If that person can find you guys, he’ll be able to find the others as well.”

Feisha heart tightened. As he started chasing behind Antonio, he shouted, “We’re gonna die, we’re all gonna die!”

After the marathon earlier, it seemed like it was time for the three hundred meter sprint.

Feisha sprinted with all his strength, barely managing to keep his eyes glued on Layton’s jiggling little butt in front of him and forcing himself not to fall behind.

Finally, Layton slowed down to a stop. But the scene before them was making Feisha extremely nervous.

The white-haired, black-cloaked man stood behind Shamal, confronting Locktini and the others. Although his hair was white, his face was young and quite beautiful, no less than Locktini.

But at this point Feisha was quite used to seeing beauties, no longer kicking a fuss as he did when he first started. Now he just slowed down to sneak a closer look.

Shamal’s face was pale, his eyes constantly darting about before finally settling on Feisha’s body. Obviously Feisha’s whole charade from before had successfully tricked him.

The black-cloaked, white-haired main laughed. “Aren’t you going to introduce your friends? Lion.” (3)

Feisha and the rest of the group suddenly turned to stare at this ‘Lion’ character.

Shamal braced himself and said, “This is Jesse.” (4)

Feisha confirmed for himself that no one around him was named ‘Jesse.’ So that meant Shamal was referring to the warlock behind him. (5)

“Antonio, Feisha Shi, Layton, Asa…” He paused and quickly exchanged glances with Locktini. Although the man behind him was waiting patiently, Shamal could feel the unsuppressable air of anger there. “Locktini.”

Jesse slowly spoke. “The former Patriarch of the werewolves, the human representative, a dwarven elder, a titan warrior, and a fairy prince. Meeting so many important people at once, it’s truly an honor.” Although he said ‘honor’, his expression didn’t look the least bit ‘honored’ to see them.

Feisha felt rather inferior for a moment– whenever he was included in the lineup of names like that, he always felt oddly like an imposter standing in their midst. (6)

“You seem to have left someone out, Lion.” Jesse emphasized ‘Lion’ rather heavily.

Still trying to conceal his identity. Feisha just shook his head at Shamal’s dim track record. But the fact that the Chief Warlock could be so easily deceived and manipulated, this incredibly low IQ is also rather sad.

Shamal slowly opened his mouth. “Shamal.”

Jesse lifted an eyebrow. “Oh? Sharing the same name as the third prince of the fairies. What a coincidence.”

Locktini finally couldn’t hold back any longer and spoke. “What do you want? Just cut to the chase.”

Jesse continues smiling lightly. “Nothing much, I just wanted to ask you if you’ve seen my Lion.”

One minute he was calling Shamal ‘Lion’ and in the next he was forcing Shamal to introduce himself. And after all the introductions were done, he began asking if they saw ‘Lion’….

Feisha was baffled by these sudden changes in attitude. It seems like not only had Shamal managed to drop the IQ of this clan head down to the negatives, he emptied out his EQ as well. (7)

Shamal was so nervous that cold sweat was rolling down his forehead. He was looking at everyone with a desperate plea in his eyes.

In truth, even without his pleas, Feisha and the rest of the knew that if Shamal was taken away by Jesse, he wasn’t going to meet a pleasant end. Out of love for his fellow colleague, Feisha smiled and said. “The name Lion is quite popular, so it won’t be easy hunting him down. But luckily we’ve got people in all the different worlds. So it’ll still be difficult, but if we squander away ten or twenty years or so, we should be able to find him. Right? Hmm?” He stared hard at the others in the group.

Layton stared at the ground silently.

Asa didn’t quite understand. “Lion? Which clan is he part of?”

Locktini was still in the middle of a staring match with Jesse.

But Antonio was getting impatient. “What type of man hedges around the topic like an old woman? If you’ve got a problem why not just explain it properly?”

Jesse ignored his angry outburst and said. “Are you in a hurry?”

“Yes!” Feisha confirmed with the most sincere eyes. “We’re in so much of a hurry, it’s even more urgent than searching for a toilet after not taking a shit for ten days straight.”

“Oh? More hurried than I was when I turned over the entirety of Genesis to search for Lion when he vanished?” Jesse’s smile grew more and more sinister. “Are you more hurried than I was when, worrying that Lion had been killed and his body destroyed, I searched the bottom of the lake day in and day out for and entire month? Are you more hurried that I was when, fearing that other clans had taken Lion captive, I made enemies of almost the entirety of Genesis?”

Shamal stood, completely dumbstruck, as if his very soul had ‘hurried’ out and left him.

Feisha was also stunned into silence for a long while before he finally gave a thumbs up. “You’re in a hurry, you’re definitely the most anxious one of all. If anyone wants to compare themselves to you, I’ll give them something to hurry away from here.” (8)

Jesse turned to Locktini. “I only understood much later, why when I went to the Fairy King asking about Lion and a fairy thief named Locke, I was always told that there were none by the name. So it turned out…that there really was none.”

Feisha’s sympathies had already switched sides– he just hadn’t gotten to marinating and roasting Shamal to be served up for dinner.

Shamal looked at the ground, but didn’t say a word.

Antonio looked at Shamal, then at Jesse. His words slowed down. “Resolve things between the two of you another time. We have other matters at hand.”

“Saving Hughes?” Jesse asked.

Suddenly, Antonio and all the others saw him in a different light. Even Feisha withdrew his sympathies and stared at him cautiously. Even though Shamal was in the wrong, it didn’t make sense to drag Gin and Hughes into this.

Jesse didn’t seem to notice the air of hostility, and asked indifferently, “Did you want to enter Crystal City?”

Locktini tried provoking him. “What you meant to say was, do we want to step on your corpse as we make our way over?”

Bro, things like stepping over his corpse, you’re supposed to do these things secretly, under cover. Declaring this loudly in public, what if you scare them away? If they run away it’d be be fine, but what if after they escape, they harden their hearts and sound the alarms? What do you do then?”

Feisha was quite upset at his lack of a brain.

Jesse said. “If you were to step on my corpse, there would be no one left to help you get into the city.”

Antonio, Feisha, and the rest of them glanced around at each other and their eyes lit up. But they were still a bit confused.

Antonio replied, “If this is your bargaining chip, you can take it back. Even if we want to enter the city, we don’t need to rely on you.”

“If you’re thinking of using the same old method from a thousand years ago, I’d advise that you think twice.” Jesse said calmly, without indignation. “The Crystal City now is no longer the city from back then.”

Feisha asked, “Did the economic reform begin?” (9)

“……”

Antonio spoke. “Why do you want to help us?”

“It’s the only way I’ll be able to find my ‘Lion’ again.” Jesse slowly lowered his head, leaned in next to Shamal’s ear and asked softly, “Right?”

Shamal began wishing for death to take him. Locktini turned his palm up and hurled a fireball straight towards Jesse. Jesse dodged to the side and looked askance at him. A battle was on the verge of commencing.

Feisha glared fiercely at Shamal. Shamal still stood in a daze, completely void of his usual liveliness.

With no other choice, Feisha could only try to break this deadlock on his own. “Might I ask what tricks the esteemed chief might have for getting us in?”

Jesse was surprised. “You know who I am?”

Feisha turned his eyes towards Shamal and replied immediately. “Actually, what happened between you and Shamal, he’s told me about it before. This is really such an unbelievably tragic misunderstanding!” (10)

Jesse looked over at the back of Shamal’s head, then smiled at Feisha. “I’ve always heard that a rather crafty human representative arrived at Noah’s Ark. I’d like to see this for myself.”

With that said, how was he supposed to keep up the charade.

Feisha laughed rather awkwardly. “But it’s better for the people involved to work out this kind of misunderstanding between themselves. It’d be inappropriate for bystanders to intervene, right, really no need to intervene.”

The black star stone on his chest glowed for a moment and Isefel asked, “As long as we hand Shamal over to you after all this, you’ll agree to save Gin and Hughes?”

As soon as he said it, everyone was stunned in place. Shamal’s anxiety was about to bring him to tears.

Jesse looked at the brooch on Feisha’s chest in surprise. “Of course.”

“Okay, deal settled.” Isefel replied without hesitation.

Feisha looked over at Shamal sympathetically– the guy looked like he was about to faint.

Locktini’s voice grew cold. “It’s not a fallen angel’s place to be trading over fairy royalty.”

Isefel replied indifferently. “We need to solve things one way or another.”

His words suddenly brought Feisha back to life.

Indeed, things need to be solved. Gin and Hughes need to be rescued, Jesse and Shamal’s relationship also needed to be resolved. If they insisted blindly on antagonizing Jesse, then it was highly likely that their efforts on both fronts would be for naught. With their whereabouts exposed, Gin and Hughes are in even greater danger. And the resentment between Jesse and Shamal would only grow deeper and deeper. Only by standing on Jesse’s side and slowly warming his heart would there be any room for change.

With those thoughts in mind, Feisha immediately started formulating a plan and said, “When you’ve done wrong, it’s only proper to apologize and offer to make amends.”

Jesse raised an eyebrow. “Apologize and make amends?”

“Oh, and of course you should also accept a tiny bit of punishment.” Feisha boldly took two steps closer to Shamal and whispered, “Back then, whether you did it intentionally or not, regardless of what else was troubling you, the result was that you hurt him. Now, it’s important to give some kind of explanation. After all, you don’t want your relationship to continue like this forever do you? After all, you guys were once….together, right?”

At the word ‘together’, Feisha chided himself on his rather lackluster vocabulary. But it was surprisingly effective. At least Shamal’s expression wasn’t completely dominated by blind fear and dread anymore. Feisha was close enough to see a bit of nostalgia and fondness buried deep in his eyes.

The air around Jesse was also less menacing than before. He remained silent for a moment, then slowly said, “In a few days, the leader of this world is calling for a joint conference of all the different clans. I’ve also been invited. According to the rules, ten others may accompany me.”

Locktini frowned and was about to speak, but seeing Shamal’s expression, he held back.

Antonio asked, “Does this conference have anything to do with Gin and Hughes?”

Jesse turned and spoke and he walked away. “You’ll see if you go.”

Feisha extended a hand to support Shamal, who had suddenly gone weak. He quietly sighed in relief. In other news, despite the fact that Jesse’s hair was white, it was also quite thick and lustrous. It completely toppled the idea Feisha had before, that hair gone white should become thinner and lighter.

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Translator’s Notes

1. This is a repeat of an idiom Feisha used earlier– “人倒霉起来，喝口水都塞牙缝”, lit. when people encounter bad luck, even water can get stuck in your teeth. It refers to bad luck always coming in droves and turning perfectly harmless situations for the worse.

2. I believe a previous translator referenced Murphy’s Law for this particular saying, so I’ve gone along with that!

3. This is an idiom that translates pretty smoothly into English but I thought I’d not it anyway. The original was “水火不容”, lit. water and fire don’t mix. Oil and water is the equivalent in English.

4. The name is written “莱恩”, in pinyin “lai en.” It could be a way of transliterating the name “Ryan,” but it’s also the same characters Chinese people use for Lion from DOTA2 and Llane from World of Warcraft. Considering DOTA2 is quite a bit more popular than WoW in China, I went with “Lion”, but if someone knows what this is actually a ref to and would like it correct, let me know.

5. Chinese “耶西”, in pinyin “ye xi.” It’s the Chinese transliteration for the English name “Jesse”, most well known as a reference to Yishai, the father of David from the Bible.

6. The word “巫师” used here to describe Jesse can translate to wizard, witch, warlock, sorcerer, etc. It’s used for all of them (the Baidu page hosts picture of Gandalf as their shining example), so I just chose one to roll with.

7. Interesting enough it’s also the official Chinese title for “The Witcher” game/multimedia franchise.

8. The idiom used here is “鱼目混珠”, lit. fish eyes passing for pearls. It refers to passing off fake items as the real thing, and in reference to people, I thought the imposter syndrome would fit rather well.

9. While IQ (intelligence quotient) gets tossed around a lot in English, EQ (emotional quotient) less so. These terms are exact translations though. You can find out more about EQ on the good old Wikipedia article here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emotional_intelligence

10. This entire passage goes around and around with the word “急” which means to hurry or to be in a rush. It also means anxious, which in English, is sometimes interchangeable with hurry/rush, but…not always. I had to change it in a few sentences just because it’d be too forced or weird otherwise.

11. The last sentence in particular, Feisha uses it to mean “getting mad/tilting”, so I just tried to turn the last part of it into a threat involving “hurrying.”

12. Feisha asks “改革开放了吗”, lit. “[did they] reform and open up?” This “reform and open up” is the name of the Chinese economic reform that began in Communist China in 1978. You can read all about that here:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_economic_reform

13. Feisha actually says “狗血的天大误会”, lit. dog’s blood of a heaven’s sized misunderstanding. The ”dog’s blood“ is Internet slang referring to something that nonsensical or unbelievably exaggerated, especially in regards to contrived plot points or melodramatic cliches in dramas. Last part is just a way to describe a massive misunderstanding– comparing the size to the size of the heavens.