Leon didn't seem to have any energy to react to it. He simply went past the broken chandelier, saying, "Just prepare the pedestal before I leave."
He started going toward his room in the mansion. While walking, his fingers rested on his chin as if he was thinking about something important.
'Many things happened. I must not let these events be known to anyone else. But... preparing a [Fate zenova]... Is really time-consuming.'
After a long pause, another thought struck Leon.
'Wait! She possesses sky energy. That's it! She will surely win her fate earlier than any other [Fate zenova].'
Leon was so deep in his thoughts that he didn't even pay attention while walking up the staircase. This carelessness resulted in a mishap. While stepping over a step, his toe barely touched the edge, yet he put his leg down while moving the other leg through the air to reach the next step. Leon lost his balance and fell. But fortunately, he knelt and balanced himself by placing his hands on the stairs.
Leon regained his posture and walked up the staircase carefully. He went directly toward his room and locked himself in.
Siara, on the other hand, came out dressed like a princess. Though the fact could not be ignored, she was trained like a princess. She was the child of an aristocrat, after all.
She was wearing a simple white dress whose color seemed to be the whitest in the universe. A flower made of the same cotton was attached toward the side of her heart. The dress had full, tight sleeves that highlighted her hands and arms. The dress had an attached skirt with it. Siara even had white stockings that were visible because the dress length stopped just a few inches before touching her feet. Siara had also changed her sandals to a pair of white shoes that had heels attached—though they were not high heels.
Siara graciously entered the jade hall. She was a bit surprised because she had expected a dark room lit by fire torches with a pedestal at the very end. But what she saw was a jade room that was luminous enough to see everything, though she couldn't find the light source.
But she regained her composure. Instead, she was happy. She was still thinking about that glamorous lady who was cleaning her allotted room. But she couldn't find the lady after she came out of the room. Although she wasn't particularly looking for her, she had expected to see her.
'Maybe she's handling other chores,' thought Siara.
Siara had been feeling something weird since she returned from that mysterious space, but it wasn't all that serious. Maybe it was a side effect that occurred after she left that mysterious space.
In the room, there were only three ways to go. One led to the sapphire hallway and Siara's allotted room. Another led to a simple wooden door next to the staircase. All the main areas—like the library, dining hall, wardrobe room, and guest rooms—were upstairs. Even Leon's private room was there. But according to him, the mansion wasn't his. He had found it, and according to him, this mansion was nothing compared to the inns of his hometown.
"Ahem... Ahem!" A sudden hoarse and raspy voice coughed.
Siara's thoughts shattered, and she came back to reality. She saw a dwarf in a grey jacket and blue hood whose face was light-skinned and dull, with clearly visible wrinkles. Yet for his height, his body was quite well-shaped, flexible, and macho-style, though his back was a little bent.
As soon as Siara's sight landed upon the poor dwarf, her eyes glowed with sparks, and an evil smile came onto her face.
Maintaining that evil smile and the sparks in her eyes, she asked the old dwarf, "Are you a real dwarf?"
The old dwarf replied, "Ummm... I'm a human too. Please don't mock me for my height."
Siara's smile dropped instantly, and her sparkly eyes shattered right after hearing that the person in front of her was just a regular human, not a dwarf like she read about in fantasy stories.
"So can you show me your sky energy?"
"No!"
Siara, who had already heard the term once from Leon, replied to the old dwarf. Though her answer was rude, it was the truth. In reality, she didn't even know about this 'sky energy' and couldn't control it. So showing it to someone was impossible for her at that time. All she knew was that she had been through a magical portal, looked into a Dragon's eye—which showed her how she ended up in this world—was pushed from behind at the edge of a mountain, found a mansion in a forest, magically passed through some trees, and woke up to see a glamorous, saint-like lady.
But the old dwarf didn't get mad. It was their first meeting, after all. The old dwarf shook his head and moved out of the mansion.
While the dwarf was stepping outside the mansion, Siara got involved in deep thought.
'What shall I do?'
Siara had arrived in a new world, which was completely fine for her. But how would she survive there? She didn't know anything about this world.
After coming to a brand-new world, she thought she might start a new life without any misery. But at that moment, she forgot one of the most crucial things upon arriving in a foreign land: the language gap. She could cover communication differences if she were in her own world, but how would she overcome the language barrier in a world she had never seen before? It would be quite interesting, but at the same time, very hard for Siara.
First, she thought she might try getting help from that glamorous lady, but Siara presumed she might be mute since she used a paper note to communicate with Siara, and even while cleaning, she hadn't uttered a single word. Next, Siara thought about Leon. But based on his "Don't ask me anymore" attitude, Siara thought he might be a bad choice too. Lastly, it clicked for Siara that she had just met another person.
While the old dwarf was about to cross the mansion boundaries, a thin, concentrated, and sweet voice shouted. What the old dwarf heard was someone screaming awfully.
"Hey-eeeey! Stop there! I need to talk to you!"
When the old dwarf heard the voice, he stopped and turned around. He saw a pretty lady with black hair with bluish tones, bangs in front, and blue eyes, wearing a white dress with a beautiful white flower woven toward the left side, rushing toward him.
"Can you take me around to see the area?" Siara asked, hoping the old dwarf might agree.
The old dwarf didn't disappoint her either. He nodded his head and replied, "If you want."
Just like that, Siara and the old dwarf crossed the mansion boundaries.
The old dwarf took Siara toward a deep edge. Siara could see nothing but white mist below and beside the edge.
"So what are we going to do?" Siara asked with curiosity in her eyes.
The old dwarf looked at Siara's face, held her hand, and jumped off the edge.
"Whoa-aaaaaaaahh!" A thin scream rang out in the mist. It was Siara, astonished and startled.
'Are we going to die now? Never mind... I'm useless anyway,' Siara thought, maintaining a bitter smile on her face.
But to Siara's further astonishment, they both landed safely on the ground below. A blue veil shrouded both the old dwarf and Siara, helping them land safely on the ground.
It was the second layer of the mountain, where humans of ancient civilizations lived. There were mainly three kinds of natives living in the second layer:
Post-Ancient clan: Wind
Post-Ancient clan: Flames
Post-Ancient clan: Earth
There were proto-Ancient clans too. And most importantly, the rarest in the whole world, a Pre-Ancient clan lived in the core mountain. Though people assumed they lived on the fourth layer, Leon and the old dwarf already knew that no human or humanoid creature lived on the fourth layer—at least not alive.
Siara, who started exploring the surroundings, was explained all of this by the old dwarf in the mansion before going out.
They landed safely in a village. There were wooden houses and shops too.
It seemed Siara was more interested in the small market in the village than obeying the old dwarf's instructions. The first shop she visited was an ornament shop. A typical women's approach. There were different kinds of hairpins on display, earrings hanging, and on the back wall, different kinds of necklaces were displayed. Siara first looked at the inclined wooden display table. There were hairpins made of wood, metal, and a bone-like material. Siara pointed to a hairpin that looked as if it were made out of the finest, whitest bone with a jade-like luster, with a sapphire hexagonal mesh ball at the end. It also had two mini hexagonal mesh balls hanging by an alluring thread set in an elegant way.
Seeing all the ornaments, Siara moved to the next shop. It was selling materials Siara didn't recognize. There was a simple table on which a few minerals stood. In the shop, there were many of those minerals.
One was a purple rock emitting a vile purple gas. But the gas stayed only around the rock and wasn't spreading. There was a metallic white ore and many kinds of black, blue, and azure ores.
Next, Siara went to a stall. There were meats hanging and different kinds of green and colorful things on the countertop. There were pans over yellow stones. Maybe there was water in the pans, because vapor was rising out. There were a total of three setups of pans over yellow stones.
A woman was working at the stall. Her sense of dress was a little bizarre from Siara's perspective. She was wearing thin, normal clothes with a mantle over them. In addition, she wore a neck cover whose patterns matched the mantle. The outfit seemed bizarre to Siara because it wasn't too cold to wear those types of clothes, nor was the sun shining too bright to require a mantle. It was the first person Siara encountered on the second layer. Though the market was big, there weren't many people around, and the mist was still lurking, although it wasn't as dense as before they landed.
Siara tried to communicate with the lady.
"Hey, what are you making?"
The lady looked at Siara and replied, "Onl oma Frey bai-ees."
Siara couldn't understand a single word she said. Having failed to communicate with the lady, she realized she really couldn't communicate with them unless she learned their language herself. She tried asking the old dwarf what the lady said, because the old dwarf had been following Siara since they landed. The old dwarf was supposed to help Siara look around, but instead, Siara, driven by her curiosity, was exploring all by herself. The old dwarf didn't interfere either. But when Siara tried asking the old dwarf what the lady had just said to her, she was shocked. Her expression changed, her eyes widened, and her mouth remained open. The old dwarf was also speaking in a language Siara didn't recognize.
Siara then remembered the note the glamorous lady had given her. She hadn't recognized that script either, and Leon had also told her not to expect anyone else to speak the same language as her. But Siara was confused because the old dwarf had spoken to her earlier. At that time, she could understand whatever he said, and the same went for him. But Siara noticed that the old dwarf was also a little confused. Maybe he didn't understand her current language either. But soon, a sigh of relief came over the old dwarf's face, as if he remembered something.
The old dwarf looked at Siara and tried pointing toward a shop at a distance, past many other shops. The old dwarf made hand signs to make Siara understand what he intended. Siara might have been confused, but she wasn't dumb. She understood what the old dwarf tried to say, or at least wanted to say. Siara looked toward that shop, and then both of them started walking toward it.
This time, the old dwarf led the way while Siara followed him closely. Although she failed to communicate with the people, her curiosity didn't end there.