Chapter 77 Fear Is The Mind Killer

"Now, putting aside the topic of the Grimoire, there is nothing more precious in this room... probably... search through it; I am going to take a look at something on the outside."

Samiel stated as he stored the Grimoire Lux Brumalis in his Dimensional Ring while he went to the exit of the cave and looked at the peak of Snowrose Peak. When he was holding it, he knew that the Grimoire was not rejecting him, but such intelligent books would want to talk with him.

That was not the case with the Basic Principles of the Void Necrosis because Samiel, as Eldritch Creature, was practically the most excellent candidate, so the Grimoire automatically judged him as the most suitable host.

That was because of the natural affinity he had with it, which was the deciding factor when the Grimoire judged someone as suitable or worthy.

In regard to the Grimore Lux Brumalis, he knew that the Grimoire would judge him if he was worthy of being its user; that was how the sentient Grimoires did things. He planned to communicate with the Grimoire Lux Brumalis when he returned back to the Zephystrand, in the safe enviroment of the Citadel.

As Samiel continued ascending Snowrose Peak, he was searching for the Snow Roses that were growing on the top of the peak, primarily because he wanted to give one of them to Yvraine and to sell a few of them, since they were so rare in the Cosmos.

From what Yvraine told him, the Snow Roses were not only used as extravagant decoration in the gardens of powerful experts or aristocrats, but it was an evidently precious alchemical ingredient. It was used in a variety of potions and pills. So even a single Snow Rose could fetch its owner a nice sum of Mana Crystals or an extravagant number of Gold Coins.

After forty minutes, Samiel managed to climb to the top of Snowrose Peak; he discovered a small area that was heavily covered by snow, and he began using his Mana to search for the Snow Roses within this area. Samiel was able to find his first Snow Rose only after more than twenty minutes, and he had to admit that they were pretty.

They were similar in appearance to normal roses, but their leaves were pure white as the whitest snow. Samiel took one of the Snow Roses and plucked it out while storing it in the Dimensional Ring; he started searching for the next, but unfortunately for him, even after half an hour, he didn't manage to find a second Snow Rose.

"Ahh... fuck it."

He cursed at it because he wanted to find a few more Snow Roses to sell; they would fetch an overwhelming amount of money. Like an interference of some kind of higher power, there was no Snow Rose in the entire area, aside from the one that Samiel had already picked up.

Thus, ending his search for the Snow Roses, he returned back to the cave, where Yvraine was finished searching through the cave, not finding anything useful. It would be futile to spend more time here because it would yield no results anymore.

"Did you find what you wanted?"

She asked him when she saw him enter the cave.

"Partially, at least. Here, for you."

He said as he presented her with the Snow Rose, to which Yvraine held her breath as her eyes trailed to the Snow Rose. Yvraine looked mesmerized at the Snow Rose because it was one of the most precious flowers in the Tower; she never thought that he had gone away to search for the Snow Rose, because it was a pretty dangerous thing to do.

Especially in the snowstorm which was outside right now, even many powerful Legendaries would be careful when climbing these mountains when there were storms and other things, risking one's life when one was not even Gold-Tier, for just a single flower was... really something unpredictable that only someone like Samiel Zentaur would do.

Several seconds later, after he gifted Yvraine the Snow Rose, he suddenly felt something touching his lips.

When he realized what was happening, he saw that Yvraine was kissing him; he was frozen on the spot, not absolutely knowing on what to do. Of course, this was his first kiss, so he didn't know how to react, but soon he wrapped his hands around her waist and started returning her kiss.

It was like an instinctive thing; he didn't do it consciously but rather on the subconscious level, as everything happened too quickly and fast for him to comprehend what had just happened.

After they separated, Samiel was standing there, like a statue, while Yvraine was looking at him, not really saying anything as she held the Snow Rose in her hand before she left the cave and aimed directly at the Zephystrand City.

After standing there for ten more minutes, he finally returned back from his unfrozen state and decided to return back to Zephystrand City. When he exited the cave, he realized that Yvraine was long gone; Samiel looked around and went back while he was constantly thinking about what had just happened.

'The fuck.'

He just cursed as he descended down onto the snowstorm.

***

Meanwhile, with Yvraine as she was returning back to Zephystrand City.

After she kissed Samiel, she instantly ran away. Fortunately for her, she managed to keep herself a frozen facade as she then sprinted away. Thankfully for her, Samiel didn't really know how to react because Yvraine was acting pretty much spontaneously when she was gifted with the Snow Rose.

What Samiel didn't really know was that, among the Silvermoon Elves, when a male elf was gifting a female elf a rare flower, it was a signal that he was ready to initiate the process of the courtship. Certainly, this was something that Samiel didn't know because even among the Silvermoon Elves, this was rarely practiced and only the nobility followed the ancient ways, so the ritual with flower gifting was rare nowadays.

She didn't know why she decided to kiss that insufferable man. However, she followed her mother's advice as her mind drifted toward the conversation she had with her mother some time ago. Normally she wouldn't be this bold in the relationship, but she had to admit that when it came to romantic relationships, she was pretty much clueless.

Flashback

Some time ago, in Zephystrand City, Yvraine's chambers in the Citadel.

When Yvraine had a conversation with Samiel's Familiar Nefertari, she decided the best thing to do would be to call her mother and ask for her opinion. She promptly took out a Magetech Device from her Dimensional Ring and began typing out a number, and soon a holographic image appeared soon after.

It was an elven woman belonging to the Silvermoon Species, with an appearance very similar to that of Yvraine. She had long silverish hair tied into a braid, was wearing a royal-looking dress, and had a sharp look on her face.

"Yve!"

She greeted her daughter jovially, not really befitting to her strict look from before, as she looked at Yvraine with a smile, happy that her daughter had called her for the first time since she started climbing the Tower.

"Mother."

Yvraine said indifferently, while her mother just smiled at her.

Ilroraniel was Empress of the Nesser Dynasty and one of the top powerhouses of the Silvermoon Species. She was not only an extremely powerful Legendary but also one of the most knowledgeable Arcanists in the Cosmos under the Transcendental Level.

Contrary to Yvraine, she never cared about any kind of social standings or protocols; Yvraine was always very uptight and attempted to look and behave perfectly.

"So, what is happening, my little darling?"

She questioned her daughter, knowing that she wouldn't be calling her just out of nowhere and for nothing. She took heavily after her father, so she was not wasting any time; she was always so serious and so strict.

"..."

And that was that moment when Yvraine found that she couldn't say anything. Certainly, this didn't escape her mother's attention because she knew her daughter very well, as she knew that Yvraine always knew what to say at any moment and in every situation.

"So, my little girl is finally having love problems?"

She asked teasingly, as Yvraine went red with embarrassment due to being very uncomfortable in this situation. In the end, Yvraine took all the courage she had and started explaining her problem to her mother, believing she would have the solution to her concerns for sure.

"Oya?"

Ilroraniel immediately sharpened, as she said jovially, looking at her daughter happily. From the time Yvraine was a little girl, she, as her mother, knew that Yvraine would probably not give her any grandchildren, which was somehow saddening to think about.

"The solution to your problem is indeed easy. Basically, men are as dense as rocks; you only need to be as much bold and straightforward as you can and claim your man before any other harlot can sink their claws into him."

Her mother said as Yvraine was in deep thought about the entire situation, and she agreed with her mother's words, as they had some sort of inner logic in them.

"Then I will take your advice."

Yvraine stated, as she then chatted with her mother about some minor things before ending the call and started scheming about how to claim what was rightfully hers.

End of the Flashback

After Yvraine returned to Zephystrand City, she directly went to the Citadel and locked herself in her chambers, not allowing anyone to enter the premises.

***

After Samiel returned back to the Zephystrand, he realized that Yvraine was locked up in her chambers, and truth to be told, he even didn't know how to talk to her after what happened several days ago.

Even after thinking about that kiss for three days, he didn't know what to do, though right now, he started thinking about a certain chain of events, the conversation Yvriane had with Estrid a year or something ago, and now it all came back to him.

'Maybe...'

He started thinking that maybe those words she said to Estrid before she challenged her to the duel weren't just empty words, he presumed them to be, and it was possible they were true or at least partially true.

He returned back to his room, where Nefertari was sleeping on the bed, as she woke up when sensing Samiel, who just now sat on the bed, which probably awoke her.

'What it is, hooman? Hooman seems distressed?'

She asked telepathically while jumping on him, as she started purring in her attempts to calm down her hooman.

'Yvraine kissed me.'

He answered without thinking about it too much and started petting his familiar, which she greatly enjoyed.

'Finally?'

Nefertari sounded weirdly pleased at the development of this situation. At the same time, Samiel sharpened hearing this because this question/answer didn't escape his attention; this was hard proof that his familiar knew what the hell was going on.

'What exactly do you know about this Nefertari? And speak the truth, or you will be for one month eating only cat food.'

Samiel stated coldly, as he could see an absolutely terrified expression of his familiar, who had just heard that she would get only cat food for one whole month, which sounded indescribably bad to her.

'The elf is harboring some kind of romantic feelings for master, but the poor elf is dealing with a master who is denser and stupider than rock.'

Nefertari spoke as she started grooming her fur and then went to clean out her wings. Hearing this made Samiel to stop in his tracks, as he almost collapsed on the ground or whatever, but he was not that far from the mental collapse.

Nefertari was very good at sensing emotions and people's intentions towards each other, so there was no possibility of her making any kind of mistake in this.

'Don't ever tell Yvraine that you told me something. Do we understand each other?'

Samiel asked dangerously because he knew that Nefertari was very mischievous like an Imps and liked to cause trouble to people, and in truth, he didn't want her to meddle in this; it was enough that he was now interrogating her about certain circumstances.

After seeing his familiar nod in agreement, he laid on the bed while closing his eyes, entering into the realms of the dream, wishing to find an answer on what to do next. In truth, if it was an old him, he would feel ecstasy, but right now the only thing he was currently experiencing was torturous fear.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer."

Samiel repeated this sentence over and over, and over and over and over, as he spoke from his sleep because right now, he was experiencing a very pleasant dream, which his God rewarded him with.

It was from one of the books he read on Earth until he gradually calmed down to an acceptable level of calmness until he opened his eyes once again and looked straight at the ceiling of his room while thinking about the future.

"I must not fear. Fear is the mind-killer."

He repeated it to himself once more as he sat down cross-legged, already finding the decision he wanted to find.