Creak~
The door opened revealing Ezekiel who had yet to take off his robe. With the dim light in the room, his eyes caught a familiar figure casually sitting on the sofa with a book in his hand.
"What a devoted lover you are. You rushed to the western region right after you got the report that she was there."
Antaboga said in a teasing tone. Ezekiel didn't refute his words because Antaboga was right. When he heard about Zoella's whereabouts from one of the shadows, he immediately went to the western region.
Ezekiel had one shadow to keep an eye on Zoella in case something like the kidnapping incident last time wouldn't happen again. He knew that Zoella was strong enough to defend herself but he didn't want to take a risk.
With a document in his hand, Ezekiel sat on his desk completely ignoring Antaboga's presence.
"I can understand though. Even back then, I found her truly interesting."
"You've met her?"
Ezekiel averted his eyes from the document to Antaboga.
"Of course I did. Her soul, I mean."
Antaboga answered nonchalantly with his eyes fixed on his book. The word soul pierced through Ezekiel's heart. He wanted to ask more but somehow he was afraid.
As if he read Ezekiel's mind, Antaboga spoke.
"She never hated you since she was the one who made that choice in the first place. Honestly, you are really complicated. Why blame yourself for something out of your control?"
"She died by my hand... for my sake... for the Empire's sake. How could I not..."
A pang of guilt stabbed his chest. He felt like his heart shattered into pieces as he remembered his stupid decision.
"If only I hadn't done that..."
"What's done is done. Thinking about the what-ifs is useless, it'll only send you into despair. You can't change the past but you can afford the future."
"Antaboga, about the last thing you said... are you sure I can't change it?"
"Listen, human. The one who made that is Maharin, not me. I only delivered it to you."
Hearing Antaboga's answer, Ezekiel clenched his fist as he didn't say anything anymore.
***
"Good morning, Eirwen."
Zoella greeted Eirwen when she saw him flying around the room after she took a bath.
"Kekkk!"
Eirwen landed on Zoella's head. Good thing that Zoella covered her wet hair with a towel so Eirwen wouldn't get uncomfortable.
Zoella sat on the bed with Eirwen's cage on her lap. She cleaned the cage and replaced the handkerchief with a clean one. Zoella placed her hand near Eirwen and he immediately jumped on it.
She gently put him inside his nice and clean cage.
Eirwen looked satisfied with his cage. He moved in a circle before he sat down comfortably.
Zoella combed her now neat hair steadily. It was thanks to the elves that she got a free haircut. When the elves helped her prepare to leave, they offered to fix her hair which of course Zoella accepted with pleasure.
"Alright, time to go."
Zoella took her bag and the cage before she went to the first floor. Knowing Hayes, maybe he already had a plan for their next mission.
When Zoella stepped down the stair, she saw Hayes and Tyrael had already waiting for her. She strode in their way and casually sat beside her teacher as she placed the cage on the table.
Zoella was about to greet him if she didn't see his stoic face.
"What happened, teacher?"
"Oh, Zoe."
His stoic expression soon formed a smile as he heard Zoella's voice.
"Uhm, nothing's going on. It's just... I have no idea what we should do next."
"Eh?"
Zoella was quite surprised to hear that. She didn't expect that kind of answer from Hayes who always had something on his sleeve.
"Since we have Tyrael with us, we'll need to create a new identity for him first."
"Why would I need that?"
Tyrael who sat across from Hayes asked.
"Well, you can't just introduce yourself as an elf, right? You'll be dragged to the imperial palace immediately and who knows what they'll do to you."
Hayes said with a hollow gaze to scare Tyrael. Zoella tried her best to hold her laughter when she saw Tyrael's pale face.
"Then, what should we do?"
"As I said, we'll create an identity for you as well as your background. Ah, and you need to tell me the things you're allowed and prohibited to do as an elf so I can take a precaution."
Tyrael nodded at his words. Zoella who quietly listened to the conversation perked up when her eyes caught Tyrael's hands fiddled a piece of paper.
"Tyrael, what's that in your hands?"
"Right, a letter came this morning. It's from my father. He said the Silevea forest has recovered little by little. And there's no sight of black mages in the forest."
"There's none?"
"Yes, Sir Hayes."
Hayes kneaded his eyebrows. He expected them to put the elves under surveillance for a little longer but they didn't.
'Don't tell me, they took the fake stone? Really? Are they that stupid?'
Hayes's body trembled as he tried to suppress his laughter. He thought the black mages would go after the fake life stone but they would realize that it was fake after they saw it.
But Hayes never thought that they would take it.
"Hehehe."
Zoella looked at her teacher who made an evil expression as he laughed. Sometimes, Zoella wondered why this person was her teacher.
Hayes snapped out of his mind when he felt Zoella's piercing gaze on him.
"Ahem, let's have breakfast first."
He called the inn's employee and ordered some food for three people. Since Eirwen was only the size of a bird, Zoella would give him some of her food and place it in a small bowl.
The buzzing noise of the inn's guests increased as the sun was a little higher in the sky. Despite the noises, Zoella felt calm. It had been a while since she felt this kind of atmosphere and it made her happy.
Hayes stopped eating when an idea suddenly came up to his head. Without thinking twice, he spoke his mind.
"Tyrael, what do you think of becoming the old ma.. I mean Sir Edwin's relative?"
Tyrael's yellow eyes glistened. His face brightened as if he heard the happiest news in the world.
"Can I? I mean, it's such an honor if you can do that for me, Sir Hayes."
"Of course. You don't need to worry about it. I'll take care of everything."
Hayes said in a cheerful tone. Tyrael looked touched by Hayes's words while Zoella could only roll her eyes.
"Cheer up, Sir Edwin."
She muttered in a low voice so that Tyrael and Hayes couldn't hear it. Well, Edwin would certainly need that word after he received Hayes's letter in a few days.