Chapter 718 Later that night
[Eon's POV: ]
When Lord Justin finished his speech, there was a great silence not only across the area, but completely across the entire world.
There was a wave of positivity but the sorrow that was evident and the loss that the innocent felt could not be replicated with a powerful speech alone.
He knew that as well, but she still continued with what he had to do, and the award ceremony proceeded.
'Just like every year, to decide the winners, the Main judge, Lord Theodore, the creator of Law as everyone knew him, used the Authority of Goddess Meyat.'
He was one of the three judges blessed by the Great goddess, one of the higher gods among the various gods of this world, and even though the three of them did not have her stigma, just her blessing granted them various powers that normal mortals like us could not simply fathom.
A god's authority, though borrowed with a mortal body, was something we had witnessed before as well, but this time, the intensity of the divine energy that was used by him was greater for some reason.
People were stunned by the sudden blast of light, as well as how the person that was chosen as the winner of this year's competition started glowing like a source of light for that moment.
'And no, my team itself did not win.'
If the entire Wisdom phoenix had won, all of them would have started glowing with that unique light, but, no.
'Only Miss Mia possessed this light.'
Which meant instead of that entire team, only she had won first place.
She did well, but there was no joy.
'The top nine were announced. The awards were given. Miss Mia even had a talk with Lord Justin and the others in this very balcony, however, she did not have a positive expression.'
She was sad, and the weight of the whole announcement was heavy on her.
And obviously, she was not the only one with that kind of expression.
'Sadness was present in the very air. Dread, negativity, the feeling of loss…'
The sky was clear this evening, but, darkness had clouded the entire capital city of Lakmer.
People did not get out of their houses.
Funerals were held.
Lord Justin and President Maverick even announced that they would create a monument in honour of the victims of this tragedy.
But it would still not bring them back.
"Why. People sad?"
"They lost someone precious to them, Mag."
"Magik."
"Yes… they are sad they couldn't see them ever again."
It was night already.
And despite the blue moon illuminating the entire city, there was sadness, darkness, and negativity saturating the very air of the city.
"Where. Elle?"
"Rein is with Zoe and the others. She needed a distraction from everything that was going on."
People cursed the headmaster, the president that they looked up to, the very rulers that had been praising until a few days ago.
All kinds of things were now going on behind the scenes and the four of them were going to be very busy dealing with all that. And the headmaster as well.
'They announced the vacation will be extended for the rest of the month, so we now have two whole weeks free.'
We are going back home for that time, and we have already invited the people we wanted to come with us, and Rein, Zoe, and Alf are handling all of them right now.
"Where did you pick up this cute little thing?"
"An underground auction."
"That so?"
And I am on the terrace of our estate, with my elder sister that practically ran here after the announcement was made earlier this evening.
"Haaa…"
We were looking up at the sky, and that was the first thing she had said in the last hour we had been staring up in the sky.
"I wasn't here."
"You couldn't have been able to do anything anyway. I wouldn't have let you in the first place."
"Of course…"
By the time she reached here, we were back to this mansion. And since the announcement of the holiday extension was made, many of the students were already preparing to leave for their own hometowns first thing in the morning.
'They were permitted to leave the assigned places, so, Zoe, Chry, and Alf came to the estate. And just when they arrived, Carla appeared as well.'
It was a coincidence that they arrived here at the same time, so when she saw them, she instinctively jumped off her great warhorse familiar and hugged all three of them warmly.
With almost tears in her eyes.
'Then after she was done with them, she came to us, hugged Rein first, and took me all the way up here, only to say nothing for an entire hour.'
I already knew all that was going on inside that caring mind of hers. She was technically our eldest sister so it was her duty to protect us younger ones.
But not only she couldn't do it, she wasn't even with us when all that happened in this very city…
'She knew Rein and I were closely involved in everything that might have happened even though she did not know the fact that we were part of the student council, there was no way we would have stayed out of it when demons were involved.'
She knew both Rein and me as well as our parents did. Perhaps a little more than them when it came to our careless tendencies and recklessness.
She had sparred with us more than Rein and I had fought each other, so, she knew just how dumb both of us were.
"Will you show me what happened here if I ask?"
"Will you ask?"
"…"
She was worried about us.
She really was.
She especially knew if I was closely involved with this whole mess, I must have suffered in one way or another.
There was no way everything was going so smoothly even though demons had appeared around this city without my involvement.
And she knows very well whenever I engage with the demons, I throw up blood at least once.
She wanted to know what exactly happened last night, but at the same time, she wasn't yet strong enough to see me in a difficult state.
'People's death and death of the bastard demonic faction mattered nothing to her. She would cut a few of them herself if she had the chance.'
But when it came to us, her family… she was a weak hearted person.
At least for now, she couldn't handle seeing us suffering in any way.
"Show me…"
She thought for a moment, thought how important this could be for her, and only after thoroughly evaluating everything did she come to the conclusion that this was, in fact, important to her.
She wanted to know. And her resolute, a little nervous eyes were enough evidence of her sincerity.
"Alright then…
Mag, would you please go find Elle and Zoe in the meantime?
There will be other people so take care, ok?"
"Yes. Boss. It is Magik. However."
He had been around when we arrived on the terrace and since we were just sitting here, gazing up at the clear sky and the stars, he joined us.
And it had been nice having him around all this time. At least he was saying innocent things that made her clear her thoughts quicker than what should have taken her a few hours.
"Then…"
Thanks to him, the silence was broken quickly, and now that she had actually asked for it, I had to show her the happenings of yesterday.
"You must keep it all to yourself. And especially, don't drag Alf into this. He has someone that also needs him in this difficult time."
"Of course…"
Princess Isabella was taken aback since one of her older acquaintances passed away in yesterday's tragedy, leaving behind his only family, a young boy who was devastated by the loss of his only parent.
She was in a mental crisis, and as a 'close' friend of hers, he was looking after her while Rein was busy talking with Miss Mia, who was in a worse situation, and Zoe was with our other friends as an emotional support.
I had to go to them as well… I was the reason they did not remember anything that happened yesterday.
At least, being with them will make me feel a little less guilty.
"Hold on. And please, Carla, nothing could've been changed even if you were here.
It has already happened. There is nothing that could change any of it."
My palm was glowing with the white light of (: Vision sharing) Solnova spell, and she knew holding it was would show her unsightly things, but she only hesitated for a moment.
"It's called past exactly because it has passed, little brother. I know that. But the sorrow would still exist in the present even if the events of past were to be changed somehow."
She held my hand, and with exception of few confidential things like the other people and their fights with the demonic cult, I showed her how they started their attack.
How people died, what we did to stop it, how I played my Gwen, and how we defeated those bastards as well as the demons and dangerous creatures like that lich.
"You had your origin awakening…?"
She was in a much better condition than I had expected even after seeing all that. And this question from her signified a lot of things.
"Yes… and I also broke through to advanced mastery."
"…?"
She had a stunned look.
And though she was trying to hide it, deep down, she was also devastated.
'Accepting this was difficult for even Rein and me, someone like her who didn't have any experience of an actual battlefield obviously could never handle that kind of devastation.'
But she will have to come face to face with these battlefields again and again on the path she has chosen.
It was not going to be easy for her to deal with the people, the innocent, the title of Hero she wanted to bear.
She is strong, and amazing to be able to handle herself so well, but she wasn't ready yet.
She knew that as well.
"Bastard… we are going to spar the first thing in the morning."
"If you want to."
She was holding back her tears, the irresistible urge to throw up, as well as the anger and rage bubbling inside of her.
I can tell as much from the calm look she was showing right now.
"It hasn't ended yet, has it?"
And she knew this wasn't the end.
"This was just the start…"
They were only going to start moving more violently from now on.
The world itself was going to face a new change.
We will have to get ready to face this change as well.
"It was just the start."
I looked back up at the sky that was clear now.
The moon shining down on us.
The stars that twinkled innocently…
We might have defended ourselves against this storm, but it was only the trumpet announcing the beginning of something more than a small battlefield like this one.
But, we might not be as lucky the next time…
This content is taken from (f)reewe(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦