“She is waking up! She is waking up! Call the Saintess.”
As Maria's consciousness slowly returned, she heard Elaina shouting. Her body felt sore and achy all over, a lingering reminder of the pain that had robbed her of consciousness. Fortunately, that pain had somewhat gone. Still, she is too weak to take any meaningful action.
“…” She wanted to talk but all she could do was stare weakly at the ceiling.
“How do you feel, little one?”
A young voice entered Maria’s ear, catching her attention. A gentle and endearing loli saintess, with soft snow-white hair cascading like a cloud, stood beside Maria's bed. Her deep blue eyes shimmered with kindness and compassion, reflecting the pureness of her heart. Dressed in a modest and graceful nun's attire, she emanated an aura of serenity and warmth that could soothe even the most troubled souls. Despite her youthful appearance, her gentle demeanor and caring presence conveyed wisdom beyond her years, making her a truly comforting presence for Maria to be at ease.
“…” Maria couldn't talk but had a weird sensation about having a human kid calling her "Little one". Fairy is one thing, they are old, at least Maria thinks they are old so she accepts it. A human kid calling her "little one"? well, that's a different story. (Why would she call me a "little one"? Unless...) Maria panic for a moment before settling down her thought (Well, that can't be right, if my disguise is off, Elaina wouldn't be caring for me as she did now). Unfortunately, before Maria could make head or tail of the situation, a headache hit and she faint again.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Seeing Maria faint again, the small saintess immediately cast a light on Maria. Unfortunately, it yielded no result; Maria remained unconscious.
“She's waking up, but it looks like she will need more rest before she can communicate properly... Report to me once she's able,”.
Shaking her head in defeat, she exited the room, leaving Elaina to tend to her master. Outside the door, several tall men dressed in white robes greeted the saintess.
“She is fine, but she is not in a condition to talk.” The saintess reported.
“You couldn’t completely heal her?” The men were surprised.
“More like… there was no injury to heal. I checked both her inner and outer body. Nothing to suggest a mental magic attack either.”
The saintess scratched her head while trying her best to explain.
“what do you mean there is no “Injury”? She has been unconscious for a week. We need her to wake up right now!” The men were agitated.
“calm down, rushing won't help anything. It's not like we are sure she is the culprit in the first place. Sure… she was the only one who lost her consciousness before the Palace disappear, but it might just be a coincidence...” The little saintess argued.
“Coincidence? Last time I check, sleeping for a week straight is far from normal. If she did that every other day, yea, sure, It can be ignored, but she did it right before the Palace disappeared. There is no way it is a coincidence!” The men rebutted.
The small saintess went silent. Another older man wearing a white robe stepped out and put his hand on the small saintess's shoulder.
“It can’t be helped, Asereth. Everyone here is pretty on edge. Without the Palace, the human will lose their footing in this world. We are trying to create a fake one to avoid the crisis but when it comes to helping the human in the battle against the real threat, nothing will ever come close to the Palace. No offense here but even your Academy pale in comparison to the Palace. You know this.” One of the older men spoke.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Yes, yes… That is why I told you guys to keep searching instead of wasting your time here. I will take care of the girl. She is my student. It is my responsibility. Just give me a bit more time.”
“Good, then I will leave this in your hand. However, according to standard procedure, we will still have to place some eyes on her.” The older men respectfully bowed.
Asereth took a heavy sigh and nod to the white robes. After the white robe group left, Asereth looked at the cloudless night sky and fell into a trance-like contemplation.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After Maria fainted, her consciousness was taken to the white space. Maria couldn’t care less if the Advisor was here. Her pain was gone and that’s all that matters. Maria lay down on the ground and breathe a sigh of relief. Before Maria was able to get some rest, the Advisor appeared. She stood above where Maria lay, looking down upon her.
“Are you ok?” The Advisor asked.
Maria immediately stood up and threw a tantrum.
“Ok? Did you know what I been through? I felt as if my flesh is tearing apart, all while something is grinding me up together. Being pricked by a thousand needles is an understatement. What is that all about?”
“It was the pain from battle damage I took during the test.” the Advisor responded casually.
Hearing that answer, Maria pondered for a while “Hold on… I don’t remember seeing you took any damage during the test.”
“What you see with those eyes are the surface. You will need to train to be able to see what is hidden underneath. The test that the entity name "Tir" use to test us was not that simple. At least, not simple enough for me to suffer no damage in our current state. So, if I can't dodge it, I simply just received it and fix it right back to its original state. It was just too quick for you to see the change.” The Advisor explained.
“If you fixed the body, how did I feel pain?” Maria asked.
“I only fixed the body. Pain, on the other hand, is harder to deal with. There was no time so I have to suppress it using a special function under my power. The problem is, this function hasn’t been tested so I don’t exactly know how it works.” The Advisor continued her explanation “I think the pain is gone now but you can stay here for the moment just to be safe.”
"Thank you." Maria took a big sigh of relief and lay back down on the ground again. The Advisor remained where she was, staring down at Maria.
“Do you mind?” Maria uncomfortably stared back.
“Well… I have something rather important that requires your presence. I also promised to tell you what I did to the Palace didn’t I?” The Advisor extended her hand to help Maria get up.
“You did? Ugh… fine…”
Maria finally pulled herself up and followed the Advisor through the door. To Maria's surprise, the place she arrived with the Advisor is a dark place, with no light. She tried to follow the Advisor’s illumination, but the unstable terrain made it impossible to do so. Maria fell face first on something soft.
“Hold on Maria, I will arrange some light in a moment.”
With a click sound, the place was flooded with light, revealing the entire space that was filled to the brim with books, scrolls, and occasionally rare flying runes. A familiar voice suddenly rang out underneath Maria.
“Could you move your body, please? You are heavy.”