Chapter 276

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Chapter 276

Only a fool would let this opportunity slip by. Sylas obediently sat over and Xerath gave her a cushion to lean on and a cup of milk tea. "Drinking something hot will make you feel better. Don’t look outside and take off your outer robe, it can make you feel too hot and more likely to get carsick."

How can we do this? Sylas innocently looked at her and blinked her eyes. Xerath closed the curtains and controlled the carriage using the special skills of light mirrors and earth elementals.

Leaning on the backrest, Sylas could feel the carriage tilting forward, which meant they had left the mountain area and were heading towards Tabletop Mountain City. Every now and then, big carriages passed them by, further proving this.

She was actually a little afraid to return to Aimekotes, afraid that Xerath would become cold and distant again once they returned to the deserted tower in the desert. But as the road slowly progressed, they were also getting closer to the end of their journey.

So when they returned to Withered Leaf City, Sylas hurriedly grabbed Xerath, who was about to go deeper into the guild, and said in a disorganized manner, "How about we… go eat a dessert? One of my classmates who used to study with me recommended a shop."

Xerath immediately agreed. Sylas had gone through so much without her knowing, making new friends and going to new places. She couldn’t participate in any of it and always felt regretful.

The shop was completely in the opposite direction. They walked on the street, and Xerath somehow remembered the first time she brought Sylas to this city. Back then, they were accompanied by a large dog and followed by a water lord, strolling down this very street.

"Sylas…" she couldn’t help but softly call the girl beside her. "Do you still remember…"

"Hmm?"

"The first time I brought you to the city."

"Of course I remember. You held my hand and we kept walking forward. I wanted to see everything, but all I could see was people’s waists. " The girl stood on her tiptoes and looked ahead. Now she can see most people’s heads.

Then she turned her head and unconsciously glanced at Xerath’s hand. Xerath smiled slightly and held her hand. Sylas tried her best to remain calm and looked back at her.

Xerath smiled and asked, "Where are we going exactly?"

"Um… actually, it’s near the twins’ house, on Adrian Street. During the exams, they used to tell me, ‘When you feel hopeless from studying, only desserts can comfort your soul.’ I ate so many different kinds of cakes during that time."

Xerath chuckled softly and said, "Not only that, intense mental work makes a person crave the comfort that sweets bring. Don’t you think we also eat a lot of desserts?"

However, at home, we mostly have lava cake and cream puffs. The things Fire Lord makes are not as flavorful as what humans make. This small shop by the street is very neat and clean. After Sylas went in, she ordered her own black cocoa cake, while the old wizard chose a very girlish treat – cheesecake drizzled with fresh cream and strawberry sauce. It looked delicate and bright.

"Teacher Emerson loves eating sweets. Sometimes he even bakes cakes for everyone. It’s not just cakes, but also croissants, cookies, shortbread, and puff pastries. It seems that people engaged in intense mental work especially love sweets. It’s as if eating a piece of cake can keep them burning all afternoon."

"Yes, yes, sometimes we just study here. " She said, looking up and greeting someone, but hesitated when introducing Xerath.

"This is my…um…"

Xerath looked up and smiled, "Sister." But her cold expression pushed away Sylas’s friend and stopped him from talking to Sylas further.

Just want to be alone, thanks.

"Your friend is still taking a test, hmm?" She just noticed that Sylas’s friend was still holding a reference book.

"Hmm… he has a part-time job, not studying like me all day."

Xerath stirred her own honey lemon tea, staring thoughtfully at the swirls in her cup. Sylas felt a bit nervous and couldn’t guess what Xerath was thinking.

However, the archmage was filled with frustration. If it were Virgil, he would take the opportunity to befriend all of Sylas’s friends and easily turn them into his spies, then control Sylas’s whereabouts.

But she didn’t have such skills herself, or rather, she couldn’t bring herself to use them. However, a strong sense of jealousy burned within her, and she was on the verge of bursting with curiosity about who Sylas was hanging out with.

"Would you like… to taste mine?" Sylas tried to start a new topic to avoid too much silence between them.

Xerath nodded mysteriously and reached out with a spoon to cut a small piece from Sylas’s plate. She put it in her mouth, and the slightly bitter taste and sweet aroma filled her nose. It felt oddly familiar, and upon careful thought, it complemented Sylas’s own scent, like a warm breeze in the distance.

She couldn’t help but raise her head to look at the exotic creature that was about to be released into the wilderness. To her surprise, she saw Sylas looking at her pitifully. Naturally, she cut a piece of her own cake and fed it to Sylas, asking, "Do you want to eat mine too?"

However, Sylas’s expression was quite surprised. She opened her mouth and the soft lips wrapped around the foamy and rich cream and sticky jam. She used her tongue to lick off the residue on her lips.

Xerath watched this scene from beginning to end, pursing her lips with an unclear intention.

It took her a while to realize that Sylas didn’t want to exchange different snacks with her. She frowned slightly and asked, "Hmm? What do you want to ask me?"

Sylas was still in a daze, but she managed to come back to her senses and asked, "Do you like me like this?"

"Not bad, quite good." Xerath nodded vigorously to cover up the awkwardness, but her expression seemed exaggerated, and Sylas naturally understood it as a perfunctory response of "not liking".

She lowered her head, unwilling to give up, and asked in a muffled voice, "What about the one you’re eating?"

"I quite like it, it’s very different from what Elvis makes." Unconsciously, she poked at the remaining cakes in her hand, mixing them up like a torture. She looked up and deliberately smiled, saying, "Hmm…maybe next time we can try other flavors, hmm?"

"If you’re willing, of course I’d be happy to take you there."

Under her sincere gaze, Xerath felt her face getting a bit hot. She urgently wanted to find a new topic and said, "Your desk is broken. Do you want a brand-new one or do you want to have the old one repaired?"

"Can this thing be fixed?" In Sylas’s impression, metal and stone could be repaired through a process of melting and fusing, but what about wood?

"Will there be any changes in appearance?"

Xerath smiled and said, "The craftsman will remove the broken parts and replace them with new ones, and they will try to make it look exactly the same."

"Then I want it to be repaired." This table is filled with memories, including a secret admiration that lasted for who knows how long. Xerath used to sit next to her, teaching her how to read and write, and they would have conversations leaning on the table. Unless necessary, she didn’t like having anything else replace it.

"Alright, we will come to the town again tomorrow and have the craftsman from the furniture store come to our house to take away the broken parts."

"What about the carriage?"

Xerath pretended to think seriously, but inside she was delighted that Sylas spontaneously brought up a topic. She couldn’t even control the corners of her mouth from curling up.

However, she purposely furrowed her brows and said, "That’s a question."

"Where do normal mages usually put it?"

"Of course, they put it at home. Normal mages wouldn’t build a mage tower in such a difficult-to-reach place." She was referring to Aimekotes, but Emerson’s Selonkren was also "difficult to reach." The road there was filled with weeds, and the paving stones were used by the nearby mice or birds to build nests.

"Then, can we sell it?"

Xerath smiled and pursed her lips. "What if we need to go somewhere else?"

She mentioned the possibility of going somewhere else… Sylas widened her eyes slightly, but only this sentence echoed in her mind. Was she saying that she might travel with me again? In this car? Is she satisfied with our journey? It’s completely different from all her conservative responses in the past!

"We can foster it, like fostering Titus… um…"

"Good idea." Sylas just made a suggestion, but the archmage seemed so sure, and in the end, the carriage was stored in her dwarf friend’s warehouse.

Across from the dwarf house, there flowed the gentle Windon River and hills full of peach trees. Unfortunately, the cold weather and the attack of the Lich made them miss the blooming season again. Xerath said regretfully, "We can only wait until next year."

The old dwarf comforted, "It’s alright, at least you won’t miss the peaches! Don’t forget to come and eat them in July!"

After the table was taken away, they had to work on the same table for quite a while. Since Xerath’s desk was originally designed for one person, this meant that they had to sit very close to each other – not as close as in Mordant’s library, but much closer than before.

Xerath was used to spreading things all over the table. Unfortunately, her apprentice, who she taught personally, had the same bad habit. The table quickly became overcrowded and they had to divide it in half.

But what was more inconvenient for Xerath was that she couldn’t secretly write her unicorn diary in this working environment. She missed out on many interesting things, which made her deeply regretful. However, she later started using a small journal to jot down keywords, which made up for this regret and made her life a lot more satisfying.