They all call me an Outer God.

"That's my hat, not yours. I'll say it again, it's not yours!!"

James pointed at it, his fingers trembling with anger. Schwarz thought he was being petty, so he put his large hat on James's head. Because the hat size didn't fit James's head, the top hat covered his glasses.

James grabbed his hat.

"You think this is funny? I'm going to tell Kerr on you!"

Before he could finish speaking, he realized his words were inappropriate. Ria would only side with his broken mythical creature; the two of them were in cahoots.

James was so angry that he made himself a new little hat, but just as he was about to put it on, Schwarz snatched it away.

It stacked new hats on top of old hats. James suddenly wanted to see how high it could stack them, so it kept changing them. Swarth kept stacking them. When its arms weren't long enough, it ran to a deserted place and used its tentacles to fix them in place from the inside.

Soon, its hat reached an astonishing three meters in height.

When passersby saw this scene, they all looked up and stared at it, then whispered to their companions that the Keepers of the Secret were doing nothing of substance.

Especially the epidemic doctors, they are a group of eccentric people who don't like to show their faces.

In Cranbea, their presence was already commonplace. When James realized that the mythical creatures were actually there to tarnish the reputation of the Plague Doctor, he thought, "Gordon."

If it continues to stay, it's questionable whether I'll even get the title of "Best Epidemic Doctor of the Year".

With a wave of his hand, Schwarz's hat disappeared completely, and he inexplicably lost all his transformation abilities.

James carried it by its wings, like a chicken, back to the Guardian's headquarters.

A group of interns who had just finished their internships were listening to a lecture. James simply left Schwarz in the front row, gave the lecturer a few words, clapped his hands, and left.

He said he would train this bird to be ranked number one in the comprehensive test within two days, or else he would be in big trouble.

The lecturer glanced at James, then at the unintelligent creature staring at him with wide eyes, wanting to scold James but fearing he might suddenly become interested in his flesh.

"I try my best."

That's all he could guarantee.

So James packed his bags and left, planning to have a relaxing vacation, leaving little Swaal at the tutoring center.

It couldn't understand a word those guys wearing bird-beak masks were saying, especially the old guy at the front, whose hunchback made his head almost fall to the ground, yet he still persevered in teaching a group of young plague doctors.

It looked like an old crow teaching a flock of young crows.

Little Swarth soon became drowsy and bored, but when it was about to leave, it found that the entire mythical creature was unable to move.

This is terrible! It has followed Ria all the way and experienced everything, but it has never suffered such a loss before.

Of course, except for Ivand, but that was its clone, so it didn't really lose out.

But every time it suffers a loss, it is at the hands of cultured people, which shows how terrible it is to be uncultured.

"Where are you going, little one?"

The lecturer's shadow loomed over it, and the next second, medical books more than two meters tall appeared on the table in front of it with a "clatter".

This includes both general medical and extraordinary medical categories.

The lecturer nodded in satisfaction, tucked a pen into its feather, then turned and stood under the stage lights, raising his hands high.

"Shout after me: Studying medicine will save the world! Our exams have no set focus; every bit of knowledge you acquire will become the key point!"

"Patients don't get sick like in the textbook, so we won't test most of the content in the textbook. But even so, you still have to memorize all the content in the book. Any questions?"

"no!"

The young epidemic doctors spoke in unison.

Little Swarth suddenly had a bad feeling. His earlobes drooped down and pressed against the back of his head. He was so anxious that white smoke began to rise from the top of his head.

Two days later, Ria was able to move around freely. He was sitting at the table reading a book when he turned his head and saw James.

"Where is Schwarz?"

“I sent him to take the exam for the epidemic doctor qualification certificate. Looking at it from all angles, he really wants to be an epidemic doctor.”

James chuckled, and soon after, Little Swarth emerged from the shadows on the ground, its feathers disheveled, making it difficult for it to even maintain its bird form.

It staggered forward two steps, then landed headfirst on the ground with a "thud," collapsing into a pile of tentacles that were still melting.

James: "How did your test go?"

Little Swarth's tentacle held up a piece of paper and handed it to Ria.

This is a blank test paper, with no blanks filled in, except for a line of words written in the "Name" column.

To be or not to be, that is the question.

"You can write words now?" Ria raised an eyebrow, then flipped through the test paper, finding only this sentence: "To be or not to be, that is the question."

Perhaps it only learned to write this one sentence.

"This is the content of the memo on the first page of all our epidemic medicine textbooks."

James warned, and the little Swarth's tentacles instantly curled and twitched, seething with hatred.

It took it two days to memorize that one sentence, only to be told by someone that the memo wasn't on the test.

Mad.

Enraged, little Swarth climbed onto Ria and looked up at him pitifully. Ria patted its head and told it that it didn't need to be smart, just to live.

James was dumbfounded, and inexplicably had two weeks' wages docked for slacking off.

The extent of the differential treatment is evident.

Ria closed the book on the table: "Today is a big day, James."

"Isn't that right? It's the monarch's birthday. All work must stop today to celebrate this grand occasion. Even King Wilton will be parading in the streets. If you want to get close to him, this is undoubtedly a good opportunity."

“We think this way, and those with ulterior motives will think the same way, so His Majesty’s guards will definitely be on high alert.”

Ria casually tossed her book to the tentacle, and James took the opportunity to see the cover of the book—"On Aristocratic Etiquette".

"You need this to communicate with people? I've never seen you be polite to me before."

Lia: "So-called social interactions are all fabricated products to achieve goals. We don't need these between us. For example, if I want to deduct your salary, I can just do it directly without giving you a reason."

"So you've finally spoken your mind, haven't you?"

James watched as Ria stuffed the mythical creature into her hat, dressed herself, and went out, then followed her.

When they went outside, they found that the sky seemed much bluer than usual, the sun was shining brightly, colorful flags were hanging in the streets, and the sides of the road were even filled with bright and rare precious flowers.

Everyone was dressed more formally than usual. After thinking for a moment, Ria took out a gold openwork brooch with a clock pattern from her pocket and pinned it to her clothes, hoping it would make her look more dignified.

James turned his head: "Is this made of gold?"

"No, I found it while collecting recyclables. I thought it looked nice, so I washed it and kept it."

"But you shouldn't be short of money now." "There's no way around it, the trash cans in the rich neighborhood are no different from treasure chests. If you go fast enough, you might even find a diamond ring that a gentleman gave to a lady but she threw away."

If you can find something good, it's definitely more worthwhile than winning the lottery, since rummaging through trash cans doesn't cost a penny.

The thought that these things might be picked up by someone else makes me feel terrible.

James was speechless. He looked at the puddle on the ground. A beautiful lady had walked by without knowing to go around it, and then some fool ran over, took off his coat, laid it on the puddle, and led the lady across the water by the hand.

Anyone who didn't know better would think they were doing something incredibly dangerous.

Afterwards, both of them blushed and decided to go to the celebration together, which made James' eyes behind the mask widen in surprise.

Does this work too?
They continued walking, and soon another beautiful woman stood in front of the water stain, shyly covering half her face with her fan as she looked at Ria.

Her eyelashes fluttered gently, like a graceful butterfly.

As a result, Ria acted as if she hadn't seen anything and continued on her own way.

James took off his coat and ran towards her, but the woman's expression changed instantly. Without looking back, she lifted her skirt and ran away at a speed comparable to a world-class sprinter.

At that moment, James felt really unlucky.

He quickly caught up with Ria: "What about the etiquette you learned?"

“I think there are some etiquettes that don’t need to be learned. Even Schwarz knows to go around water when you see it and to run back when it rains.”

Besides, how do you know if she's a man or not?

Ever since Ria came to know about the magical species known as "witches," he has become more wary of women.

It's never wrong to keep questioning.

And so, Ria and James chatted idly for a while, and unexpectedly, they ran into Wilton, who was marching.

Everyone stood on both sides of the road to make room for the monarch. Twelve tall horses and a group of people dressed in red formal attire and wearing tall hats led the way, playing orchestral instruments and beating large drums. Behind them were so many attendants whose titles were unknown.

Wilton sat in the limousine, beaming and waving to the crowd, who responded enthusiastically.

They cheered, they scattered flower petals, and the streets were filled with a festive atmosphere.

Compared to the Great Rain Festival, this feels like a normal and lively festival.

Ria smiled as she looked at Wilton IV, a figure who had only existed in rumors. The smile seemed to freeze for a moment when Ria looked at him, and then the monarch turned to look at Ria.

Time seemed to slow down infinitely, yet it also seemed to pass very quickly; in the blink of an eye, Ria's figure was swallowed up by the crowd.

The king's float disappeared from sight.

The streets have returned to some semblance of calm.

James asked Ria what she thought of Wilton, and after thinking for a moment, he simply said that the monarch was not incompetent.

"His eyes revealed a hidden ambition, and the nobles who wanted to use him were unaware that they were the ones being used."

Furthermore, I can tell that His Majesty greatly favors his subjects, and he loves festivals.

"Since His Majesty is so happy, why don't we make him even happier?"

As she spoke, Ria walked into the deserted alley, pressed herself against the shadows, and then completely disappeared from sight.

Before leaving, they also took some cardboard boxes piled up on a nearby trash can.

Watching this scene, James thought that Ria was probably the most frugal black marketeer he had ever met.

He truly admired the actor's ability to portray the character to such an extent.

He now suspected that Ria hadn't come here because she thought it was secluded, but rather because she noticed the trash on the bins.

"Why don't you just live with the junk?"

James was leaning against the wall when suddenly he noticed a rat emerging from the trash can.

Without a second thought, he transformed into a crow, chased after the mouse, and swallowed it whole.

A few hours later, Wilton received a letter from a guard.

The letter stated that all his children had been found and had returned to the palace safely.

Now, Wilton's wrinkles completely disappeared. He was overjoyed and said he would definitely reward the person who found his child and even invite that person to a top-level banquet.

"Today is indeed a good day; everything will come true on my birthday."

"Congratulations, Your Majesty!"

People celebrated for him, and Wilton was very happy. When he was happy, he would order people to throw money into the street.

He now can't wait for the protest to end so he can go back to be with his thirty-odd children. Oh, and his cousin and aunt are pregnant; the children are his.

"I don't know if they will be born this month. I really love children."

Wilton laughed and slapped the precious metal handrails of the float, but at that moment, the parade stopped, and a commotion broke out at the front.

"what happened?"

Wilton was puzzled, but then someone came to report.

"Your Majesty, there is a female beggar ahead, and she looks like she is about to give birth."

What do you mean by "seems like"?

Despite his repeated advice, Wilton simply got out of the car, dragging his commander's cloak as he walked forward. His subordinates, upon hearing his command, could only make way for him.

Soon, he saw a woman on the road with her belly bulging and heaving. The woman had disheveled hair, her belly was exposed, it was purplish in color, with blue veins covering her skin, and there were many crack-like lines on it.

She wailed in agony, her voice sounding like a sheep: "Help me, help me!"

"Someone come and save her." Wilton's expression turned serious. According to passersby who knew the truth, the pregnant woman had been wailing for two whole days. She had looked like she was about to give birth two days ago, but the baby hadn't shown any signs of moving yet.

Moreover, her pregnancy was not like that of an ordinary child; everyone believed that she was carrying a demon.

"Your Majesty, perhaps..."

The duke rode up to him and made a throat-slitting gesture.

Wilton immediately became displeased: "Do you want to kill someone on my birthday? I said I'd save her, so I'll save her."

So they found a doctor from a nearby hospital. The doctor was not a plague doctor, and after hearing that the woman on the ground might be carrying the child of a demon, he dared not approach her.

However, due to the monarch's orders, he went forward with his toolbox to investigate, while comforting the pregnant woman, telling her not to be afraid and to relax.

Little did he know, he was only comforting himself.

Just as he was about to touch the pregnant woman's belly, out of sight of anyone, Rudy rolled her eyes, opened her mouth, and revealed a rather strange expression.

(End of this chapter)