As the festival went on, Sol slowly began to pay more and more attention to Sheherazade, and the more he did so, the more curious he became about her as a person.
“Sol! Sol! Look at this!”
Sol smiled as he watched Isis receive an ice cream for the drolling Sheherazade. It was a funny scene as it was clearly too oversized for the small fairy. But watching her slowly devour it while using magic to keep it from spilling over was so cute it was heartwarming.
“You know, I have always been curious. Why are you always so happy and bubbly?”
When Sol first became close to Sheherazade, he only considered her as a naive airhead. It was only after learning of her past that he understood that this was far from the truth.
Unlike him or Isis, Sheherazade was not born in great conditions. She was not noble nor had a powerful parent. She was a simple commoner in her own race facing her own hardship of daily life.
For her, her talent and power were no blessing but a curse. She lost the little she already had. Became a target, had to live in hiding, and had anxiety fearing the day she would be caught only to nearly die after being caught in a spacetime vortex and falling into a desert.
Only luck helped her meet Isis.
Why could someone like her still live such a happy life and still be so kind? Why did she not think of revenge? Why was she not consumed by fear or hatred?
Sol did not know why he asked her this. But the more he thought about Lilith’s life, the more he wanted to know the perspective of people who did not fall in the face of despair.
“Hum..?”
The two girls were clearly startled by the sudden question.
Sheherazade tilted her in confusion before musing.
“You know…I am not really super smart or strong. Haha~”
She gave an embarrassed smile before continuing, “--But you see. I don’t really have a choice, right? It isn’t like crying or being angry will change my situation. I don’t like sad things. So I do not want to become sad myself.”
Sol was speechless by such simple reasoning, “Then are you forcing yourself to show happiness?”
“Heh? Not really? I mean, I can eat well, live well, I have Isis and now I am even visiting the mortal realm. Hahaha~! My life is so blissful. So why should I only see the negatives? Life is much more fun when you laugh.”
Seeing Sol looking at her with a weird expression, Sheherazade became flustered,
“Sorry. Like I said, I am not really smart. I don’t know how else to explain myself.”
“No…”
Sol shook his head, “You do not have to apologize.”
He looked up at the sky. “I don’t know whether your way of thinking is right or wrong. But surely, the world would be a far happier place if people thought like you.”
Sol could not accept Sheherazade way of thinking.
For him, only seeing the positive and being content with what one had means that you accepted stagnation. That you refused to advance and evolve.
People became stronger by facing and overcoming hardship. Humans evolved because they were not satisfied.
Rather than Lust, greed was the greatest motivating factor for being blessed with intelligence.
But….Did this mean that he was right and that she was wrong?
No. Some people found happiness in reaching greater heights. Some others like her were happy with the little things in life.
There was no such thing as right or wrong in your way of pursuing happiness.
“Thanks for answering me.”
Sol felt his respect for the little fairy soar.
When faced with hardship. Some people could only give up and kneel and curse at the world.
There was nothing wrong with that. The way one deals with sadness was personal and no one had the right to judge them.
But there were some people.
People would call them, fools, simple-minded, naive, and stupid. Without understanding the depth of their inner strength.
Even when facing the most devastating moment, they could smile and stand up and find joy in simple things.
Those people no matter how much they were struck by fate could still move on and advance, without looking back.
Thinking about it, one could say that Sheherazade mental strength was even superior to that of Lilith.
One chooses to give up on life after losing the one she cared the most for. Living only in the past and ignoring the present or the future.
Another choose to laugh at the face of Fate even after losing everything she had and decided to focus on the present and the future.
“Hahaha, you are really incredible.”
“I am? Hehehe~! Of course, I am! Bow in front of my awesome self!”
“Of course, your fabulousness.”
Sheherazade laughed and flew before landing on Sol’s head between his horns, “Let’s go! My proud stead. Let’s stop thinking about the difficult thing and let’s have fun!”
Isis opened her eyes wide when she saw this. Even though Sol was not raised by dragons, she knew very well how angry they could become if someone they did not respect tried to mount them.
But when she saw Sol show no negative reaction and only laugh out loud, she felt a weight was taken off her shoulders and she also laughed alongside them.
One of the reasons Isis had managed to keep her smile even when living in a place where everyone disliked her was that she had someone like Sheherazade by her side.
The fairy would always bring joy and happiness to her and soothe her worries. She was glad to see that she had the same effect on Sol.
She took Sol by the arm and the three continued to visit the stands.
—----
(AN: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8iq_oyBmAg&ab_channel=AnimeeeTubeee)
After Sol decided to stop thinking hard about everything, he slowly began to enter the pace of Sheherazade and Isis.
Suddenly he found that the world was not so complicated after all.
They would visit stands where they could get prizes. After the prize reached a certain amount, the stand owner would even give keep for them and even ship them later to the Tower.
The fact that none of them showed surprise at this was quite telling but Sol simply ignored them.
He felt like he was becoming younger. Like a kid running around and simply having fun, not knowing how vast the world truly was.
The light in the sky, the people dancing or moving in intricate disguises, everything was simply joyful and beautiful.
In this place, there was no distinctions between nobles and commoners. People were simply having fun.
This might be seen as escapism. Ignoring reality for a fleeting moment of happiness.
But Sol did not bother thinking too deeply.
He was having fun.
This was different from the joy born from fighting and crushing a skilled opponent.
It was also different from the happiness of spending time with his lovers.
It was a purer and simpler form of joy. One that had long been repressed in his heart because of all the responsibilities weighing on him. But now he could freely express them.
Sol had always wanted a friend. Someone he could talk to as an equal and share joy and sorrow with.
He thought he had a friend in Chloe, the Holy daughter from the Angel side. But the time they had spent together was simply too small.
He then thought that he could become friends with Ares. But after what happened with Gerald and their subordinate/Superior relationship, it was simply impossible.
But now, he realized that had two true friends.
Isis and Sheherazade.
All things considered, they had only spent a few months together.
But what they faced in those few months was more than more people would see in their entire lives.
Sol had always been leery of giving his trust to someone after what happened with Gerald.
But with them, he had no such fear.
Was he being naive again?
Perhaps.
Should he always keep his eyes open just in case?
Most likely.
But would he do so?
Not at all.
Trust was earned. Not given. The two of them had fought alongside him. Put their lives in danger for him and decided to follow him no matter where he went.
If he did not believe in them, in whom could he believe again?
On this night. Sol laughed like a kid.
Tomorrow he would face many things that simply surpassed him.
It would be hard. He might become disappointed.
His efforts might not get rewarded in the end.
But this was alright.
He just needed to continue walking his way until the end.
(AN: What is happiness? Does strength bring happiness? In our world, strength would be money. Some say money doesn’t bring happiness. The fact is, I believe you don’t need money to become happy. In the same way, you don’t need strength to be happy. But having strength help avoid being slaughtered just because one strong dude had a bad day. If Sheherazade was strong like Tiamat, who the heck would try to target her?)
