Chapter 253 - 252: Recuperation
"Alright, little guy. Don’t you worry about what comes next. This is all over now, and we’ll handle the rest."
Manlin took Zelir’s hand. "Come on, let’s get you some proper rest."
"You all should come with me, too," Manlin added, gesturing to the other members of the Adventurer Squad.
The group crossed the disheveled main hall and walked toward the entrance.
Just as he was about to leave, Zelir glanced back at Vance.
Vance seemed to be rambling on about something to Instructor Marvin. Zelir could only vaguely overhear parts of it.
"Mage Marvin, I have money... I can also tell you... I’m begging you..."
...
Manlin led the group out of Wenmier Mansion, which had been cordoned off by the Security Team.
They arrived at an inn next to the square in Falling Leaves Town.
Seeing the exquisite oak facade and the windows glowing with warm light, it was clear this was probably the best place to stay in Falling Leaves Town.
The decor inside was also much more luxurious than the Night Flower Inn.
Manlin didn’t even bother asking the price. She took out Five Gold Coins and booked the entire top floor.
That was where the most comfortable and quietest rooms were.
"This way, my esteemed guests," the innkeeper said attentively, leading the way.
After the rooms were assigned, Manlin gave the innkeeper another instruction.
"Don’t let any unauthorized people up here, understand?"
"Understood, understood," the innkeeper quickly agreed.
The other members of the squad went to their own rooms to rest.
After being awake for so long, their bodies had truly reached their limits. Even with Manlin’s help healing their injuries, the mental exhaustion was hard to fight off.
Inside the top-floor suite.
It was very quiet here, with no noisy street sounds coming from outside the window.
The room even had its own fireplace. The burning firewood made a CRACKLE POP sound.
Zelir sat on the soft, large bed, watching Instructor Manlin smooth out the corners of the duvet.
He once again recalled what Vance had said earlier.
"Instructor Manlin..."
After thinking it over, Zelir spoke up, still a bit doubtful.
"If Vance confesses to everything and cooperates fully... he won’t get to live, will he?"
’That wouldn’t be good at all.’
"What are you thinking about?"
Hearing this, Manlin couldn’t help but let out a soft laugh.
"Don’t worry, Vance is a dead man walking. What Marvin said earlier was just to trick him."
Manlin sat on the chair by the bed, her voice gentle but firm.
"Colluding with a Cult, sacrificing so many living people through deceit... Forget our Mage’s Guild not letting him go; he wouldn’t even get past the Church."
"The only thing he can pray for is a quick death."
"Besides, don’t forget that Marvin used to be an Adventurer... he despises this kind of act, using fake commissions to send people to their deaths."
"I see."
Zelir finally felt relieved. "That’s good."
"Alright, don’t think about this anymore."
Manlin stood up, pulled the blanket higher, and had Zelir lie down. "Your top priority right now is to get a good night’s sleep."
Zelir obediently lay down and adjusted himself into a comfortable position.
The room was warm, and the calming scent of Instructor Manlin lingered in the air.
Now that Instructor Manlin and Instructor Marvin had taken over in Falling Leaves Town, he really had nothing left to worry about.
’They’ll take care of everything.’
The moment he closed his eyes, a profound sleepiness that he had been suppressing for so long swept over him, drowning all his thoughts.
Zelir’s breathing became long and steady as he slowly drifted off to sleep in the early morning of Falling Leaves Town.
...
At first, there was absolute nothingness.
There was no light, not even the concept of darkness existed. Time had been stripped away.
His consciousness seemed to float in an endless vacuum, having lost all weight and direction.
Then.
"WHOOOOSH... HISSSS..."
A shrill, bizarre wind howled from the far distance, converging into the death wails of countless beings being torn apart.
The world began to change. All color was stripped away, save for a heart-pounding, dark crimson.
’Where... is this?’
Zelir’s consciousness struggled in the chaos. The scene felt inexplicably familiar.
Familiar to the point of being terrifying.
The moment he realized this, his field of vision suddenly stretched and elongated.
The once-empty space was filled with innumerable chaotic and jumbled fragments.
Half-eaten stars, twisted forests growing upside down, and mountains of black skeletons.
Countless deranged images spun past in a crazed blur, like a mad carousel.
Every scene exuded a thick aura of despair.
"ROAR!!!"
The sky cracked open, and a colossal shadow large enough to blot out the world descended.
With its appearance, the ground turned into an ocean—a raging, scarlet sea of blood.
Monstrous waves of blood, thousands of feet high, rolled on endlessly, carrying severed limbs!
Within his sea of consciousness, the Spring Seed, which had been relying on deep sleep to repair its damaged parts, now began to flicker uneasily because of this dream.
Suddenly, a gentle power entered his body softly, flowing in through the point between his eyebrows.
Like a gentle breeze calming the waves, Zelir’s spirit also began to soothe.
He suppressed the restless, turbulent dream.
The Spring Seed within his sea of consciousness resumed its steady rhythm.
The crimson world rapidly collapsed and receded, finally dissipating at the edge of darkness.
After that, there were no more disturbances.
In the room, bright moonlight streamed softly through the window.
"Having a Nightmare, little guy..."
Instructor Manlin had just returned to town after investigating related matters.
She had wanted to check on Zelir, only to find him seemingly struggling in a twisted dream.
’Then again... after everything that’s happened, it would be strange if he could sleep soundly.’
’That was careless of me...’
Seeing Zelir gradually calm down and his breathing return to a peaceful rhythm, Manlin finally withdrew the hand resting on his forehead, the gentle Life Energy in her palm receding along with it.
She tucked Zelir in again.
"Get some proper sleep. Forget all those filthy things..."
...
「Morning.」
Zelir’s eyelashes trembled. His eyelids felt the light penetrating them, and he gently opened his eyes.
His vision sharpened from a blur, and the exquisitely carved wood grain of the ceiling came into view.
Zelir slowly pushed himself up from the bed, raising a hand to press and rub his throbbing temples.
His mind was a muddle at first, then it slowly cleared.
He looked out the window.
The sun had just risen. The sunlight, filled with the unique vigor of the morning, illuminated motes of dust dancing randomly in the air.
’Did I... sleep for an entire day?’
He felt a strange sense of temporal dislocation.
Zelir remembered that it had also been morning when Instructor Manlin brought him to the room yesterday.
"Hah... I was really exhausted."
Zelir stretched, and a data panel materialized before his eyes.
Power: 98
agility: 114
Constitution: 101
Spirit: 132 -> 133
Intelligence: 143 -> 144
Perception: 32
Charm: 61
Lucky: 51
Talent Skills:
Technique Celestial Calculation
Magic Contract