Chapter 1027 - 856: Vivian’s Cottage
The Old Duke raised his glass, slightly nodded in Duke’s direction, and then drank it all in one go.
Duke also raised his glass in return, toasting back to him.
The banquet continued, the crisp clash of utensils intertwined with the crackling of apple wood burning in the fireplace, occasionally interrupted by the babbling of Rein’s little daughter, which was soon followed by laughter from everyone.
Outside the window, the night grew deeper, the wheat fields of Maple Hill County sank into silence under the moonlight, while the old banquet hall in the castle was warmer than ever.
...
The next morning, when Duke woke up in the guest room bed of the castle, there was still a thin morning mist outside the window.
He had a simple breakfast in the castle’s dining room, where Vivian was already waiting for him at the door.
She had changed outfits today, no longer wearing the light blue gown from last night but instead had on her more customary attire.
A well-tailored deep green waisted jacket, paired with tight-fitting brown leather pants and knee-high boots, her golden hair was neatly tied up into a bun, secured with a silver hairpin shaped like thorns at the back of her head.
A slender thrusting sword hung at her waist, with a wind attribute magic crystal set in the hilt, emitting a faint light blue glow in the morning light.
This attire made her look more like the female Knight who wielded her sword in the Moonlight Forest years ago, only the ethereal and mysterious temperament between her brows reminded everyone that she was no longer the defiant young girl she once was.
The two walked side by side out of the castle, across the familiar wheat fields outside Maple Hill County.
The morning mist slowly dispersed under the morning sun, and many farmers were already starting their day’s work between the furrows.
When they saw Vivian, they all stopped their work and bowed respectfully; a few older farmers even waved at her from afar.
Vivian nodded in greeting to each of them, clearly familiar with these farmers.
After crossing the wheat fields, they walked a bit further and entered the boundary of the Moonlight Forest.
The ancient trees in the forest remained tall and silent, their canopies interwoven overhead forming a dense green dome, only a few strands of sunlight managed to penetrate through the layers of leaves, casting mottled patches of light on the moss-covered ground.
The air was filled with the moist earthy scent and the resinous fragrance of pine, occasionally a few birds chirped from deep within the forest, echoing between the trunks as a distant sound.
The two followed a path almost completely covered by shrubs for nearly half an hour, and as they went deeper, the surrounding vegetation became denser.
Duke noticed that from a certain point, the concentration of free energy particles in the air started to increase gradually at an extremely slight rate, which was very unusual in a region as energy-poor as the Florence Continent.
This indicated that some large-scale Witch Array nearby was operating, slowly attracting and gathering the surrounding free energy particles.
Vivian stopped in front of a gigantic oak tree that looked indistinguishable from the surrounding ancient trees, turned to look at Duke, with a meaningful smile on her lips, "From now on, stay close to me, don’t drift away."
She raised her hand and pressed it against the rough bark of the oak tree, a circle of extremely faint light blue halo emanated from her fingertips.
The bloodline power of the ancient Wind Elf awoke within her, causing the air around her to begin to flow gently, initially just a very slight breeze brushing against Duke’s clothes, but within seconds it intensified into a pale blue vortex of air currents visible to the naked eye.
The air density at the center of the vortex dropped sharply, and when the light passed through that area, it caused noticeably refraction, distorting the crisscrossing cracks on the oak’s trunk.
Then those cracks began to glow, not the patches of sunlight filtered through the leaves, but a gentle and warm light gold emanating from inside the bark.
The fissures extended very slowly toward the surroundings, interweaving and merging with each other, outlining an archway slightly taller than a person on the tree trunk.
The bark inside the archway gradually became transparent, finally transforming completely into a light gold curtain of light, through which the blurred outline on the other side could be seen.
It was no longer the darkness of the deep forest, but a wide clearing illuminated by the morning light.
"This is a special entrance to Vivian’s Cottage." Vivian withdrew her hand, slightly turned her head to look at Duke, with a hint of unabashed pride in her tone, "I’m the only person on the entire Florence Continent who can open this door from the outside, even if Master Grace comes personally, they have to send me a message to open the door."
She reached out to grasp Duke’s hand, pulling him to step through the light curtain with her.
The sensation of passing through the curtain was very peculiar, it wasn’t the icy tearing feeling of a teleportation array that stretched the body into an infinitely long thread and then compressed it again, but rather like passing through a curtain of warm air currents, skin feeling an extremely slight, gentle touch like a spring breeze brushing over a wheat field, with the faint sound of wind chimes reaching the ears from afar, a unique imprint left by the bloodline power of the Wind Elf at the entrance.
In an instant, the light and shadows before the eyes became bright and open, the solid touch underfoot was no longer the soft humus soil of the forest, but a smooth and flat blue stone road.
Duke looked around, and even though he had seen the grandeur of the Six-Ring Tower and the luxury of the Deep Sea Palace, he couldn’t help but nod slightly in his heart at Vivian’s dedication over the years.
The scale of the forest clearing was far larger than he had anticipated, spanning several acres, surrounded by towering ancient trees, their canopies crossing above to form a natural dome.