The mark on the map was...
"Is this town called Dreaming Forest? Or is this whole area called Dreaming Forest?" Chen Ce couldn't quite tell for a moment.
"Lillia doesn't know either..." The young deer girl peered curiously into the town a few times. "It's Lillia's first time here too..."
"Then are you going in?"
"I think so... Tree Mother's summons is coming from inside."
"Then this may be where we say goodbye." Chen Ce took the pack off Lillia's back, then handed her the agreed payment—food and gold coins. "Our destination is Fae'lor Island. Judging from the map, it's still a little way from here, and there's a strait in between."
"Mhm..." Lillia hugged the bag of gold coins to her chest. She looked a little reluctant, and also a little timid—she was very afraid of strangers. If Chen Ce and Ahri left, she wouldn't really dare enter the town alone.
At the very least... she would have to wait until night, when there was no one around, before she dared sneak in for a look.
"Then... goodbye...?"
"See you again if fate allows." Chen Ce waved goodbye, and Ahri, for once, also swished her tails at Lillia.
The three split into two groups and gradually drifted farther apart.
But just as Chen Ce was about to leave Dreaming Forest, an aged voice suddenly sounded behind him—without warning, without him sensing a thing, as if it had always been there.
"Are you here for the Spirit Blossom Festival too? Ionia hasn't had spirit blossoms for several years... This year is truly lucky."
He turned his head and saw a white-haired old woman past sixty smiling cheerfully at him.
"The Spirit Blossom Festival?" Chen Ce paused.
"Yes, the Spirit Blossom Festival." The old woman looked surprised again. "Aren't you here