Beside the nearby river which had begun flowing normally again stood Emil.
Emil had found something which had sparked his interest, at the bank of the river there lay a flower. A dense spiritual Qi stuck to the flower like hazy mist, it's stem was long and thick and it's petals were bright violet.
"How you survived that fierce battle is quite the mystery." Emil mumbled.
It was a truly beautiful flower that had him thoroughly mesmerized. He turned his head and glanced at Lilium who was chatting to Lilith with longing eyes, looking at the flower again he reached down.
His hand stopped short of touching the flower, indecision could be seen in his expression.
"Why so hesitant?" Horace asked, he walked and stood beside Emil.
Emil replied with a sad tone. "Lilium only has eyes for General Lilith, I.. " He shook his head and muttered dispiritedly as he withdrew his hand. "I don't have any chance at entering her heart at all."
"And I thought I was the coward." Horace laughed.
"What do you know?" Emil glared at Horace.
Horace put his hands behind his head and replied in an easy going manner. "Hey, I may be scared of many things but one thing I'm not afraid of is romance." He stared at Emil and commented. "I'm a real ladies man!"
Emil snorted in disbelief.
Horace continued. "Look, if there's one thing I've learned through pursuing the ladies is that if you don't even try, how would you know if she's interested or not?"
Emil frowned, his eyes glazed as if in deep thought. [Maybe he's right?]
Seeing that Emil was still hesitant, Horace waved his hand towards a nearby boulder. It lifted off the ground and condensed into a rather intricate looking pot.
Horace pointed his finger at the beautiful flower which rose out of the ground along with the clay it was burrowed in. With a final wave of his hand, the flower planted itself in the stone pot which then flew into Emil's hands.
"Go on then, confess your feelings to Lilium! I'm sure she'll love the flower." Horace grinned as he winked his eye.
Emil looked at Horace with a stunned expression. "But.. "
Horace pushed him towards Lilium who was now washing her wings in the river alone.
Emil took a deep breath, his eyes firm and resolute. He walked towards Lilium with as much confidence he could muster.
Horace crossed his arms with expectation in his eyes. "Heh, if he manages to woo her he'll definitely be thankful for my timely advice! Then when he's most grateful, I'll ask him to persuade General Lilith into going easy on me.. Maybe even letting me stay on the mountain."
Horace nodded to himself. The more he thought about it, the more he thought it was a genius idea. If it wasn't for the extreme observation skills he'd gained from the dangerous situations Lilith kept putting him through, he would have never noticed Emil's affection towards Lilium.
As he was fantasizing about staying on the mountain and chatting up some young Seraphim girls, Emil came back with a gloomy, defeated expression.
When Horace saw that Emil was no longer carrying the flower, his eyes brightened.
He swaggered over to Emil's side and put his elbow on his shoulder. "So how'd it go? By the look of things, it went great right?" Horace eyed Lilium in the distance who was excitedly showing her flower to Lilith.
Black lines appeared on Emil's forehead.
"What would you do without me?" Horace sighed as he looked into the distance.
Emil scoffed loudly as he pushed Horace away in anger. "You've got it all wrong! She said that she had no interest at all in me.. But she was grateful for the flower." Emil whimpered sadly.
"Uh.. umm.. Well at least she liked the flower right?" Horace smiled wryly as he attempted to console Emil.
"Humph! I'm not listening to your advice anymore." Emil crossed his arms as he turned his back towards Horace.
"Don't be like that.. There's plenty of fish in the sea." Horace laughed dryly.
Emil ignored him.
As Horace was desperately thinking of ways to apologize to Emil, he heard a shout from Lilith.
"Horace, Emil! get over here and help carry this beast, we're returning to Elysia!"
Emil snorted before walking towards the beast.
Horace could only smile weakly and follow.