Shade continued to ask in surprise:
"So this little crystal doll statue was actually borrowed by Leisha from Zaras Academy of Literature?"
Miss Writer nodded.
"Yes. In fact, not only Zaras Academy of Literature—the Five Gods Church and two other academies should also have quite a few similar items in their collections. I told you before: unless the caster voluntarily dispels them at the cost of severe injury, or time is reversed, they are eternal."
As Dorothy spoke, she took out eight crystal objects and arranged them on the table. She had deliberately selected them; the eight crystal items belonged to different categories, and their sizes varied in sequence.
Among them, the crystal statues of a human, a Golden Silkworm, and an alien creature—an Aquatic Buffalo—had been resized by the Academy's Thaumaturgy for easier carrying.
With the help of these crystals, Dorothy hoped to experience the meaning of "eternity" together with Shade. But compared to eternity, what Shade felt more strongly was a chilling horror. Crystal Touch sounded at first like merely a variant of Petrification Technique, but once struck, one would face eternal loneliness. Compared to death, that was a far more terrifying punishment.
Of course, Leisha and Dorothy were both girls who hated tragedies. Thus, while learning the new fairy tale with Shade, Dorothy did not deliberately guide his thoughts toward tragedy. Instead, she hoped he would think more about what it meant that the greedy elf, lured by temptation, eventually turned into crystal herself.
Aside from their studies, Dorothy also spoke with Shade about what she and Leisha had been doing recently. Shade had been busy adventuring in Vesta Woodland lately, while the girls all had lives of their own.
For example, Dorothy was negotiating with the Publishing House over the royalty split for the next Detective