Chapter 113: The Other Side Of The Key

Zach wasn't sure what happened. The feeling that overcame him when he turned the key was similar to when he first entered the labyrinth. There was a brief sensation of falling forward in weightlessness, but this time, it was more twisted like someone had strapped him to the kind of kid-friendly carousel he had seen at some of the festivals in the duchy.

Then, like it was a thing of the past, Zach found himself standing on solid ground with nothing but some nausea to remember it with. He put a hand to his mouth as he repressed an acid reflux and slowly looked around.

The room was completely bare and smooth. It appeared to be made of a strange material that was neither metal nor stone. There was no telling where the light came from in the small room. It was either the orb on the pedestal right before the center of the room or the room itself.

It was a different method from the one in the Chamber of Ceremonies in the Academy, but Zach instinctively knew what to do.

He took another look around the room anyway. But there was nothing except the pedestal, the orb, and a slight circular indent opposite the pedestal.

The orb was soft white with a few specks of a different hue of white. Zach couldn't possibly imagine what it was made of.

But he knew what its purpose was.

With his heart beating loudly and nervously, Zach put his hand on the orb. It was cool like he was touching a melon but smooth like glass.

Nothing happened at first, but the longer he held his hand against the orb, the hotter it grew. Zach started worrying that he might burn his hand. But as if to tell him not to worry, the orb stopped glowing hotter. Instead, it began emanating a soft light the same color as itself.

The light rose in intensity until that too reached a threshold. After that, the next step was the circular indent in the ground behind the pedestal. It began glowing with the same white light as the orb.

However, unlike the orb, the circle's light didn't stop growing brighter. It was like it had once seen the sun and decided it had to surpass it at the first given opportunity. That opportunity was now.

The brightness was the first thing that reminded Zach of the summoning ceremony he had gone through to summon Yanael. And just like then, Zach tried to keep his eyes open to see what was going on, but the light was too bright, and he had to cover his eyes.

He didn't even know why he tried when he knew it was impossible. He just wanted to see the process of a familiar being summoned.

Alas, that was not to be. It was most likely a guarded secret of the same level as or higher than the things Yanael couldn't tell him due to his limited authority.

Zach closed his eyes and shielded them with his hands, but he could tell it was still growing brighter in the room.

Until it wasn't.

The light faded, and Zach opened his eyes. Since he had realized the mortality of his eyes sooner this time, he just needed to blink them a couple of times to see clearly. There were still a few spots of color swimming around in his vision, but he ignored them and focused on the figure standing in the center of the circle. He tilted his head backward.

"A giant?" Zach unintentionally thought aloud.

"Huhum." A smooth chuckle answered him.

"Ahem." Zach cleared his throat, embarrassed, and took a moment to look at the person in front of him.

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They were so tall that he was surprised at first. But when he looked closer, he could tell that she wasn't quite as tall as his father. She wasn't far off, and she was probably as tall as Leonidas. That meant she was almost two heads taller than Zach.

She also had short, fluffy white hair that added a knife blade's width to her height. Her bright hair stood in contrast to her tan skin and seemed to glitter in tandem with her dark, shiny eyes.

Her long slender arms were hugged tightly by the long black fabric of her clothes. Her most likely similarly long and slender arms were securely hidden by an exquisite maid dress.

She met Zach's eyes as he inspected her with sparkle in her eye and the corner of her lips raised. Searᴄh the ηovelFire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

Zach noticed she noticed his staring and cleared his throat again. He reached out with a hand, he had to put it quite high up in the air.

The woman looked at Zach's hand with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm Zach, Zacharia Evandiel, it's nice to meet you."

"...Likewise, but what are you doing with your hand? If you forgot a weapon, I can borrow you one."

Zach looked at his hand in confusion.

"What? No, I'm trying to shake hands."

"Why…?"

"...To greet you more properly rather than just say my name."

"Oh, is it like a custom where you're from?"

Zach nodded.

"Then, don't mind if I do~" The tall woman took a step forward with a charming smile and eyes drawn to slits. She extended her arm and gently wrapped Zach's hand with her own. It was bigger than his, and her fingers were long and slender.

Zach involuntarily nodded as the woman's warm fingers brushed against his skin in a gentle caress.

While Zach was slightly stunned, the tall woman leaned forward until her head was the same height as Zach's. She looked at his face as she drew closer.

"Thanks for having me…" The tall woman whispered next to Zach's ear.

"Master~" She exhaled the last syllable directly into Zach's ear, sending shivers down his spine.

Zach blushed.

"U-um. Yes. Thanks for letting me have you." Zach did his best to control his voice, expression, and self.

The woman chuckled and stood upright again, releasing Zach's hand.

Zach began cooling down as soon as she stopped touching him. She hadn't done anything. She was just very attractive, very warm, very soft, and very attractive. And she was completely aware of how beautiful she was and made full use of it.

It was different from Yanael's straightforward and honest beauty, and Zach couldn't compare the two.

"Ahem." Zach cleared his throat again as he found himself staring at the woman again.

"What do you say we get out of here?" Zach asked.

"I go wherever you do, Master." The woman answered casually.

"Great." Zach looked around.

There wasn't a door anywhere.

"...How do we get out of here?"