Chapter 1020 Are You Sure It’s A Rat?
Lith was walking deep in the dungeon with Mayzin and Sylvia, searching through every nook and cranny of it for the treasure.
Being a Supreme Rank Dragon, Mayzin"s aura scared the beasts and kept them away.
With them out of the picture, this dungeon pretty much had nothing. At least those beasts provided beast cores that could be used in potions, artifacts, and arrays.
"Aunt, I seriously think that we shouldâ€""
Squeakâ€"!
Lith stomped on something squishy again. Turning to look down down, it was a rat. A pudgy, hairy rat, about the size of a handball.
"Why are there so many rats here?"
This was the second time he accidentally stepped on one.
The rat squealed and aggressively struggled to move away as its life slowly slipped away due to Lith"s foot on it.
Having no interest in killing it, Lith stepped away and the pudgy rat ran as fast it could, only to suddenly crash on a wall.
It shook its head, then made a run in Lith"s opposite direction.
"Aunt."
Lith called out as he neared Mayzin.
Mayzin, digging the ground in a squatted position, turned to look at Lith as he called her.
"Aunt, I think we should..."
Lith stopped speaking as Mayzin squinted her eyes and glared at him. It seemed that she figured out what he was going to say and didn"t want to hear it.
"...we should look and search some more, yes."
Lith got to work and gave up the idea of convincing her to leave.
Mayzin went back to digging the ground.
"Have you found any clues, aunt?"
"No. But if there"s anything that feels out of place, that should be a good enough clue."
Lith wondered what out of place things could there be in this dungeon.
Time was slowly ticking and he had to be there to help Gunther. Without him, those guys might not be able to formulate a proper plan.
"Aunt, about the quest you gaveâ€""
Squeakâ€"!
"..."
Lith frowned and turned around. Why was he hearing a rat"s squeak so much?
"Your Highness, please take a look at this."
Sylvia walked towards Lith, holding a fat rat by its tail that was squealing on top of its lungs and trying to look for ground.
"This rat again?"
Now things were suspicious. One time was understandable. Two times were also somewhat understandable, but thrice?
Lith stood up and went near Sylvia.
"Your Highness..." Sylvia said in a monotonous tone. "What should I do about this? Kill it?"
ƈοm "What"s with the rat? How did you find it?"
"It was near our vicinity, b.u.mping its head on walls and trying to escape. I caught it when it b.u.mped into me."
"..."
Was this rat dumb? Did it have no survival instincts? Could it not feel his aunt"s explosive Dragon aura or was this rat so weak that it couldn"t actually perceive the aura?
"This rat sure is suspicious." Lith said.
Sylvia nodded. "Yes. It"s also not actually a rat."
"What?"
"Oh, you guys found something?" Mayzin"s gaze fell on them as she heard the commotion.
She dusted her hands and appeared beside Lith.
"Oh? A Druid?" Mayzin immediately said as she watched the squealing rat.
As if being caught red-handed, the rat"s hair stood on their ends and it squealed and struggled to escape even harder.
"A Druid?" Lith was surprised hearing this word. "That"s a Druid?"
"Yes. A strange one at that. I can"t feel any aura from it." Mayzin said and took the rat from Sylvia, examining it.
"What happened to you? Why are you not showing your true form even after being caught?" Mayzin asked.
The rat squealed harder and tried to escape, making Mayzin knit her brows.
"Such a strong level of shape shifting. It looks nothing but an ordinary rat to me."
"Are you sure it"s a Druid and not some ordinary rat?"
It looked like a rat, squeaked like a rat, and also smelled like a rat. Wasn"t it really just a rat?
"No." Mayzin said. "It"s not a rat. I need to figure out a way to cancel its shape shifting spell."
"Lady Mayzin, let me."
Sylvia grabbed the rat back from Mayzin and began drawing something strange on its body with her index finger"s sharp nail.
Soon, a bright green light shimmered in the dark dungeon from the rat and Lith could feel elemental energy fluctuations near him.
Sylvia let go of the rat, and as the light diminished, a pet.i.te ginger-haired girl with small u-shaped horns present horizontally on her head came into light.
"A-a-a-ah…."
The girl was fl.u.s.tered and immediately tried to run, but b.u.mped her head into a wall.
"Ow!"
Still, clutching her head, she tried to run away once more, but b.u.mped her head into a wall again.
Lith and Mayzin looked at her with a dumbfounded gaze while Sylvia had a no change on her neutral face.
"A-ah… ex..it… exit…"
The girl ran again and this time, she b.u.mped into Lith.
Instead of letting her wander around like a headless chicken, Lith held her shoulder and asked, "Why are you running?"
"Aaahhh!" The girl was startled and shrieked in fright.
"Calm down, will you?"
"Ahhhh!" The girl shouted and tried to run again, but Lith chopped at her neck with the side of palm and knocked her unconscious.
The girl"s body limped on Lith"s hand like a steamed spring onion and he said out loud "What"s wrong with her?"
"Hm…" Mayzin had some idea in regards to it. "Let me see."
Mayzin raised the girl"s head and opened her eyes to see into them.
She saw dull green pupils in her eyes. They lacked vibrancy and the saturation of green was so less that her pupils appeared almost gray.
"Yup. As I thought." Mayzin said and let the girl go.
"What thought?" Lith asked.
Mayzin pointed at the girl and said, "She"s blind."
"Oh…"
Lith finally realized why the girl was running around like that.
"Blind?" Sylvia begged to differ. "A Druid of that level can be blind too?"
"It"s surprising, but yes. That is indeed the case."
Lith wondered what the conversation was going on about. He didn"t know much about Druids other than the fact that they did exist and were a race of people close to nature and could shape shift into any animal, beast, or plant.
"Is this girl"s level high?" Lith asked the two.
"Yes. She should be equivalent to a Supreme Rank." Mayzin said without batting an eye.
"What!?"
It was a bit of a shock knowing this girl was a Supreme Rank and couldn"t even see. Didn"t Supreme Ranks have abilities to perceive and "see" even without eyes?
Heck, let alone them, even Lith could spread out his spiritual sense and look at things even without his eyes.
Mayzin knew what was going on in his head. She pointed at the girl and replied, "That Druid"s cultivation is suppressed, if I am not wrong. When she was in a rat form, her abilities strictly adhered to how a common rat would be. After she was taken out of it, I suppose Sylvia might"ve put a seal on her, hence she was still not able to see."
"Lady Mayzin is right." Sylvia nodded in affirmation.
"Oh."
Now it made sense.
"But why"s she blind?"
"Wake her up and ask yourself." Mayzin said and yawned. She felt like having a short power nap again after so much searching.
"Now that we found the lead to the treasure, should we leave the dungeon? I suppose the girl will be calm once she finds herself in a better environment." Lith suggested.
"Works." Mayzin said nonchalantly.
Lith left the dungeon with her, Sylvia, and the Druid girl. They went to a comfortable Inn in Semohr and had the girl rest on a cozy bed.
As for Nika and her aunt, Lith left them to their own company. They might have a lot to talk about, and would do a reunion with their family. He didn"t want to meddle with that.
She would settle down after a day or two, so there was some time before meeting her.
Lith, Mayzin, and Sylvia sat on wooden stools by the bedside and watched the sleeping Druid girl.
Lith and Sylvia sipped on tea while watching her and Mayzin yawned again.
If there was nothing stimulating happening, she would be bored and feel sleepy.
When she was with Lucifer, she would get annoyed by her constant hara.s.sment and would need to be on guard at all times. This kept her awake.
While managing her society"s administration and getting busy doing work, she would also be awake and not feel the least bit sleepy.
However, right now, she had nothing to do as her role was only to watch over Lith and see him finish his quest.
Even though Lith was about as shameless as Lucifer or even worse than her, Mayzin knew he wouldn"t hara.s.s her like that stupid otaku. There was nothing to worry about, so her guard was down and there was no stimulation.
There was a chance that Lith might kiss her again, but that didn"t matter.
Yes, she was aware of the head kisses she got from Lith and also the warm caresses when she almost woke up a few times.
It reminded her of the warmth she got from her mother and kind of odd. Mayzin didn"t hate it and wouldn"t mind letting Lith do that again.
Maybe… this shameless guy might kiss her on the lips and take cheap advantage, but that"s about it. She had faith that he wouldn"t go further than that.
Mayzin thus didn"t mind.
Unknowingly, she was getting used to Lith"s company and wasn"t even aware that she was fine with him kissing her then lips. If Lith asked her about it when she was awake, she would surely beat him up.
Mayzin"s eyelids drooped as her thoughts blanked out. In a few seconds, her head fell on Lith"s shoulder and she dozed off.
Lith looked at her with visible surprise and thought, "She slept again?"