Chapter 66: We’re Leaving Today

The next day, Elias was in his room packing some stuff.

Today was the day he’d head back to Valebrook Village.

Yesterday, he’d already bought some food, clothes, and gifts to give out to the villagers. And since today also happened to be Mira’s seventeenth birthday, Elias had made sure to get her something fitting for her coming of age.

Honestly, Elias had really wanted to throw a proper party for Mira’s coming of age, but he ended up scrapping the idea. Not because he was short on funds.

Money-wise, Elias had more mana stones than he knew what to do with. If he wanted to sell them, he could’ve been rich overnight. But considering how expensive and hard to find they were, there was no way he was going to sell them carelessly.

So what was the reason?

Simple. Mira would definitely hate it.

Elias figured Mira would chew him out if he was willing to blow that much money just for her coming-of-age party. After spending a few days living with her, Elias had started to pick up on the fact that Mira was the type of girl who was super frugal with money.

’As expected of my sweet little sister.’

After finishing packing everything he wanted to bring, Elias shoved it all into his storage pouch and walked out of his room toward the mansion gate. A carriage was already waiting for him out there.

"Thank god we don’t have to ride horses. But why do we have to use a carriage anyway? We could get there way faster if we just rode Buka."

"What do you think I am?"

Elias turned to the side, right toward Buka, who was standing there with both arms crossed in front of her chest. Her face was screaming pure annoyance at what he’d just said.

"A mount."

Hearing that, Buka was slightly taken aback before glaring at him, clearly pissed.

"Even Lady Venatrix has never called me that since I was little!"

Elias paused for a second, furrowing his brow. Something about what Buka said felt off.

"How old are you?"

The moment Elias asked her age, Buka jolted. She lowered her head a bit before speaking in a low voice.

"I-I’m... two..."

"Two years old? So it’s true, your race grows faster."

"Not..."

"...Twelve?"

"Not..."

"Twenty-four?"

"Not, you idiot! I’m Two Hundred and Forty-Six years old, satisfied?!"

Buka lifted her head slightly and shouted right into Elias’s face. Her eyes were glistening as she tried to hold back her embarrassment. Both hands were clenched in front of her chest. Maybe because she was trying to hold back both her embarrassment and her tears, she just stared at Elias while biting her lower lip.

On the other side, Elias was completely stunned after hearing Buka’s actual age. Sure, his ears hurt and his face was a little wet from Buka’s spit, but his shock was way bigger than either of those things.

"For real? You’re Two Hundred and Forty-Six?"

"S-so what?"

Elias raised his right hand and put it on top of Buka’s head, like he was measuring her height.

"With a body this short—"

Before Elias could even finish, Buka immediately bit down hard on the hand on top of her head out of pure annoyance.

"Ahhh!!! What are you doing?! Let go of my hand!"

Elias screamed in pain while shaking his hand like crazy. But Buka kept biting. Her body swung along with Elias’s movements, even getting lifted and thrown side to side like a ragdoll being shaken around.

"Hey, let go of me! Stop! Okay, I’m sorry!"

Instead of letting go, Buka clamped down even harder. Elias screamed again while continuing to shake his hand, making Buka’s body swing around even more.

Evelyn and Elysia, who had just come out of the mansion, were a little startled to see Elias running back and forth while screaming in pain. Buka was still biting his hand, and her body swung along every time Elias shook it.

The two of them fell silent for a moment before exchanging glances. Evelyn then turned to Elysia, as if asking for an explanation. But Elysia just shrugged, like she was saying she had no idea what was going on either.

Realizing Evelyn and Elysia had come out, Elias immediately stopped running and walked toward them.

"Is everything ready, Lady?"

"Yes... We’ve been ready for a while. But..."

Evelyn tilted her head slightly to look at Elias’s right hand, still being bitten by Buka.

"What’s wrong with her?"

Realizing she meant Buka, Elias immediately smiled like everything was perfectly fine.

"Maybe she’s hungry. That’s why she’s biting my hand."

Elias kept his smile, even though his body occasionally jerked from Buka’s bite.

Evelyn turned back to Elysia with a slightly weird expression, then nodded at Elias.

’We should probably just leave it alone.’

"Alright, if you say so..."

"Hohoho~ What a bright morning."

Alistair’s laughter bloomed as he came out of the mansion door alongside Valeria.

Elias immediately reflexively bowed slightly as a form of respect toward Valeria.

"Madam."

As Elias bowed, the woman suddenly touched his head and stroked it gently a few times before pulling her hand back. Elias straightened up, then touched the part of his head Valeria had just stroked. And of course, Buka was still biting his hand.

"You two, don’t cause trouble for Elias and the villagers."

"Mother doesn’t need to worry! We can take care of ourselves!"

"If anything happens, we’ll fight with our own strength without asking the villagers for help."

Seeing the burning enthusiasm from both girls, Valeria could only smack her forehead with one hand and let out a worried sigh.

"That’s exactly what I’m afraid of."

Elias could only smile wryly at the scene in front of him.

"Elias, we’re leaving."

Hearing they were about to depart, Elias immediately walked toward Valeria. But before that, he first pulled his hand free from Buka’s bite.

"Madam, I’m heading home first."

Valeria tilted her head up slightly to look at Elias’s face.

"Have you gotten taller in these four months?"

"Haha... Maybe so."

Hearing Elias laugh, Valeria smiled and let out a small huff before raising her hand to his cheek.

"Take good care of yourself."

Elias was slightly taken aback when Valeria touched his cheek. It was a bit embarrassing, sure, but for some reason Elias felt comfortable with that touch. Then he smiled wider at Valeria without removing her hand still resting on his cheek.

"I’m only going home for a few days. Why are you making it sound like a farewell? Good grief..."

Seeing the sincere smile on Elias’s face, Valeria paused for a moment before huffing again and pulling her hand back from his cheek.

"You’re right."

Then she raised her right hand toward Elias, showing the back of it. Elias, seeing that, immediately took Valeria’s hand, then bowed before kissing it. For nobles, this was the required greeting etiquette for meeting and parting.

’Good thing I studied some of this beforehand.’

After Elias kissed her hand, Valeria pulled it back before looking at Evelyn and Elysia.

"Didn’t you two bring anything?"

"We did. We prepared everything since yesterday."

"Then where are your things?"

"It’s in the other carriage."

"The other one?"

Valeria immediately walked toward the mansion gate, followed by Elias and the others. Outside the mansion, there was a carriage with an absolutely massive pile of belongings stacked on top of it.

’You’ve got to be kidding me...’

Elias could only smile wryly at the sight of that pile.

Valeria could only let out a long sigh at the sight.

*Sigh~

"Do you two think this is a house move? You don’t need to bring this much."

"But Mother, these are all things we need over there," Evelyn said while holding her cheek with one hand.

"Exactly. Besides, this isn’t even that much."

Everything got worse after Elysia said that. And how could it not? After hearing Elysia’s words, Valeria’s body was immediately engulfed in blazing flames. A fierce wind even started blowing around her, making the atmosphere suddenly feel like a small-scale disaster.

The woman then turned her body toward Evelyn and Elysia. A thin smile was plastered on her face, while the veins on her forehead were starting to show.

"Not that much... is it?"

"M-Mother... Calm yourself down."

Evelyn stepped back slightly from where she stood, smiling with sweat soaking her face.

"W-we’ll reduce it, okay."

On the other side, Elysia also started backing away a few steps while hiding behind Evelyn.

*Gulp.

Elias immediately swallowed hard. Cold sweat started soaking his face as he saw Valeria’s current expression.

’I don’t know what’s actually going on, but this looks seriously bad.’

And after that, Valeria dragged both girls straight into the mansion. From inside, the sound of screaming and loud thuds could be heard.

Hearing that, Elias could only tremble while thinking:

’I must never make Madam angry!’

After a while, they all finally set off on their journey.

And what about Evelyn and Elysia’s fate? Their faces had several bruises, and in the end they didn’t bring anything at all because Valeria had all their belongings hauled back inside.

’Haha...’

* * *