“So… three trials?”
The silver-haired girl sucked in a sharp breath on the spot. ‘W-what the heck, there are still three of them?’
The final one is the Demon Race, right?
The problem—the real problem—is that Celthina didn’t say a single word about what the first two trials actually are!
This is clearly a major matter concerning the Elf Tribe. Even if the risk isn’t that high, Lord Regent, could you please take this a bit more seriously?
At the very least, give us a little more information. Keti really didn’t have Celthina’s level of confidence. ‘Is she seriously not afraid this will spiral out of control?’
“C-could you explain just a little bit more? You suddenly raised the difficulty, and I… I can’t quite adapt.”
“Well…”
Celthina chuckled softly and shook her head, then said with a helpless smile,
“The first two trials weren’t left behind by that Demon Race. They’re mechanisms of the temple itself—tests meant to determine whether the challengers are qualified to proceed to the center. So… it’s fine. Just keep moving forward.”
…Was it just her imagination? Why did Keti feel like Celthina gave a mischievous smile when she said that?
“But—”
“Huh? There’s no time to dawdle, Miss Keti. We’re almost out of time. If you delay any longer, it’ll be too late. Please hurry and enter together with your beloved Mr. Lynn!”
All of a sudden, as if she sensed something, Celthina urgently began pushing Keti toward the temple. The silver-haired girl didn’t even have time to react before one foot had already stepped inside.
Immediately after, it was as if some force began pulling her in. Even though only one foot had crossed the threshold, the powerful suction made it impossible for Keti to keep her balance.
“Hey, Celthina, you jerk…!”
Lynn shouted in displeasure and reached out, grabbing Keti’s small hand. The flustered silver-haired girl finally let out a breath of relief and gave Lynn a smile.
Let’s go together!
As if by unspoken agreement, the two of them stepped into the temple side by side. The teleportation gate at the center of the Holy Tree began to flicker in and out of existence, as though it might vanish at any moment…
“Don’t go in, Keti! Don’t go—!”
“W-wait, hey, Keti, wait for us—!”
Right at the instant before entering the temple, Keti seemed to hear two extremely anxious female voices. They were so familiar that she instinctively glanced back.
Two figures—her former comrades—were sprinting toward them, reflected clearly in Keti’s pupils.
Sylvia and Layla.
‘W-why did they chase all the way here?’
That was the honest thought in Keti’s mind. Then, in the very next moment, the girl’s consciousness plunged into a deep, dark ocean.
When she opened her eyes again, she found herself in a hazy, illusory space where countless energies and emotions converged.
‘Th-this place is…?’
“Damn it—! We didn’t make it!”
After running at full speed, only to watch Keti’s figure vanish before the Holy Tree at the very last second, Layla and Sylvia could only stop in front of it, panting heavily.
The jellyfish-haired lady wiped the sweat from her forehead and looked at the Holy Tree with frustration and confusion.
I mean… seriously… what is even going on here?
First, she and Sylvia lost track of Keti. Then… somehow… Sylvia suddenly became extremely panicked.
After asking, Layla learned it was because the monitoring magic that had been placed on Keti earlier had reacted.
Which meant…
Keti had left the Imperial Capital.
This sudden turn of events completely short-circuited Layla’s brain. Hey, weren’t they supposed to be here today to supervise Keti so Lynn wouldn’t get the chance to bully her? Th-this, this, this—
Is going on a date really reason enough to leave the Imperial Capital altogether? Or… was it d-discovered?!
To be honest, Layla wasn’t that panicked this time. Mostly because she’d already seen Lynn’s usual tactics before. That guy always seemed to stop right at the most excessive point.
She really couldn’t figure out what was going on in his head. Um… could it be… ‘edging’? Gulp.
Using that kind of play on a girl… w-wow… that Lynn really is something else.
At that thought, Layla’s cheeks flushed slightly. Ahem… but what reassured her a little was that this time, after all, Keti had Sylvia’s magic reinforcing her.
With that ability in place, those kinds of desires wouldn’t arise. With such a safeguard, no matter how much Lynn teased her, her Keti absolutely could not take another step down the path of Mesuochi!
Puh-puh-puh-puh—
That was Layla’s optimistic forecast. But reality seemed to be quite different from what she’d imagined.
At first, Sylvia’s reaction had been more or less the same as hers.
If those two left the Imperial Capital, it would indeed be hard for them to follow—first because it would consume a lot of magical power, and second because it would be difficult to pinpoint their location.
With that reinforcement in place, the two of them could have just stopped there. But…
When Sylvia suddenly thought of something, contacted people from her homeland, and learned that a silver-haired girl and a tall, handsome man had gone to the Fairy Forest…
That green-haired elf completely exploded. She kept muttering things like, “It was her… it was that woman who invited them… it was her…”
And that was basically it. After that, Layla was dragged along by Sylvia all the way to this… le-le-legendary place.
So this is the homeland of the Elf Tribe? This is where Sylvia came from?
That’s amazing. Before this, Layla had only ever heard old nuns at the church talk about such a sacred land.
She’d thought she’d never be able to set foot on such a mysterious place in her entire life. After all, it seemed that only elves and very special guests were allowed to enter.
And yet today, she’d actually come in just like that. The people at the entrance didn’t even dare to stop Sylvia.
Well… the only thing was that Sylvia brought her in a bit too roughly. Dragging her along the whole way… i-it’s a good thing Layla had raised her health a bit recently, or she’d have been crying on the spot.
Uh, speaking of which—
Layla lifted her head and looked curiously at the other elf lady standing in front of them.
Th-this…!
That mature, commanding aura made even Layla—who considered herself the “big sister priest” of the Hero Party—feel inferior by comparison.
Compared to her, this woman’s presence was closer to that of a queen.
But—w-wait. Looking at that face… why does it look so much like the portrait of the Mage Executive?
“G-gulp… c-could it be that you are Lord Celthina? I-I apologize for the intrusion!”
“Hm…”
Celthina wore a smile and gave Layla a brief response, though she didn’t seem particularly interested. Instead, her gaze remained fixed on the heavily panting Sylvia.
Until—
On the other side, Sylvia suddenly lifted her head.
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