"I don't know… She's only fourteen when I last saw her." Silvester nonchalantly said but his voice contains longing.

"hmm…" Adelyn just nodded. She doesn't know what to say.

​​

"But…" Silvester suddenly stopped, and it made Adelyn look at him.

"Your voice sounds familiar… It sounds like her." He added.

Adelyn was again shocked. It was only for a few months that she accompanied Silvester in the Academy, but he remembers her voice?

"Really…?"

Silvester looked at her and saw her brown locks and her eyes. He had this sudden urge to see her whole face.

"Do you not take that mask off?" he unconsciously asked.

Her cat-like eyes blink and her butterfly lashes flutter. It made Silvester think about Evelyn.

'This gesture really is familiar.' Silvester thought.

"Sir Sil, I never take my mask off. I have a scar that I don't want others to see…" Adelyn gave an excuse just what she had said to the guild master a few years back.

Silvester was silent before he apologized.

"I'm sorry, you just looked like her"

Adelyn just nods her head. She was expecting that Silvester might have doubts about her identity.

But she was shocked to think that even though she has changed her hair and eye color with the blessing of Chrisfold and she put on a mask to hide half of her face, and her mana that she gives off is that of Earth, it would be hard for people to connect the dots about her identity.

She was amused that Silvester might have been watching her closely more than she thought when she was in the Academy.

"Now, I'm curious to what your cousin looked like. But isn't it bad if she resembles me? I don't act like a lady.'

Now, Silvester was the one who chuckled, and he looked at the high ceiling of the cave like he was looking at the stars.

"She's both a lady and unladylike," He said.

"She wears her favorite sword like it was part of her, even though some nobles have ostracized her because of it, she was the only one who can beat me at sword fight,"

Adelyn looked at him. She saw how sincere he looks as he describes her.

"She was strong but she's lonely,"

Silvester turns his head to face Adelyn who's unfazed about what he was talking about.

"I wanted to be there for her, but she was too accustomed to being alone and abandoned that she pushed everyone away."

Adelyn kept on being silent, she thought that she asked the wrong question. She didn't know that Silvester would describe her like this and unconsciously her nails were digging to her palm. She was clenching it hard.

Adelyn just kept on making that poker face of hers as Silvester kept on talking about her.

At the end, Adelyn… No, Evelyn doesn't want to hear about it anymore.

"I think the lady must be happy to have you, anyway we should get some sleep, Sir Sil. We need our strength tomorrow." Adelyn didn't let Silvester answer as she stood up and made her way to Adam's side, where her sleeping bags were laid.

Silvester just stares at her back until she turns to face the other side of the cave and face the wall.

He felt something when he was with her that she only felt first when he was with Evelyn. It was the tranquility and the warm aura that her cousin gave off.

He decided to keep it to himself and observe Adelyn.

***

Next morning, they started their journey again and they're nearing their destination, but they didn't encounter monsters on the way.

"This is suspicious. By now, we should have encountered at least one monster." Sir George said, the sword master in the group of Silvester.

"It's not only that. It's also too quiet" Adam chimed in.

By then, Adelyn decided to mumble a wind spell that will spread across the ten-meter radius and will send a signal if there's a monster nearby.

She looked around first and when she saw that no one was paying attention to her, she commanded the air.

"Spread."

A small gust of wind spread across them and searched the ten-meter radius starting from their company.

"Huh?"

Everyone looked at her destination as she gained their attention with her reaction.

"What is it, Miss Adelyn?" Adam asked.

"There's no one."

"What do you mean?"

"…monsters and even insects. Nothing. There's nothing in the 10-meter radius here, just us." She said.

"How did you know?" Silvester was the one wo ask.

"I'm also a mage, Sir Sil. I have methods." She replied.

Silvester looked at his mage, Sir Izzy. He nodded his head as he understood what his master wanted and sent his wind to spread across the vicinity.

When he finished what he needed to do, he stepped and whispered to Silvester's ears.

"Your highness, the adventurer is correct, though I can only reach a 3-meter radius, but it seems that there's no one here but us."

"Do you know how she did it without us noticing the fluctuation of her mana?"

"That…"

"So, you also didn't notice?"

"I'm sorry, your highness." Sir Izzy bowed his head to Silvester as he apologized.

Adelyn had piqued the interest of Silvester, she didn't only have the same familiar vibe that Evelyn his cousin had. She is also talented both in her mana and physical strength.

"Should I scout her?" Silvester mumbled that made Sir Izzy flustered.

"What?! Your highness?"

"She looks super strong! She would be a great help when I ascend the throne." Silvester concludes.

***

They arrived at the Stygian Ruins with different reactions to them. The trip was so easy that they doubted if this was really one of the 7 forbidden ruins.

They saw a castle that was enveloped by dark mist and branches that seemed to be like veins that were eating away the castle.

"Isn't this castle supposed to be 10,000 years old?"

"Yeah��� but it's still standing even though it's not in a good condition."

Adelyn cut their chatting and gave them a white cloth with an enchantment circle at the very tip of every hanky.

"What's this for?" Silvester asked.

"Tie it like a mask, the black mana here are too pure and can cause seizure or hallucination when inhaled, worse case it can block one's mana veins and you'll die because it's not your affinity."

Silvester crumpled his face. It's the first time that he learned about that.

"How did you know about that?"

"Experience" Adelyn just shrugged.

All of them looked at her and eventually just cut the thought. Because Adelyn's face under the mask seems to be annoyed.

And besides, she didn't want to disclose how she learned about it. How can she when one of the people she lived with uses black mana on a daily basis.

Thinking about one time when she peeks at Cassandra's open door in her little laboratory room and saw that she was mumbling some incomprehensible words while laughing sent chills in her back.

'When it comes to curses and black mana she becomes crazy.' She thought.

Before she stepped in, Sir George called her.

"Excuse me, Miss umm Adelyn but how about you?"

"Hmm? Ah!"

She looked at the awkward face of Sir George and his eyes that were saying 'how about the mask of you two?'

"Oh, don't worry. We only prepared four masks and one spare."

The face of the people who were tying the mask in their lower half of their face stopped when they heard what she said.

"Don't worry, Adam and I have tolerance,"

"Huh?"

Adam was flustered but shut up when he saw Adelyn's piercing eyes. Her eyes were saying 'don't worry'

So, he changes in a beat "hmm, don't worry."

Actually, Adelyn was going to use her powers. It's better for her to do that.

She would look like a ninja if her lower face was also covered with a mask and only her eyes can be seen. 'It wouldn't look cool.' She thought.

*eeekkk*

They heard a sound when they're near the castle. They ultimately heightened their senses. It's because they are at the center of the ruins where it said that many monsters reside.

They doubt it, because until now they never encounter even a single one. And that makes the group more nervous than ever.

Changes in a habitat means that something happened in the process. It means that they don't know what's in store for them when they got to the castle walls.

The castle that doesn't look like one anymore has been the center of the war and where many of the black mage died.

Adelyn looked at the mage who were also a black mage, Sir Edrich. He looked fine but his hand was shaking non-stop.

'Hmm, he must be happy to see a lot of black mana that he can absorb.' She thought. Then, he heard Silvester beckoning them to go inside.

"By the way, you want to go to the royal room. That���s where you want to go, right Sir Sil?"

"Yes… There's something that I need to get." He smirked and looked at what was in front of them.

It's an item that he needs to get no matter what.