Veronica blushed as she clumsily helped Wayne change his clothes. It was evident that she was inexperienced at this, her movements were rough. Fortunately, Wayne was already awake; otherwise, it would have been quite painful.
When changing clothes, a little friction was inevitable. Veronica noticed something indescribable and looked away with disgust.
Then she glanced back.
Ugly, but curious!
With Monica on one side and William on the other, both kept their eyes closed throughout. William covered his eyes with his hands, but the gaps were so wide that it made no difference.
After leaving the Gate of Truth, Wayne collapsed from exhaustion, having achieved the feat of pinning three beautiful girls beneath him.
Unfortunately, he didn't know that Veronica was the first to wake up.
The Gate of Truth devoured the town, leaving behind a barren wasteland. Everywhere, flames burned the scorched earth, extending into the surrounding forests, leaving devastation in their wake.
The overlapping space with the town was sacrificed to the Gate of Truth by Mike, allowing the real world to return to its rightful course. The timeline was disrupted fifty years ago on that fateful night, and it returned to normal from that moment.
Veronica woke up William and Monica. The three of them found some clean clothes in the trunk and used a bedsheet to wrap Wayne up.
Afterward, they took Wayne to the barn behind the church. After resting for a night, they searched the town to find clean clothes for Wayne.
The three of them didn't understand why they had emerged unscathed from the Gate of Truth, but seeing Wayne deeply asleep, they guessed it had something to do with him.
They could have waited for Wayne to wake up and dress himself, but leaving their savior naked wasn't appropriate. Besides, who knew when Wayne would wake up? They had to quickly get him dressed to maintain his dignity.
The question was, who would help Wayne change his clothes?
The problem wasn't who would do it, but rather that someone was watching. Besides, they were good friends. If they mishandled the situation, they might be labeled as 'perverts' by their friend and it could haunt them for life.
Although William boasted, he backed down at the last moment.
No one volunteered. They needed a suitable reason. Veronica suggested rock-paper-scissors because William had notoriously bad luck with it.
Veronica lost.
Veronica sweated profusely as she helped Wayne change his clothes, feeling disoriented afterward. She went downstairs to wash her hands, feeling dirty, her eyes dirty, her mind dirty. She regretted suggesting rock-paper-scissors!
After a moment, a loud noise came from the direction of the church, indicating that a wall had met its demise.
Wayne, hearing the noise, immediately sat up. He rubbed his dizzy head and focused his gaze on William and Monica.
"Wayne, you're awake!"
"Who are you guys?"
The two beautiful girls were of high caliber, well-nourished and probably drank plenty of milk, with impeccable looks and figures. They were about the same age as Veronica and were top-notch magical girls.
Wayne roughly guessed who they were but found it unbelievable. While cursing the strange occurrences, he couldn't help but feel fortunate that he hadn't turned into a magical girl or a dog.
"Nice to meet you, Wayne. I'm Lily, your new friend!"
William, or Lily, winked and patted Wayne on the shoulder, almost echoing their first encounter. Seeing Wayne's bewildered expression, she couldn't help but smile mischievously. She had been waiting for this moment.
"No, William——"
Wayne sighed. Having experienced life and death together, he had resolved to buddy up with a guy, but ended up with a cute girl instead. It was regrettable. Would he ever be able to buddy up again?
"Veronica Lando."
"Lily Watson."
"Chris Leti."
"Wait a minute, can I interrupt? Why did your name change so much?"
Wayne couldn't help but quip. Veronica was still Veronica, and William had become Lily. The pronunciation was similar enough; why did Monica deviate from the pattern and jump to Chris directly? Moreover, the change was too drastic!
What's with the exaggerated chest muscles? Could it be the bell he had been longing for? If so, was it too late to ring it now?
Wayne regretted not acting decisively earlier and missed the chance to ring the bell with satisfaction. At the same time, he realized that it wasn't a dream; he was indeed surrounded by three long-haired beauties.
The question remained: who was the one with the strange touch from the dream?
Wayne opened his mouth but wisely refrained from asking, as the curse had been lifted. If the three of them decided to force him, shouting wouldn't help.
He could ask when the playing field was leveled!
...
Due to their debt of gratitude, the three treated Wayne as one of their own, no longer hiding anything from him. They revealed their true names and gave a complete self-introduction.
Veronica wasn't an aspiring lady from a foreign land; she was a local from London, attending Evanston Women's College with Lily and Chris.
Veronica and Lily were roommates, while Chris was a senior, studying for her master's degree.
Evanston Women's College seemed like an ordinary university on the surface, unrelated to magic. However, it had internal departments specializing in teaching magic, cultivating a large number of high-quality followers for the three goddesses of nature, the sun, and the moon.
Veronica and Lily were about to graduate, and their graduation assessment involved eradicating a death cult stronghold. Due to the cult's formidable strength, they were allowed to invite a senior to assist them.
Veronica invited Chris, who had always taken care of her and was her role model.
With the three of them working together, they could easily pass their graduation assessment under normal circumstances.
However, things didn't go as planned. After destroying the stronghold, they were cursed by a Death Apostle and turned into the sorry state Wayne first saw them in.
With their excellent skills, they could have easily defended against the curse. For example, Lily's magic could have helped Wayne avoid the curse's effects.
However, that day, they had overestimated themselves.
Chris was invited to help, but it wasn't her graduation assessment. She was only supposed to assist, not fight. She was confident in her juniors' abilities and had set up defenses against possible curses.
After all, it was common sense!
Veronica thought Lily would help, and Lily thought Veronica would help, and then...
In short, Lily ended up being the main scapegoat for the incident because she couldn't defeat Veronica.
Chris was respected at the college and admired by many young students, making her a prominent figure. Veronica was no less, excelling in every aspect from her appearance to her family background and academics, always being a prominent figure at the college.
They didn't want to return to the college in disgrace, seeking help from a mentor to lift the curse and achieve a bad graduation result. They couldn't afford to lose face, so after discussing, they decided to find another death cult stronghold before.
As long as they didn't speak up and managed to return to the college before the deadline for the graduation assessment, no one would know they had committed a rookie mistake.
After searching high and low, they came to Wayne Detective Agency along a night road.
They treated Wayne as a passerby, casually making up an excuse to brush off their origins, and thus the wheel of fate began to turn...
As for the name Monica, Cris explained that it was indeed her cat's name, also a black-eyed, black cat, and she borrowed it casually from Veronica's house.
Wayne nodded as he listened, thankful that fate had brought three magical girls to him. Otherwise, he would have had to wander the night streets in search of a wizard, perhaps even trying to open the Book of Greed, but the process certainly wouldn't have been as smooth.
Who knows, he might have become a faithful lackey of the Death Goddess!
"Oh, by the way, where did this outfit come from, and who helped me change it?"
"...x2"
"It was me!" Lily raised her hand.
"Shut up, it wasn't... I mean, yes, it was her."
Veronica was about to scold, but then she realized it was fine this way. Wayne had been asleep like a log at the time, oblivious to everything, so it might as well be Lily.
Continuing the story of Cafuno Town fifty years ago, the ruins after the fire were everywhere, with only the church's domain intact.
But due to last night's battle, Veronica had reduced it to rubble as well.
Wayne was cleaning up the battlefield, rummaging through the ruins, trying to squeeze out the last bit of value from the corpses.
Wait, can you call it 'rummaging through corpses' when it's between people and the Floating?
That's called rational redistribution of resources.
After Wayne's unremitting efforts, he successfully found the priest's library and spent most of the day digging out three pieces of loot.
A white glove.
The priest's Bible.
The Nelson Family Manual - Feche Nielsen's Manuscript.
The white glove was adorned with a black inverted triangle, a magical item of the Death Cultists, requiring no spellcasting, just input of magic power to use, with high practical value in combat.
The Bible recorded the priest's understanding of divine arts, and also contained several highly practical magics, with almost no flaws except for being outdated in terms of versions.
And, the value was not in the divine arts, but in the Bible itself, which was a magical item with extremely strong suppression effects on creatures like the Wraith.
Wayne didn't have to do anything, just holding this Bible could make the Wraith avoid him, and if he had any ideas, he could chase after the Wraith in the dead of night.
Most precious of all was the Nelson Family Manual, written by Feche Nielsen, an ancestor of the Nelson family, and supplemented by subsequent family members. This book was perfect for Wayne, a novice on the road.
The beginning recorded the faith of the Nelson family.
No faith!
Members of the Nelson family regarded faith as a transaction; they respected the gods but were never loyal. The manuscript detailed their understanding of the gods.
Some of the summaries struck a chord with Wayne, making him feel like he had found a kindred spirit, but others left him puzzled.
Gods don't have a good or evil side; the more dazzling the light, the deeper the darkness. Each god has two sides.
Like the Death Goddess, death is eternal tranquility, but also cold and fearsome. She represents both good and evil, and the key lies in how people interpret it.
Power itself is neither good nor evil. If it were, this power would inevitably have a master, so be sure to think twice before using it.
Faith makes people firm, but religion makes people ignorant. Don't stoop to the level of believers; they're all crazy.
Another man's wife is always better.
Wayne:
Seems to be mixed with something strange.
Turning over the beginning of the Nelson family's manual, what followed was the family's history of crossing and bowing to many gods.
Because of the confusion of faith, the Nelson family didn't learn advanced magic, but their collection was extensive, recording a large number of magics suitable for beginners, which was perfect for Wayne now.
"The drop rate is really high!"
Wayne felt like he had struck gold, flipping to the end, where he found a rather peculiar mark.
"Free Mage Alliance..."