Before she could bolt out of her bed, she heard a clicking sound and a soft voice suddenly filled the empty silence in the room.
"Excuse me, I will be changing you now."
The old lady softly closed the door behind her as she tried to steady the clothes draped by her arm. But once her eyes locked on the bed, she suddenly froze in shock.
"SOLMAAAAAAN!"
The old lady screamed at the top of her lungs as she hurriedly approached the woman by the bed.
"HOW ARE YOU FEELING, DEAR MISS?!"
The sight of an unfamiliar elderly lady charging at her made the woman by the bed leap off the bed to assume a fighting stance.
"What am I doing here?!"
The woman sternly asserted as she tried to figure out the meaning behind the elderly woman's sudden appearance and actions.
The old lady somehow looked like one of those maids from a nobleman's manor. With her white robe and well-kept hair, along with a clip of a family insignia pinned by the right side of her chest, the woman knew she was someone that was working under a certain noble.
A maid or a personal attendant, she wasn't quite sure which as of yet.
But before she could observe further, the strange old lady screamed once again.
"SOLMAN! COME QUICK!"
The woman figured that she must have been calling someone so, in a fit of panic, she tried to find a weapon to arm herself with in case this 'Solman' was someone dangerous.
So, grabbing the books sprawled around her, she held them up as she tried to look as intimidating and menacing as possible.
But before she could resume her fighting stance with the book now as her weapon, the doors in the room suddenly burst open and an elderly man who looked half-dead with worry suddenly stepped inside.
"What happened, Granny Zai?!"
The elderly man looked around quickly as he tried to figure out what was going on.
But when his sights zeroed in on the woman holding the book up mid-air, his gaze softened and he sighed in relief.
But it soon transformed into an irritated yet playful glare as he spoke.
"Drop that book this instant, young lady! The price of that book alone is enough to cost you a whole piece of land!"
Hearing this, the woman looked at the book in terror and hesitated into dropping it like it was fire.
But if she were to drop it, she would have no weapon left. And so, with a stubborn gaze, she looked at Solomon as she spoke stiffly.
"And why should I obey your commands? You do not govern over me."
Solomon looked at the woman before him incredulously.
"Wha--do not govern?! When did you use such words? Did your condition damage your head so much that it made you actually smart enough to use those kinds of words in that manner?"
The woman scrunched her eyebrows together in confusion.
"Why do you talk so familiarly towards me? I don't think I've ever met someone like you from the days I was at Tarnil."
This time, it was Solomon who held the same expression as hers.
"What do you mean by that?! You have been under my care for more than a year and you say that you've never met me?! Did you really lose your mind for real this time, young lady?!"
The woman didn't seem to understand nor believe whatever he was spouting and so, she willed herself to never let her guard down as she tried to figure out what situation she was in right now.
"Where am I? What city from Edseria are we? Are we far from Tarnil? And why am I here wearing ceremonial burial clothes of the dead?"
Granny Zai huffed angrily as she rested her hands on her hips.
"The answer to that last question lies in the insensitivity of this old master to buy new clothes! I had to be the one to look for proper clothing in this forsaken manor that held no female presence for nearly a decade! The only clothes I was able to find that would fit you were those old ceremonial burial clothes that a female guard had that didn't fit her anymore. Thankfully, now, the clothes I ordered to be sent have now arrived so I figured I would change you lest the visitors who might visit you might assume you were dead all thanks to the insensitivity of this old baby."
But Solomon didn't pay much attention to what Granny Zai was saying, much less her insults, because he was still trying to process what the woman had just asked of him.
"What city…? From Edseria? Far from Tarnil?"
Solomon tried to draw closer to try and check something when suddenly, he felt a sharp whizz around his cheek area and just in time, he was able to gracefully dodge her attack while successfully catching and protecting the valuable book on his hands.
"Inna, we are not anywhere near Tarnil… or even Edseria. We're in Anemoly. Don't you remember? You wanted to study at Eldora Academy. We're at my private manor that's adjacent to the academy's administrative office building because you had a sort of attack that seemed to have rattled both your body, mind, and soul. You were out for three days, Inna. We all thought you were--"
"Wait!"
The woman narrowed her eyes suspiciously at Solomon as she abruptly cut him off.
"You say we are at Anemoly? Yet why do you speak Eridoan fluently with the Edserian tongue?"
Solomon furrowed his brows in confusion.
What is this kid speaking now? Him? Fluent with the Edserian tongue?
He was speaking in the Anemolian tongue!
"Wait, do you understand 'krash naar gurona' or does it sound different in your ears?"
The woman looked at him with wariness as she shook her head slowly.
Solomon suddenly swore aloud as he suddenly started to mutter.
Hearing bits and pieces from his mumblings, the woman realized that he was casting something and suddenly, she felt panic in her heart.
She was unarmed now. The book she threw held no challenge at all for someone like him so she knew better than to try and throw another one again. The best she could do was hand to hand combat but she was afraid that the spells he would cast would make her become immobile which would then make her strength useless.
But just as she was willing herself to land a surprise blow, she suddenly saw a shadow that was charging straight towards her.