When he turned around, a girl was scowling at him.
It wasn’t Aether.
She looked like Aether, but her hair was white. There were even subtle differences.
“Crazy bastard.”
Akasha.
The girl who had introduced herself as Aether’s young twin.
“You want to die, it seems. You dare let yourself into the room used by my sister who’s like my other self?”
Akasha, who had shown up out of nowhere, casted a ward on the door as she hounded Gilach. It was so quick that he didn’t have ti to react.
“Get out of here.”
A curt and firm tone. Gilach walked out the door with a sneer.
“You’re back early. Huhu.”
“I said get out of here.”
“How harsh.”
Normally this would’ve irritated him. But Gilach didn’t get angry because it was a waste of ti to get into an argunt with this girl in front of him.
Gilach acted all slick as usual.
“Oh, pardon , I sensed an appetizing energy within.”
“So was Aether right. Cut the crap.”
He didn’t bother explaining himself nor did he shoot back, because he was feeling great since a mont ago.
Because the fact that Akasha suddenly appeared and casted a ward around the spare room ant that there was sothing inside here that he wasn’t supposed to see.
“Oh my.”
Just then, Aether was also coming down the hall.
As soon as Aether saw him, she didn’t hold back her displeasure.
“Has this fucker finally lost his mind?”
“Straight to the insults, really?”
“Looks like you want to die. How dare you go into my room.”
Veins were starting to pop, but Gilach held himself back.
These two were soon going to Iliad Academy, anyway. He just needed to ransack the place then. There was a ti to hunt and kill Elentals just as there was a harvest season for fruit; he could wait as long as needed for that mont.
“Put your head down and get lost.”
“Well excuse . Will this do?”
Smirking, Gilach made the gesture of bowing his head. It wasn’t a sincere apology, so it wouldn’t look good in the twins’ eyes. In fact, he was doing this to also get on their nerves.
Aether frowned.
“What a lack of sincerity.”
“I said my apology, what more do you want?”
“Just get lost.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Then Gilach went off down the hall with an ominous laugh. Akash clicked her tongue at his diminishing form.
Aether asked.
“Did Gilach see the inside?”
“No.”
“Then it’s fine.”
The twins shut the door and got down to business. It was regarding Iliad Academy.
“You’re back early. How much information did you gather?”
“Everything that I could. Admissions schedule, screening process, tuition paynt due dates, and even brought a map of the school. I also brought a uniform, do you want to see?”
“No, I already know about it.”
The uniform was sothing she had already seen when the elf exchange students ca to Tilette.
Tilette had been transitioning from sumr to fall at the ti. It hadn’t been that cold, but it hadn’t been hot either–moderate, early fall weather with the occasional chilly wind. As such, the uniform the elf students had been wearing would’ve been the spring-fall ones.
Yet that uniform was, well... a bit revealing.
“I rember that the female students wore a short, slim-fitting skirt and their upper chest area had a rhombus-shaped cutout.”
“Yes, that.”
“I can’t ever wear that.”
“Why.”
“If I can’t, I can’t.”
Aether, who had been indifferent for a while, surprisingly looked offended. Unable to understand, Akasha quirked her head and asked.
“It might be a little shocking, but it’s not that explicit by elf country standards. Isn’t it relatively okay?”
“Relatively? Do elves go around naked in the sumr?”
“No, that’s taking things a bit far.”
Aether held back a dubious sound.
The most convenient way to infiltrate Kaurelia was entering Iliad Academy. The entrance exam itself wouldn’t be difficult as she had previous experience from Tilette. To be honest, she could probably easily pass the written test if she buckled down for a couple weeks to study. The practical wouldn’t be much different.
The problem was after admission. She hadn’t really been aware of it back at Tilette, but there was sothing uncomfortable thinking about wearing such a uniform herself.
“Isn’t there sothing better?”
“You have to wear it anyway since Kaurelia is all the way in the south. You’ll probably cook to death in the sumr in that outfit you’re wearing now.”
Aether’s mind raced.
‘If you can’t avoid it, then enjoy it,’ was it? No. People avoided it because they couldn’t enjoy it. Having found a good excuse, Aether snapped her fingers and smirked.
“I have an idea.”
**Winter was going by.
Akasha convinced Aether to pause her research for the ti being; it was because they needed to focus on all the prep needed to get into Iliad.
First, they changed their appearance. Aether straightened the wavy ends of her hair and shortened the length a bit, even changed the style. With the hair up in a ponytail, the back of her neck felt a little cooler.
She also changed her eye color to red using pignted lenses. As she looked in the mirror fascinated by the carnelian-like eyes, the technician gave her precautions.
“It’ll stay like this as long as you don’t take them out on purpose or be emotionally agitated.”
“Emotionally agitated?”
“Don’t let them light up, I an.”
The eyes of a Golden-Eyed influenced by the Demon would glow subtly when they felt intense emotions. Humans and elves weren’t able to catch it with the naked eyes unless they were in complete darkness.
However, there was a critical flaw–the substance in the pignted lens developed by the Demon Army would change in response to emotions in the eyes of Beasts.
“Do not beco furious or laugh. Keep your emotional expressions at a moderate level. In particular, do not panic out of fear or cry.”
“I swear that will never happen.”
“You never know. Look before you leap, they say.”
There was no harm in being careful. Aether decided to keep that in mind.
With this, they were done changing their appearance. For reference, Akasha left her white hair and just changed her eyes to blue.
After that, they made fake IDs for over the next few days.
Both of them were born in the southeast part of the Empire. They each were living regular lives then fled to Kaurela after the recent incident at Tilette.
They even ca up with fake nas to be thorough. Aether’s na was discovered at Tilette so she couldn’t just sneak in with her actual na. The na Akasha wasn’t exactly safe, either.
The nas were changed quickly.
Having gotten this far, there were only two things left.
The first was admissions.
The other was the color of blood.
The blood was the biggest issue. The blood of a Beast showed black or a very dark gray due to the rcury compounds.
A Golden-Eyed that wasn’t ‘Corrupt’ had red blood, but not the twins. They had to fake it sohow.
“I’m leaving this to Quartus. He’s been researching things like this since before.”
“And how do we know when he’ll finish that research?”
“He finished clinical trials during sumr break. It should be comrcialized by now.”
Aether was honestly impressed.
To think they could even dye blood now.
“Still, it’s only a temporary asure. The chemical substance that dyes it is still unstable. It probably only works for a few hours after taking the pill.”
“So not sothing that needs to be done now.”
“You can get back to your business now. We’ll submit the application and set out as soon as it’s ready.”
With a nod, Aether ca back to her room.
Paying minimal attention to the Hasfeldt sisters, she started writing sothing. It wasn’t related to superconductivity research; she was fiddling with the theoretical formula from when she had been researching Elentals.
“Not bad.”
The developnt of the formula itself was easy thanks to the other person living in this body. They had given over the control while leaving the knowledge as is so she was able to solve the problem that she had struggled with for decades in only a few hours.
Aether looked over the material Akasha had brought one by one. There was no ti to waste. She laid out a paper and picked up the quill. After writing the letter without problem, she sealed it with wax. She found and wrote down the address of the president’s office and enclosed it with the thesis she just wrote.
With this, she was pretty much ready.
Now there was only one thing left–to perfect the plan to burn the World Tree.
**Ti flew by, and before they knew it winter was coming to an end.
Having thoroughly discussed the plans, the executives of the Demon Army were doing their part even amidst the disorderly atmosphere. One looked over the army, and another kept revising how the operation would go.
Another finished getting ready to leave for the infiltration mission.
They were Aether and Akasha.
“If you finish the room-temperature superconductor, I’ll co back in the sumr and send you ho.”
Hearing Aether’s words, Klais unconsciously swallowed.
If she did well, she could go ho. But what difference would that make? Everything would be over once Aether finished ‘Dark Day’.
“Rosemary, keep a good eye on the slaves. And stop Gilach no matter what if he tries to co in. You can ask Autumn for help if you need.”
With that said, the twin sisters left the Demon Castle, leaving Rosemary as the Hasfeldt sisters’ sitter.
After sending them off, Rosemary let out a big sigh as soon as she ca back to the room.
“Geez.”
There wasn’t a single day that she felt at ease.
If they didn’t stop Winter Heaven, the world was going to end. Humans, Beasts, all of them.
They could take down Aether herself, but that was out of the question. While Beasts were a race that had no qualms about betraying one another, Rosemary didn’t want to stoop to their level.
“What do we do now?”
“Just wait.”
She had the best plan in her mind.
She didn’t expect one bit that this was going to work out exactly as she wanted, so she thought of a few of them.
The na of all these operations together was ‘Blueberry Rush’. The youngest sister’s delightful big picture was about to begin.
Of course, as long as Aether didn’t hate it.
With Aether was also gone, Rosemary took out the body wrapped in cloth.
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