Chapter 920 A Stroll Through The Woods
The hike to our supposed training grounds was quite a peaceful one.
If there was ever a time needed for me to do some deep soul-searching and go on a long journey of self-worth and discovery, then this place had to be one of the better spots to do just that.
Waterfalls that poured endlessly into winding streams and shimmering lakes. Mossy clumps that clung to the face of every rock, and coating every tree in a fashion statement of going green. The wildlife itself accompanied us along every step with the occasional chime of birds flocking through rustling treetops overhead, animals unseen scuffling between thickets and meadows.
Nature's naturally made amusement park in essence. And if stripped of all context, all intentions, this would have made for a very, very good date had this only been one.
Then again, who's to say this couldn't be?
We passed across a large trench, clambered over the cragged husk of an uprooted tree. It didn't take long before the trail disappeared from beneath us, and I had to divert into following Irene's footsteps instead of the occasional sign or landmark to even know where we were going.
"You aren't gonna ask?"
Irene glanced back to ask before turning back around. Her tone dull, flat with just a bit of intrigue as its saving grace from total lifelessness.
I blinked. "Ask about what?"
"About anything," she answered, ducking below a low-hanging branch. "You usually would by now—or no, even earlier too. A bit out of character that you're so quiet now."
"Said you didn't like chatty if I recall."
"No, I don't like them chatty," she said. "You, you're not them, are you? So talk. It'd be nice to actually hear something else apart from everything else we've been hearing."
"In that case…" I followed her under the branch. "This place, where we're headed. You and Ria came from there? Really?"
"Yes, really," she affirmed. "Why does that amaze you?"
"It's just, well… it's so close by. I would've thought it'd be farther. I was thinking another country—hell—another continent even."
"Nope. Not Egypt. Not China. Right here. More or less fifty years ago," Irene went on, skipping through stepping stones leading down an incline. "When Kronocia started taking a turn for the worse, worse than it already was, I decided it was about time to go before I went with it. I'm not sure when exactly it happened, but seeing as your parents chose this realm for their post-doomsday retirement, seemed it happened just a little while after I left."
I copied her movement, skipping down right after her, though lacking much of her grace.
"And crossing realms?" I asked, pausing between hops. "How did you do that?"
"I made sure to get acquainted with an exceptionally talented Magus," she explained. "Didn't take much of a liking to me at first, but over time… well, he got awfully chatty too."
The power of a wink and a smile. Oh, us men seem to be rather susceptible to that, aren't we? I'm no better either. I mean, Amanda was pretty much a pseudo-succubus herself at times. Or else she wouldn't have gotten away with all the countless things I let her get away with.
"So what makes this place we're heading to so special, then?" I inquired further. "Is it just purely for the sentimental factor, or…?"
"No, Ria has nothing to do with it," she said, perhaps a bit more stiffly than she wanted. Or maybe it was just my imagination, continuing on without skipping a beat. "It's hard to explain, but to keep it brief… there exist places in the world where numerous, complicated factors happen to align just right with one another."
Irene glanced back around again, the start of a class lecture echoing from all around.
"The colors, the environment, the location, many, many other things. They need to match up perfectly. And when they do, these variables create a symbiosis. it becomes a hotspot for magic and with those with innate potential for it to flourish. A perfect place for one to hone their skills.
"Back in Kronocia, these aforementioned spots can be easily discerned by shimmering crystals that can be found protruding from the earth itself. These crystals, the result of this perfect symbiosis. They are majorly used by academies to train fledgling sorcerers. Quite lucrative too. Most of these places become commercial hubs for people to mine and trade."
To my surprise, I realized I was actually already fairly well-versed in this lesson of hers. I've seen these spots for myself when I had delved into Ash's memories. A massacre happened there, the blood of many coating the prism-studded premises.
Don't think I'll be forgetting that sight anytime soon.
"Of course in your realm, magic doesn't exist outside those that already possess it, so you won't be seeing any crystal sprouting about," Irene said, bringing the lecture to a close. "But you'll still be able to sense what I mean when we reach the place."
"Is that how you wind up here, then?" I asked. "Perfectly aligned variables?"
"Perhaps," she mused along. "There's really no precedent to go off of here, so it is a sound theory."
Before long the chatter died away, having nothing else to ask and answer. I just kept following her tracks, crossing streams now, and hiking over a grassy mound.
Just how far was this place?
"Still a ways away, you know?" Irene answered as if reading my thoughts. "Anything else you want to talk about?"
I stopped for a second, a single step. More or less, I'm thoroughly convinced I had nothing more to say of worth. But in truth, I'd be lying to myself if I didn't have anything to talk about overall.
It just… didn't seem like I should, or even have any desire to. And yet… what the hell am I doing?
"Back there," I said, suddenly finding it exponentially harder to talk. "Was that all really necessary?"
Irene didn't say anything at first. She was thinking, and ultimately, it seemed she came up with nothing for context. "Was what necessary?"
"Y'know…" For some reason, I had to wrestle myself even more before the words would finally leave my lips. "...seducing the guy, all that effort. I mean, couldn't you have just flashed your badge and gotten the same result anyway?"
She snorted, and three steps ahead of me, I could almost see the smirk on her face past her ambling figure.
"A police badge isn't an all-access pass to everywhere, you know? In some cases, yes. In this case, maybe, so long as I come up with something reasonable. But if I show up here for official business, he might start wondering things, questioning things—attention we wouldn't want. Whereas stopping here for a break, playing nice with the nice, handsome man behind the counter, tugging at the kindness of his heart—well now he's complicit. And if he's complicit, then he's also persuadable, quiet. Simple."
Simple? It sounded more like espionage to me. Navigating through an invisible checkerboard of emotions to get to that checkmate, to what she was after.
Just how far ahead does she think about every situation, seriously?
"Well, okay, now when you put it that way, I guess—"
"When I put it that way?" She interrupted, inquiring. "You're making it sound like there was another way to put it."
Again, for some other strange unknowable reason, I felt my gaze quickly tether down to the earth.
"Am I?" I asked, and briefly, I dared to peek up.
A big mistake.
"You tell me," she said, peering back at me with a sly, almost all-knowing gaze matching well with her still lingering smirk. "How did you make of it?"
"Nothing in any way worth mentioning."
"Nothing?"
"No, nothing."
She scrunched her face. "I don't agree."
"Well, feel free to disagree. Doesn't change a thing."
"Well, you know what I think?"
"I think we should talk about something else now."
"In a bit, provided you play along," she said sweetly. "So ready to hear my theory yet?"
I sighed, already regretting I had even spoken at all in the first place. "What?
"I'm thinking that you don't really like it when I'm chatty with someone else, do you? I think there's even a word for that. Possessive? Childish, maybe? Or, wait… jealous?"
I let out another breath, trying to dissipate the heat that for some other, other mystery reason was building up around my ears.
"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you?"
"I would, yes," she said nonchalantly. "A small taste of your own medicine. Now you know how I feel when I'm not with you."
There was another branch. Irene went through just fine. Me, I rose up a second too early, wound up showering leaves all over my head.
"Alright, fine, maybe just a little bit jealous," I admitted. "Go on, let it out, what do you have to say to that?"
Irene was light on the jeering, practically non-existent actually; shaking her head, still pacing ever onward.
"I'd say why even? What's there to be jealous about? Sure, with him, I'm chatty. I needed to be. But with you, I'm actually content, happy. And even better, talking to you, I'm me."
All of a sudden I found myself walking alongside her. I didn't even realize she slowed down there. On my left, she threw me a look, mildly annoyed, exasperated, all banded within the shape of her soft tender gaze.
"Or what?" she asked me. "Would you perhaps like it if I'm just a bit more chatty with you instead? Like them?
"No thanks," I said at once. "I only want you when you're you. I like you. This you, I mean."
"Then don't you worry about a thing," she said, with a slighter smile fitting her new look. "This is the only me that you'll ever see."
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