“Sister, where are you?”
After boarding the small boat, Nefiritari was certain that her gaze never strayed from her sister’s retreating figure.
But as the boat slowly ventured deeper into the mist, the focus she had worked so hard to maintain wavered for just a moment.
Yet in that brief lapse of attention, her sister, who had been right before her eyes, vanished into the mist.
When she came to her senses, she found herself standing in a familiar forest.
“Is this the forest near that village where my sister lived… Old hag, is this your doing? Take me back to my sister’s side at once.”
She looked up at the sky and called out, but no one answered.
“Are you pretending to be deaf and mute? Or perhaps you can’t freely control the illusions the barrier produces, as you claimed? Never mind… It doesn’t matter which.”
After standing there for a while, seeing that the strange surroundings showed no change, she took a step forward.
“Then let me witness it for myself… whether this legendary illusion realm, said to leave no outsider from the royal family alive, truly lives up to its name.”
She followed the path before her deeper into the woods. The scenery along the way matched her memories exactly.
“It looks like the kind of illusion that reads people’s memories. How unpleasant.”
Although she had only lived in these woods for a few years, her familiarity with them far exceeded her knowledge of the giant tree where her family had resided for over a century.
During the years Iyue was gone, she had personally come to clean that unattended cabin.
‘The time I lived with my sister was the only meaningful period in my hundred-plus years of life. Compared to that, the long stretches of time before and after were utterly dull.’
‘—Could it be that time? If the goal is to make me sink into it unable to escape, then all they have to do is recreate that time.’
She let out a self-deprecating laugh… The woods opened up before her. In the clearing stood the cabin that had created her most precious memories—
“…A flute? And these footprints…”
She heard the faint, melodious sound of a flute drifting from deeper in the woods… It was the song of a leaf flute. And in front of the cabin, there was a set of footprints left by some visitor.
Nefiritari could tell at a glance that they weren’t her sister’s footprints—they were clearly those of a male. The footprints led from the path to the cabin, then circled around it into the woods behind.
“This is a visitor… He came to see my sister.”
A suspicion formed in Nefiritari’s mind. To confirm it, she followed the footprints into the woods.
‘This is a tune I’ve never heard before, but its style is somewhat similar to the sheet music left by my sister’s father.’
At the end of the footprints, the flute sound abruptly stopped. The first thing to catch her eye was the lush shade of the great tree that had once been her mother.
“It seems this isn’t that time.”
She felt a pang of regret, of disappointment… But her attention was soon captured by the scene unfolding before her:
“What the heck are you doing! You almost killed me!”
“I won’t miss next time. I’ll give you one more chance to answer my question—what is a human doing here?”
On the branches of her mother’s tree, the elven woman with her bow drawn taut was none other than her sister Iyue. And the person targeted by her bow and arrow was a young boy—
‘Ah, I see. So this is my sister’s memory.’
That was the boy known far and wide. He wasn’t clad in a shimmering silver armor or wielding a golden-red holy sword as the legends claimed… At this moment, he was merely dressed as an ordinary traveler.
“This is my first time seeing him in person—he’s not that handsome, really. So this is the type my sister likes?”
She walked right up beside the boy and examined his features… The two locked in confrontation, as she had expected, remained completely unaware of her existence:
“I get it… Just calm down first! My name is Lian En Kelausiuxi, and I’m supposed to be the Hero—Eek!”
“Whoa, he managed to dodge my sister’s arrow from that close up?”
The young hero sidestepped the arrow aimed straight at his face. Even Nefiritari couldn’t help but admire his agility.
“I didn’t ask who you are.”
Iyue’s gaze was cold as frost and snow as she released several arrows in quick succession. Each one bore the mark of death, cutting off all retreat and dodge paths for the young hero. Forced by the pressure, he finally drew the sword at his waist:
“What’s wrong with you! Can’t you just let me finish what I’m saying!?”
He swung his sword repeatedly, knocking down the seven arrows that flew at him… Just as he thought Iyue was out of arrows, he saw her pull out a large quiver containing several dozen arrows from a branch behind her—
“Are you kidding me! Why would you stash so many arrows in a tree!”
His complaint was met with a merciless rain of arrows falling from the tree. Although these arrows carried no magic power, their tips were aimed at turning him into a pincushion. To avoid that fate, the young hero had no choice but to spin his sword into a blur of white light.
Finally, the last arrow landed… The ground before the young hero was bristling with arrows. He panted heavily as he looked up at Iyue on the tree and the now-empty quiver beside her.
“Can you listen to me properly now?”
When he saw her slowly lower her bow, he also lowered his sword—
“Hmph… You’re really something!”
He blocked her downward stomp as she descended from the tree with lightning-fast reflexes… Having been attacked repeatedly, his patience was wearing thin. He grabbed her ankle and hurled her far away.
A flicker of surprise crossed Iyue’s face mid-air… But she recovered quickly. Like a cat, she nimbly adjusted her posture, planted both feet against the trunk of the tree she was about to collide with, and launched herself back toward the young hero like an arrow.
The flexibility of her movements, executed in a seamless flow, left the boy wide-eyed. As he stood there stunned, Iyue tackled him to the ground.
Once on the ground, she immediately straddled his waist, gaining a dominating position. She drew the dagger from her belt with a clean motion and brought it down toward the young hero’s neck—
“Senia sent me!”
Hearing that name, she tried to hold back her strength… But it was too late.
“You… You really tried to kill me! Did I do something to offend you?!”
At the last possible moment, the boy twisted his head aside, and her dagger buried itself deep into the earth.
“…”
“Uh… Could you please get off me?”
The young hero forced an awkward smile at the silent elven ranger straddling his waist.
Iyue stood up. Seeing that she wasn’t planning to attack again, the boy carefully sat up, pulled out the dagger, and offered it back to her.
“Um… Here’s your knife.”
“…Why? Aren’t you going to attack?”
Iyue looked at him. For the first time, a hint of confusion appeared on her expression, which had been cold and indifferent throughout.
“You came to deal with me, an oathbreaker, on her orders. You mentioned her name right from the start.”
She didn’t take the dagger. Nefiritari looked into her eyes and saw nothing but a blank emptiness… The same expression she had worn the day she drove Nefiritari away.