First Meeting with Eblors (3)

"Sister, stop bothering him. You are making him uncomfortable."

"Huh? Am I?" Lily asked me while tilting her head.

'Yes, you are.' I sighed.

I could not say that, though. I didn't want to cause a diplomatic incident.

"You are not," I replied as politely as possible. "It's just that I'm not used to talking to an eblor."

"Well, it's my first time talking to a human too." Lily giggled. "You don't mind talking to me, right?"

I hesitated briefly and nodded.

Anyway, I came back to learn more about eblors. Chatting with her should be useful.

Just then, one of the eblors in the group sneered.

"As an inferior human, you should feel honored that you got to talk to one of us."

The entire place seemed to freeze at that moment.

The awakened escorting the group frowned, and Sylvia and her mother narrowed their eyes. At the same time, Ley's expression became cold.

The mood became heavy, as though a fight could start at any moment.

"What did you say?" Sylvia asked with a smile.

For some reason, her smile sent shivers down my spine.

The eblor did not reply. He just looked up and down at Sylvia with a disdainful expression before looking away as though he was not interested in talking to someone inferior.

"T-That, sorry about him. He doesn–"

"I asked, what did you say?" Sylvia asked again, interrupting Lily.

The eblors immediately put on displeased expressions. The eblor of before was about to speak, but then, he froze with an expression of terror on his face.

All of sudden, countless transparent threads appeared around him, pressing against his neck, cheeks, waist, nose, and nape.

The threads seemed to be tightening slowly, making the eblor feel as though he was about to be cut into pieces.

He tried to scream, but the thread on his neck tightened abruptly, cutting off his words as he let out a terrified whimper.

At this moment, the eblors realized that something was wrong.

"Arche, what is wrong with you!?"

"What happened?"

"Arche!?"

The eblor did not reply. He just looked at Sylvia as his eyes shook in fear and terror.

I realized something at that moment.

'The other eblors can't see the threads!'

They did not know what was happening to their companion.

"It looks like you are not going to answer my question." Sylvia shook her head with a playful expression. "How pathetic of someone who calls others inferior."

"What did you do to him!?" One of the eblors glared at Sylvia angrily as mana started to circle around him.

"Nothing." Sylvia chuckled, and the threads disappeared.

The eblor that had been trapped immediately collapsed on the floor while taking deep breaths and sweating profusely.

"You! Is that how humans treat the envoys of other races!?" The eblors asked the awakened escorting them. "Are you not going to punish her!?"

The awakened frowned and was about to speak, but Dayana spoke first.

"What are you talking about? Did any of you see anything?"

The eblors were startled and looked at each other.

For some reason, they were reluctant to refute her. It was as though their instincts were warning them against it.

The ice-cold twin spoke just then.

"Enough."

"But, princess!"

"As Miss Dayana said, none of us saw anything. You can't accuse others without proof."

The eblors shut up with an unconvinced expression.

The ice-cold twin then apologized to Dayana and Sylvia.

"I'm sorry. It looks like my companions became restless when they saw that one of us was unwell."

"Oh? Are you not going to blame us?"

"Of course not. What happened just now is the result of one of my companions feeling ill because he is not used to the human world. It has nothing to do with you."

Dayana stared at her fixedly and chuckled.

"What a resourceful young lady."

"I'm undeserving of your praise." The girl shook her head expressionlessly and looked at the Awakened escorting them. "Mr. David, it looks like one of my companions is feeling unwell. We will have to end today's schedule early. Can you lead us to our hotel?"

"… Of course, Miss Hyacinth. Please follow me."

Hyacinth nodded at him and looked at us.

"Thank you for receiving us today, Miss Dayana. We will come again if there is an opportunity."

"Come whenever you want." Dayana smiled in a businesslike manner.

Just like that, the group of eblors left the boutique.

Before leaving, Lily smiled apologetically to us and waved her hand in farewell.

"See you at college!"

I sighed tiredly once they were gone.

I got the feeling that things were going to become troublesome soon.

…

Meanwhile, the group of eblors was seated inside a limo while one of them checked Arche's state.

"How is he?" Hyacinth asked.

"There is nothing wrong with him. There are no signs of injuries or trauma."

"Impossible." Arche shook his head with a pale face. "I'm sure that there were several threads tightening around my body. They should have left a mark."

"But none of us saw these threads. Are you sure the threads were real?" Lily asked curiously.

"They were. I could feel them clearly."

Hyacinth and Lily looked at each other with grave expressions.

"It looks like she is more powerful than we expected." Hyacinth sighed.

"Well, considering her identity, that is normal." Lily nodded. "The problem now is that she will be more on guard against us, making our mission harder."

Arche's expression became ugly.

"… Sorry about that, princess. I made a mistake."

"You did." Hyacinth's expression was ice-cold. "We came here on a diplomatic mission, not to fight against the humans. I hope something like this doesn't happen again."

"... Understood."

"I hope so. Now, we need to think about how to become close to her."

"You don't need to worry about that, sister. I have a plan."

"Huh? What is your plan, Lily?"

"Did you forget, sister? I asked the boy, Jane, to show us around Sanctuary's First. We can use that opportunity to become closer to him. He seemed to be close friends with Sylvia, so we can try to get close to her through him."

"That is a good plan." Hyacinth nodded. "However, we should not put all our eggs in a basket. You will be in charge of this plan, Lily. As for the rest of us, we should think of other methods."

Lily's lips curved up in a playful smirk.

There was something she did not tell her sister.

Although it was true she planned to use Jane to become close to Sylvia, there was another reason she proposed this plan.

There was something about Jane that she found peculiar.

For some reason, she felt close to him, almost like he was an old friend.

That was very odd.

After all, Lily Losarig did not have any friends.