‘Where am I?’
Laying down in the hospital room, Lilin slowly woke up.
At first, she was a little disoriented, but after a short while, she managed to get her bearings.
The first thing she did was to keep feigning sleep and slowly extend her senses to both examine the state of her body and her surroundings.
This was one of the ways a warrior had to respond when they woke up in an unfamiliar setting.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for her to let out a sigh of relief.
She could recognize the energy in the zone and it was clear that they were still in the tower.
Of course, it was possible that they had lost the war and the tower was controlled by the wings of freedom. But, if so, the chances of her being treated so carefully were extremely low.
The problem though was her body,
Her wounds were slowly healing, but it was so far away from her best state that it was ridiculous.
“Just how much damage did I receive?”
“A lot.”
Lilin was not surprised, she had already sensed the presence sitting down on the bet next to her.
“Setsuna…”
“Indeed. You have been sleeping for a few hours.”
“Do you know what has happened to the kingdom since that night? In the first place, how long have we been in a coma?”
It was a very important question. A question Lilin had no way of answering, and the same went for Setsuna.
Thankfully, it didn’t take long for a bunch of hurried nurses to come and check on them.
During the check-up, Lilin began to interrogate them and soon had a summary of the situation.
Of course, since they were only nurses, they didn’t have access to more in-depth information, but this was enough for them.
After this, they were pushed out of the ward that had a transparent wall and sent in a sort of duplex room with more privacy.
From the window, they could see the horizon as well as the sun slowly rising, thereby announcing the start of a new day.
Once they were alone, the room stayed strangely silent.
Both of them seemed lost deep in their thoughts.
“I was defeated.” “I lost.”
Two voices sounded at the same time.
Silence once again filled the room. Finally, it was Lilin who began,
“You know, after those two years outside, I thought I had really become strong. I had done the same thing as my mother, went outside, adventured, made friends. I even found a new path to the sword intent she had imparted to me. I really thought I could be proud. But…”
Tears gathered the corners of her eyes,
“It is...so frustrating.”
She bit her lips hard as she fought off the urge to cry.
Lilin was a warrior. She had been trained as a warrior for as long as she could remember.
That was why she did not fear death, or rather, she was prepared to die at any moment.
But, this did not stop the frustration gushing from her wounded pride.
She had no illusion.
Even though she had nearly won the fight, the fact is that if not for Nuwa’s help, she would have died before even using her last technique.
She had thought that she was now strong.
She had thought that she could now be useful to Sol.
But all of those illusions were ruthlessly shattered.
“I...I was not able to fulfill my duty as a knight.”
Setsuna spoke slowly on the side,
“The one I fought...was an old acquaintance of mine...someone I thought had died trying to protect me. I was both shocked and happy about seeing her alive. But she was different.”
Setsuna looked at the ceiling with an absentminded expression as she recounted her fight.
“At least you managed to fight back a little...in my case, I was completely powerless. After all, she was my teacher. Everything I know. All my special abilities. She could predict everything and completely incapacitated me even though I was fighting with your elf friend.”
Setsuna barked a sad laugh, “It has been ten years. But even after all this time, she was able to understand all my moves. This means that even after ten years of training, I have been doing nothing more than following a straight path.”
The humiliation of defeat, the feelings of betrayal and powerlessness.
As she lost consciousness after such a humiliating defeat, one question kept repeating in her mind.
“What have I been doing all these years?”
Unlike humans without a contract, who had to walk step by step and reach the Zone through understanding themselves, Magical beings did not have such a complicated road. All they had to understand was their own element and so create an elemental domain.
Of course, it wasn’t as easy as it sounded but compared to humans, the difficulty was definitely much less.
Setsuna was an A+ Storm wolf, a mutation from the normal Blue wolf or lightning wolf.
In terms of elements, she could use wind, water, and lightning.
In terms of talent, she stood at the highest possible in the mortal world outside of Blessed.
If not for the fact that only Blessed could fight for the throne, there would be no discussion as to who would become the next ruler of Wratharis and her uncle would not have the clout necessary to begin a rebellion.
Thinking about this, a memory from before she fainted surfaced in her mind,
--Flashback
“Princess, do you not think that this world is wrong? No matter how good or bad a ruler is, his subjects can do nothing but comply simply because he is Blessed. Why? Why must we fight and live for the entertainment of those goddesses? Why must mortals bow their heads and act like clowns in a circus? Why...?”
Setsuna’s uncle was not born blessed. In fact, he was not even born as a lightning wolf, meaning that he was not talented either.
But, everything changed one day.
Just because he got a Blessing.
Just because he was chosen by a goddess.
Even though her father had been a good and virtuous king.
“Princess, I beg you. You just have to hold my hand. Follow us. We will fight for a free world. We do not naively believe that the world will become better once the goddesses are gone. But...If we must destroy ourselves, we wish to do it as free people. Our life is our choice. Our death will also be our choice.”
At that moment, Setsuna felt as if she was standing at a crossroad. It was without a doubt the most important decision of her life.
That’s why,
“I refuse.”
The world was unjust.
Even without the existence of Blessed, people were born different. Equality never existed in the first place.
Nothing could change that.
Freedom was a lie.
All beings were slaves to something or someone.
With or without goddesses, only a small number of people could live and die the way they wished.
Setsuna had only two wishes.
Kill her uncle and live in happiness with the sun that illuminated her life.
Anyone who stood in the way of that wish had to die.
“I will kill you.”
Even though she could not see anymore, she murmured those words with all the conviction possible.
“I see...Open.”
Even though Setsuna could not see, she could feel an incredible amount of power, as if a hole was poked in reality.
“Princess, I hope that you will think through it. My loyalty to you and your father will never change and this is why…I will not rest until your father is avenged. After this…You may do as you wish with my life for the disrespect.”
Her voice was sad but there was no regret in it. She was ready to die for a goal and clearly, dying at the hand of the one she served wasn’t something she was reluctant to accept.
----Flashback end
“..suna...Setsuna!”
Setsuna woke up from her thoughts with a flinch. Turning her head toward Lilin, she gave a sheepish smile,
“I am sorry. I got lost in my thoughts.”
Shaking her head, she continued, “I feel like I have been wasting my talents. I wonder...What would have happened if I had chosen to follow you back then?”
Even though she said that, as long as she didn’t make a contract with Sol, Setsuna couldn’t take the risks of going outside alone.
She knew that her uncle would never leave her alone. After all, she had royal blood.
The possibility of her receiving a blessing later in her life or giving birth to a child Blessed was high enough that it couldn’t be ignored.
“If you had followed me, I think we would have fought every day.”
“Hahaha, I guess you are right.”
Setsuna had to admit. Her relationship with Lilin was hard to put in words.
They both feel envy and respect for each other.
What's more, the two of them loved the same man.
Even though a king having a harem was nothing strange, the two of them understood that love could not be given equally.
No matter how Sol took care of each of them, there would always be one or two who were more favored than the others.
Setsuna already knew that in terms of love, no one could take Medea's place in his heart.
But in the same way, she was sure that she wasn't far behind Medea, her main concurrent being Milia.
This was also the main reason why Lilin envied Setsuna so much.
But Setsuna could feel her place slowly slipping.
What's more, the more women Sol added, the harder it would be to keep her place.
Thinking about this, she took a decision,
"Lilin, why don't we form an alliance?"
(AN: Hehe, the second alliance is forming. As for the first. Lol even though it isn't official I am sure you can guess. Medea isn't just accepting her sisters for nothing. XD
Harem politique are interesting to write.)
