Tangled By Fate

Chapter 300 - OVIOR IS PISSED

Ovior woke up early as usual. 'Another productive day when I want to sleep more,' he told himself, squirming on the bed.

He washed his face and took a bath. After changing his clothes, he went to the dining hall. There, he met Merlin.

Merlin spotted him and waved at him. When he got closer, he greeted first, "Good morning, Ovior."

Ovior greeted him back, "Morning, Merlin. You are up early, especially in the winter morning."

Merlin already started eating his breakfast. He replied, "I wanted to meet Veronica. I guess she will be late."

"Meet Veronica?" Ovior recalled something and understood what he meant. "Oh, you just came back yesterday. Of course you didn't meet her."

"Did she purify the place? I have to thank her. I can finally breathe in this place. So, how did Arthur meet her?"

"That's a long story…" Ovior told him the entire story while waiting for his meal to be served. "Anyway, we found the culprit. He was hired by a guy who had a group of people. They changed his face."

Merlin was impressed thinking it was done by magic because only highly well-known magicians could do that. However, one question remained. "Oh, magicians' work? But how did it work in the Holy City?"

Ovior thanked the cook who served him food and then disclosed, "That's because it wasn't any magic. They did some kind of advanced facial surgery. I don't even know what that means. The fake Arthur said that his face was cut with different sizes of knives."

"Advanced facial surgery?" Merlin tapped the table with his index finger. "Different sizes of knives." His other hand was reaching out for another sausage and a loaf of bread but paused in the mid-air. He wiped his mouth and then stood up. "I'll head to the Royal Library. If I find anything, I'll tell you right away."

"I'll wait for your early return." Ovior bade him farewell.

After finishing his breakfast, he headed to his office room. Since Catherine was in the resort, there wasn't anyone to clean his room. He used his magic to clean and organize the room. When he was done with it, he started with his usual paperwork. That's when Merlin barged into his room.

"I didn't need that much time to find out about advanced surgery," Merlin declared. It seemed that he used magic to travel. He didn't break a sweat.

Ovior's eyes glinted with excitement. He almost stood up. "What did you find?"

Merlin brought the book closer and placed it on the table. He opened the book and two heads peeked at what's written inside.

"What you said about advanced facial surgery, it truly does exist. It's amazing that it already has a name for it. And, this kind of facial experiment isn't new either.

"The reconstructive efforts of the ancient Louses ring true of rhinoplasty, and as such the text is generally considered to contain the earliest known mention of plastic surgery. Records suggest that plastic surgery was used as far back as those times to attempt to reconstruct noses."

Ovior was confused when he heard a new word. "Rhinoplasty? Also known as plastic surgery?"

Merlin nodded. "Yes, and this isn't anything new either. Louses has a method of healing people without using healing power. Many kingdoms were curious about it and sent spies. Louses never let any outsider find out about their secrets. They had hidden it well. Once Louses King Raymond the Third offered a proposal. He wanted to share their skills to heal people without healing power. They called it 'Science'.

"In exchange, they wanted sick people to research and experiment with their bodies. Utahill rented its healers with a low prince. The kings of other kingdoms didn't want to get themselves in trouble by lending them their people for experiments. They found it horrendous. As a result, they refused.

"Afterward, the kings of Louses never brought up that matter. Soon, the kingdoms lost interest in Louses saying the Lousesians lost their minds and humanity. No one ever became interested in Louses' Science again."

"Louses…" Ovior mumbled. "I can't believe this was invented by our neighboring country. This science thing is really advanced. If we can learn about their surgery and can perform well, we don't need to keep our guards up in Utahill. No one can trace magic if we don't use magic."

Merlin pondered before asking, "Are you willing to sacrifice men for Louses to experiment on them?"

Ovior nonchalantly replied, "We have plenty of prisoners in the dungeon. It's far better to use them for experiments than killing them as a sacrifice for the Devil."

"Then I shall write a letter for the King of Louses." After Merlin declared, he left the room.

Ovior took the book Merlin left on his table and began reading it.

Almost at noon, Arthur came to meet him.

Ovior raised his head. "You are here. I have something for you." he shoved the book toward Arthur.

Arthur took the book and read the content. "Plastic surgery? What's that?"

Ovior narrated everything shortly, "It's the advanced facial surgery the fake guy was talking about. Louses invented this process. They call this kind of thing "science". I've sent Merlin to negotiate with their king. I hope we will get a positive reply soon."

Arthur squinted his eyes. He was in deep thought. After some time passed, he finally opened his mouth. "What will you give in return? If they are planning to hide their creativity, we must prepare some tokens that they cannot refuse."

Ovior replied, "Prisoners. They need people to research and experiment on them. We have plenty to share."

"All right. Send the fake guy first. I can't stand him," Arthur demanded. He couldn't stand that guy. Because of that person, he was separated from his wife. He couldn't forget that.

"As soon as we are done with getting all the information from him, I'll set him off on the journey," Ovior promised. "What about you? Do you want to investigate this on your own?"

Arthur sat on the couch and answered, "No, we were having too much trouble and adventure right ever since I met Nica. I'll let Merlin handle Louses just like I let Zinnia handle Max. For now, I want to stay here and try my best to coax my wife."

Ovior frowned. He felt an unexplainable sense of jealousy whenever he met couples. The same thing happened when Arthur kept feeding him and the rest dog food. His public display of affection drove him mad.

He shooed his hand. "All right, do whatever you want. Don't bother me with your love life. Since you are done, get out."

Arthur was amused. He suggested, "If you feel bad because you are single, why don't you hook up with a girl? Catherine seems to be a good woman. She is inexperienced. Why don't you check her?"

Ovior almost choked. "You were too busy summoning the Devil Lord, so you don't know a thing. Catherine has a penfriend in the hilly resort. That friend is a guy. They seem to be close. Catherine left a week and never heard anything about her return even when Veronica is back. She must be having the best time of her life."

Explaining all that, he sighed. He was depressed. He wondered, 'Why does everyone have time to date, and I don't? Is this some kind of joke? I don't like it!'

"Too bad that you couldn't get the girl who was nearest to you. Since you make her work too hard, she decided not to be with you. Serves you right." Arthur mercilessly mocked his friend.

"Well, if you did your job properly, I wouldn't have to hire a secretary and work my butt off. I would have some free time to fall in love!" Ovior snapped at him.

"It must be hard to have a friend like me." Arthur didn't have an ounce of guilt.

Ovior glared at him. "I'm not doing it for you. I'm doing this for my Master. I can't believe he left this tower in the hands of a lazy bone like you."

"Don't be upset. His first choice was you, but you couldn't win against me. Too bad." Arthur clicked his tongue. He pretended to show pity.

His pretentious action pissed off Ovior. He stood up and grabbed his long silver staff. "Let's have another match right now!"

"If you wish," Arthur agreed with a smile. It had been a while since he had some fun. He didn't want to miss this opportunity.

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Veronica woke up later at noon. She felt the coldness numb her eyes. She took off the ice bag from her eyes and put it on the table.

She thought while stretching her arms, 'It has been three days since I did some exercise and sword practice. Should I practice when Arthur isn't around? But… did I bring my sword? Wait, Arthur brought me here. He didn't mention anything about my belongings.. Don't tell me he left my sword and dagger in the resort? I need to ask him.'