Chapter 135 – Nothing is True

The student dormitories in the March Academy were two-person rooms. The rooms were incredibly spacious, and they were considered a luxury for the average student.

However, students naturally couldn’t enjoy the same luxuries in the Elven Forest. Due to the exorbitant entrance fee, the number of people visiting the Elven Forest was very low. As a result, the elven village didn’t bother preparing many guest rooms for tourists. Moreover, the rooms the village prepared were meant to accommodate four people, which was rarely seen even among modern-day hotels in the human realm. The elven village looked more like dormitories than the March Academy’s student dormitories.

Since the “dormitories” here were four-person rooms, Alice, Zauna, Lalu, and Alice’s maid Luna were naturally assigned to the same room.

The March Academy was very lax when it came to assigning rooms. The academy didn’t force students to share rooms based on their student IDs. If a group of friends sought to share a room, they could apply with their class teachers.

The school trip’s schedule was also arranged similarly to the normal class schedule. Other than the few hours students needed to gather to conduct group activities, students were free to do whatever they wanted for the rest of the day. After all, mobile communication in this world relied on mana, not cellular connection. There was no need to worry that a student would run to a place that couldn’t be reached by phone.

“The tour of the Tree of Nature starts at 4 PM today, and it is only 9 AM right now.” After dropping off her luggage, Lalu looked at her phone for the time. Then, she looked toward Alice and asked, “If we include lunchtime, we still have seven hours of free time. What do you guys plan on doing?”

Although Lalu was asking in a casual tone, Alice could see Lalu’s true thoughts in the loli elf’s sparkling eyes:

Wanna go to the Nature Shrine?

It would seem that for the 17-year-old elf, the thought of going against her elders’ old-fashioned education filled her with excitement.

“Aren’t you a little too rebellious?” Zauna asked in exasperation. She was aware of Alice and Lalu’s plans, so when she saw the eager look on the loli elf’s face, she couldn’t help but be rendered speechless.

Zauna had already known Lalu for more than half a year, unlike Alice. However, during this half a year, she had never seen the loli elf making such an excited expression before.

On the first day they started their freshman year, Lalu behaved similarly to the average elf. She maintained an aloof attitude and behaved seemingly restrained toward everything. Only after the others in the class had taught her things that couldn’t be found in the Elven Forest did Lalu start to brighten up a bit. Eventually, she even became a very approachable person.

However, Lalu’s current behavior could no longer be considered “approachable.” Instead, she behaved ecstatically like a child visiting the amusement park for the first time. Seeing this, Zauna couldn’t help but admit that Alice the Hero was much more capable of causing mischief compared to ordinary students like herself.

“It seems you’re very eager,” Alice said with a helpless smile. However, seeing as Lalu was already growing impatient, Alice pondered for a moment before saying, “Alright, then. Let’s go and take a look at the Nature Shrine right away.”

After saying so, Alice turned to Zauna and Luna, asking, “Do you two want to join?”

“I’ll pass. There won’t be any escape for me if I get caught,” Zauna said, shaking her head. She wasn’t the Hero, unlike Alice. If they got caught, Alice might be able to get away if she revealed her identity, but the same couldn’t be said for her. She was merely an ordinary student. If she got caught, even if the elves chose to let her go, she would probably still be expelled if the academy learned of her actions.

“I’ll also pass,” Luna said, shaking her head as well. Alice was going to the Nature Shrine to learn taboos, and there was nothing she could help in this regard. She couldn’t possibly help Alice experiment with taboos inside the Nature Shrine, either. “I’ll stay here and prepare lunch for everyone.”

“That’s wonderful! You guys have no idea how terribly bland elven food tastes!” Lalu said, raising her arms in celebration when she heard Luna’s words.

“Is it that terrible? What do elves normally eat?” Zauna curiously asked. Although she had heard that elves ate very lightly, she didn’t think Lalu would evaluate them so terribly.

“Our ingredients are basically just fruits and vegetables turned into salads but without any dressings, spices, salt, or even sugar. The taste is completely natural. It might be fine to eat like that for a few meals, but not even the churches would eat like that for every meal,” Lalu said with a disgusted look on her face. “Honestly, I’ve considered bringing back some food from the human realm to let those stubborn old fogies know what real food is… I really have no idea how I managed to get used to eating like that for the past 17 years.”

“Some elven habits might not seem very good for someone used to living in the human realm, but since they have already made it a habit to eat that way, there’s no need to force them to change,” Alice said as she patted Lalu on the head. “Let’s go. I’m curious to see what the Nature Shrine looks like.”

“Okay,” Lalu said, clicking her tongue as she stopped talking about elven food. However, after experiencing human food for over half a year, she honestly couldn’t understand how other elves could stand eating such bland foods for decades and centuries.

Meanwhile, Alice took out a baggy magic robe from her luggage before leaving the room. Then, she gripped a corner of the robe with her right hand, turning it into a weapon.

…

[Weapon: Magic Robe Brimming With Mana]

[Quality: Fine]

[Effect: Mind +10, Control +10, Mana +50]

[Additional Effect:

Mana Defense (Passive Skill. Reduces the offensive magic damage you receive by 5%);

Mana Concealment (Active Skill. Conceals the appearance and aura of the weapon and its user for three minutes.) ]

…

When Alice first became the Hero, she had relied on this same robe to sneak out of the Gryffin Church. The robe was something the March Academy prepared for its students, and it had the basic function of concealing the user’s magic aura. However, under the effects of Alice’s right hand, the robe had gained the added function of invisibility.

Meanwhile, the reason why Alice took out this robe was simple. The March Academy’s students had just arrived in the elven village, and they had a full seven hours of free time. So, there should be plenty of people walking around the village right now. If Alice and Lalu were to approach the entrance to the Nature Shrine right now, they’d be exposing their intentions immediately.

Meanwhile, because Alice and Lalu were much shorter than the average high schooler, the standard magic robe was more than enough to fit the two of them. Then, after the two of them put on the baggy robe, Alice activated Mana Concealment, the skill’s activation causing the two of them to instantly vanish from Zauna’s and Luna’s vision.

“The invisibility only lasts three minutes,” Alice said to Lalu inside the robe.

“Let’s move quickly, then.”