"Why didn't he co this morning?" lina muttered as she swept the floor of the bakery. Sienna was scuttling about on the ceiling, chasing the spiders out of their cozy corners and burning up the cobwebs that they had managed to weave during the night. Gilbert was sitting behind the counter, counting the earnings they made that day.
"He cos every morning," she grumbled, angrily sweeping the dust outside.
"Will you give it a rest, girl? I'm sure your boyfriend will co soon enough," Gilbert said, not stopping the counting.
"He is not my boyfriend and suggesting that is rude towards soone of such high stature. And what if sothing happened to him in the Monster Realm?"
"Didn't the party that went there yesterday already tell you that everything was alright? Leon was bragging about it the whole morning," Gilbert retorted.
"He did?" She looked at Gilbert in confusion.
The old baker finally lifted his head and looked at lina. "Did you really not notice?"
"Admittedly, I've begun just to tune out what he's saying," she explained and tried to rack her brain. Thinking back, there certainly was a lot of chattering going on, but lina had been so worried about Alistair that she hadn't noticed.
She had spent the whole morning in an odd sort of trance, letting guide her words and facial expressions. The skill had even ranked up, reaching Rank C. lina felt a bit ashad that she had reached such a high rank in such a short amount of ti for a skill that was ant for lying.
"You…" Gilbert lifted his finger to object, then lowered it. "I honestly can't even fault you for that. But you should calm down regardless. I'm sure the noble brat will show up sooner or later."
lina glared at him when he called Alistair a "noble brat" again, but the man had returned to counting the money. She was about to return to cleaning when she suddenly felt sothing in the air. It was hard to describe the feeling—it was like the slightest bit of mana was trickling towards her, trying to reach her.
Sienna reacted to it as well, stopping her pursuit of spiders and peering outside the window.
"You feel it too, Sienna?" lina asked the wyrm, reaching her hand up towards her. The little monster jumped into her palm without hesitation and then channeled a bit of her mana into lina.
"What's up with you two now?" Gilbert sighed.
A mont later a bright flash of light appeared before lina and a scrunched-up piece of paper appeared from seemingly nowhere. But she was not surprised in the slightest, grabbing the paper without hesitation.
"Magic ssage?" Gilbert blinked in surprise.
"It's from Alistair," she nodded. Before the ti rewind, they would communicate in this fashion all the ti. It was a way of communication that could not be intercepted as the ssage would only materialize in front of the recipient. lina hurriedly unfurled the paper and read it.
Heiliger is going to the bakery. Sorry, I couldn't stop her.
"Dammit!" lina cursed, hurrying into the kitchen.
"What's wrong?" Gilbert asked, setting the money back inside the cash register and locking it.
"Bishop who has the skill is coming here! Master, we must flee," she said, throwing the mop into the cupboard and rushing back to the old man, ready to pull him along.
"Wait, wait. Flee? I'm not fleeing," he said stubbornly.
"Master, he'll realize that you're a System user from a single glance, just like you did when I arrived here. Whatever happens—she cannot see us," lina urged him, gently pulling on his sleeve.
"Oh, calm down. Just go upstairs. I'll deal with this bishop," Gilbert said dismissively.
"But, Master—"
"Girl, go upstairs. Future mories or not, I've lived and experienced far more than you have. Do not think for a second that I don't know what I'm doing," he reprimanded her.
lina was taken aback by his words but realized he was right. She had seen many things over the years, but that didn't an she was omniscient.
"Don't you trust your old master?" He asked almost cheekily.
"I do!" She nodded. After all, if she hadn't, she wouldn't have told him about her past.
"Then trust this ti and head upstairs," Gilbert gently urged her. lina looked at the man before her. Despite his frail body and age, there was incredible strength in his grey eyes. There weren't many people in whom she had seen such strength, so she decided to trust him and headed upstairs.
Barely a few minutes passed before she heard the bell of the bakery door chi. Her heartbeat increased and she sat down by the door of her room, hoping to listen in. But obviously, she couldn't hear as far as the shop. Sienna cocked her curiously, scratching at the bottom of the door to figure out what exactly lina was doing.
lina looked at the little wyrm for a mont and then rembered what Master Gilbert had told her about familiars. That it was possible to share senses with them.
"Sienna, do you think we could share senses too?" She whispered and ntally reached out to their bond. The wyrm seed rather confused at first, sending mana her way instead. "No, not mana. Senses. Let hear what you're hearing and see what you're seeing."
lina gently brushed her hand against Sienna's warm scales and closed her eyes, trying to convey her ssage through their bond. Sienna responded by opening up to the bond, letting the mana flow freely between them.
"Let help you," lina said and concentrated the mana around Sienna. She had once done sothing similar before—trying to hijack the senses of a beetle in the Monster Realm. Unfortunately, it hadn't worked out very well—the way beetles perceive the world was vastly different from how humans do it. But perhaps, the wyrm's perception wouldn't be so different from human's.
For a minute or so, they both concentrated on strengthening their bond. Sotis Sienna would recoil when lina poked at the wrong parts of her consciousness. Other tis, lina would pull back herself, feeling that she had gone into the part of wyrm's mind where she shouldn't. But after so ti they finally had accomplished it.
[New skill obtained: Familiar Senses – Rank F]
[Familiar Senses – Rank F: Allows you to perceive the world through the senses of your familiar.]
lina humd, satisfied by the new skill. The connection was still very weak, and lina couldn't perceive the world too well through Sienna's eyes. However, she could hear through her familiar well enough.
"Go and check what is going on in the shop. But stay out of sight!" lina instructed and quietly opened a small crack in her bedroom door—just enough for the wyrm to squeeze through.
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After that lina closed her eyes and concentrated on maintaining the connection between them. It wasn't easy and the further Sienna went, the harder it was. Wyrm sneaked through the ceiling, using her superior grip to move, unaffected by gravity.
Sienna had made her way into the kitchen when he feared that the connection would snap entirely, but the wyrm must have sensed it too, stopping right by the entrance to the shop and reinforcing the connection from her side. lina then heard Gilbert's voice through Sienna. It sounded distant and unclear, as she was subrged underwater. But she was able to make it out.
"I'm not sure what you want. We are just a small bakery," Gilbert said in a low grumble.
"Wouldn't it be best if you dropped the facade? I am well aware of your accomplishnts, Holy Knight Gilbert," replied a sickly familiar voice. lina nearly severed the connection then and there, but managed to hold back her panic.
No matter where I go, this woman keeps haunting like a ghost whom I sent to the grave.
She was the one who chased her until the end before the ti rewind, she was in Tuvia when lina left the orphanage and now she had even made her way to Sunglow. Like a grim reaper always following her, chasing her.
She doesn't rember the ti before the rewind does she? No way, she shouldn't. But Alistair does rember and I don't know why. I always assud that I rember the past because I was the one to turn back ti. But Alistair was long dead before the ritual took place. Not to ntion, that he doesn't rember everything, only bits and snippets.
But why does he have
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