Chapter 69

It stung to let Quince take Clove away like that but I could not let my emotions sway me away from what was important.

And I knew that if Clove had been in front of me, she would have understood my choice and not hesitated to agree with my decision.

“Hey, do you know those tower people? That man seemed like he was not happy to see you.”

Aurora held back a chuckle at the question. Now that she looked back at it, Quince did look older than his age.

But maybe it was that Emilia looked younger than she was. Their maturity gap was too much to make any accurate guesses as well.

“I guess you can say that I know them. I helped them out once but they misunderstood my intentions. Also, Quince is only two years older than you so you should not call him a ‘man’ yet.”

“Only two? But he talks like an adult already.”

“Sometimes, people have to grow up much earlier than they are supposed to. But let’s not talk about unimportant stuff. Lead me to your village entrance and I’ll see what I can do for you.”

Aurora did not want to waste precious time thinking about Quince and his unfortunate circumstances. Everyone had problems they wanted to get saved from.

And in terms of Quince, Aurora had personally witnessed the problems he was going to face. Even more so once he came of age and took up a permanent position in the Cabinet.

“Alright. If you say so then I will trust you. The village is this way.”

Initially, Aurora wanted to hurry past the monsters in the forest and quickly establish security around the village.

But she had no other choice but to go slow for Emilia’s sake. The poor girl looked exhausted and would not be able to keep up.

Aurora did not want to push her luck and suggest to carry Emilia either. She was not sure how much pride the goddess-to-be had. (Though it did not look like much.)

But staying with Emilia, Aurora quickly came to know a little about the teen.

First, the child was a scaredy-cat. She jumped at the slightest noise and couldn’t even walk straight for the most part once the sun went down.

She was sticking awfully close to Aurora when they were walking back and Aurora could feel the small shivers wrecking Emilia’s frame.

Secondly, Emilia had no idea what kind of presence she was giving off. Her aura was fluctuation with fear and power.

It was a tempting combination for the lower-end abyssal beasts. Aurora had already spotted a few trying to close in on the pair.

But thankfully, Aurora’s aura was a little too strong for them to bear and they turned tails as soon as Aurora glared in their direction.

Lastly, the child was clumsy. She had just about tripped five times in the last fifteen minutes. That was a new record if Aurora had ever seen one.

The sixth time it happened, Aurora finally decided to do something about it.

“Emilia, do you need me to pick you up and hurry back to the village? You are going to hurt yourself at this rate.”

The teen looked back at Aurora with a blank face. It made Aurora doubt her actions.

Had she made a mistake by offering to carry the child? Had she offended Emilia’s pride and alienated her even before she had made any progress?

But then the empty jewels in front of her were filled with hope and expectations and Aurora breathed a sigh of relief.

“Please carry me. I heard that it is fun when someone does it for you. It’s totally not because I’m scared or anything.”

Aurora could not stop her chuckle from forcing its way out of her throat. It was funny to see the child this excited at being carried by Aurora.

“Come here. I’ll take care of the monsters for you.”

Aurora extended her hand toward the small teen in front of her. And Emilia jumped into her arms without any delay.

Aurora could feel the girl’s emotions and aura blazing on her face and the magic was vibrating with excitement,

Aurora braced herself for the impact. But she had not expected the tingle of magic that rushed through her body.

That was not something Aurora had felt before and she had no idea what that even meant.

“Wow, what was that? Can we try that again?”

Aurora felt her breath leave her lips as she tried to gather her thoughts back inside her head.

That had been magic resonance she had just experienced. She had never expected herself to ever be able to experience that in her life.

Magic resonance was a rare but harmless phenomenon that happened when two types of magics were compatible and could be used to further one another’s recovery.

Besides that, it had no other practical function. But it requires a huge amount of trust and reliance to pull off.

For Aurora to experience this right now, she had to wonder just what she did to get Emilia to trust her.

“I don’t think it will work again right now. But, are you interested in learning how to do that again? I can take you to a place that can teach you about your magic and how to control it.”

Aurora offered, finally getting a chance to talk to the teen about this topic.

Initially, Aurora had wanted to breach this subject carefully and not frighten the teen about what the future had in store for her.

But now it looked like she had no other choice but to bring this topic up prematurely.

“H-How did you know? I did not tell anyone about my magic because then I would have been sent away. No, I m-mean, I don’t have any magic. I am a normal and average girl and…”

“…I’m sorry. Please don’t send me away to the abyss. I don’t want to die.”

Aurora almost panicked but she took in a deep breath to calm herself down.

Emilia had not started crying yet but it was a close thing. Aurora could see the drops of tears starting to appear in her eyes.

“I won’t tell anyone. And why would I when I can do magic as well? I know how the world can be to those who are different and the abyss is no place for someone like you.”

“And that is why I offered to teach you how to control your magic. You won’t be able to control it forever but you can learn how to hide it once you have enough control.”

Emilia still did not look convinced but she did not start to cry at the first chance she got.

Aurora could see the conflict written all over her face. The girl really did not want anything to do with magic.

But she had been saddled with the responsibility and it would come back to bite her if Emilia did not do anything about it.

“But I don’t want to leave this place. I love everyone in this village and I want to stay with them.”

Aurora knew this was going to happen. But the girl needed to understand how the world worked and what she needed to do for her future.

“You can stay here for as long as you like but your magic will expose itself one day. Aren’t you finding it hard to control already? That is why it resonated with me.”

“Besides, I never said you could not return once you have enough control over yourself.”

The girl looked hopeful at Aurora’s words. Her eyes sparkled with hope and trust which made Aurora weak in her heart.

Unlike everyone else in her party, this child would be reliant on her for protection and other things. No one else had that kind of relationship with Aurora and it made her somewhat afraid.

“I don’t think I am ready for something like that but I want to try. I don’t want my magic to hurt someone but it seems difficult sometimes. Not being able to control my magic is scary.”

The teen sounded scared and Aurora had to sigh to get her emotions under control.

If possible, she did not want to look at Emilia’s display of emotions. It was eerily similar to something she had once felt a long time ago.

But reverting her eyes was no longer an option for Aurora. She had made this decision and she had to stick with it.

No more children were going to fall in the tower’s hand and become their tools.

“If your magic scares you then learn to control it. It is in your hands what you make of it. Though I do know of someone who has magic really similar to you and could help you.

“I know where your mother is and how to reach her. Are you interested in meeting her?”

It was a gamble but Aurora was banking on it paying off.