Chapter 384 - 382: Return
Hilia looked at Pamisha’s incredulous expression and thought to herself:
Don’t blame me, it was a revelation from God that made me say that.
Pamisha panicked, but her father was delighted.
"Really? Miss Pamisha, I seem to remember your school’s name is Divine Magic Academy, right? There’s no school called Divine Magic Academy of Gods in Ista either."
"Ah? Is, is that so?" Hilia pretended to panic and hurriedly explained, "Then I must have remembered wrong... No, no, I just blurted it out. It really is Divine Magic Academy."
Pamisha opened her mouth, her face full of despair.
Miss Xiluo, please stop explaining! The more you explain, the worse it gets!
Her father looked at Pamisha, his expression stern: "Pamisha, I’ll give you a chance to explain."
Pamisha lowered her head and was silent for a long time, finally sighing.
"Alright then."
Just as she was about to explain, her father looked at Hilia, smiled, and said: "’Miss Hilia,’ at a time like this, there’s no need to cover your face, right? You’re Pamisha’s friend, there’s no need for that at Pamisha’s home."
Hilia nodded with a smile, taking off her veil, revealing her true face.
Pamisha was about to say something, but suddenly her eyes went wide, staring at Hilia in shock.
What’s going on?
The girl was completely baffled.
Suddenly, she saw Hilia wink at her.
A flash of inspiration hit her, and she immediately put on a smile and said to her father, "Father, sorry, I do know Hilia. Just now she was joking to tease you."
Her father didn’t say anything, just stared at Hilia blankly, rubbed his eyes, like he couldn’t believe it.
He quickly ran to grab a newspaper, then compared up and down.
Exactly the same.
Build, height, body type, face, aura, tier... Everything was exactly as described in the reports.
If someone could imitate another person to this degree, no one would believe she wasn’t her.
So...
"You, you’re really Miss Hilia? You’re friends with Pamisha?" Pamisha’s father was stunned.
Hilia nodded and smiled, "Yes, sir."
"But how did you..."
Pamisha quickly interrupted her father, "Of course it’s because the Land of the Far North is really beautiful, and there’s an incredible ruin here. I invited her to come visit."
Her father found it hard to accept, but the facts seemed pretty clear.
After a long while, he finally calmed down, and spoke with a hint of respect: "Miss Hilia, it’s Pamisha’s honor to know you. If you’re inviting her, on Pamisha’s behalf, I accept. This is a chance for her."
Pamisha was a little stunned by her father’s attitude, then said, "Thanks for agreeing, father, but I’ll probably be away for a while before coming back."
Hilia laughed, "Our school takes a holiday in October, and after that I might take Pamisha traveling around Ista."
"No problem, that’s Pamisha’s good fortune. Even if you sold her to a slave merchant, it’d still be her luck." Pamisha’s father said.
Pamisha rolled her eyes, "What are you saying, father? It’s not like I’m some frail ordinary person. At least I’m a Tier Three Mage; you might not even be able to beat me now, as a Tier Three Mage."
Her father burst out laughing, "Just joking."
After Hilia revealed her true face, the conversation quickly became lively and pleasant.
Hilia could tell Pamisha still thought she was ’Xiluo’ not Hilia.
That just made things even more fun for her.
This Pamisha girl didn’t seem like a bad person at heart—might be a good friend to have.
Afterwards, Pamisha and Hilia left together, saying goodbye to her father.
Pamisha picked up her luggage and waved goodbye to her family.
The two of them walked all the way out of town, and only then did Pamisha hand 30 gold coins to Hilia, finally letting out a long sigh of relief.
"Thank you, Miss Xiluo. I never expected your disguise skills to be that good—you can actually change your appearance just with makeup. Honestly, I totally couldn’t tell you and Hilia apart."
Hilia giggled, "Makeup? What makeup? I haven’t put on any. This really is my true face."
Pamisha chuckled, "Are you telling me you really are Hilia? Pfft."
Hilia smiled and didn’t reply.
Pamisha’s smile gradually faded.
She suddenly felt something was odd.
What was off, exactly...
All of a sudden, she remembered something.
The weapon Hilia’s magic puppet used.
When they explored the ruins, Hilia’s magic puppet used that sword...
She hadn’t looked carefully at the time—the fight was intense, and after the battle, Hilia put the sword away and no one paid attention, plus Anthony was badly hurt...
Pamisha’s pupils slowly dilated.
She stared at Hilia in shock.
"No way..."
Hilia saw Anthony jogging over and waved, "Pamisha, my friend, goodbye! If you ever travel to Huijin City, come visit me at Divine Magic Academy!"
Saying that, Hilia hopped onto her flying broom, soared into the sky, and flew off into the distance.
Pamisha just stood there dumbstruck, watching her leave.
Until Anthony came running up, panting.
Seeing Pamisha still in a daze, Anthony said, "Has Miss Hilia left already? I wanted to say goodbye."
Pamisha snapped back to her senses and was about to say something, but suddenly froze, startled: "Wait—how did you know she was Hilia?"
"Isn’t it obvious? That’s Hilia." Anthony was puzzled.
Pamisha thought about it and realized that was true.
Anthony said, "Actually, I realized she was Miss Hilia right after we entered the ruins, but since she was disguising herself, I didn’t tell you."
"What?" Pamisha was stunned. "How did you figure it out?"
"The magic staff she used, and the magic puppet, and its sword—wasn’t it obvious? Pamisha, don’t tell me you just realized?"
Pamisha gave him a hefty kick, "Of course I knew all along! Otherwise, why would I have gone along with her?"
Anthony could tell Pamisha was lying.
But he didn’t expose her, just nodded along, "Alright, let’s pack up and get going."
"Humph, let’s go."
...
On the way back, Hilia didn’t pick a new route, but retraced her original path.
Still, she ran into a few little troubles on the road.
For example, suddenly-appearing flying monsters, some heretic bases she’d previously missed, that kind of thing.
She cleared out the bases in passing, and a few days later finally arrived at the border between the Northern Alliance and the Ista Empire. She crossed into Ista’s territory without any trouble, hurried along, and at last returned to Huijin City.
Looking at Huijin City, which she hadn’t seen for two months, Hilia took a deep breath, hopped off her flying broom, put it away, and bounded into the city like an excited husky.
"Finally home!"