Chapter 1047 You Smell... Comforting.
Chapter 1047 You Smell... Comforting.
In an Inn's bedroom, the morning sun rays shone upon a gingerhead. The girl's ears perked up as she sensed the sunrise and she woke up from her small nap on the table.
Stretching her arms above her head lazily, Meryl yawned.
In front of her sleepy eyes was a green-haired girl sleeping peacefully. Even in her sleep, she was wearing glasses and her lab coat.
Meryl's pointy ears perked up again as she saw her and walked close to her.
Sniff… Sniff…
A pleasant herbal aroma filled Meryl's senses as she sniffed the girl. She could already feel it faintly, but now it was much stronger than before. It was as if she was resting on a field of colorful herbs with amusing smells.
Feeling Meryl's breath on her ears, the girl's ears twitched, and then her eyes fluttered.
She opened her eyes a few seconds later, and out of habit, tried to rub her eyes, only to push her glasses further into her face.
"Ugh…"
What a start to the day. She wasn't clumsy, but sometimes dumb mistakes like this did happen. Hopefully nobody saw her…
Meryl was staring at her with a curious look on her face, her chin propped up on her interlocked fingers.
…or she thought.
"You— hm?"
The girl stopped speaking as her eyes lost focus.
Meryl was in front of her yet she didn't see her. Instead, her vision dimmed to the point where everything seemed gray.
Next, she saw a gentle figure of a silver-haired man, staring at her with his compassionate purple eyes.
How could she not know who it was?
'God?' The girl thought internally.
The man's lips curved into a soft smile and he said:
"And from today, since you call me god so much…"
"…you shall be called Liz. Your full name being Lizbeth…"
Lizbeth's vision returned to normal and she was back to looking at Meryl.
Meryl blinked her curious green eyes and stared into Lizbeth's, waiting for her to say something.
Only a second had passed since Lizbeth zoned out. She could tell it too with how Meryl was in the same position as before and hadn't budged even a millimeter.
"You are…?"
"Meryl."
Meryl said with a neutral gaze.
Before Lizbeth could say something in response, she leaned closer to her and sniffed her.
"You smell… comforting."
Lizbeth blinked her eyes in amusement. What was this description? It was understandable if she said something like 'nice' or 'bad' or 'you stink'… but what was this wording she just used?
'What a strange person.'
Meryl stopped sniffing Lizbeth and sat beside her with her legs crossed, facing her.
"The people here are scary." Meryl looked down at her fingers and twirled them together. "There's so much negativity here that it's making my stomach churn. I know I shouldn't be saying this, but…"
Meryl looked up and stared at Lizbeth with her lips curled down. "…I wouldn't be able to survive among these people."
"Hm?" Lizbeth nudged her glasses up and seriously stared at Meryl. "Do you perhaps have a constitution that hurts you if you are around killers?"
"Constitution?" Meryl did not know of such a thing.
Lizbeth brushed her hair to the back of her ear and leaned forwards, bringing her face really close to Meryl's.
Meryl wasn't flustered by it, just confused as to why Lizbeth would come so close. Her emotional intelligence was much different than the average person in this world.
Two pairs of green eyes stared at each other. Lizbeth extended her hand and pulled Meryl's eyelids up, then did the same thing downwards, confusing her further.
She then went back to her original position and held Meryl's wrists, channeling her spiritual power into her and sending it all over her body.
Meryl was sensitive to malice. If Lizbeth had even the slightest intention of harming her, Meryl's spiritual power would overpower hers and hurt her. It was a reflex and it would be too late before Meryl could gain control and stop it.
There being no malice and only concern, Lizbeth finished her checkup. She took out a small notepad from her lab coat's pocket and began writing on it.
"So far, everything seems normal about you. I can't feel your constitution being any different than others."
Meryl put her notepad back in her pocket and said after nudging her glasses back up.
"I think, your problem has something to do with your outlook and isn't anything physical."
Meryl nodded her head. "I know that. And I also know the solution to it, perhaps."
Lizbeth raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You should've said so earlier then."
"You didn't let me finish." Meryl shook her head and said.
Lizbeth coughed to ease the awkward atmosphere. "My apologies. Do tell what the solution you've thought of is."
"Oh, it's simple." Meryl smiled warmly and extended her hand out. "We should become friends and I'll be with you at all times. It feels cozy to be around you."
Being poverty ridden and unable to even afford food, Lizbeth could barely have enough resources to think about harming someone else or even defending herself. She didn't know how she had survived so far without a single protective artifact, but such was her condition.
She had done not a single thing in her life that resulted in bad karma. If anything, she had more good karma than bad because she would help heal needy people, even though she herself was needy.
In her eyes, there was only research, herbs, potions, alchemy, and medicine. Her brain couldn't figure out anything else, hence she was poor for a long time despite having the ability to make good quality potions and pills.
With such a background, there wasn't anyone else as clean as her around Lith. Even Emilia had done some killings despite being a Seraphim Angel. Her title as the War Angel didn't come out of thin air.
"You're on par with Master. I can't be around her because she has work, but I can at least be around you. From what I can see, you're weak. I can protect you." Meryl stated everything with a smile.
"Master?" Lizbeth focused on the key words and asked. "You have a Master?"
Meryl nodded her head. "I didn't have one before, but after meeting her a while ago, I do now. I was really scared initially, but Master was so patient and soft spoken. I found a long forgotten comfort around her and immediately knew, I had to establish a connection with her if I want to survive here."
"So you became her disciple?" Lizbeth asked with interest.
"No. I first asked her if I could be around her, and was flat out rejected. She's a busy person and the places she goes, I wouldn't be able to go there because I am a stranger to her and it also won't be right to do so."
Lizbeth nodded and gestured Meryl to continue.
"It took me some time to understand what she was saying. I am glad I figured it out within that day of meeting her itself. She said I was a stranger to her and couldn't be around her, so I asked her how I could be related to her."
"So she gave you the idea of becoming her disciple?"
Meryl shook her head. "No, she suggested I become her Master's maid if I want to be with her. This was an impossible thing to do for me. Her Master… sigh… I felt terrible around him when I first saw him."
Lizbeth tilted her head to the side. "Did he do something to you?"
Meryl shook her head again. "No. It's just that, the amount of bad karma he has… if I were to club everybody's bad karma from my home world, it would still not amount to half as much as his. You can understand how the situation is from that."
"Hmm…"
Lizbeth took out her notepad and wrote something on it.
From Meryl's vision, she looked like she was scribbling, but she was just writing fast. Her handwriting was elegant and easy to read.
Lizbeth put her notepad back down in her pocket.
"I roughly understand your situation now. Your Master first rejected you and proposed an idea, then you rejected that idea because you felt uncomfortable around her Master and proposed another one yourself, and then she eventually agreed on that, is that right?"
Meryl nodded her head. "Yes, that's correct."
Lizbeth nudged her glasses up her nose bridge. "And now, even after becoming her disciple, you've come to realize that you still can't be around her at all times because she has important work or perhaps she stays by her Master's side, which you can't tolerate."
Meryl nodded again. "That's right too."
Lizbeth rested her chin on her and leaned to the side. Her fingers of her free hand drummed on her thighs and she continued, "Then, at present, you found me, a substitute for your Master and want to be around me, is that correct?"
"I am ashamed to admit, but yes, that's correct." Meryl looked down and sighed.
Lizbeth continued to drum her fingers. "With how you're still referring to your Master as Master, I am assuming you have no plans to break the master-disciple bond with her because of reasons, however, since you can't stay by her side, you decided the best solution would be to stay with me, right?"
"Yes— no." Meryl shook her head.
"Hm?" Lizbeth raised an eyebrow. So far, her analysis wasn't wrong, so why did Meryl answer a different response than she had initially thought of?
"I mean to say, no, it was not my solution that I came up with this time. My Master actually made me look after you, and told me it would be best if I stay by your side because you won't be seeing Master's Master as often as her."
"Oh." Lizbeth shifted to an erect position. "I understand everything now. However, before we finish, I have one last question to ask."
"And what would that be?"
Lizbeth nudged her glasses up, making a serious expression.
"Who is your Master?"
"Oh her…" Meryl smiled brightly upon being asked about her Master.
"It's that lady you saw back in the…"