Eileen desperately wished she could slap her own crow’s mouth a few times.
Why had she been so foul-mouthed and said those things before Mia left?
Now look what happened. She had actually gone into the river to take a bath…
“Atia, come over and give me a hand!”
Time waited for no one. What if Mia truly drowned?
She wouldn’t be able to explain it to Kate later…
“Huh? Oh oh…”
Atia didn’t understand, but still obediently followed.
Declan and Lucen, who had just been thoroughly shut down by Eileen into self-isolation, immediately snapped back to their senses. “Miss Eileen, where are the two of you going?”
Eileen didn’t answer. She simply charged toward the direction Mia had left at full speed.
Declan and Lucen exchanged a glance, then also rose and followed.
They had no choice. Although they were indeed dissatisfied with the arrangements for this trip, the mission they had received was to assist Eileen in investigating the traces of magical beast activity in Mordin City and to protect her and Atia’s safety.
If these two little ancestors truly ran into any trouble, Kate would probably shave their skulls clean off.
The four of them, two in front and two behind, sprinted at their fastest speed.
The bank of the Ares River that originally required more than ten minutes to reach took Eileen only four minutes, leaving her so exhausted she nearly threw up on the spot.
I should have known to put all my skill points into stamina. With my current level, what’s the point of having intelligence?
With only one minute remaining on the countdown, Eileen widened her eyes and searched the turbulent river surface for any sign of Mia. Yet aside from the churning spray, she could see almost nothing.
Watching the countdown tick away second by second, Eileen began to panic as well.
As an Upper-rank Mage of the Duke’s Private Knight Order and the strongest mage in the Principality, if Mia suffered even the slightest mishap it would be an extremely heavy blow to the Principality.
Based on her understanding of the Duke of Navora, he would definitely launch a thorough and serious investigation. At that time, even if she wanted to hide she wouldn’t be able to. She would inevitably be exposed under the eyes of the world.
When that happened, if those ex-girlfriends she had thoroughly played in the first playthrough of the game—who hated her to the bone—came looking for her as a group, she didn’t even know how miserably she would die.
Being able to leave behind a head like a certain older brother figure would probably already be an extravagant hope for her at that time…
But right at that moment, Atia suddenly widened her eyes, her tone urgent and panicked. “Miss Eileen, Miss Mia she… why is she in the river?!”
In that instant, Eileen felt as if she had grabbed a lifeline of hope and hurriedly asked, “Atia, did you see her? Where is she?”
“Right down here… Miss Eileen, I-I’ll go find Mr. Declan and Mr. Lucen to save her right away!”
Atia’s first thought was of the two male members accompanying them this time.
Although the two of them had been following behind the entire time, whether intentionally or not, they had always maintained a small distance from them.
Seeing that the countdown was about to end, waiting for them to arrive would mean the person would already be cold.
At this moment Eileen no longer cared about anything else. She directly leapt into the water in the direction Atia had just pointed.
“Lucen, what the hell is this Miss Eileen going crazy about? Why did she suddenly run off?”
Declan asked.
“I don’t know.”
Lucen shook his head. “Did she get too hungry?”
“Even if she was starving, the dry bread we brought isn’t inedible. Is it really necessary?”
“Hell if I know… Wait, Declan, look carefully. Is Miss Eileen jumping into the river?”
“Huh? Holy shit!”
Declan focused his eyes and immediately let out a sharp cry.
Before departure, Kate had repeatedly and sternly ordered them to guarantee Eileen’s safety no matter what. She had even issued the extreme command that they were not allowed to let Eileen suffer even the slightest harm, even if it meant risking their lives. From this alone one could see how important Eileen was in Kate’s heart.
The reason the two of them had mocked Eileen and Atia earlier was merely to find an outlet for the resentment they had accumulated from being assigned this work that shouldn’t have fallen on them in the first place. There was no need to retaliate against them like this, right?
If this little ancestor ran into any accident, Kate really would skewer them into kebabs…
The two of them exploded with the fastest speed of their lives and rushed to the riverbank, yet at this moment aside from the surging river water there was already not a single human silhouette to be seen.
It was over. Completely over!
The two of them were thoroughly despairing. They could already imagine the scene of Kate, upon hearing the news of Eileen’s death, skewering the two of them and hanging them up at the gates of the Royal Capital for public display…
“Hurry hurry hurry! She only just jumped in. We should still be able to pull her up!”
Lucen urged. Only then did Declan react. He stripped off his outer coat and jumped into the river to save her.
At the same time, Lucen also noticed that Atia, as Eileen’s companion, was currently extremely calm. She was simply staring fixedly at the river surface without the slightest reaction.
Had she been scared stupid?
“Hey, go find some wooden sticks or something. In case Declan runs out of strength he can still get some leverage. I’ll watch here to prevent any accidents.”
However, Atia shook her head.
“No need. They’re already coming up.”
“Huh?”
Lucen froze. Looking carefully, he discovered that a faint light was currently radiating from Atia’s pupils.
“This is… Trace Eyes? Wait, is your class Ranger?!”
Atia nodded.
Trace Eyes was one of the basic skills of a Ranger. It could track the position of living beings within a short period of time in the past. Combined with the Ranger’s inherently powerful insight, it could achieve the effect of striking first.
Some experienced Rangers could even use the brief tracking effect provided by Trace Eyes to lock onto an enemy’s position, with an effect comparable to a wall-hack in a game.
“Then where is your bow? Or are you a String Mage who mainly cultivates magic?”
String Mage was a variant class of the Ranger. Their attack method was primarily based on magic, while still retaining the mobility and danger-prediction characteristics of a Ranger.
They usually did not carry traditional bows and arrows, but instead condensed magic power into formless arrows to attack.
Atia looked a little embarrassed. “Would you believe me if I said I can’t draw a bow?”
Lucen: “…”
The moment those words fell, two figures suddenly appeared on the river surface, immediately drawing the gazes of the two on the shore.
“Miss Eileen!”
Seeing Eileen surface from the water, the heart that had been hanging in Atia’s throat finally settled.
Although thanks to Trace Eyes she could clearly know what was happening underwater, she still couldn’t help breaking out in a cold sweat for Eileen.
After all, the situation underwater was far more complicated than on the surface. Undercurrents were everywhere. The slightest carelessness could result in being swept away.
“Atia, first pull Mia up!”
Eileen was carrying Mia and continuously gasping for breath.
She looked small enough, but when she actually had to carry her, she was still quite heavy…
Atia responded and, together with Lucen, hauled both of them onto the shore.
“Hah… I thought I was going to die here…”
After reaching the shore, Eileen lay on the ground and let out a long breath of relief.
Fortunately she had practiced swimming before. Otherwise she probably wouldn’t have been able to surface at all.
She had originally thought that with how good her swimming was, carrying one more person shouldn’t be too much of a problem. But facts had proven she had still oversimplified things.
Thankfully Mia hadn’t struggled. Otherwise whether they could even surface would have been uncertain.
“Miss Eileen, thank goodness you’re alright…”
Atia tightly gripped Eileen’s hand, her entire body trembling from lingering fear.
What had just happened was far too sudden. It had given her almost no time to react.
Only after Eileen reached the shore did she realize just how dangerous Eileen’s situation had been.
“Lady Mia! Lady Mia!”
Eileen was fine, but Mia’s condition was far from optimistic.
Lucen shook and called out repeatedly, yet Mia still showed no intention of waking up.
“Enough, enough. Stop shaking her. Even if she wasn’t dead she’d be shaken to death by you!”
After catching her breath for a short while, Eileen directly pushed Lucen away.
The side quest countdown had stopped at the final ten seconds. That meant Mia should not have any major problems. She only needed some first-aid measures to wake up.
Eileen recalled what her former swimming coach had taught and bent down toward Mia’s mouth.
Atia was greatly shocked.
“Miss Eileen, what are you doing?!”