'Welp, I'll just wait for Lemi to pull me out of this mess.'
And so, Ivan took his meditative stance and began internal training. Rather than wasting his energy and burning out his Mana, wouldn't it be better to take this time of solitude to increase it?
'Alright... let's do this instead.' Ivan smiled, closing his eyes as he commenced his Mana Core training.
However, merely seconds into it—
>SHWWUUUUUUUUU<
—He felt his body shrouded by white light.
'Oh, you've got to be kidding me.'
One would expect Ivan to be happy, considering he wanted to get out of the place just some moments ago. However, his face clearly showed annoyance toward his rescue.
"At least give me some time to traaaaiiiinnn..."
Ivan's voice echoed as he vanished from the orange space—which collapsed upon the frustrated boy's disappearance.
*
*
*
"I did it. I was right. Whew!" A sigh of relief escaped Lemi's lips.
She was just as surprised as she was impressed by her abilities. As someone who knew the uncertainty of life, there was no way she could have known for sure that her plan would work.
"In your face, dad... I mean—" Her face became flushed with embarrassment for a minute as she fell to the ground on her buttocks.
"Dad? What the hell am I saying...?" Her eyes narrowed as she gritted her teeth.
Her father was nothing more than a jerk who left her mother and even had the guts to neglect her.
'And even now he gets on my nerves. What a dude. He's not as amazing as I imagined...'
Ana had told her the truth some time back, and they both took their time deconstructing all they knew this far.
They also investigated everything they could—a major reason they were close. After exchanging information and engaging in separate as well as joint observation, the girls arrived at the same conclusion.
"Jared Leonard is Lewis Griffith..."
She had previously thought that was too far-fetched. Perhaps Jared simply had Lewis' memories.
However, after seeing her aunt's current disposition towards Jared, and most importantly Jane Ursula's interaction with him... it was difficult to call that the case.
There was also the fact that Jared's personality—even since when Ana knew him—was odd for a child.
They could only have been formed by personal experiences, and he had to be the same same person as the man in the past.
"Maybe he could have done this much faster than me. Maybe he wouldn't have needed to sacrifice his teammates, but..."
At least, with this, she proved she didn't need his assistance.
The only reason she even embarked on this mission was for the greater things at stake—not because she personally believed in him.
'He healed me of my sickness. He trained me to fight, and he even helped with my research. I can tell he's trying to right his wrongs...'
Unfortunately for the Half Elf—despite how selfish she seemed—those things he did weren't enough.
"He would do the same thing for his friends. He resurrected Aloe Vida, a total stranger... he trained Edward and Ana, even before they became very close. He's saved people without necessarily having a connection to them—even going as far as risking his life."
Whether she admitted it or not, Lemi could feel the gnawing pangs growing in her heart. The truth that she wasn't any special to Jared as everyone else.
"N-not like I even care! Hmph!' Her face was once again flushed with pink.
>SHIIIIIIINNNNNNGGGG!!!<
A bright light appeared, causing the Half Elf to cover eyes with her hands, even after closing them.
The surge of energy lasted a brief moment, and once it died down, she could hear the voices of her two companions.
"Lemi! You did it!"
"I'm back... I'm already back..."
Edward seemed motivated to be back, but Ivan appeared somewhat gloomy. Not like she cared much about the latter, though.
"I'm glad to see you're both in good health. I told you to trust me, didn't you? My plans always work!"
There were a few holes in her statement. Luckily, none of the two in front of her were smart enough to notice.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. I'm sorry for doubting you." Ivan swallowed his words and smiled slightly.
"You're a good leader."
Those words made Lemi's heart leap slightly. She didn't expect Ivan to say something so decent, for once.
"Why, thank you Iva—"
"Indeed! Lemi is just the best. Why do you think I spun the wheel the first time. All you have to do is trust her. She has a plan for everything." Edward interrupted her word of thanks by stealing Ivan's attention.
"Hoho! I see now. I don't understand most of what she says, but we can trust her words, right?"
"Yep! She's crazy smart."
"Haha! That's our leader for you!"
As they kept talking about how awesome Lemi was, leaving the subject of their conversation out of the discussion, she couldn't help but feel a bit...
'Aren't they exaggerating a bit? I'm not that awesome.'
They kept talking about how they would blindly follow her as long as she had a plan. At this point, she had become deified.
'You guys, stop! That kind of thinking is dangerous, you know?' At this point, the Half Elf was panicking.
They had yet to even see the Arcana they were searching for, yet these idiots were already drawing conclusions.
Wasn't it crazy?
'What if they start looking up to me for everything? I don't have the answers! Ah, shit...' She found herself under stress at this point.
'What should I do? I'm surrounded by idiots! Is this how Jared felt?' Lemi found herself thinking about her father.
Jared must have had his memories as his last life for some time. That meant he had to interact with humans who didn't measure to him in terms of intelligence and made him into someone more special than he was.
'In that respect alone, I can at least empathize with him...'
Keeping up with expectations was a rabbit hole she never wanted to get into.
Though, just as she must have suspected, it was too late.
