'I somehow managed to shake them both off. I hope they don't try chasing after me anytime soon.'
Elysia hurried through the forest, her exposed arms getting various cuts in the process. Elysia was moving in a state of blind panic but she had no other choice if she wanted to get away.
She knew she was casing trouble but she was doing it on purpose. It also helped that the forest was helping Elysia mask her aura.
Since Elysia was running around without any destination in her mind, it was easy for Elysia to stumble on her way.
She was not able to tell if it was a rock or a fallen log that caused her to lose balance but she did notice the huge body of blue she was about to fall into.
"Hey, watch it. What if I got injured due to your foolishness?"
The question silent panic Elysia's mind had descended over in her haste to get away. But it could not stop Elysia's fall into the lake in front of her.
For some reason, oxygen was a scarce product in the water and Elysia tried to breathe in the water without the aid of her magic.
The panic combined with her sudden action caused Elysia to choke on water and her body started to lose strength.
'I am sure I will survive this. This world won't let me die this peacefully,' Elysia tried to move her body but she was unable to.
This incident was another one Elysia had never seen in her vision before. It meant that it was not significant enough to mention.
'Or, the future changed and this incident happened as a result.'
One's mind tended to drift everywhere when it was on the verge of unconsciousness. But Elysia was sure her numbness and lack of pain also contributed to her present state.
Her eyes could not even tell if Elysia was sinking or floating upwards. All she could see around her was the cold embrace of water that was numbing her body.
"Oh, for fuck's sake. Can't you even pull yourself out of the water? Your weight almost drowned me as well."
Elysia tried to breathe once she was out of water. Her first gulp of pure air kick-started her body's fight or flight response and the pain came slamming back into her.
Along with pain came the clarity to be able to think and rationalize her current situation.
There Elysia was, lying on the grass in her wet clothes. Wet clothes that were becoming almost transparent in appearance and were certainly showing off more than Elysia was comfortable showing in public.
And then there was the male voice that was annoyed at Elysia for something. The owner of the voice was likely looking at her as well.
Elysia's brain decided that she was in danger and her body moved on auto-pilot to preserve whatever modesty she had left.
'Should I kill him? Who is it? Lord Dirac said that the only humans that can come into this forest are from the Dirac family but there is no one else left in our family except me and Lord Dirac.'
"Hey, calm down. I need to make sure you are not injured and...…..holy shit. Y-You, don't need to do that. I will back down if you want me to."
But it was too late for Elysia to be able to stop the massive wave of water she had borrowed from the lake.
In her haste to defend herself, Elysia's magic had managed to cause the water in the nearby lake to rise and it slammed into the owner of that male voice at a decent velocity.
The sound of water hitting the ground was as loud as a roar of lightning. Even Elysia had to flinch once the water made that sound.
'I didn't end up killing that man, right? Am I a murderer now?'
Elysia quickly picked her body up into a sitting position and instantly gave a bow toward the man she had most likely killed.
"I am sorry. I did not mean to hurt you. I'm so so sorry."
"Darn right. You should be sorry for what you did. I almost got severely injured due to your magic that was mixed up in the water. What even are you to be able to hold so much magic inside you?"
Elysia wanted to breathe a sigh of relief as soon as she heard the familiar voice. The owner of that voice did not sound like he was heavily injured which made Elysia feel better.
She had not ended up killing that man, no, boy.
Now that Elysia could make out the owner of that voice a little better, her defective eyes picked up the shape of a young body around the age of eight.
"What are you looking at? Are your eyes defective?"
The owner of that mature-sounding voice was the small boy in front of Elysia. She could not make it he was a dwarf or if he genuinely was a kid in appearance but something inside Elysia was convinced that the owner of that mature voice was a kid.
"A-Ah, my eyes are partially blind so please ignore my staring. I was just amazed to see someone young like you be able to defend against my panicked attack."
Elysia realized that she might have misspoken once she was finished speaking. Head Priest Yohan had warned her about her big mouth too many times but it was a hard habit to control.
But now it seemed like her big mouth had even managed to offend the young kid she had just met.
"Are you underestimating me? What right do a thing like you even have to doubt me? It would be kinder for you to die than to live with an evil trace like that."
The kid was rude but it didn't seem like he was saying anything with a conscious mouth. Elysia wanted to be angry at the kid who was judging her at her first meeting but she could not even mutter the energy to do so.
After all, did it matter what the kid thought of her? He was not the first person to dislike Elysia at their first meeting.
Most people who met Elysia for the first time ended up disliking her. Unlike Eve and even Adam, who could charm anyone Elysia had to try extra hard to make connections.
So when even a kid from the magical forest ended up disliking her, Elysia knew it was her fault and not of the humans.
The only ones that liked Elysia were the animals but maybe it was only limited to the normal animals.
"Ah, sorry. Forget what I just said to you since I didn't mean it. This world is such a pain in the ass, always trying to dictate our actions. But what did you even do to it to get hated with this 'corrupted' aura? Must be something big if you managed to piss it off this much."
The more Elysia heard the kid talk, the more she was convinced that he was not right in his head.
Who talked about the world as if it was a living entity? This was the first time Elysia had heard of the world being mentioned in such a way and Elysia was someone who had seen all kinds of things in her life.
"Fuck, I forgot that you are a normal human and likely have no idea what I am talking about. Forget everything I said till now. Just tell me who you are and how did you even get in here?"
The conversation was moving too fast for Elysia to keep up with. She had not gotten one question sorted in her head when another one was added.
But she did know that this kid was someone impressive and she should not make an enemy out of him if she could help it.
"My name is Elysia…..Dirac. I entered this forest with the Dirac family head, Lord Lucas Dirac but we got separated due to an incident."
Elysia gave the shortest introduction she could without flinching. She had not been advised by Lord Dirac on how to address herself or if she was even able to the Dirac name.
But since Lord Dirac had requested Elysia to be back, she could only assume that she was allowed to have this name.
"Dirac? Lucas's sister? Wasn't she dead? Did you manage to survive back then? But how? No, don't answer. You cannot answer my questions even if I asked you to. I will ask Lucas once he decided to visit the Forest Lord's residence. You want to come with me?."
Elysia just gave a hollow smile back to the kid. It seemed like he was in a world of his own where Elysia was not welcomed.
"Ah, what are you going to do now? I'm sure I have offended you enough by now so I should head back home. If you see Lord Dirac please let him know that I went back home."
Elysia breathed a sigh of relief at completing her mission.
If she asked the kid to deliver her message to Lord Dirac then she did not need to meet him today. By tomorrow, Elysia would be busy enough with the case and Lord Dirac will not be able to force her to come here again.
Elysia would be able to get out of this situation without a familiar and she would not have to endure the Head Priest's disappointed glare.
"Kid, I don't think I want you to head home in your condition. I'll feel more comfortable if you came with me to meet Lucas. He must have a reason to bring you here."
"H-He did not. I should really...…Woah."
Elysia never got a chance to make an excuse before she was picked up by the back of her dress.
The place where the kid had stood just seconds ago was occupied by a fox-like beast. Elysia could see a lot of fluffy tails fluttering in the wind behind the beast lazily.
That was all Elysia got to see before the blurry scenery around her disappeared in a flash of speed.
The beast was running toward the forest center with Elysia still hanging from his mouth. This was the most nerve-wracking yet exciting thing Elysia had done in her life.