After two days of coaxing, Dolphin finally stops ignoring me. At last we reach the center of the realm. Why do I know? Because the plant is in front of me. I just have to get the fruits. As if. There are two huge snake like creatures surrounding the plants. They look like sea eels. They keep sliding around the plant, like the faithful guardians they are.
Dolphin is once again hiding behind me. To say the truth, I want to hide behind someone too.
Lord Valentine gave me hints on how to get past the guardians. Once every 12 hours, one of the eels falls asleep. So there is only one left.
The question here is how to get past this remaining sea eel. Can I distract it? It is the guardian of this plant. If there is a ruckus, it will surely go and take a look. I hope so. I can give this a try.
I think of a plan, wait for one of the eels to fall asleep. And turn to face Dolphin.
“Dolphin, I am giving you a very important mission. My whole life depends on it. I trust you!”
Dolphin starts to shake its tiny head and squirts water at me. It must have sensed what I am planning to do.
“Dolphin you can do that! I trust you!” I persuade Dolphin.
It continues squirting water.
“It’s very easy. You just have to carry this spell. And swims over there! Away from the plant but not far enough. Then drop this paper down. Your job is done! You can discretely swim back and find me! It’s just a swim. I’m sure you can do that!”
Dolphin shows its refusal with a quick slap on my hand with its tail.
“Oh come on, it’s just swim there and then swim back! Nothing dangerous. I promise.” Without waiting for its reply, I slap a paper onto its back. “Go! You want to go home too, right?”
With reluctance, Dolphin begins to swim in the direction I point. As it swims, I mutter some simple spells beneath my breath, so that the seaweeds around Dolphin are waving more vigorously then they originally were. In general I create a huge ruckus.
The remaining eel raises its head and looks at the ruckus following Dolphin. After much deliberation, the eel starts to slither out and follow Dolphin. Now Dolphin just has to place down the lightning spell when it feels the spell is about to activate.
When the eel is out of my sight, I start to creep close to the plant I spend so much time searching for. I soften my footsteps when I am close to the eel who is sleeping soundly. After a quick glance behind my back, I start to pick the fruits and stuff them into my bag. Then I have to slip my hand! The final fruit drops from my hand and rolls to the sleeping eel. I hope it does not feel it. I squeeze my hands together.
The eel’s closed eyelids seem to flicker for a second, then it returns to its sleeping state. I let go a breath I have no idea I am holding and quickly return to our hiding spot. I start placing protective spells around me and begin to chant for the activation of the lightning spell. After a few seconds, a huge sound explodes in the distant.
Dolphin appears next to me shortly afterward. I give it a hug as it tries to struggle out of my hug. I motion Dolphin to remain quiet and peek out of the seaweed.
The eel who is chasing Dolphin is slithering back. The one in deep sleep woke as well, apparently being woken up by the huge sound. The two take a look at the plant and start to shriek angrily. They then start to slither out in chase of the thief.
I stay inside my protective shield. This shield is of a different nature than the one I used to face monsters. This shield cannot stop mechanical attacks, but can hide you pretty well. At least I hope the eels who are chasing me do not have any advanced magic.
The eels must be searching high and low for the thief. If I escape just now after stealing, I might be caught by them. Eels can be quite quick if they want to be. This hiding spot is close to the plant and together with the protective shield, there is a high chance the eels do no notice me. As people said sometimes the most dangerous place was the safest spot.
I plan to leave when both eels have stopped searching.
I hold my breath as the eel slithers close to me. But it isn’t even looking in my direction, unlike what it did just now. As I guess, the eels seem not to suspect the thief hiding so close to them without escaping after the theft.
If the guardians are people, I might not use this method as they might suspect. But the eels are animals. I heave a sigh of relief when the eel slithers past.
After another hour, the two eels seem to have given up chasing and slither themselves around the plant vigilantly.
I decided to wait. After a few hours, their vigilance begins to drop. One of the eels even fall back to sleep.
It’s time for me to go. With a quick nudge at Dolphin, we set out. As quietly as a thief should be.
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