As Leni cast her gaze skyward, Gustav’s well-defined red lips stretched into a long, thin line, his silver-grey eyes fixed upon her.
“It’s alright. Curiosity is not a sin,” he stated, his voice calm.
Leni, finding genuine agreement with his words, responded, “Yes, I think so too.”
The fleeting eye-smile that touched Gustav’s face at her sincerity vanished almost instantly, his silver-grey eyes darkening with a sudden shift in expression.
“The reason we’re going to the Shadow Lands is to get the Shadow Flower,” he revealed.
“You mean the mysterious flower said to be imbued with the shadow spirit’s magic?”
Leni asked, her voice laced with surprise.
“Yes. To use it as a cure to save His Highness, who has lost consciousness.”
Gustav’s words felt eerily like the vocalization of her own internal thoughts, flowing from his lips with unnerving precision.
“Then…”
Her unspoken question hung in the air, but Gustav continued as if he had heard it.
“Sir Rahart has no intention of quickly getting the Shadow Flower and returning to the palace, does he?”
Is this man a mind reader?
Leni wondered, a nervous “hehe” escaping her as she forced an awkward laugh.
“I…” She couldn’t possibly ask, “How did you know I was thinking that?”
Such a question would be an undeniable admission that she was spying on the squad members.
Can he just blurt out the captain’s intentions like this?
Is Gustav also a spy, like me?
Various confusing thoughts tangled in her mind, a dizzying whirl of suspicion and uncertainty.
“Reading people’s minds isn’t magic, Leni,” Gustav interjected, his gentle tone contrasting sharply with the piercing sharpness of his gaze.
“It’s a skill that improves with practice, like sewing or fishing.”
“Yes,” Leni nodded, a sudden realization dawning on her.
Perhaps there was truth to his words.
Gustav, whom she had initially dismissed as a carefree idler, now possessed an unsettling aura, a hidden depth that made her wary.
It would be prudent to exercise extreme caution with her words in his presence from now on.
“Anyway, was that enough of an answer?” he continued, his eyes still fixed on her.
“Excuse me?”
Leni replied, momentarily flustered.
“You were wondering why we’re taking the long way around and why we’re lingering at each resting place, weren’t you?”
This situation was proving to be incredibly difficult.
If she denied it, Gustav would almost certainly see through her lie.
But if she admitted it, her precarious cover as a spy might be irrevocably blown.
She had naively believed that her task simply involved reporting what she observed and heard, but she was quickly discovering that spying was far from an easy endeavor.
Unable to formulate a coherent response, Leni merely rolled her eyes, her gaze darting nervously.
Gustav leaned closer, his voice dropping to a low whisper.
“Of course, people can die even if they’re innocent.”
A sudden chill spread from his shoulder, which was now almost touching hers, sending a shiver down her spine. Leni hunched her shoulders, forcing an awkward smile onto her face.
“Yes, those were such times,” she mumbled, attempting to deflect the uncomfortable intensity of his statement.
“I’m not talking about the war,” Gustav clarified, his voice unwavering.
“I’m saying that if your curiosity goes too far, your life will be in danger.”
Ouch.
Her forced smile vanished, her lips tightening into a thin line.
This was no longer a gentle inquiry; it was a clear warning, a veiled threat.
Was the story about the Shadow Flower merely bait, a carefully constructed trap designed to test her reactions?
It felt as if he had deliberately dug a pit and was now observing her response with unsettling precision.
Hmm, in times like these, I need to change the atmosphere, Leni decided.
She subtly shifted her body toward Gustav, subtly but intentionally altering the direction of their conversation.
“Last night, I saw you make a tent. You’re a magician, aren’t you?”
She plastered a sweet smile on her face, attempting to project an air of innocent curiosity, and blinked her eyes engagingly.
Gustav regarded her carefully for a moment, then one corner of his mouth lifted slightly in a knowing smirk.
“Just one of my many forms,” he conceded.
“Oh, then can I ask you something?” she pressed, seizing the opening.
“What is it?” he responded.
“I’ve always been curious, what’s the difference between black magic and white magic?”
“If I do it, it’s white magic. If someone else does it, it’s black magic.”
Gustav stated this illogical claim with such bold conviction that Leni couldn’t help but let out a burst of laughter.
She threw her head back, a frown briefly creasing her brow.
“Oh, come on, what’s that supposed to mean?”
“What do you mean!”
Gustav exclaimed, a playful indignation in his voice.
“Haven’t you heard? It’s the law of ‘mine is white, theirs is black’ that applies to everything in the world.”
Watching him deliver such an absurd declaration with such conviction, Leni’s broad smile returned.
The tension that had coiled within her eased, and she even let out a long, audible sigh of relief.
Did I avoid the blade of suspicion? she wondered, a renewed sense of caution settling upon her.
I need to be careful from now on.
I must think before I speak.
Leni hugged her bent knees with clasped hands, pretending to admire the serene scenery around them.
A fragrant breeze caressed her nose, carrying the earthy scents of the forest.
Leaves rustled softly above her, and birds chirped melodiously from unseen branches.
Tilting her head back, she gazed at the sky peeking through the lush canopy of trees.
It was a clear, brilliant blue, like a neatly ironed, light blue silk skirt.
Her previously carefree sentiments suddenly turned melancholic, and her father’s face seemed to float in the vast expanse of the sky.
A fluffy cloud, drifting lazily by, reminded her strikingly of her father’s familiar beard.
Leni swallowed the sharp moisture that gathered in her mouth and straightened her head, trying to shake off the burgeoning sadness.
“Um, Sir Gustav,” she began, her voice a little softer than before.
“If we go to the Shadow Lands, will we meet shadow spirits?”
“Well,” Gustav mused, his answer ambiguous.
“If you’re lucky. Or should I say, unlucky?”
He then proceeded to explain the intricate procedure for entering the mysterious land of shadows.
Shadow spirits, he elucidated, were a tribal entity organized with the discipline of a military force.
To gain entry to the Shadow Lands, where their tribal chief resided, one first had to cross the Shamut River.
This river, he described, was as black as death itself, unfathomably deep, and possessed relentlessly strong currents.
There was only a single, solitary bridge spanning its treacherous waters.
After traversing the long, narrow bridge, one would encounter a guardian owl at its very end.
Only those who successfully deciphered and answered the owl’s intricate riddle would be granted permission to set foot in the Senwa Forest, which served as the true entrance to the Shadow Lands.
“What if you don’t pass the riddle?”
Leni inquired, a hint of trepidation in her voice.
“Well,” Gustav responded, a chilling note entering his tone.
“No one knows what happens to those who don’t pass.”
“Why?”
“Because they all died,” he stated matter-of-factly, a stark finality in his words.
Hmm.
The dead tell no tales, Leni mused, the gravity of his words settling over her.
“Thanks to them, the forests of the Shadow Lands are exceptionally fertile,” Gustav added, a strange irony in his voice.
“Thanks to them?” Leni questioned, perplexed.
“Yes. Human corpses decompose and are used as fertilizer. It’s said to be a place where all sorts of rare and exotic plants bloom. Among them are elixirs of immortality and trees that bear gold. Didn’t everyone venture there hoping for those?”
“Yes,” Leni conceded, the allure of such treasures undeniable.
It wasn’t difficult to comprehend why people would risk their lives for the promise of eternal life and immense wealth.
Yet, the stark reality was that they ultimately perished without attaining their desires, becoming mere sustenance for the life that flourished after their own had departed.
Nature’s grand design, she realized, possessed a truly cruel aspect.
Mysterious plants, nurtured by the decaying bodies of the deceased, continued to incite the desires of the living.
Those who journeyed to the Shadow Lands, drawn by their own insatiable greed, invariably became sacrifices to the forest.
Or perhaps, one should say, sacrifices to their own avarice.
The tales of the shadow spirits were undeniably eerie, yet they also held a captivating quality, like profound life lessons subtly embedded within frightening narratives.
“Um… I heard that shadows can also transform into humans?”
Leni asked, a new thought sparking in her mind.
“So they say,” Gustav confirmed.
“Then, if a human learns magic, can they become a shadow spirit?”
Leni posed the question, her mind drifting back to the strange shimmer she had witnessed on her arm in the dark hallway of Klavil Palace.
Her father had urged her to truly understand her own body, and she wondered if Gustav, being a magician, had ever encountered such a phenomenon himself.
“Well. All magic is bidirectional. At least theoretically, it is,” Gustav began, his explanation measured.
“But shadow spirits are unique beings.”
“How so?”
Leni pressed, eager to understand.
“All living creatures in the world possess the inherent ability to wield magic. They hold it within themselves from the moment of birth and often discover their particular ability through some significant trigger. They might receive invaluable help by encountering a great teacher, or they might spontaneously create miracles in life-or-death situations, awakening their dormant power.”
“And?”
Leni prompted, leaning forward slightly.
“But shadow spirits cannot generate magic on their own,” Gustav continued, his voice lowering slightly.
“Their magic is a collaboration between light and other beings.”
“Like shadows,” Leni murmured, piecing together the fragmented information.
“Yes,” Gustav nodded, acknowledging her deduction, and then proceeded with his explanation.
“The magic wielded by shadow spirits is reflective magic and permeable magic. They mirror the nature of other living beings or seep into souls to exert influence. The fundamental origin of their magic lies in other beings, and they require a host to cultivate and manifest their magic.”
“A host?”
The word echoed eerily in Leni’s mind, a chilling implication within its syllables.
“Yes. Whether human or animal, a shadow spirit can flow into anything alive,” Gustav confirmed, his words sending a fresh shiver down Leni’s spine.
This forest, then, could also be a tool for dark magic, she realized.
Because it’s a space teeming with life.
She subtly straightened her back, which had been leaning casually against the tree, a newfound discomfort making her posture rigid.
“I heard that shadow spirits feed on human evil. Is that true?” she asked, her voice hushed.
“Yes. Because they also need sustenance,” Gustav affirmed.
“Just as a lion consumes deer and a hawk preys on rabbits, shadows sustain themselves by absorbing the evil within human souls.”
“Then in places teeming with bad people, shadow spirits must be well-fed,” Leni mused, a grim understanding dawning on her.
“They gorge themselves,” Gustav stated, a dark amusement in his tone.
“A battlefield could be called a banquet hall for shadows, couldn’t it? Hah. Since war, at its core, is about who is the most cruel human, shadows gather and hold a frenzied feast.”
Gustav let out a chilling, bizarre laugh, his shoulders shaking with the macabre humor of his own words.
After allowing his unsettling mirth to subside, he abruptly became serious, turning sharply to face her.
“But do you know such a person?”
“Excuse me?”
Leni faltered, caught off guard by the abrupt shift in his demeanor and the directness of his question.
“I mean, a human who becomes a shadow spirit. You just asked,” Gustav clarified, his voice, which had been calm throughout their conversation, now rising slightly, and his silver-grey eyes emitting a strange, intense light.
“Ah… no,” Leni stammered, feeling as though she had inadvertently made a slip of the tongue, revealing more than she intended.
Just as the thought solidified, Gustav suddenly gripped her arm, his touch firm and unexpected.
“If you know, let’s know together,” he urged, his voice low and intense.
“It might help me expand my magic.”
“I told you I don’t,” Leni insisted, her voice sharper than she intended, and roughly pulled her arm away from his grasp.
An awkward, heavy silence descended between the two of them.
Worried that her reaction had been rude, Leni slowly raised her head, intending to apologize.
However, her apology froze on her lips the moment her gaze met Gustav’s.
His silver-grey eyes had become almost transparently pale, and the black pupils at their center had deepened, seeming to expand and draw her in.
Her own reflection appeared vividly in his piercing gaze.
Drawn by the eyes that mirrored her so perfectly, Leni’s body instinctively leaned forward, as if compelled by an unseen force.
Her entire body felt light, as if she were floating in the air, and her consciousness began to grow hazy, a peculiar disorientation washing over her.
Simultaneously, an intense tingling sensation began to run down her spine.
Feeling a distinct prickling sensation in her hands, Leni instinctively lowered her gaze.
Tiny beads of light, like minuscule droplets of condensation, were forming on her fingertips.
“What’s wrong?”
Gustav’s voice drifted down from above her.
Leni flinched as if burned, immediately hiding her hands behind her back, her heart pounding.
“Oh, nothing,” she stammered, frantically trying to regain her composure.
“But is it alright to just idle around without doing anything? The sun seems like it’ll set soon, and where are the squad members? When are they coming back?”
As she frantically blurted out anything that came to mind, a clear, sharp voice suddenly drifted over her shoulder, cutting through the tense air.