Tangled By Fate

"I miss magic tone torches. They provide stronger light without oil. Hmm… what's this?"

Veronica's eyes landed on a scroll. There was a picture. Two animals were drawn there.

"I've never seen animals like this. An animal breathing fire… and another animal… it's like a bird and it has… a tail of a snake? What kind of…"

A sudden chill ran down her spine.

"Wait, a creature who is half-snake and half-bird… don't tell me it's a basilisk. Then the other one is… a dragon. It breathes fire!"

Veronica was shocked by her own discovery.

This scroll was long. She unrolled the scroll entirely. The scroll ended up on the floor.

The paper was so fragile that she was being careful.

The words written on the scroll started to fade away.

She brought the scroll close to the torch and started to read.

It was almost the same story that Arthur told her, except, everything was in detail.

The story was long and it was written in an ancient language she hardly knew.

Thus, it took her a long time to finish the whole story.

"I didn't know there was such a history. So, the dragon won and lived a quiet life afterward. As for the basilisk, its flesh was eaten by animals.

"If the blood-drinking human turning into an elf is true, then it can be that the elves live around the river. The blood of basilisk gives them a certain power. They can't leave it unprotected, can they?

"The place where the basilisk died was the battlefield where it and the dragon were fighting. The name of the place, what was it…"

Veronica looked for the name of the battlefield.

Since the basilisk's dead body wasn't moved, it was still on the battlefield. The blood river started from its dead body.

Therefore, the battlefield should be the elves' secret place of hiding.

The sun began to rise.

But, Veronica didn't feel sleepy. She was rather excited.

After skimming through the whole story once again, she finally found the name of the place she was seeking.

HYPITHIYA

"Is that even a name of the place? Did I see something wrong?"

Veronica rubbed her eyes and brought the scroll close to her eyes.

She read the name loudly, "Hy…pi…thi…ya…"

She dropped the scroll.

"I've never heard of a place that was named like that. What kind of antique name is that?

"How am I supposed to find this place that doesn't even exist on the map?"

Her shoulders slumped.

"Maybe I should sleep. The tired brain won't give me any ideas."

She rolled the scroll and kept it where it was before and went to her room.

She made her bed and laid down.

However, she couldn't fall asleep. Numerous thoughts came to her mind and she was unable to rest her head.

'What to do? I need to sleep. Should I count sheep?'

'One sheep… two sheep… three sheep…'

She wasn't able to count four because suddenly someone knocked on her door.

The only person who was here other than her was Saint Ava.

She hurriedly stood up and opened the door,

Saint Ava urged her sternly, "What are you doing sleeping till now? It's prayer time."

'Nooooo!!!'

Veronica internally screamed.

She was getting used to the luxury in Tybu. She couldn't stand praying with tiredness looming over her.

In the end, she ended up sleeping during the prayer.

Since Saint Ava was sitting in the front and she was kneeling behind, she dozed off in that position.

Generally, it took three hours to finish the morning prayer. But today, it took four hours.

Veronica slept the entire four hours without being disturbed.

After finishing the prayer, the Saint and Veronica had to bow thirteen times. Thirteen bows to thirteen Saints who lived previously and served the world.

Each Saint mostly lived three hundred years.

Saint Ava was the fourteenth Saint. She had to be the luckiest Saint who got to meet the blessed child and become her mentor.

When Saint Ava was bowing, Veronica opened her eyes. She opened her mouth and yawned soundlessly.

Her eyes landed on the bowing Saint. Realizing that she slept the entire time, she quickly bowed her head several times and apologized inwardly for being rude to Goddess Juvena.

After that, her daily routine started.

She had to wash clothes, collect flowers to decorate the altar of the Goddess, meditate with the Saint, and then, water the plants.

After dinner, she planned to take a nap. Four hours of sleep didn't give her that much strength.

Moreover, she kept thinking of a solution. Her body and mind both became exhausted by the nighttime.

Saint Ava went to her room at nine in the evening.

Veronica took a nap as soon as she left.

During her rest, she had a dream.

In the dream, she saw the dragon throwing fire at the basilisk, just like it was written on the scroll.

They fought until they were exhausted.

While the dragon was a proud creature, the basilisk was a cunning creature. It would do anything to win the war.

Seeing that the dragon was exhausted, the basilisk used its last strength to bite the dragon and inject its venom into the dragon.

The dragon's pureblood was mixed with the basilisk's venom. Such a poison weakened its strength.

However, the dragon was mad due to the enemy's sly move. Such a petty trick was disgraceful.

The dragon roared and released fire.

The basilisk turned crisp from the fire the dragon released.

That's how the dragon won.

The dragon went back to its den to rest.

Veronica's eyes flew open. She sat up on the bed and started to think.

'There was nothing mentioned about what happened to the dragon after it went to rest. There was no mention of where its den was. I saw clearly it was a cave. The cave looked white. It was dyed in white color.'

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what she saw in the dream.

However, her dream wasn't as vivid as she thought in her memory.

'White… Can it be snow?'