Watching White Shadow's glow dim, its disappointment obvious, Ivette felt a little embarrassed and added, "Since I've accepted your deposit, let's make this a long-term commission. When my abilities evolve in the future, I'll come back again. What do you think? It might take quite a while, though."
Probably only a few hundred years, she silently added.
White Shadow brightened slightly again and nodded at her.
The two returned the way they had come, passing through the endlessly stretching stairway and returning to the original gold-and-blue mansion.
Standing on the red carpet in the hall, Ivette turned to White Shadow and asked, "Why do you trust me so much?"
White Shadow made a scratching-its-head gesture.
"Don't tell me you don't know either."
It nodded to confirm that she was right.
Ivette was speechless for a while and said nothing more.
She had actually wanted to ask more questions, but this fellow could not speak. Communicating through body language alone was simply too exhausting.
She had also tried using Mind Magic to communicate, but the other party's spirit body never opened itself up. She did not know whether it could not be opened or whether it simply did not want to, so she could only give up.
"Don't forget to let all of them out," Ivette reminded it before leaving. After White Shadow gave her a confirming response, she walked out of the mansion.
She arrived at the small boat.
The boat's oars began rowing on their own, carrying her through the dreamlike and breathtaking Water Mirror Garden drifting along the water, toward the exit.
Abera felt as though she had had a nightmare.
After passing through that door, she had arrived in an enormous library. A seal had been pasted over the library's exit, but the content of the seal