As everyone knows, creatures with paw pads are masters of stealth.
After Sylveon and Miltank parted ways, Sylveon silently chased in the direction where the footsteps disappeared.
Having finally managed to go out once, it naturally didn't want to return in such a sorry state.
If it were mentioned later that the dignified Sylveon's first night tour ended in fleeing from a mere golem with its head in its hands and returning empty-handed, how shameful would that be?
Therefore, the footsteps that suddenly appeared at this moment became particularly important.
Late at night, if not a Magic Guide Spirit, who would be wandering around so late?
Sylveon had a hunch.
If it chased after those footsteps, it might be able to get some useful information.
When it returned home and shared this information, it would be the dignified Detective Sylveon!
Not only would it save face.
But it could also receive the Master's praise!
Killing two birds with one stone!
Simply a massive profit!
...
Late at night, the moon was bright, and the cold wind was biting.
Miltank managed to return to the Noble House tower just before the midnight curfew, hurriedly pushing the door open under the gaze of the Feathered Serpent Golem.
The automatically lighting magic lamps startled it again.
But the fireplace that subsequently lit up made it reveal a look of joy.
After warming itself by the fire for a while, Miltank rubbed out a bottle of milk and drank it, then returned to the dormitory comfortably.
It unlocked the door, entered the room, and the warmth that assaulted its face made it tear up slightly.
Returning to the embrace of [Paradise], it finally felt a sense of security.
"Moo."
I wonder how Sylveon is doing?
...
Inside the castle.
Relying on its precognitive awareness and keen hearing, Sylveon had gradually caught up to the footsteps.
But just as it approached, it suddenly felt a trace of heart palpitations, so it abruptly stopped and jumped into a corner.
Immediately after, a small-sized golem suddenly appeared, spinning as it passed in front of it, almost making it break out in a cold sweat.
"Phew..."
Once the golem disappeared, Sylveon breathed a sigh of relief and continued tracking forward.
But not long after, it discovered that there were more and more golems around.
Later on, there was a golem guarding every stretch of the road, as if guarding some secret treasure.
Sylveon couldn't help but recall a picture book it had seen before, and a trace of excitement immediately appeared in its eyes.
If there really was a treasure...
"Da da da."
The footsteps were getting closer and clearer.
When it came to a corner, it was less than a few meters away from the footsteps.
Sylveon pressed tightly against the wall, suppressing the excitement of revealing the mystery, and abruptly poked its head out.
"Mi?"
Doubt suddenly arose in its heart.
Clearly, the sound was right in front of it, but there was nothing in its field of vision.
Where is the person?
Just as this thought flashed by.
A strong sense of crisis suddenly shrouded its heart.
Sylveon wanted to shrink its head back, but it was too late.
A small golem walked out from the other end of the passage, abruptly twisting its head to look at it, the gem in the center of its brow flashing rapidly!
"Da da da."
The golem's alarm had not yet sounded.
Sylveon heard the footsteps again.
And those footsteps were right in front of it!
It suddenly realized.
No wonder it hadn't triggered any golems while following all the way; the other party had been maintaining a state of invisibility!
Golems guarding the treasure.
An invisible thief.
And an innocent intruder.
Sylveon instantly imagined a whole series of stories.
Feeling that the situation was bad, it decided promptly to give up the investigation, turned around, and ran wildly back the way it came.
"Beep beep beep—"
But the small golem's alarm sounded urgently.
The surrounding patrolling golems reacted immediately, quickly gathering toward its location.
And that invisible "thief" dodged the golem's detection and became the beneficiary.
Sylveon had already realized that it was very likely being used...
...
The Morning Star twinkled high in the sky.
A thin layer of ice flowers appeared on the window.
Sunlight shone on it, melting it immediately.
"Drip."
Melting ice water dripped onto the balcony, creating a sound.
Dark opened his eyes in a daze, habitually groping into the bedding, and touched a familiar trace of icy coolness.
"DemiDevimon's bat wing? Hmm, how did it crawl in?"
Although slightly puzzled, Dark didn't care too much.
After getting out of bed, he walked to the small bed, pulled up the small blanket that had slipped under Miltank's belly, and then revealed a gentle smile.
But immediately after, he noticed that the other small bed next to it was empty!
"Where is Sylveon?"
Dark couldn't help but mutter.
Sylveon, who usually slept soundly beside him, was neither in the bedding nor in its own small bed at this time.
He reached out and touched the small bed; it was cold without a trace of warmth.
This made him start searching inside the dormitory.
And just as he turned around, Miltank, who had actually woken up, quietly shrank a bit further into the quilt, revealing only a pair of dark eyes!
...
Sylveon didn't come back last night.
But Miltank wasn't worried at all.
Because when Sylveon decided to track last night, it was already prepared for "mana exhaustion" and had persuaded Miltank with this.
Once the mana was exhausted, Sylveon would return to the Magic Guide Card.
It was estimated to be sleeping inside right now.
Sure enough.
Just two minutes later.
Miltank glanced and saw that after searching to no avail, Dark directly pulled out Sylveon's Magic Guide Card to check, and then began to replenish mana.
...
But it didn't notice that while Dark was replenishing mana for the Magic Guide Card, his face wasn't that good.
His current mindset was like a parent who discovered their child had sneaked out in the middle of the night to go to an internet cafe...
There was anger.
But more of it was relief.
After all, the child was found.
...
As the six-pointed star mana replenishment circle was drawn, Dark began to slowly inject mana into the Magic Guide Card.
From the card surface, one could see Sylveon sleeping soundly inside—this was basically the long-term state of Magic Guide Spirits in the Magic Guide Card.
Other people's Magic Guide Spirits were fine; they wouldn't feel bored due to staying in the Magic Guide Card for a long time.
Dark's Magic Guide Spirits, however, had gradually become unable to tolerate that feeling.
So whenever they were recalled into the Magic Guide Card, they would voluntarily hibernate.
Moreover, the hibernation state also helped reduce energy consumption.
A few minutes later.
Sylveon woke up halfway through the mana replenishment.
The continuous infusion of mana made its whole body warm, so it couldn't help but rub against the position of the finger, crying out coquettishly a few times.
Dark's expression softened slightly, and he immediately summoned it out of the Magic Guide Card.
Sylveon, having reformed its body, couldn't help but cheer and jump, throwing itself into Dark's arms with a small leap.
Dark habitually caught it, rubbed its head vigorously, and then suddenly put on a stern face, questioning: "Where did you go last night?"
He originally wanted to condemn, but Sylveon raised its head, looking proud as if asking for praise and pets.
This puzzled Dark.
"Mimimi!"
Sylveon stood on its hind legs, its front legs and ribbons gesturing desperately.
Dark... was completely confused!
He took a deep breath, only one thought flashing through his mind—literacy education needed to be accelerated!
Sylveon didn't realize the severe consequences its current behavior might trigger and continued to gesture desperately.
To figure out what exactly it was saying, Dark pulled out a letter pronunciation board from the teaching materials and let it piece things together based on pronunciation.
Although this wasn't a good method, after spending a full half-hour, Dark finally understood the meaning Sylveon wanted to express.
Of course, during the "narration," Sylveon skipped over the embarrassment of being chased by golems and emphasized its courage and wisdom in discovering the "thief" and tracking them.
When Dark asked how it returned, it simply said lightly that the milk was finished, and its mana was naturally exhausted.
Anyway, it had nothing to do with golems!
(?w?)
...
"Treasure, Guardian, Thief, Invisibility..."
Dark deliberated repeatedly on these four keywords, and after a moment, he suddenly realized.
The guardians were naturally the golems.
The location where many golems gathered must be the secret passage entrance.
And the so-called thief was obviously not a real thief, but a voyeur of the secret passage.
As for invisibility...
That wasn't any rare ability.
Any upper-year student who had learned the Magic Guide Language could easily refine an invisibility Spell Card.
In other words, there were many candidates for the "invisible" night tour.
It was impossible to lock down.
But since the opponent was hovering at the secret passage entrance, it was best to be cautious first and consider them a person with a special purpose.
From Dark's perspective, it was even more suspicious.
Dark pondered for a while and felt that this might not be a bad thing.
"Regardless of who that invisible person is, or what purpose they have."
"It just so happens that I can tell the professors about this so they can have some warning in advance."
"As for Sylveon..."
Dark walked to the small bed by the wall and reached out to pick Miltank up!
Theoretically, Dark supported the Magic Guide Spirits going out to play; otherwise, he wouldn't have prepared [Ultimate Move: Milk Drink] for Miltank.
But he completely didn't expect that with Miltank's nature, it would actually go out to fool around just after getting the Ultimate Move Card, and sneak out that very night!
"Do you have anything to say?"
Dark narrowed his eyes and stared at Miltank.
"Moo..."
Miltank couldn't help but avert its gaze.
"Forget it."
Dark figured it out himself.
He originally wanted to educate Miltank about leaving Sylveon behind and returning alone.
But thinking about it carefully, Miltank's choice was based on consideration of multiple factors, and there was actually no mistake.
As for the night tour, it wasn't really wrong either.
What needed to be reminded was nothing more than paying attention to the curfew time.
"Twelve o'clock is the curfew; don't be too late next time."
"Moo!"
Miltank nodded hurriedly.
Dark rubbed Miltank's head, then revealed a smile.
"Good job."
...
The first class on Monday morning was Professor Silf's Summoning Class.
Dark waited until after class to find Professor Silf, and then in a few words, narrated the information brought by Sylveon.
But what surprised Professor Silf wasn't just the event itself, but...
"Wait, this was encountered by your Magic Guide Spirit while out on a night tour?"
"Magic Guide Spirit, going out???"
Professor Silf couldn't help but open her mouth wide.
Dark nodded honestly: "Yes, Professor."
Professor Silf's mouth twitched slightly, and after a long while, she tightened her face again: "Anyway, I have received the matter you mentioned. I will have Professor Kazel extract relevant information from the golems. If what you said is true, I will handle it."
The matter of someone spying on the secret passage could be big or small.
But since the vampire incident, the professors had temporarily sealed the secret passage.
If the opponent's purpose was to break the seal and find that vampire whose life or death was unknown...
Then special attention was needed!
The professors were not afraid of the vampire; what they feared was that related events would affect the order of the academy.
...
Knowing that Professor Silf had taken this matter to heart, Dark returned to the classroom.
He was roughly estimating the time points when academy events might occur this semester; for example, Easter in the first half of this year would likely be a relatively critical node.
But how things would develop was not something he could speculate on out of thin air.
It was a pity he didn't have a talent for divination; otherwise, casting a divination when free could also endorse some of his "predictions."
Therefore, Little Eevee's divination study was imperative!
One must be broad-minded and resolute, for the burden is heavy and the road is long.
...
Monday's second class was Professor Kazel's Magic Guide Theory.
As soon as the class ended, Professor Kazel was called to the office by Professor Silf.
"That's the situation."
Professor Silf relayed what Dark had said.
Professor Kazel did not show surprise at the fact that a Magic Guide Spirit went out for a night tour.
He thought for a moment and asked, "What about the Principal?"
Professor Silf couldn't help but reveal a helpless expression: "You know how it is."
"Alright." Professor Kazel shrugged. "I'll go check the golems right now. How dangerous is this matter?"
Professor Silf appeared to be in deep thought: "Medea made a prophecy about this semester before taking office. I know you don't believe in prophecies, but sometimes they are indeed quite useful."
Professor Kazel habitually waved his wand and said, "You are wrong; I don't disbelieve in prophecies. It's just that the so-called prophecies of prophets are only a set future development route. From the moment they make a prophecy, the future they see is already a future of the past. Sometimes, such prophecies will instead play a misleading role."
Professor Silf: "But it cannot be denied that it also has a reference function."
Professor Kazel: "That will only produce dependency."
Professor Silf: "As long as one is cautious enough."
Professor Kazel: "From the moment you believe in the prophecy, your caution has already been blinded."
Professor Silf: "..."
Professor Kazel: "So, are you not going to tell me Medea's prophecy?"
Professor Silf: "..."
Professor Kazel shrugged: "It cannot be denied that it has a reference function."
Professor Silf couldn't help but cover her forehead: "Alright, Kazel. You have to know, Medea never reveals the full picture of a prophecy easily. She just told me that someone wants to resurrect, but it will not succeed, and the Hero's sword will pierce its chest!"
____
________________________________________
If you want more chapters, please consider supporting my page on (P). with 50 advanced chapters available on (P)
👻 Join the crew by searching Leanzin on (P). You know the spot! 😉