The hammock isn’t good for sleeping
The sleep was far from restful. After all, sleeping on such a hard floor could never be comfortable.
However, this wasn’t the main reason for the discomfort.
In the middle of the night, Dillin woke up in a daze, feeling as if he were under a ghostly pressure. Something heavy was pressing on him, not letting him turn over in his sleep.
When he opened his eyes, the moonlight poured into the room along the window ledge, casting its glow on the cute chubby cheeks of the little face above him. His nose itched as strands of golden hair tipped with silver gleamed before it, rubbing and bouncing.
Realizing that her movements had awakened Dillin, the girl on his waist froze for a moment.
Thus, the two were vertically locked in an awkward staring session beneath the moon, an unusual silence hanging in the air.
“What are you doing still awake this late?”
“Uh…” Yimi’s eyes darted away. “I was afraid you’d get cold sleeping on the living room floor, so I came to bring you an extra blanket.”
“Where’s the blanket?” Yimi’s hands were empty; clearly, she hadn’t brought one.
“My… I didn’t want to wake you up, so I didn’t bring any thinking I’d just check if you were sleeping fine.”
“Ah… Would you care to explain then why your hands were around my neck?”
“…” Yimi lowered her head, glanced at her soft fingers lightly resting there, and silently pulled them away. “I just checked your body temperature… you know, in case you were cold.”
“Ah, I see,” Dillin said in a tone of exaggerated understanding. “Of course, the neck is the closest area to the true body temperature for humans, so touching neck, right?”
“Exactly, that’s exactly right,” Yimi replied, nodding like a pecking chick without much change in expression.
“Really? You buy this whole ‘measuring temperature through the neck’ story?” Dillin grabbed her two hands and lifted her up. “If you’re so worried about me getting cold, there’s not a second blanket in this house anyway.”
“Or… do you want to snuggle with me like a jacket all night?”
“Next time, think harder for an excuse that’s even remotely believable. Get it?”
“Got it.” Yimi, lifted like a chicken, emotionlessly nodded her little head to show she understood. “Can I go back to sleep now?”
“Sleep? You climbed out of bed in the middle of the night to bother someone’s nap. Seems you’re not that tired now, huh? Too bad if you don’t want to sleep, don’t sleep.”
“No, I want to sleep, but last night I couldn’t.”
“Couldn’t sleep last night, and now tonight when you’re given the chance, you still have the energy to do something reckless. Looks like missing one night’s sleep doesn’t affect you that much, still full of energy.”
“I was mistaken.” Yimi, with a flat expression, admitted rather promptly.
That was her usual self: quick to admit mistakes and never to repent.
“Save your apology till morning. I’m not in the mood to listen now.”
“I’ve said it before, to those who intend harm to me, I don’t hold back.” Dillin grinned faintly, pulling out a bundle of ropes from his bag.
“If you don’t like a soft bed, I’ll offer you a different kind of ‘bed.'”
“Done.” After messing around for a bit, Dillin yawned, waving at Yimi. “Goodnight, Yimi, see you tomorrow.”
The next morning, when the day broke, Yimi peacefully opened her eyes. For her, waking up on time by the biological clock was a regular part of life.
This morning was a bit different. Yesterday, two strangers had stayed in her wooden house, so when she got up in the morning, she should have seen others on the bed.
To her surprise, she was the only one in the bed this morning.
Had they already gotten up?
She got up early, yet unexpectedly those two were earlier.
Walking out of the room into the living room, the scene made her speechless.
Dillin’s figure was nowhere to be seen in the living room. Instead, a little golden-haired girl swung gently in the air with the wind blowing through the window.
“…” Even with her extensive knowledge, Yumi was at a loss as to what exactly led to this outcome and the events that transpired the previous night.
“Miss Yimi, what are you doing?” Seeing Yimi dangling on the roof beam, a trace of peculiarity flickered on Pian’s usually expressionless face.
“…” Yimi didn’t respond. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to; she couldn’t.
The previous night, Dillin had placed her on the roof beam and, to prevent her from disturbing his sleep, stuffed one of her socks into her own mouth.
Unable to speak with the makeshift gag, she remained speechless.
When Pian pulled out the short white sock from Yimi’s mouth, she took a deep breath, finally able to speak freely again.
“No issues, I’m just sleeping on the hammock.”
“…” Pian’s expression remained calm; she didn’t know what to say in response to Yimi’s statement.
“Could you sleep?”
“Not really.” Yimi honestly replied. “There’s no window in the hall. The breeze makes it rock uncontrollably; it’s not restful.”
So why are you still sleeping?
“The sleep is indeed uncomfortable, so I won’t sleep here next time.”
Pian watched as Yimi said this with apparent seriousness, feeling her intellect was being mocked.
Any intelligent person would understand that it was impossible for someone to tie themselves up like this—yet this blonde girl acted as if she had willingly set herself on the hammock and wasn’t forcibly hung by someone else.
She clearly looked down on someone’s intelligence.
More importantly, could this even be called a hammock? It’s more like being tied up and hung from a beam.
“Hmm.” Pian didn’t expose the truth. “Do you need help, then?”
“Hmm.” Yimi didn’t refuse—the two ’emotionless’ girls silently exchanged opinions.
Pian then untied the ropes around Yimi’s body, allowing Yimi to descend.
“Oh, all rise?” Dillin entered after washing his face outside, just in time to see Pian untie Yimi’s ropes.
“So, how did you both sleep last night?” The question was aimed primarily at Yimi.
Yimi averted her gaze expressionlessly, humming softly and muttering ‘scheming cow.’
For Pian, sleeping was a necessity just like eating.
She took some chilled food from the enchanted refrigerator—just some vegetable leaves.
Dillin glanced at the dishes she held.
To be honest, Pian wasn’t human. Her diet contained only vegetables, causing Dillin to suspect she might be an elf.
Still, doubts lingered.
Elves, who cherish tranquility and nature, wouldn’t typically stay here, let alone near the corpse-flower for extended periods because of an inherent physiological repulsion.
Dillin attempted to use Divine Analysis Technique to investigate the peculiar girl, and the result was surprising—the technique showed her as merely human after a series of chaotic fluctuations.
But how could a human survive so long without aging?
Dillin considered the possibility of her being another long-lived species. Yet the description from the Divine Analysis couldn’t be wrong—the girl’s physiological structure leaned more towards human than elves.
Still, Dillin’s impression inclined her to be elf-like in habits and lifestyle.
An elf-like girl who wasn’t an elf?
Dillin suddenly remembered her telling him that she didn’t have a name since it meant nothing to her.
Hmm, even her cooking perfectly matched the tastes of elves.
Dillin noticed that this meal’s flavor closely matched what they ate the previous night.
No, ‘similar’ wasn’t accurate—it was completely identical.
“Miss Pian, may I ask how long have you stayed here?” While at the table, Dillin asked curiously.
“How long?” Pian tilted her head then shook it. “I don’t have a habit of keeping track of time, but when I came here, the high-rise city wasn’t built yet.”
Saying this, Pian gazed out the window towards the faintly visible city wall and the empire eagle flag flying on the Crucible City wall.
She settled here before Crucible City was built?
That was at least prior to the demon race’s great invasion!
Putting down his bowl, Dillin looked at the silver-haired girl, puzzled and unsettled.
If everything she said was true, then who exactly was she?
This was odd indeed.
Dillin thought back to the golden chrysanthemum hairpin.
Though unlikely, had he been led to Crucible City by the golden chrysanthemum deliberately intending to meet her?
Perhaps, did she know Tillysha?
“Miss Pian, I have a question.”
“What question?”
“Do you know Tillysha?”
“…” At these words, Yimi, who was eating quietly, also looked up, glancing between Dillin and Pian.
“Ti, li, sha?” Pian slowly shook her head. “I don’t know her.”
“Who is she to you?”
“Not, I was just asking. I don’t know her either.” Dillin shook his head, dismissing his theory.
“Is she a human?”
“No, she’s an elf.” Yimi suddenly opened her mouth with her bowl in hand, calmly looking at Dillin. “A prodigy in the history of elves, the royal golden elf, bestowed the title ‘Elf Divine Warrior’ by the Elf Emperor.”
“Elf? Elf Divine Warrior?” At the mention of these terms, Pian’s eyes flickered uncertainly.
“Her, what’s her relation to Erica?” After a long silence, Pian enquired.
“Erica?” The name sounded familiar to Dillin.
“Are you referring to the first Elf Empress, eldest daughter of Galonore, Mother of All Forests and Living Creatures, Erica Galonore, the ‘Golden Psalm’ and ‘Mother of Sanctity’?” Considering Dillin’s amnesia, Yimi clarified.
“…” At the mention of this name, Pian’s usually calm face showed a slight ripple, as if the fairy who should not have worldly emotions had developed some earthly qualities.
“They, might be considered a relationship between predecessors and successors. Tillysha is separated from Erica with thousands of years.” Yimi said serenely. “Though both were renowned for powerful Divine Authority and bloodline talents, their characters are vastly different.”
“Erica offered her soul to form the trunk of the Holy Tree, granting eternal blessings to the elves; Tillysha…” Yimi glanced at Dillin beside her, speaking offhandedly and a bit disparagingly. “She isn’t nearly as good.”
“These two, though both gold elves, aren’t even comparable.”
“Eric, li, ca.” Ignoring Yimi’s denigration of Tillysha, Pian’s focus seemed to be entirely on Erica. She repeated this name almost mystically, looking out the window as if she saw something, then returning to her senses.
“It seems to have started.”
Started?
Dillin looked towards the direction of the city wall, perplexed, seeing a plume of black smoke ascending slowly, like battlefield storm clouds.
“That?”
Dillin put down his bowl and got up.
“Cause and effect retribution. It has arrived.” Pian returned to her usual transcendent state, her voice hollow and ethereal.
“Crucible City caught fire?”
A fire wouldn’t cause this much commotion. With his sharp hearing, Dillin could even faintly hear wails and screams from the city, hinting at a trace of unobvious bloodiness.
Had Crucible City fallen?
No, that couldn’t be right. At the moment, the empire wasn’t at war with any faction, so how could it just be attacked out of nowhere?
Moreover, the smoke came from inside the city. Even if there were hostile forces attacking Crucible City, the city shouldn’t fall that quickly.
Dillin entertained a possible theory.
Could the citizens inside the city have revolted?
That was plausible, but the city guards aren’t just figureheads; suppressing ‘rioters’ is their forte after all.
Remember, this isn’t some middle age era on Earth. Forks and sickles can’t stand up to a proper army.
Against magic, alchemy, and divine authority, such rudimentary tools are just too trivial, nothing serious. Suppressing untrained farmers and housewives is effortless; a couple of magical blasts would leave the rest cowed into compliance.
The oppressed masses have to endure the overbearing exploitation by the nobles and not be taken seriously, mainly due to the inability of uprisings to gain any real traction. Facing an army equipped with mages or even divine figures, the uprisings disintegrate instantly, allowing the nobility to act with impunity.
Confused, Dillin still decided to check it out.
“What are you going to do?” Seeing Dillin getting ready to leave, Pian suddenly asked. “Are you going to help? Who?”
“Are you going to create chaos by helping those human citizens who’ve been oppressed into rebellion, or are you going to help the oppressors suppress the chaos?”
“I’ll render my own verdict.” Dillin understood Pian’s undertone. She intended to tell him that getting involved in these idle matters was meaningless.
Dillin halted. “Additionally, there are answers I want to uncover behind this persecution and turmoil.”
“Whatever you do, it won’t change the causality.” Pian said calmly. “Regardless of what happens in the city, it’s due to the deeply accumulated negative energy being corrected by the world’s rules.”
“Wars and dynastic changes are all natural selections.”
“To forcibly defy causality is to defy the rules and laws of the world.”
“Just like the corpse flowers, any behavior interfering with their growth would be impossible to succeed.”
Dillin offered no response, he had already headed out the door.
Seeing this, Yimi swayed her dangling legs, hopped down from the chair, bid Pian farewell, and followed after Dillin.
She was curious too, wanting to see what Dillin would do.
And now, Dillin felt a strong urge. The moment he saw the smoke from the city, it was like something inside his brain began shifting, awakening.
