Because they didn’t know the exact route Sefina would wander, Lin Yue simply had Avelina take Airella along to tail her the entire time.
From shops to the school, from the council hall to the infirmary—she went everywhere.
A long time had already passed, but the Sefina in front of them didn’t realize her Divine Doppelgänger spell was almost out of time.
Lin Yue had followed Sefina until his legs nearly gave out.
Airella, even less patient, tugged on his sleeve and whispered complaints: “Who even is she, and why do we have to keep following her everywhere… She goes into someone else’s shop, just looks around without buying anything—what a weirdo…”
Lin Yue lowered his voice, sighing helplessly, “I was forced into this too…”
“Who even dares force you, you scoundrel Young Master!”
Airella looked at him with complete distrust, as if she believed he’d always manage to take advantage of others and walk away untouched.
“I really don’t get where your confidence in me comes from… Look, if you help me investigate her properly, I’ll buy you dinner for a week, okay?”
Lin Yue made his offer in exasperation.
If this troublemaker slipped out of the plot again, she might never trigger the appearance of the Forbidden Beasts in her entire life.
Avelina wouldn’t end up losing so much when the Church made their move, Saintess Sefina wouldn’t join Avelina Academy, and Allen wouldn’t be able to unlock the Snow Mountain questline…
“A…a week! Cough, cough, I haven’t agreed yet, you know…”
“If you don’t agree, don’t come again.”
Lin Yue replied offhandedly.
“Ah, don’t be like that, I was just kidding, hehe…”
Thinking of the variety of dishes she could taste, Airella couldn’t help but drool at the corner of her mouth.
A gluttonous girl like her was easily handled by Lin Yue.
He just cooks too well.
I feel like I’m really becoming depraved…
Airella pouted, but still obediently hid behind the tree with him, watching Sefina tiptoe around, her blue eyes full of curiosity, and let out a sigh.
Another beauty—why is it that Lin Yue always picks girls like this to run after?
Looking at the outstandingly elegant, tall, and beautiful blonde girl, Airella couldn’t help but feel a bit inferior.
She knew she was a pretty girl—she could tell by the way boys treated her, except for the oddball Lin Yue.
But beauty had levels.
In her eyes, the Valiana sisters and this girl’s looks were above hers, then there was Lia, and beneath her were girls like Mapele and Lillian.
By the way, Airella had never seen Mapele without her glasses, so her rating naturally stayed lower.
No doubt, they were all beautiful girls of different styles, holding up half of Avelina’s beauty population.
And among these beauties, most of them had some complicated connection to Lin Yue.
Looking again at Lin Yue, with that infuriating calm look—so annoying!
“But even if you need to investigate her, do you have to circle around her three times? Who even is she?”
She felt like she was up to no good—almost like committing a crime.
Lin Yue didn’t respond, but in his heart he was calculating: the doppelgänger spell was about to expire.
If Sefina didn’t return soon, once the spell wore off, her disguise would vanish automatically.
Sefina would never want the Church people to catch her sneaking out—otherwise she’d never get to experience the local customs she’d missed.
And then…
Thud…
“Ah!”
“Careful—”
She’d end up clashing hard with Allen.
“Are you alright, classmate?”
Allen grabbed Sefina’s arm, keeping her from falling to the ground completely off-guard.
“Huh? Allen?”
Crouched beside Lin Yue, Airella tugged on his sleeve and pointed at the pair who had just collided.
“Don’t ask me, I have no idea…”
Liar—he actually knew everything.
He just needed to confirm they fought on cue, so their “not-friends-until-they-fight” moment could happen.
Then, in the future, the main party would team up with her in the Snow Mountain quest and open the door to The Ancient City.
The things found in The Ancient City could only be deciphered by astrology.
Once deciphered, Allen would truly understand his abilities and unlock his second stage of power.
Not a single step could be skipped…
If not for dealing with Mapele, he wouldn’t have bothered tailing Sefina for so long.
“Excuse me, which class are you in? Why are you here alone?”
Sefina stiffened in fright, shaking Allen’s hand off like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, afraid a student might recognize her.
After all, she hadn’t done much to change her appearance, so it’d be normal to be recognized.
“What’s wrong?”
Seeing Sefina’s agitation, Allen thought he must have startled her into a shock.
“Don’t come any closer—I’m leaving!”
Feeling her spell time about to run out, Sefina grew anxious.
Allen paused, clearly not expecting his kindness to be so firmly rejected.
Noticing the panic in Sefina’s eyes, he grew more suspicious, “You seem afraid of being recognized. Are you in some kind of trouble?”
There were no classes today, and they were preparing a farewell at the city gate for the High Mage.
He didn’t need to accompany the professors in magical research, so with free time, he thought he’d practice his new skills and ended up running into this blonde girl.
Perhaps caught off guard by the unexpected encounter, he failed to control his mana properly, and the Nightingale mark on his left hand slowly appeared.
“!”
Sefina was startled when she saw the mark.
“You’re… from that organization?”
Allen was stunned, raising his hand to see the mark revealed.
Forgot to wrap it today… not good…
“Wait… I—”
Whoosh!
A sudden gust of wind burst in front of him.
Allen dodged instinctively and saw the girl’s body glowing white, a flawless holy sword in her hand, staring at him warily.
Allen countered with a net-like force woven from the Power of Law, blocking the girl’s second strike.
“Who are you? Why do you know—”
Before Allen could finish, Sefina attacked again, forcing him to retreat again and again.
“What kind of power is this?”
Sefina stared at the faintly blade-shaped power before her, her blue eyes filled with astonishment.
On the sidelines, Airella clapped her hands over her mouth, as if watching the most exciting movie scene, and whispered excitedly, “Th-they’re fighting!”
“What do we do? Should we help Allen?”
Having never seen Sefina at school before, Airella naturally thought to help the acquaintance first before considering anything else.
“No… let’s wait.”
Halfway through the fight, Sefina’s spell would collapse.
Then a priest would come break it up.
He just had to hide here and wait for the scene to play out, then he could slip away.
“Lin Yue…”
He watched the fight, lost in thought, as if he’d played out this scene in his mind countless times.
“She’s only using physical attacks. Apart from summoning a holy sword with divine power, she hasn’t used any spells.”
“Just like in the original—hiding her identity, mm-hmm…”
Lin Yue muttered quietly, quite satisfied seeing the two perform exactly as in the script.
“Lin Yue, I…”
“But Allen probably isn’t as high-level as I was at this point. Can he hold out? Maybe I’ll have to…”
“Lin Yue!”
Airella suddenly grabbed Lin Yue’s shoulder, snapping him out of his flow state.
“Airella, I’m… busy?”
He saw Airella looking at him anxiously, her ancestral jade pendant on her chest glowing brightly.
It’s activating?
“What’s happening?”
Lin Yue stared at the dazzling brightness.
It was almost as strong as when Airella summoned the Forbidden Beast in the story.
Except this time, Airella had been hiding it, so nobody noticed until now.
“I… I don’t know, it won’t stop! I can’t control it?”
Airella tried to squeeze the pendant to cancel its power, but nothing worked.
If this kept up, in less than five minutes, they’d be swarmed by magical beasts!
Even though Avelina had few magical beasts and was fairly safe, it was still half wild territory.
Even low-level beasts would be trouble.
Not to mention the many high-level magical beasts Airella usually commanded—if they went berserk, that’d be a nightmare.
Lin Yue turned and saw the core of Saintess Sefina’s holy sword turning red, and Allen seemed to be holding on for too long.
The impatient Sefina, unable to finish it quickly, wanted to end things now.
He noticed—the redder her blade, the brighter Airella’s pendant glowed.
Could it be…
The two on the field were fighting fiercely.
Sefina’s holy sword glowed ever more ominously red, each swing carrying a searing gust.
Allen’s Power of Law was faltering, sweat beading on his brow.
Allen hadn’t expected this mysterious girl to be so strong—or that his Nightingale mark would provoke such hostility.
Who was she really?
Suddenly, with a muffled thud, Allen’s eyes rolled back and he fell straight down.
Seraphina spun around, blue eyes filled with wariness and shock.
Behind Allen, a black-haired boy was standing, staring straight at her.