Mimic Awakening

From the castle, Azrael’s view instantly shifts to the blue sky over the sea, and his shoes are slightly buried in the white sand beneath. The sounds of waves hitting the shores reverberate along the long shore, and the breeze of the fresh air gently hits his nose.

Turning his head around, he finds that the three of them have teleported on the fine sand of a white beach. He suddenly remembers the time when he visited her mother’s hometown, which is by the sea, in his previous life.

"Are we in the meeting place?"

"Not yet," Claire responds to Azrael’s question before she turns her head to the shores on the right. "If we follow the shores, we will reach the capital city of the Marquisate of Aedith after half a shadowturn of walking. The destination is outside of the city walls after all, so there’s no need to enter the city."

"I see. People might recognize our faces once they see us." Holding his chin, Azrael voices his concern. "Since this territory is neither siding with the kingdom nor the empire, the flames of the war might not reach here, I hope."

"Since this place is located quite a distance from the city, this area is pretty much outside of the city’s watch. Things like that are not an uncommon sight to see."

When Claire says those words, her gaze shifts to the sea, which Azrael imitates. A few seconds later, the water roughly twenty meters from the shore then protrudes like something is about to rise.

Shortly after, the surface tension breaks, and corals are raised up by a curved surface that comes out of the sea—it is a monster. Once the carapace of the monster, which is three meters wide across, emerges from the water, a pair of elongated eyes silently pops out of the water.

"A monster? Is that a crab? Is it observing us?"

"A coral crab, specifically," Claire answers his question. "It has rock-like appendages on its shell that imitate a coral colony, using them to attract marine animals and monsters to lure them into its trap. Sometimes, coral crabs hunt for food on the land by hiding in the shallow waters and waiting for an ambush."

"Just like this one. Do they taste good?"

"Of course, I used to hunt them just for their meat, after all. The best way to hunt them without damaging their meat is to give them a little shock."

After that, Claire walks closer to the sea and pretends she is falling into its trap. The moment her heeled black shoes touch the seawater, the coral crab immediately springs out of the sea and lunges at its victim.

Splash!

Zap!

When the giant blue crab fully emerges from the sea, Claire points a finger at it, and a bolt of lightning comes out of its tip. The lightning instantly hits the crab and electrocutes it, killing it immediately.

The crab’s lifeless body then drops to the sands; its legs are contracting due to the electrical shock of Lightning Bolt, an advanced-tier magic spell. It is also the same spell that Claire cast through Azrael’s body when he singlehandedly overwhelmed a party of awakeners in the dungeon before.

Once the coral crab has been killed, Claire encases its whole body with a huge block of ice before opening a Portal Gate to send it to the refrigerated room in the basement of the new house on the floating island.

"Most coral crabs have orange cores, so they aren’t that strong to veteran adventurers," Claire states as he walks towards them. "Anyways, let’s continue our journey. We cannot have her wait for us."

"Okay."

◆◇◆◇◆◇

Some time later, Azrael, Claire, and Alina walk roughly a kilometer along the white shore until they end up making a turn to the forest.

After hiking for a few minutes, the group finds a wooden pavilion on a cliff. Under its shade, they see a woman in a white long-sleeved gown with black thigh-high stockings and black elbow-length gloves sitting on a backless seat in front of the circular table, which is at the center of the pavilion.

She is rather alone for a noblewoman, Azrael notices.

"I’m glad that you actually arrived," The woman greets them with a mysterious smile; her voice is gentle and not as mature as Claire’s. "More importantly, I am happy to see you again, Claire. How long was the last time we met? Twelve? Thirteen years?"

"It was fifteen years ago," Claire replies with a sharp tone. "Are you messing with me, Carlene?"

"Come on, Claire. You can address me with the name you are familiar with. But if that’s what you want, then you can call me whatever you desire."

The woman in front of them is an old acquaintance of Claire. She appears to be of the same age as Claire’s, around the late twenties or early thirties on Earth.

She is a tall and slender woman with a pair of sharp yellow eyes and reddish-orange hair styled in a wolf cut. From what Azrael can see, she has pale skin and a delicate and youthful face.

She has an elegant and graceful build. Though not as curvy and buxom as Claire’s, this woman can still turn the heads of men and women alike the moment they lay their eyes on her. Azrael considers her as beautiful as Claire.

When Azrael stares at her more intently, he remembers that he has seen her face before but cannot pinpoint where and when. Her smile is oddly familiar. After racking his brain, he eventually realizes that she is the noblewoman in a carriage when he and Alina visited the imperial capital.

Is she really that person? Azrael wonders. That time, she smiled at me as if she knew me.

"Oh my, and who is this young man with you?" Carlene notices his gaze before turning back to Claire with a mischievous smile. "Perhaps you have finally found your soul mate at all."

"What are you talking about? We are not here for your nonsense."

"Ho," The woman seems to fake a gasp. "Don’t tell me you have faked your death so that you can elope with the hero? Though he looks rather different."

"Wha...?"

"What...?"

Both Azrael and Claire are blown away by the noblewoman’s words. They do not expect that at all. Azrael feels like he is being hit by a freight train.

Is that how she recognized me back then? Azrael asks himself.

"How the hell can you say that?" Claire is starting to get pissed, nerves popping out of her forehead. "Is that how you know that I am still alive?"

"Not quite. There is nothing certain of your status just because of the presence of the hero alone. I have a feeling that you are still alive when I see that girl in the imperial capital alongside the hero. I am happy to see her grow up well."

Everything makes sense now to Claire. During their last meeting, Claire invited Carlene to her secret villa to discuss things more privately. At that time, Alina was still a little girl, and Carlene could not just forget how she looked, so she could still recognize her after years.

If Carlene saw Alina and Azrael together, Claire could assume that Carlene would wonder why they were together in the first place. Coincidentally, the hero of the kingdom also went missing after her.

For that reason, Carlene thought that it was not just a coincidence. She ultimately deduced that Claire might be with the hero somewhere. Thinking that she is still alive, Carlene sent a letter to her villa through a magical beast she summoned.

"I am impressed that you managed to find out that I am still alive."

"I know that you are quite a persistent person and always refuse to die no matter what. So I didn’t actually believe that you would die like that."

"You may be right with that, but there’s something that you’ve missed. He is not actually the hero."

"My name is Azrael," he introduces himself. "I may look like the hero, but I am not."

"Really? Now that I think about it, he has a different aura than the hero I know," Carlene says as she stares at Azrael. "So what’s really going on?"

"We are not here for that," Claire interjects. "You mentioned in the message that you have something important to tell. How about discussing it first?"