“Mark, are you sure we’re heading toward the elves’ settlent?” Saul asked in a low voice.
Mark hadn’t yet sensed that anything was off. He nodded anxiously. “Yes.”
Behind him, row upon row of humanoid figures still stood, unmoving, silently crowding around him.
Saul didn’t rub his eyes or blink to recheck what he saw.
He simply raised his hand and pointed beside Mark. “Little Algae.”
Black tendrils shot out instantly, sweeping a circle around Mark.
Like stones tossed into water, the air around him rippled. The bowed, drooping humanoids faded with the waves.
Mark instinctively prepared to defend the mont he saw Little Algae, but upon noticing Saul’s solemn expression, he held himself back.
Only after Little Algae lashed the air twice did Mark look to his sides. “Did you see anything?”
“There were a lot of silhouettes around you, but they disappeared the mont it swept through,” Saul said after a pause, unsure. “Might be another illusion from the forest—like a mirage.”
“An illusion?” Morden turned to Agu. This wasn’t his area of expertise.
But Agu couldn’t give a clear answer. “It seems like it. But my ntal realm is very stable. It doesn’t feel like I’ve been influenced by a hallucination.”
An stepped up as well. “That’s right. I’m extrely sensitive to shifts in the ntal realm. When those silhouettes appeared, I didn’t sense any disturbance.”
While the others were puzzled over the aning of what they saw, Mark just let out a sigh.
“Ever since we entered the Forest of Four Seasons, we’ve encountered all kinds of phenona that can’t be explained by what we know. At this point, I’m used to it. As long as it doesn’t endanger our lives, I don’t care if they’re shadows or wraiths.”
Saul nodded and continued walking.
“Right. Whatever’s happening here is beyond us. Let’s just focus on finding Kongsha.”
They trekked through the dense woods for another two hours, encountering more bizarre phenona along the way.
But they never ran into any of the elves Mark had claid would chase them down—no need for another desperate escape.
Finally, when Saul once again began to feel exhausted, the scenery ahead shifted—no longer just trees, vines, and undergrowth.
It was as if soone had pressed pause on the forest’s growth. Past a row of towering ancient trees, a wide, tender-green adow suddenly appeared.
Sunlight at last could spill freely across the clearing, and the breeze no longer had to struggle past thick branches and leaves.
Simple white wooden huts stood scattered across the grass.
These houses were built and arranged haphazardly, like tents casually pitched for a spring outing.
As Mark stepped onto the grass, Saul finally saw a third person in the valley.
Soone he’d just seen not long ago.
Monroe.
At the mont, Monroe stood sideways, only half his face visible.
He stared into the distance, mouth slightly agape, as though dazed.
“Monroe!” Mark called out.
Monroe flinched and spun around abruptly.
Saul, who had just been about to take a step, froze in place.
Monroe was missing an eye.
If Saul rembered correctly, that was the very eye Monroe had eaten in front of him.
Monroe’s remaining eye lit up when he saw Saul. He ignored Mark completely and jogged straight toward him.
“You finally made it! Kongsha said that if you arrived, you’d definitely help us get out of here! I was scared you wouldn’t need any Veiled Crystal Essence!” Monroe said excitedly, the empty socket in his face twitching.
He reached out to grab Saul, but several of Saul’s soul bodies blocked him.
“What’s wrong?” Monroe asked in confusion. “Who are they?”
“What happened to your eye?” Saul asked.
Monroe raised his hand to touch his hollow socket. He poked in a little with a finger, then quickly withdrew it.
“It got destroyed when the elves attacked. I just happened to be eating at the ti…”
Seeing there was no conflict between Saul and Monroe, Mark continued walking toward the deeper part of the scattered houses, calling out a few nas.
He shouted Kongsha’s na the most.
Still uneasy about Monroe, Saul took the chance to repeat the sa questions he’d asked Mark.
Monroe’s answers were the sa, with only minor differences in detail.
After listening, Saul told him about the knowledge avatar he’d encountered at the Wizard Tower.
“…He suddenly ate his own eye.”
Monroe didn’t seem surprised. “Since I lost my eye, it was no use to him anymore.”
Then he licked his lips. “Tasted pretty good. I haven’t had at in ages.”
He was more surprised by sothing else Saul said. “It’s been half a year outside?”
“You didn’t notice?” Saul asked. A wizard should be sensitive to the passage of ti.
Monroe gave a bitter smile. “Day and night here follow no pattern. Sotis the sun doesn’t set for three or four days. Sotis it’s dark for three or four days straight. It’s not just the sun—our seasons here are different from the outside.”
Mark returned just then, looking worried and muttering to himself, “Where did they go? It’s so dangerous here… Didn’t we agree not to wander off?”
Saul kept his peripheral gaze on Mark but focused mainly on Monroe.
“…The seasons here are divided by region. The area furthest from the center of the valley is spring. That dense forest you passed through is sumr. A bit farther ahead from here is autumn.”
An couldn’t help but speak up. “Then isn’t the center of the Elven Valley winter? Does it snow here too?”
But Monroe gave her a strange look. “Winter? Snow? What are you talking about? The last season of the year is obviously the Death Season!”
An froze, unsure if this one-eyed apprentice was ssing with her.
Saul raised a hand and directly addressed Mark, who had walked behind Monroe and was now standing dazedly, lost in thought.
“Mark, don’t you know what winter is either?”
Mark snapped out of it, realizing he’d almost bumped into Monroe, and quickly took a step back.
He rubbed his brow and muttered, “I do… Snow season, winter, the nas vary… It’s the cold ti when those white crystal things fall from the sky…”
The explanation only made Saul more suspicious.
“They both have muddled perceptions of winter?” he thought, then gestured for his soul bodies to stop comnting.
From now on, he’d need to observe their conversations carefully.
Wherever their perceptions were blurred might point the way out of the Elven Valley.
Even though Saul wasn’t here to save people, he needed to find sothing important hidden in the Forest of Four Seasons—sothing that could save his life in the future.
Too bad the diary had offered no clues this ti.
From here on out, they would have to search for both the exit and that crucial item.
“So, Monroe, is the valley’s center really the Death Season? What’s it like?”
Monroe showed no sign of regaining his understanding after hearing Mark’s explanation. He answered as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“Sothing happened outside? You don’t even know this? The Death Season is when there’s nothing. Ti itself feels cut off. And that’s when the elves are most likely to attack.”
Mark dropped his hand. His nose was red from all the rubbing.
“The palace I ntioned is at the border between autumn and the Death Season. The boundaries of the seasons here can shift by a few hundred ters. When autumn expands, there’s more food, but it’s also more dangerous.”
Monroe nodded fervently. “I was eating mushrooms when I got attacked. That mushroom was the one that attacked !”
He looked indignant. “So I held it down and ate it instead!”
(End of Chapter)
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