“There you have it. Lady Renna knows that you must have a path where you were betrayed a bunch of times. Thanks to your retionship with her granddaughter, she didn’t want to make things difficult between you, but she had a responsibility for her own people as well.”

  “It doesn’t matter either way. I don’t care.”

  I don’t know how that woma a message to them so fast, but it didn’t matter. They came too te and I almost died for the venience of others once more. Following the path of fiving and fetting was the best option for the sake of effid for my peaind, but I couldn’t only do that so many times after beirayed and dealing with close to death situations like this one.

  “We put the guards and the elves that came with these men to sleep, but they will eventually wake up and we ’t be here when they wake up. If you agree to not leave any traces behind, you take shelter at our base.”

  “I am fine. Your help is unnecessary.”

  I equipped my hand crossbow in my right arm to use it with my mouth pulling the b, but reloading with a single hand was still difficult, so I decided to foagid supp G for a while. She had grown strong enough to deal with this kind of problem for me.

  Leaving now without getting into the alchemist css was simply uable, after all. Besides, I khat they alked with Renna, but with her husband instead. Still, they followed her request to e and help me. They didn’t have any reason to do so, at least not for free when they asked me to leave their hideout before. So, they were doing this to gain something.

  “I see. I am going to leave now since I am not that good at stealth. Still, Ay here will stay behind to make sure that her stitches will remain in pce or in case you move too mud end up loosening them. She remain in the shadows without getting in your way, so you don’t have to worry about anything. Here are some camoufge potions. You already use the skill at a det level, but you still leave some traces behind in the air when you move. Aeran elf catch that and uand what is happening.”

  “As long as you don’t get in my way, I don’t care what you guys do at all.”

  “All right then, good luck.”

  I received the potions and then the guy turned around a while the woman disappeared into the darkness of the area. I felt like throwing the potions on the ground since I didn’t want anyone’s help anymore… but it felt really wasteful and I didn’t like to make things less effit.

  Before moving on, I decided to use some leather that I had to support my injured arm. Any strain on it would only make the wound heal slower, so I had to be cautious about it.

  I probably could heal even faster while using Blood Siphon, but my thirst only gets stronger when I try to experiment with it… as I am right now, mentally exhausted. I wasn’t sure if I could fight those desires.

  Ohat was done, I turned around to resume our exploration. G looked a bit worried, but we only had this final part of the se and another before we were doh the exploration here. Even if we take our time, nothing would ge that much… my wound wasn’t something that could be healed in a day or two.

  ‘I guess what Renna is true… the empire ’t use their cirvoyant to find me, but it is clear that they are hiding many pieces of information.’

  I couldn’t match the entire empire when it es to the information that I have access to, not even by a rge shot, so it couldn’t be helped that I was really walking in the dark here.

  In any case, it looked like the cirvoyant wasn’t told or didn’t it find necessary to see the future of Louise’s father or Rowan… otherwise, this retard wouldn’t have e. Even if they couldn’t see my future, his death would bee clear if he suddenly went to look for me and then nothing else was shown.

  ‘Cirvoyance is supposed to be rather dubious given how easily the future ge, but they looked fident in this new guy, huh?’

  As far as I know, power like that ’t be granted… a person ’t be born with it, it has to be obtaihroughout life. Then, the person also has to level up the skills involved. Maybe the process isn’t easy or maybe they stumbled on a new css that made this a lot easier for them.

  Thinking about that only made me more annoyed… if they keep using that power, even if they ’t see me directly, they use it on others to have aimation of where I will be, then they send a rge force to get me… the possibilities were truly endless and the empire has a powerful tool now to shape the future as they see fit.

  Soon I was forced tet about that sihe group of kobolds emerged in the distance… My loyal squire, G, stepped forward to fight for me, but I still had one hand to cast magi the monsters, so I bombarded them with wind Shurikens.

  … …

  Crice began to write down some things on a piece of paper after listening to her brother. Her forehead was getting darker and darker by the moment, and when they looked at each other, Arsn couldn’t help but think that she didn’t reize him as her brother anymore. Her gaze was that cold when she raised her and squinted her eyes.

  “You make that kind of faow, huh?”

  Crice didn’t say anything in response. Sihat meeting and how things ended, she didn’t say a sihing. She was pletely astonished after seeing how those closest to her could act. Arsn forced Renna to tell what she had done, and Renna for her part didn’t try tue back that much. She could tell that Renna had a pn of her own, but she still couldn’t believe that even her beloved grandmother could act like that.

  “The empire has a powerful card in their hand now… if they are truly w to make sure that the rift won’t ge the world as we see it today, they are doing what is necessary to do so, like obtaining allies and crushing those that be a nuisan the future. They won’t abandon their expansionist pns, but they should dey it for a few decades. Grandmother did the right thing by fog oure of our people.”

  For a while, Crieeople act based on their self i, eveheir morals and honor were put to test. It was only logical that they would… Why focus on doing the honorable thing when that hurt a lot of people? Even more so those closer to you?

  She could uand the logic, but she still couldn’t accept what it represented… betraying everything else for the sake of the best option at the moment. For a race like them who lived for so long, that was truly short-sighted.

  “Besides, the empire has more uses for that guy alive than dead, so your little friend won’t be killed. It feels like they are pying with fire by letting him live, though. I wouldn’t take those ces.”

  Once again, Crice didn’t say anything… so Arsn just sighed and told her to deliver the messages that she just wrote down. He had po give her a position close to him to make her uand that they were building something that will st for many thousands of years… her friendship of a few years didn’t mean anything if pared to it. Still, it looked like it would take a while before she could fully realize that.

  Crice left the room w if she would bee like that too one day… thinking about the future of the Aeloria Dominion was something that she had to do as well, but how many lives did they have to influenegatively for them to achieve their goals? Was it truly impossible for them to do that without causing harm to others?

  ‘The need of many above the need of one…’

  Crice could tell that it was logical, making things the easier way is what everyorives for. Still, she khat doing that all the time would eventually e to bite them in the ass ter…

  ‘Although I ’t say much since I was also afraid of him… Grandmother, Arsn and Celica also had ons at their reach at every single moment.’

  her of them had been fair tulus. He khat aed like he didn’t care, anyway. Still, experieng time and time again would eventually tire him out. Living on the run for years, beirayed and w about betrayals all the time. It felt like it was only a matter of time befulus became what everyone feared. It almost felt like he was destio bee that, out of spite even.

  ‘I o make sure that this won’t happen… I don’t want to lose my first real friend that doesn’t see my family status instead of me when they look at me.’

  Criow had an important position, ohat granted her access to opportunities most could only dream of. With the right strategy and a careful approach, she could lears and obtain information that would remain out of reach for others. Thanks to that and the ret situation, Criderstood she had to improve herself, both in strength and wisdom.

  Being powerful would allow her to stand her ground and protect her position without relian others who might steer her in the wrong dire. At the same time, gaining knowledge was equally crucial. Only by uanding the surrounding dynamics, people’s motives, hidden agendas, and the systems in py could she navigate the delicate baween using her position food and falling prey to manipution or corruption?

  Crice was determio grow stronger and smarter, knowing that only by seg her independend iy could she truly ensure her as remained aligned with her values. Betrayal, no matter how tempting ical it might seem to some, would never be an option for her. Instead, she would build a foundation so unshakable that she could wield her influehout promise.

  ‘I uand why grandfather decided to leave after doing this kind of work for turies… he must have felt crushed by the choices that he had to make. I will do my best. I won’t betray anyone…’

  WritingMaeGun