Watching Liami finally settle down, Sephnie rubbed her cheek and said, “Even though the book is gone, I still remember the clues that were written inside.”
Upon hearing this, Liami, who had just calmed down, instantly got excited again. She pounced on Sephnie and pinched her cheek hard.
“Then why didn’t you say so earlier! You made me worry so much!”
“I didn’t even get a chance to say anything before you… um! That hurts!”
Liami released Sephnie’s cheek, stood up, and looked down at her, commanding, “Then hurry up and say it now!”
Sephnie shrugged slightly, a bit dissatisfied, and said, “Don’t rush! Aren’t you cold? Why not wait until we get back?”
Cold? Only then did Liami realize they were both barely covered, and the room was pitch black with no light at all, making her feel a chill creeping in.
She shivered, her body trembling slightly.
“How do we get back? The barrier is gone. Has your mana recovered?”
“The barrier is gone—it looks like it was just an add-on to the magic circle.”
Colin suddenly interjected. He had just taken the chance while they were distracted to re-examine the room. The barrier sealing the room had vanished, and so had the magic circle overhead. This eerily familiar situation reminded Colin of the incident in the Alec maze—it was exactly the same.
“As for mana, it’s fine. Although I haven’t fully recovered enough to use teleportation magic yet, I saw a potion in the storage room outside that can restore mana. If we get that, I’ll be able to cast teleport.”
Sephnie explained her plan, and Colin immediately went to execute it. He quickly reached the storage room and took the mana-restoring potion Sephnie mentioned. Meanwhile, Sephnie began drawing a magic circle on the floor.
Liami, having no role here, ran out of the room to see if Colin had found the potion.
As soon as she stepped onto the hallway, she bumped into Colin coming out of the storage room.
Liami instinctively covered herself, but with only two hands, it was insufficient—if Colin looked closely, he could see quite a revealing sight.
Unfortunately, Colin was a gentleman. The moment he saw Liami, he tightly shut his eyes. He tossed the item he was carrying to Liami and placed the potion on the floor.
“This is what I found—it should cover you and Sephnie a bit. The potion’s right here. When you’re done, call me over.”
After saying this, Colin quickly turned and went upstairs to wait.
Liami glanced at the cloth, which looked fairly clean. She had no idea where Colin had found it. She draped the fabric over herself and felt a little warmth.
After picking up the potion, Liami returned to the unmarked room. Just as she entered, something above the side door caught her eye.
She looked carefully and found a line of blurry text, nearly worn away. In this pitch-black room, spotting such a line was nearly impossible.
Liami carefully made out the words—it said “Laboratory.”
Her lips twitched involuntarily. She began to suspect whether Alec was unknown because he never went out or because his brain was just messed up enough for the demon tribe to forget about him.
Who would put a door sign on the inside? And make it so blurry on purpose so no one could see it? Anyone who does that definitely has a screw loose!
Liami recalled the sleeping-type potions they’d seen in the maze and the storage room, the massive amounts of strange cushions in the room and storage, and those ridiculous magic circles.
Now Liami wondered if Alec’s sudden self-destruction and death were some sort of cause and effect. At least, that was what she hoped. If Alec were to reincarnate, she wished he wouldn’t live past the age of three. Otherwise, a terrible disaster would surely befall the world!
To Liami, Alec had become as much of a natural disaster as any calamity.
She handed the potion to Sephnie and told her what she’d just seen.
When Sephnie heard about Alec’s little quirks, her hand trembled, almost dropping the potion. She took a deep breath to calm herself and felt ashamed that she’d ever called Alec a true demon.
Some time later, Colin stood outside the room, bored, thinking over what had happened. Especially when he thought about Liami and Sephnie’s nudity, his expression suddenly grew serious.
Hmm, although Sephnie looked bigger, Liami wasn’t small either. And just judging by shape, Liami was clearly better—Sephnie’s size actually made him a little uncomfortable.
At some point, Colin had unconsciously started comparing their bodies, perhaps stirred by their nakedness awakening a rarely shown desire. After a moment of intense deliberation, Colin blurted out Liami’s victory.
“See! Liami really is better!”
“Oh? How am I better?”
Behind him, Liami appeared without his noticing, smiling at Colin.
Hearing her voice, Colin’s excited expression instantly froze. Not just because he’d been caught red-handed, but because, as a Holy Knight, he’d been thinking such dirty thoughts! When he realized this, he felt a wave of shame.
Liami didn’t press further. She lowered her head, staring at the floor. From her exposed crimson ears, it was clear she wasn’t calm either.
She’d actually been there for several minutes already, intending to call Colin over to the teleport circle since Sephnie was ready. But seeing Colin so absorbed in thought that he didn’t notice her approach piqued her curiosity.
After overhearing some of his stray remarks, her expression darkened—she hadn’t expected Colin to be thinking such things!
But when Colin declared her the winner, her mood instantly brightened. She even unconsciously asked that question.
Once she asked, she knew she’d made a mistake. Especially when she saw Colin stiffen, her cheeks flushed like molten lava, and steam seemed to rise from her head.
She quickly lowered her head, not wanting Colin to see her embarrassed state.
After both calmed down, Liami brought up going back to Sephnie’s place. Colin replied with a grunt and headed toward the laboratory. Though unsure why Liami hadn’t brought up what had just happened, it suited him perfectly—he didn’t want the topic to continue.
On the way, he occasionally glanced at Liami but found she never looked back, even turning her head away so he couldn’t see her face.
This made him wonder if she was angry about what had happened. He silently resolved to apologize properly once they returned and swore it would never happen again.
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