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Part 2

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“I’ll continue to call you Elly. Is that alright with you?” Elly nodded enthusiastically. “I’m fine with anything you call me, Ghost.”

“I-Is that so? If you feel like that, perhaps you could ease off a little from hugging my arms like that. And you too, Rose.”

“No, I don’t wanna!” Rose protested and hugged me tightly on my legs. These two girls had suddenly become so clingy. With three people – I mean two people and a rabbit holding on to me, I had trouble to walk properly and I was becoming kind of annoyed. Trying to swat Rose away from my leg, Popo continued where I left off.

“So, your real name is Elyzabeth Brynhildr, po?”

“That’s what the name I was given with by Archmagus Adrain.”

“So, my Master gave you that name?” Elly nodded at Mimi’s question. She finally opened up herself and told us about her past. But something else caught my attention.

“Archmagus? I thought he was a Grand Master of something. A Royal Scholar like Mimi.”

In Elly’s stead, it was Mimi who answered it for me. “My master was a man with many abilities. He was a powerful mage, brilliant archaeologist, a great teacher, a true friend but sadly, loyal to a fault. Honestly, he was just like you.”

“Ohh…” But I was neither a mage nor an archaeologist and a very lousy teacher to boot. Perhaps at a stretch, the only similarity was the loyalty and being a true friend to these allies of mine.

“But you say you ran away from the Royal Palace? Why, po?” Good question Popo. Something I had been wanting to ask Elly myself.

“When I was awake for the first time, I could not recount anything at all. Not even where I come from nor who am I actually. However, I learnt many things under Archmagus Adrain. And it was him who told me that I was connected to the High Asgard legends but we were unsure in what way.”

After a moment of brief but pained silence, she continued with her story. “The Archmagus wanted to find High Asgard to expand our knowledge of the realm and to discover many unknown lands with me being at the forefront. For the sake of our generations, he said. One must seek to understand their past to strive forward. Unfortunately, that was where it ended. After his shocking demise, his words were no longer adhere to.”

Finally letting her hands off my arm, she touched her chest and glanced downwards casting sad and teary eyes. “When those people find out that I was the key to enter High Asgard, they had been doing all kinds of experiments on me. A tool, they said should be used however fit to serve its owner. They were ruthless…”

Her voice was shaking and Mimi came around patting her back to try and ease her a little. “My normal day had become a living hell. It was nightmares, whether in my sleep or wake.”

“Poor girl…”

I could relate to Elly. And she was right to run away from her tormentors. After escaping from the Royal Palace, she took refuge and hid within the dark alleys and the backstreets far away from prying eyes and those who wanted to find her at all cost. According to her, it was a game of many cats and a single mouse.

It was not long thereafter that she found herself at the City of Asgardia and made her living as a small-time thief. She would still be a thief if I did not catch her at that time. Or to let her go and brought her to Popo.

For that reason alone, she was ever grateful to me. A fact that she went countless of time to reiterate. And for all my efforts, I had maxed out her affinity towards me which stood at 60. She had now reached the Revered stage but I could do less with her being clingy all of a sudden. Having Rose was more than enough for me to handle. However, I was too naïve to think otherwise.

“That bloody pipsqueak useless whoreson!” Suddenly, Popo shout out another curse. It was starting to become a norm after we successfully rescued Elly. Hearing his next words, he might have good reasons for it too.

“I regret that I did not kill him while he was still a child or better yet, in the Queen’s womb. By the time I’d realized it, he was full of malice and ruthless to others. Now, he is a warmongering tyrant.” He ended his words with a loud snort and his whiskers moved fiercely.

Mimi then added, “And that’s the reason why we left our post and past lives to live at the fringe of the Kingdom. The King was not just ruthless to Elly, but to all that oppose him. But when he summoned us, we feared the worst.”

“H-He… threatened us with our children’ lives if we do not heed his Royal Summon.” Popo clenched his fist hard. I could see how emotional he was. Mimi too stayed silent by his side.

Looked like all of them had a hard time with the current King. I’d never met him myself but after what happened to me, I had no doubt I was in his bad book list. Unfortunately, I too had just gained an enemy that I could ill afford to have. I gave out a wry smile thinking about it.

“Papa… I sense an opening over that side!” Suddenly, Rose tugged on my arms. Because we did not know the layout of this place, the best we could do was to let Rose use her skills, > and spread the vines throughout the whole area; to explore the place on our behalf. It was a feat that took quite a while as we waited for the results.

“Good job, Rose!” I patted her on her head and she just let out a satisfying smile.

“Alright all, let check the place where Rose just mentioned.”

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