Watching the White Shade’s light dim, its disappointment obvious, Yvette felt a little embarrassed and added, “Since I’ve taken your deposit, consider this a long-term commission. I’ll come back when my power advances—how about that? It’ll just take a long time.”
Probably only a few hundred years, she added silently.
The White Shade’s glow brightened a bit and it nodded to her.
The two of them retraced their steps, passing the endlessly extending stairs and returning to the original gold-blue manor.
Standing on the red carpet in the hall, Yvette turned to the White Shade and asked, “Why do you trust me so much?”
The White Shade made a scratching-its-head motion.
“Don’t tell me—you don’t know either.”
It nodded to confirm.
Yvette was speechless for a moment and said no more.
She actually wanted to ask more, but the creature couldn’t speak; communicating only by gestures was exhausting.
She even tried telepathy, but the spirit would not open up—whether it couldn’t or simply wouldn’t, she didn’t know—so she gave up.
“Don’t forget to release them all,” Yvette reminded before leaving. After the White Shade gave a confirming response, she stepped out of the manor
and onto the little boat.
The oar moved on its own, and the boat carried her through the dreamlike, stunning Water Mirror Garden toward the exit.
Abella felt like she’d just had a nightmare.
After passing through the gate she had arrived in a huge library; the exit was sealed with a talisman, but that talisman was actually a question—an analytic problem about rune theory—with a pen left on the floor.
Strangest of all, she couldn’t pull the seal off. Every ability she’d pridefully relied on was sealed here—elemental spells unusable, her spider-leg lance and corrosive magic disabled—she’d been reduced from a Stage-5 aberration lord to an ordinary person!
This fact terrified Abella. She had listened to Elliot’s account and had felt smug: Elliot and his partner were nothing she couldn’t handle. A supreme expert like her going into the Garden wouldn’t suffer like Elliot did.
But who knew—the place she arrived in was even more terrifying. It felt like stepping into an anti-magic field; her powers were gone.
Reluctantly she began to suspect that leaving this cursed place required solving the question on the talisman.
Seeing the problem gave her a headache.
When she studied under her master she had never learned rune theory—only ready-made spells, the shortcut approach. When she taught Lant she stuck to combat details and avoided foundational theory, because talking about it would expose her shortcuts and ruin her aloof, erudite image.
Now they wanted her to answer theoretical questions—did they want her death?
Out of necessity she began scouring the library’s materials and cramming, but soon bored, she started scribbling dirty text and drawing lewd pictures on the flyleaves.
Once she started, the sealed library doors suddenly slammed open with a bang, and dozens of magical beings whose faces were books and whose bodies were black shadows burst in, grabbing clubs and chasing her.
She fled wailing, playing hide-and-seek with the magic creatures. Just as they were about to trap her and rain down blows,
the world blurred for a moment, and she instantly found herself back on the bitter Arctic plain. Her powers returned, leaving her unsure whether she had escaped a nightmare or been struck into a hallucination.
“We made it out!”
A cheer rang nearby. Abella turned and saw many mechanical marionettes and even large Magitech Automatons scattered across the ice; among them she recognized the blue-haired marionette girl, Ice Rain.
“Eh, Sister Abella, what are you doing here?” Ice Rain noticed her and ran over to hug her, delighted.
“Of course to rescue you.” Abella patted her shoulder with a proud, battle-scarred look. “How else would you have gotten out?”
“Really? For real?” Ice Rain was stunned.
“Of course it’s real. Our vehicle is still parked up above—we came these past couple days just to rescue you.” Abella preened. She’d already convinced herself that everyone suddenly escaping the Garden had to be the Master’s doing; otherwise, it made no sense that their arrival coincided with the Garden releasing people.
And she had come with the Master, loyally and without complaint—if she didn’t get credit at least for the effort, what was the point? She’d taken blows—didn’t that count as participation in the rescue? She felt very involved.
“So what’s the deal with this Mysterious Garden—do you know?” Ice Rain asked curiously.
“Well…” Abella suddenly scanned the surroundings, her beautiful face putting on a show of sincere concern. In a tone of exaggerated worry she said, “Wait—Master should be here too. We should find her first before anything else!”
Ice Rain’s attention was immediately diverted and she joined Abella in searching the crowd.
Yvette actually wasn’t in this place—the gate’s exit opened back onto the original cliff by the Magitech Vehicle’s parking spot, about one to two kilometers from the frozen plain where the survivors stood.
She slid down over the ice and when she arrived at the edge of the crowd the first person to approach was Detective Elliot White Dove,
who exclaimed in shock and joy, “What happened—everyone’s out! Miss Yvette, do you have any clues?”
Yvette looked at him, hesitated a moment, and said, “I don’t know either.”
“Eh?” Elliot paused, puzzled. “But I feel like you’re a little different. By my reasoning, this Mysterious Garden seemed a bit…proactive toward you.”
Yvette put on an innocent look and blinked. “That must be your imagination. You’ve only been there once—who’s to say it behaves the same every time?”
Then, with a straight face she added, “Besides, I’m just an ordinary Machinist.”
“Makes sense.” The Detective’s trust in his kin was unshakable; he nodded and sighed, “But why did it suddenly end all of a sudden?”
“Look—the Garden’s projection is gone. It’s just vanished.” Yvette pointed to the sky. “Maybe the Garden’s energy ran out and we happened to arrive before it did?”
“Excellent deduction, Miss Yvette. You truly have a knack for detective work,” Elliot praised.
“Thank you.” Yvette smiled and asked, “Why not file this as a to the Sanctum?”
She didn’t want the Machinist God to notice her presence for now.
“All right, Miss Yvette. Once I regroup with my teammates we’ll definitely take your suggestion into account,” Elliot said happily.
And so the century-long case that had caused an uproar within the Machinist ranks ended anticlimactically. Elliot expressed his gratitude to Yvette—for rescuing him, for helping him overcome his inner demons and return to the Garden, and for reuniting with his team just as the Garden vanished. The ending was suddenly heartwarming.
At the end he even insisted on gifting Yvette some precious Origin Civilization antiques as thanks, but after hearing his descriptions of those ancient trinkets she politely declined, saying the sentiment was enough.
After expressing thanks again, Elliot left to rejoin his Gracebearer squad to discuss follow-up handling and plans.
Ten minutes later, Yvette returned to the vehicle with Abella and Ice Rain. From Ice Rain’s excited retelling Yvette learned about her century of life.
Unlike Abella, who had been trapped in a library and tortured by knowledge, Ice Rain’s situation wasn’t that tragic. She had been transported to a forest-like place filled with small, furry magical creatures—like a fairy-tale paradise. The fruits there were full of rich mana jam, almost usable as liquid mana for recharging.
So even though she couldn’t find the exit for a long time, thanks to local mana supplies and the Machinists’ long lifespans, she had lived rather comfortably—mostly idle days petting animals, with no real threat to her life.
“I thought I’d be stuck there for the rest of my life.” Ice Rain said, trembling with relief and gratitude, “Thank goodness for Miss Good Samaritan and Sister Abella—this is amazing.”
Then she asked curiously, “Miss Good Samaritan, how did you and Sister Abella get us out?”
Yvette glanced at Abella and said, “I made a deal with the Garden’s master: we agreed to do it a favor later in exchange for releasing you.”
“Garden’s master?” Ice Rain gasped and Abella perked up.
“I don’t know much either—it’s very mysterious, perhaps some kind of magical being.” Yvette shook her head. She felt it inappropriate to reveal the Ivory Tower’s secret door and chains, so she changed the subject and asked, “Have you been to the Jadeite Continent?”
Ice Rain shook her head repeatedly and said regretfully, “Miss Good Samaritan, I never made it to Jadeite Continent. We had plans but—”
“That’s fine, I haven’t been either. We can leave together.” Yvette said calmly. “Let’s change our destination to Jadeite Continent.”
With the Doomsday Witch apparently dead, that source of threat had suddenly disappeared, and they could resume harvesting aberrations without restraint.
Considering the mysterious Blood Demon, which devours aberrations madly and might reappear, Yvette thought there would be many chances to meet Detective White Dove again.
Book 2: Chapter 147: Wrap Up and Departure
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