After confirming that the figure walking through the mist was indeed the Yellow-haired Witch, Shade walked forward and reached out to embrace her. Though Blaine did not understand what was happening, she hugged him as well.
"I thought I wouldn't get a chance to say goodbye. Where is this?"
"My dream."
He spoke softly.
"Sorry, I have no way to let you stay for now."
Blaine smiled.
"I was wondering what was wrong. So it was this. It's all right, Shade. I'm already very, very satisfied with this Sixth Epoch Journey."
Still embracing Shade, she took a deep breath.
"My only regret had been that I couldn't say goodbye to you. Now even that regret is gone. You were still asleep when I left. Danist Gustav said he would take Emilia back to Saint Byron's first, and the Great Witches—"
"No, you don't need to tell me what happened outside. Right now, I only want to say goodbye to you."
Shade interrupted her.
"I can learn about those things after I wake up. But after we say goodbye this time, who knows how long it will be before we meet again."
Blaine pursed her lips and smiled.
"So ever since I woke up, I've been wondering whether I'd been hunting you since Thousand Tree Forest, or you'd been hunting me since Thousand Tree Forest."
"What?"
"No, nothing. Either way is fine, as long as I got what I wanted. But now I have another problem. Once I go back, how can I let Teacher Feilianna find out without seeming like I'm deliberately showing off? That really is a big problem."
"Blaine~"
Shade said her name with a smile, and Blaine's face was also full of delight.
"This is one of the few things in which I surpassed Teacher. I'd bet