Chapter 174: Dark Magic in the Unnatural Lake
It was dark at night, and it was time for them to sleep. Elena had swapped roles with Elysia for a moment when they met the soft bed.
Evelyn lay quietly and peacefully in her room with her best friend, the one that made her accustomed to sleeping together. She exhaled softly right beside Elysia in her deep sleep.
Elysia opened her eyes and glanced to her side to make sure the girl sleeping beside her was fast asleep. Slowly and gently, she lifted Evelyn"s delicate arm that lay on her tummy, then quickly replaced herself with the reliable cuddle doll.
"Phew..." Elysia sighed inwardly, followed by smoothing out her hair.
Just one step away from the bed, Evelyn suddenly moved a little to change her sleeping position to a more comfortable one and hugged the cuddle doll tighter.
"Ely..."
Evelyn muttered in her sleep, and it made Elysia froze for a moment in surprise.
She turned to check once more. Evelyn was still fast asleep.
"Phew... My heart probably stopped earlier for a micro fraction of a second..." Elysia put her hand on her chest, relieved it was just a false alarm.
If Evelyn did wake up, maybe the toilet was the only excuse she could use when the question arose.
"Hehe... You can use that, Ely. Fortunately, Evelyn was still asleep and only delirious in her sleep. Hmm, it looks like you are present in this girl"s dream. Ufufu... What does she dream about you, I wonder." Elena put both hands to her cheeks, chirping in her sweet voice to tease Elysia.
"Um... Maybe, hanging out or playing together?" Elysia went beside Evelyn. She used her soothing magic to put her friend to sleep more comfortably and wouldn"t wake up all night long until she returned.
"Ara~ What kind of play does she do with you in her dream, hmm? She said your name while hugging her cuddle doll tightly, hehe..." Elena couldn"t stop there yet.
"I, I... How do I know that? Sister Elena, the more days go by, the more naughty you get..." Elysia didn"t need to say that. The image that had appeared in Elena"s mind had already been conveyed to her.
"Huh? Am I naughty? Mhm, that"s wrong, Ely. You said it, and I wondered, but it"s you who thought it and concluded it. So, it was you who was naughty hehe..." Elena giggled softly. She had just turned things around.
"Eh? That is me? How did it happen? Uuh... It"s all because of you, Sister Elena. Earlier, you taught me something improper..." Elysia blinked in surprise, though she didn"t really believe it.
"Hehe... You"ll get used to it, Ely." Elena comforted her sweet little sister.
"Really, where have you learned it all... I never knew I had approached such knowledge..."
"You won"t know, I know what"s around you, and that"s not all you have to know at the time. You weren"t really interested in women and a lot of other things too... You were still focused on your business, and you still lacked the experience to know the wider world around you..." Elena brushed that off with facts she knew.
"Ah, it reminds me... The fate of my poor spirit, helplessly treated by the naughty Sister Elena... Apart from styling my hair, what have you done to my helpless spirit, hmm?" Elysia smirked, countering with a hunch of facts she couldn"t check every time.
"Of course a lot. Ahem! Of course, I treat your delicate spirit with utmost care. You don"t need to worry, Ely." Elena diverted the topic. She evaded by swerving the wheel.
"Really?" Elysia cornered the guilty.
"Just this and that. Just out of curiosity... I didn"t do anything weird." Elena tried to defend herself with a little blush. She couldn"t keep secrets or lie to Elysia and vice versa, just because of their comprehensive spirit connection.
Elysia just shrugged her shoulders after that. She got Elena"s confession, and she felt happy to retaliate by making the teaser girl blush. Then, she approached the sofa, to the white cat who was lying comfortably there.
Vanessa opened her eyes to see her master squatting right in front of the sofa. They stared at each other for a moment.
"Vann, you seem sleepy. Tonight I"m out for a moment to meet Aivlys in Rosemoor City. You can continue your sleep. I"ll be right back. I just need to talk about a few things, ask how to check Swype, and go home." Elysia stroked the bottom of Vanessa"s chin gently.
"Purr... Just a moment, master? If you want me to stay, then I"ll stay. However, please install an energy barrier in this room." As a good cat, Vanessa complied.
"Okay, I"ll put that up when I get out. Sweet dreams, Vann." Elysia nodded slightly. She understood the barrier was meant to prevent energy from escaping from this room and prevent intruders other than herself.
"Please be careful on your way, master." Vanessa did not forget to convey her concern just before her master left.
"Thank you, Vann. I"ll be right back, good night." Elysia slightly waved her hand with a smile when she just walked out of the window.
The moment after, an invisible energy barrier was installed in Evelyn"s room. After making sure everything was perfect, Elysia immediately left there, complete with her invisible magic.
While the white cat was looking for a comfortable position for her to lie down to sleep. But somehow, all of a sudden, there was an uncomfortable feeling that came. An instinct that somehow wanted to tell her not to leave her master to go alone.
Vanessa didn"t fully understand her spirit bond, the absolute lifelong bond that had bound her to her master. Even so, she fell asleep afterward, right after she delivered a prayer to her master silently.
A few moments later, Elysia was already floating high in the sky with a bright moon and filled with many flickering stars.
She used her magic periodically to get to the destination at an unbelievably fast speed. It was like blinking, and she had already traveled thousands of kilometers.
After using her light speed magic to jump from place to place in the right direction, Elysia was already above Avrora Forest once again.
Something that caught her attention as soon as she arrived right above the giant lake was formed due to her untrained magic.
"Huh? Why are there so many people guarding that unnatural lake? Has something happened there?" Elysia muttered questioningly in her mind.
"Ufufu... You bestowed a name for the lake you created with your magic by the name of an unnatural lake, Ely?"
"Ah, uhh, well... The lake doesn"t have a name, you see, so..." Elysia twiddled her fingers together.
"Hehe… Well, there"s no point in guessing while floating in the sky if you want to know more. Lower your alt.i.tude, and we will eavesdrop on some secret conversation~" Elena wagged her hand for attention and hummed to get back to the topic of concern.
Not waiting for another second, Elysia immediately drew near the mult.i.tude of people around the giant, unnamed lake.
It was clear that there were many groups of people on guard there. The group of people wearing white-gold Holy Knight armor, the group of people wearing the varied silver armor typical of the Knights a.s.sociation, and even people from the Mage"s a.s.sociation!
"Oh, wow... What happened here on one day off this weekend, hmm... I"ve seen there are three major groups here... Looks like they"re quite serious..." Elysia was amazed at all of them.
"There, there, and there are Holy Knights. Then the one over there must be the knights from the Knight a.s.sociation. Then those mages must be the Mage a.s.sociation. Ah! Ely, there are Aeddoterra Kingdom knights too! Yes, looks like what just happened here was quite serious. We"re eavesdropping, come on, come on." Elena pointed here and there to the people who were around the lake, then cheered like an impatient child.
Elysia nodded lightly. She hovered a little closer and stopped when several of the targets had entered her advanced perception radius at two hundred meters.
She went from one group to another to find out what had just happened around this lake. She only took a few minutes to find out from several people chatting casually with one another.
A conclusion could be drawn. Around this lake was traced some of the Dark Magic fluctuations that shouldn"t exist on the Human Continent. This suspicious matter from Devil Race alarmed the troops who were actually guarding the forest border around the Holy Central Region.
Due to the astonishing and unnatural phenomenon that swept through this entire forest last week, this forest had been guarded by many parties from various forces on the Human Continent.
Elysia and Elena just found out about it. They breathed a sigh of relief, grateful that they had not been caught while infiltrating this forest that night.
They were also relieved to have erased any evidence that might lead to Elysia and Vanessa. Erasing the memories of the Golden Tiger was the right choice.
"Eh? That"s the princ.i.p.al of our academy, right? What"s he doing here in that fierce battle armor?" Elysia blinked her eyes repeatedly, afraid she was mistaking someone.