65 Ripple effects 3

Just after the door to Laura room had been closed. The man picked up his pace and moved away as far he possible could before punching the wall till his fingers bled. The man looked at his hand and was not pleased with the result he wanted to hit it yet again, but was stopped by a soft and delicate hand holding it.

" Dear, I know you are worried about our daughter, but please do not hurt yourself. I suffer as much as you do. But our years of planning and the future of our daughter relies on upkeeping of the tradition."

' That tradition destroys my lovely daughter.Shunning the daughter to make her hate me with all of her heart and use that disappointment and rage to make her want to surpass me. Just like my ancestors did why I do I have to repeat this useless custom. Why am I forced to raise my hand against my own daughter?'

" Our daughter is something this world has never seen, she has the potential to finally vanquish the monsters, that still haunt us till this very day. That is why everyone your father and his father all put their own happiness aside. They all wanted just the best for their children, but deep down you and I know that it is for the best if our daughter gets stronger and stronger."

' You call the stuff that has happened to her for "the best"?You know very well how strong our daughter is, how can someone like her, who even caught the interest of those Old Monsters of the Church die in that world and why did this supposedly safe world pose such a risk to her health. We had to invest a lot of gold just to buy a lot of medicine, but that did not help at all.Even after the Church heard of her fate and they send a healer to us nothing had changed, rather her body began to worsen. After the healer arrived here and to take care of our daughter, he was forced to admit that he would have to send a distress signal to the Church so that a bishop would come. r. The bishop and the healer had to use their magic continuously for many hours before her body finally got better.

Even a bishop had to admit, that he could not explain what has happened to our daughter. Now tell me, why should I not worry knowing about all those things.'

" This is just another test for our daughter, such a fate is not a first for her. The first time it happened she transformed into the strong and well-respected person she is now. We have to prove our faith and watch over her as she endures her next transformation."

' Even though she is born for greatness it is hard for me to see all off her hardships, not once in her life has she seen someone she always could look up. All of those idols she once had, were left in the dust and are now just a relic of the past. I hope that someday, she finds an equal that she can rely and depend on.I do not want her path to strength to be the same as mine, a path full of loneliness is not something I want for my daughter regardless of her destiny.'

" The daughter of mine will never walk alone, I am sure of that. The way she smiles, when talking about Claudia, the Icy Maiden, really shows me how much our daughter likes her presence. So I pray to the Gods that Claudia is able to keep up with her development before she aswell fades from her memory."

' I just hope that one day, she can understand my behaviour and forgive me for everything I have done.'

"She will my dear, as her strength rises so does her knowledge and experience. Someday she will realize that the burden we have to carry is something that requires our constant sacrifice for the greater good. She will see you as a role model, a great father, that only wanted the best for his own daughter. "

All out of the sudden both of their eyes lost their focus and they began to tremble as they hastily started to bow and did not even dare to breathe. In front of them was a beautiful woman, that looked not much older than her own daughter. Though her appearance was beautiful her whole bearing was the exact opposite.

- Dear Gods, why did the Church have to disturb my slumber. I will end up an old wreck just because of this Church. So what warrants my attention to disturb my slumber. Why do you look at me like I am something hideous? Are you deaf, you are supposed to laugh if I make a joke.

A very natural and forced laugh escaped their lips as they did not dare to mutter any words of rebuttal in her presence. It did not look like she paid any minds to them, as she walked straight past them. The frown on her face was still visible as she looked ahead at the chamber, where her biggest problem child lies.

- What have I done to deserve someone like her? Please tell me, I want to atone for my sins.-

Kicking open the door, she yelled at her disciple.

- What the hell are you doing to end up as such a wreck? Have I not taught you anything or are you just too dumb to follow the simple rules I have set? In comparison to your dad, I really mean those words. How did you even manage to die in that world, did you fall asleep and or just wanted to see how it feels like to die?You were probably thinking about a way to destroy my beautiful image, by constantly creating trouble for me and judging by me being here you succeeded.

-So how do you want to be punished?

The eyes of Laura opened up and a big grin plastered all over her face.

* Master, do not frown, otherwise, you will never find a man, especially if you only have your looks to bargain with. Your character for sure is not something that would attract any men and the ones that are tired of living end up getting scared away by getting to know you.

- I am glad, that you still the same as always. But now tell me, why the hell am I here in the first place, with your gift, how the hell could you end up the way you are now?-

* Sorry master, but I can not even begin to explain what has happened, without you laughing at me for ages and downplaying what has happened. I think you would even go as far as think that I was just playing a mean joke on you.*

- If this is just an elaborate prank, I swear I will handpick the ugliest guy I can find and make him your husband.-

-What can be so significant to you, that you willingly share a memory with me, without any pestering from my side? But whatever it is, I am sure I have heard about or seen something related to it, especially after all those years on the frontlines or reading in the Churches library.

-But all those jokes aside, who caused your current state?

The previous calm atmosphere was now filled with strong killing intent.

* Please Master calm down, you are scaring my parents and ruining your reputation even further.*

-WHO?

* I am not sure, whether that question can be answered by simply asking "who?", but to truly understand what I mean please have a look at my memory.

Closing her eyes, she began to witness the event with her own eyes.

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As her master watched the memory of the whole spectacle a wide range of different expressions could be seen on her face. From shock, to utter disgust. A beautiful smile was replaced by an angry smirk, which turned into fury.

No outsider would ever get to see this kind of expression, as her master was known for her calm and steady mentality. That is what they say when they know she is around, especially if they want to avoid her relentless hatred for those who speak ill of her.

There is a certain gossip, that the reason for her behaviour is the blunt refusal of a boy she adored when she was just shy of 7 years of age. Though the rejection was not the reason for reputation, it was her reaction. Beating the young boy into a bloody pulp was not something that would leave a good impression on anybody. It certainly did not help, that she was the offspring of a fling. There was no help from anybody.

The calls for a judgement on behalf of the boy became louder and louder. A girl like her would only disturb the natural order, as she had no respect for people with authority, who are destined to stand above her.

Facing this calamity on her own she did not falter and decided to bear the brunt of it and proposed a death match to solve this enmity. No one took her seriously, as this was just seen as a last resort to escape her imminent doom.

Yet the young girl did not back down and insisted on following through with it. The young men, who fell prey to her fiery temper took up on her offer, to redeem himself and to regain his lost honour.

Though that fight never actually took place, because after the family wanted to announce their decision, the boy and 2 of his friends had decided to pay a visit first.

That decision did not end very well for them. The group of young boys were found comatose and covered in wounds all over their body. They were fortunate enough to keep their lives, as their corpses were discovered by pure chance, as a priest heard the cries of help.

That priest took a liking to the unrelenting and fierce nature of that young children and decided to raise her in the Church. Afterwards, the involved families never spoke another word about this conflict. Her resentment only stopped after a "generous" donation to the Church.

Or that is the version of the story, she likes to tell everyone. The truth is that she was forced to seek shelter in the Church, as she had once again come to "convey" her feelings to this poor man, that had already begged her to stop his torture. The deathmatch, was her announcing that she wanted to openly declare her feelings and to showcase her deep love. The young man was in fact who confessed his love at first.

But the rest is absolutely true, though she was never shunned out the branch, she left it own her own terms to and I quote "discover" the world, at 7 years of age. The young boys family was in fact the one oppressed not to do anything as her family was insisting on protecting her till the very end.

The young boys were saved by the Church that is true, but only after the much gold was used to convince a priest to heal them and the priest still took a liking to the fierce nature of the young girl, of course, the big bribe certainly helped in swaying his opinion,

But that kind of truth got buried deeply after her influence grew in the Church. Nowadays she could have very many suitors, but the strict breeding policy of the Church forbids relationships with people outside of the Church. And those possible candidates inside of her Church had to be willing to put up with her other side.

To sum it up her love life was as dead as possible. That is why Laura enjoyed seeing her in such a state because she trusts her and her parents enough to lower her guard.

Despite all her tendencies, she has a soft side for her pupils and students. That is why Laura was so curious, how her teacher would react to seeing this kind of creature with her own eyes, the sensation truly was something she had never encountered, when entering the mind of a monster.

After the minutes passed without a word being spoken her master finally opened her eyes.

With a stern expression on her face, she began to speak.

Your first mistake was to severely underestimate the enemy.

Your second mistake was to lose your cool and let your emotions run freely,

Your third mistake was to stay still and move not from the spot.

Your fourth mistake was using your magic too hastily when you were pressured.

Your fifth mistake was not regaining the distance when it came close to you.

Your sixth mistake was not to keep something hidden in case of emergencies.

Your seventh mistake was neglecting your safety, as you were too comfortable with your situation.

Your eighth mistake was to go alone into that fight, only a fool would insist on fighting an enemy of unknown strength alone..

Your ninth mistake was to let it recuperate and take control of the flow of the battle.

Your tenth and at the same time the biggest mistake was to actually worry so much about the fight at all..

The monster you encountered, was something nobody had prepared you for, you can put anybody else in there and they die even faster than you. That creature is just a small prank by the developers. Furthermore, with the next patch, they will lift the limitations of the mana by a lot, so that you could tear it apart before the fight even began. And your so-called current weakness is nothing more than you being overly exhausted after such a heavy fight, so do not worry and just recuperate.

She turned around and left the building with a smile on her face. The last words she spoke before she walked out of there door were.

- And I am really proud to have seen how strong you have become-

But Laura did not hear those words, as she was already busily revisiting the fight over and over again. But until then one questions remained for her, what were those last words she heard from it?