Seeing that communication was now effective and the other party had managed to maintain a calm train of thought, Violet nodded satisfactorily and beckoned to the little dragon girl standing beside her.
“Master?”
The priestess exchanged a glance with her pet, easily understanding each other’s thoughts, then turned her gaze back to Ini.
“This is my companion, Xiao Guang. She possesses an extraordinary sense of perception for auras. But before we proceed, I’d like to ask, are there usually many people coming and going at this Spirit Spring of yours?”
“Uh? Um...”
The clan leader’s solemn expression stiffened for a moment, then she awkwardly shifted her gaze to Imeng. The latter seemed to understand something and shook her head helplessly.
“Not many. The Spirit Spring is used to maintain the vitality of our skin and to coordinate the circulation of magical energy within our bodies. Since puppets don’t have metabolism and only need to be wiped with clean water at home, most sisters only come to the Spirit Spring once or twice a month unless they particularly enjoy it.”
“Yes, that’s right!”
Upon hearing this, Ini seemed to struggle to recall something and quickly echoed her agreement.
It seems that this Miss leader doesn’t care about anything idle at all in her daily life. She’s the epitome of a shut-in......
Violet silently commented to herself, though she maintained a serious demeanor on the surface.
“What I said earlier was just a general hypothesis, but regardless, if that Miss Eilush came here, there must still be traces of her aura around. Do you two have any items that are particularly close to her?”
“Items? Yes, we do! This is a little puppet that Eilush just gave me recently. She made it herself. Would you like to see it?”
Imeng hurriedly retrieved a palm-sized puppet from under her skirt, which bore a striking resemblance to her. However, it appeared to be an ordinary handmade puppet with no special features. She carefully handed it to Violet.
Wait, why did she take it out from there? So you can actually keep things under your skirt?
“By the way, miss, please don’t press or touch the puppet randomly. Otherwise...”
Imeng hadn’t finished her warning before the black-haired girl instinctively pinched the puppet’s tiny head.
And then...
*Chiiiii!*
Suddenly, a large white mist sprayed out from the puppet’s head, enveloping the nearby girls.
“?”
“Master!”
“Lady Violet, are you okay?!”
“Wow, what is this thing? Why is it so sticky?”
“I-I’m sorry!”
Finally following Imeng’s hurried instructions and pinching the puppet’s head a few times to suck away the mist. Violet, looking bewildered, realized that it was Eilush, who had specially made a smoke bomb for her, designed to provide protection. If the mist lingered in the air for too long, it would solidify into a web-like obstacle, quite bizarre indeed.
Because it was easy to accidentally trigger it when placed in a pocket, Imeng had tied it to her thigh.
Well, it seems that this missing Miss Eilush has quite the inventive mind.
“Xiao Guang, can you track it?”
Passing the puppet, which had just sprayed the mist, to the dragon girl beside her, Xiao Guang frowned and sniffed it, then suddenly glanced away, seeming a bit guilty.
However, Imeng, whose facial expressions didn’t change much due to being a puppet, didn’t say much, just nodded.
Read latest chapters at freёweɓnovel.com Only.
“There are many mixed scents, but there’s definitely a distinct different odor lingering on it. We can also find it nearby, probably... here.”
The dragon girl pointed to a spot near the hot spring, and Imeng, seeing this, seemed to forget about maintaining her unusual emotions and immediately exclaimed loudly.
“That’s right, that’s right! I saw Eilush standing right here. You’re amazing, golden-haired sister!”
Without reacting to Imeng’s sincere admiration, Xiao Guang, looking somewhat disdainful, tossed the puppet back to her and turned to the black-haired girl with a pensive expression.
“Master, what should we do now?”
“Well...”
Since the dragon girl could indeed find Eilush’s scent near the hot spring, it indicated that she had indeed been here, contrary to the other assumptions.
After that, she quickly left, and it was not logical that she would do so while supposedly in “emergency mode.” So... did someone take Eilush away?
But there’s still the question: why did this happen just when their group arrived at the Spirit Puppet Forest?
Was it really just a coincidence?
Regardless, let’s find her first before anything else.
“Can you track her location?”
The dragon girl nodded without hesitation.
“Of course, but we need to hurry. She’s intentionally suppressing her scent, and she’s moving rapidly outward. She’s already nearing the edge of this forest.”
Violet shifted her gaze to the two puppet girls.
“There you have it. Miss Ini, what do you say now?”
Although she still seemed somewhat skeptical of the dragon girl’s abilities, the tribal chief seemed to understand the principle of trusting one’s subordinates. She nodded decisively.
“Then we’ll trouble Miss Xiao Guang to lead the way. Regardless of what that idiot Eilush is up to, we need to find her as soon as possible.”
“It doesn’t have to be that complicated...”
If she could almost escape the dragon girl’s detection range in such a short time, then that Eilush’s strength couldn’t be that weak. With her speed and the obstacles of the forest terrain, chasing her with a group of people would only make things more complicated.
The priestess pointed to the dragon girl beside her, then confidently patted her own chest, which lacked any real content.
“Here’s the deal. Let’s go help you bring her back. This whole thing reeks of strangeness, and I’d really like to get to the bottom of it. As for everything else, we can figure that out after we’ve solved this issue, okay?”
“Oh? Well, I guess that’s fine, but...”
“Oh, don’t ‘but’ me! Since you’ve agreed, Miss Ini, please take care of my companion. We’ll be back soon!”
Without wasting any more time, Ini nodded in understanding. Seeing the urgency in the priestess’s actions, she quickly grabbed her dragon girl’s hand, and together they spread their wings and soared into the sky, disappearing into the depths of the forest in the blink of an eye.
“Oh, well...”
The remaining people looked at each other in confusion. Finally, Leila, with some concern, asked a question.
“Miss Ini, what were you about to say just now?”
The chieftain’s mouth twitched a few times, and she pressed her hand to her forehead.
“But Eilush is a powerful demon general. If there’s an unexpected conflict...”
.......................
【I didn’t expect this to be a powerful demon general...】
While controlling the newly acquired body and fleeing at top speed, Harvey couldn’t help but secretly rejoice in his good fortune.
He was a special creature not belonging to this world, coming from another realm, or rather, an alternate realm.
The world where Harvey originally resided was called the 【Upper Dimensional Realm】 by the local beings. It was a peculiar space that did exist but was also ethereal and elusive on the physical level. The creatures inside were all spiritual beings like him, lacking three-dimensional entities and existing in a similar form of consciousness.
Just like the 【Upper Dimensional Realm】, the corresponding 【Lower Dimensional Realm】 was also a foundational world, or rather, the basic framework world that constituted the material world. However, Harvey had only heard of these concepts and was not clear on the specifics.
Although Harvey had never been to the 【Lower Dimensional Realm】, he had heard that it was a chaotic world filled with elements and mindless elemental beings, a realm of pure energy that stood in stark contrast to the 【Upper Dimensional Realm】.
There existed a special intermediate world between these two realms, where things from the 【Upper Dimensional Realm】 and the 【Lower Dimensional Realm】 would periodically surge in large quantities, mixing together. It was because of this that Harvey had arrived in a world called the 【Illusionary Realm】.
The conscious life forms from the 【Upper Dimensional Realm】 would instinctively attach themselves to physical bodies, while the elemental life forms from the 【Lower Dimensional Realm】 lacked any intelligence and could serve as ideal vessels for spirits, forming a harmonious symbiotic relationship.
Originally, it was like this.
But at some point, the core that maintained the stability of the 【Illusionary Realm】 collapsed.