77 Reason

Once we reached the Ground folk city, we saw Leon already waiting for us, and I could tell by his expression that he had bad news. And Eliza noticed as well.

"What happened?" She asked.

Leon stuttered to say, "Well… some things happened while you were away"

"Tell me, what happened"

He cleared his throat and answered, "The Hidden Worm attacked"

Her eyes widened in surprise, and she didn't answer right away, she thought for a few seconds before sighing.

"Is everyone alright?"

Leon nodded, "Yeah, we managed to drive the thing away with the weapon, there was a fight, but no one died, but many buildings, houses and shops were destroyed"

"That's good"

Leon then chuckled a bit, quite tense actually, and added, "So… there's one more thing…"

"What is it?"

"Well, two things actually"

Just tell already man.

"Just tell me Leon"

"Aaron was wounded pretty badly during the attack, and Sike is extremely mad at you, he blame you for everything"

Eliza sighed, and ordered, "Leon, take this guy with you" She says as she pushes Ian towards Leon, "He knows how to make potions, give him everything he needs"

"Yes ma'am"

Then she glanced at me and asked, "You coming?"

"And hear Sike shout at you?"

She nodded, "And at you as well"

Well, I don't have anything to do anyway, "Ok"

I went with her towards Sike's place. As we went there, we observed our surroundings and saw what happened while we were not here. The Hidden Worm attack really did cause a lot of damage.

It was a silent walk, I didn't say anything, nor did she, it was very peaceful. But that peace ended once we reached Sike's office. The first thing he did was shout against us.

"You damn girl, look what you've done!"

Eliza sighed once again, "We hadn't done a single thing"

"Exactly, where were you while we were attacked by the Hidden Worm? You ran away!"

Eliza was about to retort and defend herself, but Sike didn't let her, "I knew I shouldn't have trusted you, in the first opportunity you ran away with your little boyfriend!"

I'm not her boyfriend, and I'm pretty sure I'm taller than you.

Once again, Eliza tried to defend herself, but Sike interrupted her, "I knew since the beginning that you were just a little pretentious bitch"

This time he stopped talking because Eliza released her mana, together with her affinity, turning the atmosphere cold, and said:

"Shut up"

I never saw her so mad, the 'little pretentious bitch' must have triggered her.

Then she continued, "Just report me exactly what happened"

"I don't get orders from you…"

He became quiet once Eliza took a step closer to him, and raised her palm to touch his shoulder. I could tell she was about to completely freeze him, and I was not going to stop.

But contained herself, she released a long breath and retreated her mana, turning the atmosphere breathable for Sike.

Then she smiled and said, "You're right, it's our fault, and I apologize for that, we are really sorry"

Sike swallowed saliva a bit fearful, then said, "You should be"

Still with that fake smile on her face, she answered, "Don't worry, we'll take care of everything else, you should rest a bit"

The rest of the conversation was Eliza apologizing over and over again, and Sike shouting at her, repeating the same things all over again. It was exhausting, and I bet it was even more for Eliza who had to hear all that with a smile on her face.

After a few minutes Sike told us to go, we left his office and the building and started walking through the city.

I observed the girl for a few seconds and noticed that her palm was bleeding, likely caused by her nails.

Looking that, I said, "You shouldn't hold yourself back too much,"

She glanced at me than to her palms and her eyes widened, she clearly hadn't noticed that, then she chuckled and answered:

"It was necessary"

"No it was not"

Getting frozen would do him good, learn how to be a little more grateful and polite.

"It was, I was about to do something that I would regret later"

I rolled my eyes to that, "We are inside an illusion, he's not even real"

"Are you telling me that just because I'm a 'real' person, I should do as I want? What's the next step? Just because I'm an 'Ascender,' should I freeze any 'Mundane' person that bothers me?"

I scoffed at her, "Yeah, you're right, it's way better to be their slave, put their wishes, needs, and desires above ours, that's way more ethical, right?"

"You signed up for this"

Yeah, that's because I'm a stupid reader who wants to see his favorite characters get a proper end.

Seeing I didn't answered, she continued, "You must have your reasons to join the World academy, and I also have mine, and to conclude mine, I can't do things like that"

A reason, huh… In the novel, there's never mentioned something like a goal for Eliza. She died too early in the novel. I know nothing about her—nothing about her past, innate magic; just a few pieces of information. And all of these are mostly because of the information I have about the Taylor family, not about her herself.

"And what's your reason?" it does not hurt to ask.

She smiled arrogantly, "Why should I tell you?"

I knew she would answer that, "Forget it, I was not that interested anyway"

I lied, to act like Iske, but discovering her goal would be very good, that way I can put together the pieces for how and why she was killed.

"You won't even insist?"

"If you don't want to talk, don't talk"

"Geez, you are boring, but I'll tell you"

You are confusing.

"I want to justice"

Well, now I'm interested, "Justice for what?"

"That I can't tell you. But I want to catch a person, a criminal"

That seems simple, "Revenge?"

She shakes her head, "No, justice. I'll bring him to justice, he will be judged and I'll see him root in prison for the rest of his life"

A criminal, if it's a criminal he can only be in one place, "Fabrica?"

"That I don't know, perhaps he joined the organization, maybe not, I need to investigate"

Well, if a criminal didn't join Fabrica, he must be very dumb, it's the only criminal organization in the world capable of going against the Association and the World academy.

"But first I need to get stronger"

"I need to get stronger as well"

Saying that she glanced at me and asked, "What's your goal?"

My goal…

"I want to save the world" I said, in a serious tone, but that didn't convince the girl.

She laughed uncontrollably for good five minutes before controlling herself, she cleared a tear that escaped her eye and said:

"Save the world?" she laughed more then added, "You don't talk like someone who wishes to save the world"

"I know"

"That's funny, I thought you would want something more… How can I put it? More tangible, not something so conceptual."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it, I don't seem like someone who wants to save the world"

"You don't seem like someone who cares about the world at all"

Of course I care about the world, if it gets destroyed, where will I live?

She chuckled a bit more, and I was starting to get mad, but she quickly stopped and said:

"Saving the world, and here I thought my goal was difficult. How strong do you plan to get to save the world?"

Well, "I'll need to be as strong as your brother, no, maybe even stronger"

She was shocked hearing that, I could tell by her expression, then she said, "You want to surpass that monster? I don't think that's possible, and not that I don't think you are capable, I just don't think there is something above him"

There is one being, the demon king is perhaps stronger than him.

The rest of our walk was silent, until we reached the hut where Aaron was, and we encountered Leon and Ian there, as well Aaron who was unconscious.

Ian was preparing the potion already, and I asked, "How it's going?"

"It will be finished in a few hours" he answered me.

Then Leon asked not to me, but to Eliza, "What happened there?"

For some reason Eliza smiled, and I noticed it was a fake smile, just like the one she showed with Sike.

"It doesn't matter, there's only one thing that matters"

Leon was silent and waited for her to finish.

"In two days we will kill the Hidden Worm"