These doubts can probably only be answered by the Black Earl. However, since these undoubtedly involve the secrets of the Noah Clan, Angel finds it difficult to ask...
"What is going on here? Didn’t you say you were dying? How are you now fused with the Black Earl?"
While Angel was pondering whether he should remain polite, Dox, standing nearby, directly spoke up, disregarding the occasion and atmosphere, unloading all his questions in one breath.
"And who are you now? Yourself or the Black Earl?"
Dox stared into Vay’s eyes.
Originally, Vay wanted to throw a few more sarcastic remarks or mock casually as he always did, but seeing the suppressed complex emotion in Dox’s eyes, he swallowed down his words.
"I’m still myself, naturally. I thought I was about to die, but as you saw, the Earl saved me." Vay shrugged, showing a ’who could have predicted this turn of events’ expression.
Dox: "You said earlier that you would become a puppet? Like Ella? What’s that supposed to mean?"
Vay’s gaze wandered: "Oh, that... just a misunderstanding."
Previously, Dox was firing off one question after another due to his heightened emotions, but as he calmed down a bit, he could see Vay’s responses were perfunctory. Vay clearly didn’t want to discuss what happened earlier.
After a moment of silence, Dox asked, "In this world, there are no benefits without cost. Everything has a price. What price did you pay?"
Dox didn’t linger on the previous topic but went straight to the crux of the matter.
When Vay spoke during his "near-death" experience, his words were sincere and earnest, definitely not an act. From those words, it was clear Vay had to pay a price, and previously Vay believed that the price would be enough for him to completely perish.
Though Vay appears unchanged now, how long will this state last? Will he become the "puppet" he mentioned? Does he have... a future?
This was Dox’s biggest concern.
If all Vay gained was temporary well-being, what if he turned into a puppet after they parted ways, a year or two later?
Seeing Dox’s serious expression, Vay suddenly didn’t know what to say. He wanted to bluff as usual, but he knew Dox could tell if he was lying and previously chose not to expose him as a matter of mutual understanding and tolerance.
If he responds seriously to Dox’s earnestness with lies, wouldn’t that be inappropriate?
But to tell the truth, Vay doesn’t quite know where to start. Even though his lord had shared some information with him earlier, he remains confused, only realizing his past thoughts were perhaps too naive. The Black Earl following his descendant with an avatar surely has a motive, but it’s definitely not the intention for them to die.
Moreover, without permission from his lord, he cannot speak.
Vay neither blurts falsehoods nor reveals the truth, choosing silence instead.
Dox understood Vay well enough that, seeing his awkward expression, he knew his inner struggle. Dox sighed gently, "I have many friends in the Southern Domain, but few among them truly pursue truth. I still recall when I was a wandering apprentice, the first time hearing the implication of truth, the longing and excitement surging from my soul, and it was you who explained it."
"The road of a Wizard, seeking truth, endless and boundless. Even if you have wandered for years, I still believe only you would choose as I did."
"I understand your concerns. I won’t ask more."
"But on this path of pursuing truth, I will not stop, and I hope you can be there."
Dox’s words were a confession after dissecting his heart, his genuine emotions revealed. Why he cared about Vay’s future is because the road of pursuing truth is destined to be a lonely one. Having a close friend accompany you, even if only for a short while, is a kind of fortune.
And now they don’t even have the qualifications to step on the path of truth. If someone from among them falls behind now, it would be a great regret.
Vay probably hadn’t expected Dox to speak with such seriousness at this time.
Vay always thought his demands were actually very low, belonging to the rare low-desire group in the Wizards’ Realm.
He also believed no one would have expectations for him, let alone any high standards.
With this kind of self-satisfied mindset, Vay spent his days idly. But was this truly the reality he believed? What was his true inner thought process?
During those idle days, Vay occasionally went to the highest point of Mesomyia, at the place called the "Eternal Mountain," and gazed into the distance.
Why he went there, what he was thinking at the time, Vay has since forgotten, or rather, chose to forget.
But at this very moment, hearing Dox’s words, he seemed to catch a glimpse of those forgotten memories.
At the peak of the Eternal Mountain, he wasn’t concerned with the matters of the divination shop nor thinking of tabloid magazines; he was thinking about himself.
Thinking of his true self, his essential self, and that imagined super self.
He too had thought of the future, it’s just...
As Vay immersed himself in self-reflection, a cold snort interrupted.
"You’re decades late with these words." The voice came from Vay but wasn’t spoken by him.
Such a tone, there’s only one... the Black Earl!
After uttering those words, the Black Earl flew out from Vay’s face again, re-attaching to the previous slab.
Vay’s nose had a dark hole now.
The Black Earl floated gently in mid-air, its nostrils aiming at Dox: "Had you said these words decades earlier, he might have become an Official Wizard already. But it’s not too late now."
The Black Earl mocked Dox with a few phrases, then turned his gaze to Vay.
"Although I don’t think Dox has the ability to step on the path of truth, he is correct in saying you have a chance to pursue truth."
"Are you planning to continue squandering your time?"
Vay didn’t answer, but his eyes had a new gleam.
His previous self-assumptions were indeed wrong. Dox had expectations for him all along, just kept quiet, patiently waiting; the Black Earl had expectations too, otherwise, the Earl wouldn’t have stayed and let him squander the years.
Being expected comes with responsibility and burden. Although a bit troublesome, Vay now has the courage to embrace such trouble.
Though silent, his expression had already said it all, and the Black Earl snorted lightly, approvingly at Vay.