Chapter 2372: The Fairy Tale’s Speculation

Chapter 2372: Chapter 2372: The Fairy Tale’s Speculation

So Shard held the sword in his right hand and reached for the small silver women’s pocket watch in his left pocket, staring straight at Emilia:

"Adel’s Time Stasis!"

Clack~

"Hmm? Where did that sound come from?"

In the gusty night wind, a sound abruptly rang out. Shard looked around in astonishment, having distinctly heard the ticking of a clock’s hand. He had never experienced such a phenomenon while spellcasting before.

At that moment, Emilia had frozen solid like a living sculpture beside Shard. The power of "Time Stasis" remained time stasis, even if enhanced. Thus, the greatest effect of using this sword for spellcasting was actually a reduction in the spirit consumed.

Emilia was undeniably a genuine Five-Ring Sorceress, and due to her lineage, might possess a degree of time resistance, but even so, Shard felt that if he continued to freeze Emilia for another minute, he could manage to hold on.

In a real battle, a minute would be enough for Shard to cycle through half of his arcane techniques, so this reduction in consumption was truly remarkable.

The frozen Elf Girl’s face appeared even more exquisite, looking down at the letter in her hand with eyebrows slightly furrowed, showing some nervousness and unease.

Shard had no other ill intentions. After admiring the unique appearance under "Time Stasis" for a few moments, he released the spell on Emilia. He intended to apologize and explain the situation, but before he could speak, Emilia suddenly lifted her head from the letter, gazing around with suspicion:

"Shard, I feel something’s amiss... are we under attack by some unknown enemy? Just now, it felt... well, how to put it, a very strange sensation. It seemed like I was struck by a ’Slow Spell’ or something. Time seemed to stretch, but... definitely something isn’t right!"

"You felt it?"

Shard asked in astonishment, the Elf Girl with pointed ears blinking her big green eyes inquisitively:

"Felt what?"

"Not a Slow Spell, sorry. I was spellcasting. Time Stasis, did you feel the flow of time stopping? Oh, right, when we were in the Clock Tower, you sensed that Crow being frozen in time too."

"Time Stasis?"

Shard saw stars seemingly spark in Emilia’s eyes:

"You can perform Time Stasis as an arcane technique?"

Back when confronting the demon, although Shard used "Adel’s Time Stasis" to gain an opportunity, allowing the "Great Sin Chains" to bind the Crow attempting to escape at the last moment, he didn’t announce what he was doing aloud. As a result, within the rapidly changing battle, Emilia hadn’t sensed that power which hadn’t been applied to her.

After all, the demon’s Time Stasis was a range ability, while Shard could spellcast on a single entity.

"I can, but it’s highly restricted."

"That’s impressive! From what I’ve read, even those with exceptional talent need to be at least Twelve Rings to manipulate the power to solidify time! Time Stasis at that... You used Time Stasis on me, didn’t you? It felt quite odd..."

Then, thinking of something, her face flushed but she didn’t continue the sentence.

Since they had acquired the [Time Flute], the two didn’t linger here any longer and promptly rode back to the city.

Shard first escorted Emilia to Margaret’s Manor, but given the late hour, he merely greeted Margaret and Miss Sylvia before leaving. He didn’t take away the [Time Flute] either, leaving it with Emilia, as his sword wasn’t yet needed, with the [Night Watchman] on him for the time being.

Then he went to the dock once more, but also didn’t linger longer on Miss Eles’ ship, merely informed them that the [Time Flute] was successfully borrowed and then tossed the Crystal Shoes, heading back home.

No matter how much haste, by the time he returned home with Mia, it was already nearing nine o’clock that evening.

This time the Crystal Shoes’ drop-off point was on the staircase of the second floor, and Shard took a few steps up, arriving at the door of room number one on the second floor.

Upon hearing Shard’s voice, Miss Galina and Dorothy, who were conversing in the living room, immediately stood up.

Only for Shard to instantly realize that it wasn’t Dorothy, but Lecia, because there was Yordle Palace’s standard paperwork on the coffee table, indicating they were discussing political topics.

"Good evening, Lecia, what brings you here... don’t tell me, you actually want to eat those sweet cream scones using Dorothy’s body?"

Shard asked, and Lecia walked over with a smile, giving him a gentle punch:

"What are you saying? Although those snacks are truly delicious, I wouldn’t risk making Dorothy gain weight, or you’d let her lie on top of you next time, letting us and you..."

"Ahem."

Shard immediately coughed loudly, Miss Galina who also walked over to greet Shard asked with suspicion:

"Why are you coughing? It’s not like you haven’t asked me to do this with other girls before. What’s there to not talk about?"

With that, she hugged Shard:

"Classes even this late?"

"Of course, exams were last week, so we didn’t have classes. This week, we can’t afford to miss them."

Lecia nodded in satisfaction:

"Now, that’s the spirit of studying, Shard. Let’s go to the study room."

"I won’t join, otherwise Lecia will blame me for disrupting your private world. Since you’re going to the study room, I’ll stay in the living room and continue looking at these documents. Without Tifa, some work is really difficult. Oh, if you want to do something in the study room, don’t avoid me. Otherwise, I’ll think you don’t consider me family."

Of course, this was definitely not a complaint but a tease at Lecia.

Recently, Saturday night classes have been focused on the fairy tale of the "Mermaid Princess" as the learning goal. After sitting down somewhat begrudgingly, Lecia first reminisced the content of the night class from half a month ago with Shard, then asked:

"Shard, our study of this fairy tale is almost at its end, and there’s not much more I can do after this. So, tell me, through this fairy tale, what have you seen? Just say whatever you feel, but it must be your own perception."

This question was very straightforward for Shard:

"Dedication."

He immediately replied:

"It’s a classic tragedy. Dying for love is a classic ending, but I don’t particularly like it. However, I admire the dedication of the Little Mermaid Princess. To achieve a goal, she is willing to sacrifice, even though she still accepts this outcome alone after discovering the prince has married the land princess, knowing it leads to a tragic ending."

He held a teacup prepared by Miss Maid:

"You know about my experience in the ’Gravel Golden Sea’, it was Old Lady Sianod’s dedication that attracted that White Bone Illusion, but even when the illusion deceived her into believing the entire clan was destroyed, she was still persuaded by me to press forward; Miss Shelly Knight, because of the demon and desert power, faced that bizarre illusion testing her morality and sense of justice, but her dedication made her completely unaffected."

Shard slightly shook his head:

"Thinking back, I’m still amazed. Even in that situation, I would hesitate, but she actually killed her companion directly and then opened her heart... Even by Circle Sorcerer standards, her dedication is impressive... I have always worried she would use ’Power of the Earth: Blessing All Things’ to sacrifice herself. Fortunately, she hasn’t encountered a situation that requires her to become a ’hero’.

Lecia rested her face on her hands, sitting behind the desk looking at Shard in front of it:

"Nice angle. As you know, my Words of Inner Ring Ascension are ’Shattered Bubble/Dream, also scripts the soul’s despair’, both Dorothy and I can feel the despair and pain of dreams shattering. Dedication, it definitely suits your personality."

Her other hand turned the fountain pen:

"You always manage to gain Maze Lock power from these fairy tales. If your ’Fairy Tale Town’ extends into ocean and harbor from this story, what kind of power do you feel this story could bring you?"

This time, Shard couldn’t answer immediately. He held the steaming teacup with both hands and thought carefully:

"Dedication always makes people think of persistence, perhaps in the Maze Lock, there’s a special state where power or spirit won’t run out within a certain time? But this seems unrelated to the fairy tale.

Dedication also leads one to think of stubbornness, though it’s considered a negative trait. Combining it with the Mermaid Princess’s story, let me think, could it mean forcibly transforming enemies within the Maze Lock, unable to undo it even if the maze fades?"

"Though the Mermaid Princess’s story involves transformation spell with a tail turning into legs, isn’t such an association a bit far-fetched?"

Lecia asked with a smile, and Shard thought more but couldn’t figure out other possibilities.

Instead, Lecia asked:

"Speaking of which, since you said that Miss Leah Sander is a mermaid, according to you, her identity might be quite uncommon, you might ask her what the ’Mermaid Princess’ story means."

"I mentioned the story, but Miss Sander said she’s never heard of it. Not just her, ordinary Miss Nate and elderly Old Lady Sianod haven’t heard of it either."

"That means the story spread widely after Fifth Era 4260? Could it be a story that appeared in the late Fifth Era?"

Lecia asked with considerable interest.

"I suspect some things. But there are many modern mermaids I can meet. A few days ago, I asked Miss Aphrola for help to contact them, maybe soon I’ll meet them... Want to go to Moon Bay together?"

"We’ll see about it then, but I’ve thought of something else. Next Wednesday, the sixth day of the Month of Blossoms, it will be the Day of the Red Butterfly again."

She hummed softly, and the green eyes belonging to Dorothy carried a slight moistness, looking at Shard.