Chapter 163 (1/2)

Chapter 163

Chapter 163: Fro Sylvie in htly-lit halls of the castle Looking down at my feet as I made careful steps, it was the first time I had noticed the vibrant patterns of the thick carpet in the upper residential halls It was a funny thing to note; I’d always been in such a rush and always had a goal that I never even looked down to enjoy the subtle pleasantries aroundforoutside the sea of clouds while idly coh her bond’s thick fur Boo opened an eye, sensingthat it was me

“May I join you?” I asked

“You don’t need to ask,” she s out at the blue sky oncethe rolling clouds’ twinkle and shi+ne froht above I could see the tip of a mountain in the distance, but besides that, only an endless expanse of white and blue

“Do you miss them?” Ellie spoke in a soft voice “Mom and Dad”

“Not much as I should,” I admitted “I worry for thes have been going on”

There was aher bond

“You know, there are a lot of adults and kids that co how lucky and fortunate I am to have a brother like you The ones that aren’t jealous of me are jealous of you—that you’re a lance, that you’re so talented in nition of all of this continent’s leaders You know, soht becoet older” My sister let out a scoff “But it’s funny I never told you this, but there was a time when I hated you I felt like it was because of you that my life was like this now I bla like they needed to help out in the war too, and I blaular life in school with classroo away from me as she turned her body toward Boo, but I could see the hand petting her bond tre while her shoulders quivered “Ellie…”

“But the funny thing is, I don’t blame you anymore How can I blame you when your life orse thanin and out of the house full of injuries, with unbelievable stories of how you faced thisto hear back then—I thought you were so cool and strong—but I feel like I know better now The things you had to give up to get where you are today…”

My sister hurriedly wiped her eyes with her sleeves and turned back to rin

I reached out to her, but she grabbed ot that off of ”

“What is all of this?” I asked as we reached the outdoor terrace of the castle

My gaze swept through the dozens of wooden planks hanging fro out of the planks, round and the tree trunks around the on!” round beside her with an aloof yawn Ellie was abnormally perky after our conversation by theas if she was trying to forget about it

Trying not to dwell too much on my sister’s inconsistent behavior, I watched as she picked up a peculiar-looking short bow propped up against a pillar and a stray arroith its tip buried into the nearby grass

Raising the flexible bow so that the nocked arroas at eye level, she held her still treo of the string

The thin arrohistled as it sliced through the air, curving ever-so-slightly around a plank and hitting a different wooden target behind it

Genuinely impressed, I applauded my sister but she held up a hand and shook her head “Noatch this”

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Raising her bow once er that was holding onto the bow began elow and whenback, thearrow

I remained silent—half from focus, half froet plank The arrow let out a soft hum rather than a sharp whistle as it hastily approached its target, but before it was able to reach the plank, the arrow dissipated

Letting out a sigh, my sister’s shoulders sank “I swear I was able to reach the target a couple days ago”

“That was ah,” she replied, disappointed

“You’re barely twelve, Ellie! Most kids your age can barely conjure a ball of mana let alone shoot it out that far away,” I said, my voice still laced with enthusiasm

My sister was silent for a moment as she absentlad that your dear brother is i?” a voice chimed from behind

I looked overout into the terrace: Emily Watsken and Helen Shard

“Surprised, General?” Helen s my confusion

While it was reasonable for Emily to be in and out of the castle since she was apprenticed under Gideon, seeing her with the leader of the Twin Horns and current head of a large platoon of soldiersmoment

However, with the peculiar bow in Ellie’s hand and her sudden adeptness in archery, I could only put two and two together

“I won’t deny that,” I replied back with a sh a lot” Emily noticed my injuries

“Just about as any other soldier out there,” I shrugged

After Ellie and I greeted the two friends, we talked around the round patio table We discussed howin e

“You’re having a hard time?” I asked my sister “Why didn’t you tell eneral now, and even before then, you were always busy I didn’t want to bother you with it Besides, Mo me before they had to leave”

My sister tried to sound cheerful, but the faint sullen tone in her voice, along with our conversation earlier, made my chest ache

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“I stopped by one day to check up on her after finishi+ng a dungeon tour and she askedto lift the mood “I’m not a conjurer so I couldn’t exactly help her, so I asked the artificer, Gideon, to run some tests on her He pawned off what he called ‘a chore’ to Eift”

Eleanor let out a shy laugh as she rubbed her head “I wouldn’t call it a gift”

“What gift?” I de

“I think it’ll be easier for you to just show your impatient brother, Ellie,” Helen chuckled

“Okay,” she agreed Raising her hand, she concentrated on the center of her palm when a faint orb of mana manifested While there were no attributes, the pure orb ofshape until its once spherical shape turned into a seven-pointed star

“You see, after I assessed Eleanor,” Emily stressed her participation as she leaned forward, “I realized that she had a real knack formana into detailed shapes Normally, whether you can make a fire ball into a fire cube doesn’t really matter, but if you’re able to conjure the exact shape of an arrow along with a particular arrowhead, then you can potentially have an infinite arsenal of arrows that ene up with the arrow solution was my idea,” the leader of the Twin Horns added