Chapter 404 - 190: Good News and Bad News (Part 2)

’This is a job for Elise. That messy-minded sister of hers would definitely be better at this than I am.’

"No, Eleanor, wait a minute."

Elise suddenly spoke up. "I’m realizing we’re not on the same page."

"I was asking about the writer’s strength. What were *you* talking about?"

Eleanor: "??????"

’I used such an embarrassing metaphor, and you’re telling me you were just asking about his strength??’

’I could kill you!’

Humiliated and enraged, Eleanor flung Elise’s hand away. "I’m going to eat. You all can talk amongst yourselves!"

With that, she entered the elevator without a backward glance.

Yisha watched her retreating back, covering her mouth as she laughed. "Sister Elise, you’re so naughty. You went and made her angry."

"The wrath of a Grand Mage is more than we can bear."

"It couldn’t be helped," Elise said with a helpless shrug. "Our dear Miss Flame Crow wasn’t doing anything but fuming, so I had to be the one to step in and get a clear answer for her."

Clearly, this was a "misunderstanding."

Sean and Eleanor had most likely been busy with something important all night until dawn, not "sneaking a snack" as they had assumed.

The reason Eleanor hid in her room when faced with Elvire’s questioning was probably because she actually wanted them to misunderstand.

As for why she wanted everyone to misunderstand...

Elise couldn’t figure it out for the time being.

Perhaps Eleanor was testing Sean and Elvire’s attitudes because she liked Sean, too?

A knowing smile crept onto Elise’s face.

She had a feeling that she was in for a good show for a long time to come.

The two women called for Koni and headed to the dining hall.

Sopea, Genduo, and the others were already eating.

There was quite a spread of food on the table.

The castle’s chef was newly hired. For the past few days, their meals weren’t just meals; they were also serving as "gourmet food critics." The dishes not only had to suit their tastes but also feature the local specialties of Sonaros State.

These requirements had all been proposed by Elvire.

The chef’s salary, however, was paid by Sean.

The boss was too generous and offered a very high salary. Since the boss’s wife couldn’t overrule him, she could only approach it from the employee’s side and make sure they got their money’s worth from this expense.

"Where’s Sean?" Sopea asked as the three women approached.

"He won’t be here anytime soon," Elise said with a smile. "Let’s just go ahead and eat."

Sopea nodded.

It wasn’t that he was worried about Sean going hungry—creatures like Wizards could miss a meal or two without any issue, and it could even enhance their Meditation. He just wanted to report to Sean the results of last night’s Entering the Dream.

According to Dorunla’s past memories, she grew up on a remote farm in Krim State. She had no image of a mother in her mind; her father handled everything at home. Judging by the timeline, Dorunla’s memories were sealed before she started school. At that time, she had almost no contact with outsiders. The only things she faced each day were her father, the piano, and the cows on the farm.

Therefore, it was highly likely that Dorunla’s memories were sealed by her own father.

Either that, or the farm’s cows became sentient and learned Mind Magic.

Between the two, the former was undoubtedly the more likely possibility.

But this wasn’t a particularly urgent matter. Sopea wasn’t in a hurry, figuring he could just as well wait until Sean finished dealing with his family affairs and then tell him.

He didn’t expect, however, that his wait would last all the way until the afternoon.

The chef had even started serving the third meal of the day, afternoon tea, but Sean and Elvire still hadn’t returned.

"Where did those two go?"

Elise was getting a little puzzled.

Koni looked back and forth out the window. "There’s no one in the sky anymore..."

Yisha guessed, "Did they sneak off on a date behind our backs?"

"I’ll give them a call and ask," Elise said, pulling out her phone.

Elvire didn’t pick up.

Elise then tried calling Sean.

Sean also waited a long time before finally answering the call.

"Hello?"

"’Hello’ my foot."

Elise was both amused and exasperated. "Where did you two run off to? How did you just disappear into thin air?"

Sean: "We’re at the Gate of Hell."

Elise: "?"

"What are you doing there?"

"I was forced."

Sean spoke rapidly, "Since we had to make a trip anyway, I’m going to use this deep well that leads to Hell to prove my innocence today."

Elvire’s cold laugh immediately came from the other end. "You have innocence to prove?"

Sean: "Don’t come any closer! I’m warning you, Elvire, if you take one more step, I’ll really jump!"

Elvire taunted as she advanced on him, "Then go ahead and jump. Don’t just talk about it."

"If you don’t jump, I’ll look down on you!"

"Fine, fine, you’re the one who said it," Sean said through gritted teeth. "If anything happens to me, you can just wait to be a widow!"

With that, he steeled his resolve and jumped directly into the bottomless mouth of the well.

The phone lost its signal at that moment.

The last thing Elise heard was Elvire’s frantic shouting—

"Hey, you really jumped!"

"Sean, are you an idiot!"

BZZT.

The call was forcibly terminated.

Elise: "???"

’Wait, are these two for real?’

’It was just an argument. Did he really have to jump into a well over it?’

"What’s happening?" Yisha, who hadn’t heard clearly from the side, asked.

"Not a good situation," Elise said with a grave expression. "Your teacher jumped into the Gate of Hell."

Yisha: "Huh??"

’For real?’

The Gate of Hell was a forbidden zone in the Farm World. The Church Court strictly prohibited anyone from approaching it. Even a family head like Bofunova had never been there. Aside from its location and its connection to the "New World," nothing else was known.

Bofunova had also told them that the old news reports about "sounds from Hell" often coming from the depths of the well were true. No one knew what lay hidden below.

Whether it led to the "New World" or contained actual Demons crawling out of Hell, it was an extremely dangerous place for them.

But her teacher actually jumped just like that...

"This won’t do. I have to go take a look," Elise said, feeling uneasy.

Sopea threw down his chopsticks—he had long since grown tired of eating—and said, "I’ll go with you."

"Okay." Elise then looked at Yisha. "You go find Miss Eleanor and tell her the writer might be in danger."

"Understood." Realizing the gravity of the situation, Yisha ran out of the dining hall.

Elise and Sopea also set off immediately.

The good news was that the Gate of Hell wasn’t too far from Kovloki Castle.

It was about 160 kilometers away, in an abandoned mining area.

This place was originally patrolled 24/7 in shifts by members of the Kovloki Family, but a few days ago, Bofunova had transferred them away on some pretext, so they could swagger right in.

The vast mine was filled with wooden ladders and fences built against the walls, along with many large, rust-spotted drilling rigs, showing the scale of the former operation. Now, however, there wasn’t a single person in sight.

The bad news was also that there wasn’t a single person in sight.

You jump, I jump—it was obvious that Elvire had followed Sean and jumped into the deep well with him.

Elise and Sopea arrived at the well and could faintly make out traces on the ground of two people having jumped in.

What made Elise’s heart sink was a faint yet piercing sound coming from the mouth of the well.

"SCHLURP... SCHLURP..."

It sounded like some kind of animal eating.

How could Elise dare to delay?

"Mr. Sopea, you wait here for Yisha and Eleanor. If something happens, I’ll shout for help."

Leaving those words behind, Elise also leaped into the well.

Though it was called a well, it wasn’t actually a regular circle, and it was much larger than a typical well. This was because in the early days, before they decided to drill, many workers had manually mined in here. To this day, you could still see parts of old, chiseled stone stairs on the walls, as well as some protruding rocks that were used as footholds.

Elise plummeted downwards, conjuring a small flame on her finger to serve as a light spell and help her see her surroundings.

And then there was more good news—

She quickly spotted Sean and Elvire.

By the faint light from her fingertip, Elise saw them on a foothold. A certain Miss Flame Crow was pressed against the stone wall, being forced into a domineering yet romantic, passionate kiss with a certain man, letting out wet sounds from time to time.

Elise: "???"

’So that "SCHLURP SCHLURP" sound I heard just now... was coming from Elvire and Sean??’

...In fact, before jumping, Sean had already used his Mental Power to scout the upper part of the well and knew there were many places to land.

After all, Eleanor wasn’t around. He wasn’t stupid enough to risk his own life. He had just lured Elvire down here to make it easier to appeal to her emotions.

In other words, he never intended to make the full jump at all.

The bad news was—

Elise *had* made the full jump.

Sean and Elvire had jumped along the edge; she had jumped right into the center.

Beneath her feet, there wasn’t a single stone—only a dark, endless abyss.

Elise’s face was flushed red with anger. Filled with fury, she plummeted straight down, flashing past Sean and Elvire with a WHOOSH.

The flushed Elvire pushed lightly against Sean’s chest, panting heavily. "Wait, I think something just fell past us..."

"You heard wrong. Let’s continue."

"Mmph!"

"SCHLURP SCHLURP..."