Oxin watched Petra for a moment, then began walking towards her while Dilan followed from behind.
They approached...
Petra had sensed them from the corner of her eye but didn't turn immediately. Her mind was already running simulations over something else, considering something entirely unrelated.
Then—
Swoosh!
A small 'fireball' shot forward!
With a flushed face and a blazing determination, Cinder, this naive brat, lunged past the two young masters and skidded his way to a halt in front of Luna.
He cupped her hands.
"Luna! Do you remember me?!" he blurted out as his voice cracked into a shriek! "I've always admired you! Why don't you marry me?!"
His face had turned completely red.
Dilan: "…"
Oxin: "…"
Petra: "…"
Silence…
Swoosh! Petra's hand flew up, flexed, and—slap! Levy slapped it down before Petra could do any real damage.
Petra grumbled as she shrank back, glaring at Levy while rubbing her sore fingers.
On the other side, Luna, frozen in shock, snapped back to reality. She yanked her hands away and immediately jumped back, ducking behind Petra, half-hiding while peeking out with an irritated glare.
In that instant, you could practically hear someone's heart shatter.
Petra blinked up at them.
"…Hm?" She wasn't sure what to do. Was this really a normal noble behaviour? Were marriage invitations so aggressive? Why did this brat want her little moon flower…?
She really wanted to just kill him, but her hand still throbbed from Levy's mountain-like slap.
Tsk!
Damn voice of reason!
Dilan stepped forward without a word, grabbed Cinder by the head with one hand, and lifted him off the ground with a claw-like grip. He then proceeded to quietly drag him away.
Ahem!
The conversation reset—!
Dilan tried again, this time appearing more cordial, opening more politely, and Oxin followed with something more direct, then Petra answered each question with an absolute minimal level of effort, and blah, blah, blah, the whole time inwardly wondering who these people were…
She literally didn't know…
Petra couldn't even recognise Dilen, whom she had met before…
Soon enough, the conversation shifted, and Petra ended up speaking mostly with Oxin, who seemed easier to tolerate. This was because they both had a lot in common, so Petra was quickly entangled in the conversation, talking about poison, insects, and all kinds of strange and unorthodox things. Petra knew more about alchemy, and Oxin knew more about the soul, which allowed them to share information about their respective fields.
As this went on, Oxin was genuinely shocked at the proficiency of this small child!
He had even started wondering if she was far older than she appeared.
This continued for some time, but off to the side—
Cinder nursed his wounded pride while Dilan scolded him under his breath.
As Dilan spoke in a low voice, something suddenly caught his eye.
He glanced past Petra and Oxin, and towards one of the beast maids standing not far from them. A memory faintly stirred, something from several years ago, but he failed to catch it…
He kept looking, trying to rattle his brain, but…
Just then, as he was struggling to remember, he witnessed the raccoon maid, in all her sneaky little glory, casually scoot away from Petra and swagger a step away from the group—
Swoosh!
Her hand moved with a flash as she brushed past an unnamed bystander…
A small pouch vanished from the oblivious man's belt. It happened so quickly that no one noticed, no one except Levy and Dilan. Petra, of course, remained completely oblivious to everything around her.
Cinder, finding that Dilan's scolding had stopped, suddenly looked up in confusion, but Dilan's expression slowly shifted into something strange. A memory finally clicked into place, and he remembered a notorious beastmen thief who had once stolen a special shipment of rare materials from the Barak family a few years ago.
Thinking about it, the description matched perfectly with this raccoon…
Dilan's mouth curved into a faint, almost mocking smirk.
His eyes flickered towards Petra and Oxin. He wondered what Oxin would think if he knew the thief his family had been quietly hunting was now standing right beside him.
…This little green-haired girl really was a troublemaker!
Dilan shook his head and decided to just let it be. He turned his head away, but a moment later—
Swoosh!
He heard another sound, and Oxin, the young master of the Barak family, paused mid-sentence, suddenly painfully aware of the missing weight at his belt.
Petra did not stop talking, so he could only act as if he didn't know…
He lowered his eyes, grimaced, then looked around as he touched his empty belt…
"What the—"
His gaze passed over Petra, then toward the surrounding crowd. Finally, it landed on Dilan, who was very clearly holding back his laughter, and his face fell.
Oxin glared at him, but Dilen covered his mouth and turned away.
Petra, finally shutting up, watched the exchange in confusion. Why had he suddenly stopped talking? Was something wrong…?
She didn't ask…
The young man sighed.
"…It's not worth it," he muttered under his breath.
After nodding to Petra—
After a few more words, Dilan's group of six began to move towards the newly opened section of the Beast Garden. Oxin reluctantly followed with a dark expression, scanning the surrounding crowd, while Cinder trailed behind, red-faced and still traumatized by his previous actions. There was no doubt this would be one of those childhood memories you didn't want to remember…
Their group moved on…
-
As Petras' group also began to leave, she glanced back one more time at the towering glass column.
For a moment, her gaze lingered on the pale creature drifting inside.
For some reason, her brows furrowed.
"…That's not a leviathan," she muttered. Petra frowned slightly, appearing almost annoyed by her own inexplicable sense of certainty.
Lilly looked at her, "Why do you say that?"
"…I don't know."
She turned and continued walking.
Levy, standing a short distance behind, looked at Petra with a strange gaze. Her eyes followed for several seconds before she looked back towards the tank.
Unlike Petra's uncertainty, she was sure that it wasn't a Leviathan.
A 'Leviathan'," at least on Pillomal, was a 'Sea Monster' that had awakened their 'Wisdom'.
A 'Sea Monster' was just the name of a massive sea beast that didn't fit into any of the 'Sea Race' categories. They were all berserk beasts that rampaged through the sea and existed for a very, very long time. In addition to their terrifying size, they were all unique in their appearance and abilities. When these creatures awakened their wisdom, they became members of the Leviathan Clan, which was just a large group of aloof monsters that all lived in isolation.
Levy knew this because it involved the initial history of Pillomal, and she had naturally cheated her way ahead, learning about it in advance.
Inside the water column, the cub of the white serpent had gone still, but its silver eyes remained fixed on Petra as she left.
A faint, unreadable glint of light rippled from within.
* * *
Not long after leaving, the national flow of the Beast Garden carried Dilan and Oxin toward the newest attraction of the Beast Garden: The Insect Domain—Newly Opened!
- Insert Party Shakers!! Woohoo! Woohoo!
-
A nearby staff member enthusiastically explained the origins of this new section to a passing group.
The Llynun City's Beast Garden had been founded nearly one hundred and eighty years ago as an 'educational institution'. In its early years, it focused primarily on large, physically impressive beasts meant to inspire and produce a sense of reverence from a safe distance. At that time, many of the security systems were not so advanced, so the viewing experience was far less immersive. Over time, as certain technologies improved and magic-engineering advanced, the Beast Garden expanded into less common and more dangerous creatures.
The Insect Domain, however, was a more recent addition!
In fact, today was its very first day, finally opening to the public!
- Insert Party Shakers!! Woohoo! Yeah-yeah!
-
The origin of this new wing all began in the northern region—
Following a 'sudden' surge of unusual insect-related activity throughout the Green Wind Forest, several of its 'fundamental' ecosystems had quietly collapsed. What began as some silent and scattered chaos slowly escalated into a prolonged, large-scale 'collapse' that lasted many months and stretched through the majority of the forest.
Eventually, it had even gotten so bad that the local 'Plant Clan' (Plant Spirits / Nature Races) and the 'Beast Clan' were forced to seek outside help!
As for the cause of all of this?
Well—!
It was eventually traced back to the missing 'auras' of four of the 'insect kings' of the Green Wind Forest!
These 'Insect Kings' weren't exactly strong, no, but they each possessed an unknown hereditary bloodline that was unknowingly maintaining an unseen balance between the countless insect species within the forest. This would normally be fine, because they were passed down like some kind of last-ditch inheritance, but with four of the sixty-four suddenly missing, the balance broke, and things began to descend into chaos.
When their 'auras' disappeared, the delicate—almost non-existent—hierarchy of the local insect race fractured, and without the 'balance' to suppress them, countless of the low and mid-tier insect species began evolving and mutating uncontrollably!
Over the past year, countless people had taken a sudden interest in the newly emerging species that had continued to appear throughout the forest, many of which had never been documented before!
It was slow at first, barely noticeable by the residents of the Green Wind Forest, but not long after Petra left with the Verdelith Castle, 'for whatever reason', things began to spiral out of control!
Some of the new creatures had an alarming level of adaptive traits, while others displayed coordinated behavior far beyond their innate intelligence, so—!
Ahem!
In short, outside help was called…
After a very, very generous donation from the Barak Family to the Beast Garden, a few dozen 'specialized teams' were dispatched to the northern region with the sole goal of securing some of the noteworthy species for research and development!
After that, this new section of the Beast Garden became the final result!
Mm, on another, probably unrelated note, there had been a strange rumor going around among the teams sent to the Green Wind Forest. Apparently, some insects had not only 'not' resisted capture, but some of them had even run directly into the traps! Not only had they run directly into the traps, but some had even directly hitched a ride on the heads of the individual trappers!
For some reason, these insects seemed to almost want to be captured and taken away!
As for why—
No one knew the answer…
-
The Insect Domaine—
When Dilan and Oxin stepped through the door, the atmosphere changed immediately.
The ceiling was slightly lowered when compared to the Leviathan Hall, but the rune arrays and hidden channels were far denser, more new. The air carried a faint earthy smell, mixed with some kind of resin and something strangely metallic.
Above their heads, a soft amber light filtered through grid-like crystal panels designed to simulate a forest canopy, and below, the floor was designed to replicate a mountainous floor.
The entire area was divided into hexagonal chambers connected by wide, reinforced corridors, each leading to new rooms containing multiple exhibits and sealed off habitats. Looking around, in the first room alone, there were multiple unique creatures that hadn't been seen before—
The first enclosure was a hollow space embedded in one of the hexagonal room walls and blocked by a glass panel that held a colony of 'Obsidian Tipped Ants', each the size of a large rat! Their shells rippled with a dark purple glint under the deep azure lights as they moved in unnervingly coordinated lines, 'constructing' something that appeared to be a miniature tower from the soil and stone.
While further examining the surroundings, they also saw—
'Glasswing Needleflies', witch were hovering in a contained wind column. Their transparent wings were glowing with a bright green light as they drifted in slow spirals. Immediately to their right, 'Emerald Burrow Scarabs', a green beetle with backs etched with faint rune-like patterns.
Then—
'White Ghost Butterflies', large and pale six-winged insects that lazily drifted around.
'Silver Sun Centipedes', a creature with a flat segmented body that rippled like polished blades.
'Bright Blink Fireflies', flashing stars that lit up in synchronized pulses that formed geometric patterns.
Further along—
'Violent Fur Beetles', a unique creature with a bristled body that twitched aggressively, 'Soul-Sucking Grasshoppers', thin creatures with elongated legs that coiled with enough tension to almost teleport, and 'Thread-Dancing Mantises', tall creatures with slender limbs that swayed in slow, hypnotic arcs, capable of hypnotizing a target before dicing them to bits!
The list continued with 'Slothful Snails', 'Earth-Eating Spiders', 'Demon Blood Worms', and so on!
The sheer number of newly catalogued creatures was utterly overwhelming!
One should know that these were all unrecorded till this year!
Oxin observed quietly, his hands folded behind his back.
"Insects are not to be underestimated," he said in a low voice, bending slightly forward to read the plaque. "Despite their size, some of these little guys are extremely dangerous. Even I wouldn't want to face a large amount of them alone." He straightened his back and frowned. Just thinking about the northern region right now, he silently reaffirmed his decision to avoid it if possible.
Dilan snorted from beside.
"They're still just bugs, don't tell me you're scared of—"
Rumbel!
A faint tremor passed beneath their feet…
It was subtle, and most of the surrounding people didn't even notice it, but both Oxin and Dilen Imperceptibly frowned.
They shared a look, then—
Tock! They all turned!
No, not the people! The insects, the insects all turned together! They all looked over, turning towards the entrance, directly facing Dilen and Oxin with their countless eyes!
Oxin: "..."
Dilen: "..."
The duo felt a chill run down their spines!
Another ripple spread through the void, and then—
Both of them, realizing their mistake at the same time, slowly, very slowly, like a rusty machine, turned their heads and peered over their respective shoulders—
Just to witness the moment Petra entered the room!
Everything froze!