6kv Chapter 66 Olivia the Housekeeper
Chapter 66 Olivia the Housekeeper
Chapter 66 Olivia the Housekeeper (2-in-1 4k)
The night was as thick as ink, and the frigid wind howled mournfully across the steel shell of the mobile city.
Only a few hours remain until Haji's final assault in "Winter of the Blades".
The atmosphere around the huge campfire in the center of the camp was so oppressive it was almost palpable. The flames flickered wildly in the cold wind, reflecting the uncertain expressions on everyone's faces.
Victor sat on the wooden crate, the molten longsword in his hand having been sharpened no less than fifty times.
The "scratching" sound of the whetstone scraping against the blade was particularly jarring in the deathly still air.
Even Lyra, who had already foreseen victory, seemed to be affected by this inexplicable atmosphere.
Holding the cup, he kept taking small sips of water.
Even Anna, who is usually the most composed, seemed somewhat restless at this moment.
The pale flames on her body would occasionally burst out uncontrollably, melting deep pits in the surrounding snow, which would then quickly freeze into an even harder ice shell.
Everyone was on edge.
This was not only because of the legion they were about to face, but also because of the terrifying pressure emanating from the fourth-tier powerhouse looming overhead.
That's a qualitative difference.
There was one exception.
Olivia was sitting at a wooden table that had been temporarily moved to the side of a campfire, flipping through a thick inventory of supplies by the firelight.
She looked as calm as if she were having afternoon tea in her own backyard.
His fingers moved steadily across the paper, occasionally picking up a quill pen to put a checkmark next to a number.
Her signature long green hair was casually tied back, revealing her slender, fair neck.
"You don't seem to be in a hurry at all."
Lorraine's voice rang out above her head.
Olivia paused, pen in hand, and looked up. Her eyes, as green as those deep in the forest, reflected the flickering firelight, yet there was not a trace of fear.
She closed the list, a slight upturn at the corners of her mouth revealing an extremely mature and charming smile.
"Is being in a hurry even helpful?"
She stood up, patted her long dress which seemed a bit thin at the moment, and picked up the heavy fur coat hanging on the back of the chair.
"Instead of watching Victor sharpen his sword here, why don't you come with me somewhere?"
Lorraine raised an eyebrow.
"Where to?"
"High place."
Olivia didn't explain, but simply reached out and took Lorraine's arm naturally.
Her body was soft and carried a faint, fresh plant fragrance. In this mobile city filled with the smells of engine oil and rust, she seemed out of place, yet strangely reassuring.
Lorraine did not refuse.
The two walked through the busy repair area and left the city. A group of engineering golems were holding welding torches and carrying out the final reinforcement of the support pillars on the inner side of the city wall.
Blue arcs of electricity crackled in the darkness, and sparks flew as they landed at the feet of the two men.
Ohm, now reduced to just a brain, is intently monitoring the data streams at every defense node through cameras scattered throughout the city.
The two of them climbed the rusty spiral staircase.
The higher you go, the stronger the wind gets.
When they finally stood on the highest observation platform of this level, the gale almost blew them away.
Olivia tightened her coat, almost pressing herself against Lorraine.
She stretched out her gloved hand and pointed to the dark snowfield in the distance.
"look."
Look in the direction she's pointing.
Five kilometers away from the mobile city, on the glacier, countless sparks of fire merged into a crimson sea.
That was Haji's military camp.
The camps stretched for miles, the crowds of people were dense, and the siege equipment exuded a chilling aura even in the darkness.
Especially the huge main tent in the center of the military camp, an undisguised aura of brutality soared into the sky, even stirring up the clouds above and making the falling snowflakes sharp as if they were being cut by a knife.
That was a demonstration.
It was telling Lorraine that the moment of catastrophe that begins tomorrow would be the day this place would be crushed.
Are you scared?
Lorraine stared at the sea of fire, her voice revealing neither joy nor anger.
"If it were before, I probably would have wet my pants in fear."
Olivia chuckled softly, her voice slightly broken by the wind, yet still clear. "You know, even just to get the grain back to the city, I used to have to put on a smiling face for that fat, big-eared grain merchant."
She turned around, her back to the enemy's vast army, her hands resting on the cold railing, and looked up at Lorraine.
In those green eyes, there was no war, only starlight.
"But now, I'm thinking about other things."
"What are you thinking about?"
"I'm thinking, after this battle is over and the snow melts, what should I plant?"
Olivia squinted, as if she were seeing something that didn't exist through the raging snowstorm.
"The soil in Frostwolf City is actually quite good, it's just too cold. But if Anna's Flame Altar were to enchant the magic farmland, combined with Anna's temperature control abilities, I could try planting the newly cultivated Winter's Bite II wheat."
She became more and more excited as she spoke, gesturing with her hands in the air.
"We don't need much land; we'll just cultivate five hundred acres right below the city walls. The wheat there has golden-red ears and very strong stalks that aren't afraid of the wind. When it's harvest season, the wind blows and it looks like a sea of fire."
"That's really beautiful."
"Then we won't have to eat those rock-hard black breads anymore. I'm going to build a huge mill to grind the finest white flour. Every morning, the whole territory will smell the aroma of freshly baked bread."
Olivia's voice was soft, yet it possessed a strange penetrating power.
On this night filled with lurking danger, the scene she depicted felt even more solid than the steel fortress behind her.
Lorraine looked at her quietly.
This woman, who once ate human blood cakes during a famine, has an obsession with food ingrained in her very bones.
But this obsession has now become an extremely powerful spiritual force.
"You seem to have already assumed we'll win."
Lorraine shattered her illusions, her tone remaining calm, "The opponent is a fourth-tier powerhouse, a confidant of the Winter Lord. Even if we defeat Haji, there's an even more terrifying Winter Lord waiting behind us."
"Isn't it a bit too early to talk about going back to Frostwolf City to farm?"
this is the truth.
They were walking a tightrope, with a bottomless abyss beneath their feet and a mountain of knives and a sea of fire ahead.
Olivia was taken aback.
She withdrew her gesturing hand, turned around, and faced Lorraine again.
The wind tousled her long hair, and a few strands clung to her lips.
She raised her hand and pushed it aside, her movements as elegant as a true aristocrat.
"Lorraine".
She suddenly called his name.
"Um?"
Do you think I'm a fool?
Not too smart, but definitely not stupid.
"That's right."
Olivia took a step forward, and the two were so close that they could hear each other breathing.
"It's precisely because I'm not stupid that I dare to think like that."
She reached out and gently stroked Lorraine's shirt.
"You know what? Before I met you, I thought the world was a giant meat grinder. People like us either get eaten or become cannibals."
"But you're different."
Olivia's eyes became hazy and feverish.
"You turned Anna from a little maid who could only cry into a witch who could burn everything; you turned that unlucky Lyra into a symbol of good fortune; you even made this pile of scrap metal that had been dead for hundreds of years stand up again."
She pointed to the moving city shaking beneath her feet.
"In your world, common sense is something that's meant to be broken."
"So what if it's fourth tier? So what if it's the Winter Lord?"
Olivia tiptoed, her mature and beautiful face close to Lorraine's, her breath sweet as orchids.
"If you take the lead, I'll believe you even if you say you want to build a villa on the moon, let alone plant wheat."
This is a blind, almost religious trust.
It wasn't because Lorraine made many promises to her, but because Lorraine used one impossible victory after another to shatter the humility and fear she had built up over decades.
Lorraine looked at her.
This woman was more resilient than he had imagined.
"You think so highly of me?"
Lorraine reached out and put his arm around her waist; the touch was warm and soft.
"It's not that I think highly of you."
Olivia shook her head, her eyes gleaming with a light that seemed to gleam with ambition.
"I'm sticking with you."
"My alchemy skills and so-called knowledge, which I used to be so proud of, are a joke in the face of your miracles."
She chuckled self-deprecatingly and gently rested her head against Lorraine's chest.
"Right now, besides my farming skills, there's not much else I can do to help you. But I just feel that with you, I can live a decent life."
The cold wind still howled.
In the distance, the faint sound of Haji's war drums could be heard, deep and muffled like thunder.
But on this small observation deck, on the eve of death and bloodshed, the two men's heartbeats strangely overlapped.
Lorraine's fingers gently caressed the smooth fabric of Olivia's back.
He could feel the warmth emanating from the body in his arms, and the slightly rapid beating of its heart.
You underestimate yourself.
Lorraine's voice sounded somewhat low in the wind.
"What?"
Olivia looked up at him, somewhat puzzled.
"I'm telling you, you underestimate yourself."
Lorraine released her hand and pulled the collar of her coat tighter to block the cold wind from getting in.
"You think you're inferior to Anna?"
"She's a third-tier witch, and a rare combat type at that."
Olivia curled her lip, a hint of sourness in her voice, "With just one order from you, she can burn a mountain down. And me? All I can do is grow a few potatoes and produce some vines."
"So you think you're inferior to Lyra?"
"That little girl is a bit timid, but her luck is frightening. She can find magic crystals just by going out, and enemy arrows always seem to fly around her."
Olivia sighed. "Compared to them, I'm really not that useful."
This has always been a knot in her heart.
In this wasteland world where strength reigns supreme, support abilities are always looked down upon.
Even though she had awakened the characteristics of "Mother of Abundance", she still subconsciously felt that she was a dispensable accessory.
Lorraine shook her head.
He turned to look at the enormous moving city beneath his feet.
"Look down here."
Lorraine pointed to the areas that were still operating in an orderly manner in the darkness.
"Aside from fighting and eating, Anna can't even count properly. If you put her in charge of supplies, she could eat up a month's worth of rations in three days."
"Although Lyra is lucky, she is too soft-hearted. If she is really put in charge of those rude mercenaries and survivors after returning to Frostwolf City, she will be bullied to tears within half a day."
Lorraine turned her head and stared intently at Olivia.
"But you're different."
"Although our camp only has so few people and puppets, someone still needs to keep track of and manage our daily food, drink, and other needs, as well as the ammunition, fuel, and spare parts we consume every day."
"Without you, this place would have been in complete chaos long ago."
"We have enough to eat, Victor's armor is always spotless, and Anna has clean clothes to wear, all because you're there to support us."
"That's called logistics."
Lorraine emphasized her words.
"In a real war, the fighters may be madmen or brutes, but the ones who win the war are always the smart people in charge of logistics."
"I have many knives that can kill. But you are the only one who can help me manage this household."
Olivia was stunned.
She stared blankly at Lorraine, her eyes slightly reddening.
She had expected Lorraine to comfort her or simply compliment her on her beauty. But she never imagined that Lorraine would be so calculating and value her so highly.
That feeling of being needed and recognized made her heart flutter more than any sweet words.
"How do you manage this household?"
She murmured to herself, savoring the word.
"That's right."
Lorraine's lips curled into a mischievous smile as he reached out and pinched her slightly flushed cheek.
"If we manage to return to Frostwolf City alive and cultivate that wheat field, our territory will expand tenfold, and our population a hundredfold. You'll have even more to manage then."
"At that time, I hope you will still be my head housekeeper."
"Or rather—a housekeeper?"
Lorraine deliberately dragged out the last three words, conveying a distinct sense of teasing and ambiguity.
Olivia's face flushed bright red instantly.
That mature and composed facade crumbled instantly, revealing her back to that shy and flustered little woman.
"Who—who's your housekeeper?!"
She raised her fist in embarrassment and gave Lorraine a light tap on the chest.
"You're making fun of me again! I haven't even settled the score with you for burying me in the ground last time!"
Although she said that, the joy in her eyes was practically overflowing.
"dislike?"
Lorraine grabbed her fist and pulled her closer.
Their bodies were pressed tightly together, fitting perfectly.
Olivia stopped struggling.
She looked up, her gaze unfocused as she looked at the man before her.
Handsome, cold, and powerful, yet at certain moments, he provided her with the sense of security she craved.
"like."
Her voice was as soft as a mosquito's buzz, yet it was incredibly firm.
"I like anything you give me."
The atmosphere instantly became thick and sticky.
The surrounding cold wind seemed to have disappeared, leaving only the sound of each other's rapid breathing and the faint scent of hormones in the air.
"Then don't stand in the wind."
Lorraine lowered his head, his lips brushing against her earlobe, causing her to shudder slightly.
"Let's go back inside. I want to discuss with you in detail the specific responsibilities of a 'housekeeper.'"
Olivia's body went limp, and she almost clung to Lorraine.
She bit her lower lip, her eyes filled with a hint of anticipation and a seductive glint.
"Then—could I get an advance on my salary?"