Chapter 65: The Last Survivor
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
For the rest of the day, Baiyi decided to let them call the shots on how they wanted to spend their time. Decisively, they spent the whole afternoon having a dessert marathon in several dessert shops nearby. Because of that, when it was time for dinner, they were already too full to eat anything else.
When the sky began to turn dark, Baiyi did not bring Mia back to the dormitory, instead, he accepted Tisdale's invitation and followed her back to her house --- it was a somewhat old three story building that could also be considered a mansion. Although the mansion seemed to be quite old and desolated, it had everything that one could wish for in one's home: a garden, a fountain, a verandah and so on. Despite the neatly trimmed lawn, there wereno expensive and rare plants that could be seen. It was a typical declining aristocratic house.
However, Mia did not seem to be bothered about those things at all. Being able to stay overnight at Tisdale's house made her feel thrilled with excitement. She even said, "Sis Tisdale! Your lawn is so beautiful!"
"I usually prune all this by myself. What do you think? How's my skill?" Tisdale asked proudly.
She could afford the sumptuous lunch just now but she is staying at this kind of place? And to even do those menial work such as trimming her own lawn? Baiyi could not help but wonder. It seems like this Aegis family is not doing well right now…
Sure enough, Tisdale was the sole occupant of the rather huge house. There were no servants nor cook that helped to keep the house tidy and neat. She had to rely on herself to survive. Appearance wise, she might look like a typical aristocratic girl, but deep inside, she was actually a very capable and strong person.
"She's a good girl! Both of them are good girls!" The Archmage was relieved but he could not help but sigh with emotions, "I'm very glad that the descendant of my old friend is such a hardworking and independent kid, and not one those good-for-nothing rich brat."
"I'll make her an excellent Rohserlian sorcerer," Baiyi promised earnestly.
At that moment, the two girls had already went into Tisdale's room and he could faintly hear Mia's loud voice, "Oh, you're the one that Mr. Hope gave the little kitty coin bank to! You two have known each other before this? He did not even tell me! Hmmph! Fine!"
With no intention to disrupt the intimate bonding moment of those two little girls, Baiyi wandered around the three story house on his own. The layout and furnishing in the building were pretty old, and there were not many decent furnitures to fill up the big space. There weren't even enough magical lamp to light up the place because some of the area in the house was lit up using candles instead.
From the appearance of the house itself, it looked like the owner was as poor as a church mouse. But even so, every corner of the house was kept clean and tidy. It seemed like Tisdale often spent her time tidying the house up.
Although the house seemed to be in a pitiful state, Baiyi could still feel the subtle surge of magic, something common like protective enchantment of for aristocratic mansion. But, this is a little bit strange... By right, there's nothing that is valuable enough to tempt a thief into breaking in other than Tisdale the precious gem herself. Why does she even need so many protective enchantments? In fact, it is even more expensive to maintain such a large-scale enchantment than having maids or furnitures in the house.
With that in his mind, Baiyi followed the source of the magic to the basement of the house. Sure enough, there was a huge light-blue Magical Formation that was drawn on the floor. Several pieces of fist-sized Mana Crystal that were set on top of the intersections of several magical lines were keeping the whole enchantment running. After carefully studying the formation for a few seconds, Baiyi found many familiar marks on it.
It was not a normal enchantment that was commonly used by an aristocratic family. Instead, it was a standard Rohserlian Formation. The real purpose of the formation was not something as simple as anti-theft but it seemed like it was searching for something. Could it be, a soul perhaps?
"This is the Soul-Searching Formation that I invented when I was still alive. Although there were a few modifications here and there, the function is still pretty much the same. Looking at the style of the modification, I'd say that it was probably done by my royal mage." The Archmage explained, "This is one of the methods that I've left behind before I entered the Void. The magical surge that it constantly emits can be spread through to the entire Isythre realm but it was only me who could sense the surge. It may look like a normal protective enchantment to others, but it could actually guide my soul and prevent me from losing my way even when I'm drifting around aimlessly. This is very secretive but apparently, it does not make much difference to me when I'm here that's why in the end, I decided not to pass it on to you."
I see. So, this is like a lighthouse that is set up specifically for you and Tisdale's family has been silently guarding this for over 6000 years. Even when they have already fallen to such a pitiful state, they still use high-grade monster blood and Mana Crystals to keep it running, waiting for the day that it would guide you home. This is indeed a very strenuous burden... Baiyi let out a sigh as he continued, Unfortunately, this light cannot penetrate the barrier between the realms, making their great and noble dedication to you tragic and futile... Having such a loyal follower and his whole family as your guardian, you must be a well-loved emperor.
"It's a good thing that she has you now." Having said that, the Archmage became silent and lost in his own thoughts. Baiyi decided to leave the room as well and walked over to the living room that still had a few sofas left. After igniting a dim magical lamp, he sat there quietly contemplating.
After Mia had long entered dreamland, Tisdale walked into the living room with a tea tray, keeping their appointment to continue their discussion.
Tisdale had already took off the standard academy uniform and the white stockings that best showed off the beautiful curves of a girl's legs and was now wearing only a black sheer and bold nightwear. Not were her whole arms completely exposed, even the bottom of the nightwear could only cover the key area, showing off her fair skin that was glistening under the dim light, particularly those well-developed and well-shaped pair of long legs that looked as breathtaking as expensive jades under the light tint of the yellow light.
"SH*T! I FEEL LIKE I CAN LICK HER UNTIL HER BONES FRACTURE!" The Engineer said. The Silence Spell was only lifted a moment ago but immediately, he was put under the Silence Spell once again.
Seriously! Why are all the girls nowadays lacking the most basic common sense? Don't they know how beautiful and attractive they are? Not just Mia, but even Tisdale is like that too? Baiyi cursed in his heart as he quickly looked away out of politeness.
The first thing Tisdale did was to pour Baiyi a cup of tea. Regardless of whether he was able to drink or not, she placed the cup of tea right in front of him before she said, "I'm sorry teacher. Mia refused to sleep because she does not have her plushie with her. I had to be her doll for a moment and let her hug me so that she can finally sleep. It was only until she has entered a deep slumber that I could disentangle her arms and come here."
As Tisdale was talking, an embarrassed look could be seen on her face. Although somehow, it seemed like she appeared to be rather satisfied with herself. Looking at the height difference between them, perhaps it was the other way around and Mia was actually the doll instead. After all, being able to hug the soft and sweet Mia-chan was the one of the dreams of many of the Voidwalkers.
"Don't worry, this is only a small matter. I'm already used to waiting," Baiyi continued to ask, "Have you talked to Mia about it?"
"Yes. I've told her that as soon as she becomes my classmate, I'll become your disciple so that we can study at night together. She's very happy about it and she shows strong seems enthusiastic as well. If I didn't ask her to go to bed, she would already ask me to give her a lesson right away." Tisdale replied.
"That's great! I hope that you can become a better sister for her in the future." Baiyi said while quietly casting a Sound Barrier over them before continuing to speak in Ancient Rohserlese, "Alright, let us get down to business now. I've seen that Magical Formation in the basement. Thank you so much for everything that your family has done but it's no longer needed now."
Although she had already prepared herself mentally, she could not help but feel slightly dejected after hearing the news about stopping the formation. "Ahhh... Is that so? D-Does that mean that His Highness no longer needs it?"
"Having me here is already enough. Right now, he's actually looking at you through my eyes. He even praised you for being so outstanding and beautiful," Baiyi reassured her, "What's the situation of your family? How did you all manage to survive for so long?"
Tisdale then proceeded to give Baiyi a brief account of the story of the Aegis family. Starting from the ancestor who first made the pledge, every generation of her family would educate the next generation and make them honor and protect the pledge that was passed on in the family. Not only that, they would do their utmost to nurture their most loyal offspring and let him become a strong supernatural being so that he could have a longer life expectancy. With the help of the Soul Armature Technique as well, the pledge had managed to be honored and protected.
However, not every generation was willing to accept such a duty. As the family grew larger and stronger, there were more and more patrilineals who think that the pledge is meaningless. As a result, the Aegis family ended up being fragmented and fell apart.
In the beginning, there were not many people who wanted to give up on the pledge. However, as time went by, the family grew larger in numbers and possessed more wealth and power in society. Gradually, the tradition of the Aegis family was slowly consumed by the greed and selfishness of those family members. Had it not been for the few persevering members who summoned their ancestors to become Soul Armatures using that Magical Formation, the pledge might not have lasted so long.
"Due to the fact that we're in close proximity with that Magical Formation all the time, our family members are able to faintly sense its magical surge as well. It's because of this that we can summon our ancestors back and it's only by relying on their help that we continued to persevere for so long." Tisdale added on, "Still, a soul could only become a Soul Armature once in their lifetime. And not every ancestors want to continue serving this mission after becoming a Soul Armature..."
Just like that, after the death of Tisdale's parents, it was only her alone who still remembered the pledge.