-----
A week has passed since Oggoth had been defeated, and the Kingdom of Igni has not been as busy as ever before. Gazers had now become part of the population and flew around while doing their daily lives alongside the rest of the people.
?
In most cases, hundred of such monsters floating around would certainly make any person frightened, but in this case, the citizen's ha adapted fairly quickly to the new citizens, who had various talents that made them unique and required for various jobs.
And as another peaceful day went by, Ervas and Veronica were sitting near the throne of the Kingdom.
Ervas was… trying to smile.
And he did, honestly, he did.
"I think I am becoming a bit more… is this happiness? It never felt so bright before. Damn, my emotions were very dulled before…" muttered Ervas.
"That must be because of our Yin and Yang Skills! As long as we are together, we can share some things from each other, emotions included! Now try to get used to the bright emotions as much as you can! While I will try to get used to the dark ones, so I am not so annoyingly bright all the time!" said Veronica.
"You're not annoying, I like your brightness, it is genuinely nice, it attracts people to you… I wish I could develop such charisma…" said Ervas with a mild smile, his face was very cute.
"Aaw, really? Well, maybe I will not then! Fufu. And I am sure that you will! In fact, you are already very charismatic, your whole presence attracts others to you anyways, and every plant is crazy for you!" laughed Veronica, as she grabbed Ervas and made him sat down on her metallic legs.
"I guess you're right in that regard… But still, I feel like some people might not like my personality as it is. I just feel like… I just want to be charismatic and make them accept me more" said Ervas.
"But everyone already accepts you, Ervas, cheer up, okay?" asked Veronica.
"Hm…"
Veronica glanced at the young boy with a bit of concern, Ervas was her split soul, and should be the same person, but had already developed completely different than her, and it even had a flesh and living body, meaning that his emotions and physical and hormonal changes might be stronger than hers.
Although he seemed to be beloved by everyone, Ervas still felt like he was not charismatic enough, he wanted to be a good King, to be loved, and to have many relationships with people, but his silent and shy personality made it kind of hard.
"Well, you're still just two years old… in another half of a year, you'll be three! But you should calm down, I am fairly sure that as long as we keep doing these exercises, you'll reach that point that you're trying to seek" said Veronica.
"I see. Thanks… Although we are the same person, you feel like my older sister, Veronica… Well, we are not the same person anymore. We are more like completely different, but we share a common origin and memories…" said Ervas.
"You think so?" asked Veronica.
"Yes, I feel like you've stayed more in the personality that we had as Anastacia, while I… Became different, I perhaps shouldn't call myself a part of you anymore, right?" asked Ervas.
"Ervas…" muttered Veronica.
"At the end, we are quite different now… Vastly different. I cannot help but admit that I am a bit envious of you in how you have maintained the personality we had as Anastacia, while my own has shaped differently into something of my own, way less charismatic and perhaps… I have even regressed into what we achieved through our mental development as Anastacia… but I still desire to be like we were before, so it still quite annoying and a bit… depressing" said Ervas.
"I understand what you're trying to tell me, Ervas, but you have to know that I am fairly different than when I was Anastacia as well… I am fairly sure that we were not as bright as I am now! That is mostly because our emotion was split as our souls were as well… And the changes on your personality are also due to your father, the one you love very dearly, isn't it? You cannot simply say that you would desire to be like we were before if that implied never being born as Jason's son… What would have happened then? The Ervas without your soul wouldn't have developed strong enough, and would have ended up dying to those mercenaries!" said Veronica.
"I… Well, yeah. You are right, Veronica… See? My mental maturity had regressed quite a lot…" muttered Ervas.
"I don't believe that what you're experience is mental immaturity, Ervas. It's most likely just your emotions showing up, perhaps before you didn't feel like this now, but now that you can develop them more thanks to our newest Jobs, you can slowly begin to feel them all boiling down to you and what is happening to your personality and sense of self… Being divided in two is, after all, rather complicated, I believe more investigation about our current selves and the development of both our personalities, minds, and emotions is needed, alongside that of our Souls, and what is truly happening to them after being divided… Because I am fairly sure that our souls were normal before we were divided, and we clearly didn't have such flashy powers like now" said Veronica.
"You're right. I am glad we defeated Oggoth so we can talk things out more relaxedly… Talking things out like this makes me feel relieved… Hm, although there are still a few things we have to worry about though… such as Aquaria's issues and whatever is brewing in the duchy of Sapphira, we should be fine as long as we prepare properly… or we escape before that, whatever opportunity comes first…" muttered Ervas.
"Confronting them and defeating the armies might buy us some time, but they would most likely come back to us even more armed and prepared than before… It would be better to move our Kingdom… Through our abilities, it should be possible to move everyone comfortably. Though there are many kilometers before reaching the coast. We need to prepare a lot beforehand" said Veronica.
"Yes, we will need a ton of Magic Stones from monsters as the fuel for your Clones, so we had put dozens of parties into dungeons to constantly grind for them. The good thing about Gazers is how intelligent and strong they are, low to mid-level dungeons are nothing when two to three Gazers are included into a team, their laser ray is very strong" said Ervas.
"Indeed… Ah, didn't you had a date with Krakenusa today?" asked Veronica.
"Oh, that's right… I should not be babbling around in here any longer… And it is not a date, she wants me to assess the Gazer population with her…" said Ervas.
"But she always embraces you with her tentacles, doesn't she?" said Veronica.
"Yeah, she likes to do that, but it doesn't mean that she does it romantically… It's her way to tell me that she feels comfortable with me, that's how Gazers communicate" said Ervas.
"Fufu, alright," said Veronica.
Ervas was also being very considerate to not count on Krakenusa's monstrous appearance as another reason why their 'date' is not romantic… but that would be too offensive to say for her, and Ervas considered her beautiful as she was, as a Gazer (and friend). And she was also a genuinely nice and gentle girl and was considered a person as well, not a monster.
"Wait… A Date? My lord is having his first date?!" asked Legion, emerging from within the background.
"I already said that it's not a date… and please, don't tell this to Lilith, or she will try to have a date with me…" muttered Ervas.
"Oh! I see, understood, my lord. I am just quite fond of Krakenusa-san as she is the Empress of part of my self, as I was originally created with many Gazer Spirits" said Legion.
"Well, mine too! I am quite fond as well, so I desire the best for your date, prince!" said Ozgeth, emerging from within Veronica's soul.
"You two! Stop talking nonsense, Ervas already said that it wasn't a date!" said Shade from within Veronica's soul.
"Ah! Shade! Talking about dates, why don't do have one with the other Spirits? You're like their big brother after all" said Veronica.
"With the other spirits?! Me? Well…" muttered Shade.
"Shade! Shade! Brother, Shade!" said Gaia, appearing out of thin air and flying towards Shade.
"After all, to use your powers combined better, all of you spirits need to be in good relationships, and be close with each other," said Ervas.
"Yeah, we can't use Light-Life Magic if you two are not properly on good terms and in a nice relationship… So go relax with the rest for now" said Veronica.
"Relax…? T-This… Well, if it's for such a cause…" muttered Shade, as he was dragged by Gaia's branches.
Since Veronica and Ervas have acquired so much Mana, letting the Spirits go several meters away from them became possible, so they were not having something like a meeting with all of them together.
As Ervas went to met with Krakenusa, Veronica walked towards Anna's workshop, while meeting with Ismene and Amelia in there.
-----
New novel 𝓬hapters are published on (f)reeweb(n)ovel.com