CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"How is it?"

Zarel asked as he watched Kharis grab another sun fruit.

"It's sweet"

She answered, however, her simple reply was far from what he expected.

"That's all you have to say"

"Why do you think I should say more"

She said, feigning confusion.

"Well I don't know, may be it's because you're on your tenth one already that I expected a lot more than that"

"I really like them"

she chuckled

"Is that better?"

"Much better"

He smiled proudly before continuing.

"I knew you would like them"

"How did you figure that one out?"

Her words were accompanied by an exaggerated eye roll.

"It was just a hunch, I discovered sun fruits recently on my trip to the south and brought some seedlings back with me"

"It turns out that the fruit is actually more resilient than it looks since it was able to survive the harsh conditions of black forest"

"Anyways, I figured you would like them since you like sweet things"

"I'm surprised you remembered that"

She mumbled.

"Of course I...."

Zarel paused his explanation when he noticed the sad smile on her face.

"What is it birdie?"

Kharis turned her eyes away from the yellow fruit and looked up at his worried eyes.

"It just an old memory, there's nothing to worry about"

Zarel narrowed his eyes in suspicion, clearly indicating that he didn't believe her.

"Are you sure?"

He asked.

"You worry too much, it's just a fruit"

She tried to dismiss his worries but he remained sceptical.

"oh really"

Zarel arched one of his brows in question.

"Then why are you looking at it like that if it's just an ordinary fruit like you say"

"No reason"

"And you really expect me to believe that"

"Yes"

Kharis smiled, however, it was more happy that sad this time.

"You're hopeless"

Zarel sighed and shook his head.

"I'll take that as a compliment Sir dragon"

She retorted.

"On to more important matters then"

Kharis was quick to change the topic of discussion.

"I wanted to ask about the clues you gathered"

"Well there weren't exactly any solid clues but there is something we can base our investigation on"

Kharis and Zarel sat in a cave that was just one of many in an elaborate network of caves located in a hidden part of the black forest. The cave system played a similar role to an actual dragon nest and was structured to suit its name as the abode of a dragon. There were complicated tunnel paths connecting numerous caves which served as rooms, some caves housed mountains of treasure and rare magic items while others were simply used as a lounging area or a library in some cases. Most of the rooms were designed to accommodate the size of a human since Zarel preferred to move around in his human form rather than his massive dragon form, however, there were also caves that were specifically carved out to easily accommodate his dragon form.

The caves were lit up by high quality luminous stones so it made it easy to forget that the rooms were merely caves.

The cave that the both of them were currently in was a simple one, there was a relatively small table with a couple of chairs littered around and a few shelves occupying one side of the cave. They were both sitting by the table until Zarel suddenly got up and walked towards one of the shelves. His eyes briefly scanned the items on the shelf before landing on a scroll placed beside a small pile of books.

"What is that?"

Kharis pointed at the scroll in his hands.

"It's a map of black forest?"

He answered while taking his seat.

"You found a clue in black forest?"

"Yes"

Zarel proceeded to spread the scroll across the table and pointed out a particular location on the map.

"Around here"

He pointed at an area less than a mile away from on of the mountains in the forest.

"It makes sense that the library is in the forest since people don't come this far into a danger zone"

Kharis commented.

"Those were my exact thoughts when I decided to search the forest"

Zarel paused for a moment before continuing.

"At first, I headed east to search through the remains of Thalios but I came up with nothing, that's when it occurred to me that the library may not have been in the lands under their control"

"If I were in their shoes, I would prefer to build such a place out of the reach of others"

"The black forest would have been perfect since it has always been outside the influence of the major powers on the continent"

Kharis mumbled.

"Exactly"

"But the black forest is huge, it would take quite some time to conduct a thorough search so how did you find a clue so quickly"

She asked after a moment of thought.

"It should be impossible to thoroughly search the forest within a year or two"

"That's because I didn't search the entire forest, I simply followed the traces of space manipulation?"

He answered almost as if it was the most basic solution in such a situation.

"Space manipulation?"

Kharis didn't attempt to hide her confusion, she had never heard of such a concept so it sounded very foreign to her.

"Is it some kind of wide range spell?"

"Well something like that, it's similar to the technique used in creating void items but on a much larger scale"

Kharis looked through her memories but came up with nothing that was capable of successfully achieving what Zarel had just explained.

"Can spells really achieve that, I have never heard of such a technique before"

"Space is rather abstruse but it's entirely possible and the fact that you don't know anything about space manipulation is what makes it a valid clue"

"How?"

His last sentence had aroused quite a bit of her curiosity.

"On the continent I was born in, space manipulation is a very common technique used by clans to hide their location or secret treasures, however, such techniques shouldn't exist on Demidera as of right now"

"It's only my assumption but what if something similar to space manipulation did exist on the continent at some point, particularly around the time the library was built then..."

Zarel patiently waited for her to conclude his explanation.

"It would be the perfect way to hide something as valuable as an ancient library filled with secret knowledge"

Kharis was slightly shocked by the sudden realisation.

"That would explain why nobody managed to find its location after so long despite the fact that most people have probably heard rumours about the library at some point even while Thalios was still in power"

"You're right and since the technique is obviously lost in time, I'm sure that the methods of detecting it's usage are lost as well"

Zarel added and continued his explanation without skipping a beat.

"It may be difficult to detect but space manipulation always leaves some kind of trace, it's just that it requires a specific method or high sensitivity to natural energy to detect it"

"It would be practically impossible to find a place hidden with such means on a continent with no knowledge of the technique that was used"

"Coincidentally, I checked and there were traces of space manipulation at a particular location in black forest"

"Wow, I'm impressed"

Kharis clapped.

"You must have put a considerable amount of effort into this thought process"

"Well, I do try my best to be very thorough"

Zarel spoke with a prideful expression on his face.

"Thank you"

Her voice was low but it was far from what he was unable to hear.

"For what?"

"For everything, you really do a lot for me and I'm sure I'll never be able to repay you for all of it"

"You don't have to thank me birdie, I'll gladly do it again without hesitation"

"I can tell you really put in a lot of effort so just accept my thanks for now"

"The effort is nothing as long as it's for you"

Zarel had a gentle smile on his face a he spoke.

"If there is a chance of saving you, I would give a lot more than just effort"

Kharis felt her face warm up and she quickly turned away.

"Why must you say things like that?"

"Like what?"

Zarel asked innocently, his expression showing genuine confusion.

"Is there a problem with what I said?"

"Nevermind"

Kharis reined in her emotions and chose to keep them hidden behind a mask of calmness.

"You're being awfully suspicious again"

He narrowed his eyes at her.

"You must be mistaken"

"I'm pretty sure that isn't the case though"

He gave her a look that clearly showed that he didn't believe a single word.

"May be you're just paranoid"

"Who knows, may be I am"

Zarel replied and the room slowly fell into around a minute of silence.

Kharis leaned her head against the backrest of her chair and sighed.

"I wonder how Aria is doing"

Zarel knew she was just trying to switch topics again but he chose to play along.

"Why do you like that knight so much anyway"

"Other than the fact that I literally saw her every single day for the past eight years"

"Yes, other than that"

"Let's see"

Kharis spent a moment to think about her reply before speaking.

"May be it's because she reminds me of someone from my past"

A familiar pair of honey coloured eyes appeared in her mind and soon enough, Kharis found herself revisiting the past again, however, this time it was one of her oldest and most painful memories. She couldn't help but wonder if her frequent visits to her past were only that and not a premonition of the future.

"Who?"

Something within her wanted to tell him everything but in the end she was still unable to.

"It doesn't matter since that person died a long time ago"

Zarel wanted to find out more but after seeing the look in her eyes, he decided against probing any further. There were pieces of her past that she never revealed to him and he guessed this was one of them. He was willing to wait until she was ready to tell him about those pieces no matter how long it was going to take.