Chapter 16- Yaven Mountain
It’s been two days since Elise went to the Peru guild. Rj said that he will send her a message because he needed to do something important before they departed to Yaven mountain.
Alicia never got home after the tour at the capital. Elise assumes that Alicia is back in the investigation regarding the missing children. There’s a lot of work to do but Elise is relaxed doing nothing in the estate. Luckily enough no one knows that she left the estate. Rio helped her to be back using the teleportation magic.
Elise mostly reads books about spells and mana since nothing major is happening at the moment. She gathers information by reading books. To Elise's surprise, A message from the Peru guild arrived in the afternoon using a letter. Erika handed a blue envelope to Elise.
“Lady Elise, please prepare for tomorrow's departure. –Peru guild”
A single line note. After she reads it, the letter automatically perishes. It becomes ashes and vanishes in the air. Elise sighs after blinking. She wanted to tell Alicia personally about her plan but she’s nowhere to be seen. Letter is not an option.
--
That night Elise couldn't find any sleep. She is nervous because she can’t predict the happenings. In the book “The Lazy Lucky Princess” The cave full of mana stones in the yaven mountain was originally found by Duke Molten. He discovered it after searching for the spirit power in yaven mountain. It became the turning point for the book. He became more powerful but that scene was from late chapters of the book. He is not interested in yaven mountain for now, that’s why Elise plans to take advantage of the time.
The mine for mana stones is located at the deeper part in the south. The book said that there is a mountain spirit that protects the mountain but that is just a rumor because the author in the book did not describe spirits.
--
Elise woke up earlier in the morning. It’s time for her to prepare for later journey, she wears a black pants and dark long sleeves. Elise is incredibly nervous. The letter from the Peru guild never mentioned a place to meet up. But after waiting for twenty minutes, a shadow appeared in Elise's room and Rio showed up smiling.
“Good morning Elise!”
Elise has no emotion in her face, ignoring Rio’s greeting. A vague sudden appearance of this person in a girl’s room makes Elise shake her head. Elise never forgot to write a letter for Alicia before departing. She doesn’t know when she will be coming back but Elise made sure to Alicia that she’s safe.
Rio and Elise transported in the capital near a ready wagon. The blue smoke from the transportation spell covered the air and Elise shortly felt dizzy. She recovers quickly and Rio shows her a way and opens the wagon. Elise found a red-haired guy sitting comfortably on the couch. Elise frowned after checking the stranger.
“Who?”
“Come in Elise.”
Elise is obviously stunned after realizing that the man inside of the wagon is Rj. His hair is bright red and has white skin. His eyes are black. Elise never thought of him as a beautiful person. She thought of Rj’s face before, is this magic or his real face? Elise frowned after examining his face.
“Is this your face for real?”
Elise bluntly asked.
“Of course! Why would I change my appearances when I’m escorting you?”
Rj rolled his blue eyes to Elise.
“pfffft”
Rio suppressed the laughter heard in the wagon.
“No. I-I mean you look like an old man when we first met.”
Elise frowned deeper.
“pffft… hahahahaha”
Rio burst into laughter after Elise's remarks.
“Just so you know lady, my face can’t be seen by ordinary people.”
Rj is pissed talking to Elise and glances at Rio who’s still laughing and glares at him.
“Hmm, it’s just that I never thought of you as a beautiful person.”
Elise said unconsciously, Rj flushed and his face redden. Now, in Elise's eyes, Rj looks more like a child after receiving a compliment.
Rio laughs echo in a wagon.
--
It’s been half a day since they departed. Rj explains why Rio participated. He said it looks fun to join them. Elise doesn’t mind it, she is happy enough that she has them as her guard though she doesn't know if Rio will protect her.
The wagon they use is magical. It will hide them from people or wild animals and give them a comfortable journey. Elise taut muscles relax after hours of sleeping. She was soundly asleep in a wagon because she hadn't slept in two days waiting for Peru guild.
After more hours, Elise wakes up and checks the view outside of the carriage. She can now see the peak of yaven mountain. It was covered with fog and lots of tall trees surrounded them. Elise was comfortable using the carriage but they couldn't use it inside the forest of yaven mountain. It will anger the spirits and Elise doesn't want any distractions.
As they reach the boundary Elise speaks.
"We need to walk from here now. Carriage was not allowed inside the forest."
"Okay."
Surprisingly, Rj and Rio didn't question Elise and just agreed to her.
The wagon stops and the three of them go out of the wagon. They are quiet then enter the forest.
The three of them enter the forest with their guard up. Elise sees the tallest trees and lots of different flowers. She recognized some of them and was delighted because some of the flowers were for treatment of wounds and poison. It will help them but there are dangerous flowers too.
"Elise, where are we going from now on?"
Rio asks Elise and Rj's face is frowning and stares at her with a poker face.
"I originally said that we need to reach the summit of yaven mountain but I lied. We need to find the cave."
Rj flinches after hearing Elise. He wanted to scold her for lying but he controlled himself. His priority now is her safety so he can save scolding for later but he is so annoyed.
"Don't worry, I remember the way."
Elise recalled the story and remembered the way to the cave. Molten found the cave accidentally and the author wrote it in detail. There was a tallest and biggest tree near the cave that protected the cave from invaders. The book said that there's a spirit protecting it because of the natural resources and riches stored there. Molten only found the mana stones but when Alicia and Rj went to the cave to find the peony flowers they discovered treasures and talked to a spirit living in the cave. Elise wanted to ask the spirit regarding peony flowers.
It was sunset when they reached the near falls. The river water was flowing rapidly and Elise had a hard time crossing it. Thanks to Rio for supporting her, Elise can manage to cross it without any accidents. Elise thought of continuing their journey by tomorrow morning and suggested they camp here.
"We can start a fire here and continue to go tomorrow."
"I’m so tired!"
Elise massages her thin arms and legs. It was her first time climbing a mountain because even in her past life, she had never climbed a mountain. She's more of a beach person because gets tired easily.
Rj and Rio skillfully created a camp and cooked food for the three of them. Elise just sits in the corner watching them to work. They eat dinner afterwards.
--
Elise wakes up early, she can't remember how she fell asleep last night but thankfully she feels energetic after sleeping soundly.
After more minutes the three of them continue their journey. Elise remembers the falls to be magical. she didn't mention it to Rj and Rio but she thinks that they already noticed it. The falls are glowing with mana.
Elise double checked it in her eyes. She definitely can see something like a colored aura. The falls is light yellow, while Rj’s aura was red and blue for Rio. The whole forest has a different color of auras, Elise's eyes got bigger and her brown eyes became yellow gold. She wasn't dreaming! Why can she see this? It's distracting and she feels hazy.
Elise made a deep thought. They never encounter any wild beast or any spirit which is unusual. The author described Yaven mountain to be dangerous and have lots of beasts or wild animals. Even Molten killed a lot because they kept attacking them. It is definitely weird that it’s quiet.
The three of them started to climb. There’s a lot of plant vines growing on their way that made the ground uneven and hard to walk in. Elise endured the complicated pathway to reach the peak. After a few hours, they reach a sacred tree rumored to be described as the tree of life. It’s like an oak tree with massive branches almost reaching the summit. The atmosphere surrounding the tree is warmer than the forest.
Elise walks near it to touch its body. In the book, Alicia touches it’s body to open a portal. She doesn't know if they will find it but she just touches it out of her intuition.
The weird sensation ran in her body and a sudden bubble light appeared then the light spread wider made Elise close her eyes because it's blinding. She heard Rj and Rio voices calling for her.
After a great magical light Elise opened her eyes and looked for the oak tree. The big tree disappeared in the air and a black pig-like animal appeared in front of them.
“Hi Elise”
END OF CHAPTER 16…
