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Volume 1 Chapter 4 Part 4

Aishela narrows her eyes and approached them.

 

At that moment, Balgary was startled and jumped off Siluca’s arms. When he lands on his four limbs, he sprinted off into the darkness. He doesn’t like Aishela all that much, if that was not apparent already. It seems that he can’t stand her treating him so violently without even realizing it.

 

(I understand that all too well.)

 

Siluca also gets fed up with Aishela’s extreme displays of affection at times.

 

「When I woke up, I was panicking because Siluca wasn’t there. I thought that maybe Theo came in the middle of the night and took you to his tent… 」

 

Aishela looked like she was slightly out of breath. Perhaps she really went to look for Siluca Theo’s tent?

 

「No, no, of course not. 」

 

Siluca laughed and shook her head.

 

「You are the only one who actually calls me cute, Aishela. 」

 

「I hope so. 」

 

Aishera lined up next to Siluca, placed her hand on Siluca’s head, and combed her hair.

「Now and forever, you are the only one just for me, Siluca. 」

 

「You know I can’t do that. I made a contract with Lord Theo after all. 」

 

「You have come a long way, that much is true, but I still fail to grasp what do you even see in him. I mean really, what is good about him anyway? He’s not good with swords, he is stupid, and he does not even have that much going on for him when it comes to his looks… 」

 

Aishela continued listing Theo’s bad qualities while bending her fingers. She kept on bending them even after she finished speaking, which indicated that she still had more things that she disliked about him and wanted to share them.

 

Siluca didn’t object to anything that she said because most of them were true, but it was only recently that Theo’s reputation has been on the rise. He might not be the best men around, but he has the ability to see many things that others are not able to see, and while he will not be able to tell you which way you should go, he is still going to know whether you are on the right track or not.

 

「Well, whatever I guess. He is the Lord that Siluca chose herself, so I am not going to question your choices, but I will only fight for you and no one else. This is the decision that I have made. 」

 

「So does that mean that you are going to use your most important weapon in the next battle? 」

 

Siluca asked her with a smile.

 

「That’s right. Since this is going to be the most important battle for you so far, then this is the least that I can do. This is going to be the hardest and possibly the most painful battle up to date, but on the contrary, if you manage to win it, it will give you the necessary momentum to keep going, right? 」

 

「Yeah, I think so as well. 」

 

Siluca nodded.

 

「Under any normal circumstances, this would be a battle that we have absolutely no chances of winning. That being said, I will do everything in my power to bring us as close to victory as possible, but whether we are going to be successful or not is also going to be up to you. 」

 

「So even you cannot predict the outcome of this battle? 」

 

「No, I don’t know how is it going to end. 」

 

Siluca bit her lips in frustration.

 

Whenever she is alone with Aishela, Siluca can act like her little sister. It is a cozy act that allows her to relax, but at the same time she was afraid what might happen if she allows her to spoil her too much.

 

Her adoptive father, Aubest Meletes was always telling her that it is good to be affectionate with your loved ones, but he also said that you should never allow yourself to be swept away by your emotions.

According to him, deep down in the human heart, there are intangible feelings and thoughts that are rooted in instinct. He called those deep-rooted feelings 「passions」. He said that too often people allow themselves to be driven by passions alone while completely ignoring their own reason and logic. In his words, thoughts are but icebergs in the ocean of passions, and words are only the tip of these icebergs sticking out of the ocean. Therefore, it is difficult to read thoughts from someone’s words, and even more difficult to understand their passions.

 

「Repress your own passions, think with unbiased logic, and choose words that convey the truth correctly. That’s how a true Mage should be. 」

 

Her father’s way of thinking could be said to be the norm for Mages who made contract with a Lord. However, Siluca remembered that Aishela was always rebelling against such words of her father, because she thought that such an attitude was a wrong one to have.

 

「Then, I will stop thinking, release my passions, and put them into words. 」

 

Aishela has actually lived that way ever since she made that declaration. She says what she feels and she takes action according to what her heart tells her. That’s why she loves Siluca and Balgary so much. Aishela is basically a bright and kind person, so even if she releases her passions indiscriminately, she is still loved by others.

 

(But if I did the same thing, that would put me in big trouble.)

 

Siluca was always making sure to keep her own passions in check, so in that regard she was following her father’s words. She is still inexperienced, so she thought that this was the best way for her to make up for her shortcomings…

 

 

(However, when I made a contract with Lord Theo, I was clearly moved by emotion.)

 

She thought that what she did was the pinnacle of immaturity, so after that, she managed to act rationally and got to where she is today.

 

Naturally, since Theo was completely involved in pretty much everything she was doing he did not hesitate to complain about it from time to time, but other than that, it can be said that he basically trusts her.

 

He seems to have a bright and positive personality, but the life he has been living up until now cannot be called a happy one by any means, and when Siluca learned about that, she was so surprised that she was basically at a loss for words.

 

「What are you thinking about right now? About your father? 」

 

「Yeah, about him and many other things… 」

 

Siluca nodded vaguely.

 

She did not want to tell Aishela that her thoughts had changed and that she was thinking about Theo rather than anyone else.

 

「If we manage to win this battle, I will go to Waldrind as a messenger in order to negotiate with my father to have Lord Theo join the Factory Alliance. 」

 

「Do you not think that you are expecting too much? And what are you going to do if he refuses to listen to you? 」

 

Aishela spoke her words sullenly.

 

「I’m prepared for that option as well. Instead of asking, I will persuade him that it will be more advantageous to let Lord Theo belong to the Factory Alliance. I’m sure my father will understand it as long as I will explain everything to him in a correct way. 」

 

「I sure hope so… 」

 

Aishela wanted to say something more, but she only sighed and swallowed the words before they left her mouth.

 

「I will definitely convince him. 」

 

They need to belong to the Factory Alliance and accumulate more strength in order to gain permission to invade Sistina when the time for it is going to be right.

 

Of course, if Theo doesn’t attack alone, it is all going to be pointless. If all of Sistina is under control of the Factory Alliance, Theo’s dream will come true, but only temporarily, and that is not what he is aiming for. The rest is going to depend on how he will protect his territory until the war between Fantasia Union and the Factory Alliance will come to a close.

 

They still have a long and hard road ahead of them. However, if they survive this battle, then it should be safe to say that the way for their ideal future will be open for them.

 

「I think I’m going to sleep for a little while longer… 」

 

Aishela said while yawning, and then she returned to her tent.

 

「Yes, go ahead and do that… 」

 

Siluca saw  Aishela off. She herself was quite awake right now, so she decided to look around the camp for a little bit, and she walked slowly through the ever-thinning darkness.