Mana naturally understood that Angel intended to discuss private matters, and she nodded without hesitation, "Of course, please wait a moment, young master and Miss Cicia."
Mana gently bowed to the two, then slowly retreated.
Angel came up to Cicia: "So, what do you think? Is the fried rice tasty?"
Cicia replied evasively: "Mana the Head Maid is a good person."
Angel: "So?"
Cicia: "So I don’t want to answer your question."
Angel looked at Cicia’s serious expression, and inexplicably, he kind of understood what she meant.
She didn’t want to see Angel, so she wanted to answer his question in reverse. However, the fried rice was made by Mana the Head Maid, and she thought Mana was a good person, so she didn’t want to go against her conscience by saying the fried rice wasn’t good. But she also didn’t want to tell Angel it was good, so she chose not to answer the question.
A twisted line of thinking, but Angel felt he wasn’t wrong in his deduction.
As for why Cicia didn’t want to see him... it became clear from Cicia’s questioning.
Cicia: "Can you track my location, and do you know when I enter the Wilderness of Dreams?"
Although it was phrased as a question, Cicia stated it with certainty and disdain. Clearly, she believed she was being monitored by Angel, and naturally, she wasn’t pleased.
Angel originally wanted to make an excuse, but after some thought, he decided to be honest: "I’ve grasped an authority from the Wilderness of Dreams— the Gate of Dreams. This authority is also the foundation of flourishing as others appear here. At the same time, I can use this authority to mark specific individuals. When they enter, the authority will notify me."
"The individuals I marked include the Ancestral Spirit of the Barbarian Cave, the Controller of the Barbarian Cave, my Mentor... and some others I thought needed special attention, including you."
Cicia was initially annoyed, but after hearing what Angel said, she was somewhat taken aback.
Authority?! Can such an authority in this world be mastered by humans? Why tell her this? Is it appropriate to discuss such important matters with her?
Angel seemed to read Cicia’s thoughts and chuckled: "I’m not the only one who possesses authority, but mine is the most convenient. It can locate people at any time and can change their positions according to my wishes."
"However, I won’t use the authority casually unless it’s a matter of importance."
Cicia gave Angel a deep look, and she was relatively satisfied with his frankness because, at least, it eased her previous discontent about being monitored.
Cicia: "Why do I need special treatment?"
Angel looked at Cicia dubiously: "Isn’t that obvious? Have you forgotten the question you asked me before in the box?"
"My answer is still the same, because you are a Baiyuanian."
Cicia was slightly choked: "... Aren’t there other Baiyuanians in the Wilderness of Dreams?"
"Yes, so I have marked them as specific individuals too."
Seeing Angel’s matter-of-fact expression, Cicia suddenly didn’t know how to respond... because, what Angel said made sense.
Moreover, Angel’s so-called specific individuals also include the high ranks of the Barbarian Cave, thus, thinking about it, there’s not much to be dissatisfied with?
Seeing Cicia’s expression warm up, Angel knew she was getting drawn in, and quickly took the opportunity to ask: "If you want to know more, you can discover it yourself or consult Frode at the Sky Tower. But for now, let’s put this aside and talk about my matter."
"Your matter? What is it?"
"An urgent matter."
"Urgent matter?" Cicia asked, bewildered: "Did you guys retreat?"
Angel: "Retreat? What do you mean?"
Cicia: "Judging by the time you left from me, most of you should still be in the Other-dimensional Space. So the only urgent matter I can think of is you were under attack. If you were attacked despite having the Mark’s protection, then there’s only one possibility: you retreated."
"Because during a retreat, the Mark doesn’t follow. So if you retreated, you’d definitely fall into the Void... If someone really fell into the Void, if it’s those two apprentices, give it up; they can’t be saved. As for you, breaking open the Plane Corridor should suffice to leave."
Angel: "Are there Magic Monsters kept in the Void?"
Cicia: "Exactly. Don’t ask me what Magic Monsters are kept, why they are kept, or what’s deep in the Void... I can’t answer those, and I don’t know some of the answers myself."
Cicia blocked all of Angel’s attempts to inquire into the secrets of the Other-dimensional Space, and Angel could only temporarily give up on asking about it.
Instead, he returned to the main topic.
"No one retreated; the urgent matter I mentioned is something else." Angel: "The Black Earl has already left the Other-dimensional Space and has explored the Hanging Jail Stairway, which is more peculiar than I imagined..."
After a pause, Angel looked at Cicia: "I just want to know, how much do you know about the situation in the Hanging Jail Stairway? Also, when was the last time you were informed about the Hanging Jail Stairway?"
...
A while later, Cicia, holding the arm of Mana the Head Maid, left Pat Manor.
Cicia wanted to understand this place and also planned to visit the Sky Tower that Angel mentioned. Mana the Head Maid happened to be heading to the Sky Tower for work reports, so they decided to go together.
As for Angel, he was still sitting in the dining room on the second floor, with a slight frown on his face.
He had gotten a not-so-good piece of news from Cicia; what Cicia knew about the Hanging Jail Stairway was from six years ago.
In the eyes of Cicia, who has lived through thousands of years, six years is fleetingly short. However, considering the timidity of the Wood Spirit in the Hanging Jail Stairway, every minute and second in those six years could have brought unexpected changes.
Maybe, in these six years, it suddenly decided to leave?
However, not all the news was bad; there was one relatively good piece of news.
The bottom of the Hanging Jail Stairway wasn’t newly broken; it had already been damaged before the Wood Spirit even arrived there.
But, the damages were mostly on the edge walls or corners. Those places weren’t covered by the Magical Energy Array, and no matter how good the material was, it would succumb to time and naturally crack.
The main areas, like the main hall and stairways, still maintained their basic integrity.
If nothing else, as long as the Magical Energy Array isn’t destroyed, it could last for another thousand years.
As things stand, the good and bad news are balanced; there’s still a chance the Wood Spirit might continue pretending to be dead in the Hanging Jail Stairway. But that relies on the Wood Spirit knowing the Magical Energy Array can be sustained for another thousand years. If it doesn’t know, and it sees the surrounding structures constantly breaking down, the chance of it relocating is still high.
The only way to know for sure if it’s still there is to check in person.