"Exactly. This further confirms my suspicion. This 'curse' of gold transformation is indeed more like freezing a substance in all its states. Otherwise, this golden arm of mine would certainly have become much heavier."
Fíliya immediately added.
"...So how does that help me undo this magic?"
"Of course it helps. I'm actually confident I can do it, I just need a bit more practice. You see how I've been absorbed in meditation every day, right? Once I repeat that last operation another few tens of thousands of times, I should be able to permanently interrupt the gold transformation."
Fíliya looked at Solitär with confidence, but she didn't see the expected expression on Solitär's face.
Solitär, really... Here I am, sharing this so excitedly with you, and you can't even give me a little praise.
Fíliya thought with a hint of pique.
The reason Solitär hadn't given any positive feedback right away was because her heart was heavy with an indescribable emotion.
She knew this wasn't right, so she tried to find a new topic of conversation.
"You... haven't been to see that Flamme lately."
Solitär said in a calm tone, but her gaze could never quite meet Fíliya's.
"Oh, that... Ugh, how could I face my master looking like this?"
Fíliya shrugged helplessly.
"Hm? But if you had that Flamme help, wouldn't it be much more efficient if you two worked on it together?"
Solitär finally looked up and met Fíliya's eyes, although her own were filled with complete confusion.
"Hmm... This is something you wouldn't understand, Solitär. As a student, sometimes you just don't want to worry your master... I think I can solve this problem on my own. Besides..."
At this point, Fíliya gave Solitär a meaningful glance.
This made Solitär even more puzzled.
"Besides?"
"Well... and I feel like... if I have to drain you and Aura of your mana every time you've gathered it, it's just not fair to you. It feels like I'm just using you as tools... It was kind of satisfying at first, but later, the guilt just kept piling up, and I felt too bad to ask you again."
"So I've decided that the next time I meet with Flamme, I'm going to use my own mana to cast that magic."
Solitär fell silent. She never expected Fíliya to think that way.
Fíliya's words made her feel a little emotional, and a little warm inside, so a faint smile finally appeared on her lips.
"I never thought you could be so... gentle, Fíliya."
"Huh? Gentle..."
Fíliya's lips twitched. It was the first time anyone had ever described her that way, and by her aesthetic standards, 'gentle' was not exactly a positive term.
So she quickly waved her hands.
"No, no, no... Who's gentle? Are you insulting me? Don't use that word, it's so disgusting."
Fíliya said with a look of disgust, even shifting her body to move a little further away.
"Hmm... Was I wrong then?"
After Fíliya had moved back a few centimeters, Solitär immediately closed the distance, bringing them back to shoulder-to-shoulder.
Wrong?
A flicker of astonishment crossed Fíliya's face.
She remembered clearly: this was probably the first time Solitär had ever admitted she was wrong in front of her.
"Since you know you were wrong, let's talk about you now. Come clean, why have you been looking so down lately? Why are you unhappy?"
Fíliya stared at Solitär with a serious expression.
"Is it that obvious...?"
Solitär murmured.
"Very obvious. Even Aura noticed."
"Really?"
"Hmm... Okay, that was a lie. That one didn't notice at all, but Linie probably did."
"Is that so..."
Solitär sighed, but her lips remained sealed, her distant gaze lost in the darkness.
She had no idea how to begin.
Because the thing that had been troubling her lately was related to the person right in front of her.
To be precise, it was about her human sister.
Every time she thought about that day, about the image of that human taking Fíliya away, Solitär felt deeply troubled.
Although it was only for a short while that day, it could have easily become a long time, or even permanent.
As a coward who feared death and loss, Solitär couldn't bear to imagine such a future, and so she dared not bring it up with Fíliya.
So, after taking several deep breaths, she still said nothing.
She just stood up silently.
"I'm going to bed."
That's what she said, and then she turned to leave.
"Solitär?"
Fíliya tried to call her back, but Solitär's departing footsteps didn't show the slightest hint of hesitation.
Just as she was about to disappear from Fíliya's sight, she slowly tossed out a sentence.
"I'm fine. You should get some sleep too, Fíliya."
...
Fine? What a joke. Impossible.
Fíliya gently bit her lip. Solitär's refusal to speak her mind made her feel a thread of displeasure.
How could Solitär not be hiding something from her? In this world, no intelligent, rational being could possibly escape her notice.
Fíliya was certain of this, because just as Solitär was leaving, her mind registered a large influx of points.
The cause of such a huge emotional shift in Solitär... it definitely couldn't be something simple.
...The days passed one by one. During this time, Fíliya tried more than once to get Solitär alone to talk things out. She thought that no matter what the difficulty was, it would be fine as long as they faced it together, but Solitär never gave her the chance.
After hitting a wall repeatedly, Fíliya had no choice but to channel all her frustration into her magical research.
Finally, after countless attempts, she completely broke the curse binding her left hand.
She had expected to feel an extraordinary sense of ecstasy, but she didn't, because it was all just the natural outcome of her efforts. And during this period, there was clearly a problem more vexing than the gold transformation magic that had been plaguing her.
What in the world was wrong with Solitär?
With a heavy heart, she slowly walked downstairs.
"Fíliya... you... your hand is healed?"
Aura, who was idling in the first-floor hall, was the first to notice Fíliya's arrival, and a shocked (ΩДΩ) expression appeared on her face.
"Yeah."
Fíliya nodded calmly and then looked at Aura.
"Aura, do you know what time it is?"
Eh?
Aura was taken aback. The question stumped her. As a long-lived being with an extremely undisciplined lifestyle, Aura had no habit of keeping track of time, always living day by day.
Seeing this, Fíliya could only turn to Linie, who was, after all, much more reliable than Aura.
As for herself, she had been so absorbed in breaking the curse that she had lost all sense of her surroundings, let alone the passage of time.
"It has been eight months since we arrived at this house."
Linie said slowly.
Hearing this, Fíliya's heart sank.
She remembered that when she said goodbye to Sense and returned to the shipyard, it was the 9th month since she had left home, and now another seven months had passed, which meant she had been away from home for a year and a half.
At this rate, the test for First-Class Mages would be held soon, and she had promised Sense that she would absolutely not miss this exam...
Which meant it was time for her to return to the human world... I should go tell Solitär, she thought, and slowly walked towards Solitär's room.
___
🔥 New stories are available now! 🔥
✅ Access up to 40 advanced chapters of ALL stories!
✅ Receive exclusive content and updates!
Help us hit our community goals:
🎯 100 Powerstones = +1 Bonus Chapter for everyone
🚀 140 MEMBERS = +5 extra chapters of ALL STORIES!
👻 P - Walnutchan