Chapter 201 - Thoughts of each childhood friend

As Lisa was cutting down another mage she started to think. 'I wonder what Valdel is doing right now?' She started to think about Valdel again. Even though she said to herself that she would wait for them to return home, Lisa was really tempted to leave the village and follow the three. 

...

There was only one reason why Lisa hasn't followed Valdel's group even now. On the first day when Valdel's group left, Lisa who was forced to stay behind decided that she still wanted to join her sister and friends on their journey. Despite what she and the a.d.u.l.ts agreed upon, she still wanted to go. So she decided to wait until nightfall to make her move. Yet when she got to her room, she found a letter that was addressed to her from Ren. 

"Hey Lisa, I'm pretty sure right about now you're thinking about following us." The moment Lisa read the first line of Ren's letter she couldn't help but smile. 'As usual, Ren can pretty much see through everything.' Ever since she met Ren she always had this feeling that he could see right through everything. Even though he was only one year older than her, Ren always felt similar to the village elder. In fact, Ren actually exudes this unique aura that made him feel older than he truly was. Lisa who could practically see Ren's sly smile continued to read the letter. 

"That's a pretty bad idea and I advise you to not do it. You do know if you follow us you would be breaking a promise and mister goody two shoes Val won't like that." Lisa thought about it for a bit and Ren was right if she did follow them after promising that if she failed she won't leave, Valdel will look at her in a bad way. He won't show it but Lisa would know that every time Valdel looks at her he would only be thinking about how she broke her promise. 

"Right now I'm pretty sure you changed your mind already. So how about doing something productive instead? Like for example, you should keep on training the people in the village my combat skills. I already thought them the basics, so all you need to do is give them a few pointers here and there. I'm sure that doing this would make you feel a little less lonely." That was the end of the letter and it was then Lisa decided to do as Ren advised. 

...

'I wonder... Did you perhaps predict all of this was going to happen, or did you make this happen with your own hands? I wonder which is it... Ren...' Lisa thought that either way her childhood friend was indeed a frightening individual. 

...

The fourth day of the siege battle ended and the two sides were resting, getting ready for the next day. Valdel who fought the four personal guards of Prince Niel was now having Lara stitch some of his wounds. For some reason, the wounds inflicted by the guy who uses hidden weapons cannot be healed using any healing spells. As he didn't want Kuro and the others to worry about him, Valdel asked Lara to help in stitching his wounds. 

"Why do you keep on doing this?" Lara asked while she was stitching his wounds. Valdel who heard Lara's question was no longer that surprised by Lara talking so much. Since, for the past two days, Lara has been talking more frequently than normal. Though it's only a few words, in Lara's standards it was like she recited a whole play. 

"Doing what?" Valdel tried to evade the question, but then he saw Lara looking at him. Even though she still had that stoic expression of hers, Valdel could feel her frowning deeply at him. Feeling a bit pressured by Lara's stare Valdel sighed before giving Lara a proper answer. 

"I know it would be easier to kill them and be done with it... But I just can't, unlike bandits they aren't doing this because they want to, they're just being ordered to do this. I know that what I'm doing is nothing more than hypocrisy at its finest but... I decided that no matter what, even if it's fake, even if it's wrong in other people's eyes, I want to be like Ren and stay true to myself." 

Lara who finished stitching Valdel's wounds looked him in the eye without blinking. Valdel did the same thing and looked Lara in the eye. After a period of silence, Lara shook her head and stood up. 

"I hope you have no regrets on the path you have chosen." Lara once again spoke a rather long sentence. Hearing her talk to him like this only showed Valdel that Lara was truly worried about him. Valdel showed a confident smile to his childhood friend and answered. 

"From here on out, I plan to have no regrets at all." Once she heard Valdel's answer Lara nodded her head and left.

...

Just outside the room where Valdel and Lara had their conversation two familiar silhouettes were lurking in the shadows. Even though Valdel and Lara were great at sensing the presence of others they weren't at the level that they could spot the two that were hiding. 

Ren was getting a bit bored by the flow of battle between both sides and was about to show himself to his two childhood friends. But when he heard the conversation they were having Ren decided to continue watching the show without doing anything, for now. Though he really wanted to join in the battle and end it already he held himself back, because based on what Valdel said this battle was an important turning point for him. 

'I wonder where your ideals will lead you. With such heavy chains dragging you, will you be able to live up to your own expectations? Will, you perhaps fall to the same tragedy as all the other heroes before you, or will you grab hold of your fate and change it by force? Show me Valdel what a hero trained by me could do. Show me that you are worthy to be called my best friend.' 

Ren couldn't help but smile that vicious smile of his as he and Silika blended into the darkness and left.