CHAPTER 45: 憧 — WISTERIA WITHOUT SHADE [3]

"We’ve arrived."

The carriage driver informed, parking the vehicle inside the Blood Tower’s open ground.

Leon stepped outside.

Adjusting his long coat, he glanced around him.

The last time he came here, daylight had shown the black walls clearly. But at night, they blended completely into the sky.

Even the sky-high tower wasn’t visible.

Leon’s eyes glimmered as he muttered.

"...how magical."

"That’s one of the tower’s quirks."

Myra further explained, "Created during the time of calamity war, it was crafted specially for the sole purpose of privacy. The records say that the Silvermoon Goddess was the one who created this sanctuary with her own hands."

Leon’s skin crawled the moment he heard the name.

The Silvermoon Goddess. She was the true master of the Blood Tower. Its founder. And the woman who cast aside her humanity and ascended as a god with the other four.

One of the Five Calamities.

The Blood Calamity. She was known worldwide as the Silvermoon Goddess.

Burying his excitement behind a confused expression, Leon asked.

"She was the real creator? I haven’t heard about it."

Myra nodded her head, guiding Leon towards the tower.

Walking down the corridor, she answered each of Leon’s doubts.

"...if you want to learn more about the Silvermoon Goddess, then Lady Veronica would be the perfect person you could ask for."

"Haha... I don’t know, I am still pretty nervous."

To his words, Myra giggled before answering.

"You don’t have to. If you want to be treated like a younger brother, then you should treat her as an elder sister first."

Veronica would be able to provide massive support to Leon in the future if she somehow lives up to her expectations.

"I will keep that in mind."

Leon said, before both of them stopped in front of a massive room. Between the room lay a black crystal rock, the size of three carriages, flat on the floor.

Its surface was composed of black crystal with intricate patterns etched all over it.

Leon’s curiosity piqued before he recalled what he was staring at.

"It’s a Teleportation rock."

Myra answered, gesturing towards the crystal.

’I knew it.’

Leon seemed excited seeing it first-hand.

A Teleportation rock, as the name suggests, would teleport whatever stood on it to the other end it was connected to with just a matter of milliseconds.

"There exists only a single pair of it in this era, one here, and the other at Lady Veronica’s office. After the war, every other teleportation rock gets destroyed."

Leon grinned at that information.

’Only one pair huh... well, they don’t know it yet, so I’d better off keeping my mouth shut.’

With that in mind, he turned to his maid and asked.

"Are we going to use it?"

’Sweet. In the game, we have worked our asses off to add its visuals. I just hope it’s as cool as that.’

"Young master, please stand on top of it."

Following Myra’s instruction, Leon did as he was told.

Glancing back, he saw Myra hovering her hands on a stone plate beside the teleportation rock.

"You’re not coming?" he asked.

Myra lifted her head and said.

"It’s a private meeting between you two, so my presence would not be needed."

"..."

"...remember, don’t be nervous, you just have to treat her the way you did as a kid."

"Wha—"

Leon was sure he had heard something important just now, before Myra activated the teleportation.

Zoooopp—!

A bright flash engulfed Leon from beneath. He closed his eyes for a second before opening them.

In an instant, the scenery in front of his eyes shifted.

He blinked once, and twice before glancing at his surroundings.

Beneath him was the same black crystal floor with the same pattern, but the walls surrounding him changed.

Unlike the black walls on the ground floor, it was white here.

The walls, the curtains, even the paintings and pots, were all white.

Stepping off the teleportation floor, Leon walked out.

"..."

There was a huge corridor up ahead leading to a huge wooden door, painted in absolute white. The corridor was decorated with curtains and paintings on both sides.

It was his first time seeing it. As the game never really described the "Blood Tower Master’s" office on screen.

Tak– Tak–

The sound of his boots echoed through the empty corridor as he made his way towards the door.

’The most powerful person of the whole kingdom.’

Leon couldn’t help but smirk.

Veronica was one of the main characters of the game who would help Ethan in his journey.

Meeting her this far in the story was a boon for Leon.

Thinking along those lines, Leon pictured Veronica in his mind.

’She has a crazy fan following on the internet.’

He once saw a few cosplayers at an event. They looked exactly like her, but in 3D.

"It feels nice when fans do that."

It was a simple proof of how love for creation could bridge the gap between fiction and the real world.

Recalling it, a sudden memory flashed before Leon’s mind.

He recalled that he had seen a few of Veronica’s NSFW images on the internet.

’Bridging the gap between fiction and reality was one thing. Bridging it that way? Geez, those guys needed therapy.’

Now he felt even more nervous about what his reaction would be when he will see her.

Maybe it was because of those NSFW, or because he was genuinely really scared.

Either way, he has to face her.

Standing before the door, Leon raised his hand for a knock before Myra’s words hit him in his mind.

You just have to treat her the way you did as a kid.

"As a kid?"

There was a deeper meaning to it. And Leon was not aware of it.

Because the game never really described how Leon was when he was a kid.

’How did Leon treat his elder sister as a kid?’

He didn’t know.

And as for the game...

’Leon was dead before Veronica was first introduced.’

After all, Leon was not the main protagonist.

"..."

His hands waver for the time being, as a thought surfaced in his mind.

’What would happen if she found out Leon was dead...’

Knowing Veronica, it was completely possible.

But after coming this far, there was no turning back.

Taking a deep breath, he knocked on the door.

"Come in."

A feminine voice drifted from the other end, and Leon didn’t need to guess who it belonged to.

Pushing open the door, he stepped inside.

The first thing that his eyes fell on was... a duck.

Yes. A literal duck, with her whole tiny squadron, was surfing on the pond just a step away from his foot.

Not only a pond, but the whole environment behind the door was different.

Huge trees, green grass, a literal sky above, and a whole mountain far at the back.

’The hell am I looking at?’ Leon’s brain took time to process.

He was in a literal forest.

"Careful with my ducks, or you will scare them away."

He blinked at her words, which were coming from ahead.

Avoiding the ducks and her little squadron, Leon walks past the pond.

Just up ahead, he saw a wooden desk and a long-backed throne, resting under the shadow of a huge leaf.

The leaf shielded it from the sunrays.

But that was not what caught Leon’s attention; it was the woman seated on the throne-style chair behind the desk.

Long black hair open in the air, with golden piercing eyes just like him, she was wearing a red and white dress, which fully exposed both her shoulders. She was busy brushing the pen on the paper on her desk.

Mustering his strength, Leon politely greeted.

"Good evening, it’s been a while, sister."

.

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[A/N]: We’re only few Power Stones away to hit 300!