Shut up, brave man! I don't want to atone for my sins to you!

But under these sweet words, the witch took advantage of the hero's living cover, quietly took out the magic wand, and hid it under her cloak.

She shook her wand, a barely perceptible gleam flashed in her eyes, and silently, a spell was cast.

Yet nothing seemed to happen.

The spell went off as a dud, having no effect.

The witch was not disappointed. She continued to flirt with the hero shamelessly in public until the magician in the team finally couldn't stand this couple anymore and stepped forward to stop them.

The two reluctantly separated.

After that, the five people finally began to look for a suitable cabin separately as the brave man had suggested before.

The passage returned to silence.

The "eyes" and "ears" "growing" on the ceiling of the passage watched the entire process, recorded all the images and sounds, and transmitted them to the ship-borne host named Adele.

At the same time, Lacie, who was standing under the "eyes" and "ears", tilted her head and asked Charles beside her:

"You think there's something wrong with this thing?"

Ciel, who was supposed to be looking for a suitable cabin, stared at the bulge on the ceiling and said, "Hmm."

"Not only this ship-borne host, but also this starship, the Archon, and even the entire Lentiheim..."

He exhaled slowly and whispered:

"My words seem to have come true - this place is no longer the Lentiheim we knew."

Lacie didn't ask stupid questions like "Then where is this place?"

Because she also realized that something was wrong, she cooperated with Charles in the acting so tacitly.

That’s right, acting, acting with magic.

While being affectionate with Charles, she used magic to create an illusion, deceiving the "eyes" and "ears" of the carrier's mainframe.

Perhaps in the eyes of the shipboard host, they are still selecting the cabins they like? But in fact, they have not left the passage at all, they have stayed where they are.

Through a few ingenious tricks, Lacille deceived the ship's mainframe.

This provides an opportunity for the entire team of brave men - an opportunity to exchange opinions without any scruples.

Lacie turned her gaze away from the "eyes" and "ears" on the ceiling, feeling a little regretful.

She glanced at Charles secretly, but was afraid of being discovered, so she quickly looked away.

She didn’t hug me enough just now!

But now was obviously not the time to dwell on this, so she quickly cleared all these messy thoughts from her mind and asked:

"Joseph, Gordo and Celine, what do you think?"

Joseph, who was called first, opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but finally closed it again.

He elbowed Gordo next to him.

Gordo, who was twirling his wand out of habit, almost dropped it.

He quickly caught the wand that had slipped from his fingers, complained casually, "Don't elbow me," and then his expression became serious for the first time:

"My opinion is the same as yours. Whether it's the onboard host, the starship itself, the Archon lady, or the entire elven city-state, they all exude a very weird smell."

At this time, Joseph, who was trying to remain silent, sang a different tune:

"But we can't find any faults, except that there are obvious problems with the cabins next to us... No, didn't the Archon say that this was the original design?"

At this point he shook his head expressionlessly:

"Although the explanation given was very blunt and forced, it was almost like they were telling us 'you'd better not ask any more questions' and then covering our mouths, but the more this was the case, the less we could find fault with it."

Others might not understand what Joseph meant, but Charles understood it instantly.

He lowered his head and looked at his palms, opening and closing his fingers:

"Yeah, I felt that too. If we had continued asking, we would have gotten the answer, but..."

Joseph continued:

"But, there is a good chance that something very difficult will happen."

Lacey thought, wow, is this the legendary tacit understanding between men? Good, good, good! This thing is good! I'll make one for my buddy too!

Perhaps there was still a little bit of stubborn masculine identity left in her heart, so Lacielle decided to prove to Charles that she, like them, had a bond and tacit understanding!

She then joined the discussion:

"So, I think, Archon...the answers that Fuwenna repeated were not actually covering up the truth, but a warning. She was reminding us that now is not the time to reveal the truth."

Hearing this, Godot couldn't help but say:

"No, I think the Consul is trying to cover up the truth. She doesn't want us to continue investigating. It seems that if we continue investigating, we will follow the clues and discover some incredible truth..."

He suddenly paused.

Then, the four people except Xi Rui raised their heads at the same time, looking at the "eyes" and "ears" of the ship-borne host on the ceiling, and looking at the starship named Homecoming.

At the same time, a question that made them feel depressed floated up silently like a bubble from the dark deep sea -

"What terrible truth is Lentiheim's Governor Fuvenna trying to hide?"

[To be continued]

-

26. Get ready

Now that they had confirmed that Fuwenna was hiding something from them, the ultimate goal of their trip was determined -

"We need to find out what happened in Lentiheim and why the elves insisted on letting the Homecoming set sail."

This is how Charles concluded.

Rachel nodded and added:

"Not only that. I also need to communicate with Lao Deng to report to her about the elves' situation and ask her why I have never heard of any wizard trying to explore the starry sky..."

When she said this, she suddenly noticed that Godot's expression next to her became strange.

"Does that guy have any objection to this?"

Just as Lacier had this thought, she heard Godot ask hesitantly:

"You... don't know why this is happening?"

"Ah?" Lacie was stunned. "Should I know?"

"Should...right?" Godot himself was a little unsure, "But isn't this common sense?"

"common sense?"

"Yes," Godot raised his head, as if he could see the sky through the ceiling above his head, "because there is no magic in the starry sky."

"……what?!"

Lacey was dumbfounded.

She thought it wasn’t a buddy, it turned out to be because of this?

It turns out... there is no magic in the starry sky?

As Rachel thought about it, she couldn't help but raise her head like Godot.

Naturally, her sight could not penetrate the hard and thick hull of the Homecoming to see the starry sky. She could only use her imagination to depict the image of the starry sky out of nothing on the white ceiling.

The stars are shining on the black curtain, like a handful of diamonds scattered by the gods. Everything is silent, yet extremely deep and mysterious, grand and magnificent.

Lacele originally thought that wizards could use their nearly omnipotent spells to break through the constraints of gravity, easily touch the starry sky, and unveil the mysterious veil bestowed on it by myths and legends.

However, she only now realized that in the face of the starry sky, mages were as powerless as mortals.

Because there is no magic in the starry sky.

Those nearly omnipotent spells become rootless trees in the starry sky. Even the most powerful wizards cannot use spells in an environment of magical vacuum, and their bodies are even weaker than those of mortals, making it difficult for them to survive the harsh conditions in the starry sky.

Therefore, after discovering the fact that "there is no magic in the starry sky", no wizard dared to challenge the starry sky beyond his own capabilities.

After learning the truth, Lacie's mood quickly became delicate.

"Then..." She paused, her tone heavy, "Is this part of the reason why Longin Tyr asked us to exile him into the stars?"

Just thinking about this, the witch couldn't help biting her lip.

After hearing this, the hero came towards her, hesitated, reached out his hand, and touched her head very gently.

"It should be," he answered affirmatively, "Longin Tyr is a great and respectable emperor."

"……Um."

Laciel exhaled slowly, then pulled Charles's big hand off her head:

"Okay, I get it, I'm fine - but if there's no magic in the stars, isn't it more suspicious that the elves insisted on letting the Homecoming set sail soon?"

As she spoke, she tapped the floor with the heels of her small leather boots, making a bang-bang sound:

"You know, this starship was rebuilt by the elves using magic. I suspect that it is magic rather than machinery that supports the normal operation of the entire starship. If Ciel activates the forbidden spell at full power now, the entire starship may fall apart on the spot."

"That's it. Are those elves still wishful thinking that they can use such a half-finished starship to leave the Pangaea and drift in the vast starry sky while searching for their homeland?"

"If this isn't suicide, then what is this?"

Finally she couldn't help asking.

Joseph, the most stable member of the team, has a different opinion:

"Since the elves have basically completed the reconstruction of the starship, they should also be well prepared... Advance investigation and experiments are essential. Since they are so confident in their plan to return home, we can only assume that they have already made preparations."

Upon hearing this, Lacie asked suspiciously:

"You mean... the elves have found a way to solve the problem of the lack of magic in the starry sky?"

Joseph shook his head:

"No, unfortunately, I can't figure out how the elves are going to solve this problem. But if they rashly let the Homecoming sail without coming up with a solution - I don't think the elves would do such a stupid thing."

Lacie thought to herself, that’s what I mean, it’s true.

But to be on the safe side, she thought it would be better for her to communicate with Fuwenna later and ask her whether she knew about this matter.

It would be really funny if Fuwenna was like her and had no idea that there was no magic in the starry sky from the beginning to the end - but in a sense, this is also a good thing?

At least in this way she could make fun of Fuwenna while using this reason to justify persuading Fuwenna to give up the unreliable plan of returning home.

After making this decision, the witch said "hmm" and made a new suggestion:

"Also, although the elves are intentionally hiding something from us, we can turn to more than just the elves for help."

"Don't forget," she squinted her eyes and snapped her fingers like a fox that had successfully stolen a chicken, "we still have people in Lentiheim."

The first person to react was Ciel, but he was not the first to speak.

The first one to speak was Godot.

"Yes," Godot stroked his chin, a gleam in his eyes, "We can also go to the White Tower's visiting delegation and ask them what happened in Lentiheim."

Ciel also nodded and added:

"That delegation participated in almost the entire reconstruction of the Homecoming. They should know how the elves rebuilt the Homecoming in such a short time. Maybe they also know why the elves are so eager to leave Pangaea and return to their homeland."

At this time, Lacie had a very wonderful idea.

"No way..." She muttered quietly, "Those pointy ears can't possibly be trying to run away, right?"

"?" Charles frowned, not understanding why Laceline said that.

Rachel explained to him and others:

"It's not hard to understand, right? Maybe the elves heard about the unusual incident in Diesel next door? In order to avoid the bad ending in the mistress's dream of continued existence from coming true, they decided to run away and leave Pangaea."

"If I can't fight, can I still run away?" She sighed. "Isn't there anything wrong with thinking this way?"

It sounds like there is nothing wrong with it, it is well-reasoned and convincing, at least Charles finds it difficult to refute this conclusion.

But in the end he shook his head and said:

"I think... it's unlikely that the elves would do such a thing."