Seaside town

Selivia was a border town, European medieval in style, perched near the coast.

Fishing boats at the dock swayed with the waves. The sea-scented wind blew in from the coastline, turning windmills slowly under the warm sun. The blue-and-white houses exuded an endless charm.

Compared to the tranquility of Lake Raelorin, this place was full of life. The simple locals mostly made a living by fishing out at sea, occasionally gathering vermillion fruit in the woods or weaving at home. They sold these goods to merchants passing through in exchange for other necessities.

“Welcome.”

“Hello, do you have any rooms available?” Li Yin asked the little girl with purple hair standing behind the counter. The girl looked even younger than her own current form.

“Yes, we do. How many nights would you like to stay, big sisters?”

“Um… let’s start with ten days.” Li Yin handed a small silver coin to the girl.

“Alright.” The girl took the coin and went to fetch the key.

A moment later, she returned and handed the key along with some change to Li Yin.

“The room is the last one at the end of the hallway to the left. By the way, are you two twins? You look so alike,” the girl suddenly asked out of curiosity.

“Uh…” Li Yin was stumped.

Twins? How could she and Li Luo be twins! But there seemed to be no other explanation… A little white lie wouldn’t hurt, would it?

“Well, we are…”

“Yinyin and I are married!” Li Luo suddenly chimed in from the side.

“…” *2

Li Yin fell silent, and the girl was dumbfounded.

“Married… like my mom and dad?” The next second, the girl’s eyes lit up with excitement.

Well, that backfired. I thought they’d think we were weird…

“Ha… yes, that’s right.” Since it was already said, Li Yin had no choice but to compromise. Then she turned and shot a glare at Li Luo.

“Sister, what kind of eggs are these?” The girl’s attention shifted to the two eggs in the basket in front of Li Yin.

“They’re spirit eggs!” This time, Li Yin’s mind worked quickly, and she blurted it out before Li Luo could.

“Eh… spirits? I didn’t know spirit eggs were so big.” The girl naively believed her.

“Alright, alright, we have things to do, we’ll head back to the room now!” To prevent any more life-or-death questions, Li Yin struck first, grabbing Li Luo and heading to their room.

“Yinyin’s so eager to drag me to the room, could it be you’re feeling randy?” Once inside, Li Luo watched Li Yin put down the basket, a mischievous smile on her face as she licked her lips. Her gaze seemed to want to devour Li Yin.

“Since Yinyin is so insatiable, I’ll reluctantly… Hey hey! Wrong, wrong! Don’t hit! No!”

Slap! Slap!

Two crisp sounds later, Li Luo’s butt was blooming.

It was the perfect example of the saying: if you don’t court death, you won’t die.

“Sob, Yinyin hit so hard…” Li Luo crouched, holding her butt and crying.

“Hmph~ Who told you to always be like this? Some things just shouldn’t be said out loud, got it?” Li Yin crossed her arms, a hint of anger in her eyes. Yet Li Luo remained in the same position, tears welling up, squatting on the floor.

Seeing this, Li Yin could only sigh helplessly.

“Forget it. Let’s not talk about this. How long until the children hatch?”

“Hmm…” Li Luo pondered for a moment. “About three more months, or maybe sooner.”

Alright. In three months, she’d start a life with babies.

With nothing else to do, Li Yin decided to have Li Luo teach her flying magic.

And so, throughout the entire day, the room echoed with thumping sounds.

Evening.

Street lamps lit up one by one, and the fishing boats had all returned.

But in the room, Li Yin was covered in dust, her hair and clothes a mess—a truly disheveled sight.

To learn flying magic, she had practically used every corner of the room to “wipe” the floor with her body.

She had picked up every bit of dirt.

“Yinyin is so dumb, it took you so long to learn.” Inside the bathroom, Li Luo chatted while using magic to help clean the grime off the other girl.

Compared to using purification magic in an instant, she actually preferred this—it felt like playing with a doll.

As for the clothes, Li Luo decided to just purify them directly. Washing them was too tiring!

“I’m not dumb. Flying magic is just too hard,” Li Yin retorted.

After they had both freshened up and left the bathroom, Li Yin chose to go downstairs for dinner, while Li Luo stayed to watch over the eggs.

On the first floor, the noise was lively, and the lights were bright. The place was packed. Li Yin walked to the counter, where a middle-aged woman was placing plates of food on the counter.

“Hello, what kind of food do you serve here?”

“Oh, a new face,” the woman said in surprise. Silver hair was rare, after all.

“What would you like to eat, little miss? We mainly have seafood: Lu Xiang Cao grilled fish, Deng Deng mushroom octopus skewers, spicy seaweed tofu…” She rattled off the menu, leaving Li Yin utterly bewildered.

Who am I?

Where am I?

What is she saying?

“Uh… just give me two Lu Xiang Cao grilled fish,” Li Yin quickly forced a smile and ordered the first dish mentioned, to stop her from continuing.

“Alright, find a seat. My daughter will bring the dishes to you in a bit.”

As soon as she finished speaking, a familiar purple-haired figure approached from among the guests, carrying a tray.

“Hey, it’s the big sister from earlier!”

The voice sounded familiar. Li Yin turned around and, sure enough, it was the curious girl from earlier.

“She’s my daughter, Ai Li,” the woman said with a smile.

Meanwhile, Ai Li was looking around behind Li Yin.

“Hey, are you alone today, sister? Where’s the other sister?”

“She’s busy in the room.”

“Oh, by the way, what’s your name, sister?”

“Me? I’m Li Yin.”

“Then Sister Li Yin, go find a seat. I’ll bring the food over soon.”

“Mm, okay.”

Having replied, Li Yin went to find a seat.

But since it was crowded, there were only one or two empty spots, and all were next to people. Li Yin had no choice but to share a table.

However, surrounded by strangers, she started to get nervous—a classic case of social anxiety.

It was awkward, but there was no other way.

“Excuse me… may I sit here?” Li Yin timidly asked.

“Oh! What a pretty girl. Don’t be shy, sit down, sit down! It’s fine.”

So Li Yin sat down, feeling embarrassed.

“By the way, have you heard? Someone ran into that thing again at sea this afternoon!”

“Huh? Again? Did anything happen?”

“No, he got away. He capsized the boat due to a panic-induced mistake when he got back to the dock, but everyone’s fine.”

“How can this be? Didn’t that thing disappear not long ago?”

“Don’t say that. Maybe it took a liking to the good water quality here and swam back.”

“Oh dear! Don’t talk about that. Last time it caused panic everywhere.”

“Yeah, no one dared to go out fishing last time. My family lives on fish, and we almost had nothing to eat!”

The whole table buzzed with chatter.

“Excuse me, what happened?” Though still uneasy, Li Yin decided to ask. After all, she would be staying here for a while and needed to know. It wouldn’t be good to get caught up in any trouble.

Better safe than sorry.

“It’s like this,” a kind-hearted person explained. “A sea monster suddenly appeared in these waters last time, capsizing many fishing boats. It went quiet for a while, but now it’s back.”