Those shimmering eyes, suddenly mere inches away, made his heart drop. For a split second, he felt his dog of a life was forfeit.
"What secrets do you have?" she asked softly.
Thoughts raced through his mind, and he slowly opened his mouth.
"Wait, don't rush..." she interrupted, extending a finger before him. "I just learned a new secret art and haven't tried it yet. Cooperate with me. Take this finger as an imaginary target, extend your mental power, and sense the shape of the mental power I've condensed upon it. That way, by feeling the fluctuations of mental power, I can judge whether I'm dealing with a detestable fellow full of lies... Supposedly, this test is very accurate."
He hesitated for a moment.
*Are you sure someone didn't just play you for a fool? Who on earth taught you that? What is with that lips-shaped condensation of mental power? You can't even see it without sensing it through mental power. Is that some little bit of flirtatious fun between wizards?* he thought to himself.
"I also have an interesting little test. If you can pass it, we can have a chat. Fair warning: failing it causes a bit of discomfort, but don't get angry. People who lose their temper often get wrinkles easily," he said with a composed face.
"Fine by me. How do we start?"
The female elf seemed eager to try.
"Well, it's already over..."
He had already blanketed the entire Three-Way Great Dwelling in Fetid Skin, set to its malicious feedback mode, but it hadn't been triggered by any malice.
"You're toying with me! Hmm? I seem to sense a faint fluctuation of magic. Your methods are quite concealed! It must be a spell that has undergone multiple optimizations, or one you've mastered to pure proficiency with extremely high compatibility... So, did I pass the test?" she asked.
No matter what she said, as long as there was no malice, it was fine.
He harbored no delusions that Fetid Skin could slaughter indiscriminately the way it had against the lizardfolk. His original intention was never to take her down, only to test for hostile intent.
Luge reached out his mental power directly, touching the tip of her finger, using this straightforward action to answer her question.
"I'm just an ordinary little kobold."
"A while ago, I was still fretting over food, always starving. That feeling wasn't pleasant. While kobolds don't easily starve to death, that only prolongs the agony."
"Also, Aisjin is indeed my friend. Even if by your aesthetic standards she isn't pretty—and I think so too, which is only natural—please don't call her ugly in such a sharp tone. That makes me very unhappy. She's just a simple-minded kobold..."
With every sentence he uttered, the female elf's brow arched slightly higher, until the angle grew so steep that three creases bunched together on her forehead.
"You actually told no lies."
Upon hearing the truth, the female elf's expression turned even more astonished.
"No, you... must have used some method to deceive yourself, making yourself willing to endure starvation as a kobold! But what are you doing here? Are you truly just studying bloodlines? Or do you also want to enter that city? Could the kobolds here be connected to that city?"
"Perhaps I misunderstood you from the start! Did you come here after taking Wizard Niteli's mission as well? And then blended in with the kobolds to bide your time?"
"We chased those bugs for a long time before arriving here..."
The female elf sized him up.
"A bizarre kobold bloodline wizard, happening to appear in this place, genuinely feeling affection and making friends with ordinary kobolds. Anyone seeing this would be curious. I just happen to be a bit more curious than most, so please don't fault me for my rudeness." Her eyes sparkled as she leaned in once more. "You definitely know some secrets, right? After all, you're far too strange."
"I could consider giving you some magic stones," she said with a smile. "Sometimes it's hard for one person to accomplish things alone. You need cooperation, just like those kobolds."
Luge was sorely tempted.
He desperately wanted magic stones, or other things, such as books on spell knowledge.
Yet he dared not move—dared not open his mouth, and dared even less to entertain such notions.
"Do you have many companions?" he asked.
He wanted to explain his circumstances clearly, but found there was nowhere to begin. The spells, the Demonic Mark Meditation Method, and that storage pouch were all tangled beyond untangling. Unless he dragged the topic toward Half-Man, but he felt that would only invite more trouble.
"Hardly companions—just fellow travelers who took the same mission. And of course, some solitary types who like to go it alone and never show themselves, just like you. Who knows if they're still alive."
Her words made Luge think of the little crybaby worm-person.
The guess in his heart was essentially confirmed: the little crybaby worm was indeed being hunted by the female elf's group. That she could wander around this vicinity meant she likely knew the little worm-person had appeared nearby.
And the map the little worm-person had given him, along with the wizard's legacy he had anticipated for so long, might well belong to one of her fellow travelers or solo wanderers.
"Boring. If you won't talk, forget it."
She stood up again, looking as though she had lost interest and was preparing to leave.
"By the way, your little kobold tribe had better watch out. Those lizardfolk are expanding like mad. An abundance of food causes physical changes in them—their breeding cycles become more frequent, and the number of eggs per clutch keeps increasing. On top of that, an obnoxious fellow is using magic to accelerate their maturation, probably intending to drive them into doing something. In a few dozen days, the number of those lizardfolk might double."
News the female elf seemed to drop so casually was enough to jolt Luge's mind.
"Since you enjoy playing around here, take it a bit more seriously. Don't go getting wiped out so easily! And if you can, beat that obnoxious fellow up while you're at it."
The female elf returned to her cool, aloof demeanor.
"Is that person stronger than you?" he asked.
She smiled and said, "I just find him foul-smelling. Teaching him a lesson risks getting that stench on myself. Though he's also a peak rank-five apprentice wizard, he isn't qualified to compare with me—he can't even pique my curiosity."
As she spoke, she leaned down again to look into Luge's eyes.
Luge couldn't help but reach up and pick away two stubborn crusts of sleep from the corners of his eyes, lest they ruin the mood of this eye contact.
"Actually, I'm very foul-smelling too. You just haven't smelled it," he said.
Having cleared the sleep from his eyes, he blinked, only to find the space before him empty.
A realization suddenly struck him.
A rank-five apprentice wizard?
*She's an apprentice wizard too?*
Since they were all apprentice wizards, what about the map from the little worm-person? Could that long-anticipated wizard's legacy also belong to an apprentice wizard? The moment the thought surfaced, he felt it was almost certainly the case. The little fellow probably hadn't intentionally deceived him; in the eyes of that little worm-person, powerful wizards and apprentice wizards were no different—both were pursuers who could slaughter their aunts.
Then again, an apprentice's legacy might actually suit him far better. At this point, he could only console himself that way.
*I wonder just how strong a rank-five apprentice wizard is,* he thought.
He didn't know if they could withstand Fetid Skin. Since everyone was making a living using zero-ring spells, the difference among apprentices came down to mental power and temporary spell slots. If a conflict wasn't resolved immediately, the disparity between high-rank and low-rank apprentices would gradually become glaring. As for external possessions, that was impossible to gauge—take him, for instance, who wore only a pair of homemade shorts.
Setting the crystal lamp upright in the corner, he retrieved his book and slowly turned to the page he had last read. When things happen, don't panic. Study magic for a while to calm your nerves.
Chapter 21