Chapter 378 - 376: Alina and Rose’s Past
This time, Hilia was totally just tagging along for the ride.
Just like she’d said before, following Rose, she could just lie back and relax.
The whole stronghold battle lasted less than an hour—all the heretics were wiped out.
Under the light of the Purification Skill, every last heretic was purified.
When they walked out from the base and reached the other end, Rose snapped his fingers.
Boom!
The sound of explosions echoed from the stronghold, shaking the earth.
Hilia jumped in shock and quickly ran to Rose’s side, sticking close as she looked behind them.
"Lord Rose, did you blow it up already?"
Rose nodded.
Hilia worried: ’If it exploded, won’t we get buried underground?’
Rose said calmly, "No, there are plenty of routes out. The explosion won’t even affect the ruins above, it’ll just feel like a little earthquake."
"Oh."
Hilia nodded, but she still clung tightly to Rose, afraid she might accidentally get buried.
The explosions didn’t just sound once, but came in a series of deep booms.
The ground kept shuddering, as though it might collapse.
This made Hilia incredibly tense.
So much so that, when she finally snapped out of it, she suddenly realized they’d arrived at a passage that looked a lot like the ruins above.
This passage was filled with dazzling auroras and a starry sky sprinkled with starlight.
Beyond the stars, the corridor was built of solid ice, leading downward.
Hilia gazed at the beautiful scene and muttered to herself, "Miss Alina... really loves the stars."
Rose said softly, "I once told her, once the Gods are dealt with, I’d take them away from Star Fall, to see the beautiful starry sky."
Hilia paused, then fell silent.
The starry sky around them slowly blurred, everything quietly shifting.
When Hilia noticed the change, she found they weren’t in a starry corridor anymore, but...
On the balcony of a luxurious castle palace.
She was stunned for a moment, instinctively looking for Rose.
She looked up and saw a familiar figure ahead.
He was gazing outside the balcony, and behind him stood a purple-haired woman whose hair looked like the night sky reflected itself.
She was about Hilia’s height, hugging a pillow decorated with stars, standing behind Rose and yawning nonstop.
"Lord Rose, I haven’t slept enough—why’d you call me here?"
Her voice drifted over, tinged with complaint.
Hilia suddenly felt a little uncomfortable.
She quietly walked over, debating whether to call out to Rose, but then she heard him say, "I was bored, so I woke you up."
The purple-haired woman was silent for a moment. A crescent moon appeared behind her, then she lay back, waved at Rose, yawned, "Hmm, whatever, I can sleep here too."
Then she started snoring softly.
Hilia finally got a good look at her face.
"Alina..."
The girl was silent.
Now she knew what was happening.
Is this... Alina’s dream?
She noticed neither Rose nor Alina paid any attention to her, so she relaxed. She stepped quietly to the edge of the balcony to look down, keeping watch on Alina and Rose’s interactions.
This castle was tall and grand, with a huge square below, where a team of soldiers stood in formation, each radiating a terrifying aura of Magic Power.
They stood straight, eyes forward, training.
But right when Hilia was about to observe more closely, they turned vague and blurry again, hard to see clearly.
At this moment, Alina’s voice came again.
"Lord Rose, stop disturbing my sleep~ (〝▼皿▼)"
Hilia turned to look, and saw Rose...
Circling around Alina.
Now and then, he’d even flick a finger in the air to poke Alina’s cheek.
Uh...
The girl blinked.
So Lord Rose used to be like this?
But... why poke through the air?
Can’t he just pinch her cheeks for real?
Hilia looked at Alina’s beautiful face—her eyes closed, lips pouting, so cute.
She almost couldn’t resist going up to pinch Alina’s cheeks herself.
Thinking about it, Hilia suddenly recalled something Rose once said: he claimed he was cursed, and the curse made it impossible for him to touch girls?
Hilia’s mouth curled into a smile, her mood brightening.
But Lord Rose seems to have touched me before.
Did the curse get lifted?
Or... am I special?
Hilia thought.
She chose to believe the latter.
Doesn’t matter if it’s true or not.
The latter makes her feel better, that’s what counts.
Just as she was thinking this, the scene around her started to blur.
The castle slowly faded, the starry sky appeared again, then gathered into another scene.
This time, it was a training ground.
A dozen people were practicing some kind of battle technique.
And Alina was lying under the shade of a tree, hugging her pillow, sneaking in a nap.
Rose was teasing her nose with a blade of foxtail grass.
Alina wrinkled her nose, rolled over, and kept sleeping.
Rose whispered in her ear, "Gael is coming."
Alina shot to her feet, pillow in hand, dashed aside; Dream Magic Power erupted, drawing the entire training ground into a dream.
The others immediately looked over.
Alina seemed to finally realize, and pouted, "Lord Rose, you tricked me!"
Rose chuckled, "In two days I’ll be heading to the Divine Domain. If you keep slacking off, don’t let me catch you napping when I get back. Otherwise, I’ll have to spank you."
"Don’t worry, I won’t," Alina said through a yawn.
The scene blurred again, next to a star-colored room.
Alina was fast asleep, hugging her pillow.
This scene was split in two.
One side was outside, where Rose was saying his goodbyes to everyone.
The farewells were silent, the scene blurry—Hilia couldn’t tell who was saying goodbye to him.
But combining this with what they’d just said, Hilia knew that Rose was about to head to the Divine Domain to battle the Twelve Main Gods.
She looked at Alina on the bed, and could pretty much guess what was happening.
Sure enough, not long after, a red-haired girl burst into the room and grabbed the sleeping Alina.
"Gael, what do you want? Looking for a fight?" Alina said, disgruntled.
The red-haired woman, Gael, dragged Alina and tossed her out of the room.
The scene grew fuzzy again.
Alina seemed to be fighting Gael.
No idea how much time passed, but eventually Alina returned to the room, and Gael followed right behind.
"As an Apostle, Rose’s leaving and you don’t even go to see him off, but you dared to fight back?"
Alina waved her hand, "Lord Rose is so strong, by the time I wake up from a nap, he’ll have dealt with the Main God and be back. It’s just two days—he always does this. Why see him off? I don’t want to, it feels like he won’t come back if I do."
Gael was speechless, then finally said, "Well, Lord Rose asked me to pass you a message: when the Gods attack, don’t slack off, or he’ll spank you when he gets back."
Alina lay on the bed, raised her butt and wiggled it, "Heh, Lord Rose always says that but never does it. He doesn’t dare, hehe!"