"…What exactly is that ghost thing?" Noah asked curiously.
All of the girls knew about it, but most of them hadn't seen it in person.
Petra took another bite, then mumbled something with her mouth full. After being reprimanded by Levy, who had popped up at some point to smack her on the head, "Mm, I think it may be a, erm… maybe it's an artifact spirit?" Petra casually guessed. "But I don't know which artifact it belongs to if it is, so it's hard to say…"
Noah nodded slightly, before—
"Artifact spirits are born when certain treasures or special artifacts develop awareness after a long exposure to spiritual energy, certain emotions, special laws, or repeated use over an extremely long period of time. They are distinctly different from plant spirits, because unlike plant spirits, artifact spirits are less of a living thing, trading the ability to grow for an almost indefinite lifespan as long as the artifact remains intact. Hm, also—" Noah continued to mutter about the information he had read.
Petra listened from the side, completely stunned by the long blurb that came out of this tomboy's mouth! She was just saying it casually, why the sudden lore drop!
Lira narrowed her eyes with suspicion.
"…Can anything produce an artifact spirit? Like my bow, or sister's glove?"
"…Yes..."
Lira scooted slightly farther away from Rose's fist, but then realized that she was being ridiculous, so she scooted back, then frowned as if thinking about something, then tilted her head in confusion.
She began to drool…
From that point on, it was unknown what she was thinking…
Rose just rolled her eyes.
Meanwhile, Petra lazily swiped the Crystal Panel before suddenly speaking and smoothly changing the subject. "Mm… big spiders' territory jumped another forty-three meters this month."
Her tone became more thoughtful.
"The growth speed was stabilizing… but after arriving in the capital, it seems to have become less predictable. Also, the resource problem is becoming a bit annoying..."
The room quieted down.
Even Wind, who was lurking around the middle of the room, looked over with a more serious expression. None of them wanted to think about finances, and aside from Mell, who was already overworked, no one else had the ability to manage their money.
Petra puffed out her cheeks.
"At 'our' current usage, the spirit stone mine will only last another twenty years at most…" she grumbled. "And that's if we don't expand too aggressively, but even the big spider can't control that, right?" She turned her big black eyes to face the black spider doll, which promptly nodded in confirmation.
"That's still a long time," Noah muttered.
Petra immediately shook her head.
"No! Twenty years is super short!" She pointed dramatically at the screen. "Do you know how expensive a giant moving castle is?! Do you know how much spiritual energy a bloodline focused on spatial magic consumes? Silly girl! Do you know how much food my giant bugs eat?!" Petra genuinely looked offended, because only she knew just how much of a headache her eight big buddies were!
Nobody answered her, because honestly—
They really didn't know…
Petra lightly huffed, before aggressively sinking back into the plush pile.
* * *
On the other side—
While the sounds of Petra's 'movie night madness' continued in the background, Dorthy, Bell, and Albery quietly sat together. Compared to the chaos of Petra's plush pile, this side of the room felt much calmer and more relaxed, with a touch of an almost scholarly air.
Bell listened quietly, while the two older girls caught up…
"When that person arrived at my door, I honestly wasn't sure if it was a prank," Albery sighed while leaning back. "I did want to see you again, but I never thought that it would be you inviting me to come visit! Hehe! It seems that not everything you hear outside can be trusted."
Dorthy shook her head. "Sorry to keep you waiting. After hearing a few servants talking about you, I thought it was best to invite you here, lest you have any misunderstandings."
Albery nodded, "That's the right thing to do, because I really did think you were kidnapped and held here against your will, hahaha!"
Dorthy rolled her eyes.
She really wanted to say, 'Who could kidnap her', but when she thought of Petra, she closed her mouth. It seemed as if there really was someone who could do it!
Dorthy pushed up her glasses, then continued, "After graduation, I originally planned to remain in the Eastern Region and continue my research on the theory and origin of magic runes…" she explained. "But it didn't take long for something to go wrong. One day, several people discovered my extremely high mana capacity all at the same time, and suddenly I was dragged into one troublesome matter after another, until I somehow became associated with those people from the 'Hero Faction!' Next thing I knew, I was suddenly a 'Hero', and the whole continent was cheering my name!"
Albery's brows furrowed.
"…No, wait… I've heard of this Hero Faction before, but is it really a group of people? There's a lot of strange information about them…" Albery repeated with a strange look.
Nearby, Bell nodded seriously.
She had never heard about them before, not even from Petra, but she vaguely knew that there was some force pushing things from behind, and that force seemed to fit this so-called 'Hero Faction'…
"…Mm!" Dorthy shook her head. "It's not strange that you haven't heard much about them before. They were a group of experts who suddenly appeared one day. I suspect that they approached me with the intention of forcing me to become a hero, whether I liked it or not. After I took on the title, they just disappeared and moved on to the next. It was only a few days later that I learned three more Heroes, including myself, had suddenly popped up!" She rubbed her ear, then tucked a strand of hair behind it. "There is definitely some kind of conspiracy going on, but I can't even begin to imagine it. Also, for my family to passively allow such a thing to happen, it's either that the force behind those strange people is extremely terrifying, or they possess some kind of anti-divination ability that even I can't fathom." Her eyes subtly turned to Petra, who seemed to possess a similar property.
Dorthy helplessly laughed.
"If not for the little master—Petra, picking me up, then who knows how long I would have to be bossed around before I ever regained any of my freedom…" Back then, Dorthy still remembered feeling that, in addition to the Storm Tower and the Laton castle, there were still countless eyes hidden in the dark.
If not for the Verdelith Castle and the Emerald Ghost Tree, she had no doubt that not only her, but Petra too, they would both be hunted down to the ends of the earth! She couldn't even begin to describe how good it felt to simply step out of the game and live like she was living right now!
"My side isn't much better…" Albery rubbed her cheek. "After my brother joined the Storm Tower, his personality became stranger and stranger. These days, he's completely obsessed with finding a way to pass through the Great Storm Spell and return to the eastern region…"
Her expression became complicated.
"I thought he would eventually calm down, but instead, his loyalty towards the Storm Tower only became more and more unreasonable..."
Dorthy quietly sipped her drink.
"... You're not wrong to worry, most people from that place aren't good people…"
"…I know," Albery honestly admitted, but what could she do?
Truly, her brother was hopeless!
-
"…Hm?"
Petra's big black eyes suddenly narrowed.
With a series of quick flicks, the crystal panel rapidly shifted between screens before finally locking onto one particular image from the poison garden.
There, she found something strange...
At first, Petra thought it was just another illusion caused by the garden's glowing spores, but after staring for several seconds, she realized that something had genuinely 'slipped' away from the troublesome trio when they weren't looking.
"Interesting…" She muttered as she watched the strange shadow…
It slid silently across the ground like spilled ink, weaving through the glowing flowers and giant mushrooms while the distant voices echoed and then faded.
Petra slowly blinked.
"…Ah?"
As she continued to track it, even she looked a bit surprised.
The poison garden was not an easy place to escape! Between the unnaturally shifting layout, the disorienting toxins, and the countless unstable experiments wandering around aimlessly within its depths, yes, this was another one of Petra's dumping grounds, even Petra's people occasionally got lost!
With all that said, this weird little thing was still escaping!
Petra, seeing this, immediately became interested.
The girls nearby noticed the shift in her expression, and they all huddled closer to look.
"What is it?" Noah asked curiously.
Petra didn't immediately answer.
Instead, she lazily raised the crystal panel higher into the air while chewing on her snack...
* * *
The shadow franticly fled through the night.
It had originally stuck to the trio in passing, using them as a kind of carrier to take it into the opportunity. It had only been a momentary impulse, but it never expected that its casual actions would actually allow it to enter, and not only enter, but also pass through successfully...
Unfortunately, this opportunity was far from what anyone had expected. What fortune, what fame? Where were the treasures, where were the rewards?!
It was tricked!
It was definitely tricked!
From start to finish, it had all been a lie, an elaborate dream to lure people into this demon's den!
What kind of monster set up this trap!
It would definitely escape, and when it escaped, it would definitely seek revenge!
Just you wait!
As it flashed away, it didn't move like a human, instead, it shot forward and slid close to the ground.
It stretched across the earth in complete silence, flattening itself against rocks, diving around flowers and foliage alike, and twisting in and out of vines and roots while constantly finding impossibly small gaps to slip through like some kind of strange liquid shadow.
BOOM!
A loud explosion erupted as the distant trio accidentally ignited another poisonous patch of explosive flowers, causing the entire garden to briefly flash blue!
Shadow: "!!"
Hearing this, the shadow accelerated!
It darted beneath a massive carnivorous flower that snapped shut only a moment too late, then slid across the surface of a long glowing pond, while several enormous white insects surfaced beneath the water, then narrowly missed it with snapping jaws that let out scissor-like sounds.
After that, several vines attempted to grab it, but the shadow further flattened, then accelerated.
A giant mushroom exploded nearby, causing pink spores to be blasted through the air, and then a nearby 'tree' suddenly grew legs and started running at it while screaming that it wanted its pants.
The shadow ignored all of it.
Not because it was trying to, but because it felt like it was going insane.
Eventually, after an absurdly exaggerated struggle through the depths of the poison garden, the tiny shadow finally squeezed beneath a root-formed wall and escaped into the outer areas, the massive stretch of farmland of the Verdelith Castle.
A cold sweat broke out on its forehead, but at the same time, it had never been so happy to see the sky.
Moonlight shone across the vast stretch of farmland ahead, and it finally felt as if it were free.
The shadow paused.
It slowly looked around.
The farmland was enormous, extending across multiple-layered terraces connected through small winding pathways and a series of gently flowing streams that shimmered with spiritual energy.
After taking in the scene, the shadow shot forward!
Swoosh!
It fled again!
Now was not the time! It had to leave as quickly as possible!
The shadow dove into the farmland and zipped between towering wheat-like plants taller than a person, narrowly avoiding several wandering ants transporting supplies, then slid beneath a cute little waterwheel, before eventually finding a small stream flowing toward the edge of the space.
The shadow stopped beside the water.
After another quick look, the current gently flowed into the distant fog beyond the farmland.
For the first time since resolving to run away, the strange little creature hesitated.
It understood that this water was a treasure that far exceeded anything it had seen till now, but with great danger came great rewards! It swayed back and forth, weighing its options, before eventually—
Plop!
It jumped directly into the stream.
The shadow disappeared into the flowing water and quietly shot towards the edge of the space…
* * *