Chapter 465

Chapter 472: As Long as We Don’t Get Caught (Please Subscribe!)

After calming Ais’ emotions and finishing other matters, it was already close to night. Due to the heavy rain outside, one couldn’t tell the time from the sky color, so the magic stones clock informed Izay of the passage of time. The two had perfectly missed the Familial Group’s dinner time.

However, in the current minds of Izay and Ais, enjoying dinner took a backseat.

The first place they visited was the grand bathhouse.

After getting rained on, taking a bath to warm up was something many people would do, perhaps considered a biological habit?

Anyway, Izay had this habit.

Under Riviria’s influence, Ais was also like that.

There was no one at the bathhouse at this time, neither in the male nor female baths, because everyone had used them during the day. It was a rare chance for a private session today.

After cleaning their bodies, the two headed to the dining hall together.

When they arrived at the dining hall, Anqi, the cat-eared girl, was doing the final bit of post-meal cleaning alone. Seeing the two who had missed dinner, she kindly mentioned that she had saved food for them.

This was a tradition among the Loki Familia members.

Whenever someone missed a meal without reason, the cooks responsible for preparing the meals would carefully save a portion for them. If two people missed it, there would be two portions.

Even if it wasn’t eaten that day, it could still be warmed up the next day—considerate care from the cooks.

“So you two went on a mission? I saw only you two were absent and wondered if you secretly went on a date~”

Anqi propped her head with her arms, leaning on the dining table watching Izay and Ais eat, her tail swaying behind her.

“Yeah… we went to exorcise a ghost…” Ais took a deep breath and began with a serious expression.

“But we got scared by the ‘ghost’ in the end.” Izay continued.

“Eh? What kind of ghost?”

“The scary kind!”

“It was just a magician’s familiar. Ais overreacted.”

“It’s Izay’s fault! He knew it was fake but didn’t warn me.” (puffed cheeks.jpg)

Ah no, I did warn you, but you didn’t hear.

In response to Ais’ puffed-up rebuttal, Izay silently turned away.

After returning, Izay had already told the young lady the truth about the shadow.

Although Ais hadn’t seen clearly due to the chaos under the lightning, Izay certainly had.

After reluctantly accepting this fact, Ais harbored a little resentment inside.

Not resentment towards Izay for not warning her.

But resentment towards herself for being immature and getting scared off by a mere familiar.

However, Ais buried this resentment well within her heart. After processing it, the emotion she revealed outwardly was akin to a child throwing a tantrum.

Between bites, the two started to banter back and forth about the earlier incident.

Anqi, chin resting on her hand, smiled gently while watching the two bicker with interest.

…

It was deep into the night.

Izay rarely retrieved the eye crystal Fels gave him from his personal space. He launched a fierce critique regarding how Fels tricked him with the owl familiar today.

Fels, being criticized, almost sprouted question marks above his head to express his confusion.

Not every magician knows, but it is essential to have basic protective measures for one’s Magic Workshop.

Just like Izay set up his Magic Workshop inside the safest Library within Twilight Manor.

That was a natural protective measure.

Fels was no exception.

Even though the mansion in the northwest wasteland was just one of Fels’ many bases, he still prepared some small traps inside for the sake of safeguarding his experimental materials.

For instance, if someone intruded into the deepest room on the third floor, his familiars would sense it and proceed to capture the intruder, making it convenient for Fels to investigate later.

Who would have thought that the intruder this time was Izay?

The owl familiar was merely doing its duty. What bad intentions could a kitty have?

Fels felt extremely wronged.

Still, it was true that he didn’t notice a child infiltrating the mansion.

It was also true that his owl disrupted Izay and Ais’ bonding plans.

The latter might have some grounds for rebuttal.

But the former, entirely Fels’ own mistake, was the root cause of the entire event.

This responsibility… Fels couldn’t escape it…

The wise man traveling extended his black gauntleted hand to comb through his bald scalp.

“Truly troublesome…”

…

Time remained deep into the night.

After Izay ended communication with Fels and was preparing to roll up his blanket to sleep…

“—Poom poom~!”

Two soft knocks came at his door.

If Izay wasn’t paying attention, he might have overlooked them.

It was as if they were afraid of being heard.

(Who’s visiting me at midnight?)

Izay couldn’t help but feel curious.

He didn’t hesitate, walking to the door in his shirt and opening it.

Standing outside his door was Ais, wearing only a thin nightgown. She clutched a pillow, blushing slightly as if recalling something embarrassing, then looked at Izay: “Um… Izay… I can’t sleep alone. Can I stay here for the night?”

“Uh…” Izay was momentarily dumbfounded but quickly thought of a possibility: “Ais… you’re not still scared about the mission, are you?”

This was the only possibility Izay could think of.

Otherwise, there was no way to explain why, after two years of living together, Ais would come knocking on his door tonight.

Apart from avoiding the imaginary ghost possibly lingering in the girl’s mind, there was no other reason.

Sure enough, upon being pointed out, Ais became flustered: “I-It’s not that… you said ghosts don’t exist, I’m not scared!”

The last sentence seemed directed at someone else, with an unusually forceful tone.

“Alright, then why not go to Refia or Riviria?”

“…I don’t want them to find out.”

She felt she’d be laughed at.

The girl murmured softly, revealing the reason she abandoned Refia and Riviria to come looking for Izay.

Instantly, Izay didn’t know what expression to make.

Look, you just said you weren’t scared.

Then you immediately betrayed yourself.

If not for this reason, compared to me, Ais should have gone to Riviria and the others.

After all, between girls…

“Fine, since you’re here, come in first. Don’t stand in the doorway.”

Thinking this, Izay decided it was better to enter the room and talk.

Standing here like this, if someone found out, it would be considered immoral behavior.

In short, as long as we don’t get caught, it’s fine～! (Funny.jpg)