Tell did not show the slightest hint of confusion. Her expression stayed steady, cautious, her eyes locked on the masked man.
She flicked her wings once before landing beside him.
"Why do you think he would do that?"
The masked man raised an eyebrow, then studied her closely.
"You don’t look very surprised by what I said."
She tilted her head a little, chin lowered, eyes fixed on him.
"It is the only explanation that makes sense."
"He is still your father and the elder of your clan. Aren’t you supposed to defend him right now?"
Tell shrugged lightly, lifting herself a little into the air before settling back down.
"I am a noble spirit, sure, but unlike the others, I don’t follow everything blindly."
"And that is what made them exile you to that human village?"
Her wings stopped flapping, then lowered slowly.
"Sothing like that. You could say it was related to disobeying orders."
The masked man smiled faintly, a short sarcastic curl of the lips behind the piece of cloth covering half his face.
"The elder’s daughter disobeying orders. Is that normal for Autumn Spirits?"
"Why do you talk like you are an expert on us? But no, it is not normal."
He answered calmly as he pushed himself up from the ground.
"That makes sense. In the end, you are extrely irresponsible. Who chooses the safety of a group of strangers over their own people?"
Tell crossed her arms over her chest, her wings twitching in irritation.
"Stop acting like you actually care about them. You only want to help you find the Great Autumn Spirit and kill it. Nothing more."
"Yes, that is what I want." He said it with zero attempt to hide the truth. "But this benefits you as much as it benefits . Am I wrong?"
"The elders won’t approve. Even if I tell them the Autumn Spirit has been corrupted."
"I don’t care about their approval right now." He said it as he pushed himself up again with difficulty. Grey mist seeped from his shoulder before fading away. "I have a way to get information without using force now."
Tell narrowed her eyes, taking a step closer.
"Were you planning to use force at first?"
"Yes. That was exactly my plan."
She blinked several tis in quick succession.
"Are you being more honest now, or am I imagining things?"
He turned toward her. A purple flash crossed his eye for a fraction of a second, barely noticeable.
"You are not imagining anything. I no longer see a reason to pretend in front of you."
She stared at him for a long ti, as if trying to read sothing behind that black patch.
"I don’t think you are saying that out of trust. Or anything close to trust."
"You can consider it a form of trust if you want."
Her wings fluttered gently, this ti at a slow, controlled pace.
"It feels strange hearing that from you for so reason."
He answered while looking at the sky.
"You are acting overly cautious. In the end, I will keep my part of the deal soon enough. And you will do the sa."
Tell exhaled slowly, closed her eyes for a mont, then opened them again.
"Yeah, I just hope we don’t face anything dangerous like that city again."
The masked man stood up fully, steadying himself with a hand against the trunk of a nearby tree.
"We already passed through the worst area. The path from here to our destination won’t give us any serious trouble." He fixed his gun in its holster. "What’s ahead is just a sowhat quiet trip."
Tell wasn’t convinced he was telling the truth. But she had no choice but to follow him. Her wings opened wide.
...
At that mont, Oliver was doing his best, annoyingly persistent as always, trying to drag Aria into a conversation.
He kept asking and repeating the sa questions about how she t the masked man, while Aria completely ignored him, her eyes drifting anywhere except toward his face.
Gradually, the others began waking up one by one.
The sage opened his eyes and imdiately spotted Oliver.
Who was hanging upside down between tree branches.
Lemur was sprawled across a tree trunk, while Mariana and her mother sat close together, leaning against a massive root.
Everyone opened their eyes slowly, blinking several tis.
At first, they thought everything that happened inside that city had been just a dream.
But the mont they saw Oliver standing in front of Aria, they realized it was not a dream.
The sage dropped from the tree, hit the ground, then quickly stood up and walked toward Oliver.
"I hate interrupting your conversation, but can one of you explain what exactly is going on here?"
Oliver didn’t turn toward him at all. He stayed focused on Aria.
"Can you tell how you t the masked man?"
Aria pushed her hair back with clear annoyance.
"For the thousandth ti kid, no. I won’t."
Before Oliver could repeat the question for the thousand and One, the sage grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him to turn.
"Oliver explain to what exactly is happening here, and where is that masked man?"
Oliver answered rapidly.
"We were inside a city made from a strange mix of reality and dreams, like I told you. A Mythical Creatures created it. We escaped because the masked man killed it and he went deeper into the forest. He told us not to move until he cos back."
As soon as he finished explaining, he imdiately turned back to Aria.
"Co on just give a few details."
Aria waved her hand dismissively.
"No. And I won’t."
The sage grabbed him again, pulling him to face him.
"Did you say the masked man killed a Mythical Creature?"
Oliver pushed the sage’s hands off his shoulders with irritation.
"Yes. That’s what happened."
Then he turned toward Aria again.
"I only want to know how your first eting went. That’s it."
"I told you no."
Before he could continue, the sage spun him around again.
"Repeat what you said earlier."
Oliver sighed heavily.
"Do you know how annoying it is to repeat the sa thing ten tis? The masked man killed a Mythical Creature."
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