Avoiding attacks from Vefal seems a lot easier than the first time but still not even ten seconds had passed, I was already on the ground. While I was fighting her, Her [Shadow] was also fighting back to back with August against Kiefy. Fundamentally speaking, Vefal’s [Shadow] and Stryklos’s [Invisible Legions] were almost the same except that the difference in the entities or an entity that they controlled and the intelligences of the entities. Vefal’s [Shadow] seems to possessed intelligence, almost like there was another Vefal but in a subservient manner and also Vefal can also share and experience most of her senses through her [Shadow]. Stryklos’s [Invisible Legions] on the other hand required coordination's from him as they have no, as far as I know, sentient minds to take their own action but this allowed him to perform a complex move if he were to be able to. Each has their own strengths and weaknesses I guess. “Ruigne, you seem distracted.” Walking over to me, who was absentmindedly taking a quick and painful pseudo-nap with my eyes opened, Vefal sat on the ground beside me on my left. “I kept thinking about what that girl, that Kimiko had said. What if someone amongst really had died mentally and was replaced by someone or something else?” “……” “And if that did happened, then what is the purpose of that something? Is it malevolent? Does it seek to harm us?” Vefal’s face was dyed in uncertainty but after a while, she was staring me down with a serious expression. “Do you suspect me?” I got up even though pain was coursing through my body and stared right into her deep, blue-coloured eyes. It went like that for a few seconds as I contemplate on my answer. … …… I don’t know her before, so how can I suspect her whether she was the real Vefal or something had replaced her? For all I know, that ‘thing’ back then could have taken my memories and assumed itself to be me. Nobody would have known whether I’m the real me or not. It would have been the same for her. Hell, I doubt even her own brother wouldn’t be able to tell. Even if she was ‘replaced’, then I would try to be wary to an appropriate level but also try to learn about ‘it’. “Ruigne, you’re seemed to think too much, you know?” Oh, wow, my monologue was affecting the physical time. I keep forgetting that thinking is not a free action. Anyway, even though I had a logical fact for the answer, yet I felt that it was not the answer I wanted to say to her. Against the logical conclusion, the words that came out were the opposite of them. “No, I don’t suspect you. If I have to say, it’s because I trust my gut feeling or my intuition that you are the real Vefal Striden. Not some parasite or another organism pretending to be you.” A foolish answer but it made me feel glad and relieved. If this is what it takes to feel this way, I don’t mind being foolish. After I answered wholeheartedly, a smile like a blooming wild flower was formed on her face. Against the backdrop of the sky painted in the hue of red and orange of the sunset, it made the smile much more magical. It was a genuine, unique, and irreplaceable of a smile that no one else can make except her. With that, it was enough to affirm and solidified my foolish answer and destroys the lingering doubt. I turned away so she wouldn’t see the blood rushing into my face. It went like this for how long, I can’t remember. There was this rose-tinted feeling that was smothering the mood inside. “You two ain’t gonna train anymore?” August who had back down and took a quick break from attacking Kiefy, asked as such. Vefal [Shadow] was still fighting with Kiefy. Even if Vefal was resting, the [Shadow] could still fight as though it was another individual. Her [Shadow] seems to last for an hour at best and she can only call upon it again after some hours had passed. “Ruigne is currently suffering from a pain when I swung his left side. I’ve might had swung a little bit hard.” It felt like a wooden pole swung at the speed of fifty kilometers per hour, although being in pain was partly the reason though. After a few minutes of sitting quietly and enjoying the nature, we got up and began our matches. I never thought that I was actually looking forward to getting my ass beaten and handed by a beautiful girl but that’s life. -- After the evening training was over, we were heading towards our Fhagecs. I had a quick shower and a change of cloth. I was the first to leave as Erganisu did his ‘cleansing’ after me. I just noticed that after night, the floating lights would come out from the surrounding, illuminating every part of the place. It’s funny how I never thought of this in these three days. As I was walking to the dining hall, along the way, I saw someone was currently practicing something on the side of the path. If I remember correctly, that girl was on the group where majority of them were elfin races. Looking at her closely, I realize that her ears weren’t as ‘elvish’ as I thought. Her ears seem to bend with pointy end on the upper side. Her periwinkle-coloured hair was braided beautifully with her sharp feature accentuated her face. Her face was twitching as she was glaring at her right hand. She seems to be mumbling about something. “Eo, Eo, Eo, Eo…” Is she trying to conjure an Eomancy spell? I think we already been told that it would at least take a month for us to conjure a spell. So I stood and faced towards her. Since I had interacted with almost half of the summoned, I felt even more comfortable in approaching them. Let’s try this out. “Hello… The name’s Ruigne, what are you doing?” That sounded strange since I went straight to the point. Maybe I should have just pass by but I was truly curious. “Eo, Eo, Eo, Eo…” She kept chanting without even bothering to look at me. In fact, no a whiff of a reaction or acknowledgement had come out. I think I should just go if she’s gonna be like this. So I resumed walking to the dining hall. Once I reached there, I decided to do some experiment with the dishes again. Erganisu came afterward and helped with cooking. After an hour, I can say the dishes I made had become tastier but the problem was that I have no idea on what food they were based on. As I came out from the kitchen, all of the groups were here already. I presented the new dishes to my group and they eyes were sparkling as the smell waft through the table. I can say that I’m on par with a professional chef on my world since I created my own recipes that which I have forgotten to write down! Damn it! As I regretfully eating the dishes that I can’t reproduce, there was an interesting exchange between behind me. It was the elvish majority group. “Where is Ghiscra?” “She’s still training. She’s aiming to be the first to learn and master Eomancy.”

An elf had asked towards her group. Strangely, her flowing long hair colour was lines of white running parallel with lines of black. The one who answered her was a broad-looking elf with a periwinkle coloured hair that had a natural arrogance on his face.

“What? She had been doing that ever since the Eomancy Class? Did she eat anything?”

“Don’t put the likes of your inferior races against us. We Falskilan are beings of higher existence. Hunger does not concern us.”

The black and white haired elf girl sceptically remarked but she was dissed by the broad-looking elf. There was a skinny looking elf with a thick beard and wild, ragged fiery red-coloured hair and facial tattooes that was nonchalantly eating beside the broad-elf.

It seems that group doesn’t cooperate like the rest of the groups. Poor Ghrukka and the manticore were being side-lined and ignored by the three elves although they don’t seem to mind it. Meanwhile, the Heirs had greeted us from the side. Our group relationship had increased to the point that we all mingled without worry and being awkward. After the dinner ended, Augustus invited us over again. Since there was no harm in it, we all accepted. All of the summoned had already left while I stayed behind to analyze my dishes. It was quite intriguing on how I was able to make these dishes to taste so divinely good. After I made a dish that was roughly like the one I created earlier, there seem to be something missing. Oh well. Luckily in this world, there’s a packaging of a sort that we can store our food. I hope they don’t mind if I bring this out as a midnight meal. I was walking on the same path before and I saw her. She was still standing but with a weakening stance, and her face expression was that of extreme exhaustion with her disheveled hair fluttering against the weak wind that had passed by. Even so- “Eo…Eo…Eo…” She was still trying to chant. Seeing her reaching to her breaking point, I can’t help but to stop walking. I wonder why anyone hasn’t tried to stop her. Where are her group members? Oh wait, I remembered the previous conversation between the two elves. I stood and turned towards her. “… Hey, you should take a rest and eat something.” … I was still ignored and for some reason, I can feel that at the edge of her eyes, she was glaring at me without any reservation, almost with a tinge of disdain. Oh, fine then. … And yet for some reason, my feet’s wasn’t moving. Sigh. I lifted up the packed food on my left hand and opened it while putting it on her direction. Since the food was recently cooked, the smell was still strong enough to entice my already sated appetite. She abruptly stopped chanting and even though it was subtle, I can see and almost hear her sniffing. Even so, she strongly refused to lay her sight onto me but now she’s trembling like a ravishing dog that hasn’t been fed for days. I further enticed her as I softly blow the smell towards her. She jolted and her trembling increases. After a few seconds, she stopped trembling completely. Eh, what had happened? When I thought of that, she suddenly buckled down on her knees and her hands was on the ground. … Even after all of that, she still wasn’t looking at me.