Chapter 66
Sylas laughed. Hyectra would definitely help Xerath with dishes, but the teacher might refuse such help in order to practice controlling the water elemental.
But from this passage, it seemed like they both didn't know that the letter was addressed to Xerath, the "not having to wash dishes or do laundry at the age of ten" mage tower Aimekotes. They would probably just think Sylas's address was a regular mailbox.
"Oh, by the way, I have some gossip to share (from Swis)," this sentence was added after the signature, it seems that it was only remembered to be added right before sending it out. "Xerath is Sashara's junior sister. Both of them are students of Emerson. Emerson proposed and argued to the education committee that students should not summon water lords at an early age. But I find his argument to be highly unreliable (not because there's anything wrong with his reasoning, on the contrary, his paper is as good as ever), because his students actually summon water lords very early."
Although she didn't know what Swis looked like, Sylas could already imagine the expression of disdain he would have.
The twins from the Rost Family gave very valuable information. It became almost clear at this point, and Xerath knew exactly who "B Truce" was (according to Xerath, maybe they even shared a room in Emerson's mage tower). So, after knowing who the author of "Syntax Summary" was, she agreed for Sylas to buy it.
And based on their previous reasoning, it's very likely that Sashara is the author of "Endless Water Realm Fantasy". Sashara's appearance should not be a coincidence, and her name itself might be a very important clue.
After Sylas wrote down all this content in her notebook, she started writing back to her friends. While copying the addresses, she noticed that the twins' address had changed. It became a place called "Red Leaf Primary School".
Maybe that's the school's name, but they said they would come home on weekends. Taking that into consideration, Sylas still wrote their original home address.
It was already past ten o'clock when she finished writing the reply. It was almost her bedtime, and she instinctively looked up at Xerath's desk. However, it was empty, no one was there to smile at her or say, "It's late, time to go to sleep," and supervise her getting into bed, and give her a goodnight kiss.
Xerath was only going to leave at noon, but Sylas was already looking forward to her return.
Time was passing so slowly. After taking a bath, Sylas wandered in the hallway, with Titus following behind her.
Neither of them had enough physical activity today because nobody wanted to go downstairs. Usually, Xerath would take her from the top floor to the bottom and then back up to the top again.
But Xerath wasn't here today, and Sylas's guilt pushed her to complete her daily physical activity. So she had to resort to this method: walking from her room's doorstep to Xerath's room's doorstep and then walking back, which was approximately one-fourth of the entire mage tower's height. So she needed to do this round trip four times.
To take care of Titus, she walked slowly. But Xerath's room was very attractive, and she never wanted to leave whenever she arrived here.
Xerath won't be back for five more days. Where is she now? She didn't give a detailed explanation of her whereabouts, but she must be in a place far away from here.
Sylas's hand slowly touched the handle of the door to Xerath's room.
The handle was made of pure silver and still looked brand new because of Hyectra's careful maintenance. It hadn't turned black like other silver objects usually do over time.
The metal handle felt cool to the touch. Sylas held it tightly and gave it a gentle twist.
Surprisingly, the door opened.
She had thought Xerath would have locked the door, but she didn't. There was a special scent in the room, different from the old parchment smell in the library, but still very pleasant.
Sylas felt unfamiliar at first, but suddenly familiar memories flooded back into her mind.
She had spent two nights sleeping here before, when she had just arrived in Aimekotes. At that time, she wasn't yet Xerath's apprentice. She was just a demon beast that Xerath had bought, and she had collapsed after causing a big commotion.
She remembered very clearly that in her almost completely dark and chaotic childhood memories, even before opening her eyes, she could smell a comforting scent.
She woke up in the arms of Xerath, and Xerath, with a voice as low as a cello, asked softly in her ear, "Are you awake?"
In the darkness, the storm illuminated the room, and the lightning lasted for a long time. It took a while for the large-scale thunderstorm to pass from one side to the other.
In the steady and continuous flashes of lightning, she walked to Xerath's bedside and lifted the blanket to crawl in.
The fluffy blanket carried that comforting scent, as if the scent had substance. She wrapped herself in it, inexplicably feeling happy. She closed her eyes and tumbled twice, with Xerath's scent always surrounding her.
Xerath was someone who valued personal space very much. For this reason, she specifically informed Sylas, who was not yet proficient in Common Language at the time, and kicked her out of her own room.
According to her own words, she really disliked physical contact with people. However, sometimes she would come to touch Sylas's face or hug her shoulders, and even generously give her a goodnight kiss.
But most of the time, they indeed had very little physical contact, and she definitely wouldn't agree to Sylas sleeping in her bed when she wasn't home.
But she wouldn't know, I'll just sleep for one night. Sylas thought with her eyes closed.
It cannot be denied, Xerath's bed was very comfortable. Maybe it was because the bed was wide and soft, or maybe it was because the room was much bigger than Sylas's cramped little room. It wasn't even half past ten, and Sylas had already fallen into a deep sleep.
Perhaps it was the thoughts during the day and dreams during the night, or maybe a person's spirit would leave some traces in the room. Sylas found herself back in that stormy night in her dream.
In the enormous storm, the elements and the wind were equally restless. The unknown fear was still an extension of her chaotic and dark childhood memories.
The memories before coming to Aimekotes were like fragments attached to a large, flat, black object. She could only vaguely remember some people's faces and expressions, her mother's gentle smile and the bloodshed. She remembered some catchy little songs and the elements that used to surround her.
The events of Virgil's arrival at the underground temple had become blurry in her dream, merging with the flat darkness. Darkness enveloped her, and all she could hear was the increasing "wind" around her. They greeted each other, saying, "Hey, there's a strange little thing here."
She had been rocking in the cage all the way, with "wind" coming to see her and constantly asking, "What's wrong with you? Where are you going? Why aren't you answering us? Do you need any help? Are you also going to see her?"
It wasn't until Xerath burned down the cage and pulled herself in front of her that the golden hair and bright silver eyes completely dispelled the hazy and sticky darkness. In that moment, she saw some breathtaking pure beauty, piercing through that flat darkness, connecting with the distant beauty and warmth in her memories.
She saw the wind swirling around Xerath, humbly surrendering. The "wind" insisted on introducing her to this king whom she had never met before, whispering good things about her. They kept chattering incessantly until the Elemental King couldn't take it anymore and stopped.
Faded flames burned into her heart, incinerating all the fog within her. A consciousness beyond words filled her mind: This was a kindred spirit, they were the same.
She suddenly woke up and the sunlight made her vision completely red. She reached out and blocked the sunlight.
The storm has disappeared? She murmured while looking outside the window. The black clouds still covered the sky. It seemed that the bright light that suddenly split the clouds was just a momentary occurrence. The black clouds swallowed the sunlight entirely.
She carefully got out of bed, smoothed out the blanket, and fluffed her pillow. She made everything look as if she hadn't been there before, then quietly left the room, as if afraid to disturb something.
Relax, Xerath isn't home. She went back to her room, changed clothes, and went to the living room to greet Titus and Elvis, looking neat and tidy.
The Fire Lord woke up from her slumber due to her magic, and as usual, after bickering with Frostchild, she brought cake, fried eggs with bacon, and milk in front of her.
"We talked about it yesterday, the cake should be eaten all day." It held a knife made of solidified lava in its hand and cut one-third of the cake onto a plate. However, even so, there was still a slight steam where the knife blade touched the cake.
This cake is really sweet, not lava cake with sea salt, but pure sweet strawberry sauce, you can even taste the strawberry chunks inside.
"This strawberry sauce made in summer, it tastes good, right?"
"Hmm! It's delicious! I'm not afraid of the dark anymore."
"That's great." It placed a dumpling mixed with mashed potatoes, carrots and liver scraps on Titus' plate. Titus had been staring at it while the food was cooking. As Fire Lord bent down, it leapt up and snatched a dumpling, causing Sylas to smell a burnt smell.
Titus whimpered pitifully, possibly burned, but it still didn't let go of the dumpling. It whimpered while devouring the dumpling completely. It even licked up the crumbs that accidentally fell on the ground.
Sylas turned and glanced, noticing a dark burn mark on the edge of Titus' light-colored cushion (which had become quite thin). Sylas tried not to laugh, but failed.
After dinner, she reviewed her notes, then wrote an essay in the ancient Saiti language. She memorized vocabulary words and practiced writing on regular draft paper to simulate a scroll. Finally, she eagerly returned to the library after lunch. On the table were her notes, "Book of Elements: Scroll of Water," and "Summary of Common Water Elemental Spell Structures."
These were the only clues she had for now, and she couldn't discover anything new at the moment. But maybe there was some hidden connection she hadn't found yet? She planned to re-examine these things carefully, not letting a single word escape her.
