Chapter 137: Dimitri?!

Was this an appropriate time to laugh? No. It only made Adeline even angrier! If she knew that she had to go towards the Mage Towers she would’ve called it quits a long time ago!

She was baited! She was betrayed! She was bamboozled!

She can’t survive in that forest! All she had was useless holy powers! And everyone knows how that went... Even if she attacked someone... Or something, they would just heal themselves!

She didn’t even want to imagine what kind of monsters she would face in that forest, she heard enough things from her father, brothers and knights!

Animals that looked like they were possessed by a demon, killing machines, they wouldn’t back down even if they were hurt badly! They would fight and kill until they got killed themselves.

They were at least five times the size of a human! Recalling all these things, Adeline couldn’t help but shudder!

Adeline turned around and prepared to leave when the Goddess started to yell again.

"No!!!!!!!!! Waiiittttttt! Don’t go!" Why won’t this child listen?! This was very important! It wasn’t like she derived joy from seeing her favourite child get injured!

Adeline stopped and waited as if she was giving the Goddess a chance to explain herself.

After a big moment of silence, Adeline was prepared to turn around again, but that was when the Goddess spoke.

"Okay so, the ruin is just near the Mage Tower! And- And once you’re in the ruin you don’t have to worry about monsters! The ruins congain great things! Just trust me!" She yelped. Her voice was pleading and she seemed to be troubled.

I just hope I can reveal these things, hopefully... Hopefully, nothing bad happens.

The journey to the ruins near the Mage Tower was far from straightforward. The Goddess directed Adeline off the main road and into the dense forest that bordered the West.

Thankfully she didn’t have to cross the entire Empire to get to the forest surrounding the Mage Tower. She just needed to go to the border in her territory and from then onwards... She was in the forest!

She thought she needed to do a covert mission trying to cross borders while avoiding her family’s knights but the Goddess led her into the forest pretty easily.

The horse had to pick its way carefully through the uneven terrain. The forest was thick with vegetation and she didn’t know how she could have navigated it without the Goddess’s help.

She was giving her directions to avoid the areas scattered with monsters, so she had to zigzag through the forest. The journey was absolutely shitty, she just hoped that it was worth it.

"You couldn’t have picked a more convenient location?" Adeline muttered, ducking under a low-hanging branch.

"This is convenient," the Goddess replied. "The ruins are hidden for a reason. It’s not like they wanted just anyone stumbling across it."

Fine," She muttered. "But if I get eaten by some monster, I’m haunting you."

The Goddess laughed nervously, considering it a real possibility.

Adeline sighed, her earlier excitement waning as the forest grew darker and more foreboding. The trees pressed in around her, their gnarled branches casting eerie shadows in the faint light of dawn.

"Are you sure this is safe?" She asked, glancing around nervously.

"As safe as it can be," The Goddess said. "Just keep going. We’re almost there." Honestly, the Goddess herself wasn’t sure... She was being as careful as she could and tried to avoid all the monster hotspots.

She couldn’t afford to lose this child to monsters!

After what felt like hours, the forest began to thin, and Adeline caught her first glimpse of the ruins. She could see the broken pillars supporting a structure that looked like an entrance... But where was the rest?

Where was the rest of the ruins?! As she drew closer she realised that the door led to a small room, just enough to fit two people at most. Was the artifact inside this tiny room? All of this seemed very anti-climactic.

There were vines that climbed around the pillars and completely covered them. There was moss growing on it too! As if... this place was underwater at one point in time...

The vines crept up on the door too, except... Someone was here... The vines were cut to make way for the door to open. It looks pretty recent too. Was there someone who arrived here before her? Who could have even known?

The Goddess wasn’t cheating on her, was she?! She would never forgive cheaters.

"Did you send someone else here?" Adeline asked, her voice sharp with suspicion.

The Goddess sounded offended. "Of course not! Why would I—" She paused. "Wait... Someone’s inside."

Adeline tensed, her hand hovering over her satchel. Carefully, she pushed the door open and stepped inside.

The room was dimly lit by faint magical runes etched into the walls. In the centre of the chamber, slumped against the far wall, was a boy.

His clothes were torn, his face pale, and his breathing shallow. Blood stained the ground around him, and his hand clutched his side.

Adeline’s heart clenched. "Dimitri?"

The boy stirred weakly at the sound of his name. His amber eyes fluttered open, filled with pain and confusion. "...Adeline?" That couldn’t be... Why would she be here? He must be imagining things.

He remembered when he first met Adeline... It was just like the present... He was in a lost, helpless state when she appeared out of nowhere like an angel. She pulled him out of the mud... He must be imagining her again.

A small smile was on his face despite the pain he was experiencing. The thought of her brought some warmth to him.

Without hesitation, Adeline dropped to her knees beside him, she started to summon her holy powers to heal him. The blood on his clothes was dry... She couldn’t tell for how long he was suffering like this.

She was just glad that she found him. Who knows what could’ve happened otherwise?

"What happened to you?" she demanded, her voice was filled with anger and frustration.

"I... Got lost," Dimitri murmured, his words barely audible. "I found this place... And the monsters wouldn’t come near it. It felt... Safe." The battles he fought against those monsters might stay with him forever even if the physical scars healed... The mental ones would stay.

Adeline bit her lip, her hands glowing faintly as she channelled her holy magic.

Slowly, his breathing steadied, and some colour returned to his face.

"Why are you here?" he asked, his voice stronger now.

Adeline hesitated. "I... I’m looking for artifacts. The Goddess sent me here."

Dimitri’s brows furrowed. "Artifacts? Here?" He winced as he shifted, sitting up.

Where is ’here’? This was a small room! It could barely fit two kids much less artifacts and treasures! Did the Goddess mislead Adeline?

Adeline laughed awkwardly after understanding what he was getting at. She felt that once again, she was baited, betrayed and bamboozled by the Goddess!

"This place... It feels like it’s protecting me. But the monsters outside are relentless. You shouldn’t be here. It’s too dangerous." He started to lecture her seriously forgetting his own situation.

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