VAP - Chapter 45
Chapter 45: The Supreme Sage Hopelessly Obsessed with Beauty (4)
I’ve been discovered.
That was Alex’s first thought.
No, don’t panic. Maybe it was just someone who stumbled upon the tracks by chance. They shouldn’t be able to find me.
That was the second.
Don’t overthink it. Maybe the person above will just assume it’s a hedgehog’s burrow or something. Is she really going to dig through the soil to investigate?
Hiding in the loose, thick, damp soil, Alex held his breath, waiting for the clear, soft, young female voice above to deliver its final verdict.
However, things did not develop as he had hoped.
The voice, tinged with a thoughtful air, spoke again. “That’s right, the Knight-Captain seems to be looking for an intruder. Oh dear, could this be the entrance to a tunnel left by the intruder? I must go tell the head maid!”
With that, the owner of the voice seemed about to walk away.
Alex’s scalp instantly tightened in fear.
In his panic, the reckless young man came to a clear realization: he absolutely could not let her say a word.
If a mage came and memorized the fluctuations of his earth magic, he wouldn’t be able to hide, no matter how hard he tried!
In that split second, only one thought was crystal clear.
Kill her.
He couldn’t let her get away!
Before the apprentice maid had taken more than a few steps, the young mage burst from the ground, his eyes ruthless. In his hand, his staff began to gather the signature dark yellow glow of earth magic.
Yue Du was waiting for this very moment—
She had feigned to walk away, only to spin around abruptly as if she had heard a noise. Upon seeing Alex, her face froze in an expression of utter shock and terror.
A look of guilt flashed across the mage’s face. His lips moved, forming a mumble only he could hear: “...I’m sorry.”
With a turn of his staff, a killing blow erupted from the wind-element crystal embedded in its tip.
He would use wind magic to eliminate the maid, erase the disturbance in the soil, and then hide underground somewhere else. The Galor lackeys who came to investigate would only assume the maid was unlucky enough to run into him as he fled through the garden. They wouldn’t know he was also an earth mage.
—He felt sorry for this innocent person, but he truly had no other choice.
Alex’s plan was sound, but unfortunately for him, the person he faced was not some helpless, ordinary girl, but Yue Du, who was determined to use him as a stepping stone.
And so, the moment before the pale cyan wind magic could touch Yue Du’s body, it was devoured by surging flames.
Alex: “Huh?”
As for the victim herself, Yue Du collapsed backward onto the ground, her body trembling like an autumn leaf as tears quickly welled in her eyes.
Under the perpetrator’s stunned and helpless gaze, Yue Du took a deep breath and let out a terrified scream: “He—lp—”
The cry spread rapidly. In the residence a hundred meters away, the apprentice maids were startled, and the squad of knights, who hadn’t gone far, stopped in their tracks to listen.
How could any woman produce such a high-pitched scream!
Alex, who was closest and whose ears were being unavoidably assaulted, thought in despair.
It was too late to strike again. He was better off running now while he still had a chance to escape. The mage shot a glare at the trembling Yue Du, then turned, sped up with a gust of wind, and fled.
When the knight squad arrived, they found the apprentice maid, Yue, unconscious on the ground. The area was empty, save for a violently ruptured patch of earth and a hole beneath it large enough to hold an adult.
“What happened here?” a knight asked, bewildered.
The mage with the squad closed his eyes to sense his surroundings, then exclaimed in surprise, “There are traces of earth magic fluctuations here.”
This was obviously a pointless statement. Everyone could see the conspicuous hole, which seemed to be brazenly declaring: Someone was hiding here!
The squad leader made an immediate decision. “Qiya, take this girl to a healer. The rest of you, with me. Continue the search. The barrier is up; the intruder can’t escape.”
He paused, his tone turning stern. “To be so inefficient with such a small matter… Do we need to trouble our superiors to step in? How disappointed would Lord Galor be?”
The knights murmured their assent, their expressions ashamed.
The female knight named Qiya stepped out from the ranks. After giving a standard knight’s salute, she lifted the unconscious apprentice maid onto her back and ran toward the healer’s residence.
Yue Du, feigning unconsciousness: “…” The jostling was awful.
Even so, she had to control her breathing and heartbeat so that no one would discover she was conscious.
This was a skill difficult for an ordinary person to master even with training, but for a System, it was simplicity itself.
At the same time, Yue Du controlled the fluctuations of her power, letting them emanate from her body little by little.
Qiya was a warrior; she couldn’t sense it. But the healer they were about to meet certainly could.
A moment later.
The water mage loyal to Lord Galor—one who specialized in healing magic—appeared. She looked at the maid on Qiya’s back and said in surprise, “Why, she’s awakening!”
The female knight was baffled. “Awakening?”
“Oh, you’re a warrior, so you can’t sense such subtle magical fluctuations.” The healer understood and explained, “She’s awakening a mage’s constitution, which is a good thing. Fainting is a normal phenomenon; some children do experience minor situations like this during their awakening.”
Then she added, finding it strange, “But… this child already looks like a young woman. Why is she only awakening now?”
In the empire, all children, whether from noble or commoner families, had to undergo a special constitution test before the age of five. Those found to have potential would be scheduled for an awakening.
After that, even children from the poorest families could attend the commoner’s academy for free, and those with exceptional talent could even study alongside the children of nobility.
Generally, there were no exceptions.
Yue Du showed no signs of waking. The healer, however, was pleasantly surprised. Judging from the magical fluctuations emanating from the girl, she was definitely a promising talent.
“We should ask the head maid,” Qiya said.
The head maid, Connie, arrived quickly. She flipped through the parchment containing the apprentice maids’ records and said, “The child’s name is Yue. She’s from the East and has no relatives.”
The healer suddenly understood. “Oh, so that’s how it is. That explains it.”
If she was an orphan and hadn’t grown up in an orphanage, then it was indeed possible she had never been called in for testing.
While feigning unconsciousness, Yue Du listened carefully to everything. Deciding it was about time, she pretended to groggily open her eyes.
“Yue, how are you feeling?” the healer asked with concern.
“I’m fine, but… may I ask who you are?” Yue Du asked cautiously.
The healer smiled and replied, “I am—”
The female knight suddenly frowned, interrupting them. “My apologies, Madam Milan, please wait a moment. Miss Yue, I need to know what happened before you lost consciousness. It’s very important to us.”
Yue Du started, her expression shifting from confusion to recollection, and finally to lingering fear.
And so, the female knight, the healer, and the head maid learned just how unlucky the girl had been. She was merely taking a walk after breakfast when she happened upon the intruder’s tracks, only to be targeted for silencing.
Fortunately, heaven hadn’t abandoned her; her own latent potential had erupted to protect her from the cruel assailant.
“Thank you all so much! The knights must have arrived just in time to stop that terrible man from striking again. Otherwise, I never would have been able to block a second attack,” Yue Du said, her eyes misting over.
Yue Du looked younger than her actual age, and after deliberately suppressing her mature, capable aura, she was the very picture of a pitiful, frightened young maiden. This greatly stirred the maternal instincts of the women present.
The female knight offered her a few simple words of comfort before leaving immediately to report to her squad leader that the intruder was a dual-element wind and earth mage.
Madam Milan, the healer, was not busy, so she spent a long time comforting Yue Du and even used a water-based healing spell to calm her nerves.
“I think you should undergo a constitution test, my dear child,” Madam Milan suggested. “To awaken on your own in a moment of crisis means your talent must be astonishing. You might even have an affinity for more than one magical element.”
Yue Du said meekly, “I’ll do whatever you say.”
Madam Milan clutched her chest, murmuring. Oh, my Goddess of Water, this child is so pitifully adorable!
In any case, the crystal ball needed for the constitution test was brought over.
Yue Du carefully placed her fingers on it. She appeared nervous, but inwardly she was calm, still contemplating what she would say when she met her future host.
Seeing the light manifest in the crystal ball, Madam Milan let out a soft gasp.
Oh, by the gods of Ayers!
This child was actually—
“An affinity for three elements, and the constitution of a summoner as well?”
Lord Galor’s… chief attendant and student-in-name, Tina, put down her quill and repeated the words in disbelief.
“Yes, it’s absolutely true.” Madam Milan was still in shock, her voice unconsciously higher than usual.
Attendant Tina thought for a moment, then smiled. “You may return for now. I will explain the situation to our lord.”
She was about to stand up when she seemed to remember something and asked, “You said the child is an apprentice maid. Has she ever shown any disrespect toward our lord?”
Madam Milan answered truthfully, “No, she’s a good child.”
“That’s good! I would hate to displease our lord.”
Madam Milan left.
Tina fiddled with the feathered tip of her quill and sighed, “It’s not easy to find fresh blood.”
With that, she immediately rose and walked briskly toward the tallest and quietest castle in the territory.
It was the residence of the continent’s foremost Dharma Saint, Nai Yin Galor.
Yes, this great lord lived in an entire castle all by herself, justifiably and as a matter of course.
Tina knocked on the great doors.
“Come in.”
A female voice rang out, slightly low yet exquisitely gentle. The ends of her words lifted with a hint of magnetic huskiness, like a little hook tugging at one’s heart.
Ascending the spiral staircase, Tina arrived at the only room on the top floor, where the door already stood open.
“If you have business, speak.” The silver-haired woman spoke languidly, reclining in a tall, high-backed chair of black and gold.
Tina took a deep breath, lowered her head, and briefly recounted the matter.
No matter how many times she had seen her, her heart still skipped a beat whenever she caught sight of her lord’s face.
After a moment, the woman hummed in acknowledgment.
She said nonchalantly, “I see.”
The corners of Nai Yin Galor’s lips curved up. The long ends of her eyes were bewitching, and a mole at the corner of one looked just like a solidified drop of blood, adding to her captivating allure.
And it was this very person who now asked in all seriousness, “So, what about that child’s appearance? Is she good-looking?”
Tina: “…”
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