Keith could taste the awkwardness on his tongue when he looked at the two sisters interacting. They both were awkward and did not know how to interact with each other.

There was also a long history between them both that made them awkward with each other. 

*Cough*

In the end, it was Keith's cough that brought them both back to reality and made them realize that they were not standing alone in that prison centre. And both sisters had a blush on their faces.

"Alright, this is enough of being awkward around each other. We need to leave this prison cell. It is a miracle that the elves had not realized their princess is missing."

As soon as Master Hana finished saying this, Keith had a horrible feeling. 

And he was certain that his bad feeling was being mirrored by Himeko's eyes. She seemed to know something that no one else seemed to know.

"So, about that not being found out things…I am sure they know that I am missing by now. I needed to go to a party tonight and I don't think that is physically possible anymore."

Himeko sounded sheepish when she said that. She also sounded sorry for the group. 

"Of course, this had to happen. But fine, there was nothing to be done here anyway. You were bound to be discovered anyway. The main question is - what do we do now?"

Master Hana seemed to have taken charge of the situation unconsciously. It was only because Keith let her take charge.

He needed to think about what was happening around him. 

First of all, this place seemed like an elaborate illusion made of the past. But this illusion seemed to be of a time when Shimi had been in this village and these elves did not have a lot of outside contacts.

Second of all, the only way to dispel an illusion was to find the castor and have them stop their magic from leaking out. That could be anyone in this village or even outside factors.

To narrow down this search was almost impossible to do.

"Let's sit back and think for a second. Utmost of these villagers are dead anyway the one to create this illusion cannot be one of them. And it is certainly not one of us, right? Then, can it be the Fenrir beast?"

Now that was another possibility Keith had not considered. But Hana's words were worth considering. What if it was the Fenrir beast that managed to create this illusion? 

"I hate to say this, but there is another possibility that the creator of this illusion is none of the above and a completely random person. It would turn out to be the worst option for us."

Keith did not want to admit that possibility, but it might have been the case. The castor did not have to be someone related to this case.

"Ugh, my head hurts from all this thinking. Let's not think more about this, alright? Anyway, our priority should be to escape this place."

Shimi quickly closed this topic. She seemed to be in physical pain thinking about this topic. Or maybe it was her wounds that were finally starting to hurt her.

"Let's get out of here fast. This place is not safe for us. My mother also has a tight schedule to come down here and torture me."

Shimi did not even sound sad when she informed the party about herself being tortured. Her detached tone made it seem like she was talking about someone else right now.

Keith felt sorry for her but he knew he needed to keep himself in check. He could not show mercy and sympathy toward her.

"I see. In that case, we shall take the route up now. Once we are outside, let's decide what we need to do."

With Keith's orders finalized, they all quickly made their way up. They had chosen to take the alternative route to go up. Keith could hear the sound of footsteps coming from the path adjacent to the one they took.

There was no doubt in his mind that the owner of the other footsteps was the current elf queen.

She had come down to visit Shimi but she could only find an empty cage as her reward.

They all quickly moved up and finally found themselves outside. Keith took a deep breath to calm himself down. It had been such a terrifying experience for him.

"W-We are free. But the elf queen must have found out that I am not in the cage. We should hurry up and run now."

Shimi ordered and everyone quickly ran toward the temple. It was the one place where no one bothered to check so it was also the safest of the bunch.

"I am sure this place will provide us with shelter and also help us keep our heads down."

Keith quietly crawled toward the back opening. But for some reason. His eyes turned toward the central idol statue again and again.

There was a familiar feeling coming from that statue and Keith would not quite control its intensity.

"Grandmaster, is something wrong? Do you need my help with something?"

Shimi placed her hand on Keith's shoulder and it caused him to snap out of his daze. He looked toward the statue but his feeling had faded away into the wind. 

But still, Keith now knew that there was something wrong with that ideal statue.

"It's nothing. You all quickly hide away now. I just need to check something."

Both Shimi and Hana wanted to protest. It was clear in their eyes that they did not want Keith to do anything unnecessary. But Keith needed to check up on that statue and his feelings.

"Hey, hurry up. I cannot keep this secret place open forever."

Himeko complained and that finally got the two females walking. They quickly disappeared into the hole and then Keith was left alone in the room.

He quietly approached the idol statue and held his hand against the smooth surface.

There was a familiar-looking box in his hand the very next second. It was the same one Keith had seen before and found to be empty.

But this time, there was a bracelet inside it. It shined a bright gold but it did not feel like Gold to Keith.

There was something about that bracelet that caused Keith to touch it and hold it close. He needed to wear it and show it off.

Before Keith knew it, that bracelet was in his possession and resting on his wrist. It was a small thing and Keith could only call it a miracle that it fitted his wrist.

[Initiating the binding process. Binding starting in 3…2…1…now]

The mechanical voice spoke in Keith's ear and then it fell quiet. It gave Keith quite a shock and his heart decided to beat painfully in his chest. But he could feel the cold metal against his skin.

And somehow, it felt as if things would be alright once more.

He quietly made his way toward his group once more and the opening unfolded itself to give Keith a way inside. His group seemed to be huddling in place.

"Grandmaster, are you done with what you needed to do? Then please have a look at this. This is the map of the elf village. But doesn't something seem to be wrong with this map?"

Himeko held the map open while Hana pointed toward the map. 

When Keith took a quick look at the map, he could see that something was wrong with it. But it could not pinpoint it exactly. 

His brain knew that there was something wrong with the picture, but it could not point out what it was.

"Hey wait, isn't this map inverted? I am sure we came to the village from the left side but the map shows that it is on the right side. So, is the map wrong or is this place inverted?"

Shimi's observation was correct. Now that Keith knew what to look at, he could see a lot of places being inverted on this map.

"This map is correct. I have seen this map enough times to know it by heart. So, I know that there is nothing wrong with this map."

Himeko quickly defended this map and that solidified where the problem lay. This town was the inverted one.

"But then, so what? Even if this town is inverted, why does it matter? Will it help us out?"

Somehow, it seemed as if it would help them out. But only if they had two of the similar maps in his possession.

"Master Hana, can your strings make a copy of this map? It would also help if the material is translucent."

Keith did not mean to order Master Hana but somehow, his tone came out that way for him. Master Hana smiled but did as she was told anyway. Her strings worked their magic and they had an inverted copy of the map before they knew it.