The Witch had expected a long hesitation or a change of subject after asking that question. Instead, the answer came swiftly and decisively:
"No, he never told me."
The red-haired girl immediately shook her head. It was something the two of them tacitly understood, or rather, she was waiting to see what day Shade would willingly bring it up himself—or accidentally let it slip.
"No?"
The Witch frowned again. Daniste simply did not want to let her learn this secret so easily, but she did not want to lie either, so she added:
"He just never said whether he was or not, but I think he is suspicious too."
"Exactly, exactly. Just look at the moonlight he uses, and the power he displays gets more exaggerated every time."
The grayish-brown-haired lady nodded, then turned to look at the snow-covered city outside the window again.
"I feel like I'm only one step away from uncovering all his secrets. Daniste, you have to help me. He's your student—don't you want to know everything about him?"
The eighteen-year-old red-haired girl fought desperately to suppress her laughter. She was beginning to appreciate the vitality of her current youth.
Meanwhile, Shade could guess that the inn was surely hosting speculation and discussion about his identity, but that could wait. At that moment, he was racing through the woods with the Thaumaturgy Path in the Woods.
The reason he had not simply thrown down the Crystal Shoes to return home, then gone from there to the Elf Girl's cabin, was naturally because he was carrying a soul. He might have been able to bring that soul home through Thaumaturgy, but Shade did not wish for a soul tainted by massive amounts of paradox to leave Vesta Woodland.
Snowflakes continued to drift over all of Vesta Woodland,