Ai’er swallowed a mouthful of saliva and stepped closer to the ice crystals.
As Ai’er approached, the flowers formed by the ice crystals on the ground faded away one after another, as if making way for the silver-haired girl.
‘Should I try? Try to absorb the mana in this ice crystal?’
Ai’er hesitated, but her palm was getting closer and closer to the ice crystal.
Earlier, she had broken the seal at the entrance, which must have absorbed the mana belonging to Elena within the seal.
And indeed, the capture progress had increased.
‘Such a huge ice crystal… there must be a lot of Elena’s mana in it, right?’
If she absorbed all that mana, how far would the capture progress advance?
But…
[Host’s remaining lifespan: 178 days.]
According to what the System said at the very beginning, absorbing Elena’s mana would shorten her lifespan.
But—if absorbing mana was the only way to advance the capture progress…
Although these two things seemed contradictory, there was another reality Ai’er couldn’t ignore—
Was the mana from Elena in that seal really less than the mana she had accidentally absorbed through the ring the first time?
Back then, after absorbing that mana, she had fainted.
But this time… she didn’t feel anything?
‘What’s the principle behind this…?’
At this moment, Ai’er’s hand had already touched the surface of the ice crystal.
[Begin absorption?]
‘It seems the only way to know the final result is to try.’
But—
‘Don’t absorb.’
Ai’er withdrew her hand from the surface of the ice crystal.
The ice crystal that enveloped Lady Serina did not feel cold to Ai’er’s touch.
On the contrary, although the ice crystal was cool, the familiar mana within it made Ai’er feel warmth in her heart.
‘Better not disturb Lady Serina’s rest. Even if absorbing Elena’s mana is the only way to advance the progress, it doesn’t mean I have to absorb the mana in this ice crystal right now. After all… Lady Serina’s expression is so serene.’
With a sigh, Ai’er stepped back.
‘Since I’m not going to absorb mana, what next?’ ‘Elena told me to wait here, but I can probably guess—Lady Serina must have told Elena about the three boxes. So maybe what’s in that box is a will, a letter, or something like that.’
‘How about… I go help look too? Lady Serina’s belongings can’t be just three boxes, right?’ ‘Elena has to dig through piles of things to find those three boxes. It can’t be easy…’
‘Okay, decided! I’ll go help Elena!’
Ai’er nodded at the air, then circled around behind the ice crystal, heading left around its back—
And then she froze.
In front of Ai’er were five doors.
“How are there so many doors?! Didn’t Elena say there was only one room up ahead QAQ??”
What Elena had said was “the room ahead”—but obviously, Ai’er, who had been distracted, hadn’t heard clearly.
“Elena? Which room are you in? Oy~ Elena~”
After calling out for a long time, only the air answered her.
‘The soundproofing is this good…?’
Facing the five doors, Ai’er patted her cheeks.
‘In that case, I have no choice but to unleash the ultimate move I used before becoming a girl—the one that could handle any choice!’
“Come on, you damn doors! Let me show you the wisdom passed down through generations!”
“All right, listen up!
Eeny, meeny, miny, moe, catch a tiger by the toe—the one I point at is the one I choose! Okay, you! The middle door!”
With great confidence, Ai’er walked toward the center door.
‘Besides the “eeny meeny” theory, there’s also “men left, women right” to support my choice.’ ‘Now I’m a girl, but before becoming a girl I was a boy.’ ‘Then the only choice is the middle!’
“Come on, let me see what’s inside you—huh?”
It wouldn’t open.
The whole door seemed embedded in the wall, completely unmoving.
‘Then… try a different one?’
It wouldn’t open.
“Hey! I refuse to believe this! Open up—!”
It wouldn’t open, no matter which one.
After trying them all, not a single door could be opened.
“Wh-what is this?!”
At that moment, Ai’er slumped to the ground in frustration, and noticed that each of the five doors had an emblem of a different color engraved on it.
‘Could it be… related to these emblems?’
Ai’er blinked and stood back up from the ground.
…
Elena had never directly seen how many of her mother’s belongings there actually were.
Back then, she had been unwilling to face her mother’s death, and even the remaining items in her mother’s room were handled by Sirius’s people.
So Elena doubted whether the boxes her mother mentioned still existed.
If the boxes were gone, at least there would be her mother’s letter. If she went to the Empire to search for related clues, she would surely find something.
If the boxes were still there…
“If the boxes are still there, then what was Sirius thinking?”
Elena really didn’t think Sirius would make such a low-level mistake, leaving evidence for his enemies—
So when she saw the three boxes, she froze.
The three boxes were indeed in this room, even in a very conspicuous spot. They were placed in a way that seemed to ensure Elena wouldn’t miss them when she came.
Elena approached the three boxes.
The locks on the boxes had some dust, as if they had never been opened.
As for the key? The key was directly inserted into the lock.
“…Let’s open them first.”
Just as her mother had written in the letter: gold, forbidden books, and a staff.
Gold was naturally useless. The forbidden books were now only useful for confirming Sirius’s crimes.
As for the staff…
Elena had never used a staff.
Ever since she learned to control the mana within her body, her own hands had become like a staff; magic that other magic users needed a medium to cast, she could cast with nothing.
“I’ll take it anyway.”
Just by looking at it, she knew this was no ordinary staff.
So she summoned a magic circle beneath the two boxes besides the one containing gold, and stored all the contents of those two boxes into the magic space she had constructed.
As for the box containing gold, she didn’t need it.
“Let’s go back and find Ai’er.”
But as she turned around, she noticed a large “book.”
That book was placed right at the entrance, as if casually discarded, but—
Elena recognized this “book.”
To be precise, it was her mother’s album.
Drawing, magic, and flowers.
These were the three things her mother had loved most to pass the time.
Come to think of it… she had never seen her mother’s paintings.
Out of simple curiosity, Elena gently dusted off the album and opened it.
The earlier paintings were just flowers and plants, and sometimes she could see the servants busy in the garden. Among them, only one painting included a little girl.
[My dear little Elena]
That was the caption under the painting.
The young Elena in the painting was holding flowers and smiling in the garden.
Elena figured it must have been drawn sometime before she turned ten.
Back then, she had not yet experienced that mana rampage.
“Mother…”
But those were in the past. She needed to move forward, didn’t she?
Besides, Ai’er was waiting for her.
With that, Elena turned to the last page of the album.
But the last page had no painting—only a folded piece of paper: a blueprint.
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