lina couldn't quite believe her ears. In her mind, there couldn't be anyone else who could tear the realms apart like she had. This wasn't so simple magic one could just learn on a whim. It wasn't a basic fireball or healing spell anyone could do.
"We're talking about splitting realms here," lina said in disbelief.
Elowen's frown deepened. "Tell , how did you acquire as much power as you did last ti? My mory is still patchy."
lina thought about it. If she were a bit more arrogant, she would have said that it was all due to her hard work and talent. However, upon careful consideration, that wasn't true.
That wasn't to say that she didn't work hard. Of course, she did, but she wasn't exclusive in that regard. The Church had always provided her with everything she needed to grow her abilities. Best instructors, many missions for practice, scrolls, and books to study from.
At the ti, she thought it was normal. That was how all System users were taught. But what if that wasn't the case? The groups she had worked with had always been small. What if they had been searching for soone who could accomplish their goal, and she just happened to be the most promising candidate?
"It was thanks to the Church…" she admitted. "They provided with everything necessary."
Alistair frowned. "But isn't that true for every System user that cos to the Church?"
"No… I don't think it is. Obviously, they'd pay more attention to you because you're a noble, but they shouldn't have paid so much attention to . I was just an orphan. Thinking about it, I don't rember other orphans ever getting as far as I did."
"Isn't it just because you were better than them?" Alistair questioned.
"Strong enough to rip apart worlds? I imagine it would take more than just pure perseverance and grit to reach such magical power and skill," Elowen said suspiciously.
lina realized that Elowen was right. All this ti, she had so foolishly thought that if she were to step aside, then the problem would be solved on its own. That the world would never reach the sa tragic event again.
I was too naive. The Church must be training sobody to beco the next [Archmage] right as we speak. The sa tragedy is going to happen again. This would also explain why the Architect would be so eager for people to regain mories of the past. It's so we could prevent it all from happening again.
Although it is a neutral being, even the Architect would take action if the events led to the world's eventual demise.
"lina…" Alistair looked at her with concern.
"They're going to do it again…" she muttered.
Elowen nodded and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "Yes, that's the conclusion I reached yesterday after regaining my mories. I wish to prevent the disaster, but I don't think I can do it alone. I need human allies."
lina felt overwheld. Realistically, she should have accounted for the fact that the Church would try to reach the sa goal as before. After all, they hate everything related to the Monster Realms with the passion of a thousand blazing suns. But for so reason, she had thought that her asly sacrifice would have been enough to fix the world, and the Church would rely be an entity for her to avoid.
But the truth was that the world was sailing down the sa destructive path with or without lina at the helm.
"We can't let that happen again! There are no winners in that scenario!" lina said firmly. "But what can we even do?"
Elowen winced, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I have no clue. I know every elf would be against the separation, so I could definitely gather them together."
"That would just be outright human-elf war!" Alistair protested.
"Yes, that would be my last resort. I'd much rather have humans work together with us on this issue. Hence why I ca to you instead of sailing back to Euroa right away. I want us to find a solution together."
"Thank you. For giving us a chance, even if I lied to you about how much I rembered. I was afraid that you would…" lina began but trailed off.
"Would what?" Elowen asked.
"Kill her," Alistair replied deadpan, glaring in Elowen's direction.
"That would be my last resort if lina proved to be completely uncooperative," the elf said.
lina noticed that this only put Alistair in a fouler mood, as he gritted his teeth.
"Thankfully, we are very much willing to cooperate, so that won't happen, right?" lina squeezed Alistair's hand. He looked at her with a conflicted expression, then nodded.
"Yes, of course. Although I'm not sure what we could do currently. I'm not a [General] in this lifeti and lina is not a [Archmage]," Alistair said.
"I believe lina's knowledge will be our true asset rather than her magic. It's like you're magicless, either. You can channel Sienna's mana," Elowen said.
Sienna chittered in approval, although it felt weaker than her usual energetic chitter. lina patted the wyrm gently, urging her to keep resting.
"I can, but Sienna needs ti to recover."
"Of course. I'm not suggesting we spring into action right this second. Thanks to your cooperation, we have ti to think our things through. What about you, Lord Sinclair? Would it be possible for you to eventually regain your influence as a human [General]?" Elowen asked hopefully.
"I'm afraid not," Alistair said firmly, surprising lina.
"Why not?" She and Elowen asked in unison.
"It is not a path I wish to follow this ti around," Alistair said firmly. "In fact, the path I'm heading down now, I'm likely to lose any connection to my family. But I shall support this endeavour to my utmost ability otherwise."
So he doesn't intend to marry the princess. But would Duke Sinclair really cut him out of the family for just that? Okay, maybe he would if it were just him, but I feel that the Duchess wouldn't allow it.
"I'm sure it'll all turn out all right with your family," lina consoled.
Stolen from , this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.
"Well, in either case, it appears that we'll be operating with a rather small scope of influence… Dear System, this is giving even more of a headache," Elowen winced.
"Why don't we discuss what we could do after the festival? I feel like we all need so ti to think and process this," lina suggested.
"Agreed," Elowen said with a nod.
"Yeah, there's a lot to think about," Alistair agreed.
After saying their goodbyes, lina and Alistair left the Guild. They looked at each other sowhat glumly, not quite sure what to do next. lina sighed. Things seed to be getting worse with each passing day.
"What can we even do to stop this?" She asked while looking up at the cloudless sky. It looked full of life, but she could still rember how horrible it looked when the world was on its last leg. She had to stop it from happening again.
"Hey, didn't we agree to think about this later?" Alistair chastised.
"Yes, but…"
He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gently urged her forward. "You're still recovering just like Sienna. You need to regain your strength and recover. A strong body ans a strong mind, no?"
lina nodded. He used this phrase a lot in the past whenever she was injured and wanted to rush back into action.
"It's still the festival. Let's go and see it. Enjoy the festivities for once. It would be a sha to just let it all pass by without enjoying anything," he suggested.
lina felt guilty about relaxing at a ti like this. But on the other hand, the separation of realms wouldn't happen tomorrow. It would be another 12 years until it happened. Maybe even more if the person the Church chose as the new Archmage wouldn't be able to learn as quickly as lina.
I think I can afford one day of rest.
"Let's go," lina nodded and allowed Alistair to guide her towards the beach.
Their initial walk was silent as lina was still deep in her thoughts, trying to co up with a solution. But as they kept walking, she beca more aware of his hand on her shoulder with each minute.
"What about Charlotte?" She asked awkwardly, doing her best not to flush. But she was failing miserably.
"She's together with Mother and Father today, greeting so higher caliber guests of the festival," he replied.
"Shouldn't you be with them?" lina asked in surprise.
"No. Nobody really cares about the third son of the family. Charlotte, on the other hand, is starting to get a lot of attention. Apparently, she recently received her first marriage proposal," Alistair said with a sour look on his face.
"What? Isn't it way too early for that?"
"Obviously. Father rejected it at once," he said. Judging from his reaction, lina was sure that the sender of that letter would have their legs broken if the Duke hadn't rejected it. Charlotte was just a child. It was far too early to think about matters of marriage.
"Good. Charlotte needs to enjoy her childhood and then choose to marry soone she likes. She can do that right?" lina asked cautiously.
"Well… It's hard to say. If she chooses sobody with a similar social standing, then theoretically, there shouldn't be a problem. Not even from Father, since he's rather lenient on Charlotte," he said, then narrowed his eyes. "The problem is that nobody is worthy enough to marry Charlotte."
lina chuckled. She never knew that Alistair used to be such an overprotective big brother. In her mories, he and Charlotte never really appeared that close.
"Never took you for the overbearing brother type. Who did she marry last ti?" She asked and felt Alistair's grip tighten on lina's shoulder, almost painfully so.
Sienna snapped at his fingers, making him relax his grip.
"Sorry, lina. It's just that last ti… I didn't even get to attend her wedding. I don't even know whether the marriage was arranged or not… After I married the princess, we grew completely estranged," he explained.
"Isn't it exciting then?" lina poked his shoulder playfully.
"Exciting?"
"You get to experience her wedding for the first ti, despite living this life for a second ti," she pointed out.
Alistair relaxed and nodded. "You're right. That is exciting. In fact, there are lots of exciting new things happening."
His gaze lingered on lina for a long while, and she felt him pull her even closer to his side. It wasn't uncomfortable, no. In fact, she enjoyed this closeness. But was it alright? They shouldn't be wandering around the busy festival while sticking so close to each other. Anybody would mistake them for a couple.
"A-Alistair, is it alright if we walk around like this?" She asked, nervously fiddling with a hair near her ear. Suddenly, she couldn't decide where to put it–the wind seed to blow it in her face all the ti.
"Why wouldn't it be?" He asked sowhat mischievously.
The man was completely aware of what he was doing. Was he teasing lina on purpose? No, Alistair wasn't like that. He was always gentlemanly and kind, respectful of other people's boundaries. Yet since they reunited in Sunglow, he'd always seed sowhat pushy.
"What if your Father sees? He wanted not to interact with you at all," she said.
"What did you say?"
"I said that I wouldn't agree to it," she said, still fiddling with her stray lock.
Alistair suddenly stopped on the side of the path. He gently took hold of the hair she was ssing with and settled it behind her ear, his fingers brushing against her cheeks as he retreated. He was beaming at her the whole ti. "Then there isn't a problem. Let's enjoy the festivities!"
lina was a bit surprised by the gesture. This man was growing bolder by the minute. Was it alright to let him?
Perhaps so more logical part of lina would have managed to say no and create a respectable distance between them. But she was walking next to a man she had been in love with for years. No, she was most certainly still in love with him. Her heart fluttered in his presence, and she didn't wish this mont to end.
For one day, I'll enjoy myself. One day of full fun and relaxation, and then I'll go back to business. It's a festival after all.
They began by checking the stalls. Today, the pronade was filled with more high-end stalls than before. The food looked more like sothing you'd find in a noble's mansion rather than a town like Sunglow. There were more expensive products sold—jewelry and fabrics.
Clientele had changed too, as there were fewer regular people like lina and more rich rchants and actual noblen like Alistair. If it wasn't for his presence, lina wasn't sure if she'd feel comfortable walking among them.
"Interesting how today everything is more expensive," lina noted.
"Father thought that it would be a good way to get money into Sunglow. I'm surprised so many nobles actually responded to his invitation," Alistair said.
So actual nobles are walking here. Now I really don't want to stay.
Among the elaborate stalls, lina also noticed Etrian. He had a stall with so of the best outfits she had seen him make, and his stuff was already fancy on its own. She suspected that he had used the glass-like threads from the Monster Realm tree. There was no doubt that any noble would pay a huge sum to get their hands on an outfit made of sothing unique like that.
Part of her was curious to know whether the outfits had so effects imbued into them, but she decided that it wasn't the right ti to ask. For now, she pulled on Alistair's sleeve and pointed to nearby benches.
"Could we rest for a mont? I think I'm getting a bit tired," she said. They hadn't walked much but her body must have been more exhausted from handling all that mana than she realized.
"Of course! Sorry that I didn't realize that you're tired sooner," Alistair said, looking guilty.
"It's okay. I didn't realize how tired I was," lina admitted.
"I'll get you and Sienna sothing to drink. Could you wait here?"
"Thank you," she replied with a nod.
Alistair hurried away, disappearing into the crowd. Sienna chittered, looking a bit better than before. This was a great relief to lina. It appeared that ti in the sunlight had aided in her recovery. She hoped that her little familiar would be able to make a full recovery given enough ti.
"I'm glad to see you better, Sienna," lina said, gently taking the wyrm in her hands and patting her.
"Well, well, well. I thought the rumors had gone a step too far this ti, but it appears they were true. My brother has fallen for a peasant wench who harbors monsters," a cold voice suddenly said.
lina looked up and saw a tall man, quite similar to Alistair—sa golden eyes, sa black hair only cut much shorter. An unpleasant sneer was spread on his features as he looked down on lina as if she were a cockroach that had found its way into his bed.
She recognized him. It was the eldest son of the Sinclair family—Richard Sinclair. lina didn't doubt that there would be a confrontation, so she shielded Sienna, pulling her closer.
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