Chapter 304: Highland Mage (3)

Except for the Venerable of the Qionglin, they were led out of the room. Outside the door was a long, narrow corridor; dark red and wood tones were the primary decorative colors here. The candlelight softly illuminated the entire corridor, and Luo Qi was reminded of the scent of chocolate, and red velvet cake.

The corridor was spotless. Luo Qi caught the fragrance of wood shavings, and the wooden floor beneath his feet emitted a soft echo, like the pleasant sound of plucking a guitar. The floor here must have been elevated, perhaps out of a practical need to prevent dampness and resist the cold, or perhaps stemming from the traditional architectural style of the Highland Mages. The decorative style here carried features of Tibetan regions, but it was much simpler; it lacked the religious intent of praising deities found in Tibetan regions, and thus did not make extensive use of expensive gold paint to draw complex decorative patterns.

The room turned at a right angle near the end of the corridor. After turning the corner, there was another corridor, roughly the same length as the previous one; they seemed to have walked into the corner of a massive building.

At the end of the corridor was a window, and on both sides were four doors spaced closely together. The Highland Mage who brought them pushed the doors open one by one. Logically speaking, he could have used Magic to open all the doors at once; Luo Qi knew that the Highland Mage's Magic Ability was very strong, and doing so would have been effortless. But he insisted on walking over and opening the doors one by one with his hands. They actually waited quietly like this; perhaps it was because the surrounding environment was truly tranquil, and staring at someone dawdling seemed to fit the environment perfectly. Moreover, this person performed this task with such solemnity and flair that the sense of ritual in the act itself exceeded its practical use.

Luo Qi guessed that the dawdling might represent respect for others.

The candlelight behind the doors flickered to life as the doors opened, illuminating the small bedrooms. Luo Qi glanced inside and only saw a single bed covered with a thick mattress, with quite a few cushions scattered on the floor, and a small window beside the bed. Other than that, he did not look closely, nor did he have any interest. A part of his brain was still busy analyzing the behavior of the head of the Nine Venerables of the Qionglin, and he didn't take this Highland Mage routine to heart.

"This is your room. You may return here to rest on your own later," the Highland Mage said.

The group expressed their thanks. Mahjong and Guan Xinyue stayed behind to rest. Guan Xinyue was not in high spirits, and Mahjong promised he would first provide psychological counseling to the young girl. Luo Qi also comforted her a few times. Her gaze lingered for a moment on the large patch of dried blood on Luo Qi's clothes, and finally, she shook her head silently at Luo Qi, turned, and entered her room without saying a word.

Luo Qi looked at himself; his clothes were stained with his own blood. He understood how Guan Xinyue felt. Their bodies recovered very quickly, and the Doctor's medical standards were also very high, which easily allowed them to put the cruel events that had just occurred behind them. The world of Mages was also frequently in one of two states: "high-level survival" or "total destruction." A life that only existed in extreme states seemed particularly unhealthy—not conducive to longevity.

The Highland Mage led them back to the corner of the corridor and pushed open another door, right across from the room where they had first appeared. It was just that the two doors were distributed on either side of the corridor's turn, which was equivalent to being exactly on two different corridors. The furnishings in the room were more numerous than in the opposite room; cabinets were placed around the perimeter, woven tapestries hung on the walls, felt rugs were spread on the floor, a pile of cushions was scattered about, and a small table was set up. Pei Shu was barefoot, sitting cross-legged on a cushion, drinking a steaming cup of tea.

Luo Qi and Du Zhengyi took off their shoes at the doorway along with the Highland Mage named Kawa and stepped onto the felt rug. There was a faint, elusive fragrance in the room. He couldn't help but take a few deep breaths, feeling it was somewhat like the smell of a grassy field after rain. He couldn't help but inhale a few more times, and suddenly his mind felt refreshed, as if he had taken a shot of essential oil. He realized belatedly that Pei Shu had asked them for something to refresh their minds earlier; he hadn't expected the Highland Mage to provide something that wasn't tea or coffee, nor Red Bull or Pocari Sweat.

As soon as the two of them sat down on the felt rug, the Highland Mage reached out toward them and made an inviting gesture in the air. On the small table beside Luo Qi and Du Zhengyi, two cups of steaming tea immediately appeared, along with two small trays containing a few colorful... colorful things that looked like M&M's.

Oh ho ho, Luo Qi thought mockingly, this really was like something to entertain good children. He would drink the sweet milk, eat the cute chocolate beans, and wait for the Dream God to come and open a colorful umbrella for a good child.

"Luo Qi," Du Zhengyi said in a low voice.

"What is it?" Luo Qi asked with an exaggerated, alarmed tone; he knew the expression on his face just now might have been too dramatic.

"Nothing," Du Zhengyi said with a long face.

The Highland Mage smiled slightly and gestured toward the tray, "Nutritious and with moderate energy."

"Thanks," Luo Qi said, "but I've heard that rations made by Mages are even worse than military rations. Do you know that humans sometimes deliberately make military rations taste terrible?"

"Creating suffering artificially to temper a warrior's will is not necessarily advisable, in my opinion," the Highland Mage said.

Du Zhengyi looked at the ceiling impatiently; there really was someone who would seriously answer Luo Qi's nonsense, even though Luo Qi himself probably didn't want anyone to pay attention to him.

"No, it's because when humans are at war, most of the time they are on standby, and everyone is bored. In that situation, no matter how bad the food tastes, they will eat it out of boredom. Unless that military ration was made with extra effort to be surprisingly terrible," Luo Qi answered seriously, sitting very obediently on the cushion.

"Oh," the Highland Mage looked at him with a smile, not angered by his trivial, irrelevant knowledge. He looked at Luo Qi with a seriousness that was almost innocent and said, "Then our thinking is the same as that of humans."

"What?" Luo Qi's neck stretched out, "What do you mean? Is the flavor of this plate of beans even below the average line for Mage rations?"

"Eating too much is useless; gluttony is as undesirable as greed."

"I..." Luo Qi swallowed his saliva, swallowing the "damn" that was almost on the tip of his tongue, "Then why did you make so many colors? Comforting yourselves like this is also very hypocritical!"

"Luo Qi!" Pei Shu called out to him in a low voice.

He was startled and felt a bit embarrassed, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Du Zhengyi secretly smiling.

The Highland Mage did not feel offended and asked in confusion, "All things in the world are naturally colorful; why not follow the existence of the world, but instead deliberately make them the same color?"

Luo Qi actually had a day where he was left speechless and unable to answer. The Highland Mage stood up politely, "Guests, please feel free to use this place. If you need anything else, I will be resting in the central hall."

Is he really a lobby manager?