After Azerein’s voice fell, the surroundings fell into silence. She even briefly wondered if Senpai and Miss Liyami were not inside.
But in the end, the tent was opened from within. The first to come out was Liyami, her head lowered, fists clenched tightly, lost in thought. What caught Azerein’s attention was the unusually red tips of her ears—she had no idea what had happened.
Next came Colin. He, too, kept his head lowered. Though his fists were relaxed and his ear tips showed no redness, the solemn expression he wore conveyed the same meaning as Liyami’s. Azerein had no idea what they had been doing inside to end up like this.
Seeing this, Azerein was quite puzzled. When she had just arrived, she hadn’t heard any sounds from inside; she even thought the two of them weren’t there. But the truth was, not only were they inside, the atmosphere was… strange?
“Um, Senpai, what were you doing in there just now?”
Azerein’s words were met only with silence. After a moment, Liyami slowly spoke, “…Sleeping.”
That single sentence left Azerein somewhat confused. Sleeping now? It was still early evening. Dinner was about to be served. Were they not going to eat? With that thought, Azerein directly voiced her doubts.
“Uh, sleeping so early? It’s only dusk now. Dinner will be ready soon. Aren’t you going to eat?”
After she spoke, the silence stretched on, even longer than before. For a moment, Azerein thought she might have said something wrong. Only after Liyami said, “We will,” did Azerein come back to herself and pointed her in a direction.
“Walk that way and then… you’ll get there. Tonight’s dinner is quite sumptuous, prepared especially to welcome you all.”
No sooner had Azerein finished speaking than Liyami turned and left without looking back. Watching her retreating figure, Azerein was about to wonder why Liyami gave such a different impression than before when a pair of large hands covered her shoulders.
Turning around, Azerein saw Senpai, but he was staring at her with a serious look that left her a little at a loss.
“Senpai, what’s wrong?”
Colin took a deep breath, as if preparing to say something.
“You… absolutely must not tell anyone what happened just now.”
Hearing this, Azerein was a little confused. What did he mean by “what happened just now”? Had something important happened? She had only come over to call them to dinner. What could be so secret that it couldn’t be told?
Colin didn’t explain further. He just patted Azerein’s shoulder and then left. Azerein was left completely baffled.
What could it mean? What happened just now… Could it be the things that occurred when Senpai and Miss Liyami were together inside the tent? What’s the big deal? They were just sharing a tent, and Liyami was preparing to sleep. Surely it wasn’t that Senpai and Liyami planned to sleep together?
At that thought, Azerein gave a self-mocking laugh. Why was she thinking about such strange things? Although she didn’t know what exactly Senpai meant by not telling anyone, it certainly couldn’t be that. Senpai wouldn’t do something like that; he was a model among the Holy Knights!
Besides, could this small tent even fit two people? It didn’t look like it. She must be overthinking.
Azerein shook her head and decided to stop overanalyzing, turning away. She still needed to ask Miss Liyami where exactly she had slept today.
The next day, Liyami emerged from a larger tent. Last night, she had slept in Azerein’s tent with her.
“Slept together” was a bit of an exaggeration—they had simply shared the same tent, not the same bed. Moreover, Liyami had kept her back to Azerein all night, never looking at or wanting to see her, so when she woke in the morning, it still didn’t feel like she had slept next to someone.
As for what happened after splitting from Colin’s tent the night before? Liyami barely remembered. She hadn’t spoken another word to Colin, and the only clear memory she had was that last night’s dinner had been delicious—something she still couldn’t forget.
Oh, and she had another dream last night—she dreamt of stabbing Colin’s abs hard with her “Twin Moons,” apparently calling him a “playboy” or something like that. Why she did that, she didn’t know. It was just a dream, albeit one of those strange and somewhat vivid ones she’d been having lately. But in the end, it was just a dream—what could come of it?
Of course, Liyami hadn’t forgotten the important task for today: to conquer the “I’qu” Maze. It was best to finish the mission today since it was their last day of the holiday.
Liyami was mindful of the holiday’s time. Though their holiday ending didn’t mean they’d immediately throw themselves into work, they couldn’t dawdle too much either.
God knew what kind of major incident might suddenly pop up that would require their attention. If that happened, Colin surely wouldn’t stand idly by.
After some time, Liyami finished her preparations. She sat at the assembly point, wiping down her “Twin Moons” while waiting for everyone to gather.
This mission was clearly more dangerous than usual but also easier in some ways. After all, they didn’t have support from the Knights before. Even if this was only a small portion of the Holy Knights, the lineup was far more impressive than what Liyami had faced in many past events.
Watching the Holy Knight members gradually gather, Liyami gradually relaxed. Seeing them was like seeing Colin, bringing a sense of reassurance.
Though that reassurance faltered the moment her gaze rose and she saw their bare faces—no helmets on. Liyami couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of dissonance.
Here were these big, heavily armored warriors, yet their heads looked like those of cute girls who clearly didn’t seem battle-hardened. The stark contrast felt surreal.
Liyami didn’t know how to even comment on it. Compared to this absurd image, she was more curious about how these girls managed to wear such armor. Their physiques were so different from before, yet the armor fit them perfectly—like it wasn’t heavy armor but easily wearable accessories.
Wearing it like that, wouldn’t it slip off because it didn’t fit? Could they somehow adjust their body size and length freely inside the armor? Was there really such magic?
Imagining the scene gave Liyami chills. If it was really like that, the contrast was so extreme that she almost didn’t want to know what was going on underneath their armor.