Chapter 57: A Calm Conversation
He stopped just in front of the rubble and then crouched, moving away a couple of rocks with his hand, revealing the golem’s core that was still, somehow, intact.
He gently picked it up before walking calmly walking towards Renelle, "would my lady like to keep it?"
Her spirit wouldn’t have any need for the core, but she could save it as a souvenir from their first date.
«Or you could just give it to me,» Noctis’ voice was suddenly heard in his head, «it would be put to much better use in my belly.»
’No.’
He wasn’t sure of his spirit’s rank, but he was sure that it was high enough for even a core like this would be useless to it.
It just wanted to eat the core instead.
«Tch.»
Renelle quietly looked at the core for a second before glancing at the bracelet at both their wrists and smiling,
"This is enough of a souvenir," She said, "you can keep the core."
Adrian nodded and immediately sent the core to his [Shadow Vault]. Alvíss should be able to turn it into something useful to her, so he just kept it for now.
He then extended his hand towards her and without hesitation, Renelle accepted it. Besides, she had embarrassed herself in front of her butler enough for one night.
Plus she had already decided to accept his obsession and from his feelings she experienced, holding hands was the tamest of all.
Adrian smiled as a shadow cocoon enveloped them and they immediately disappeared, reappearing above the lake.
Again, he had used [Shadow Swap] to switch places with his clone that had just reached this place, after the first swap.
Avera’s twin moons still shone brightly above and the spirits still made the lake a beautiful scene.
It felt like they had been in that dungeon for quite a while, and yet it seemed as if time hadn’t moved in the slightest.
Which it hadn’t.
But there was no clock around to let the two realize it.
"So," she started, her tone returning to its usual composure, "are you going to let go?"
Adrian glanced at their joined hands for a second.
Truthfully, he didn’t want to let go, but as someone who was still supposed to be the lady’s butler, he had crossed quite a few lines, so he might as well put on a behavior appropriate for a servant right now....right?
Hesitantly, he released her hand, and for some reason Renelle could’ve sworn his expression changed for just a second.
She wanted to say something, but Decided not to, instead, her eyes shifted slightly to the bracelet on her wrist, then to his.
"This was your plan all along, wasn’t it?" she muttered.
"To get a matching set of artifacts with my lady?" he asked calmly, "I wish I was that capable."
"Tch."
There was silence between the two as she slowly sat down on the grass, looking at the twin moons, before absentmindedly speaking.
"You know, in my past life," She started, "I was so obsessed over the prince that I didn’t have time to even idly sit and look up at the moon like this."
Adrian followed her lead, also sitting on the grass and looking at her instead of the moons, but she was so lost in thoughts that she didn’t even notice.
"It’s truly beautiful, isn’t it?" Renelle asked, still looking at the moons.
"Very," he answered, not really referring to the twin moons.
She then slowly turned towards him and asked in a serious tone, "were you ever going to tell me that you were not from Avera and that this world is a picture book back in yours?"
"Yes," he answered before adding, "but only when I was completely sure that there wouldn’t be any side effects or consequence."
"I figured as much," Renelle said with a chuckle before going silent for a while.
"Your world is a fascinating one," she spoke up again, still looking up in the sky, "I wonder how it’s like, living in a world without magic."
"Boring, bleak and lacked all the spark that Avera has," Adrian said.
"Really?" Renelle curiously turned to him, "and why’s that?"
"You were not there," he answered honestly.
Now that he was in Avera, and sitting right next to her, Earth looked even more bland simply because she was here.
"You’re really hopeless," she muttered with another chuckle before standing up, "we should head back."
"Understood," he nodded and followed suit, taking her hand and teleporting directly in front of her dorm building.
Adrian then let go of her hand and spoke up, "thank you for the reward, my lady."
Renelle looked at his expression for a while longer before saying, "goodnight Adrian."
And with that, she calmly walked into the building without looking back.
Adrian remained where he stood for a few seconds before a faint smile appeared on his face as he disappeared.
"Goodnight, my lady."
***
Adrian reappeared high above his dorm building, standing on the roof as he looked down at the academy grounds.
Specifically at the founder’s golden statue.
"Even from afar, you can feel it’s pressure, right?" A familiar voice suddenly interrupted his thoughts causing him to look up.
Floating directly above him was exactly who he expected,
The headmistress.
Her red eyes were subtly glowing and there was a small smile on her face, but her aura was as threatening as ever.
"Hmm," Adrian nodded as he looked back at the statue.
"Now then," headmistress Evelina slowly landed beside him, "I saw that you discovered the spirit lake and even the dungeon hidden beneath."
She had been watching him all this while and according to what she ’saw’ he had been specifically looking for that place, as if he had prior knowledge of it.
This should be impossible, since beside her and her father, no one else should have knowledge of its existence.
So Adrian discovering it with little to no effort was... interesting, to say the least.
"Do you mind telling me how, my dear student?"