Book 4: Chapter 37 |
“See that, Second Sis?”
“See what?”
“Big Sis’s expression!”
Behind the cherry tree, the ghost-hunting duo were secretly observing.
Little Guang pointed at Noya, who was sitting beneath the tree, and said,
“When Big Sis practiced alone before, she also did meditation like this. But look at her now—she smiles one moment, turns serious the next, and then looks completely confused.”
Little Moon blinked her equally confused big eyes. “Emmmmm… so?”
“So Big Sis is definitely using meditation as a cover to chat with the ghost inside her body!” Little Guang declared confidently. “Listen, Second Sis—I’ve recently researched a formation that can force ghosts to reveal themselves. In a bit, we’ll—”
The sisters whispered and discussed for a moment.
Their movements were very light, and Noya was deeply focused, so she didn’t notice anything until the formation was fully drawn.
Once it was done, the two stood in front of Noya.
Mu’en looked worried. “Little Guang… if this still doesn’t work, we’re going to get our butts spanked again.”
“It’s fine, Second Sis. The road to success always has a few bumps,” Little Guang said confidently.
At this encouragement, Mu’en replied very seriously, “Is it really just ‘a few’ bumps? These past months, we’ve been spanked by Big Sis about once a week on average. That’s way beyond ‘a few bumps,’ isn’t it?”
That reminded Little Guang of some rather unpleasant memories. She subconsciously rubbed her little backside.
“Relax, Second Sis! I guarantee it’ll work this time!” Little Guang said. “This manifestation formation I learned from Mom’s private library—it won’t harm Big Sis’s body at all, and it’ll definitely drag the ghost out of her!”
Although Little Sis patted her chest with confidence, the truth was that before every spanking, she had made the same promise: “This time it’ll definitely work.”
After hesitating, Mu’en still nodded.
“Alright. We’ve already been spanked so many times anyway—what’s one more!”
“As expected of the Second Princess of the Melkvi family—such courage!” Little Guang praised.
“So what do we do now?” Mu’en asked.
“The book says this manifestation formation needs two elemental magics to activate,” Little Guang explained. “First, use lightning as the initial power to activate it. Once enough energy is stored, use fire to force the ghost to reveal itself.”
Hearing this, Mu’en scratched her head.
“Why does that sound like a formation tailor-made just for me?”
Lightning and fire—those weren’t just Dad’s and Mom’s respective innate elements, but also the two elements Mu’en had awakened during her twin awakening.
“It’s a bit of a coincidence, sure, but the world is vast,” Little Guang said seriously. “It’s normal for there to be a few formations that just happen to need lightning and fire, right?”
Mu’en nodded in sudden realization. “So that’s how it is~”
“Yep! Then let’s get started, Second Sis.”
“Okay!”
Following Little Guang’s instructions, Mu’en first gathered lightning magic as the initial power to activate the formation.
When the lines of the formation began to glow with blue light, Mu’en slowly gathered fire magic as well.
Little Guang’s eyes lit up. She hadn’t expected Second Sis—usually so laid-back—to be so reliable at a critical moment!
The formation’s glow grew brighter and brighter, and finally caught Noya’s attention.
She slowly opened her eyes. “Mu’en… Little Guang? What are you doing?”
“Oh no, Big Sis noticed.”
“Keep going, Second Sis! We’re almost there! For the sake of our butts, you have to push through!” Little Guang urged.
“O-okay!”
The two elements continued to pour into the formation.
Seeing this, Noya immediately stood up and tried to step forward, but the power of the formation bound her in place, leaving her unable to move.
“What’s going on, Little Guang? What are you messing with again?” Noya asked.
“Big Sis, hang on a bit longer! We’re about to make the ghost inside you reveal herself!” Little Guang said.
“There is no ghost inside me. If you don’t stop now, I won’t be nice to your butts,” Noya warned calmly.
Hearing Big Sis’s “threat,” Little Guang felt a bit scared—but with the formation active, she didn’t have to worry about her backside just yet.
“Don’t listen to Big Sis! Keep going, Second Sis!”
“O-okay…”
Noya tried throwing a punch.
But her fist slammed into the transparent wind barrier raised by the formation and did absolutely nothing.
She stopped struggling and asked calmly,
“Little Guang, are you sure this formation can make a so-called ghost appear?”
Little Guang nodded firmly. “Of course! I learned it from Mom’s private library—it’ll definitely work!”
“And if it doesn’t?” Noya asked.
“That’s impossible!”
Little Guang planted her hands on her hips, confidence overflowing, her little tail wagging proudly.
“If it doesn’t work, then you can do whatever you want to our butts, Big Sis. We won’t resist!”
Noya raised an eyebrow, her expression clearly saying, Finally, you said it.
“Alright then,” she said with a slow smile. “Since you’ve gone this far, how could I not cooperate?”
Little Guang froze. “W-what do you mean…?”
“Nothing special,” Noya replied calmly, folding her arms as her smile deepened. “I’ll just quietly watch you perform.”
“Tch, it must be the ghost controlling Big Sis’s body, making her say that,” Little Guang insisted. “Second Sis, push harder! We’re almost done!”
“O-okay!”
Elemental energy began swirling around Noya, the breeze lifting her hair and skirt.
Yet she remained utterly composed, unmoved.
When the energy finally dissipated and the formation’s light faded away, the so-called ghost still did not appear.
Little Guang’s face turned pale. She instinctively took a step back, staring blankly at Big Sis, her words stuttering.
“H-how is that possible…? The book clearly said it would work… Did I draw the formation wrong?”
“You didn’t draw it wrong, Little Guang,” Noya said, slowly stepping toward the two sisters. “And this is a mid-to-high-level formation. You’ve never studied this system properly, yet you reproduced it perfectly—that’s already amazing.”
Little Guang frowned. “Then why didn’t it work…?”
“Because this formation was never meant to make ghosts appear in the first place,” Noya shrugged. “It’s just a magic-transfer formation. Look.”
As she spoke, Noya spread her hands—lightning crackled and danced in one palm, while roaring flames burned in the other.
“Oh… so this is what controlling fire magic feels like,” Noya murmured.
It really was her first time wielding fire, since she hadn’t yet learned a second elemental magic.
“B-but that doesn’t make sense!” Little Guang blurted. “How did you know? I clearly—”
She stopped mid-sentence, as realization struck.
Swallowing hard, she said, “That book about making ghosts appear… Big Sis, you secretly put it there, didn’t you?”
Noya narrowed her eyes in satisfaction and smiled. “That’s right. Otherwise, why would a manifestation formation need lightning and fire to activate? That makes no sense at all.”
“…Big Sis, you’re despicable!” Little Guang cried.
Noya spread her hands innocently. “I just put something I casually wrote into Mom’s private library. I didn’t tell you to follow it—how is that despicable?”
Little Guang felt her scalp tingle.
Is this the advantage of age? The older you get, the more you turn into Mom and Auntie—full of schemes!
No—wait—
If Big Sis was full of tricks, why wasn’t Second Sis like that?!
They were twins, damn it!
“Oh right, Little Guang,” Noya said, cracking her knuckles. “What did you say just now?”
She smiled sweetly.
“If the formation didn’t work, your butts would be… entirely at my disposal~”
“…Second Sis, run! Run now!” Little Guang shouted.
“Big Sis, please be gentle, waaa~!” Mu’en wailed.
…
Ten minutes later.
The two little dragon girls lay face-down beneath the cherry tree, their backsides burning with pain, too sore to speak.
Noya sat cross-legged in front of them.
After a moment of silence, she reached out and poked Mu’en’s fluffy hair.
“You’ve gotten that skilled at controlling dual elements already, Mu’en.”
“Mmm…” Mu’en kept her face buried in the grass and let out a muffled response.
The growth rate of her two sisters really was astonishing.
Twin awakening was rare enough. To be able to control two elements so freely within just two years required immense, sustained effort.
Perhaps in some unnoticed corner, Little Moon had also been training diligently.
After all, she had enrolled at Saint His Academy with the goal of catching up to Noya.
As for Little Guang—being able to hand-draw a mid-to-high-level energy transfer formation like this made her research talent obvious.
Dad had said before that in the future, it was Little Guang’s reversal magic research that allowed them to return to the present.
Very good. This “fishing enforcement” operation had yielded some unexpected gains.
“Big Sis…” Little Guang said softly.
“What is it?”
The pink-haired dragon girl turned her head, cheek pressed to the grass, tears welling in her eyes as she looked at Noya.
“Please just tell us the truth… has that ghost ever hurt you?”
Noya paused. “So all this time, you’ve been trying to catch that ghost because you were afraid she’d hurt me?”
Little Guang nodded.
Then suddenly she sprang to her feet.
“Wait—so that means there is a ghost inside you!”
“You’re getting excited again, aren’t you?” Noya snapped.
“Little Guang, calm down. My butt can’t handle being spanked twice in one night…” Mu’en groaned.
Noya stood up as well and looked into Little Guang’s bright pink eyes, speaking sincerely.
“She hasn’t hurt me, Little Guang. Don’t worry. It’s just that, for certain reasons, I—”
Her words cut off abruptly.
Her gaze suddenly went blank.
Mu’en and Little Guang panicked and quickly shook her arm.
“Big Sis? Big Sis, what’s wrong?”
“B-big Sis… hey, Big Sis, don’t scare me! I’m telling you, ghost—if you dare touch my Big Sis, I’ll fight you to the death—”
“Tch, brat.”
Mu’en & Little Guang: ?
When Noya’s eyes regained focus, her expression had subtly changed.
“I originally only planned to give this brat a bit of real historical education,” ‘Noya’ said, raising a bent arm and pointing her thumb at her own head.
“But since you’re all this persistent, I might as well tell you together.”
…
Footnotes:
- dǎ pìguLiterally “to spank the butt”; commonly used humorously to refer to corporal punishment.
- jītāng“Chicken soup” slang—overly optimistic or motivational talk.
- shǒu cuōInternet slang meaning to create or assemble something by hand from scratch.
- diào yú zhífǎLiterally “fishing-style law enforcement”; metaphorically refers to setting a trap and waiting for someone to incriminate themselves.