Early morning, Elia sat wrapped in a blanket by the campfire, watching the guards busily pack up their luggage, preparing to depart soon.
Last night, their group had camped in a clearing in some forest, and she still hadn’t slept very well… her dreams were once again filled with fragmented images.
This time, it was a very long white corridor, with closed doors lining both sides.
She had tried to push one open to look, but couldn’t budge it no matter how hard she pushed.
“Another nightmare?” Kiz’s voice came from behind her.
Immediately after, a cup of hot tea was handed to her.
Elia took the tea and took a small sip, saying, “It’s okay. Just some messy, nonsensical images. I don’t know what they mean either.”
“But you have really dark circles under your eyes today,” Kiz said, staring intently at her.
“Don’t just talk about me, look at you too~ Didn’t sleep well last night?”
Elia pointed at the dark shadows under Kiz’s eyes, which resembled a panda’s.
Kiz then turned her face away, saying, “None of your business! I’m fine with it!”
Elia smiled and pinched Kiz’s cheek.
“I’m clearly concerned about your sleep, and you’re still being stubborn here.”
“L-Let go! We’re not in the castle right now!” Kiz swatted Elia’s hand away, though the tips of her ears had secretly turned red.
“Oh ho~ So that means… as long as we’re inside the castle, anything goes~? Then I want to…” Elia leaned close to Kiz’s ear, blew a warm breath, and whispered something into it.
“Pfft!”
Instantly, the Little Princess’s entire face flushed red, and a foolish grin even appeared at the corner of her mouth…
This was completely different from Elia’s expectation of Kiz jumping away like a startled kitten.
“Heh… hehehe… giggle giggle… hahaha…”
“Oh no! What have you done to our Princess!” Elia exclaimed in shock, shaking Kiz’s shoulders. “Hey, hey, Kiz! Snap out of it! Hey!”
Just then, the Captain of the Guards suddenly walked over and bowed respectfully. “Your Excellencies, everything is ready. We expect to reach the outskirts of the temple by noon.”
Elia, who had turned her gaze towards the Captain upon his intrusion, heard his words and quickly turned back to look at Kiz…
To her astonishment, she found Kiz already sitting elegantly in place with a composed smile. The previous perverted-like state had vanished without a trace.
“Let’s depart,” the Little Princess said.
Six hundred sixty-six, from which parallel world did you find this normal version of the princess! Do you have a knack for making things worse or something!
Elia felt like giving Kiz a big thumbs-up right then.
Soon after, the convoy set off again.
For the next while, Elia and Kiz watched the scenery outside from inside the carriage.
On either side of the official road were only vast stretches of wilderness, with only the occasional twisted, withered tree visible… Moreover, the further north they went, the sparser the vegetation became.
“This place is truly desolate,” Elia remarked.
“Mhm, the Empire’s Northern Border was already sparsely populated. After that temple was abandoned, nearly all the nearby residents relocated.”
“So, what do you think is still inside the temple now?”
Kiz thought for a moment.
“I don’t know. But since the Holy Grail Order and the Church have also taken an interest in that place, we might have to fight a few battles as soon as we arrive~ So…”
She reached out and poked Elia’s forehead.
“Don’t space out again when the time comes and make me worry.”
“Huh? I won’t!” Elia protested.
“Is that so? Then who was it last time who stood in the study for a full ten minutes, unable to be roused?” Kiz asked, crossing her arms.
“…That was an accident.”
“So, are you having that kind of feeling now?”
Instead of answering, Elia grabbed Kiz’s face as she leaned in and said, “Right now, I just want to pinch you.” She then proceeded to pull Kiz’s cheeks slightly to both sides.
“Ow—let go of me!”
“Nope.”
“Elia!”
For the next while, the carriage traveled for another two hours, finally arriving at the temple ruins Selina had mentioned.
It was an ancient-looking complex of buildings, with crumbling walls and pillars standing silently in the wilderness.
And in the center… there should have once been a tall temple.
Now, though dilapidated, one could still make out its former grandeur.
Kiz and Elia, having just stepped down from the carriage, gazed at the distant temple.
“This is the place,” Kiz said.
Elia narrowed her eyes, observing carefully.
Hmm…
This place indeed has many different magical power fluctuations… and almost all of them are extremely similar to her own magic, with only slight differences.
This piqued Elia’s curiosity even more.
Of course, there was also fear, because she didn’t know how cruel the truth might be…
Moreover, she always had a feeling that the rural memories of being with that little girl named Amy were false.
But no matter what, she had to go and investigate…
She couldn’t accept being kept in the dark forever, and she couldn’t bear the increasingly frequent memory fragments lately.
At that moment, Kiz turned to the Captain of the Guards.
“You all stand guard here. The Saint and I will go in alone… If we don’t come out in three days, notify Elder Selina to send troops for rescue.”
Hearing this, the Captain’s expression changed, and he quickly said, “Your Highness, that’s too dangerous! At least let us follow you inside…”
“No need. More people would only make it easier to trigger traps. Besides…”
She glanced at Elia.
“With her here, nothing will happen.”
Elia also smiled and said, “That’s right. I’ll protect the Princess.”
The Captain still wanted to say something, but was unsurprisingly stopped by a single sentence from Kiz: “That’s an order.”
“…Yes, Your Highness,” the Captain reluctantly retreated.
Afterwards, Kiz and Elia walked towards the depths of the temple ruins.
The main entrance of the temple had collapsed halfway, leaving only a large gap for entry. The two walked in through it.
Inside was pitch dark. With human eyes, one could hardly see anything. Elia had no choice but to use magic to grant herself a night vision effect.
As for Kiz? She was a Blood Clan! Blood Clan members naturally possessed night vision.
Moreover, the air was filled with the smell of dust and decay.
But what caught Elia’s attention more was a faint scent of blood lingering in the air.
Elia frowned and asked, “Do you smell that?”
“Mhm, the smell of blood…”
After passing through the antechamber, they directly entered a massive hall.
The roof of this hall had mostly caved in. The walls all around were covered in carved reliefs, but due to severe weathering, the specific contents were no longer clear.
In the center of the hall stood a circular altar, upon which were several stone pillars carved with numerous complex runes.
Elia approached the altar and carefully observed the runes, murmuring softly, “These are… ancient sacrificial texts… but I can’t read them.”
Kiz leaned in to look as well, then shook her head. “I can’t make out what they say either… But…”
She lightly scratched a rune with her fingernail.
Immediately, the rune emitted a faint glow.
Seeing this, both of them took a step back simultaneously.
But the glow quickly faded without any further anomalies.
“Uh… this… is it trigger-activated?” Elia asked.
“Possibly, but the magic power is too weak, probably just a residual trace… Let’s split up and search this area first,” Kiz suggested, looking around.
Hearing this, Elia nodded.
On either side of the hall was a corridor leading deeper inside.
Elia chose the left one, while Kiz chose the right.
“Remember to call me with magic if anything happens. Don’t try to tough it out alone!” Kiz instructed.
“Okay.”
Elia then plunged into the left corridor.
It must be said, this corridor was really narrow and uncomfortable to walk through.
Additionally, on both walls, there was a torch holder every few steps, but the torches had long since burned out…
Well, that was stating the obvious! How could anyone possibly come to refuel torches in a place that had become ruins?
She walked for about five minutes.
Up ahead, the corridor split into three branching paths.
Seeing this, Elia stopped and carefully sensed the surrounding magical power fluctuations.
Hmm… The left path had the strongest magical fluctuations.
So she chose the left path.
After walking a few more minutes, a closed iron door appeared ahead.
Elia tried pushing it gently and found it wouldn’t budge.
Then, she pushed harder, but it still wouldn’t move.
“Hmm… Locked?” she muttered to herself.
She took a step back and carefully observed the door… In the very center of the door was a palm-shaped indentation, surrounded by densely carved runes.
Could it be… that this requires verification? Characters in those past-life games and anime usually did things this way… Let’s try.
Elia thought for a moment, then reached out and placed her hand on the indentation.
But there was no reaction.
Then, she tried injecting a trace of magical power into the indentation.
Would any powerful magic suffice for verification to succeed? Or did it succeed because she was “Saint Elia”?
The door slowly opened. In the room behind it was a circular stone platform.
Hmm… There seems to be a metal box on it.
Elia walked in, picked up the box, and examined it. It had no lock.
Inside was a scroll of parchment.
She then unrolled the parchment. It was covered in dense writing.
How to put it… This was also ancient text.
But there was one word she understood… “Holy Light.”
Elia pursed her lips, then carefully stored the parchment away, preparing to go back and find Kiz.
Suddenly, an intense headache struck, causing her vision to darken. Her body swayed, and she nearly fell to the ground.
Then, an image flashed through her mind…
It was a white room. In this room, many small children sat in the corners, and each child wore a metal ring on their head.
Furthermore, a person in a white robe was walking around.
Then, one child suddenly screamed… and that child’s body began to glow… brighter and brighter… brighter and brighter…
BANG!
The image abruptly ended.
Elia gasped for breath, her forehead covered in cold sweat.
What… what was that?
Those children… What’s going on?
She vigorously rubbed her temples, trying to calm her emotions.
Then, she took a deep breath and left the room.