CHAPTER 110: CHAPTER 110: SUBTLE CHANGES

"If you want to give the grain to Nyra, give it to her yourself. She would appreciate you more now..." she trailed off before taking a deep breath, "Sorry for taking her identity."

She lowered her head, shame spreading to her chest.

"The grains are actually really for you." Cassias finally spoke after a while, his tone filled with mirth.

She whipped her small head toward him in bewilderment, pointing at herself with her small paw. "For me? But I told you I was Nyra."

Her eyes narrowed at him suspiciously. He wasn’t covering up because of the embarrassment that she successfully deceived him, was he?

"Nyra isn’t as mischievous as you." Cassias let out a low chuckle. "She would have talked directly to me the moment I wanted to talk to whoever had bought the grains from the supplier."

"Then how do you know it was me?" She rolled her eyes at him, still full of distrust. Her eyes narrowed in suspicion.

He acted like a worm in her stomach again!

"Besides you, there was no one else who would use your sister’s name for mischief." He shrugged. "Others wouldn’t dare because of your family, so in conclusion, that’s you."

Her mouth fell open when another crisp chuckle rang from him.

"It also can be Laziel..." she weakly argued.

"Laziel?" He raised his eyebrows.

She pursed her lips. Laziel wouldn’t buy supplies unless he knew the apocalypse would happen. But he didn’t. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have ended up in such an embarrassing situation at that train station.

"Alright, let’s talk tomorrow," he finally said. "You should get some rest."

With that, he withdrew his mental power, which had enveloped them both and blocked anyone eavesdropping. She hadn’t even realized he had used his mental powers.

She withdrew toward her room, letting him close the door.

"Thanks," she mumbled before he fully closed the door. It was unknown whether he heard it or not.

She climbed onto the bed, exhaling. Her day had been rough, physically draining and emotionally shocking. She needed some rest...

When she woke up again, she had returned to her human form. She exhaled in relief and went to find her parents. They still have a lot to talk about. It was inconvenient to discuss things through Cassias as the translator.

"Mom, Dad," her eyes sparkled when she saw them in the living room.

Her dad cleared his throat. After making sure no one was nearby, he asked her, "Zee, who else knows about your other transformation?"

She blinked. "Mom, Dad, and... Cassias."

Three people. Laziel and Nyra didn’t even know.

Alaric nodded in approval. He had no intention of telling his other children, especially when they disliked Zerra so much. They might even harm her...

Not long after, others also woke up. They had a simple meal, canned food and some biscuits. Nyra went out after a while.

"Where are you going?" Alaric frowned at his eldest daughter. The world had become so unpredictable, but she still liked going out so much.

Nyra frowned. Now that there weren’t many restrictions anymore, she didn’t seem too happy staying here. With the parents around, she even ate less than usual.

"It doesn’t matter where I am going. I am just telling you, not asking for your permission," she flatly told him before heading toward the door.

Before Alaric could stop her, she had already arrived at the door and slammed it. The room went quiet in an instant.

Laziel, whose mouth had opened and wanted to say something, closed it again. Now, Nyra didn’t need to rely on their family anymore. Their presence had become insignificant in her eyes.

He turned to his parents, breaking the silence. "What happened to the two of you?"

Alaric adjusted his emotions. "Someone coveted our belongings. We were careless, thinking that no one was around. It’s partly our fault. So, if you are out in the open, don’t show off your wealth."

Laziel was startled, and then he slowly nodded. Zerra noticed his expression. He had fallen into a daze, not expecting his dad would say something like that.

Usually, Alaric wanted to be a perfect person, hiding his flaws and not letting others see them. When he started handing over company matters to Laziel, he was very harsh, an utter perfectionist.

Laziel suffered a lot because of it. His dad only wanted the perfect outcome, turning a blind eye to his struggles. When someone caught his flaws, Alaric would not be kind to that person, turning embarrassment into rage.

Now, that distant figure was making an example of himself and admitting his fault. Laziel suddenly felt that his dad wasn’t so far away anymore, no longer so out of reach.

Something was slowly changing.

"Ouch," he suddenly let out a startled gasp, nearly jumping out of his chair. He was about to glare at Zerra, the culprit, but before he could do that, he fell silent.

She had handed him some sweets, candy and chocolate. Even though the method startled him so much. She, who was sitting across from him, had thrown them directly into his hand.

It didn’t hurt, but because his mind was somewhere else, the effect was magnified with the shock.

He unceremoniously pocketed them before he asked his dad again in worry, "What about those people now? Are they finally caught?"

"They ran away when the octopus monster started attacking..." Alaric frowned. The fact that those people were still on loose worried him. What if they target his family?

"Octopus monster?" Laziel asked in concern. He hadn’t expected they would be in so much danger.

Alaric proceeded to tell about what happened, and surprisingly, Nerith also chimed in with some details once a while.

He added, "At least, the octopus monster is dead now, so it shouldn’t be a problem anymore."

Laziel pursed his lips. Suddenly, he had the desire to be stronger. Such a gigantic monster... even if he were there, he wouldn’t be able to help.

He turned to Cassias, who had completed the latter half of the story where he had slain the monster. He never expected that he was so strong. Even Zerra, who had the look of a weak chicken, was stronger than him.

"Cassias, can you help to control my power better?"

He wanted to be strong too!

Then, until it was lunchtime, the living room was lively. Cassias began his teaching with the rest of the Sylvaris family as the students.

Even though Nerith hadn’t awakened her power, she wasn’t disheartened. Instead, she listened seriously. None knew what the future held, and she might awaken her power someday.

When Laziel went to the backyard to practice his power with Cassias, Zerra’s parents pulled her away to talk.

"Zee, the rings you gave us... there are so many things inside." Alaric turned to his daughter with a complex expression.

Zerra blinked, and slowly said, "Yes..."

"Did you prepare all of it for us? How do you know that..." How do you know that there will be an apocalypse? Nerith’s words remain unfinished.

Zerra sighed. She couldn’t possibly tell them she had experienced it hundreds or thousands of times before, so she settled for the most plausible explanation she had prepared.

"I had a dream about it..." she paused, "at first, I didn’t believe it. Then, strange things started to happen. I-I also found the magical rings with the space inside."

Nerith was heartbroken. She knitted her eyebrows together. "Why didn’t you tell us? You should have kept one ring for yourself too."

Zerra shook her head. "It was hard to believe such a thing would happen, so I didn’t tell anyone. As for the rings, I dreamed about them too, their function to hold space inside. I already had the dream that I would awaken my space ability, so I just gave them to Mom and Dad."

She fiddled with her fingers nervously, like a kid who was caught stealing candy.

They didn’t know whether she was telling the truth or not, but their hearts were always soft-hearted when it came to Zerra, so they decided not to press her further.

At noon, just as the family harmoniously prepared for their lunch, they received some guests.