Chapter 64 - Lilith

Feeling the familiar texture and warmth in his arms Layton couldn't help but be surprised and instantly had a lot of questions in his mind wasn't she the girl that had come back with him from the avatar plane replacing Damon, why was she in this core world and why couldn't he still feel any trace of magic on her if she was most likely his summoner. 

He was just about to observe her closely to find what was going on when he started receiving some messages imprinted in his mind by the plane will which indicated that the person in his embrace was his summoner and he had been awarded the rank berserker before Layton could check out the other messages in his mind another stream of information originating from the red haired girl descended into his mind.

Feeling the message from Constantine sent into his mind Layton couldn't help but frown, according to the information he had now, Constantine had adopted her, he had somehow found a way to make her an indigene of this world undetected by the will of the world and others, his summoning by her was not accidental but something planned which meant it was highly likely Makarov was in on the plan, and as for why he was specifically summoned was that Constantine needed someone to make sure she was safe and able to witness the opening of the holy grail itself at least on this side of the world as this was part of Constantine's plan for her to start her wizard path.

Thinking quietly Layton knew a plan like this which involved the holy grail ritual a core part of this core world was going to be a lot of trouble the fact that this plan involved so much secrecy that Makarov was even unwilling to tell him about it straightforwardly meant there was most likely going to be a problem if he goes on with Constantine plan, a problem which might make him the enemy of all of participants of the holy grail battle.     He didn't look at the fact that at present there was only 7 contestants and their summons present in the city, as a traverser from earth and a learned wizard he was very conversant with the parallel universe principle and he was sure that a similar principle was being used in the war if not how could it contain the destructive power of over 300 level 1 creatures participating in the war at the same time.

Of course, this was all his guess but it was most likely to be true, if it was true then that means his enemies were most likely not going to be only the other 6 participants present now but also the other participants in the various parallel worlds.

The only good news was that Constantine had assured him that anyone outside of the holy grail war would not interfere. Normally Layton would not believe a person like Constantine assurance but Makarovs aura was also in the information quietly endorsing the message and boosting its credibility.

Taking his mind off the message Layton focused his attention on the little girl in his embrace, squatting down he looked at the beautiful red haired girl with ruby-like eyes and with a charming smile asked softly "What's your name."

"Lilith" she spoke quietly as in a little shy voice, her natural charm still as strong as ever.

"Do you know me?" Layton continued asking, he could tell from her clear eyes that she had no memories of him she was just instinctively close to him, this was evident by the way she was shy when saying her name

"Father said you are my summons, my berserker, but he was lying you are master." Her voice was distinctly higher as she said the last phrase as if aggrieved that her father had lied to her.

Layton eye twitched as he heard her call him Master, as a young man he couldn't help but having some not so good associations with that word "don't call me master, you can call me brother or Layton."

She was about to argue but when she saw Layton serious look she replied grudgingly "Ok, brotherrr." seeing her cute childish behaviour Layton couldn't but smile, he knew it was the girl's natural charm and the connection they shared affecting him but he didn't mean to fight it after all it wasn't doing him any harm.

"So is this where you live," Layton asked as he looked around the shabby dilapidated chapel filled with dust, cobwebs and the sound of rats scurrying around in the hidden corners.

"No I came here because I don't have magic and needed to make use of props and the environment for the spell, Dad said if the spell was not perfect I wouldn't be able to call you." Her face turned red with embarrassment as she replied, after a pause, she asked with obvious hope and longing in her eyes,

"Do you want to home with me brother?" Layton kept quiet for a moment he was using his mind to check out what was special about the environment when he noticed Lilith misty eyes apparently about to cry, thinking he did not want to go home with her.

"Ok let's go home and meet your dad." Layton said quickly pacifying her, he also had a lot of questions he wanted to ask Constantine and he was hoping the wizard would give him some tips about the war but Lilith next words destroyed his expectations.

"Dad has left, I haven't seen him, he disappeared and said berserker would take care of me," after saying that she paused and stared Layton straight in the eye her gaze piercing and hopeful as she asked

"Was dad telling the truth this time?" listening to her words and looking back at her hopeful eyes, Layton couldn't help but remember his past life as a lonely orphan who never got adopted, he remembered he had also stared with such hope at some couples who visited the orphanage looking for children only to get his hopes destroyed.

Rubbing her soft silky hair Layton replied "I said you should call me brother, don't worry brother will definitely take care of you."

Holding her soft palm Layton led her out of the abandoned church heading into the city through beautiful woods illuminated by the gorgeous night sky.