“At the same time, you can also use this,” Liana used magic again.

[Create, Suppressor]

Another cylindrical attachment appeared on Truth’s muzzle. “This can effectively reduce sound and muzzle flash, making it harder for you to be detected when using it.”

“That’s possible too?” This perfectly solved the problem of too much noise and commotion.

“Want to learn?” Liana asked.

“Yes!” Mephilia looked at Liana with curiosity, wondering how Liana had created this somewhat familiar yet completely foreign new term.

“Actually, this is just a very ordinary magic,” Liana began explaining the principle to Mephilia. It wasn’t difficult; in fact, it was quite simple.

“What’s the difference between an iron sword and an iron staff?” Liana asked.

“...The shape?”

After all, Liana had specifically mentioned the premise—iron.

“Yes, the shape.” Liana nodded. “During this time of learning magic, I discovered that spells like [Sword] or [Shield] aren’t actually necessary. We just haven’t realized it before, which is why we’ve been using these special incantations to shape things.”

Previous magic was more cumbersome yet simpler—just copy exactly, relax your mind. Liana’s idea was more advanced.

“What do you mean, Liana?”

“Magic is something full of imagination, Mephilia. Close your eyes, use the spell to create iron, and then while casting, imagine a sword or shield in your mind.” Liana said.

“Alright.”

Mephilia closed her eyes. [Create, Iron, Sword]

An iron sword appeared in Mephilia’s hand, but she had still instinctively spoken the [Sword] incantation.

“Sorry.” Mephilia realized she hadn’t followed Liana’s instructions. It was a completely subconscious action.

“It’s okay.” To Liana, this behavior from Mephilia was perfectly normal. She explained patiently, “Just try a few more times.”

“Mm.” Mephilia closed her eyes, trying her best to only think about what style of weapon she wanted, trying her best not to use that incantation.

Many times, as soon as a weapon type flashed through her mind, her mouth would instinctively recite the spell.

Or when reciting the [Iron] spell, her mind would instinctively think of the shape of an iron block, resulting in just an iron block being created.

After failing several times, Mephilia finally succeeded.

[Create, Iron!]

Strangely, the spell that would usually produce just an iron block now produced an iron sword.

“This is...”

“Try something else?” Liana continued.

“Okay.”

To verify what Liana had said, Mephilia used magic again.

[Create, Iron.]

This time, what appeared in Mephilia’s hand was a shield.

“How did you discover this?”

“Magic is full of imagination, isn’t it? During this time of study, I wondered if I could create some strange items using my imagination, like this.”

[Create, Gem]

A gemstone with Mephilia’s name inscribed on it appeared in Liana’s hand. “However, this method also has many limitations. Currently, it can only be used with creation-type magic, and it has pretty high requirements for a person’s imagination, or knowledge.”

“After all, you can’t create something you’ve never seen or can’t imagine, right?”

“But this method also has some drawbacks. Compared to directly using incantations—the [Sword] method—it consumes more mana. That’s a disadvantage.”

Liana had originally just tried with an experimental attitude, since Truth didn’t exist in this world, but she happened to have seen it, so she tried a bit, and unexpectedly succeeded.

But Liana hadn’t completely relied on imagination to make this thing; she had created many components to assemble herself. This was just Liana, after becoming proficient, being able to skip the assembly process.

Liana was fully confident that if she gave this to someone else now, they absolutely couldn’t replicate it, not even a Judge.

“Um...” Mephilia looked at the Truth in Liana’s hand, “I feel like even if I saw this, I wouldn’t know how to create it.”

Mephilia didn’t know what this thing in Liana’s hand was.

However, what Liana had was just a very simple flintlock pistol, with nothing particularly special about it. If Mephilia understood the principle, she could easily create it.

“It’s just putting the bullet in the barrel, then pulling the trigger, igniting the gunpowder inside, and using the pressure from the explosion to shoot it out,” Liana explained.

“I see.” Mephilia roughly understood, but she was still curious about one thing. “Liana, how did you create this thing called Truth? You shouldn’t have seen it before, right?”

“It was because of the inspiration you gave me that day. I wanted to try, and it actually succeeded.” Liana casually made up an excuse to brush it off. Anyway, Mephilia wouldn’t question her too much.

“As for the bullets that are fired, they can be anything. There’s no fixed incantation. Whatever you want to fire, use that incantation. Like the confetti I just fired, which can be used as fireworks.” Liana said.

“Mm, I understand.” Mephilia nodded.

However, compared to Truth, Mephilia’s biggest gain was being able to create things according to her own thoughts. After all, learning everything one by one was too troublesome. If something urgently needed arose, Mephilia could also easily create it.

As long as she knew the raw materials and the appearance of the item, that was enough.

Magic should have been like this all along. They had been too ignorant. This was what made Liana special.

Now there was no need to worry about the rope binding Liana breaking, because they could use iron ropes (just kidding).

Minoga came to Liana.

“What is it?” Liana looked up at her.

Grab!

Minoga grabbed Liana’s waist, then lifted her up and shook her, and shook her again.

Nothing fell out.

Liana pouted, looking at Minoga, “Minoga, you’re not angry about what happened earlier, are you?”

“I’m not that petty. Just that last time I couldn’t shake anything out, and I thought I could now, but still nothing,” Minoga said.

“...It’s better not to do this.” Liana was a bit dejected. She wasn’t Doraemon, nor did she have a magic pouch—how could she shake out anything?

Perhaps in the future, she might shake out some toys.

Mephilia sighed.

“What is it now? I won’t do this next time. Don’t be angry, okay?” Liana had indeed been a bit inconsiderate, suddenly calling her over as a target when the two were having a nice date.

But that wasn’t what Minoga was thinking, “If only Princess Liana had appeared earlier.”

Minoga fiercely pinched Liana’s cheek. “Then I wouldn’t have had to memorize so many strange magic incantations before.”

Previously, magic could only be learned through rote memorization. When Princess Liana first revolutionized magic, she provided some conveniences, allowing them to rearrange previously learned spells, but this time, she didn’t even pretend—just think about it in your mind and it’s done.

“Princess Liana is turning us into useless people.” Minoga said.

“Why do you say that?” Liana asked, not understanding.

“Because every time Princess Liana gives suggestions about magic, it makes us use magic more easily and conveniently.”

“Isn’t that good?” Liana shrugged. Of course, simpler is better.

However, magic also had one hard requirement: your mana capacity. This was the one thing Liana’s clever tricks couldn’t change; it was the foundation of magic.

Without the support of mana, no matter how many ideas you had in your mind, you couldn’t realize them. Like now, Liana wanted to create something big and just throw it at the Demon Realm, so she wouldn’t have to worry about anything.

But Liana’s mana didn’t support this idea. Being able to use Truth now was already quite good.

Moreover, this was because Liana’s magic was somewhat special. Otherwise, Truth might not necessarily have any effect in this magical world.

“I really wonder what other surprises Princess Liana will bring us as she continues to learn?” Minoga said curiously.

“There really isn’t anything else...” At least for now. Liana currently didn’t have many more ideas. Her main goal now was to expand her pitifully small mana pool.

After a month of training, Liana could now use one intermediate magic and ten basic spells, showing significant progress.

“So, there’s nothing else you need me for?” Minoga asked.

“No, Minoga, you can go.”

“Then I won’t disturb your private time together.” Minoga left, leaving only Liana and Mephilia.

Mephilia kept looking at Liana.

“What is it?” Even if it was Mephilia, being stared at continuously still made her a bit shy.

“Nothing.” Mephilia sighed, “Sometimes I really want to see what strange things are in that little head of yours, why you always think of things different from ordinary people.”

To this, Liana could only laugh awkwardly. Could she really say she didn’t originally belong to this world?

But Mephilia didn’t mind too much. The more such things happened, the better. This way, Liana would also have the ability to protect herself.

“About Princess Sephirena, how do you plan to resolve it, Liana?” Mephilia’s gaze turned to Sephirena in the center of the lake, who was currently singing to the Tree of Life, taking care of it.

Although Sephirena hadn’t said anything negative to Mephilia, Mephilia could see a bit from her eyes that she hadn’t changed her original thoughts.

There was no light in her eyes; they were somewhat gloomy and negative. Although she acted like a normal person, you could still feel that she didn’t want to live.

“Sephirena...” Liana’s gaze also turned to the center of the lake.

“Nine hundred and sixty days left, right?” Mephilia said.

“How do you remember it more clearly than I do...” Liana laughed awkwardly.

Mephilia sighed. The other’s identity was very special. Although she was very obedient and listened now, that was on the premise that Liana could help her.

What if time ran out? If by then Sephirena still hadn’t changed her mind, then Liana would be in danger.

And also.

“Two months later, will you live alone in that place, Liana?” Mephilia asked.

Mephilia must be asking about the place where she would stay after faking her death. If she died, then naturally the agreement with Sephirena wouldn’t count.

But where could Sephirena go now? She had nowhere to go.

Mephilia would certainly take her in, but she would definitely refuse, because she knew very well that from Mephilia’s standpoint, Mephilia would absolutely not harm her, and would probably hand her over to the Elf Forest.

Having finally found someone willing to kill her, and then suddenly having that person die—for Sephirena, this would definitely make her feel more guilty and more certain about the curse.

This was something Liana didn’t want to see. It’s something no one would want to see.

So, for this plan, Sephirena must also be informed, and Liana had originally planned to take Sephirena away after her ‘death’, to live for a while in the place arranged by Mephilia.

By then, without various restrictions, she would have a reason to take her around. Perhaps it might change her perspective.

Of course, Liana didn’t expect this to change much. The most important point was to let ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ Sephirena realize that the withering of the Tree of Life... was caused by the elves themselves.

She needed to be given some hope, some motivation, to prevent her from having too much time to think about and consider death.

“I will probably bring Sephirena with me.” Liana said.

“...as I expected.” Although she had already thought this in her heart, when she heard Liana say it herself, Mephilia still felt a bit dejected.

She rested her face on her hands, sulking, “First Loraviel, and now Sephirena, but I’m the only one who hasn’t lived with you for a long time.”

At most, it was just a week when they were children, and most of the time Sister Ambis was there. Opportunities like Loraviel and Sephirena, where two people could be alone together for a long time—only Mephilia hadn’t experienced this.

Liana also knew that doing this might be a bit unfair, but what could she do?

A ship that had already set sail could only continue forward, no matter what was said. Could she jump off halfway?

“Mephilia, even though Princess Sephirena seems like this now, she’s actually a very kind person.” Liana said.

If Sephirena truly didn’t care about others, she could have just run to a noble’s house, threatened their children—would they not kill her then?

That’s why she offered a bounty, letting others do the job for money. But because of her special status, no one was willing to act.

“Hmm...” Mephilia pouted. This idiot Liana was actually speaking well of another woman in front of her.

“I know that looking at others with suspicion is a bad thing, and I hate it too, but, Liana, faking death is not that simple,” Mephilia reminded.

“You’ve told me so many times, my ears are growing calluses!” Liana rolled her eyes at Mephilia.

Mephilia wanted to say something more but didn’t. Liana definitely had her own considerations. This wasn’t something she needed to worry about. What Mephilia had considered, Liana must have considered too. All she could do was trust Liana and protect her.

“Mm.” Mephilia nodded.

“I thought you were going to say more.” Liana looked at her.

Mephilia just smiled, “Would it help if I did?”

“Maybe a little...”

“Silly.” Mephilia chided with a smile. “I only have one requirement: if in the last month she still hasn’t changed her mind, then send her back to the Elf Forest.”

Mephilia really didn’t want to do this, but it seemed there was no other option.

“There’s still a long time, no need to worry too much about this issue,” Liana comforted.

Sephirena’s problem was both simple and complicated, but Liana still didn’t want this to happen. Suddenly sending her back to the Elf Forest would be no different from killing her.

“Let’s hope so.” Mephilia shrugged, looking at Sephirena. Regarding her situation, Mephilia had also learned a bit from Liana.

She had some similarities with herself, which was one reason why Mephilia hadn’t interfered much with Liana’s decisions.

But at the same time, she was worried.

She had experienced this before. She knew very well that trying to move on and not think about Liana was impossible. Even when Liana became an awful girl, Mephilia hadn’t given up on her, let alone...

Princess Tarashil had left Princess Sephirena in the most perfect form. Putting herself in Sephirena’s position, if five years ago when she was sick, Liana had suddenly left her... she couldn’t even imagine what that would be like.

This was hard to change, but the one trying to help Princess Sephirena was Liana. How could Mephilia not worry?

Liana had already given them enough surprises. Bringing Princess Sephirena out of her gloom wasn’t impossible.

But Mephilia knew very well that if Liana really accomplished this, Princess Sephirena would definitely not let Liana go easily; she would definitely cling to Liana.

“...What’s wrong all of a sudden?” Mephilia suddenly hugged Liana, making her confused.

“Nothing.” Mephilia hugged a bit tighter. She would absolutely not give Liana to anyone else.

“That’s too tight...”

“Liana energy absorption complete!” Mephilia released Liana.

Liana felt that Mephilia seemed to be hiding something from her. “Are you sure everything’s alright?”

“What else could be wrong?”

“Alright, if you really have a problem or encounter any trouble, be sure to tell me clearly, okay?” Liana said.

“There is actually one problem,” Mephilia said.

“Hm? What problem? Feel free to ask.”

“Well, didn’t you say you would give me a gift today, Liana? So where is it? I’ve been looking forward to it,” Mephilia said.

“Don’t be so impatient.” Liana rolled her eyes at Mephilia. “It’s not like I could hide it secretly, could I?”

“That’s all your fault, Liana. You’ve been keeping me in suspense for a month, saying you were going to give me a gift, and now that we’ve met, you still won’t tell me what it is.” Mephilia pouted, pretending to be angry.

“Sorry...” Liana hadn’t meant to be mysterious. “Wait a bit. You’ll know in the evening, really.”

“Alright then.” Mephilia closed her eyes.

Liana naturally knew what Mephilia meant. She pressed against Mephilia’s lips.

“That’s more like it.” Mephilia licked the corner of her mouth. “Consider it a bit of interest. I’m really looking forward to tonight, to see what kind of gift could make you keep me in suspense for a month.”

“Ahaha...” Liana could only laugh awkwardly. Should be fine, right?

Mephilia stood up. “It’s been a long time since I’ve strolled around the garden. Last time I came, I was focused on awakening your magic. Why don’t we take this opportunity to look around?”

Liana nodded and extended her hand.

Mephilia held Liana’s hand.

Mephilia felt the warmth of Liana’s palm. What was she worrying about? What was she concerned about?

Now, the one holding Liana’s hand was her, and the one receiving Liana’s love was also her.

And tonight, there was still the gift Liana had carefully prepared for her. What else did she have to worry about?

As night fell, a full moon hung in the sky.

The garden was very quiet. Even the birds that usually played and frolicked had quieted down, perching on the branches.

Their gazes all turned toward the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life now emitted a faint glow, absorbing the moon’s energy, looking sacred and inviolable.

Liana and Mephilia sat on the stone from earlier, watching everything happening in the center of the lake.

As for the others, they had found their own places, not wanting to disturb the couple’s private time.

Liana looked curiously at everything around her, while Mephilia’s gaze remained fixed on Liana’s profile. The clear moonlight shone on Liana’s face, making her appear somewhat sacred, truly about to turn into a little angel.

“Liana, haven’t you seen this before?” Mephilia asked, knowing the answer.

“Of... of course I have! It’s because I’ve seen it that I invited you to come see it together.” Liana said.

It was too embarrassing!

To tell Mephilia that she had restrained herself from watching all this time just to see it with her? Liana couldn’t say it, and she would definitely be teased.

“So what happens next? Do we just quietly watch? How will the Tree of Life react? And where did Princess Sephirena go?” Mephilia asked mischievously.

How could Liana answer this? Liana herself didn’t know!

But Liana still pretended to be calm, acting as if she already knew. “It’s a secret. You have to see it with your own eyes, otherwise it wouldn’t count as a surprise.”

Keep making it up.

“Is that so? I thought you were going to narrate for me,” Mephilia said.

Liana had actually thought about this before—watching it once herself first, and after knowing the general process, watching it again with Mephilia. This way, she would know what would happen when, and could better control the rhythm.

But after thinking about it, she abandoned this idea.

“If we knew in advance, it wouldn’t count as a surprise, would it?” Liana said.

“...Yes, that’s true.” Mephilia felt a bit guilty towards Liana, because she already knew about this in advance. But fortunately, she didn’t know exactly what would happen, so it didn’t count!

“Then let’s look forward to it? This is my first time seeing the Tree of Life on a full moon night.” Mephilia held Liana’s hand.

“Mm.”

Near the tree, Sephirena took a deep breath. She had prepared many times for the ceremony and didn’t need to be nervous. Just maintain a normal mindset.

It was just that this time there were two additional spectators, and one of them was the very peculiar Princess Liana.

Just thinking about her witnessing what was about to happen made Sephirena a bit embarrassed, since there was quite a difference between her usual appearance in front of Princess Liana and how she would look now.

She stepped forward, walking toward the lake. Just as she was about to go out, she heard the voices of Princess Liana and Princess Mephilia. They sat together, laughing and talking while looking at the Tree of Life.

Their eyes sparkled, full of vitality, completely different from her own lifeless gaze.

And they were truly happy. Sephirena had also heard the kind lies they told each other for each other’s sake.

Ah... it made her corpse feel a bit warmer.

Before, she had been one of them, but now she could only be an observer.

But she knew what feelings the people involved had now, so as an observer, she also needed to try her best to complete the task she should complete.

“Ding-a-ling~ Ding-a-ling~ Ding-a-ling~”

Liana and Mephilia heard the sound of bells.

They looked toward the source of the sound and were both stunned.

Mephilia also felt an intense sense of crisis and couldn’t help but grip Liana’s hand tighter.

Sephirena looked as if she had stepped out of a fairy tale. She wore pure white clothes and a flower crown, surrounded by various small spirits that flickered, following her, looking as if she was blessed and protected by nature.

She cradled a bunch of fresh flowers, walking barefoot on the ground, with a bell tied to each ankle—the source of the sound.

She gazed forward, staring at the Tree of Life before her. She lifted her foot and walked toward it. With each step, the bells on her ankles began to make sounds.

She came to the lake’s edge but didn’t stop, instead continuing forward.

She stepped on the surface of the lake, creating ripples. She opened her throat and began to sing, singing an ethereal song of the elves.

This was different from the previous one; it should be a song unique to the full moon night.

Although Liana couldn’t understand it, she still felt a peaceful atmosphere, a melody that could quiet a restless heart.

[Great Tree of Life, Mother of Nature, it is you who nurtured us, allowed us to survive, let us gradually grow, made us strong, gave us enough power to protect ourselves.

You have given us so much, yet we can only watch as you suffer pain without being able to stop it. We can only do our best to alleviate your pain, to help you recover, to try our best to find the cause of your suffering.

Another full moon night, may the clear moonlight ease your pain. The moonlight blesses us, and also blesses you.]

Sephirena placed the fresh flowers before the Tree of Life, then began carving mysterious runes on the ground. Even though she had lost her elven power, she could still use this.

[May the moonlight guide us.]

After doing all this, Sephirena rose on her tiptoes and began to dance in front of the Tree of Life.

Only now the dancer looked somewhat lonely, with no accompanying dancers, no music, just her dancing alone.

“Seems a bit lonely...” Mephilia watched Sephirena’s dance, able to see her current state of mind.

[Create, Violin.]

A violin appeared in Liana’s hand. “It’s been a long time since I’ve touched this thing. I wonder if I still know how to use it.”

“Huh?” Mephilia looked at Liana with a puzzled face. “When did you learn this?”

“Otherwise it wouldn’t count as a surprise, right?” Liana smiled mysteriously.

But Liana was extremely nervous now, she didn’tplan for this at all. It had been a long time since she’d used this thing, and she had only heard Sephirena’s song once. To be honest, she had no confidence at all.

However, seeing Sephirena’s current state, Liana felt she needed to do something, had to do something.

Liana took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Mephilia sat quietly beside her, not disturbing her. She was also a bit expectant, wondering how many surprises Liana could bring her.

Liana tried hard to recall Sephirena’s song from earlier.

She gently moved the violin.

The violin produced a somewhat familiar sound.

The familiar melody made Sephirena, who was still dancing, freeze in place. For some reason, her first thought was to look toward Liana, and sure enough, the source of the sound was the violin in Liana’s hand.

“Am I disturbing you? I’m sorry. I only heard it once, so I might not be very clear about the melody and such. There might be some problems.” Liana also stopped her movements.

Sephirena shook her head. Princess Liana hadn’t gotten it wrong. She parted her red lips, “Thank you.”

At this moment, Mephilia really wanted to comment—didn’t you say you’d seen it several times? How come you only heard it once?

She wouldn’t expose this obvious lie now. Right now, she just needed to quietly watch them.

Sephirena continued dancing, and Mephilia nudged Liana with her elbow. “Aren’t you going to continue?”

Liana reorganized her thoughts and continued playing the melody.

The Tree of Life seemed very happy. Its branches and leaves moved with the wind, and its shadow reflected in the moonlight looked as if it was dancing.

At this moment, rustling sounds came from the forest.

Young spirits gathered here, surrounding the Tree of Life and Sephirena, following Liana’s melody and Sephirena’s dance steps, dancing together.

“This is...” Gardenia looked at what was happening now, her expression full of shock.

“What’s wrong?” Minoga looked at Gardenia with confusion. She didn’t know much about this ceremony either. For something to make Gardenia express this and speak up, and looking at the current scene, it didn’t seem like something that would normally happen on a full moon night.

“This situation has only happened once in the past few decades,” Jasmine said.

“That was when the Tree of Life, after being transplanted here for a while, began to improve on that night. The same thing happened. After that night, the Tree of Life adapted to the environment here,” Gardenia explained.

“Is that so?” Minoga looked at Sephirena in the center of the lake, and at Princess Liana playing the melody.

She knew very well that for something like this to happen, neither of them could be missing. It was their joint effort that brought about this result.

As Sephirena stopped dancing, Liana played the last note.

“Thank you...” Sephirena said softly. She was very grateful for what Liana had done for her. She also knew very well that this was the first time Liana had heard her song.

To be able to follow it perfectly after hearing it just once, she must have been very attentive, very serious in listening.

And to have such an effect—Sephirena hadn’t expected this either. In her memory, even in the Elf Forest, this had not happened many times.

The sapling of the Tree of Life—at this time, the Tree of Life usually wouldn’t bloom flowers, but now a jade-colored flower had grown. This color was very familiar, like the color of Princess Liana’s eyes.

“Do you want me to give it to Princess Liana to thank her?” Sephirena looked at the Tree of Life.

The Tree of Life swayed its branches and leaves, as if nodding.

“I understand.” Sephirena picked the flower, preparing to come before Liana to give her this flower that belonged to her.

But just as Sephirena came ashore, she heard the conversation between Liana and Mephilia, which made her stop in her tracks.