"So?" Mia asked while snuggling up on my chest. "What are we going to do now?"
Her question was both simple and extremely complicated at the same time.
Simple, because right now, we could do whatever we wanted. Given how I managed to assimilate the mana engine into my own techniques and mage's tower, there was hardly any being that could challenge me.
Yet, this question was also insanely complicated in its simplicity.
Because now that we could do whatever we wanted, picking one path to follow turned out to be surprisingly challenging.
"I was sure that you wanted to find your friends first and then look for direction then," I stated, trying to clarify the topic.
Sure, it was my fault that we spent so much in this weird place. But instead of trying to bash my head in or ask for an apology, I simply opted to give Mia the right to decide instead.
After all, we went in this direction only because that's what she initially wanted. And instead of trying to project my guilt on her and forcing the two of us to do what I believed to be Mia's wish, I could very well just ask her!
"It's been way too long," Mia replied after a moment of thought. "If the world is as it was in the sect, then it doesn't matter if we try to look for them or not," she added, her face sulking down.
"I wish I could tell you, you are wrong right now," I stated, shaking my head sideways.
It would be a lie to claim that I didn't feel guilty about putting the discovery of this place over Mia's wish to save her teammates.
But now, after so much time has passed, the chances of them being still alive... Were slim. And that was already me assuming the best possible scenario. Yet, on the off chance that her former friends managed to somehow survive, we were bound to meet with them anyway.
"What do you want to do, then?" I asked, unsure how to interpret Mia's words.
Was she giving up on her friends? Was she trying to tell me to prioritize something else first? Or maybe there was no second meaning in her words, making her sentence sounds as if she gave me the right to decide instead?
"To be completely fair, I don't know," Mia replied, pushing her body up as she looked down on my face while bitting down on her lips. "Don't you have any ideas?" she asked, only to lower her eyes and hide her face back in my chest. "Isn't it too much for you to expect me to decide now?"
Mia's question hung in the air while I gave myself some time to think it through.
Surely, leaving all the responsibility of making a decision in Mia's hands meant putting an insane burden on her.
It was the inevitable result of my approach aimed at satisfying her wishes first. Yet, if she had no specific wish that prevailed in her soul if she just wanted to keep on living in peace...
Then the question of what we should do next was one of the hardest to answer.
Especially for Mia, for someone who was born in this world, grew up in this world, and now watched everything that she knew about this world turn on its head.
"Do you want to hear what I think about our situation?" I asked.
Rather than taking the burden of the decision off Mia's shoulders, I decided to serve her with some advice.
My decision came from two factors.
First, I believed Mia had to learn how to make decisions on her own. Her fervent reliance and wish to align with my own wishes made it harder for her to learn how to be independent.
That's why, even if it would end up slightly painful or annoying, I was set on making Mia make the decision this time. Not because it would be convenient for me. It was all for the sake of letting Mia grow.
And secondly, there was the topic of me being biased.
The appearance of those ruins, the similarities between them and what I saw back on earth, even the way in which those ruins reacted to my system...
This place was a mystery, a mystery that, when solved, could shed some light on the currently ongoing events.
But what was even more important, the ruins we were currently in appeared like the best spot to start our new journey into settling into this world.
Because in spite of all the disasters going on all over the place, I have yet to see a single mana-born monster appear anywhere in the vincity of the ruins.
'Maybe there is some barrier that repels them; maybe they were naturally repulsed by the areas filled with their own kind of energy?
I couldn't tell the exact reason yet, but it was without a doubt that a reason like that existexd.
'And by discovering how it really works, we would gain a powerful weapon against the monsters,' I thought, looking over the walls of the room we were in.
There were just too many secrets in this place. Starting with the interaction with the mana monsters, through the method in which this room allowed me to turn my mana into tangible items, all the way to the connection between this place and my system...
This place was filled with secrets, each of which potentially held answers to more problems than I could ever expect.
Yet, if Mia decided for us to leave it, I would support her decision with all of myself.
Those ruins weren't going to escape from this world, after all. And the chances of them crumbling apart after they stood unaffected by the influence of time for millennia... While I couldn't give any judgment based on rational reasons, I was pretty damn sure this place would survive whatever the wide world could throw at them!
"Give me some help, would you?" Mia requested after a period in which she remained silent.
I looked up at the girl's face, trying to sound out what kind of advice she was looking for.
'Huh?' I shook in surprise a tiny little bit when I noticed just how focused Mia was.
From that one sight alone, I could tell she took her role in deciding our future actions pretty seriously.
"An advice, huh?" I muttered, buying myself some time to think.
'I should avoid giving her anything that could direct her towards the things I believe to be proper,' I thought, setting myself the one limitation for what my advice should entail.
"I think that in order to figure out what we should do next, we should focus on what we want to achieve first," I whispered, uttering my words slowly, as if not sure about them myself.
"Rather than looking for what we can do, look into what we want to do, huh?" Mia replied in a low voice, resting the side of her head on my chest as she turned silent.
For the next few moments, nothing really happened. We simply laid down in the comfortable bed, surrounded by the items that Mia requested me to bring forth, enjoying the sound of each other heartbeats.
"I just want to live with you in peace," Mia finally gave her answer. "You might not believe it, but I miss the times back at the skyladder sect," she said, averting her eyes away from my face as if scared of my potentially judging glance.
"Even though we were at the bottom back then?" I asked, taken by surprise by Mia's answer to my advice.
Back then, I have yet to teach Mia to stop considering herself my slave. Back then, I had to pull my words and punches back, worried about attracting the attention that I wouldn't be able to handle.
But thinking back, there actually was some sort of distinctive charm to our lives back then.
Before the world's wishes started to influence our lives. Before we grew strong and important enough for the people of this world to pay attention to us.
"Would you like to go back there?" I asked, trying to understand what exactly was Mia's wish.
"No, it's not about the place," Mia shooked her head, brushing her cheek against my chest. "Even if we came back, we wouldn't be able to enjoy the peaceful life of the past. We grew too strong for that," she explained, showing that she was mature enough to know what was the nostalgic feeling of the past and what was realistically achievable.
"What do you want, then?" I asked gently, raising my hand only to rub+ the bottom of my thumb against Mia's lips.
"Is living in peace and bearing your child under my heart an answer good enough?" Mia asked, suddenly changing the topic as she moved around a little only to end up placing a long, sloppy kiss right on my lips.
"Living in peace, huh?" I couldn't stop my lips from forming a small smile.
It was surely a naive wish... but one that I actually believed I was capable of fulfilling. Sadly, the process of doing so would be long and fraught with difficulties.
"So it's no good?" Mia asked, raising her lovely eyes up to my face.
"I never said that," I replied quickly before Mia's mood could go to shit. "But if that's really what you want, then I can't exactly let you guide us to it," I added, only to grit my teeth together.
"I'm fine with that, though?" Mia replied, raising up her hands only to rest her elbows on my chest and then rest her head in her hands, giving me a great point of view to stare at her beautiful face and her full breasts at the same time.
"After all, aren't you more familiar with this place than you initially expected?" Mia pointed out, bringing forth the very reason that was behind my earlier answer. "I saw what this place is capable of. And now that the world is changing drastically with each passing second, it's impossible to bring peace to all of it, isn't it?"
Right now, I was stuck. Stuck between glancing at Mia's lovely face, glancing over at her boobs, and between the insane wisdom behind Mia's words.
It was the first time for me to feel like Mia was somehow cheating on me, reading all the reasons behind the way I acted and then voicing them out.
It felt as if she could freely read my mind, using my very own thoughts against me!
"You know me really well, don't you?" I whispered, only for Mia to lean her head to the side in confusion.
"You are right," I changed the topic before Mia could ask for specifics. "Right now, it's impossible to bring peace to the entire world. But it's definitely possible to carve out a part of the world for our own use and then bring peace in that part," I explained, only to shake my head.
I then looked at Mia's lips, only to push my head up and join our lips for yet another kiss.
Only when I had enough of the taste of Mia's mouth did I allow a small smile to appear on my lips.
"But for that end, this place will indispensable!"
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