Chapter 34: Chapter 034: Deaf and Mute Girl?
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Huh… Chinese? Tibetan?” Letting out a breath, Richard began testing the Sino-Tibetan language series, then noticed that when he pronounced the word “Chinese” in standard Mandarin, Pandora blinked, furrowed her brows, and showed slight emotional fluctuations.
Richard immediately spoke more Chinese vocabulary for testing, but Pandora reverted to her usual self again. It seemed as though her previous reaction wasn’t due to understanding Chinese, but being curious… about how long Richard could keep talking.
In response, Richard pressed his lips together, testing the Afro-Asiatic language series again, “Arabic?”
Testing the Austronesian language series, “Javanese?”
Testing the Niger-Congo language series, “Lolofo…”
Finally, Richard tested all the languages he knew and found Pandora maintaining her original pose without moving, her brows slightly raised.
By now, there were only two possibilities left.
The first possibility was that the language Pandora knew was a lost or unknown language, such as the likes of ‘Indo-European-Romance-Eastern branch-Dalmatian’ which had vanished, or the legendary Dragon Tongue, which wasn’t any known human language.
In that case, communication would naturally be impossible.
The second possibility was that Pandora might not have the ability to master language at all; in plain terms, she could be a deaf-mute girl. Because she couldn’t hear sounds or make sounds, vocal language was meaningless to her. In this instance, compared to the previous possibility, there remained one last mode of communication—sign language.
Richard looked at Pandora, pointing at her with his right hand, then withdrawing it and forming a fist, leaving only his thumb out.
This was the simplest and most universally strong sign in sign language: “Hello!”
In fact, even people who didn’t understand sign language could grasp the meaning; however, Pandora clearly couldn’t, as she stood there, slightly tilting her head and continued looking with a cold and peculiar gaze.
“Hmm…” With that, Richard thought for a moment and began changing gestures.
Sign language uses hand gestures to mimic actions; depending on the change, it simulates images or sound syllables to form a language with specific meanings or words. Actually, sign language also has different categories, meaning even among deaf-mutes, communication could potentially encounter language barriers. Fortunately, Richard knew a few different forms of sign language expression.
However, after testing them all, he found that Pandora still showed no reaction.
“Alright… it seems no communication is possible,” Richard gave up trying, shaking his head, and grabbed the rabbit he was roasting beside him.
Pandora watched beside him, possibly getting tired after a while, sitting on a stone nearby with her white arms supporting her chin as she continued watching.
Watching Richard roast the wild rabbit, eating it, and cleaning up afterward…
Pandora stood up, glanced at Richard, and walked into the castle without saying a word.
Richard watched as Pandora entered, turned his head to glance at the nearby Dragon Cave, then looked at the open space on the mountaintop, pondering a question: where should he spend the night?
He was not someone very particular about enjoyment or luxury. Previously, as a prince, directing maids, craftsmen, and soldiers to do things was a privilege and certain rules bestowed by his status. After all, the current world was a medieval-style feudal world. If, using his prince identity, one went to express concern to a bunch of maids, craftsmen, and soldiers, it would likely not move them; more likely, it would scare them.
It is necessary to do things corresponding to one’s identity.
However, after discarding his identity, he knew clearly what kind of person he was. All necessities for life, if necessary, could be lowered to the minimum standard needed to maintain life, as long as they didn’t affect the achievement of his goals.
Of course, having said that, if there were choices available, one would naturally choose the most beneficial option.
The current choices were: resting on the flat ground under the mountain wind; entering the Dragon Cave to rest on stones with Gregory, or entering the Black Castle to find a suitable room for a rest.
So which one should he choose?
Richard didn’t think long, picking up his heavy suitcase and walking into the Black Castle.
Inside the Black Castle, it was quiet. Upon entry, the first sight was a spacious hall. A huge crystal chandelier hung above the hall, with many oil paintings on the walls and several statues in the corners.
The hall had corridors on both sides and at the back, connected to various rooms of different sizes and purposes, such as dining rooms, bedrooms, storage rooms, kitchens, and so on.
In the corner of the hall, there was also a spiral wooden staircase leading up to the second floor.
Richard, carrying his suitcase, thought for a moment, turned left into a corridor, and chose a room at random to enter. Using wind magic, he drove the airflow, simply clearing the dust, cleaning the room, and then put his suitcase down.
There were no sheets on the bed in the corner, just the wooden boards. Richard didn’t mind, sitting cross-legged, and began to meditate.
So far, after long-term assistance using anesthetics, electricity, and magnetic fields, Richard could already detach from the assistance to meditate and open his magic source and melt mana.
This was similar to learning how to ride a bike at the start by using training wheels, then removing them once learned.
Richard considered that if his method were to be promoted, it would allow many ordinary people the chance to become wizards. If controlled properly, it could even birth an army of wizards sweeping the entire world. Of course, it was just a thought.
Most importantly, it was to figure out what exactly was going on in this world.
And to figure out the world, the current task was to enhance power through meditation.
Thinking this, Richard sat quietly cross-legged on the wooden bed.
“So quiet?” At the entrance of the Dragon Cave, Gregory, who transformed into a burly man with a sallow complexion, poked his head out, gazing at the Black Castle for a long time, then listened for a while with a puzzled expression, talking to himself, “Hmm? No sound? That kid wasn’t thrown out by Pandora? This… doesn’t make sense…”
After a long while, Gregory retracted his head, returned to the Dragon Cave, showing undisguised disappointment, “In that case, it’s quite disappointing, I thought that kid would get some lesson, making him endlessly bother me…”
On the second floor of the Black Castle, in a small room.
Pandora, dressed in purple, hugged her knees, curled up in a corner. Her large eyes shimmered in the darkness, pondering unknown thoughts.
Suddenly sensing something, she abruptly turned her head to a certain position below, her gaze suddenly becoming somewhat dangerous.