Chapter 256

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Chapter 256

"Hmm." When Xerath took her first bite, she realized she was truly hungry. "I’m not one to nitpick about food quality. It’s delicious. Thank you."

The food revived her spirit, and her weariness seemed to dissipate a bit. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door, but it hadn’t been closed properly.

Xerath and Raphael turned around to see another well-dressed wizard standing at the door. Behind her were some black-robed wizards standing with their hands behind their backs, and the Paladin who had been startled earlier was still in the same place.

"…Diego？"

"Inspector Diego, you really can’t wait."

Diego smiled and said, "Xerath, I’m glad you’re awake. I have a few questions to ask you…"

He was about to come in and finish his sentence, but he was interrupted by a sudden physical collision.

"Xerath!" Sylas exclaimed in surprise.

She stumbled and tumbled in, but Diego caught her with his hand and she didn’t fall. She was still wearing the same clothes she had worn when she ran out the door. It seemed that the people in the temple were casual enough to just take off her coat and shoes and put them on the bed. Now her clothes were wrinkled, the hem of her shirt was coming out of her pants, and Sylas wasn’t even wearing shoes, just standing barefoot on the white marble floor, which didn’t seem to bother her much.

Sylas quickly rushed to the bedside, tremblingly grabbing her hand, closing her eyes, and seeming to let out a sigh of relief, "You’re fine, you’re fine, you’re fine…"

Xerath smiled and said, "Come sit with me."

Sylas sat obediently on the edge of the bed and looked at Xerath for a while. Suddenly, it seemed like she realized something and felt embarrassed, not knowing where to look.

"Hungry?" archmage, with one of his few interpersonal skills – trying to keep the peace – spoke up, "You must have used up a lot of magic power. You need to eat something."

Without waiting for the apprentice to answer, she nodded confidently and scooped a spoonful of rice mixed with meat sauce onto her own plate, then held it near Sylas’s mouth.

Sylas hesitated for a moment, moving her lips, unsure whether to open them. She saw Xerath staring at her lips intently, causing her face to blush.

Xerath silently urged her to open her mouth, thinking to herself, "Since we’ve already kissed, she shouldn’t mind if I eat too, right?"

Sylas reluctantly opened her mouth, took a bite, and finished the rice on the spoon.

"Is it tasty?"

Sylas nodded softly, thinking that it smelled delicious – anyone who was very hungry would think the same. Xerath tilted her head and smiled at her, then gave her another spoonful. Sylas ate it absentmindedly.

"Are you starving?"

Sylas wanted to say something but held back, swallowing the mouthful of food first. Xerath handed her the cup of water from the bedside, and she had no choice but to drink it before speaking to Xerath, "Have you not eaten either?"

"I had a few bites just now."

"I’m fine now!" she said casually, "You eat."

Xerath smiled again, clipping her hair out of her ear, "I’ve also experienced being famished, it’s really tormenting."

However, Sylas persisted in not eating. Xerath turned the spoon towards herself, taking a small bite before looking at Sylas with her eyes.

"Hmm?"

Sylas nodded dazedly, unsure why she was nodding, but Xerath brought the spoon to her lips again. Now she finally realized that Xerath did indeed want to share the plate with her, not just half each, but using one spoon together…

It was such a coincidence. In her imagination, seventeen-year-old Xerath had once eaten a dessert like this, mouthful by mouthful, in Xerath’s dorm room.

This was a long story, the sharing of one spoon for eating dessert happened after she finally moved into Xerath’s dorm room, between the lingering hesitation and procrastination of whether or not to confess her feelings.

"We… " Raphael’s voice untimely interrupted their mysterious and ambiguous atmosphere, "We still have…"

"Oh, bother! Another serving, please. Thank you." Her expression remained unchanged, so open that it made Diego briefly question if he had imagined things. Perhaps, in their ten years of being together, Xerath had completely overcome her habit of not allowing others to share food, use utensils, or come close to her.

"I, I should take my leave now. I will ask the priest to help with lunch."

"Alright, goodbye," Xerath replied politely and then turned to Diego, "Do you need something?"

"Of, of course…" In fact, Xerath and Sylas’s nonchalant attitude toward Diego had caused him some degree of hurt, at least the uncomfortable feeling had lingered, "Your… your dog is about to starve."

Both of them became nervous, "Titus!"

They left Aimekotes. Fire Lord could only sustain for two days. Even if it could come up with using the Energy Storage Crystal, it would still…

"I forgot it…" Sylas said.

"Don’t worry, don’t worry. We brought it back. It is now kept in a pet store in Withered Leaf City."

"Bring it back? Have you been to my house?"

"Yes, many things happened, so we went to your house to investigate. But I still need to understand what happened, like who… dared to attack you? It’s a big deal, your bounty was almost sent throughout the whole continent."

In the Mage Guild’s agreement, after an archmage is honored, all members of the Secretariat Committee of the guild cast a kind of bonding spell on them, creating a mysterious link between the archmage and a small statue stored in the headquarters. If the archmage’s life ends, the statue will crumble.

Because archmages have terrifying power and eternal life, attacks from others and natural death hardly pose a threat to them. In this case, there is only one possibility left, which is for the archmage to willingly give up their life and become a Lich.

The committee has the right to issue a continent-wide bounty, and an S-rank mission to hunt Lichs will immediately spread throughout the adventurer guilds across the continent. Lichs will no longer be protected by any laws, and anyone has the right to hunt a Lich and legally claim all their belongings.

In theory, the bounty could have been issued as soon as the crumble began, but as long as it’s issued before the crumble ends, it won’t be considered a failure. It is precisely because of this loophole that Diego can legally suppress the bounty.

"Lich," Xerath said briefly, and then fed Sylas a spoonful of food.

"What kind of Lich?"

Xerath glanced at Sylas, who happened to be looking at her. This matter has broad implications, especially because it also involves this miraculous girl.

From Lacrima’s tone, it seems like the people from Setis family easily turn into Lich. The evil ritual seems to be prepared specifically for Setis family, with a broken dagger that killed their grandfather, finger bones cut off from a living person, a rose nourished by the body of their deceased older brother, an ancestral statue, and a bottle containing their mother’s ashes. These five evil artifacts may be difficult for ordinary people to match, but Setis family has a famous regicide case in their history, and the broken dagger was produced in that case. The ancestors of Setis family were carved on a set of antique coins, which is not something very rare. As for the premature death of their older brother, some historians believe it is related to the decline of the Setis Empire and the shrinking of their family power. The decline of the family power is because male members of Setis family easily perish.

So, if it is true as Lacrima said, Sylas is actually a descendant of Setis family, then it is very likely that she has a deceased older brother, and using him to nourish the rose probably won’t be a difficult task.

Even the bottle containing their mother’s ashes could have been passed down through the generations. The great-grandmother turned into a Lich and used her own bottle to capture the grandmother, then the grandmother turned into a Lich and used her own bottle to capture the mother, and then the mother turned into a Lich and used her own bottle to capture the daughter. The magical power of Setis family is so strong that Lich is passed down from generation to generation. Given this, Sylas becomes a very dangerous variable, so it would be easier to just kill her instead of protecting her from turning into a Lich… This must not be known by others.

"I don’t know the origin, but there are a few things worth noting. The pile of dragon bones scattered outside Aimekotes was originally a settlement for settlers outside Doloru Town. A few years ago, an organization wanted to excavate it. The pile of dead dogs… originally was near the fortress, and it is said that a crazy druid was taking care of them. They were probably driven here by the Lich, and their goal is to turn me into a Lich."

She noticed Sylas’s gaze and quietly grabbed her wrist, saying, "Fortunately, Sylas came back to save me."

Diego smiled at her and said, "These Liches were indeed after you. They attacked the Mage Guild in Withered Leaf City…

"So… so the Portal is broken? Was it sabotaged from the other side?"

"Yes, probably to prevent you from escaping. Oh, by the way, there are eyewitnesses who said Sylas went to Tabletop Mountain City, but how did you return to the tower?"

Sylas looked at Diego in astonishment, then at Xerath. Her teacher whispered, "I also find it strange. How did you manage to come back? I thought no one would come to save me."

"I…I…flew back!"

"Flew? How did you fly? No matter how you return from Tabletop Mountain City, it takes more than two days to cross the desert."

"I jumped all the way from Tabletop Mountain to Doloru Town! I rented a Pegasus, lay on its back, and let it glide with its wings spread."

The wings of Pegasus can’t actually fly for a long time. The main reason is that Pegasus is heavy and its wings are not enough to support long-distance flights. But short-distance gliding is not a problem.

"Did you use ‘lighter than a feather’?"

"Yes!"

"Is it that simple?"

"Yes! Well… not exactly simple. The air currents in the sky are really scary, and not all Pegasus have good flying skills. It’s very easy to see an obstacle and not be able to avoid it."

"And then? Did you go to Doloru Town? Did you make Pegasus run across the desert?"

"No, no, teacher, I caught the west wind from the Crystal Veins."