Ace sighed for the umpteenth time as Lotus walked through the tall stalks of grass with ease, "No records of some weird looking grass... But, here I am, anyway..."
"Can't he just shut up already?" Ying Hui sighed as she said into her head, "You were even generous enough waste three fine stalks of Zhi Lilies into the mooncakes, yet here we have a guy who is complaining about it all."
Lotus bit back laughter and responded, "Now, now. This knowledge would prove useful to him in the near future, would it not?"
Ying Hui could be heard grumbling in the background before she sighed, "I just wish master can find what he needs soon so they won't have to keep pretending and all that. I really want to spend some girl time with master too..."
"If the teacher doesn't know about the grass, how did you know about it?"
Lotus looked over to Ace and raised a brow, "It was amongst the books I've been reading since I was little, anyway. Riddle should have it with him. How did you know about it?"
"Cause our dorm leader told me." Ace responded.
Lotus nodded, "I thought that'd be the case."
Ace remained quiet as he watched her move ahead energetically in the field. It wasn't easy finding a forest on the Isle, but it was much easier than in the city or towns. Modern advancement had declined much of the natural terrain around his hometown, so he wasn't used to walking around this place easily. Yet...
He scowled when he noticed Lotus moving forward with little effort. Even if he didn't have magic, he could still do other things with ease. It was irritating, but...
"Hm?" Ace raised a brow as he noticed the silver bangle on the guy's wrist, "What's that?"
"Oh this?" Lotus looked to him and raised her wrist, "Just something I put on when I leave the school. My mother and father got this for me on my birthday once and had me wearing it outside often. Come on!"
She pushed forward in search of the grass as Ace only shook his head and sighed in dismay. He could not understand how she was able to travel on such bumpy terrain in the first place. He looked around with a sigh before saying, "It'd be great if we can just find it at the market..."
Lotus shrugged, "Even if it was farmed, it won't be as good as the terrain. Grass of Nostalgia requires an area of naturally abundant mana. Not some farm that feeds it mana through magic like the mandragora."
She walked out from behind the tree and said with a wide smile after touching the dirt, "Moist dirt and an abundant mana in the air, but the trees..."
She looked up and said, "It should be ahead, then."
"Eh?" Ace looked to her in confusion, "You know where it is?"
"Whether the area ahead has it or not depends on our luck." Lotus responded as she pulled Ace along, "Come on! Let's hurry before the curfew!"
"W-Woah!"
Feeling the strength of her pull on his arm, Ace nearly tripped as he hurried after her. Again, it was the same irritating feeling, yet why did it felt a little familiar? The irritating feeling...
"Sorry about that." She turned to him as she instantly knew his struggle to keep up, "If we don't go now, we might miss the chance later since the grass will hide itself at night."
"Hah?!"
He was lost in confusion as he couldn't keep up with her words partway through. He was pulled though the area by the arm and it wasn't even a straight path. It seemed as though they were going around in circles till he felt dizzy to the point of wanting to vomit his breakfast. By the time, he felt as though he was about to fall. Lotus stopped at a river he wasn't even sure if it was on the Isle and left there as she suddenly disappeared.
"Gods!" He sighed and collapsed onto the grass in exhaustion, "So... tired..."
After catching his breath, he looked up to the sky and realized that they were rather deep in the forest since all he can see was the branches of trees.
"...Uh..." he sat back up in shock as he realized that he wasn't familiar with where he was anymore, "Where am I?"
He looked around as he could feel his heart drop into the pit of his stomach as he groaned, "Oh no..."
.....
He wandered in the forest when he paused after noticing the strange vibe in the area and looked around. His eyes widen as it finally dawned upon him, "Isn't the mana here a little... much?"
As he wandered around, he noticed that there was a few strange little mushrooms and strange fruits he sees hanging from the trees. He stammered, "W-Where are we?"
He looked around and noticed that Lotus was no where to be found as he began to call out in bewilderment, "L-Lotus?! Th-This isn't funny..."
Suddenly, there was a sound from behind the trees as he screamed in shock, "Eeek!"
Out of the blue, he saw the strange white head stick out from above the canopy of the trees. He froze when he saw the head turned to her with a blond mane on his neck.
"A horse... in the trees?!" His jaw dropped at the sight of the creature before slapping a hand over his mouth upon realization.
At the sound of his voice, the white horse look down upon him as his ears perked up.
"Crap." He said bluntly as he knew it was useless to stay quiet anyway.
"Friend?" The horse said curiously, "New friend?"
"H-He talks?!" A cold shiver ran down his spine when he heard those words, "L-Lotus? Lotus!!!"
He began to run as fast as he could through the trees as he screamed, "Lotus. Lotus. Lotus..."
.....
Lotus stepped out to the trees and frowned as she hid behind the trees. She watched as two dark figures moved past the branches of trees to her direction as she frowned and used her ability. She watched the two jumped past her before quickly following after them. Moving through the forest as quickly as she could, she noticed that the direction they were headed to was actually closer and closer to the town. She watched as they drew closer to the civilization and one of them pulled out a knife.
Without waiting, a pendulum on a metal string appeared as she used her internal energy to send the crystal razor tip forward. The two could hear the strange bustling in the distance as they hurried further only to find themselves closer to a strange fog.
"Shit!" One of them cursed and jumped back, "Retreat!"
However, it was already too late for them as they have already found themselves stuck in a strange mist.
"It's too late!" The other responded hiding his expression under the black bandana covering his nose and mouth, "What now?"
However, there was no response to which the second guy turned around to find that latter knocked out on the ground. He quickly pulled out his knife only to notice his surroundings becoming rather blurry.
Finally, he collapsed onto the ground despite his futile efforts in trying to run before fainting as his body began to pound and move unnaturally.
Finally, Lotus came out as the mist cleared and returned into the gourd container. She looked down on the two little creatures before her and poked at them curiously with her pendulum arm before she smiled and clapped her hands in a rather overjoyed manner, "Yes! Now to see how long it can last..."
She paused for a bit before noticing the clothes and knife strewn across the floor. She sighed and shook her head in dismay, "I guess I still have to clean up my own messes though. I wonder what I got today..."
After sorting out the items, she threw the other useless items into the acid she had prepared beforehand before clearing up the acid, retrieving her pets and returning to the place where she had thrown Ace.
"Ying Hui." Lotus said quietly.
"All right!"
Suddenly, from her ring, an unconscious Ace was pulled out of her ring and onto the ground next to a tree as she also pulled out a couple stalks of Grass of Nostalgia. She pulled out a porcelain bottle and threw the gourd into her ring before approaching the unconscious body and pulling the cork off the top of the bottle. She drifted the small vial just under the nose before she noticed as his eyes twitch a little. She quickly pulled her hand back and watched as he sneezed a couple of times.
"G-Gah! A-A horse... A horse in a tree!"
Lotus shook her head in dismay as she can already guess who it was he met before she sighed, "So, you dreamed of a horse in a tree... Does that mean I have to bring you to the nurse's office now?"
"H-Huh?" Ace looked up a little groggily, "L... Lotus?"
"Morning!" Lotus responded sarcastically with a sigh, "Are you all right? You passed out after tripping on a tree root."