Chapter 56
Sylas turned her head to look at Xerath's eyes, which had a slight smile. Her gaze slowly lowered and landed on Xerath's chest.
"Will... will it be like this?"
"Most likely. When we go to Withered Leaf City this time, you can observe secretly... What's wrong? Why are you staring at me?"
"I feel... a little envious."
Xerath gently poked her cheek with a smile. "Don't mind too much. What is there to envy?"
"It looks... really beautiful!"
Xerath was tall for a human, with long legs and a slim waist. Her proportions were well-coordinated, especially her hips and chest. Sylas had always loved her figure.
Humans have primitive aesthetic tendencies. When they see well-proportioned features, they can't help but be infatuated. Even wild beasts that grew up as strays are no exception.
"It will happen, but there's one thing you must remember," she said, draping a robe over Sylas while lightly patting her chest. "Here, and here," she tapped Sylas's buttocks, sliding her slender fingertips through the gap, left hand following the right, tracing the outline of the forbidden area.
Sylas trembled slightly and widened her green eyes in fear.
"...Don't let anyone touch. No one is allowed, especially the opposite sex, like Virgil."
Sylas asked in response, "When you say 'no one,' does that include you?"
Xerath opened her mouth but paused for a moment, clearly not prepared with an answer beforehand. However, in reality, no one else had touched those areas either. Xerath glared at her and admitted, "Alright, except me."
It was probably the first time she had said such words to another child. Her ears turned a slightly red shade, showing a sense of confusion, "Um... If anyone—I mean, except me—girls of the same age can relax their standards a bit... You might not know since you haven't been to school, but they always like to touch each other... If anyone wants to touch you inappropriately, you should..."
Xerath hesitated for a moment, seemingly pondering her wording, but Sylas interjected, "Um, should I oppose and then inform you?"
"Of course, it's necessary. Let's decide on that. Don't forget what we talked about today." She fastened Sylas's clothes and straightened her collar, "Let's go, let's have dinner first."
Sylas pressed on her chest, forcefully suppressing her heart that was about to jump out, and asked softly, "But it's almost time for class."
"Of course, eating is important. Otherwise, by ten o'clock, you'll be mentally distracted and won't remember anything. It's not worth it. Let's go." She reached out and took Sylas's hand, and the latter obediently walked alongside her.
The breakfast today is fried rice. It has many strange ingredients because the ingredients are almost finished. So the Fire Lord chef had to mix different ingredients together and use tasteless rice to balance their flavors.
But it actually tastes quite good, after all, it is made by the Fire Lord. While eating, she couldn't help but think of the phrase "Endless Water Realm." It didn't appear in any known spells Sylas had and wasn't even mentioned in any of the books she had read. This seemed strange: perhaps it wasn't a commonly used word? Only mentioned in certain situations? There were very few things related to it, making it difficult to be mentioned?
The only thing she was certain of was that she absolutely couldn't ask Xerath about it, or it would break the peaceful disguise. Maybe she would even become angry. Sylas speculated about the teacher's thoughts and imagined all sorts of consequences. In the end, she frightened herself.
Xerath casually flipped through a book and saw Sylas spacing out. She reached out and brushed away the rice on her mouth, saying, "Eat your meal properly."
Sylas obediently lowered her head, fearing that Xerath would ask about something.
The weather had been good for two consecutive days. During their lunch break, Xerath was sitting in the sunlight, writing something. She seemed to be researching something new lately. The books on her desk were almost piled up, making it difficult to see a person. She even had to come out from behind the desk during class and pull the blackboard forward to teach.
Sylas walked to the deepest part of the library again. She went through each book, looking at the titles, and then guessing from the keywords in the index of the last page whether the book was related to water elemental spells.
However, the results were not very fruitful. There didn't seem to be any content related to water elementals inside. She started to understand why Xerath asked her to read all the books: flipping through them one by one, it was impossible to know what each book contained. It would be more reliable to keep the index in her mind.
As she approached the front reading area, she took off her shoes to avoid disturbing Xerath. Lately, Xerath had been enjoying taking naps in the afternoon, probably because she had been working late at night. Through the gaps in the bookshelf, Sylas saw the shimmering waves of the water lord. She quietly ran over and asked in a low voice, "Hyectra, is the teacher still awake?"
"Yes, the respected magic master should still be awake, she is not easily able to fall asleep..."
"So do you have time now to tell me... things that the teacher shouldn't know?"
"That depends on what you want to tell me, young lady."
"Just make sure you don't tell the teacher."
"Okay. I promise." The deep blue gentleman bent down, placing his translucent hands near his ear, leaning closer to Sylas.
"What is the 'boundless water domain'?"
The water ruler paused for a moment, from its reaction it seemed that there was something strange about this word. It showed a thoughtful expression, then cautiously answered, "What do you think it is?"
"The... home of water spirits?"
"Yes."
"Are all water creatures formed in the 'Infinite Water Realm' without needing parents, and become conscious beings?"
"No, not entirely."
"How is that?"
The gentleman in deep blue closed his mouth and had no intention of answering. Sylas's hopeful expression turned into confusion as she tentatively asked, "Did my teacher silence you?"
"Basically, yes."
"Is it because you talked to me yesterday?"
"Not entirely. The silence took effect yesterday."
"So, does it involve secret words?" Sylas suddenly revealed a cunning yet playful smile, "She doesn't allow you to explain any related vocabulary to me?"
"You could say that."
"That means I guessed it right! No matter how big this puzzle is, I've already found a piece, right?"
She stared closely at the water lord's face, and when it showed a troubled expression, she couldn't help but jump and say, "Really? I guessed it right! Definitely!"
With sparkling emerald eyes, the water lord shyly avoided the bright gaze. But Sylas seemed convinced that she had the correct answer and skipped happily back to the reading area.
Of course, tiptoeing and staying quiet.
Xerath seemed to be sleeping deeply, but the water lord was still here, indicating that she hadn't actually fallen asleep. Sylas dared not disturb her and simply watched her from afar.
Her sleeping face had softened a lot, slightly distorted from the pressure, probably not very comfortable. Sylas tiptoed over, gently took off her own robe, and slowly draped it over Xerath, afraid to wake her.
After a while, the water lord next to her waved at Sylas and eagerly escaped from the crack of elements.
It seemed that Xerath was fast asleep. Sylas leisurely did her homework, planning what to eat and what kind of books to bring to the public library while carrying Xerath.
Around two-thirty, Xerath woke up and unconsciously wrapped the black cloak tighter around herself. It must have been warm from the sun's heat, as Xerath even brought the sleeves in to rest her head on. After a while, she realized something was wrong and slowly sat up straight.
She still had red marks on her face, and Sylas saw her get up and kindly smiled, went over and poured her a glass of water.
"Thank you, here's your clothes." She pulled down the robe from herself and handed it to Sylas, Sylas took it but didn't wear it, maintaining this pose until the end of today.
Time passed quickly, and it was weekend in the blink of an eye. Sylas originally intended to sleep a little longer, but unfortunately she woke up on time. She got up, washed her face, brushed her teeth, put on her clothes, and prepared to open the door. However, she quickly heard an unusual sound, it was Xerath's footsteps.
Sylas had recognized her footsteps long ago, neither fast nor slow, but always steady. She walked down from upstairs in the usual rhythm, politely and gently knocked on Sylas's door. Sylas answered and Xerath walked in.
She probably used a spell to unlock the door directly, because last night Sylas had secretly locked the door to prevent Xerath from discovering that she was secretly reading the second volume of the Book of Elements.
"Good morning, teacher."
"Good morning, did you forget that we are going to Withered Leaf City today and take Titus for a check-up?" Xerath frowned and looked at her with a pair of strange but beautiful gray eyes.
"Of course I remember, why?" She looked down guiltily and glanced at herself, feeling that her collar was neat and her cuffs had no issues, but she became even more guilty.
"I guessed so," she waved her hand, and the water lord steward behind her handed her a thick black coat. The inside was very warm, with thick fur, Sylas took off her black robe and put this one on the outside. She was about to ask about her pants when Xerath happily said, "Very good, I knew you would wear it properly. Thank goodness you didn't end up becoming a chubby mage."
"Fat?"
Xerath nodded and explained, "Mage apprentices don't exercise much, so they either become too fat or too thin. If you're on the fat side, I'll have to buy you new clothes."
"So... is this one also yours?"
"Yes, it's the clothes I wore when studying in Emerson's tower. You grew so fast." This was already the third set of clothes in her wardrobe. If Sylas was the same height as her, she would have to share some of her current clothes with her.
