Hiding

After sending Beilixiya off to the girls’ dormitory to distribute the remaining promotional cards, Xia Ya himself strolled into the Royal Academy library as if it were his own backyard.

The old administrator at the entrance saw him and couldn’t even be bothered to lift an eyelid, merely snorting through his nose in tacit approval of this “trouble source’s” entry.

Xia Ya’s objective was clear—the “pre-archival storage” on the outskirts of the Restricted Section.

It was piled high with old books and manuscripts deemed “insufficiently dangerous,” “obscure and useless,” or “of questionable origin.”

These items, chicken ribs in the eyes of the academy officials, were a veritable gold mine in Xia Ya’s.

Specifically, the book “Principles and Extensions of Spatial Magic Application (Restricted Volume)” was a treasure he had unearthed from this very pile of “junk.”

He bypassed the bright and tidy main reading area, turning into the depths where the light gradually dimmed and the air was thick with the scent of old paper and dust.

The closer he got to the pre-archival storage, the taller and more densely packed the bookshelves became, and the narrower and more winding the passages grew.

Just as he was about to reach the familiar passage leading to the side door of the storage room, an unusual clamor shattered the customary silence of the old book section.

Chaotic footsteps, mixed with a woman’s shrill, piercing curses and gasps, were rapidly approaching his location!

“Stop! You little mongrel!”

“Let’s see where you can run!”

“Grab her! Break her legs!”

“…”

That voice… Xia Ya’s brow furrowed.

Isabella von Midgard?

What was that ignorant fool doing in this godforsaken place? And she sounded furious enough to kill someone. Judging by the commotion, who was she chasing?

Purely out of a desire to watch the drama unfold, Xia Ya’s figure flickered, and he silently slipped into the narrow gap between two rows of bookshelves.

A few seconds later, the source of the chaos burst into the passage opening.

A small figure, like a startled bird, crashed violently into Xia Ya’s line of sight.

Emerald green horns, a tail covered in fine, verdant scales, and vertical emerald pupils filled with terror and despair!

She now stood with her back against a thick iron door covered in dust and cobwebs—the very gate to the true Restricted Section.

Facing her were the sneering, advancing Isabella and her two followers, with a skilled-looking house guard blocking her escape route.

Xilin Emerald-Shadow!

Xia Ya sucked in a sharp breath, key information from the original game flashing through his mind—Tikona Flame’s dependent younger sister, possessor of the extremely rare “Emerald Dream Dragon” bloodline, a natural elemental empath, and an indispensable, powerful support mage for the protagonist party. She was also Tikona’s absolute, untouchable weak spot!

What was she doing here? And cornered by this madwoman Isabella?

He thought of the Xilin from the original game, who had been by his side from beginning to end…

Although Xia Ya wanted to avoid events related to the protagonist party, could he just stand by and watch his favorite little dragon maiden from his past life be bullied by a psycho?

In a flash, Xia Ya made his decision.

Just as Isabella reached out, her sharp nails about to scratch Xilin’s pale little face, while viciously cursing, “You lowly reptile!”—

The fingers of Xia Ya’s left hand, hidden in the shadows, moved in a rapid, intricate pattern. No incantation, no brilliant light effects, only a faint spatial ripple at his fingertips, almost invisible to the naked eye, its target precisely locked onto the triangular shadow behind Xilin, formed by the huge iron door and the corner of the wall.

“Short-Range Pull!”

Voom!

Xilin felt an irresistible, gentle force envelop her in an instant. The space before her warped like a ripple in water. Isabella’s face, twisted with rage and triumph, her outstretched hand, and the cold iron door behind her all blurred, receded, and vanished.

The next second, she found herself not crashing into a cold wall or floor, but falling into a narrow, warm embrace that carried the faint scent of herbs and sunlight (strange, in this gloomy library).

A large hand clamped firmly over her mouth, stifling the scream that was about to escape her lips.

“Mmph!”

Xilin struggled instinctively, her two bare feet kicking wildly in the air.

A strange presence! A strange scent! She was done for!

However, the expected roughness and malice never came.

The hand covering her mouth was strong but not rough, even showing a deliberate restraint. The pads of the fingers were dry and warm.

The arm that held her was firm and powerful, but only to prevent her from moving and making a sound, not applying any painful force.

What surprised Xilin even more was that after she calmed down… she felt not the slightest bit of disgust or repulsion?

This stranger’s aura… it was very strange.

It lacked the stench of sweat and despair common in the slums, the greed and bloodlust of the slavers, and even the subtle arrogance and distance exuded by the noble students at the academy.

Instead, it was… a feeling as profound as the night sky, tinged with a slight coolness, yet holding some kind of strange, stellar power?

This aura seemed to gently touch something dormant deep within her bloodline, bringing an inexplicable sense of… security?

She stopped struggling, her rigid body relaxing slightly. Her eyes, adjusting to the dim light, tried to make out the person holding (or protecting?) her from behind.

Xia Ya leaned against the cold wall, completely enveloping the small Xilin in the shadowed corner formed by himself and the wall.

He could clearly feel the girl’s stiff, trembling body in his arms, and he could also sense that she had strangely stopped struggling.

He looked down, and by the faint light filtering through the gaps in the bookshelves, he could see Xilin’s profile—pale, streaked with tears and dust, but in her eyes, besides the lingering fear, there was a hint of… confusion and curiosity?

From the passage opening came Isabella’s furious shrieks and the chaotic searching of her followers.

“Where did she go?! Where is that little mongrel?!”

“She was right here a moment ago! How did she just disappear?”

“Did she duck behind a bookshelf? Find her!”

Xia Ya held his breath. Speaking to the slightly trembling Xilin in his arms, he used a breathy whisper that only the two of them could hear, tinged with a deliberately feigned ferocity and helplessness:

“Hush—! If you don’t want that madwoman to skin you alive and turn you into a dragon-hide rug, then you’d better stay quiet for me! Little mute!”