Chapter 763: Beyond another boundary
"Let\'s go then."
But I wasn\'t going to let her go in there first. Not this place.
-Oooooooooooong!
I walked in towards the place she was pointing at and after stepping forward only a few steps, the scenery before me changed completely.
-Chirp~.
-Chirpy-chirp~!
Sound of little birds chirping filled the surroundings.
-Oooooooooooooong!
She entered right after me and saw what I was seeing in front of me, and was astonished as well.
"Wow…"
The place we seeing before us right now, was not anything like a simple open area with trees present behind.
It was much more vast, attractive, fresh, and magical than just a simple place like that.
There were trees all around us in some distance, there front area was complete grassland and there was a small house present before us.
The sun was shining with less intensity in this area compared to the place we were a moment ago.
The blade of grass here were a little bigger than normal, however, they were much greener compared to what we usually see, or what we have in our gardens.
The air in this place contained more mana and natural energies compared to normal and the forest behind us…
"The great plains of Adanca…"
"Looks like we both know where we are at least."
I could never forget that forest, while she had some unforgettable memories of this place.
\'She lost her Bob here…\'
It was a special place for both of us, and we weren\'t expecting to be here anytime soon, not like this at the very least.
"Is it just a coincidence that her house is located on the northern entrance of a forbidden zone?"
"I don\'t know… in the first place, would she knew so much about us that she would find a boundary leading us to this specific place, make a house here, and invite us for a tea?
Logically, it seems just like a coincidence, but we wouldn\'t know for certain."
"We can know for certain if we just ask her directly though, no? Let\'s go then!"
She was angry at her and didn\'t like her in the first place so she had been acting all upset and grumpy since earlier, but she followed after me till the end so, at least, she also wanted to meet her.
"Oy. Slow down."
She was running there and before I could even blink for a few times, she had already reached the doors of the small wooden house.
"You dummy."
It was a simple two story house made of strong wood that seemed to be gathered from the forest behind us.
There were some pretty carvings all around the house and natural colors were used to paint some of the places.
\'It wasn\'t too fancy, pretty normal actually.\'
And there was no special vibe to this house either. It was just a normal house in a not-so-normal place.
-Step. Step. Step.
"You should knock. She gave the invitation to you."
"Well…"
It\'s true that no name was mentioned in the letter, but she didn\'t specifically say I can\'t bring someone else with me either.
We will just see what happens though… she at least isn\'t going to kill us here, hopefully.
-Knock. Knock. Knock.
"Coming~."
A cheerful voice came from behind the door as soon as I knocked on it. And only after a moment, the door opened up.
"You\'re early just as I had expected~."
The voice we were hearing was a little different from the voice of the person we knew, just like this voice, the one that appeared before us was also someone completely different.
"W-who… who are you?!"
"Ah, Miss Reinelle~. This must be your first time seeing me in this form. Haha, don\'t be surprised though, this is the way I actually look."
"…"
When we saw her for the first time back in the competition, she looked much younger than what she looked like now.
She seemed to be no older than Miss Mia. Perhaps she might have been older according to her special bloodline, but she certainly had a much younger air to her as well.
But now…
"Huhu, don\'t just stand there like that~. Please, come in."
She was a mature lady that looked as old as Aunt Aug but not older than grandmother.
Her skin was now a dark shade, her voluptuous body containing a strange charm, and since she was only wearing a thin layer of clothing…
[{ "Stare at her a microsecond more and see what happens." }]
[{ "Haven\'t you said something similar before as well?" }]
[{ "Yes and you didn\'t try and test what I could do to you. You won\'t do it again either, I know that already." }]
[{ "Aye ma\'am. I\'m no dummy like you." }]
She had curved horns on her head right now that resembled the horns that some demonic or draconic species have. Her hair was white like ashes as well, and the eyes that were golden the last time I had seen her, were now pink with a hint of purple.
A little different from my Aura but quite close to Rein\'s eyes.
\'She looked attractive, and the air around her seemed more refined as well.\'
She gave off a feeling I get from people like the headmaster or grandpa, nothing even close to demonic or evil… which made me even more certain.
\'My [Dynamic heart] can detect the presence of demons, and elements related to them. The evil of one\'s heart, their bad intentions, and things that could harm me.\'
It informs me if there was a threat present around me, and it has saved me many times.
\'It\'s a passive ability that does much more than detecting demons that I use regularly.\'
There have been times I have avoided dangers all thanks to this heart of mine, and if that same heart was quiet while standing right before this person, I knew at least my life wasn\'t at risk here.
"Please excuse us."
We don\'t know what kind of person she was yet, but Rein was just as determined as me to find it out.
"Thanks for having us."
We walked in and followed her in her cosy house that was just as normal as it was from the outside.
There was nothing particularly special about the house, however, the backyard of her house, the venue for our tea, was a pretty place with a looooooooot of flowers.
So many flowers that Aunt Haze would have been jumping with joy after seeing so many pretty and rare kinds of flowers.
"This is pretty…"
"Hehehe, I knew you\'d like this little place."
It was pretty amazing how she grew such a garden in a normal place like this.
The dense Mana might have been helpful but cultivating flowers of this kind was a kind of difficult task that I had learned from the teachings of master and aunt Haze.
It wasn\'t easy to grow multiple unique flowers in the same place, but she did manage to make it possible.
\'And when together, they all created a pretty and harmonious environment.\'
The atmosphere of this place was calming.
Soothing as well.
[{ "What is this, Eon? Wasn\'t she supposed to be some demon bitch that would have been rude to us, to me at least? You said she knew I don\'t like her.
Why is she so happy to have me?" }]
Rein liked his place much more than many of the other places we have stayed in or been to.
It was small, isolated, and since there was a forbidden forest right next to here, there were many things one can do here and go unnoticed.
\'This was the kind of place she wanted for us. A kind of place that was pretty much the same as the house I was building on the sky island.\'
She liked that place but these grasslands had some special attachment to her heart.
It was only for a short time, but she made that creature, the Bob as she named it, and it left a strong impression on her.
\'I knew how nostalgic she was feeling now that she was here. But she had to understand that it was only an artificial simulation.\'
That creature was never real so there\'s no way for her to meet it again. There was no data left of him that she could recover either so, he was gone now.
And, nothing was going to change that fact.
"Apologies for keeping you waiting~. Making sweet things isn\'t my specialty but I did my best. I hope you enjoy it, miss Reinelle~."
She came out with a tray full of three teapots with three different kinds of teas for the three of us.
There was only one tea cup alongside the three teapots, which made us question how she knew about our tea cups, but before we can suspect her of anything-
"A little birdie told me you use your own tea cups for every tea so I made sure to not bring any extra cups.
This table is already small, so won\'t have much space left with extra things."
She already knew our identities so we were assuming she knew a good lot about us, but seeing she even knew about our teacups, it seems like she knew much more about us than I had expected.
[{ "How much does she know exactly…?" }]
[{ "A lot, perhaps?" }]
She even knew our tea preferences, especially how Rein liked sweet tea served with cool desserts.
She has prepared her own version of sweet tea for her, her version of black tea for me, and a herbal tea for herself.
And since she had them in the teapots, we can try the other teas as well.
She was thoughtful.
"Miss Reinelle?"
"Ah, yes."
She served us tea personally after I gave Rein her cup with a smile that still didn\'t feel comfortable to Rein.
She didn\'t like this person, but after really meeting her and being with her for only a few minutes, she had conflicting thoughts about her.
\'She seemed to be a good person, just the kind Rein liked being around.\'
She could see the horns on her head, the darker skin tone, and those ashen hair, and still… she couldn\'t bring herself to hate her as much as she did before coming here.
She wasn\'t even complaining how we had to walk all the way here either-
"Oh, right. I think you didn\'t use the invitation I sent and walked all the way here? I had worked hard to prepare that magic teleportation invitation, you know?"
"…what?"
Opps.
Looks like I\'m going to hear a bunch of curses now.