Astartes of the Bear School

Chapter 2031 2003. The Sleeping Saintess
The entrance to the valley is still covered by lush vegetation and low trees, making it seem from the outside as if there is no entrance at all.

However, Marlene, who was already ahead of Lann, did not seem to be fooled at all. She used her golden prosthetic arm to push aside the branches blocking her way and walked in with a slight bend.

The Witcher remained silent in the background.

Marlene knew this place; she had even been here before.

The Valkyrie's actions clearly demonstrate this.

After passing through a short mountain crevice, they entered a valley that had been crowded just days before but was now deserted.

Everything was as it had always been: small trees covered with golden leaves, golden grass and fallen leaves covering the ground... It was just a little messy because it had served as a hiding place for the Rhodes Knights for a while.

The scattered, discarded tarpaulins and sleeping bags on the ground were haphazardly twisted together.

The soldiers were actually very nervous at the time, preparing for that surprise attack, and they didn't pack up any of these things.

Lan En followed Marlenia's footsteps, stepping over the tarpaulins, until he arrived at the deepest part of the valley—in front of the small statue.

The Valkyrie stopped in her tracks.

Behind them, the velvet ball and the unicorn also peeked in.

They were both familiar with this place, and they could tell that Marlene seemed to know it.

Golden leaves fell silently as Marlene stood before the statue.

Behind her, Lann's eyes darted back and forth between the statue and Marlenia.

Around the base of the small statue, several deep purple water lilies, as well as the "Holy Bloodwood Sprouts" that Marlenia had described earlier, grew in the surrounding area.

Lan En was certain that they didn't have these things when they hid here before.

He seemed to have noticed something, and just as he frowned and was about to ask a question, he saw Marlenia slowly raise her hand.

The fingers of the gold prosthetic limb are indistinguishable from real limbs, even the tremors of the fingertips are accurately reproduced.

And just as Malenia's fingers touched the statue... *thud*3
Three muffled thuds of varying loudness came from around Lan En.

The Witcher hadn't activated Eagle Vision and couldn't see behind him. But right before his eyes, Marlenia's body seemed to suddenly faint, collapsing to the ground.

Presumably, the two muffled sounds behind him at that moment were the sound of Qilin and the velvet ball falling to the ground at the same time.

Of course, Lan En himself was not without his own abnormalities.

"Well!"

A sudden surge of drowsiness overwhelmed Lan En, causing him to unconsciously let out a muffled groan, similar to a yawn.

This drowsiness wasn't accompanied by intense fatigue; it was just a simple nap.

It can instantly transform a person from a fully awake state into one where they can't even open their eyes.

On the edge of Lann's retina, Mentos suddenly highlighted the previously steadily displayed body condition data in red and magnified it to the center, attempting to stimulate the subject's mind with the dramatic changes in color light on the retina.

But the drowsiness was so intense that just a second later, Lan En's eyes closed uncontrollably.

Time during sleep is so ambiguous.

Even with a Witcher's heightened physical sensitivity, it's impossible to know exactly how long it took for them to regain consciousness through physical sensation alone.

Lan En felt that in the blink of an eye, what he saw was completely different.

His nostrils were first filled with a sweet, honey-like floral scent. Lan En struggled to open his eyes a crack, and then suddenly opened them wide!

He subconsciously crouched down, lowering his center of gravity and adopting a combat-ready stance.

Lan En's footsteps made a sound as they rubbed against the grass.

When he looked down again, he realized that he was not standing on the iconic golden grassland of the Asian Plateau, but on a sea of ​​blue-purple flowers.

Looking back, the Qilin was lying crookedly on its side on the grassy field of flowers, breathing steadily through its large, moist nostrils. The hot breaths coming out of its nostrils made the silk rune cloth around its head tremble.

The velvet ball curled itself into a calico cat-like ball, nestled under the Qilin's neck, and pressed itself against it.

The surrounding terrain remained unchanged, and Malenia remained conscious, still standing before the small statue. However, there was another person beside her.

From Lan En's position, you can only see the person's back at first glance.

That back view was really eye-catching. The figure was about the same size as a normal person, basically only reaching Marlenia's waist. The dark purple hair was thick and long, almost completely covering the figure.

Apart from his general physique, all other features were hidden beneath his thick purple hair.

Lann made no attempt to conceal his footsteps, letting his boots scrape against the sea of ​​blue-purple flowers on the ground as he walked towards the two standing together. "Do you remember the story of this statue, Malenia?"

The speaker was a woman with thick, long purple hair. She spoke softly and calmly, with a soothing quality that seemed to lull someone to sleep.

They discussed the small statue in front of them, which hadn't changed much either.

—A disabled young woman kneeling on the ground, hugging a long-haired child who was also kneeling, curled up, crying in fear.

“Yes, I remember,” Malenia replied. “It’s a story about my brother and me.”

With a sense of nostalgia and emotion, the golden prosthetic hand gently caressed the statue of the crippled woman before him.

“When I grew into a young man, the people of Rhodes could no longer tolerate my corruption. They protested to the royal court, saying: How can the power of external gods be so openly displayed in Rhodes?”

Marlenia's voice was initially cold, but it softened abruptly when her eyes turned to the statue of the huddled, crying child beside her.

“My brother tried everything. The Golden Law and the magic of fundamentalism were as easy for him to use, but none of them could cure my illness.”

“Originally, I was the only one who should have been kicked out of Rodel. He asked to leave with me... That day was the first time he left Rodel. He was very scared and cried in my arms. It looked almost like I was taking care of him.”

Marlenia's voice carried a warm feeling of memories.

"But he is Pure Gold! His strength is as weak as a child's, but his compassion and gentleness are the most powerful forces in the world."

“I firmly believe that without him, there would be no sacred tree.”

“I understand,” the purple-haired woman, who should be Torina, said in her still calm and peaceful voice, “You believe that it is Michaela’s tolerance and gentleness that allows the Sacred Tree to gather those who are considered outcasts by ordinary people and to let them live in harmony within the Sacred Tree.”

“This isn’t ‘I think’,” Malenia turned to Torina seriously. “It’s a fact!”

Torina did not reply to that sentence; she turned away gracefully.

Her thick, long purple hair spread out in mid-air like blooming petals, light and beautiful.

And she showed no sign of falling down with the help of gravity, just as if she were floating in water. Her long purple hair shimmered with a dreamlike luster, making everything around her seem like a dream.

"Looks like you're awake," Torina greeted Lann with a smile as he approached. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm fine," the Witcher replied calmly. "Just like I had a good long sleep... Come to think of it, I couldn't have really slept for seven or eight hours, could I?"

“It only took a blink of an eye,” Torina said with a smile, “It was so short that it didn’t even leave you completely on the ground. You woke up halfway through the fall.”

Whether it was just his imagination or not, the Witcher felt that the [Sleeping Saintess] seemed to be subtly...excited when she spoke to him.
Have the two of them met?

Unlike her split half, Michaela, who never grew up, Torina still seemed to be affected and looked much younger than Malenia.

The Valkyrie is a veteran of countless battles, but her superior golden bloodline prevents the signs of age from affecting her appearance. Malenia, due to her aloof demeanor, appears to be nearing thirty. Her innocent appearance, however, makes it difficult to determine her age due to her flawless skin.

Torina looked to be no more than sixteen or seventeen, about the same age as Melina.

She was slender, petite, and exquisitely beautiful, almost unreal. Her face resembled that of a porcelain doll.

After glancing at Marlenia, who was still gently stroking the small statue with her golden prosthetic arm, Lan decided to speak frankly if there was a problem.

"Have we met before?"

“I have seen it, for me.” Torina took two steps toward Lann, her long hair swaying in the air as if floating on water. “You and another Faded One picked quite a few water lilies, didn’t you? I have to thank you.”

“If the water lilies grow too fast and no one picks them, they will be too conspicuous. Everyone will know there is a problem.”

She was wearing a light purple dress, but the dress was barely noticeable compared to her long hair that covered her entire body.

Lan En waved his hand at this: "Those water lilies are also useful to us, so it's a win-win situation."

"Hehe, is that what you think?" Torina chuckled and bounced around Lann, her long hair seeming to wrap around the witcher. "My gains are much greater."

Just as Torina was about to say something, Marlenia interrupted in a detached voice.

“Alright, Torina.” The Valkyrie turned around in front of the statue and looked at them. “Tell me, where is my brother now? Is there anything he wanted to tell me?”

As she spoke, Marlenia looked at Lann and said, "You didn't need to keep him awake at all. I thought this was just a conversation between the two of us."

The girl floating beside Lan En remained silent for a moment, but did not refute Marlenia's words.

She floated behind the Witcher, placing her small, jade-like hands on Smaug's shoulder armor. Then, as if to reach forward, she covered Lann's nose with her other hand.

"Okay, I'll let him sleep."

(End of this chapter)