Chapter 119 The Ancient Glorious Kingdom

While Vivian went to cook, Hao Ren seized the opportunity to ask about the "Ancient Glorious Kingdom."

Perhaps it was that subtle sixth sense at work, or perhaps it was Raven 12345's intentional or unintentional arrangements that made him pay subconscious attention to certain things. In short, Hao Ren felt that other information about the Day of Return was not important, but this "Ancient Glorious Kingdom" was actually the focus of everything—even though it seemed that the Otherlings themselves didn't realize it.

Unfortunately, the two Aibon elders only knew about the "Ancient Glorious Kingdom" from the vague words brought by the sirens, plus their own unreliable guesses.

"That's how our clan sees it. The Ancient Glorious Kingdom should refer to Mount Olympus and other supernatural relics from that time," said Bluefly, the more talkative of the two Aibon elders, who was happy to explain these things to Hao Ren. "We have consulted many ancient books and communicated with the satyr races in Europe and the Americas. We believe that the wonderful holy places established by the Otherling predecessors in ancient times are the only things worthy of the title 'Glorious Kingdom.' Of course, some people speculate that it refers to certain forbidden areas on Earth, such as the Demon Hunters' territories, but this speculation lacks evidence and is untenable."

Hao Ren looked into Bluefly's eyes, considering how to shift the topic to the Dream Plane without alarming him. In the end, he decided to probe indirectly: "By the way... what do you think about the origin of the Otherlings?"

Bluefly looked at Hao Ren in surprise: "I heard that you are a wizard, but I didn't expect your research to extend to this?"

"Ahem..." Hao Ren couldn't help but cough twice. He really didn't expect Casa and Yuen to still hold this view, and even report it back to the elders of the family. But wizard or not, he didn't deny it, and just continued, "Could the origin of the Otherlings be related to this 'Ancient Glorious Kingdom'?"

"This... I think it would be more appropriate for a human biologist to study this," Bluefly said with a smile and a shrug. "If there is any human biologist who can accept the existence of Otherlings while remaining calm, that is."

Hao Ren said "Oh," and understood that the Aibon elder in front of him didn't know that the Otherlings originated from the Dream Plane. In fact, most creatures in this world didn't even know about the Dream Plane. It seemed that he had to find clues himself.

At this time, Lily returned from buying groceries. Seeing that everyone had finished discussing serious matters, it was finally her turn to join in, so she tilted her head with great interest and asked the two "seniors" about things: "Two uncles, can I ask you something?"

Bluechette looked kindly at this junior who was said to be mentally unsound. Although she was not a descendant of his family, he still felt a little more affection for Lily than for the others in the room: "Go ahead, little girl."

"Is it true that there isn't a husky branch among werewolves?"

The two Aibon elders were dumbfounded, and reached a consensus with a glance: Just like Casa said, this girl is out of her mind!

While Vivian was busy in the kitchen, everyone began to chat, discussing Otherlings, Demon Hunters, history, and the current situation without revealing secrets. In the end, even Nangong Wuyue joined in the chat out of curiosity. The two werewolf elders talked a lot about werewolf history. Although there were exaggerations, it was enough to broaden Hao Ren's horizons. Lily, this unclassifiable "freak," also listened with relish. Bluefly mentioned the legendary Fenrir, and also mentioned their distant relatives in Egypt who were called Anubis—although the Anubis themselves never admitted that their sacred bloodline contained werewolf factors, the werewolves always believed that the Anubis were their mutated relatives. Bluechette excitedly mentioned the last short period of Otherling activity hundreds to a thousand years ago. That was the Dark Ages of Europe, when the last trace of ignorance had not yet dissipated from the skies of human civilization, and the strange and bizarre country tales were like a black fog filling those ancient stone castles and cramped slums. Vampires and werewolves, as the last of the Otherling races to fade away, still stubbornly occupied human cities and villages during that period, until the Demon Hunters and the Church uprooted them with almost fanatical means.

In the low and slow narratives of the two werewolf elders, the veiled past of this planet was revealed one by one: the mythical age belonging to the Otherlings began to decline thousands of years ago, and officially ended about a thousand years ago (which was also the era when various major events occurred in human religion). But the end did not mean complete extinction. In fact, in the hundreds of years after that, the remaining Otherling races were constantly engaged in a tug-of-war-like struggle for power with the Demon Hunters and the human Church, initially in the open, and then gradually going underground. Various false and real country tales began to replace the real Demon Hunting wars. Ordinary people could no longer witness those dark and powerful creatures in reality. And in the end, the last vampire nobles and werewolves, wizards, witches, demons, and spirits were completely eliminated. People could only see these absurd stories in crudely printed pamphlets and handwritten copies. With the roar of steam boilers, the era of the Otherlings officially ended.

Even a centipede dies but never falls down, "Otherlings" as a huge shadow entrenched in human civilization, struggled stubbornly for hundreds of years after the end of the mythological era before slowly withdrawing from the stage of history.

Bluechette was exceptionally familiar with these histories. He told these stories to Lily with great enthusiasm, and finally concluded with a sigh, returning to his previous slightly silent state.

Hao Ren had never heard Vivian say these things in such detail!

It was not the vampire girl's fault. Who told her to be forgetful?

Probably not all werewolves are as easy to communicate with as these two elders. Vivian always talked about the werewolves' savage nature with a firm tone, so Hao Ren could believe that most werewolves might not be so calm and wise. However, since the Aibon family sent people to negotiate with the "Countess Who Summons the Red Moon," they must have selected the most suitable candidates. The two elders lived up to their name of "elder," which made Hao Ren feel very fortunate.

Vivian brought a quite hearty meal for everyone.

The two Aibon elders basically watched the whole process in a dumbfounded state as the well-known vampire Countess bustled between the living room and the kitchen, deftly setting the bowls, plates, chopsticks, serving the rice and dishes, as if she had been practicing this for the past thousands of years. By the time the two old werewolves reacted, they were already presented with hearty but not extravagant home-cooked dishes. Of course, half of them were related to garlic: the last point dumbfounded the two old werewolves.

The two were sincerely convinced, and said in unison: "...The Countess Who Summons the Red Moon lives up to her name."

"Leave after this meal," Vivian said to the werewolves very directly. "We are a secluded sanctuary. You are welcome to visit, but don't stay too long."

"Ahem," Hao Ren quickly coughed to prevent the atmosphere from turning bad, then looked at the two werewolves with an apologetic smile, "Vivian is a bit blunt. Well, if you are willing to stay, I would actually welcome it..."

The two werewolves were not living for over a thousand years for nothing. They could tell at a glance that Hao Ren's polite words were a bit fake. Bluefly then happily said, "Don't be polite, aren't you afraid that we will really nod and stay?"

Hao Ren raised his chopsticks and pointed at the table: "Eat, eat..."

Dou Dou immediately received the signal to eat, jumped from the pot to the table, and started to gnaw on the chopstick specially prepared for her...

This little fellow was really well-behaved. She had also poked her head out of the pot several times when the adults were talking, but each time she only looked curiously for a while before honestly going back to continue soaking, at most occasionally tugging at Hao Ren's clothes to act spoiled, but never making a sound or making trouble, as if she knew that the adults were talking about serious matters. Hao Ren was therefore very happy, and even made up his mind to go to Yunnan to wholesale a batch of bamboo for the little fellow in a while. And the two werewolves were once again dumbfounded (they had been dumbfounded several times today). They saw the little fellow holding the chopstick and gnawing on it and couldn't remain calm: "How can a siren eat this?!"

They still thought that Dou Dou was a siren—after all, there were no genuine mermaids on Earth.

"Mutation, mutation..." Hao Ren said with a dry laugh and glossed over the topic. It would never end if he started explaining it.

While this meal was being eaten in a lively atmosphere, there was a sudden knock on the door outside.