Chapter 19: Answers

I am pretty sure that I heard Cassandra Ashborn say something about the man being asleep and then mumble a hope that he doesn't wake up. Her actions, although non-sense and drastic, were still something that can be expected of monsters like the Ashborns who are one of the few who rule Celestia.

So that begs the questions, what are the monsters afraid of that they had to go through such lengths? And what were they after?

“I’ll answer that question,” a velvety feminine voice echoed in my head. The moment I heard her voice, chills ran down my spine and the hair on the back of my neck and arms stood upright.

I hastily looked around to find the source of the voice, but as soon as I moved, the guard closest to me grabbed me by my neck and commanded, “Stand still.”

The guard was a male so the voice couldn’t be from him, I continued to wonder where the voice came from. It couldn’t be master either because her voice was different.

The moment I started to stress over the origin of the voice, it spoke to me again, “Can you hear me?”

I nervously stood still wondering if this was also a trap.

It was at that moment when I felt a chilling smile behind me and a cold breath on my nape. The figure that exuded the cold aura got closer to me and whispered in her soft and smooth mature voice, “Worry not, child. We are a friend of his. We will not harm you.” I held my breath trying my nervous best to not draw any attention. “We’ve been trying to reach out to you ever since we entered Celestia. We apologize for not managing to do so earlier. Also you can talk to us just by thinking.”

Still being skeptical, I remained quiet.

Moments later two hands made of shadows appeared from behind me and covered my eyes, “W-what?” I thought to myself.

“Correct,” giggled the voice in my ear. “That’s how you communicate with us.”

Before me laid complete darkness.

From the darkness appeared a set of glowing bluish white eyes before me. I immediately recalled the moment at Aether when I was greeted by the shadow figures. Then a rough, barely visible outline of a female formed around the eyes a few steps away from me.

“At last we can talk properly,” continued the voice. This time the voice came from the shadow with the glowing eyes. “Firstly, we would like to thank you for bringing us and him here. Even though it was all a part of someone’s schemes and plans, we are still grateful to have been given the chance to return to witness the truth.”

Still being cautious, I asked, “What’s happening?” I was more worried about the events progressing outside than being possessed by some shadows.

As if aware of my worries, the figure said, “Currently the time outside has slowed down drastically. To be more precise, we have sped up your ability to think. it might put a burden on your mind and body but it is necessary for the moment, so we hope you forgive us for that.” After giving me a moment to process, she continued, “Now then, let’s start with resolving your doubts and curiosities. Feel free to ask your questions.”

I immediately asked my first question, “In that case, what the fuck is happening? Everything is so damn bizarre that nothing is making sense.”

“The answer to that is still unfolding so we can only tell you what we have interpreted so far, is that acceptable?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“In that case,” she answered. “We seem to have been called here to Celestia by the Ashborn lady to steal the powers that once belonged to Violet Ashborn.”

“Violet Ashborn? The divine mage? Is that who I think it is?”

“We assume so, she was married to Cheius Ashborn, who is also known as the Silver Night. Since you are from Celestia, we assume you know who that is.”

“Yes, I do. Then what does that have to do with you?”

“Violet was one of us,” she replied. The atmosphere around her got a little heavy and shivers ran down my spine. Having noticed my reaction, she retracted her pressure and continued, “Sorry about that. As we were saying, she was one of us. and it was evident from the letter you brought to us along with the artifact that neither she nor Silver remain.”

“Then why come when you already know the answer?”

“… because we needed to be sure and also to know the truth which we will know in a few moments.”

“Truth?”

“Of who our enemies are,” the air around her got colder.

“H-how would you do that?” I asked.

“Through a similar but more efficient way that we are using to speak with you,” she pointed at me. It seemed as if she was smiling gently behind the cover of shadows.

After having calmed down by the brief conversation, my attention finally shifted to the status window before me.

[Update completed!]

[Error fixed!]

[Mana link active]

[Secondary job: Scribe]

The guide status from my status window was gone along with the related skills and stats.

The errors bring up more questions but there were more important questions.

I took a deep breath and finally asked the other question that was bothering me the most, “Who is he?”