50 49. A little respite

I spent the next week at Olivia's mansion. When they received Sasha's stone, Adam decided to give them a vacation, as well as himself. He handed over the responsibility of training them to Yunan, and he locked himself in his office and appeared only at meals and then, he always smelled strange.

Marcie tried to remember where she could smell it, but the words did not come to her mind. Adam now appeared twice a day, for lunch and dinner, he skipped breakfast because he was sleeping.

The girls tried a couple of times to find out what he was doing there, but he always translated the topic. It seemed strange and they had different doubts. Plus the same. They wanted to know how Adam got into the Amphibian?

And that's why the question, they turned to Olivia. More precisely, all three of them fell into her office and demanded to tell her how, when and under what circumstances she met Adam.

They had already tried to get Yunan to talk, but she only gave them additional approaches, laughing a little. If they could talk, they could do three more approaches, she thought.

" So, what exactly are you interested in? Olivia took a sip from her cup and looked at them, raising an eyebrow

"Libya, we've already said it! Tell me how did you meet Adam ? " – Marcie leaned on the table while the two sweethearts from behind nodded at her words

Olivia raised her eyebrow even more, then shook her head and sighed.

"Hey, I told you they'd start to get interested....." - she whispered to herself.

" What ? "

" Nothing ! I don't understand why you need this. It was an ordinary meeting, nothing interesting. " – she looked away at the window

"Livia, please. "

Marcie came up to her and took her hands and drew attention to herself. She looked straight into her eyes, with a pleading look. Under the onslaught of Marcie's eyes, Olivia just couldn't resist. Still, this look caused her strange feelings.

"Good, good. Sit down and ask one at a time. " – Olivia pulled her hands away and waved them

The girls immediately took three chairs and sat down in front of her, burning with impatience. Under three heated stares, Olivia began the story.

"It's been a long time that I can't even remember. " – she propped her head on her hand and looked out the window

"God, it's been so long..."

" Libya ! "

" Okay ! Am I not allowed to remember already?! Our meeting happened when I was returning to Newtopia....."

For the next half hour, Olivia described their meeting in colors. How Adam helped Yunan defeat the giant mantis, that he was wearing strange pajamas and armor from the same mantis, how he behaved in isolation, and so on.

She told them everything about their meeting, after which she talked about their relationship. Their friendship started very strangely, because it was Olivia who had to take the first step, which never happened.

Everyone in Amphibia knew about the Primordial genus and its sole heiress. And everyone wanted to make at least some kind of connection with this kind, trying to make a better impression on Olivia. And Adam interested her by the fact that even after a month he did not show up.

He could have shown up and asked for a reward for his help, but he didn't. He settled with an old cook in the attic and worked there, receiving a salary, shelter and food. It was as if he had never met her, living his life.

"You mean you've met....a year ago ? " – Ann exchanged glances with the girls

" More precisely, a year and a half ago. He suddenly jumped out of the forest and helped Yunan. We didn't know who he was or where he came from. I sent to keep an eye on him, in case it was a member of some clan. This is not my first time. First they help and pretend to be kind, and they sharpen the dagger behind your back. " – she took a sip of tea

" Do you remember where this restaurant is ? " – Sasha leaned forward

"Of course. Now...." - Olivia took out a piece of paper and quickly wrote the address with a pen

"Here, you won't miss it. This is the most popular restaurant in the area. Gustav makes delicious bread. "

"Yeah, cool, thanks! " – Marcie tore the paper out of her hands and stormed out of her office

Olivia looked at their backs and shook her head. She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

"I told you there would be consequences. You didn't want to tell them yourself, then they'll find out for themselves. " – she opened the gala and looked at the street

"I'm sorry, my friend. But very soon, you will still have to reveal your identity. "

------------------------------------------

Soon three girls were walking the streets of Newtopia, looking for a certain institution. After asking a couple of toads and newts, they were taken to a certain street. The restaurant was in the corner. The huge sign "Gustavo's" immediately let them know that they had arrived at the right place.

Marcie came over and tried to open the door....but it was locked. She pulled the door a few more times and away from herself, but it wouldn't budge.

"It's weird. " – she moved away from the door

" And what 's strange about that ? The restaurant is just closed, that's all. " - Sasha shook her shoulders

"In case you haven't noticed, it's lunchtime. Usually such restaurants open in the morning. " - Marcy looked around the restaurant from the outside

By sight. The restaurant was very good. Fresh paint, beautiful signboard, new glass. You could also see good furniture inside, but the owner is still not visible.

"You guys probably don't know the news yet. " – suddenly an old - looking toad came up to them

" What are you talking about , Miss ? " – Ann came forward

"Gustav, oh poor Gustav. He left us at the break of the month. He is no longer among us. " – the old woman shook her head and looked at the restaurant with nostalgia

"He has no relatives, so no one knows what will happen to the restaurant. Most likely it will be demolished and something will be built. Oh, poor Gustav....."

The old lady left, leaving them alone.

"Well, apparently that's where our search ends. " – Ann turned and walked with Sasha

But after walking a little, they noticed that Marcy was standing there. She stared stubbornly at the restaurant.

"Um, Marcy? You're not going to.... " - Ann called out to her

Marcie looked at her for a moment, then went to the door. She stretched out her hand forward and a green light enveloped it. She focused on the lock and…

[ CLICK ! ]

The door lock opened by itself, letting them inside

" Marcy ! " – Ann jumped up to her friend

Marcie went inside, then went straight to the attic. She stopped at the door.

" Do you even know what you 're doing ? This is called breaking and entering. " – Ann stood next to her

"Oh, come on. Stop lecturing. Where is your spirit of adventure ? Did the garden kill the spark of adventure in you ? " – Sasha stood next to them

" This is not Sasha's adventure, this is a crime! "

While they were bickering among themselves, Marcie took hold of the handle. She was about to pull when she stopped abruptly. She noticed a thin line coming from the door handle, straight into the room.

"Ann, I need your help. " – she drew her friend 's attention and pointed to the fishing line

Ann stopped arguing and turned to her friend. She quickly noticed the thin line and took the hint. She stretched out her hand and a thin blue thread passed from it. She superimposed on the fishing line and forced it to become strong and not movable.

Marcy Tutu opened the door. The first thing that caught their eye was a huge trap.

The whole room was entangled with thin threads of fishing lines, at the ends of which hung strange red bubbles. The liquid in the bubbles moved like lava. It flowed back and forth and intertwined with each other.

" I wonder what it is ? " – Sasha carefully examined the bubbles

"I don't know and it's better for us not to touch it. If Adam had left this trap here, then he definitely had something to hide. And this " something " is better not to fall into the wrong hands. " - Marcie looked around the room

Various books, yellowed sheets and notes were scattered all over the room. Sheets of text were pasted on the walls and each sheet was connected to each other with a red thread, as if it was going somewhere.

"What were you doing here...." – Marcie touched the wall and followed the thread

Everyone in the room was doing their own thing. While Marcie was examining the notes on the walls, Sasha was examining the sheets lying on the ground. Ann sat on the small bed and watched them.

"Nothing is clear. I can't make out a single word. There are these strange symbols mixed with hieroglyphs everywhere. " – Sasha threw the sheets and sat down right on the floor

" It's an ancient amphibian, we've seen it in temples, don't you remember? As for the hieroglyphs, it's Taiwanese. In the past, Mom taught us this language so that we could understand what our grandmother says. " - Marcy ran her hand over the symbols

" And what are we going to do ? If we start digging into all this, we won't find anything in a week. Translation, plus sorting it all out, it will take forever. " - Ann fell over on the bed

She stared blankly at the ceiling. To her surprise, her gaze caught on a slight bump in the ceiling. She abruptly stood up and forged a fake ceiling.

A small box immediately fell on the bed, which almost fell on her head. She threw off her disguise and looked inside. There were still a lot of papers in another language inside, but there was also a small notebook in a leather cover.

Ann opened it and finally saw an understandable language, English.

"Guys, I think I found something. " - She waved the diary in the air

The girls were immediately next to her.

" [If someone is reading this, then know that the knowledge that is written here may be forbidden. I am not yet completely sure of everything that I will describe here, so I ask you not to be strict with me. } " – Ann moved the page

" [My name is Adam Jace Wu and I am a traveler between worlds. I do not know why I am writing this book, apparently I am tired of hiding everything I have discovered. I'm giving you a final warning, stop! If you keep reading, there will be no turning back. ]. "

The girls looked at each other, then nodded to each other and Ann continued to read.

" [ This world, it is full of mysteries and riddles. Take the same magic and ending with the fact that anthropomorphic frogs live in this world. I lived here for more than a month and began to notice non-docking. King Andreas, how has he lived so long? Who ruled before him ? Newtopia, where did the name come from? ] " – Ann took a breath for a second

" [ I collected everything I noticed and learned. If you're reading this, I'm probably dead. They found out about my search and killed me, but if not, then you are very lucky to find this diary. ]

[It all started with the fact that I was interested in the age of Andreas, because he was more than a thousand years old. I tried to find at least some information about previous kings or queens, but nothing. There is not a single mention of the previous rulers anywhere. ] "

Ann moved the page and noticed that numbers appeared in the corner of the page. Time, day, month and year.

" [I've finally learned the seasons and months in this world. I make this entry after a week of searching. It was all in vain, I didn't find anything. I thought maybe Olivia had something, but I was wrong. ] "

The next entry was dated a month after this one.

" [ I found it ! I have a lead ! The old ruins are in the east, that's where I need to go. Unknown ruins that are more than a thousand years old and no one dares to explore them. A coincidence? No, I think there's something more here. Something I can't..... ] " – then the recording ends

Anne flipped through every page to the end of the book, but they were all empty. Some pages were torn out altogether. But why would he tear out blank pages ?

"So... it was weird. " – Sasha leaned back against the wall

"....in general, it's very logical. While I was living here, for some reason I didn't even think about it. I thought all the time that it was just the oddities of this world. But looking at it now... it's really weird. " – Marcie covered her face

" And now what ? Are we going to dig into all this ? " - Ann closed the diary and looked around the room

"No, it's useless. We won't find anything if we don't understand what we're looking for. We need to get into these ruins...." – Marcie stood up and found the map with her eyes

She opened it all over the bed, and then found the ruins on it.

"It's a few days' journey from here to them. " – Marcie poked at the drawing on the map

" And what ? Are you suggesting we drop everything and run there ? And what about training ? I also have my stone training tomorrow, and after that we will have to go for Ann's stone." – Sasha snorted

"Sasha, it takes three days to get there by carriage. But why do we need a carriage ? " – Marcie rolled up the map

Marcie walked quickly to the center of the room. She used the force to clear the center, then closed her eyes. Her body slowly became covered with a green aura. Thin threads passed from her body to the floor, which formed a pattern on the floor.

"Hell no! " – Ann immediately understood what Marcie was doing

"Do you even realize how dangerous this is?! Adam also said that teleporting to places where we haven't been can kill us! "

" And what ? Do you have another suggestion? " – Marcie opened her eyes, the rune was finished

"Do you have any other way by which we will travel hundreds of miles? This is the only way. "

"A way that will kill us!" - Ann massaged her temples

"Ann, there won't be another chance. We have to find out everything. Are you with me or not ? "

Marcie looked at her friends with a serious look, then held out her hand. Ann was looking at her. She was her friend and couldn't leave her. But how will she be able to correct the mistakes of the past if she dies?!

" Eeeeeeh.....the hell with you ! " – Ann stood in a circle

" But if we die ! Wu, I will torture you in the afterlife! "

Sasha grinned and stood next to her. Marcie looked at her friends and a smile appeared on her face. She hugged their waists, then laughed merrily.

"To die, so together! Hahahahahahaha! "

[ BAM ! ]

She activated the rune and a bright light filled the room. Passersby looked back at the building. From which a pure green light was pouring. After a few seconds, the light disappeared and the room was plunged into silence.

Passersby just shrugged and went about their business.

----------------------------------------

Meanwhile, a shiver ran down Adam's back. He shuddered slightly and quickly calmed down, looking at his children.

"Well....I think that's enough. " - He wiped his sweat and looked around his room

There were about ten boxes in the room. There were a lot of red vials in each drawer. Adam sat down on a chair and took one of the bubbles looked at him and smiled.

"Well, I think that will be enough for me. "

He turned to the wall. It depicted a plan of the royal castle, as well as the nearby surroundings. Adam squeezed the bottle slightly and his smile turned into a grin.

" We can start the final phase. "