Chapter 51: Chapter 51: Lightning Aether

"Are you done?" Theodore eventually asked after what felt like a long wait.

"Just shut up and let me concentrate. It's not easy, you know," Albatross complained before returning her attention to the mug.

Ten more minutes passed... Then, from the mug came a flash, followed by a clear sound of shattering ceramic. As the tea splattered alongside the ceramic shards, steaks of stray Aether shot into all directions, branching and zigzagging as they went, eventually hitting the walls. When the stray streaks of Aether came into contact with Theodore's Aethereal threads covering the walls, Theodore felt his Aether suddenly entering an excited state, causing the threads to break down as the Aether that formed them rapidly dispersed.

Theodore was surprised. Despite the nature of the threads granting him fine control over his Aether, he was unable to stop the dispersal.

As Theodore's threads of Aether dispersed, the streaks of branching and zigzagging Aether struck the wall and continued to run along the surface for a brief moment before dispersing.

Turning his eyes back to Albatross, Theodore found her holding her right hand with her left, the right hand appearing to be cut and somewhat burned.

"That was more powerful than I expected, a lot more, in fact," Theodore commented as he approached, gesturing for Albatross to give him her hand. "Have you done this before?"

Albatross turned to look at him and, though hesitant at first, extended her injured hand towards him upon recalling how easily he healed his fingers and the hole in his neck just a day prior.

"I've tried to practice in secret before, but as you can see, it isn't exactly discreet. I was afraid it would get me found out so I stopped."

"Well, it certainly wasn't the most inconspicuous of Aether-forms," Theodore casually continue the conversation as he began to heal Albatross's wounds, as if this was but a simple task for him. "Like lightning without the thunderclap, I've seen a few people with this form before. It's powerful but wild, making it extremely difficult to control."

Due to magic resistance being a factor, Theodore couldn't heal Albatross as easily as he did himself. Had it been on himself, such shallow cuts would be healed nearly instantaneously by Theodore's current abilities, but even then, Albatross could see her wounds closing at a visible rate. Within but a few minutes, Albatross no longer felt any pain and her hand was as good as new.

"So? How do you find the tea?" Theodore asked as he finished the healing process. "Was it drinkable or did I add something to it again?"

"Well, it certainly isn't drinkable anymore," said Albatross as she gazed upon the spilled tea." As for sensing anything, it happened so fast that I don't think I was able to feel a thing."

"I suppose the mug was too fragile a thing to practice on..." uttered Theodore as he placed a knuckled under his chin in contemplation before snapping back to reality. "Let's put that aside for the moment. Exotic your Aether-form may be, we can't quite put it to use at the moment. For now, I want to talk about the plan going forward."

"Right, I've been wanting to talk about that. You talked about cooperation the other day, but I never did hear about your big plan."

"Well, it *was* getting late and I wouldn't want Fiana to catch us mid-conversation. Besides, we were hardly in any condition to sit down and talk calmly about ploys and schemes now, were we?"

At the very least, as far as Theodore was concerned, the hole in his neck was not exactly something he could ignore. It actually made it quite painful for him when he had to speak. He endured it when he was trying to convince Albatross that they could work together, but once they were past that, he wanted nothing more than to treat it.

"Well, first things first," Theodore continued, "I am going to need help digging a tunnel."

The bedroom fell silent. Albatross was leaning against the walls, her arms crossed and her brows furrowed while Theodore waited for her eventual reaction.

"So, all this was because you need help digging a hole?" Albatross said finally, utterly exasperated.

Albatross was shocked at this exceedingly simple plan. The time Albatross spent in shock by the stupidity of it all was much longer in comparison to the time it took to talk about it. For someone who claimed to be the Demon Lord, she had expected something more elaborate.

"An escape tunnel, to be exact," Theodore replied calmly.

"We're on an island you realize! What are you going to do? Dig an underwater tunnel and swim away?"

"Well, isn't that an idea," said Theodore, still nonchalant.

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"That's not going to work. The walls have enchanted gargoyles stationed on them. They have sharp eyes and they'll catch you the moment you surface for air. They're made of stone but somehow are as fast as seagulls. You won't make it."

"Shame," Theodore uttered dispassionately, the revelation hardly bothering him. The Demon Lord, and Theodore by extension, already knew about the city's security and the gargoyles were nothing new. "Nevertheless, rest assured that swimming was never part of the plan. I have other uses for the tunnel."

"Oh, yeah? Like what exactly?"

"From the layer of brick that's halting my progress, it's likely the sewers. I've heard that the city was built on top of the ruins of another. The sewers might also be part of the ruins."

"So what if it is?"

"For one, the sewers would allow me to move more freely across the city undetected. I've also heard that parts of the ruins remained unexplored, meaning that it could also serve as a good place to hide if worst comes to worst."

"Okay? But how will that allow us to leave this city?"

A mystifying smile formed across Theodore's face as he was faced with Albatross's question.

"Well, I'm sure that from there, we'll work it out somehow."

"Seriously!? You have no plan beyond that!? After everything, this is all you've got!?"

"I mean, what did you expect from someone stuck in here all day since he got here?"

Theodore had only been planning a few steps at a time. What he could do was simply far too limited and planning far ahead simply wasn't feasible. Of course, Theodore hadn't been taking actions based on nothing. He did, in fact, have an ultimate goal in mind. Though he could not see the path there just yet, he aimed to awaken the tower.

Having set foot in there before and having heard that the mages had no access beyond the tenth floor, Theodore realized that the tower was not yet fully functional. Should the tower be fully awakened, the path to the top floor would be revealed and thereby, the path to the Alvan ship.

Judging from how the elder looked at him during his second exam, Theodore could tell how interested in the ship they were. Should the path be opened, surely, the mages would fight over it. The ensuing chaos would then create an opening for Theodore to make his escape.

Still, it was too early to say anything for certain and circumstances can change as easily as the weather. The plan was not guaranteed to stick. Not to mention, there was still a chance that Albatross was a spy sent to test him. As such, Theodore decided to keep this to himself for the time being.

As expected, however, his callous attitude had begun to irritate Albatross greatly. From what she had just heard and understood, it sounded as if Theodore hardly had any plan at all. She couldn't believe that she had decided to risk everything to cooperate with a complete imbecile, one that had tried to threaten her no less.

(Is this bastard even the Demon Lord? That was a lie, wasn't it? A lie he told to stop me from silencing him after he figured out my secret.)

As Albatross was wondering whether or not to resume what she was doing the day prior and just shove her knife up Theodore's eye socket and into his brain, Theodore turned to her, his gaze resolute, enough to make Albatross reconsider. It wasn't because of his apparent resolution, but simply because of how bizarrely confident he seemed.

(Could it be that I've just become an accomplice with a person that is not sane? Don't tell me that when he said that he's the Demon Lord reincarnate, it was a lie that he actually believed in.)

"Anyways, have you heard about the Dandelion Mandragora?" asked Theodore, his words inadvertently piquing Albatross's interest and distracting her from her doubts.

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End of Chapter 51

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