Chapter 150: Talking with Lila
I strolled over to where Nina had requested .
I wonder if this is about the lovely job I did.
(“ Lovely is certainly a word to use ”)
A little self-praise never hurt anybody.
(“ Besides all the people in history that it did hurt ”)
Okay, correction, never hurt any ‘Stellar.’
(“ Correct, since you are the only mber of your race and the consequences of such actions haven’t befallen you since your ascent, that second statent is correct. congratulations, do you want a cookie?”)
I’m good, thanks. Thanks for asking.
I moved out of the central area and found myself in a jail cell after a few detours.
“Sup, Nina.” I waved my hand to the woman standing in front of the many jail cells. “Did everything go well?”
“Yes…” Nina sighed. “Everything has been sorted.”
Everyone in the cells had been completely knocked out for the ti being.
“Thank you for the help.” Said Nina.
“It is kind of my job,” I replied.
“...On paper, I guess...” Nina signed and returned a little chuckle.
“Feeling better? I think that is the first ti I’ve heard a genuine laugh from you.”
“Heh, maybe.” Nina shrugged; she pushed away the hair that had fallen down in front of her eyes and turned away from the prisoners and looked at . “It has been quite hectic, but everything ended up fine, and we are near the end of this stupid conflict.”
“You think it will be finished with this one fight?” I asked; that sort of wish had to be a little unrealistic for soone in her position to make.
“I like to believe…” I could hear the clear doubt in her voice. “But even I know that is likely just a dream.”
“...” I didn’t say anything imdiately.
“I have been alive for a long ti now.”
“Not that old.”
“True, but I have had a busy life.” Nina said, “Every mont I was trying to do sothing for soone, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. Healing, charity, you na it, I continued, and I have participated in conflicts, dungeon runs, and the occasional pirate operation, but this has drained .”
She gestured for to follow, and we left this part of the ship.
“I an, it would.”
“Very blunt way of putting it.”
“I figured you would expect that by now.”
“I do.” Replied Nina, “But yes, I am drained, dealing with a terrorist organisation whose unknown, likely stupidly selfish motives have brought so much malice to the universe. It can degrade the minds of many just seeking a peaceful life.”
“I guess I’m pretty degraded.”
“Soone would just call you insane,” Nina replied very bluntly.
Wooow.
“Sadly, very correct, but honestly, I have gotten better. I was so close to murdering people when I first got off Espoiramissa constantly. Managed to hold back and act my way through it.”
“...I don’t believe you were as bad as you think you were, though; I don’t doubt you have improved. It would be hard not to after experiencing life again.”
I asked, “What brought this up?”
“...I got the feeling you will be living a very long life…” Said Nina without turning around.
“High-level life expectancy?”
“That, but I just wanted to say be careful, because the mind can tyre out faster than the body, and sotis you don’t notice for years, but at this point in ti it just stretches out.”
I didn’t rebut anything and decided to accept her warning. “Understood, thank you.”
Afterwards, I was led back to Nina’s ship, as she wanted a break from the party happenings. While back on her ship, before we split again. I was given a quick breakdown of the plan now that an infiltration had been attempted. We would be leaving tomorrow, on the dot. Which sounded perfect to ! The sooner I got to killing, the better it was for and everyone else.
There was going to be a large sweep of everything to ensure there wasn’t any leftover that Dominous Hood decided to leave as a present. Of course, they would be looking out for more infiltrators and spies as well; that was a given, but would they all be found? Eh… I wasn’t too confident. The assault force wasn’t small, and all it really took was one soldier to be a spy for there to be additional leaks. There were likely counterasures they were going to try and implent, but I wasn’t too hopeful with the allied forces' technology alone. I an, there were lie detectors on board, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they literally asked every mber of the board about it, but there were ways around that. In my case, they just didn’t work anymore, among other things.
(“ Looks like you will be back to murdering real soon ”)
I know, it has taken long enough. I sighed. I really did just want this bundle of joy inside of to let loose and run wild.
I paused and thought for a mont about the possible infiltrator problem.
Hey Espr. Couldn’t you find all the other infiltrators?
(“ Hmm… I could, but you should be fine. I will let you know if sothing bad, in your previous human terms, is going to happen ”)
…Good enough.
Espr’s answer made pretty confident that most of the problems had been dealt with. The fact it was offering the extra help as a precaution for sothing extra bad to happen was nice. I very much enjoyed this more helpful Espr. Still, it made want to learn how to read minds or whatever Espr did to know where people’s loyalties lay.
(“ Besides, there is sothing interesting about prophecies I can ntion ”)
Oh? I know you hate them and the fact that they don’t work on Spiritual Beings, which includes now.
(“ Exactly. So prophecies work by utilising the fact that everything within Existence is part of it. It is basically an act of communicating with the fabric of reality and getting an extrely bad response of sothing the caller wants ”)
And because I am no longer a part of Existence, can it not read ?
(“ Correct, outside of the other reasons, such magic is shit. It cannot work on Spiritual beings, but what is funny for us, we can control how it doesn’t work ”)
Interesting… In what ways?
(“ So at base level our existence is basically just ignored, but we can make our presence in fact a prophecy blackhole ”)
Espr explained to how I could utilise my energies to beco the biggest annoyance to diviners across the universe.
Well, I am going to have so fun with this.
With all the important people's talks done, it was ti to look for my little niece.
“There you are.” I humd to myself; I had found Lila standing in another hallway on the ship.
After a few quick turns. “Hellooo, Lila.” I balanced on my foot as I leaned past the corner of the wall. “I hope you have been well in my absence.”
“Ceella~!” Lila nearly jumped but managed to constrain herself. “Don’t do that…”
“A little jumpy?” I asked earnestly, but she seed to be processing a lot at the mont.
…
Lila didn’t imdiately reply.
I gave her a mont to sort her thoughts.
“You know, when I was told they had prisoners… I thought for a mont Rosa could be alive…” Lila held back her words for a long silence, as she didn’t want to say them. “But… I know they couldn’t be true…”
Yeah… I get it…
“Lila,” my arm wrapped around her shoulder, “I understand… I kind of thought the sa thing when I first heard the news…” From the lancholy in my tone, Lila knew what I was going to say next. “It was a nice dream, but they aren’t coming back…”
Sad in a way since I now had the power to save their souls. I didn’t have any weird regret about that, since there was no way in existence I would have had this power back then.
Life has a weird way of doing things… I kept my awkward internal thoughts to myself and continued. “I wish they would, but sadly they ain’t.”
“I know,” Lila replied, not crying, not looking depressed, just simple acceptance. “I know, but… It’s weird; it brought back mories, and… well… I’m still not over it, but I know better than to wish for impossibility.”
“Attagirl.” I cheered and pulled her in closer for the hug.
“Silly Aunty.”
“You know, that makes sound old.”
“Still older than . So sure, you are old.”
“Why do you hurt so much?”
“You aren’t even hurt.”
The two of us giggled and laughed that part of the conversation off.
I asked, “So, why did you decide to join Nina for this whole war thing?”
“The answer is likely obvious.” Nina let out a depressive sigh. “Revenge mostly.”
“Oh, mostly? Thought it would be a hundred percent thing.”
“Heh, I an, probably reasonable.” Lila shrugged, “It wouldn’t be hard for people to think that, and yeah, I have a lot of hate in my heart, but a lot has burned away thanks to all the other mistakes I’ve made and the life I want to live.”
…Lila…
“What are you planning to do with your life then?”
“Well, first, no longer be a criminal, and before you say anything, I am technically a criminal. I did actively work with a terrorist group after all, and my involvent with Tyell before didn’t exactly help my case.”
“I’m sure Nina would help you fix that.”
“She would, but while I am willing to work for a number of years to pay back my debt, I would rather reduce that ti by as much as possible, as I want to enjoy life…” Lila paused, and I had a feeling that I knew what she wanted to say. “So joining this mission would solve both my desires.”
“Cat got your tongue.”
Her face flushed with embarrassnt, “If you know, do I have to even say it?”
“No, but I would like to hear it.” I smiled and gave her a hug.
She didn’t resist but took a mont before continuing. “...I would like to spend ti with your family.”
“Then I will be sure to make that happen.”
Many hours passed, and finally the ships began to move. The many vessels pushed towards the tunnels, ready to travel through the vast depths of space for this mission. The stars moved by, and the world slowed. I didn't stay in the pods to rest through the experience. I doubted many here would need to do anything with their bodies's strength, but I saw that there were many who chose to sleep through part of the journey.
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