There were many things Sofia had expected might be behind the doors, but she had to admit, a giant room with an indoors forest, a large mansion, a small lake and a fake blue sky were really not it.
Yet here they were. Birds were chirping, wind was howling, the sky was blue and the sun shone brightly up above. Sofia wanted to squint as she looked at the indoor sun. Holy fuck, that’s a lightstone?!
“This is still the palace of Sorrow?” she whispered, looking behind her. The doors were still behind her, she hadn’t been teleported, there did not seem to be any illusion at play here either.
A tiny blue bird flew up to Sofia, landing at her feet, it looked up at her, chirping expectantly.
Sofia observed the bird through her mana senses, and as far as she could tell, this was a genuine bird, probably level two or three, of a species she had never seen before.
The bird kept chirping at her feet.
Just what... What is going on right now?
Does it want food? I have plenty of seeds for Zangdar so...
Sofia grabbed a handful of random small seeds from her storage and crouched down, placing her open palm in front of the bird, which happily started pecking at the seeds, making pleased sounds. The scene attracted a bunch more birds, and before long Sofia was sitting on the ground, feeding birds and questioning her life.
There was some noise coming from the mansion, Sofia thought she heard the sound of fire, but it was faint and covered by the noise of dozens of birds. Beside that, there were two large sources of mana in the room aside from herself, one being something or someone inside the mansion, and the other being the huge lightstone hanging from the ceiling, which was charged with so much mana it would probably keep shining uninterrupted for the next ten thousand years.
When there were no more seeds, the birds all flew away, leaving Sofia flabbergasted next to the entrance.
The weirdest thoughts coursed through Sofia’s mind as she walked on the green grass and wildflowers going toward the entrance of the mansion.
Is this entire place a big mimic? A mansion mimic?
As she came closer, the sounds from within the mansion became more obvious, someone was cooking something over a fire, a woman, judging from the voice humming a lighthearted tune.
What did I get myself into?
Sofia took the final steps toward the manor’s front door, she adjusted the shape of her armor to make it look a bit more like regular clothes, and lightly knocked.
The humming stopped for a second, before starting again.
Am I being ignored? Is this a trap? I...
Not wanting to overthink things, Sofiak knocked again, raising her voice a bit, “Hello?”
The humming stopped, cut abruptly by the sound of pots and cutlery crashing to the ground. A girly voice came from inside, “D- don’t come- Wait! I’m naked!”
Sofia froze as she struggled to process that answer.
Is she going to be fine? I-
Can a level 400 even faint?!
A bark made Sofia jolt, the skeleton dog from before was right there, wagging his tail as he stood in the doorway to what looked like the mansion’s living room. As soon as he got Sofia’s attention, he turned around and entered the room.
Sofia decided to follow, grabbing Velania in a princess carry and bringing her to a large couch where the skeleton dog was sitting, waiting for her. She gently sat Velania on the couch, and tried to wake her up, but failed.
“She’s out cold, but her breathing is calming down a bit...”
Sofia turned to the skeleton dog, and he chose this instant to disappear in a puff of smoke.
“Wait!”
Sofia heard another bark, she looked around, it was coming from the other side relative to the entrance hall, where Velania had originally been when Sofia knocked on the door. When Sofia entered said room, the kitchen, the dog was nowhere to be seen, but a faint smell of burnt food soon hit her face.
Oh crap.
A batch of cookies were cooking on a metal tray over a fire pit embedded in the wall, they were turning dark-brown, with the ones closest to the edge of the tray already a bit black.
Sofia instinctively grabbed the tray out of the fire, placing it on the marble countertop nearby after pushing away the bunch of pots that were randomly stacked there, before coming to a stop as she stared blankly at the half-burnt cookies.
“What the fuck am I doing?”
She ran back to the living room, finding Velania still passed out on the couch, her thin blonde hair covering most of her face.
No, seriously... What is going on?
Sofia heard another bark, and a luminous scroll appeared right on top of Velania’s lap.
‘She holds the key to your last trial
Helpers may be available later.
Whatever you do, do not mention Dragons!!!
Try to have fun, and don’t be mean!
- Sorrow -’