The Shadow Realm.
Gwayne didn't know how the current human nations understood the Shadow Realm, but in the inherited memories, the Gondor Imperium of seven hundred years ago had conducted considerable research on the subject. Those scholars who'd devoted their lives to study had spent day after day poring over dry tomes and data, staring at lattice gauges buried in mana wells, trying to deduce the true shape of the world. One classic model had been devised specifically to describe the world's "layers."
In this classic model, scholars believed the world was divided into several "planes."
The uppermost and most stable was the Prime Material Plane, everything in it followed discernible laws, could be directly touched, was easy to observe, and was home to the vast majority of living creatures.
Below the material plane lay the Shadow Realm, which most humans could not directly access. The Shadow Realm was a twisted reflection of the material plane; ordinary humans could neither touch nor observe it directly, but could sense and measure it through magic and mental techniques.
Below the Shadow Realm was the Umbral Abyss, an even more illusory and mysterious region, a reflection of the Shadow Realm itself. It had reached a depth beyond the reach of any magic or psychic power.
A few fortunate mages had managed to capture the rare shadow creature that possessed basic sentience and could communicate, and from those creatures' scattered words, the existence of the Umbral Abyss had been inferred.
Some more radical scholars had extended this classic model further, theorizing that below the Umbral Abyss there might exist an even deeper plane, one belonging to the domain of the gods, the Primordial Foundation laid down by the Ultimate Creator when forging this world, already beyond the scope of mortal study.
As Gwayne understood it, this model was like layers of semi-transparent tracing paper. The real image of the physical world sat at the front, and its shadow was projected onto each successive sheet, growing more blurred and distorted the further back you went.
He and Amber were currently on the back side of the first sheet, the Shadow Realm.
Even being only the second layer, it was already a place the vast majority of humans had never set foot in.
He wisely chose not to press Amber on why she possessed the ability to enter the Shadow Realm, and from what she'd said earlier, he could tell this was her first time "going this deep" as well. Pressing her would likely yield no answers.
This world still held many secrets worth exploring, and many things couldn't be understood just by hanging in the sky for eons.
After a quick assessment, Gwayne decided that following Betty's footprints was their only lead.
But before leaving, he still glanced back with some unease.
Hestia, Rebecca, and the others remained frozen in their "porcelain doll" state. Their real bodies were resisting the Wraith Mist's assault in the Prime Material Plane, but here in the Shadow Realm's projection, they were locked in the instant of attack, while the black fog seeping up from the ground continuously eroded them.
Fortunately, judging by the rate of erosion, they still had some time.
"Maybe this is the true form of Wraith Mist," Amber said, following Gwayne's gaze and shaking her head. "How much do you think this discovery would fetch if we sold it to the Arcane Society or the Astrologer Guild?"
"They'd force-feed you a bunch of potions, strap a recording crystal to your head, then hit you with a banishment spell and toss you back into the Shadow Realm as a human probe," Gwayne shot her a look. "Keep up. We have more important things to do."
Amber trailed behind Gwayne, still muttering. "But you could be the one to approach them. You're the founding ancestor of Andraste, for crying out loud. They wouldn't force-feed potions to a founding ancestor, would they?"
"What do you think?" Gwayne's mouth twisted. "They'd be happy to hang me on a wall, write me into books, enshrine me on an altar, even the High King would be willing to personally lead his whole family to lay flowers for me once a year and give everyone three days off in the process. Zero risk, great PR. But if this ancestor actually popped out of his coffin? The first reaction of every person who'd been worshipping me on a pedestal would probably be to shove me back in the casket, then hammer two hundred nails in from every direction. The really ruthless ones might even pour in lead..."
Amber stared, slack-jawed. "Why?!"
Gwayne glanced at this clueless half-elf and snapped. "Because the whole country would lose their three-day grave-sweeping holiday!"
With that, Gwayne strode ahead, leaving Amber behind to process this for a good while before she suddenly hollered.
"Wait! You've got it wrong! They don't get a holiday for sweeping your grave! The three-day holiday is only for the founding king's memorial! You died too early to know, I guess..."
Gwayne nearly face-planted.
Still, though he'd quashed Amber's idea of selling Shadow Realm intelligence, Gwayne had plans of his own. He was brimming with curiosity about the Shadow Realm, or rather, about this entire world.
So someday, he was going to figure all of it out.
The trail of footprints didn't extend very far.
Perhaps due to the Shadow Realm's peculiar nature, the Prime Material Plane's usual sense of distance didn't apply here. Gwayne and Amber had only followed the footprints a short way when a wooden cottage appeared abruptly before them.
It was small and dilapidated, standing here for who knew how long. Around it was a ring of broken-down fencing, so sparse it clearly couldn't serve any defensive purpose anymore. At one corner of the cottage, Gwayne noticed a splash of color.
It was the color of moss, strikingly conspicuous in this black-and-white world, and it was fading rapidly with each passing moment.
Betty's footprints led all the way to the cottage door.
Amber drew her small daggers, nervously waving them in front of her chest. "How about you just go full divine-descent-mode, charge in there, and start chopping. I'll cover the rear..."
Gwayne considered this, suppressed the urge to grab Amber by the collar and throw her in first to check for traps, and instead placed one hand on the Pioneer's Sword's hilt while carefully pushing open the gray-white door with the other.
No attack came.
The inside of the cottage was just an ordinary room, old, run-down, like a black-and-white photograph.
But there was someone inside.
A stubbly-faced man in a tattered short robe sat behind a square table in the center of the cottage. He was so haggard and weathered that Gwayne couldn't begin to guess his true age. Behind the man stood two wooden shelves crammed with bottles and jars, alongside a worn-out alchemy workbench.
Magical experiment equipment was scattered throughout the room, but it was all piled together with heaps of broken junk. Any self-respecting mage who laid eyes on this wretched scene would probably want to cry.
The man behind the table looked up at Gwayne and produced a stiff smile. "Ah, visitors, it's been a very long time since anyone visited my laboratory. And two of you, no less?"
Amber peeked out from behind Gwayne, her face full of wariness. "We're... not fighting?"
Gwayne didn't draw his sword, but he didn't let his hand stray far from the hilt either. He stepped into the cottage, ready to attack at any moment. "We're just passing through, looking for someone, a girl, about fifteen or sixteen. She's carrying a frying pan..."
But the man behind the table seemed not to hear Gwayne at all. He just smiled sluggishly, nodding slightly. "Please, find a seat. Annie is preparing lunch. It's hard to find a place to rest out in these deep woods, if you don't mind, stay and eat."
"Annie?" Gwayne asked instinctively.
"My daughter," the man smiled. "Very well-behaved."
Just then, a girl's startled exclamation came from nearby. "My lord?"
Gwayne turned toward the voice and saw Betty standing by a small door in the corner of the cottage, her face full of surprise.
"Betty? Good, you're all right," Gwayne breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm here to bring you back."
But Betty shook her head slightly. The man behind the table also turned to the girl, asking gently. "Annie, is lunch ready?"
Betty nodded obediently. "Almost, Father."
The girl turned and ducked back into the kitchen. Gwayne and Amber exchanged a glance. After confirming that the strange man behind the table showed no reaction, they followed.
Betty was cooking in the kitchen, using her treasured frying pan. Pale flames danced on the stove, and sausages sizzled on the pan.
Amber's attention went somewhere unexpected. "You can actually cook in the Shadow Realm?"
"What's going on here?" Gwayne came to Betty's side and asked in a low voice.
Judging from the girl's demeanor, she wasn't under the influence of any mind-control spell. But she'd stayed here of her own free will to cook, and she was calling that strange man "Father", which was genuinely odd.
"I don't really understand it either," Betty said, wearing her usual slightly confused expression. "But the man out there seems to think I'm his daughter..."
Amber's eyes went wide. "And you just went along with it and called him dad?"
Betty shook her head. "He's very pitiful... so I thought I'd make him a meal before leaving."
Gwayne and Amber stared at each other.
Then Betty suddenly reached into the pocket of her maid's dress, rummaged around, and produced a worn notebook, which she held out to Gwayne.
"Here, my lord, the man gave this to me. There's a lot in it I can't understand, but you should be able to make sense of it."
Gwayne took the notebook, which wasn't very thick, and quickly flipped through the entries on the last few pages.
Amber craned her neck curiously. "What is it? Let me see, let me see... Magical formulas? Runic sequences?"
The half-elf, thoroughly dizzy from the complex symbols and equations, looked up at Gwayne with a blank expression. "So that weird old man was actually a mage?"
"Strictly speaking, a Hedge Mage," Gwayne said, rolling up the notebook and rapping Amber on the head with it. "And didn't you notice all the magical experiment equipment the moment you walked in?!"