Chapter 21
Sylas hesitated and nodded hesitantly, feeling Xerath lead her back. She let out a big sigh of relief. Xerath wanted to laugh, but only managed a slight smile. She had never slept with anyone before in her life. Her mother used to read her storybooks before bed, but she never cuddled her to sleep. But the experience that afternoon made her realize that being close to humans might not be such a scary thing after all.
After they entered the room, Sylas's water lord steward followed from behind, holding the blankets from the downstairs guest rooms. Xerath helped Sylas change into a nightgown and then settled her down on the couch by the bed to sleep. But during the night, Sylas climbed over to her side. This immediately startled the archmage, who woke up and surprised Sylas, causing her to stiffly sit up.
Xerath rubbed her eyes and looked up at the girl standing in front of the bed in her nightgown. She asked, "What's wrong?"
The little girl stood there, shaking constantly. "It's... cold."
Xerath sighed and said, "I'll add another blanket for you tomorrow, but you have to sleep quietly and not move around." She lifted a corner of the blanket and wrapped Sylas inside, and since the girl felt cold, she let Sylas have the warmer part. Sylas lay down, amazed at the special treatment, keeping her eyes tightly shut and her limbs straight.
Because of her heavy mental work, Xerath usually slept well, but being suddenly disturbed, she found it difficult to fall asleep again.
The archmage was quite stubborn in maintaining her boundaries, but when she turned her head and saw Sylas curled up in a sleeping position after falling asleep, she felt a bit reluctant to enforce her own habits the next morning.
She felt that she couldn't live this way, feeling lost and living in fear every day. She hadn't faced much hardship in her life, so she always had respect for those who successfully overcome hardships.
Luckily, she didn't stay awake for long and fell asleep again. In the morning, she found new towels and a toothbrush for Sylas, and allowed her to use her own bathroom. She emphasized the importance of brushing teeth and washing face, and finally said, "I... don't really like physical contact with others, so you can't..." As she said this, Sylas's sparkling eyes greatly disturbed her from continuing. The archmage endured this pressure and continued with a clenched jaw, "You can't just climb onto my bed, it's impolite, okay? Tonight, you should go back to your room to sleep. Considering that the tower isn't very warm, I will help you with an extra blanket."
After speaking, she felt deflated and thought she had been too strict and spoke too quickly. But she didn't have the courage to face a child with hopeful eyes.
"Polite... okay," she sadly lowered her head, but still agreed. Xerath was very grateful that Sylas had a very good mother. She had raised the child to be very well-behaved.
It's important to know that reasoning with someone can often be very difficult.
Xerath gently touched Sylas's head, the black hair felt completely different, rough to the touch. Her own hair, on the other hand, was completely different, platinum and seemingly weightless, as delicate as the down on a newly hatched bird.
"Virgil is leaving, I have to go see him off. He is my friend, you don't have to come. I'll have Hyectra keep you company upstairs."
However, Sylas cautiously held onto a corner of her robe, so she reluctantly had to take Sylas along to the living room.
The breakfast was plentiful, with flame-grilled oat bread, a sausage, half a tomato, creamy scrambled eggs, a few strips of bacon, a spoonful of tomato bean sauce, a roasted mushroom, and finally, half a cup of milk.
A very typical "researcher's breakfast," "I quite like this kind of meal, it provides enough energy for the entire morning," Virgil raised his cup and toasted the archmage sitting at the other end of the table.
"Of course, I like it too. I hope your journey goes smoothly. Have you checked your luggage?"
"Yes, I have taken it downstairs. Looks like you're good at handling kids, huh? Hey, little rascal, Uncle Virgil is leaving, no one will scare you anymore~~~~"
"Virgil, you're scaring people even more like this."
Virgil coughed twice and focused on devouring the food on his plate. It was now getting slightly brighter outside, and he needed to hurry before the sun reached its peak. He had to reach a place in the middle of the desert called "Stone Fortress" — a war relic — to hide from the scorching midday sun. That's why he ate so fast.
After the meal, Xerath went downstairs with Sylas and the butler to see Virgil off. Titus followed behind, but because he couldn't walk fast, Sylas ended up carrying him downstairs.
"Don't you think it's heavy?" Xerath used a Levitation Spell on Titus. To be honest, even though it had lost weight, it still weighed more than fifty pounds. It was too difficult for the child to carry.
Virgil strapped his bow on his back, and the luggage was hung on Pegasus' back. He hopped onto the horse, walked into the magic circle, and waved from outside the wind wall. A cheerful whistle could be heard from beneath his thick scarf. He patted Pegasus and seemed to be talking to himself or maybe to Pegasus, saying, "Look at her, the first time we left from here, she only had one water lord behind her."
The storm moved away with Virgil, but Aimekotes couldn't return to calmness. Even though it was now calm outside in the usual sense, the tower was unusually lively.
Who says so? Xerath is no longer the only human in the desert. Sylas, a child around the age of six to nine (Xerath couldn't tell for sure), unexpectedly entered her life.
The challenge starts in the evening. The archmage, as usual, stands on a footstool barefoot and reads the recently bought (but took over a year to start reading) Chronicles of the Dragon War. Xerath relaxes, leaning back on a soft couch with the book floating in front of her, fluttering its wings like a butterfly.
The mighty water lord willingly plays the role of a nanny and is currently wearing a light pink apron, playing chess with Sylas. Xerath notices a water ball being passed to her and quickly creates a ripple in the air, protecting the precious books from any splashes that might result from an exploding water drop.
Earlier, after breakfast, Xerath takes Sylas to her laboratory. With Sylas watching and accompanying her, she sets up some experimental equipment that had been delivered but hadn't been assembled due to lack of time. Xerath tries to explain the principles of the equipment to Sylas, but it seems to be of no use.
Although Sylas knows many obscure words, her knowledge is mostly intuitive and partial, like a child discovering the world. She lacks a systematic understanding and has little knowledge about magical items. Even though Sylas can say some obscure and profound Setis language roots, she has almost no recognition of magical items.
