Chapter 52
Chapter 52
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 52
Chapter Title: Twin Sisters (1)
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-Flash!
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ ~Neutral Stage~ Tower of the Great Sage Golden particles gathered, transforming into a human form.
Soon, a girl with snow-white hair and golden eyes appeared in that spot. She staggered as if she'd barely escaped the jaws of death before collapsing right there.
In truth, she really had come that close to dying.
That demon had harbored all sorts of chilling thoughts inside.
Some of them even made death seem like the better option.
"Haa..."
Anyway, how long had it been since she'd felt a thrill like this, one that made her shiver?
The girl felt a chill from the near-death crisis she'd just escaped—what if she'd slipped up even a little?—and hugged herself tightly, her emotions surging at the exhilarating stimulation she hadn't savored in hundreds, no, thousands of years.
"I almost died."
It was electrifying.
Of course, part of it was her own fault for letting her guard down, mistaking the demon for some succubus whore wandering the demon realms. But the pain still radiating through her body made it clear it wasn't just that.
"Heeheehee..."
That was why she was trembling and letting out a giggle.
The sweet scent and mana that demon had left clinging to her body were the finest she'd ever experienced.
She'd retreated for now, but if the chance came later, she'd seek her out again.
"I liked her."
And next time, she wouldn't make a single mistake.
She vowed to capture her, take her alive, and make her hers somehow—
-Thwack!
"Ouch?!"
Someone smacked the girl on the head.
More precisely, it was a book that looked thick enough to exceed a thousand pages.
Who would dare strike the head of the Great Sage herself? It had to be someone of equal or higher standing.
In other words, another High Elf.
"You snuck out again, didn't you?"
The familiar female voice rang in her ear.
Alena whipped around at the sound.
"And this time, you went farther than usual."
The voice belonged to a girl with the exact same golden eyes as her own.
She had a face identical to Alena's, but the aura she exuded was the complete opposite.
The same appearance as Great Sage Alena, yet with a polar-opposite temperament... a High Elf.
So, who was this mysterious High Elf girl?
"Alena, I've told you time and again: you can't go wandering outside."
"Tch, you didn't have to hit me for it."
⚔ STATUS ⚔ Great Sage - Elena It was Alena's own twin sister, Elena.
Elena wore the same face as her own, yet displayed a completely opposite stoic expression.
They might look identical, but their personalities were polar opposites—that was her one and only sister.
-Step
"...Haa, as long as you came back safe."
Elena let out a sigh before promptly turning away.
She seemed headed straight for her study, hurrying her steps as if extremely busy.
"Anyway, now that you're back, get to your duties. You haven't forgotten what they are, have you?"
"I know, Sis. It was just a quick stroll."
She was probably swamped to the point where even a short chat was impossible. Elena was the tower's master and the author of all the books filling it, so it wasn't surprising.
Elena herself had built this Tower of the Great Sage.
A towering structure so vast its ceiling vanished from sight.
The bookshelves forming its walls were stuffed with millions of volumes...
All penned by Elena's own hand.
And she was still at it.
A truly, utterly boring endeavor.
Elena knew it too, yet she clung to vain hope, devoting most of her life to it. Even as the Great Sage who could comprehend all truths of the world and peer into its future.
Well, it couldn't be helped.
Unlike her sister Alena, Elena had never once stepped outside this tower.
She hadn't left in tens of thousands of years—
Enough time to drive anyone mad.
"...So, how was it for you, Sis?"
That was why Alena approached her sister and asked.
Her own satisfaction mattered, but her sister's mattered more.
The key was whether she could free this hopeless child, this lost elf girl, from her 'curse'?
"This time was pretty great for me."
Especially since it was such a novel thrill—there might even be hope.
"What do you mean?"
"What else? You know, what happened on my little outing."
"What Alena experienced... You mean that demon?"
"Yeah, exactly."
...But the response she got fell short of expectations.
"Futile."
"What?"
Unfortunately, instead of the reaction Alena had hoped for, Elena showed her usual cynical indifference.
"It's pointless. If that's all it takes to tempt you outside, I'll seal the tower entrance myself."
Alena had thought it more stimulating than their tens of thousands of years of existence, but it seemed to leave her sister unmoved.
It deflated Alena's own excitement too.
It had been pretty good this time, but if Sis reacted like that, it lost all meaning.
"Futile, huh..."
Drained by the futility of her life-risking effort, Alena slumped her shoulders and trudged silently back to the study.
-Step, step
It wasn't just that her efforts meant nothing.
More than that, it was her own duty awaiting.
Back to the monotonous routine.
Endlessly recording events yet to unfold in the world—Elena predicting them, Alena verifying.
The process wasn't overly complex.
With eyes that saw the future, Elena wrote them into books; with eyes that saw the past, Alena confirmed if they truly occurred.
Fate was as unstable as a lake's still surface— the slightest ripple altered the future bit by bit.
Of course, it never strayed from the grand framework.
No one remained who could shift fate's very course.
Only Transcendents, freed from the world's gears, could manage that. But they were gone.
One slain, one self-exiled, one suicided.
Alena had witnessed it all with her own eyes, so she was certain.
"...Tch."
At this point, even she could quit, but Elena showed no change.
Alena had hoped this might spark some interest, but it was just her getting ahead of herself.
...Well, couldn't be helped.
That was her sister, always.
Even if the world faced annihilation or Transcendents clashed, her response never wavered.
Nothing.
Come to think of it, any reaction would be abnormal.
When Diavela, their master and the twins' owner, was killed, Elena hadn't batted an eye. For her to take interest in a mere demon? Absurd.
Still, Alena had held a sliver of hope. Disappointing.
-Creak
Dismissing it as her getting swept up in the moment, Alena opened the door and entered the study.
Elena had gone to fetch more ink and told her to wait, so that was that.
She settled to read the book her sister had been working on until she returned...
-Rustle
"Hm?"
...Something felt off.
A strange damp warmth on her thigh, like the chair was soaked in something.
And not long ago, either.
"What the?"
This was weird.
Come to think of it, this was Elena's usual chair. She'd expect it from her own, but her sister's? Even stranger.
"Did she accidentally spill tea?"
There were hasty wipe marks, like she'd spilled her tea while drinking.
She'd spilled tea while reading herself sometimes.
"Hmm... Whatever, let's read the latest book."
Spilling on a book meant a full day of lectures from Sis...
Sometimes even Sis slips up, Alena thought, turning to the book.
"...?"
But it wasn't just the chair that was off.
The book Elena had presumably been writing—ink still fresh—felt wrong too.
"Handwriting's all crooked, not like Sis."
Elena wrote beautifully.
Her handwriting was more precise and neat than magic-scripted text, despite being done by hand.
But this was crooked to the point some letters were illegible.
"..."
As if her hand had been trembling.
"Hmm."
Weird.
A soaked chair, unlike usual.
Trembling handwriting, unlike usual.
Sis had never done this in thousands of years. Why today?
"No way!"
A sudden thought flashed through her mind.
"...Heeheehee, Sis did? Our Sis?"
Alena giggled again.
It wasn't futile after all.
This exceeded expectations—she'd only hoped for mild interest, but this was beyond that.
"That demon will definitely come here, right?"
Alena was convinced.
Her sister was utterly smitten with that demon.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 1.
"The elves' land, Arke..."
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ ~Neutral Stage~ Land of the Elves, Arke How to even describe the scenery unfolding before her eyes.
A land hidden amid foliage, nestled within a massive mountain range serving as its walls—the elves' domain was truly breathtaking.
Buildings blended seamlessly with nature, yet not primitive tree-homes.
Infused with dwarven craftsmanship, they resembled Western European houses dotting the forest, amplifying the atmosphere.
'Beyond imagination.'
She always thought this, but even sights from Novel Online felt worlds apart in person.
She'd expected no surprises since she knew them already, yet reality hit differently.
...Of course, she didn't show it.
'Can't act shocked that an elf's in the elf lands—that'd blow my cover fast.'
Anyway, the scenery here was stunning.
Novel Online was praised for its pretty map designs, and now real, it was only natural.
So, why not sightsee a bit?