"The Federation’s Fifth Fleet has set sail; they are prepared to annex the borders." The news dia reported the current state of the Federation.
Due to the ownership issue of the ’Eternal Covenant of Loranshia,’ friction and conflict started between the Rose Federation and the Sigma chanical Council, gradually tearing open the rift.
As the conflict intensified, soone finally stepped in to diate and halt the impending war. Now, who else is able to diate between these two powerful galactic entities if not.
"Welco, Lady Hexia Tilan."
On the starship, a group of people bowed to welco the recently landed black-haired girl.
"Let’s go, take to see Prin." Tilan thought to herself about how to stop the familiar face who’s in high spirits.
Guided by the maid in a dark red uniform, Tilan walked through the overly spacious passage inside the starship. The vastness of the space era often makes humans feel their insignificance, and more easily induces a sense of loneliness.
Half an hour later, Tilan saw Prin, who was welcoming her, standing alone in the imnse flat space, with the floor screen underfoot serving as the Federation’s star map.
The sound of shoe soles lightly brushing the floor was extrely clear in this incredibly quiet room. This was the second ti the two t in a year; the separation was not long, but the feeling of alienation far exceeded the past.
Stopping three ters in front of Prin, Tilan stood still, and the hem of her dress above her ankles ceased to flutter, hanging down quietly, adorning the girl with dignified elegance, yet with a touch of youthful purity and goodness.
"Your clothing style now is different from the past." Prin moved the gaze that had been fixed on Tilan for a long ti, towards the enormous star map in front of them.
"This is the map of the Milky Way, and most of the red area within it is the Federation." The galaxy star sea could be seen with a silver-blue background, divided into four major spiral arms and two minor ones, and the Rose Federation occupied most of it.
"Looking at such a map, what feelings do you have?" Prin asked the girl not far beside her.
"Very grand, yet I feel a sort of vastness and loneliness." Tilan replied.
"My feeling is why not have the red fill the entire star map." Prin spoke the words as a matter of fact.
"Just like graffiti when very young, filling the gaps between grids to make them a nice solid color grid."
"People have this instinct, the instinct to want to fill in the gaps." Prin continued.
"I know you ca to persuade , but why should I stop, I really cannot find a reason you can make stop." Prin continued.
"Because that covenant cannot fulfill your wishes." Tilan answered directly.
"As a commitnt between ’Loranshia’ and humanity, she is not the kind who will listen just because you wish; more likely she is botherso and indifferent. If you rashly use the covenant to initiate communication with that deity, the result will be unpredictable and extrely dangerous." Tilan advised.
After listening, Prin laughed, brushing aside strands of hair with her hand.
"You are still as cautious as ever, always seeing everything in a pessimistic light, but sotis this pessimism can be interpreted as gentleness."
"Actually, you never hoped for anyone from the beginning, right, Tilan."
"You don’t believe reform of the existing system will succeed; you think that the inherent flaws of humanity will eventually beco exposed and lead to its decline."
"However, even though you are especially pessimistic rationally, your character possesses a kind of goodness that you can’t let go of, preventing you from expressing this harsh pessimistic emotion."
"Ti and again you tolerate , not perhaps without hoping I really can find a path to break your prior assumptions."
"You set countless constraints for yourself, always avoiding facing your true self, to the extent that you place hope in a distant future."
"Future, what a beautiful word, encompassing countless hopes and possibilities."
"I am quite pragmatic; I actually realized this very late myself." Prin flicked her finger, causing sparks to explode in the air, becoming a massive fireball with a ten-ter diater, quietly burning and rotating in the air.
The hot wind flowed, and the fire’s light reflected on both faces, causing their hair and dress hems to ripple.
"In my youth, I didn’t understand why I liked passionate and fiery things, so I labeled them as hobbies." Prin closed her eyes, spreading her hands as the fireball in the air grew larger, its bright light almost engulfing her form in white light.
"But later on...I realized."
"Actually, I am just like you, both fearing the arrival of a certain future."
"We all grew up in Four-leaf Crystal, aware that without change, the slowly aging and exhausted society would be like; though living conditions haven’t deteriorated, people have already lost their imagination and motivation for the future, akin to living corpses yet to enter the grave."
"To combat this slowly approaching coldness, I urgently burned myself, beca intense, ran, even if I don’t know what the road ahead holds, but I feel as long as I keep moving forward, it’s bound to be good."
"You are different, never allowing yourself to be a gambler, to do uncertain things that may go wrong and cause harm; you don’t want to hurt others nor affect others because of yourself, so you consistently hold back your influence, rely observing and recording from the dark."
"In this regard, you are really similar to the Children of the Stars; perhaps you’d be better partners."
"But does that really work?"
"Just like ecological niches in nature, if you don’t occupy them, others will take control; do they really do better than you? Or perhaps worse, more foolishly."
"You don’t want to hurt others, so you don’t allow yourself to make mistakes; the end result is that your retreat lets more incompetent people co into power." Prin opened her eyes, reaching into the air, and the burning gigantic fireball shattered, becoming thousands of sparks falling down, exceptionally beautiful and splendid.
"So, should I do the wrong thing like you?" Tilan shook her head.
"That’s right, I certainly hold a pessimistic view of human nature and dislike gambling; when unsure what to do, I will stop."
"But this isn’t a sin; it’s just that I haven’t found a better way to achieve it yet. One can’t yield to reality and do sothing completely against one’s heart just because it’s temporarily unattainable."
Regarding matters of personality, Tilan has long understood herself and has no knots. She won’t be swayed by Prin’s judgnt; both currently are Songstresses of the Sunshine Stage, without any ntal weaknesses.
The second negotiation between them remains deadlocked, neither able to persuade the other; this outco was also expected by both.
"Then I’ll speak plainly, unless the covenant is handed over, I won’t stop." Prin responded at the conclusion of the conversation.
"But you know, once the covenant is opened, the resulting consequences will be extrely dangerous and uncontrollable." Tilan questioned.
"Whatever the results, that’s my choice; you have no right to judge for , Tilan."
"However, the consequences are not just yours to bear, but also humanity’s civilization in the entire Milky Way." The girl closed her eyes in response, this is also why she’s trying to dissuade Prin.
"What of it, are you going to issue a survey to every Federation citizen to ask if they want the covenant back? If you want such an answer, I can imdiately have soone prepare it." For the ’Fire Lotus - Radiant Star’ faction, which has held the Federation for nearly twenty years, such a thing is easy.
"You can’t convince , Tilan." Prin displayed a mocking smile, her gaze seemingly overlooking the black-haired girl before her.
"Indeed, I can’t convince you." The girl turned her head.
"But neither can you convince the Sigma chanical Council; they won’t hand over the covenant to you."
The negotiation fell into a stalemate, remaining stagnant for several weeks, with no progress. The Fifth Fleet’s advance route also halted at the Federation’s border region—the Hanging Stone Star Domain.
Prin is quite arrogant, but facing the red line to initiate full-scale war between humanity and chanical life, she finally stopped.
Everything cos at a price; victory in words cannot cover it. She also understood by this ti if she wanted the Sigma chanical Council to peacefully hand over the covenant, only that uniquely related, now highly admired girl within the Sigma chanical Council could co forward.
"It seems our previous discussions and debates are far from over." Prin summoned Tilan again.
"Verbal battle can no longer determine a victor, but facts often have more persuasive power, so—"
"This ti let’s go down." The ground Prin referred to is ’Wind Erosion,’ the residential star of this remote star domain where the fleet is stationed.
Reviews
All reviews (0)