Tale of Discovery

Chapter 195: Sneak ; Entering ; Ari's Mother

"Tiffa? Are you asleep?" I whisper to the only person with me in the room.

Getting no response, I proceed to get up from my bed and exit the guest room we had been given to sleep in.

I walk to the living room, intending to check on the two elves using Clairvoyance, however, on the way there, I sense someone leaving a room.

Using Rework, I render myself completely imperceptible while checking out who left the room.

As expected, it's none other than Ari. I reckon that he's planning to head over to Iaron, intending to share information regarding Tiffa.

Ari heads over the living room before pushing one of the sofas.

I curiously watch over him as he opens a small trapdoor and inserts his hand inside.

A few seconds later, he pulls a scroll out before fixing everything and leaving the house.

Seeing that he's about to make his way to Iaron, I disable Rework and head back to the room Tiffa is in before muttering,

"Aruru, can you hear me?"

[Father?]

Hearing the sleepy voice responding to me, I say in an apologetic tone,

"I'm sorry to have wakened you up, but I need to protect someone while I'm away."

[Understood!]

Hearing the much more energetic response, I shake my head in exasperation before saying,

"Head over to the lounging room. I will create a gateway connected to there."

[Umn!]

Using Norse Magic, I quickly create a gateway before Aruru steps out of it in less than three seconds.

Seeing her messy hair, I chuckle a little before reaching my arm out to pat her head while saying,

"I promise to make up for it by granting you any wish as long as I'm capable of following it through."

A glint of excitement shimmers within her beady eyes as she nods her head and says,

"Don't worry! No sinner shall go unpunished."

"That's the spirit," I say before crouching down and giving her a light peck on her cheek.

Getting up, I point at Tiffa and say,

"That's the one you're supposed to protect."

"I understand," she responds.

"Good," I say before using Clairvoyance to check on Ari's location.

Seeing him heading toward the top-left part of the barrier in accordance to the house, I pat Aruru's head one last time before permeating through the wall and flying over to where Ari is.

As I watch over Ari from the sky, I notice that he seems to be extremely wary of being followed. Now and then, he would look all around himself, however, he seems to have forgone of the possibility that I could be flying above him.

Anyway, I'm currently making sure to not come into contact with the barrier, as I have suspicion regarding it having some kind of 'alarm' feature that reveals the location of intruders when they pass through it.

The reason for that is because their response to my arrival was too fast.

There is a chance that they just saw me, but it's very low.

It takes him a few minutes, but Ari eventually exits the barrier.

From the looks of it, the illusory barrier is one-way, as I am still able to see Ari as he continues to walk.

Fortunately, this increases the chance of them having seen me arrive here and not there being an 'alarm' that was triggered upon my arrival.

Suddenly, an idea appears in my head, which I'm surprised didn't cross my mind earlier.

Using Norse Magic, I create a gateway high above the sky right outside the barrier.

I cross to the other side and proceed to watch over Ari from the sky as he begins to chant something.

The next moment, a few small glowing green orbs appear around him and move toward his legs.

Once both of his legs have a decent amount of these orbs, Ari changes his stance to that one of dashing before he abruptly leaps forward.

As soon as his feet touch the ground, he leaps once again.

I continue to fly over him as he continues to repeat this process over and over again.

---

After what seemed like an hour, we finally seemed to have reached our destination as the glowing orbs around Ari's legs disappear, and he begins walking.

Shortly, Ari completely disappears from my vision, indicating that he has most likely entered another illusory barrier.

I can't lose my sight on him, so I must follow him from the ground while keeping myself out of sight.

Either that, or

Landing on the ground near the barrier, I use Rework to alter my appearance to that of an elf's.

I then stand at the spot where I last saw Ari before utilizing Blink to appear one meter in front of me.

Fortunately, it works out well, as I find myself standing in a completely different location.

"Hey, you!" a voice soon reaches my ears, "Who are you?"

Looking over at the source of the voice, I spot two elves who are both armed with spears, while Ari is nowhere within sight.

Furrowing my brows, I appear right behind the two elves before knocking the two of the out by swiftly striking the back of their napes.

As unfortunate as it may be, I am not skilled in tactical knockdowns, so to make up for it, I made use of my overwhelming strength which inevitably broke their bones.

Then, I crouch down and use Memory Erasure to wipe out anything about myself before using Healing Factor on them.

A few seconds later, I get up and begin jogging toward the center of the oasis, in hopes of finding Ari.

As I continue to jog, I realize something - This oasis is much larger than the other one.

Not only that, but the nature of the place seems to be different somehow.

Shaking such thoughts away, I increase my pace, while ignoring the curious gazes of elves I pass on the way.

Soon, I find myself standing in water while mesmerized by the sight of a ginormous tree right at the center of the oasis.

How is that tree even alive? Could it be some kind of magical tree or something?

I break my gaze off the tree and begin looking around, only to see that the whole place is filled with different kinds of houses.

There is one house that's particularly larger than the rest. In front of said house, there is wooden bridge extending all the way to the gigantic tree.

Due to it being nighttime, the only elves I've come across so far are the two guards and those I ran past on the way here.

Anyway, I need to locate Ari, and I feel like the best place to look for him would be the large house.

Using Clairvoyance, I find Ari being invited inside the house by a mature elven lady.

Could this woman be the one in charge of this place? Or is she just Ari's mother? Either way, she's worth looking into.

I make use of my speed and strength to swiftly get on top of the house the two are in before using permeation to get inside.

Due to the house consisting of two floors, I find myself standing on the second floor, using my senses to check for the presence of anyone other than the two of them.

Finding no one, I make full usage of my enhanced hearing to listen on the two elves' conversation.

"Ari, I've told you this before multiple times; The Great Purpose is not real," the mature woman says.

"Can you stop saying this already?" Ari immediately responds, "It's real. I'm sure of it. And now, we've found the key to reaching it!"

"Ari"

"Shut up, mom! You've never accomplished anything for our race, so you don't have any say in this,"

The conversation seems to over for now, as I sense the mature woman walking away from Ari, while the arrogant fool takes a seat on a stool.

"The only problem is that savage," Ari seems to mutter to himself, "He won't let me bring her here if I don't give him a proper reason to"

That's only natural. Forget brining her here. It won't happen.

Soon, Ari's mother returns and begins to converse with him once again.

"Are you really planning to sacrifice someone's life over this?"

Huh? What is this about?

"It doesn't matter," Ari firmly responds, "The Great Purpose is what matters most."

"Ari!" his mother exclaims.

"Stop it, already!" Ari responds, "There is no other to reach the Great Purpose other than sacrificing the key, so it's completely fine to do it."

"No, it's not," the woman hurriedly says, "You will be killing one of us for no purpose!"

Killing? No wonder Shajar wasn't willing to open the gate. I wonder if Luctiana is aware of this...

"She's not one of us," Ari jests, "She's just a half."

"Even so-"

"No," Ari interrupts her, "That's the end of it. I will go and inform the Council of Elders about this, so they can make a proper decision, unlike you."

The next moment, Ari gets up and walks toward the door leading outside, only to stop right in front of it and say in a melancholic tone,

"I really shouldn't have come here."

Then, Ari leaves the house without looking back even once.

As for his mother, she sits down on the stool Ari was just sitting on and mutters to herself,

"What do I do?"

I take this moment to think of what just happened before concluding that the first thing I need to do is gather information.

And Ari's mother is where the important information is