The underground water tinkled, and a long tunnel extended into the darkness. Some of the collapsed areas even had specks of light shining in, forming two or three dazzling beams of light in the darkness. Roman tried to push the stacked stones with her hands, but they did not budge. She could only sigh in a different tone and said to Chiyara, "It seems that this place won't work either."
"That's why I said, just follow this secret passage and meet up with that guy downstream of the Surging Milky Way," Chiyara replied. "Didn't your familiar already send a message to that guy? If you ask me, it's much safer underground now than on the surface."
She had lost her scholar's hat and glasses. Without the thick glasses blocking her, a delicate face was revealed under her curly hair. She was unexpectedly cute.
"But it's dark and cold down here. It reminds me of when I was young and hid in those caves in Bucce with Freya. I don't like those places at all," Roman replied. "Besides, I've never seen such a big dragon before."
"I've never seen one either," Chiyara replied in annoyance.
Both of them were a little dejected for a moment.
They had fallen into the ground with the collapsed building during the previous impact. By the time they reacted, they were already in this dark tunnel.
According to Chiyara's analysis, the building they had been hiding in was probably above the secret passage built by the Knight of the inner court. In other words, they should have fallen into that secret passage. This analysis seemed to be the only reasonable possibility, so Roman first turned the white fog into a hamster and found the way to the surface through the cracks of the collapsed stones. She went to inform Brando alone. Then, the two of them advanced along the dark tunnel, trying to find the exit that Brando had mentioned that led to the downstream of the Surging Milky Way.
It was not an easy journey. The secret passage was buried very shallowly under Graystone Town. It was unknown how many years ago it had been built, but it had not been repaired for a long time. Under the impact of the battle between the two dragons on the surface, many places had collapsed. There were a few times when they were almost buried under the soil. Moreover, because many places were blocked by sand and stone, they had to spend a lot of time looking for underground passages that could still be used. Fortunately, the secret passages extended in all directions, and they were not completely blocked in one place.
There were a few times when Romaine had a sudden idea and tried to use magic to move the stones, but it almost caused a larger area to collapse. Chiyara was so scared that she did not allow her to use any magic again.
At this moment, they were stopped in a tunnel that had just collapsed. After the last tremor on the surface, the walls and ceiling here broke and collapsed from the ground, stacking together to form a dead end.
"Let's change directions," Chiyara finally said.
"Chiara, did you hear anything?" Roman asked.
Chiyara was startled. She tilted her head and listened carefully. It was so quiet in the darkness that one could hear a pin drop.
"Where did that sound come from?"
"It's true. It's under the stone."
Chiyara looked at Roman and lay down on the stone doubtfully. If it was someone else, she would not have been so patient, but Roman had excellent hearing, so she had to believe it. After listening carefully for a moment, there was indeed a rustling conversation under the stone, as if two people were complaining about each other.
"Juani, you idiot!"
"If you didn't pull my tail, I wouldn't have chanted the spell wrong!"
"But if I didn't remind you, you would have been discovered by that guard!"
"Shut up! That's just an ordinary human soldier. He might not even know the noble False Dragons, so how could he see that I was casting a spell? Little elf, you're a complete idiot! "
"Then what should we do now, Juani? It's so dark down there, and I'm hungry."
"You only know how to eat. There's no other way. Just wait for your death!"
"Huhuhu, Juani, I don't want to die. Please save this little elf —"
The Roman widened her eyes and listened curiously to the intermittent conversation. She could not figure out why there were people inside the stone. She could not help but ask loudly, "Are you the elves inside the stone?"
The voices inside the stone suddenly quieted down.
After a moment, a tentative voice asked, "I, I'm an elf. Who are the people outside the stone?"
"I'm a Roman."
Chiyara frowned and did not answer.
"Who is a Roman?" the elf asked again.
It was a good question. Even the Roman raised her eyebrows and did not know how to answer. "A Roman is a Roman, but why are you inside the stone? Are you the elves inside the stone? Aunt said that there are elves inside the stone. They like to hide gems and minerals under the stone as a gift to the diligent. Are you here to give the Roman treasures? "
"No!" The little elf replied resolutely.
Chiyara finally could not listen anymore and asked, "Who are you? Are you the residents of Gray Stone Town? From what you said, you seem to be elves. Are you a wind elf or a wild elf?"
"I'm a wild elf," the elf answered.
"Are they both?"
"No, Juani is a dragon."
"Dragon!" the Roman and Chiyara shouted in unison.
"No, no, no, it's not the kind of dragon you think. Juani is a false dragon!" The little fairy hurriedly explained. In her limited impression, dragons were bad, and Xianni was a better kind of dragon.
"False dragon! God, it's a false dragon! " Chiyara raised her eyebrows excitedly and asked loudly, "How is it? Are you in trouble? Do you need us to save you?"
"You, you're not bad people, are you?" the elf was shocked by her tone.
"Of course not!"
…
Half an hour later —
Roman and Chiyara spent a lot of effort to save the elf and Juani. At first, they wanted to dig away the sand and stones, but just as they moved the stones below, the stones above rolled down and scared the four people inside and outside the stone. After the shock, the two of them had to find another way. In short, they put their hope in the power of magic, but they tried several spells. In the end, Chiyara caught a few rats and Roman used the witch's "King's Chariot Transposition" to swap the elf and Juani out.
The elf, who was buried under the sand and stones, suddenly felt that the space in front of her was empty, and then she appeared in a dark tunnel. When she was in the secret tunnel under Roves' compass, she thought that the human's secret tunnel was long, dark, small, and not fun at all. But now, she felt that the dark underground was very spacious. Then, with a bang, Juani was swapped out and fell heavily on the elf's head.
"Ah!" The elf cried. When she opened her eyes again, she found a few squeaking rats in front of her, looking at her with their sparkling little eyes. She immediately made a fuss and shouted, "You, you're rats!"
"You're the rat!" Roman was still sizing up the little elf with interest, but Chiara stepped forward without mercy, grabbed the elf's pointy ears, and lifted her up from the ground. "Short-sighted fellow!"
"Ouch, ouch, ouch, let go of the elf!" the elf cried out in pain. "You're really bad people!"
"Shut up, or I'll kill you!" Chiyara threatened fiercely.
The elf was shocked and shut up. She looked at the little human girl, who was about the same height as her, with red eyes.
"Where's your pseudo-dragon?" Chiyara asked. Her eyes suddenly lit up in the dark. She had already seen the pseudodragon on the elf's head. She subconsciously reached out to hug it, but she immediately retracted her hand. "Although pseudodragons often accompany humans, they have very strong self-esteem. This won't do. I heard that they are all creatures with very high intelligence. You have to be polite, Chiyara."
Chiyara cleared her throat and ignored the elf. She asked Juani, who was on her head, "Dear Pseudo-Dragon, may I know your name? Can we be friends?"
"No, Juani is my friend!" The elf pulled Juani down and held her tightly in her arms. She stared at Chiyara vigilantly, as if she was afraid that she would be snatched away.
"Didn't you hear what she said, stupid little elf? I have my pride. If you keep hugging me like I'm a can of candy, I'll never talk to you again!" Xianni said in an annoyed tone as she struggled to get out of his embrace.
"Then, then what should I do?" the elf panicked.
"Put me in your bag," Juani said proudly. She waited for the little elf to do as she was told, and then she calmly laid down in the little elf's pouch. She stuck her head out and said to Chiyara, "Hello, human. My name is Xianni. What are you doing here?"
"We're looking for a way out, Miss Juani." Before Chiyara could speak, the Roman answered first.
"Out? Do you mean back to the surface?" Juani quickly shook her head like a rattle-drum. "Don't go, the surface is full of bad people."
"No, we're looking for a way to the lower reaches of the Surging Milky Way. This is a very long secret passage. Do you know about it?" Romaine replied.
"The exit to the lower reaches of the Surging Milky Way," the elf suddenly said. "I know."
Everyone's eyes fell on her.
"How do you know?" Juani asked angrily. "How much do you know that I don't?"
"This is the secret passage from before. Juani, I stole their entire map. It's in my bag."
"In your bag?" Juani rummaged through her bag. There were a lot of candy wrappers and some glass beads, but there was no map. "Is there such a thing in here?"
"Did you forget? I used that paper to make a paper dragon when we started a fire a few days ago!" the elf replied.
"Damn it!" Juani screamed. "Is that how you use a map?"
The elf was proud of herself. "It's okay. I can roughly remember what was on the map."
"Roughly?" Chiyara frowned as she stared at the elf.
… …
When the sun shone down on the forest below the Surging Milky Way, a wild pomegranate bush suddenly moved. In the forest, there were always many uninvited guests that liked to hide under the bushes. For example, badgers, bobcats, or even armadillos. But this time, a pair of round eyes popped out from under the bush. The Roman looked around and after confirming that there was no danger, she lowered her head and shouted. "Seems like we've reached the place!"
"Then quickly climb up, I can't stand anymore …" Chiyara who was being stepped on said sadly.
The Roman hurriedly pulled up her skirt and climbed up. She seemed to be good at this and her movements were as nimble as a monkey. After she climbed up effortlessly, she pulled Chiyara up, followed by Juani and the elf. Chiyara couldn't help but look at the merchant lady in surprise. This wasn't a skill that a noble lady should know.
"This is nothing," the merchant lady replied casually. "I've even climbed onto Brando's roof before."
The two young ladies were immediately filled with admiration.
However, the elf rolled her eyes and after confirming that there was no danger nearby, she suddenly broke into a run. But before she could run two steps, a dark shadow pounced on her. She was so frightened that she screamed and lost her balance and fell to the ground. When she turned her head, she saw that it was Chiyara who was gritting her teeth. "What are you doing, let go of me!" The elf shouted angrily and anxiously.
"I told you to run!" Even though Chiyara was dressed like a scholar, her strength was extraordinary. She easily pressed the elf to the ground and proudly announced. "As my captive, without my permission, you are not allowed to leave even half a step!"
The elf was naturally unconvinced. She shouted for Juani while she wrestled with Chiyara. The two young ladies rolled around in the bushes and soon their hair and clothes were covered with leaves and mud. They completely lost their previous image and looked like refugees and beggars from the North. Juani had already flown out of the elf's bag to avoid being caught in the crossfire. She landed on the Roman's shoulder and looked at the two as if they were idiots.
Romaine, on the other hand, was quite interested in watching the two fight. She didn't get tired of it even after watching for a while. If she didn't suddenly realize something, she was afraid that this nonsensical fight would have continued.
The Roman's ears suddenly twitched. She raised her head and looked at the other side of the forest. Then, she walked over and picked up the two young ladies. She patted the leaves and dirt off their bodies and said, "Stop fooling around, I think there are people coming from that side."
Chiyara spat out two mouthfuls of mud. Her gentle and quiet face had long turned into a dirty little kitten. She glared at the elf and asked, "Who are they? Is it the diplomatic party?"
The elf's hair was messy like a bird's nest. Her eyes were red and swollen as if she had just cried. She looked at Chiyara fearfully and then said to the Roman, "It must be those bad guys. Let's run, they are bad!"
"There are only a few people. Their footsteps are very light." The Roman shook her head. "It doesn't sound like them. It sounds more like short people like you."
"Those are Subterrane Dwellers." Chiyara thought of the Subterrane Dwellers that she had missed. "Great, when they come, we will think of a way to catch them!"
"Why do you want to catch them?" The elf asked in confusion.
Chiyara was too lazy to explain to her. She only threatened her fiercely. "It's none of your business. Hide well with me. If you are discovered, you are done for."
The elf was not afraid of anything, but she could not beat Chiyara in a fight. As the saying goes, a wise man knows better than to fight when the odds are against him. She could only keep quiet.
The three of them quickly found a place to hide. Sure enough, not long after, there was a rustling sound of footsteps in the forest. The three ladies hiding in the wild pomegranate bushes saw a few bushes of incense in front of them suddenly split open, and then a few green-faced, fanged faces came out from behind. When the elf saw these faces, she was so frightened that she almost screamed. If Chiyara had not hugged her and covered her mouth tightly, she would have screamed.
Those were goblins.
Roman and Chiyara recognized them immediately.
The elf's nose was covered by Chiyara, and her face turned red. She kept winking at Chiyara, but Chiyara did not seem to see it. It took her a long time to break free. She could not help but gasp for air. Before she could protest, she could not help but ask curiously, "Aren't we going to catch them?"
"It's me, not you," Chiyara replied in a bad mood. "Besides, who wants to catch these smelly guys? They are just a bunch of goblins. So boring … Huh?"
She suddenly let out a soft cry of surprise.
Because the bushes behind the goblins shook again, and then a dwarf came out. This made her very confused. Everyone knew that the dwarves and the goblins were enemies. However, this dwarf was wearing a wet alchemist's robe. He did not look like a captive of the former. Although he looked miserable, it seemed that his personal freedom was not restricted. The goblins around him looked more like his bodyguards.
"Little Elf, it's that dwarf!" Xianni whispered.
"The dwarf who fell asleep after falling down!" The elf clearly recognized the dwarf.
Chiyara almost wanted to kill the two of them. She hurriedly pulled them back. Sure enough, a few spears came flying. Roman lowered her head, and a simple wooden spear flew past her hair and nailed into an unknown tree behind her. The goblins had obviously discovered that there were people behind the bushes. They screamed and threw the spears in their hands. They even pulled out their rusty scimitars and rushed over.
Behind these goblins, two tall figures quickly appeared from the bushes.
"Ogres!"
Chiyara bitterly grabbed the elf's pointed ears. "It's all your fault. We're going to become the ogres' lunch, you idiot!"
"Ouch, it hurts!" Before the goblins rushed into the forest, the two little lolis were already fighting.
… …
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
