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At that moment, while Iarin had sought refuge in her room, Ella began her search for Asha, inspecting the places where Asha was most likely to be.

‘The school rooftop… not here, the school basement desk and chair warehouse… not here, not in the Special Purpose 13th Building Passage either… not in front of the mirror that wins at Rock-Paper-Scissors… and it seems she’s not inside the ceiling panel that makes strange noises… not on the red bed in the infirmary either. How odd, why is she nowhere to be found?’

Ella sent her familiar to scout around the school. Since her familiar was a flying and shapeless spirit, scouting the school wasn’t hard, but finding Asha or even a trace of her was proving impossible.

‘This is weird. Normally, she’d be at one of the seven wonders of the school…’

It wasn’t long ago that Ella was wandering around trying to solve the mysteries of the Seven Wonders of Seoul Specialization High School.

In fact, she had successfully found as many as four of those ‘wonders.’

The Special Purpose 13th Building Passage hidden by a formation technique. The mirror brought into the school without knowing it was an artifact. The space behind the ceiling panel that had been closed after being built for corporal punishment. The infirmary bed (artifact) hidden with illusion magic.

When Asha discovered them, she had been jumping for joy, exclaiming, ‘Wow! I’ve found a secret place to sleep!’ Of course, those who had helped her with her wonder-seeking endeavored to find her thinking it was cute.

Afterward, Asha made those spots her secret sleeping quarters, and others would be the first to check there whenever Asha was missing.

Unlike the past, where it was impossible to pin down where she might be, the fact that they could meet her at specific places now satisfied them.

‘This is strange… Is she sleeping somewhere else on a whim? Or did she get a new toy…?’

Ella felt it was odd. Sudden whims like this? After showing a uniform pattern for a while? Was she showing order just to create a larger chaos?

Ella was confused by Asha’s behavior.

Where on earth was she playing…?

She sighed and began to ask those who usually played well with Asha about her whereabouts. Even if it was a day off from school, many were still there for clubs, self-study, or training, and thanks to Asha’s various escapades, there were plenty of people who knew her well, making the inquiries easy.

“Hmm? Anastasia? I don’t know. Are you worried and looking for her? Oh, you’re not? Isn’t she the one who won against the Peak’s Warrior in the exchange duel?”

“Does she sleep at school even on holidays?”

“I saw her sleeping on the training ground ceiling with spider webs last time!”

“I’ve seen her hanging a hammock in the trees to sleep!”

“One of our club seniors said she saw her down in the basement playing ‘Red Light, Green Light’ with twisted monsters from the underworld. They almost passed out from that!”

“I saw her throwing a fit about wanting the scent of pine needles and mugwort in a coconut-base drink from the alchemy kids last week. What about checking there?”

“I think I saw her buying grapes and cherries in the restaurant to make weird bricks. They said she wanted to experience the Prohibition Era in America… Could she be drinking wine made from that and sleeping it off?”

As soon as she began her inquiries, countless testimonies flooded in.

Inquiry is supposed to narrow possibilities and gain certainty, but strangely enough, the more Ella inquired, the more confusion filled her mind…

Spider webs to sleep on?

Playing ‘Red Light, Green Light’ with twisted underworld monsters?

A drink with pine needles + mugwort + coconut base??

Making and drinking wine from grape and cherry bricks???

If it were anyone else, those actions might seem absurd, but considering it was Anastasia, the plausibility level soared sky-high.

The problem was that if she accepted those as true, the search area would immensely widen.

It might not just be searching specific sleeping spots; she might need to scour the entire school…

Ella pondered giving up on the search entirely.

But then she remembered Iarin, who had called her.

And she thought of Park Jinseong, who was suffering at the hands of a centipede, sighing heavily.

“Fine. What can I do? I have to help…”

Even if it’s tough, it can’t be helped. She wasn’t the one who said she’d help, after all.

“Choosing to find Asha, overcoming difficulties with effort and patience…”

Ella started to channel her power into her familiar using witchcraft.

“Ignis Fatuus!”

The real name of her familiar, which was usually just referred to by the nickname Wisp.

A sphere made of white light, the size of a soccer ball.

Ignis Fatuus began to change shape, accepting the power of the witchcraft Ella had used. The white light shifted to a light red, and the body grew to the size of a large gym ball.

That expanded body began to float into the air like a hot air balloon, and once it reached a height similar to that of the school rooftop, it started to tremble slightly. Then, with a small vibration, it began to spit out white spheres the size of baseballs, looking much like its familiar state before receiving the boost from witchcraft.

It was a kind of division, a duplication, a skill only achievable by shapeless familiars.

Ignis Fatuus sent out the ten mini wisps it created throughout the school.

The wisps moved in perfect unison like drones acting on command, starting to scout the school, and soon they successfully executed the commands of their master and companion, Ella.

“Haah… this is why I couldn’t find her…”

The spot where her familiar discovered Asha was right in the center of the bamboo grove within the school, in a bamboo warehouse meant for stacking cut bamboo to dry.

‘Was she trying to make something like bamboo sushi?’

If her familiar could have looked closely inside the warehouse, she would have known exactly what Asha was doing. Yet, whether Asha was up to some mischief or whether it had something to do with the cryptid she carried or some strange object, the familiar couldn’t properly check the inside of the warehouse. It could only sense Asha’s traces and life force, confirming she was indeed there.

Ella resolved that if her sister’s beloved Asha was making bamboo sushi, she’d have to give her a light smack on the head, and so she made her way toward the bamboo grove.

Following the wisps floating as her guide, she reached the warehouse and tried to kick the door open harshly, just like in the movies where FBI agents barged in.

“…Ugh.”

Thud.

However, with her frail physique, pushing open the large door, which was poorly oiled, proved difficult, and ultimately she had to amplify her strength temporarily by boosting her life force before she could finally open it.

Creeeeak.

The sound of rusty hinges and the heavy iron door echoed.

Ella stepped into the dark warehouse stacked with bamboo.

Of course, since she wasn’t particularly fond of the dark, she led with her wisps to serve as lanterns.

‘There are… so many bamboos…’

She had heard that warriors and wizards consumed bamboo for many purposes.

Ella marveled at the large stacks of bamboo filling the expansive warehouse as she pressed forward.

And then…

‘Found it!’

In the back of the warehouse, tucked away in a corner, she spotted something white.

A white dress.

White hair.

Without a doubt, that white figure was Anastasia.

Ella hurriedly picked up her pace.

With feelings of annoyance for just finding her now, and relief for finally locating her, she prepared to give her a light smack for the trouble.

Of course, there was a high chance she would be blocked by the enormous teddy bear bodyguard that always stood steadfastly around Anastasia, but without a couple of light smacks, she felt she could never be repaid for the hardships she’d gone through.

So, Ella headed towards the place where Anastasia was.

‘Ah…’

Anastasia was asleep.

In fact, she had even made a makeshift bed using bamboo.

The bamboo was piled up over a meter high in a square formation, with dense bamboo woven over it for the flooring.

She had laid a soft top layer and covered it with a space blanket.

She was sleeping very comfortably…

So peacefully and quietly that anyone might mistake her for a princess in a slumbering forest.

Ella reached out to wake the peacefully sleeping Anastasia.

To be precise… she intended to signal her that she ought to wake up from exploring her dream.

It was a simple task of touching Anastasia’s body in a designated order and drawing specific patterns and phrases with her fingers on her abdomen or back.

Thus, as Ella’s hand touched Anastasia’s body…

『 To satisfy those who are hungry, God caused apples to grow on trees in the fields, leading to the tree which could not bear the weight of countless fruits bending down. 』

『 How many white-feathered swans are there? Who is the girl throwing bread to them and mingling with them? Who shares the meal with them, dividing the bread? 』

…At that moment, she felt some ominous thoughts bloom.

 

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