Following after the servant girl turned out to be the easiest part out of my entire stay on this side of the border between the two different worlds. All I and Claire had to do was just... follow after the teenage girl, holding ourselves back from taking this opportunity to converse.
Even though it was a servant that Claire's mother called... How were we to know whether or not she wasn't actually serving soone else, tasked with the job of keeping an eye on everything Leila did?
And so, while it might be slightly discourteous, we followed after the girl in silence, quickly leaving the venue where the feast was now quickly transforming into yet another phase of the one thing that both worlds had in common - drunken fests.
First, we had to bear with our lacking etiquette during the official phase. Then, things relaxed a little as the feast started in its practical sense. By the ti we'd left, the whole thing was turning into a simple party with high-ranking mbers of the clan, and, judging by how everything went, it wouldn't be too long before bringing more booze would beco the main topic of conversation all over that place.
In other words, the ti at which we left was pretty much the last call for us, unless we wanted to combine the difficulty of operating at the highest level of local etiquette with the difficulty pretty much everyone knew about - of dealing with drunken idiots.
Thankfully, the trip to Leila's garden was quite amusing, as it brought us on a scenic tour over the Clan's estate. Yet, it wasn't until we finally reached the end of the innermost core of the whole area when the true aning of that 'garden' na finally revealed itself to us.
"Oh damn..." I uttered a small, awed moan as I stared at the building that, back in the modern world, would likely be hailed as the magical flying gardens of an ancient queen or sothing.
It was a strange, five-story-high building, with what looked like fully open roofs for the garden at the very highest floor. Yet, even though it was already one of the biggest buildings in the entire estate that I'd spotted... I could only appreciate its grandeur down from the street level.
As for why?
It was quite simple.
Every inch of the building was covered in all sorts of vines, bushes, and flowers, making it seem more like an artistically fard earthwork or a simple, flowered hill.
'I guess that explains how I'd missed it back when we were in the sky-carriage,' I thought, only to then grit my teeth in frustration as the servant girl quickly led us away from the building's front and towards its actual entrance.
"That's as far as I'm allowed to go," this young girl announced as she turned on her heel to face us, only to then bow down with her entire upper body. "As the lady Leila allowed you to visit up to the third level of her garden, you are free to explore the first three floors."
The girl bowed down again as soon as she finished her explanation, quickly turning to leave.
"Wait, if you are not going there with us to guide us... How is lady Leila to know we won't intrude on the higher levels?" I asked before I could bite down on my tongue.
Yet, rather than flying into rage, laughing my words off, or doing anything I could predict or expect... The girl simply turned around, bowed down again, and then just... smiled.
"It is not my place to say it, but lady Leila's invitation was as much of a challenge as it was an actual invitation," she stated, a small smirk appearing on her lips. "If you so desire, you are free to try to get higher than what she allowed. Just know that you yourself will be responsible for the consequences of such stupidity."
The girl didn't bow for the fourth ti, opting to just turn around and leave, all the while silently chuckling under her nose.
"I'm sorry," as soon as the servant girl left, I turned my face over to Claire, fully aware of the ironic expression she had on her face as she looked back at .
"What are you sorry for," relaxing her face, Claire shook her head. "It's a good thing this didn't lead to greater trouble and we did learn sothing new," she stated while spreading her arms open and then shaking them a little.
"Yeah," I rolled my eyes, fully aware of what Claire was trying to do right now. "And the rumors of our... no, rumors of my greed will spread all throughout the clan before we even get to leave this garden."
For a second, Claire stopped and looked at my face, only to then roll her eyes, smirk, and move on towards the garden's doors. "It's not like you would care about sothing like that, would you?" she asked, turning around right as she opened the doors while gracing with a lovely smile.
Seeing this, I had no other choice but to just sigh out and shake my head in slight disbelief.
"I guess you are right," I admitted, nodding my head as I picked up the pace and stepped inside. Then, as I stepped ahead of Claire for a second, I turned around to give her the brightest smile I was capable of. "I wouldn't care what those smucks think or talk about in the slightest. Dear, I know they are your clansn and all, but..."
I hesitated for a mont, only for Claire to jump up to my shoulder, wrap her hands around my hand, and then drag ahead while chuckling.
"Tim, you know I don't care about any of them but my mom," she stated through her wide grin, only to then tighten her hold over my arm. "I can't promise I will stay silent if they dare to insult you in my presence, though!"
As it turned out, the topic I deed exceedingly dangerous and likely to turn into a drama bomb... Claire diffused with just a few words of hers and a small amount of physical closeness. And with that said, by the ti I'd managed to even realize we were just running around through the gardens, we'd already arrived at what looked like a staircase to the second level of the massive building.
"Should we go up?" Claire asked, leaning forward to then twist her head as she looked up to my face.
"Just one mont, if you could," I asked, only to close my eyes and take a deep breath as I imrsed myself first into my own cultivation, only to then spread my awareness outside, to the greater world around.
'Woah...' I nearly stumbled on my feet, despite standing still, when I ca to face the illogical, unnatural flow of spiritual energy within the garden.
Contrary to its wild curves, twitches, and deformations, each strand of Qi in this garden appeared to be straightened into a thin line, flowing in uniform formation throughout the entire place.
It was the most organized Qi I've ever seen, even if it wasn't the one most organized I've ever co in contact with. That honor belonged to the Qi spread by the golden sphere from all the way back during my factory episode, a being that was now confined deep in the underground of Chihiro's mansion.
"It's amazing..." I've muttered as I looked around, only to be faced with more and more proof of just how insanely profound this seemingly simple garden was.
"It really is..." most likely noticing my state of mind, Claire followed my example and imrsed herself in her own inner world, only to end up seeing pretty much the sa thing that I did. "But if this place is already like that..." she then added, turning my thoughts to the obvious developnt that awaited us on the higher floor.
"Shall we...?" I asked, both tempted for us to hurry up the stairs while also trying to resist the desire of just staying at the bottom floor to see just what kind of an effect this kind of a neatly organized Qi would have on our cultivation.
"Well, mom did advise us to go as far as the third floor, so..."
Through the spiritual link connecting us, I could tell that right now, Claire felt pretty much exactly the sa as I did. Maybe it was the influence of this orderly Qi in this place, but this sharing of our consciousness...
In here, it felt much more powerful and precise than usual.
"Yeah," eager to find out what awaited up the stairs, I nodded my head before grasping Claire's hand and taking the first step up. "Let's do it."
It was such a simple task, to just climb the stairs. Yet, as soon as my other leg left the floor of the garden's ground level... sothing changed.
From the space where the spiritual energy was more orderly, more concentrated, more... more of itself than anywhere else I'd seen before, we suddenly found ourselves in a spiritual desert, with not a single iota of mana in the air to support our climbing efforts.
By the ti we reached the halfway point up, we were both already panting for air, strangely struggling to do sothing as simple as climbing a single flight of stairs.
'Is this so sort of a test?' I thought, gritting my teeth as the exhaustion already started to get to my mind, slowing my thoughts down and filling my soul with an intense desire to just... give up and go back down.
"It might be," Claire muttered in response, sohow figuring out...
'Wait, our link...' I suddenly froze in place as I realized one thing that made absolutely no sense.
In here, with close to no spiritual energy in the air at all...
How could our link grow even stronger than it was back on the ground floor? How could Claire precisely answer a question I'd rely ford in my mind?
Stunned by those questions, I unknowingly took a step... only to then realize we'd finally climbed all the way up to the garden's second floor. A place so hard to reach, I'd already expected it to be overflowing with rich and perfectly organized and packaged energy ready for us to absorb...
Only to then realize that my expectations of this place were pretty much subverted.
Because in here, while the pressure of the staircase has now lifted...
The second level of Leila's garden was completely devoid of any spiritual energy at all, even the trace amounts of it I always assud to be present absolutely everywhere.
"What is this place..." I've muttered, looking around the vast, green bushes of the second level of the garden.
"I don't know," Claire replied, as startled and puzzled as , "but I think..." she hesitated for a reason, only to then pull on my hand and turn around, all so she could look directly in the face.
"I don't think mom would tell us to co here without a proper reason!"
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