Chapter 290: Darks Demons Have a Long Road Ahead (4k)
As everyone knows, creatures with paw pads are masters of stealth.
After parting ways with the Big Milk Jar, Eevee silently chased after the direction where the footsteps had vanished.
It didn’t want to return in such a disgraceful manner after going out this time.
If it returned and told others that it, the renowned Eevee, was chased by a mere golem on its first night out, how embarrassing would that be?
So the sudden appearance of footsteps became particularly significant at this moment.
Who would be out so late at night if they weren’t a magic golem?
Eevee had a hunch.
If it followed those footsteps, it might find some useful information.
Then, when it returned home, it could become the famous detective Eevee!
Not only would it gain face.
But it could also receive praise from its owner!
A win-win situation!
Absolutely worth it!
…
Under the bright moonlight and chilly winds of the night, the Big Milk Jar happened to return to the Tower of Noble Academy just before midnight. It quickly pushed through the door under the watchful gaze of the Feathered Serpent golem.
The magically lit lamps startled it once again.
But the rising barrier revealed a look of joy.
After warming itself by the fire for a while, the Big Milk Jar finally produced a bottle of milk and drank it, then comfortably returned to its dormitory.
It unlocked the door, entered the room, and the warmth that greeted it brought tears to its eyes.
Returning to the “paradise”怀抱 felt like finding security again.
“Moo.”
I wonder how Eevee is doing?
…
Inside the castle…
Relying on its advanced awareness and keen hearing, Eevee had gradually caught up with the footsteps.
But as soon as it got close, it suddenly felt a sense of unease, stopping abruptly and jumping into a corner.
Immediately afterward, a small-sized golem appeared, spinning past it, nearly causing it to break out in cold sweat.
“Huff…”
Once the golem disappeared, Eevee let out a sigh of relief and continued its pursuit.
But soon, it noticed that there were more and more golems around.
Eventually, every few steps, there was a golem guarding, as if protecting a secret treasure.
Eevee couldn’t help but recall a picture book it had seen before, its eyes revealing excitement.
If there really was a treasure…
“Tik-tik-tik.”
The footsteps grew closer and clearer.
When it reached a corner, it was only a few meters away from the source of the footsteps.
Eevee pressed against the wall, suppressing the excitement of unraveling the mystery, and suddenly peered out.
“Meow?”
A sudden doubt arose in its heart.
The sound was right in front of it, yet nothing was visible in its field of vision.
Where is the person?
Just as this thought flashed through its mind, a strong sense of danger suddenly enveloped it.
Eevee tried to pull back, but it was too late.
A small golem emerged from the other end of the passage, sharply turning its head towards it, the gem in its forehead rapidly flashing!
“Tik-tik-tik.”
Before the golem’s alarm could sound,
Eevee heard footsteps again.
And these footsteps were right in front of it!
It suddenly realized:
No wonder it hadn’t triggered any golems along the way; the person must have been hiding all along!
Golems guarding the treasure.
An invisible thief.
And an innocent intruder.
Eevee immediately imagined a whole series of stories.
Feeling something was wrong, it decisively abandoned the pursuit and fled back the way it came.
“Beep beep beep—”
But the small golem’s alarm sounded urgently.
Surrounding patrol golems reacted instantly, converging on its position.
The invisible “thief,” however, evaded detection and became the beneficiary.
Eevee realized it might have been used…
The morning star twinkled high in the sky.
A thin layer of frost formed on the window.
The sunlight melted it.
“Drip.”
Melted ice water dripped onto the balcony, creating a sound.
Dark slowly opened his eyes, habitually reaching for the blanket, feeling a familiar chill.
“Bat wings of a demon beast? Hmm, how did it get in?”
Though slightly puzzled, Dark wasn’t overly concerned.
He got out of bed and walked to the small bed, tucking the Big Milk Jar’s blanket back up, a gentle smile on his face.
But then he noticed the other small bed was empty!
“Eevee?” Dark muttered.
Usually sleeping next to him, Eevee was neither in the blanket nor in its own bed.
He reached out to touch the small bed, feeling its icy coolness.
This made him search the dormitory.
As he turned, the Big Milk Jar quietly pulled further into the blanket, only its black eyes showing!
…
Eevee didn’t return last night.
But the Big Milk Jar wasn’t worried.
Because when Eevee decided to track, it had already prepared for the possibility of running out of mana, convincing the Big Milk Jar as well.
Once out of mana, Eevee would return to the magic card.
Surely it was still asleep inside.
Indeed…
In just two minutes,
the Big Milk Jar saw Dark checking the magic card for Eevee and starting to replenish mana.
…
But it didn’t notice that Dark’s expression wasn’t good while replenishing mana.
His mindset was like that of a parent discovering their child sneaking out to play online at night…
There was anger.
But mostly relief.
After all, the child was found.
…
With the completion of the six-pointed star mana enrichment array, Dark began to slowly inject mana into the magic card.
From the card, one could see Eevee sleeping comfortably inside—this was the usual state for magic golems in the card.
Other people’s magic golems were fine with staying in the card for long periods without getting bored.
Dark’s magic golems, however, were gradually unable to tolerate this feeling.
Thus, whenever they were put into the card, they would automatically enter a sleep state.
This also helped reduce energy consumption.
A few minutes later.
Eevee woke up halfway through the mana replenishment process.
The continuous infusion of mana made it feel warm all over, so it rubbed its fingers and whimpered cutely.
Dark’s expression softened slightly, then he summoned Eevee out of the card.
Reforming, Eevee couldn’t help but cheer, leaping into Dark’s arms.
Dark instinctively caught it, rubbing its head affectionately, then suddenly sternly asked, “Where were you last night?”
He intended to scold, but Eevee raised its head, looking proud as if asking for praise.
This confused Dark.
“Mimimi!”
Eevee stood on its hind legs, using its front legs and ribbons to gesture frantically.
Dark was utterly perplexed!
He took a deep breath, thinking—accelerating text education is necessary!
Eevee didn’t realize its actions might lead to serious consequences, continuing to gesture.
To understand what it was saying, Dark took out a phonetic board from the textbook and had it spell out words based on sounds.
Though not an ideal method, after half an hour, Dark finally understood what Eevee was trying to convey.
Of course, during the “story,” Eevee glossed over the embarrassing part of being chased by golems, emphasizing instead the courage and wisdom it showed in discovering and pursuing the “thief.”
When Dark asked how it returned, it casually mentioned that it ran out of milk, thus naturally depleting its mana.
Anyway, it had nothing to do with the golems!
(??)
…
“Treasure, guardians, thief, invisibility…”
Dark pondered these four keywords, then suddenly understood.
The guardians were obviously golems.
The area with many golems must be near the secret passage entrance.
As for the thief, it was clearly not a real thief but someone spying on the secret passage.
Invisibility…
That wasn’t a rare ability.
Any senior student who knew the magic language could easily create invisibility spell cards.
In other words, many students could be the “invisible” night wanderers.
It was impossible to pinpoint them.
But since the opponent was lingering near the secret passage entrance, it was best to consider them as having a special purpose.
From Dark’s perspective, this was even more suspicious.
Dark mulled it over and felt this might actually be a good thing.
“Regardless of who the invisible person is and what their purpose is.”
“It’s perfect to tell the professors about this and have them warn others in advance.”
“As for Eevee…”
Dark walked to the small bed by the wall, pulling out the Big Milk Jar!
In theory, Dark supported the magic golems going out to play, otherwise he wouldn’t have prepared the “Ultimate Skill: Drink Milk” for the Big Milk Jar.
But he never expected that the Big Milk Jar, upon receiving the skill card, would immediately go out, especially on the same night!
“Anything to say?”
Dark narrowed his eyes at the Big Milk Jar.
“Moo…”
The Big Milk Jar couldn’t help but look away.
“Forget it.”
Dark figured it out himself.
He originally wanted to educate the Big Milk Jar for leaving Eevee behind and returning alone.
But upon reflection, the Big Milk Jar’s choice was based on multiple factors and wasn’t necessarily wrong.
As for nighttime wandering, it wasn’t entirely wrong either.
The only thing to remind was to pay attention to curfew times.
“The curfew is at twelve. Don’t stay out too late next time.”
“Moo!”
The Big Milk Jar nodded hastily.
Dark rubbed its head and smiled.
“Well done.”
…
The first class on Monday morning was Professor Shylph’s Summoning Spell course.
After class, Dark approached Professor Shylph and briefly recounted the information brought by Eevee.
What surprised Professor Shylph wasn’t just the incident itself, but…
“Wait, your magic golem encountered this during its night out?”
“Magic golem, going out?”
Professor Shylph couldn’t help but open her mouth wide.
Dark nodded honestly, “Yes, Professor.”
Professor Shylph’s lips twitched, and after a moment she tightened her face again, “Anyway, I’ve received your report. I’ll ask Professor Kazel to extract information from the golems. If what you said is true, I’ll handle it.”
Someone watching the secret passage could be a big deal or a minor issue.
But ever since the vampire incident, the professors had temporarily sealed off the secret passage.
If the purpose of the intruder was to break the seal and find the unknown vampire…
That required special attention!
The professors weren’t afraid of vampires, but they feared the incidents affecting the academy’s order.
…
Knowing that Professor Shylph took the matter seriously, Dark returned to the classroom.
He roughly estimated the key points for events this semester, such as Easter this year, which could be a critical node.
But how things would develop wasn’t something he could predict out of thin air.
Unfortunately, he lacked divination talent, otherwise, predicting regularly could provide some backing for his predictions.
Therefore, learning divination with Lil’Eevee was essential!
One must have great determination and perseverance to undertake arduous tasks.
…
