The Sea of Light (Continued II)

Edward failed to hold her back, and Princess Andrea had already charged forward with her sword in hand.

Edward was about to get out and chase after her when he suddenly realized that he was surrounded by onlookers. With a helpless shrug, he stored the "sidecar" in his Spatial Ring, drawing a series of gasps. After all, only a few people in this world had ever seen a Spatial Ring. Edward reached into his clothes and pulled out a shiny metal handle. A smooth garnet-red crystal was set into its top.

"Too bad I'm not wearing a black suit." Edward was about to fish Sunglasses out of his pocket, but then realized he was still wearing his Eye of Truth glasses. He shook his head helplessly, figuring his attempt to show off this time wouldn't be quite complete.

"Come on, everyone, look over here." Edward pointed to the red crystal on the handle in his hand. "I'm going to show you a marvelous trick."

Everyone's gaze followed his finger.

With a soft pop, a somewhat dazzling purple-red light ray shot into everyone's eyes. The area fell silent, and the onlookers stood there, dumbstruck. The light on the handle stayed on, though, instead of vanishing in a flash like it did in the movies from Edward's previous life.

"All right, you didn't see anything just now. Go on about your business!"

The crowd paused for a few seconds, as if they had just awoken from a deep reverie, then went about their business. Those who needed to queue up queued, and those who needed to leave left, as if nothing had happened.

Meanwhile, Princess Andrea estimated the distance based on where she had "seen" them with her sword, then pushed through the startled crowd. She reached the spot she had guessed, but there was nothing there.

She had actually heard Edward say that the Beautiful Girl Mage and Baby-faced Pastor were "invisible," but she groped around the small patch of Empty Ground as if she were blind, unable to touch a thing. The surrounding crowd gathered to watch, chattering among themselves about whether the beautiful woman had some kind of mental illness...

"How can they not be here? I clearly saw them right here." Just as the Knight Princess was searching in bewilderment, the area suddenly fell silent, and a purple-red light shone toward her. She warily raised her head. When she saw the red light, she lost focus for an instant, then nearly burst out laughing.

Edward stood there in leather clothes and a leather cap, wearing a pair of ridiculously large black-rimmed glasses. One hand was tucked in his pocket, while the other held aloft a handle emitting a dazzling light. The people coming and going seemed not to see him at all. Not one of them paid him any attention. Even the people who had been watching the princess moments ago fell quiet, as if nothing had happened.

With his brown leather cap and fur-collared jacket, topped off by those enormous black-rimmed glasses, he looked like an owl holding up a torch.

"Pfft..." Andrea covered her mouth and giggled.

"You're quite perceptive, Your Highness. You found me so quickly." Edward smiled.

"What are you holding?" Princess Andrea asked, suppressing her laughter.

"Do you know the Holy Light God Church's divine spell, Light's Blessing?"

"Of course. It's that 'you can't see me, you can't see me' spell, right? Alice told me about it. Pastor Elvin uses it all the time, but she can always catch him." Princess Andrea had a very charming way of putting it.

"This device is very similar to that spell. I found it in the library at the Ailande Royal Magic Academy. It's the only mental spell that doesn't cause ordinary people any aftereffects. I named it 'High-Profile Invisibility.' Its effect is to force anyone with low Mental Resistance to ignore the spellcaster."

As Edward explained this to Princess Andrea, he wandered back and forth among the people around her, as if searching for something.

"Why can't I find them? Did they enter some kind of Mysterious Space?" Princess Andrea pressed on.

"No, they haven't gone anywhere. They're right there." Edward gathered his thoughts before continuing. "More precisely, they've entered a particular state. It's much like Light's Blessing: it makes people ignore them, but they also ignore us. That means the two groups of us see and hear different things. We're in the same time and space, but it's as if we're worlds apart. What you 'saw' just now with that sword was their 'world.'"

"Then why can't I touch them? Even if I can't see them, shouldn't I still be able to sense them?" Princess Andrea asked, watching Edward continue to wander around aimlessly.

"No. Your eyes are deceiving you, your ears are deceiving you, your fingers are deceiving you, and even your brain is deceiving you." Edward's words were astonishing.

"W-why would that happen?" The Knight Princess felt a chill run down her spine.

"Because this 'spell' was cast by a 'God.' Just like the scriptures of the various churches say of a 'God': 'We are one, while He is many. We all come from Him; we are all His children.'"

"What does that mean?" Her Highness seemed to understand something, yet also seemed to understand nothing at all.

"It means that the 'God' we know is actually made up of countless intelligent beings like you and me. We are a part of Him, and He is us. It's easy for Him to keep one part of His body from seeing another. Does that make sense?"

Princess Andrea finally understood, though an inexplicable fear had crept into her heart.

Edward seemed to have found something. Holding up the "torch" with one hand and stroking his chin with the other, he looked down at a little boy sleeping on his mother's shoulder.

"How old is Pastor Elvin?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Sixteen or seventeen, I think. Anyway, he's half a year older than Alice."

"Then how old are you, Your Highness?"

"Huh? W-why are you asking that? It's... it's very impolite..." Her Highness suddenly grew bashful.

"Please tell me quickly." Edward walked over and asked with a serious expression.

"Twenty. W-what's wrong?" Andrea was at a loss.

"Well, this isn't going the way I expected, and we might not have much time. I'll keep it brief.

"A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is right in front of you. Whether you can seize it is up to you." Edward placed a hand on Her Highness's shoulder, his expression solemn.

"What do you mean...?" The princess felt a little embarrassed by his sudden closeness.

"I'm going to 'send you inside.' Then you might be able to grow to the 'Fifth Stage' just like them. Are you willing?"

The power system in this world was broadly divided into five stages: Apprentice Level, Beginner Level, intermediate, advanced, and Highest Level.

For Mages, the stages were Magic Apprentice, Formal Mage, Great Mage, Magister, and Great Magister.

For knights, they were Knight Attendant, knight, Great Knight, Sky Knight, and Sword Saint. The reason the highest rank of the knights didn't fit the naming pattern of the others was that all Martial Artists who used Battle Qi were collectively called "Sword Saints" once they reached the Highest Level.

For priests, they were Novice Priest, priest, bishop, Sage, and Great Sage (this setting differs from the Japanese-style one; it's not because someone was too lazy to think of a word, okay? ^_^).

"Sword Saint?" The Knight Princess asked in disbelief.

"You've already got a Semi-divine Artifact. What's there to disbelieve? Hurry up and tell me, do you want to do it?" Edward kept the "torch" raised in one hand. His eyes, visible behind the black-rimmed glasses, looked a little fierce.

"Of... of course I do." The Knight Princess's gaze firmed. Honestly, who wouldn't want to get such an incredible freebie?

Edward glanced back at the child sleeping on his mother's shoulder, then said to the Knight Princess:

"Listen carefully. Draw your sword and give me the Sword Sheath." He took the sheath she handed him and continued.

"Same as before. Close your eyes and 'look.' Keep going until you can see the two of them clearly.

"I can't help you right now, because that fellow doesn't like me. The sword can't carry my Aura. Otherwise, that fellow will leave the moment you go in.

"Once you can see them clearly, nod. Remember, don't say a word before you 'go in.'"

Nearly a minute passed before the Knight Princess managed to nod.

"Good. Now don't focus on them. Look at that patch of light. Does it feel like it's swaying like the waves?"

The Knight Princess nodded again.

"Good. Adjust your Mental Power and Battle Qi to match that swaying rhythm, as if you're making your Battle Qi dance to music. Don't be nervous. Relax, relax. You can do this. You're the most talented warrior I've ever met..."

The Knight Princess's figure began to blur in Edward's eyes, appearing and disappearing like the waves.

'All right, now walk forward. You have to take a step forward both in your mind and with your body. Imagine you're sleepwalking. Just one step. Just one step...'

Edward watched the blurred Knight Princess struggle to move her beautiful long leg forward. Suddenly, she vanished, leaving only a faint shadow on the lenses of his Eye of Truth.

Another five minutes passed. Edward glanced down at the wristwatch he had made from a Pocket Watch and decided it was about time. He walked over to the child sleeping on his mother's shoulder and gently poked his plump little cheek. The child slept soundly, weakly pushing his hand away before drifting right back to sleep. His mother moved another step forward with the queue.

When Edward saw that hadn't worked, he steeled himself, curled his finger, breathed on it, and gave the little boy a gentle flick on the forehead.

The boy woke up, rubbing his sleepy eyes, still dazed. But when he saw Edward's owl-like getup, he burst into tears. His mother quickly shifted him in her arms and began to soothe him.

Edward still had the "torch" raised, looking as if to say, "I knew you could see me."

He turned to the other side. It was as if some invisible bubble had burst. The surrounding light seemed to refract off scattered droplets of water, and the three figures appeared as though they had been washed out by raindrops. It was as if they had been in a painting all along, with raindrops washing away the paint that had covered them and revealing them at last.

The moment they came out, Chang Wei was beating Laifu—no, Alice was beating Pastor Elvin. Andrea stood to the side with her sword, watching the show.

"You awful man! You wiped your snot on my clothes. Do you know how disgusting that was? You couldn't even use a Cleaning Spell in that creepy place."

The girl wasn't really hitting him; she was just venting.

Edward walked over, holding the "torch" high, and looked down at the Baby-faced Pastor crouching on the ground with his arms over his head, amusement in his eyes.

The girl stopped, and all three of them turned to look at him.

The Baby-faced Pastor wiped his tears and recognized who had come. Sobbing uncontrollably, he said:

"Sir, the Oracle... famine... a famine is coming."

The two women fell silent. Everyone who had ever heard a sermon from any church knew that God warned prophets of disasters to come. Both women were weighed down by the news. Princess Andrea especially understood, as a member of the country's ruling class, just how great a threat famine posed to a young nation. Several countries on the New Continent had already fallen because of disasters. The present-day Highland Castle had been built amid the ruins of the first wave of settlers.

Just then, they heard Edward's voice.

"Prophet, you've got to be kidding," Edward said, looking as if he'd expected this all along. "Have you ever heard of potatoes?"