Chapter 20: The Secret Beneath the Town

Aelian followed the trail all the way to the town outside the academy.

The town was unusually quiet under the night sky. A thin layer of dew had formed on the cobblestone streets, and the houses on either side were still dark.

Clearly, this place had not been affected by the ‘Frozen Domain’.

‘Seems I lost the trail…’

He chased it to an alley, stared at the high wall in front of him, and scratched his head helplessly.

The wall was built of rough bluestone, at least three or four meters high.

Could there be a hidden mechanism or secret door?

He fumbled around the area for a bit but found nothing.

This mechanism must be hidden extremely well.

Just as Aelian was at his wit’s end, footsteps approached from behind.

The footsteps were neither hurried nor slow; they clearly didn’t belong to an ordinary passerby.

Thanks to his Perception skill, his hearing and vision were greatly enhanced, allowing him to detect even the faintest sounds from far away.

Judging by the sound, the person had been following him from his starting point.

He had been moving the whole time, so he hadn’t noticed. Now that he had just stopped, this guy caught up.

His mind filled with doubt. Who else could have followed him out at this hour? Could it be Mia who noticed he left and followed?

‘Little Nether, transform first!’

To be safe, Aelian didn’t hesitate and switched directly to battle form.

The new form he had briefly tested in the museum basement was making its appearance again.

As soon as Aelian spoke, a faint purple glow began to surface on his body, like a flowing veil covering every inch of skin.

His bones made faint clicking sounds, his shoulder width quietly narrowed, and his body proportions became slender and sexy.

Not only did his gender completely change, but his appearance also transformed greatly. Compared to before, perhaps only his hair color remained the same.

Her Adam’s apple disappeared, her jawline softened, and silver-white long hair cascaded down from her shoulders.

The whole process took only two or three seconds. But the change was so dramatic that even Mia, who was familiar with Aelian’s crossdressing form, would probably not connect this elegant and mysterious woman to Aelian if she were standing here.

She felt every muscle in her body once again filled with magic. Whether in combat ability or magical power, she was several times stronger than in her untransformed state.

‘Aeliana, making her grand entrance! The current form is the basic form~ Come out! Star Night!’

‘…’

No response.

‘Hey! Little Nether, where’s my weapon?’

‘Oh, is Star Night the name you just gave your weapon? Why didn’t you say so earlier?’

A shapeless, bizarre weapon appeared in her hand.

Its outline trembled constantly, like a reflection in water disturbed by a pebble. Sometimes it looked like a sword, sometimes like a staff, and even the surface material kept jumping between metal and wood.

“…Why is it still like this?”

Aeliana frowned. ‘Little Nether, turn into a proper weapon!’

As she willed it, ‘Star Night’ kept changing and finally stabilized into a giant single-edged scythe.

The blade solidified from the void, its crescent surface reflecting the moonlight, cold as ice. The long handle reached just to her chest, and the grip was wrapped in fine dark silver patterns that fit her fingers perfectly.

‘As expected, an elegant beautiful girl must be paired with this kind of giant scythe.’

‘Do you even know how to use it?’

Before she could respond to Little Nether’s doubt, the footsteps arrived in front of her moments after the transformation ended.

He held a simple iron sword, but even at night it gleamed with a chilling light. His flaxen short hair was slightly messy, perhaps from the chase, and his dark brown eyes were fixed firmly on the beautiful girl holding the giant scythe.

“Classmate, what are you doing here at this hour?”

Leon’s eyes showed a hint of caution, and his hands tightened on the iron sword. Apparently, he hadn’t recognized that Aeliana was the ‘girl’ he had met that afternoon.

“? You seem to have misunderstood. I’m not your enemy.”

A hint of exasperation appeared on Aeliana’s delicate face.

How come I didn’t notice when playing the game that this guy seems a bit slow?

“I’m also here to save Stella.”

She patiently explained to Leon.

Hearing Aeliana’s explanation, the brown-haired boy relaxed slightly, but his grip on the iron sword didn’t loosen at all.

“The clues end here. Since you could follow me, why not try too? See if you can find any traces?”

She cupped her hands in a salute toward the surroundings, her words also carrying an intention to win Leon over.

She’s so beautiful. So she enrolled in Tyrande Academy too…

However, at this moment, Leon was staring at Aeliana’s face, his thoughts already drifting far away.

“Classmate, staring at a lady’s face is very impolite.”

“Sorry, I’ll start right away.”

After being seen through, Leon didn’t show any embarrassment or shyness. He kept a poker face, but Aeliana keenly caught the evasion in his eyes.

She couldn’t help but cover her mouth and giggle.

Leon searched around for something, but didn’t easily let down his guard against the woman beside him.

“Ah… found it.”

He suddenly spoke, and with a dull scraping sound, a hidden door appeared in the ground by the wall.

The hidden door was formed by a whole slab of stone sinking down, with almost no gap at its edges.

Without that low “click” and a wisp of musty smell rising from below, one couldn’t tell it apart from ordinary ground.

“A switch disguised with magic. It’s easy to overlook if you’re not careful.”

This sounded like he was making excuses for the other, but after saying it, Leon gestured toward the entrance.

“Ladies first.”

The elegantly dressed, mysterious beautiful girl in front of him seemed not to expect Leon to say that. She was slightly taken aback, then smiled calmly and walked gracefully toward the underground entrance.

Just as she passed by Leon, a faint fresh scent wafted over, cool and refreshing. If not for worrying about his gentlemanly dignity, Leon would have wanted to take a few more sniffs.

Not really.

He wasn’t the kind of pervert who liked to follow girls around sniffing their scent.

To avoid being attacked from both sides, Leon deliberately let her go first and followed behind. The first priority in a rescue wasn’t getting the person out, but avoiding getting himself trapped.

This mysterious woman always acted so calmly, as if everything was under her control, which gave Leon a constant feeling that he could be backstabbed at any moment, as if needles pricked his back.

He was also quite concerned about the hair color of the person in front of him. That girl from that afternoon also had silver hair.

Could they be related? Come to think of it, those two guys who came to trouble me mentioned someone named Aelian who also had silver hair…

Leon’s thoughts began to wander.

Of course, Aeliana, walking in front, had no idea what Leon was thinking behind her.

The downward steps extended one by one, and even with a Light spell, the deepest part couldn’t be illuminated in one go.

As the two went deeper, the air grew colder and carried a damp, moldy smell, like a cellar sealed for over a hundred years being opened for the first time.

On the surface, Aeliana was calm, but in reality, every step was careful and cautious, ready to pull out ‘Star Night’ at any moment to deal with possible attacks.

That guy had hidden in the infirmary for so long without me noticing. His strength must be extraordinary.

The two in the passage walked slowly deeper, each harboring different thoughts.

Their pace wasn’t fast. A few minutes later, a huge stone door finally appeared at the end of the steps.

The stone door was as tall as three or four people. Its entire surface was carved with eerie patterns, like a hybrid of twisted blood vessels and runes.

When the Light spell shone on it, the patterns seemed to wriggle slightly. Perhaps it was just a change in the light angle. In any case, it didn’t look like anything proper.

The girl looked at Leon beside her. He also seemed not to have expected such a big secret beneath the small town near the academy.

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