Chapter 125: Louise's return
Two weeks passed.
Leon was glad that he didn't have any arguments with Celes and that Alexandra had been overly excited to help him with their carriage project. It was now ready for an adventure and to reach its next destination. However, two weeks had indeed passed, so Leon looked forward to Louise's return, and his head was filled with his memories of her.
Seeing him in such a pensive mood, Celes and Alexandra didn't dare to bother their master.
At last, it became evening, and the sky darkened. Stars lined and dotted the night carpet, and the cold breeze seemed to have a race in the forest as it kept going back and forth. But while monsters and beasts huddled in corners of their dwellings, Leon's party remained outside their carriage.
Leon grew hotter with every second, feeling Louise's impending return.
He didn't know how it all worked, but he hoped that nothing bad happened to Louise's body and soul and that she could easily return to his side. Without a doubt, her impressive safety skill stemmed from Amaterasu, and Louise was her reincarnation, not someone who controlled that skill.
Perhaps, if Louise had her entire memories, she'd be able to have more control over that skill.
[You're no longer a vessel of Louise.]
[You have lost her fire resistance.]
Leon became like a mini-sun, his whole body swathed in bright light. He shone so much that Alexandra and Celes couldn't hover their eyes on him, tightly shutting their eyelids down. Leon also closed his eyes, wanting to open them to Louise standing before him.
And as he felt something leaving him, he knew that Louise gathered enough energy through The Oracle's help to return to the living.
He opened his eyes and looked at the naked fox girl standing before him. Louise seemed to be a girl who had stolen the bright light from him as she shone brightly. Her fluffy fox tails were the source of that light, ignited.
At first glance, Leon could tell that Louise was different than before.
It wasn't because of the fact that Louise received an additional tail, making it her fifth. It also wasn't because those tails were longer and thicker, surely stronger than before. And it also wasn't because Louise stood nude before her master.
Louise's eyes were utterly cold as she reflected Leon's face in her narrowed irises.
It was a coldness that Leon had never seen before in her hues. Yes, Louise had often displayed such eyes to monsters and her enemies, but it was nothing to what Leon and his girls had seen just now. Her blue eyes seemed to contain [Absolute Zero], known as the strongest ice magic in the Freya World.
She also didn't seem to recognize anyone, including Leon, staying expressionless.
"You make me feel odd. I don't like it. But I also don't know you, so I'll let you live, human." Louise whispered in a chilling tone, then turned around, disappearing with her new and profound speed.
No, it was new at all. It was a part of what Louise used to have, and she received that part alongside her memories and other skills.
Alexandra and Celes stood in a daze, bemused.
They looked at Leon, whose eyes kept looking ahead.
Leon slowly stood up and whispered. "She's gone."
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Louise didn't know why she was naked and what she was doing in an unfamiliar forest.
She opened her inventory and found some clothes, putting them on. She was confused by the appearance of white robes whose grade was legendary. Putting them on, she felt stronger, and her stats skyrocketed. Though she felt happy and relieved that she had more strength, her face was still emotionless and cold.
And then, the clear memories popped into her mind.
"I must notify-" Louise had seen the deaths of many scarlet foxes.
"The Human… Emperor…" Louise had seen the face that told her about her missing memories and what had actually happened to her…
"Who… was…" Lastly, Louise felt a tight embrace and warmth. Her little nose twitched as though she smelled someone, and her tails started uncontrollably waggling.
She couldn't remember someone's voice and face, as though those memories were tightly locked in her heart. But she was sure those were real. And even though she felt warm and yearned to see someone, Louise feared those feelings, for the world was cruel and fake, and she couldn't really trust anyone.
She put her hand on her left breast and tightly clenched the peak. "It's fake… Fake… Fake…. It's The Human Emperor! He put those fake memories… But I defended myself… so I can see his face no more… nor hear him! I'm… fine!"
Louise screamed, dispelling all warm memories. It took her some time to fight against them, but the death of many scarlet foxes and the threat looming over her race helped her cope with the unwanted feelings. She had much more important matters pressing on her heart!
And with everything settled, Louise embarked on a lone adventure back home.
No one would stop her!
She would prevent the imminent disaster!
"Do you think I'd let you go?" An unfamiliar voice swept through the forest, tugging at Louise's fox tails.
Louise halted, and her cold eyes narrowed.
She looked over her shoulder and spotted the handsome man ambling toward her. He was the same man that had induced odd feelings within her that she wasn't aware of. She kept that mystery to herself and dealt with what was behind her, for it was clear that this man had his eyes on her.
Inferring that this man wanted to catch her, Louise planned to kill him.
"What do you want?" Louise asked and then inwardly questioned herself. 'Why am I talking to him? Words are pointless in fights, and he's not connected to the dwarves… No… He might be one of their hired assassins… Why did I not think of that? Why did I let him go in the first place? Why can't I be decisive? Why am I… thinking so much?'
Louise would've already defeated that man and questioned him through the torture method she'd learned from the Dark Lantern Squad. That squad was a team Louise belonged to after failing the Amaterasu Path, whose operations were done outside the scarlet fox tribe to protect their lands and people.
In short, they did the dirty work.
Hating herself for stuffing her mind with unnecessary thoughts that went against her squad's codex, Louise simply proceeded to attack Leon.
'I'll kill him.'
She decided after the odd feeling within her bothered her too much.
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