Chapter 30 All-Seeing Eyes
----Still 9 days ago----
After Asteria infiltrated her room and demanded that a talk should happen between them, Alina decided to ignore what Asteria said as she proceeded to pet Asteria on the spot.
Asteria"s smooth, silky hair felt like velvet on Alina"s fingers, and the constant purring sounds that Asteria made just encouraged Alina to pet her more.
"Is this small blonde a cat?" Alina thought as she idly watched the purring Asteria. "Welp, she feels like a cat, so maybe I will just treat her like a cat…"
It was only after 30 minutes of petting that Alina decided to let go.
"T"was a nice petting…" Asteria muttered with a vacant expression on her face. Her expression cleared up after a second, as her face was covered with a light scowl. "Hmph human, don"t think that you can push me out of the right path just because you are good at petting!"
"…So, how do you explain what you are?" Alina said as she ignored everything that Asteria said to her earlier. "Are you an enemy too?"
"You think I am an enemy?" Asteria smirked as she gave a smug look at Alina"s direction.
"I a.s.sure you that I am not your enemy." Asteria said, jabbing her fingers at Alina. "Your All-Seeing Eyes can attest that I am telling the truth."
"What? All-Seeing Eyes?" Alina tilted her head from confusion.
What Asteria just said earlier was the truth, which meant that Asteria is not Alina"s enemy.
But even if that was the truth, that does not mean that Alina could just understand what Asteria said all about the All-Seeing Eyes!
"Oh… so you do not know about that… Well you are in an Esper World after all…" Asteria muttered to herself as she suddenly seemed to be engrossed in her own thoughts. "For your eyes to appear in this worl-"
"Ehem." Alina let out a light cough as she glared at Asteria. "You were saying?"
"Oh."Alina"s light cough managed to break Asteria out of her stupor, just enough for her to continue talking with Alina.
"You have the All-Seeing Eyes, which lets you see through anything, including lies and illusions." Asteria said in a casual tone, as if something like this was just a common fact. "This pair of eyes is extremely rare, and those who get it are destined for greatness."
"..." Even if what Asteria said sounded ridiculous, Alina could not refute against it, as she realized that Asteria was actually telling the truth!
Each word that Asteria said about the All-Seeing Eyes were all the truth!
Alina rubbed her temples in frustration as she reeled from what Asteria said.
In order to calm her nerves, Alina started to look around her, feeling relieved that her room was free from security cameras and listening devices.
Alina personally removed these devices in order to protect her privacy from the World Diagram.
And right now, this privacy is helping her.
After all, it would not be good if anyone or even the World Diagram notices that Alina was talking to someone like Asteria.
"Hehehe…." Asteria giggled as she saw the distressed look on Alina"s face.
This fairy queen must have been happy seeing someone this troubled because of her.
"It doesn"t matter if what I said was ridiculous or not. After all, your eyes deem that it is the truth." Asteria said as she saw Alina opening her eyes. "So, do you believe me now?"
"Tsk, I believe you." Alina replied begrudgingly. There is no way that she can say that Asteria was lying, as her own eyes stated that Asteria was telling the truth.
The only thing that Alina can do now is to just continue listening to Asteria.
"Since you believe me, then I can start by introducing myself first." Asteria then straightened her small body proudly as she said,
"This fair maiden in front of you is the Fairy Queen Asteria! The sole ruler of the Fairy World and the direct descendant of the great Traveler Sinbad!"
"I do not understand why all those words that you just stated is the truth." Alina replied as she let out a sigh. "Well, I will just choose to believe everything that you say right now… After all, I have no choice but to believe it…"
"Hmph, you should keep that att.i.tude, since I will tell more unbelievable things to you." Asteria then took a deep breath before she started to tell Alina all about the Travelers and Alex"s role as a Traveler.
By the point Asteria had finished talking, Alina had already laid her head on the bed, refusing to move her body by even an inch.
"Why are those ridiculous statements all true?!" Alina groaned out as she glared at Asteria with blood-shot eyes.
"They are the truth, because they are the truth." Asteria said as she tried to look like a wise sage. "If you see that the rock is white, then you better believe that the rock is white. If you don"t, then I will smash your head open with that rock."
"..."
"..."
At this point, Alina knew that there is no use for her to be suspicious of Asteria anymore.
However, there is still one more thing bugging Alina right now.
"Why are you telling all of these things to me?" Alina asked Asteria as she stared the much smaller woman.
"Won"t it be better if you just silenced me, or do something to prevent me from exposing Alex? Why did you spare the effort to tell me everything about the Travelers?" By this point, Alina already held both of her swords, with her body prepared to attack at a moment"s notice.
Asteria just looked at Alina"s swords like they were just toys as she said,
"I am Alex"s Guide. My role is to make decisions and create decisions that will be beneficial for Alex"s Path as a Traveler. Everything that I did to you right now are all within my plans."
"So you want me to a.s.sist Alex." These words rolled of Alina"s mouth smoothly, as if it had been there in her mouth since earlier. "By telling me everything about the Travelers, you think that I will be tempted to help Alex."
"Well, are you tempted to help him?" Asteria replied with a smirk as she observed Alina"s face.
"I am not interested." Alina bluntly replied. "After all, what would I get for helping Alex? Nothing at all, except for just some inconvenience on my way."
"Hoo…" instead of looking discouraged, Asteria"s countenance seemed to glow as she gave Alina another smile.
"What if I tell you that if you can help Alex on succeeding on his mission, then your sister will be saved?"
"What did you say?" Alina"s formerly cool expression changed when she heard what Asteria said.
Alina seemed to have ignored decorum as she grabbed the floating Asteria out of the air.
"Hey!" Asteria"s complaints were cut off as she saw the primal look on Alina"s eyes. It was the eyes of someone who will not accept bull***t anymore.
Asteria"s face contorted into anger for a moment before it smoothed out into a calm expression.
"If you help Alex on his Main Mission and Bonus Mission, then your sister will definitely be saved." Asteria said this sentence as she stared into Alina"s eyes deeply.
"....." Alina stayed still in her place, as she concentrated her gaze on Asteria.
"So, is that statement of mine a Truth or a Lie?" Asteria said in a joking tone, maybe in an attempt to diffuse the tense atmosphere.
"… You are telling the truth." Alina said as she loosened her grip on Asteria.
Asteria rubbed her sore elbows as she glared at Alina. "Hmph, that"s really rude! Do not just grab someone when they are flying! Accidents can happen, you know!"
"…" Alina chose not to comment the fact that people floating in the air like Asteria are extremely rare to find right now.
"So, what should I do now?" With Asteria"s a.s.surance, Alina knew that her chance to save her sister is already within her reach. She only has to follow what Asteria says, and Alina will get her sister back.
"Oh, just join Alex." Asteria replied confidently. "As for what you do with him, that already depends on you. Just make sure that he will be alive until the end of this month."
"…Fine." Alina replied quickly. "If I only have to accompany Alex, then that I can do. But can you tell me what his Main and Bonus Missions are? Maybe I can help him if I know…"
"I"m sorry, but I cannot tell you that." Asteria replied, much to Alina"s disappointment. "If you want to know what Alex"s missions are, then you just have to observe his actions. You will have a faint inkling on what his goals are once you talk to him."
"Ok…"
****************
Alina followed exactly what Asteria told to her.
She joined Alex on a date the next day, and to Alina"s surprise, she actually enjoyed her date with Alex.
The arrival of the lizard was an unpleasant surprise, but she and Alex managed to take the lizard down.
What made Alina worried however was the appearance of Mindbreaker.
"S**t." Alina rarely cursed, but when she did so, that just means that everything went to s**t already.
"If Mindbreaker is nearby, then that just means that Lord Ergo could be spying on me now!" Alina thought with a panic as she stared at Alex.
With the precautions that Alina did earlier, she was sure that Lord Ergo had no idea about the existence of Asteria.
But the same cannot be said to Alex.
Mindbreaker has seen Alex having his date with Alina. If Mindbreaker saw that, then Lord Ergo must have seen them two together too.
With the kind of att.i.tude that Lord Ergo has, he will surely order one of his minions to kill Alex.
"I cannot let Alex die…" Alina thought to herself as she decided that Alex must stay alive.
Alina knew that Lord Ergo has no intention of letting her sister free. He was only using her sister to force Alina to work for him.
Right now, only Alex is Alina"s real hope on saving her sister. There is no way that she will let him die.
With that thought in mind, she decided to act cold against Alex, as she tried to tell him that he should leave her already.
Alina told Alex all about Lord Ergo"s intention to kill him, and the dangers that Alex will have if he continues on sticking with Alina.
With Alina saying these words, Alina was sure that maybe Lord Ergo will let Alex off.
Asteria of course was unhappy when she saw what Alina did, but all that changed when Alex blabbed all about him wanting to go near the World Diagram.
"Oh, so your Main Mission is related to the World Diagram huh…" Alina thought to herself as she tried to not show her happiness.
At that point, Alina felt a fire blazing inside her as she realized that now is her chance to save her sister.
That sense of urgency just increased when Asteria discreetly told to Alina that Alex only has 14 days left to live at that time.
If Alina wants to save her sister, then she must do it quickly.
That brought Alex and Alina into their 7-day combat training, followed by their trip to the World Diagram, which now brings Alina to her present state.
*****************
Alina resolutely ignored Asteria, who was talking to Alex about something related to corny jokes.
Alina"s entire attention was focused on the afro guy, as she waited on this guy"s next set of actions.
Even though the wait was for just a few seconds, each second that pa.s.sed by was agonizing, and Alina could only stop herself from trembling as she waited for the response of the afro guy.
"Contact Lord Ergo. I want to talk to him about something." The afro guy said to his secretary standing nearby, much to Alina"s relief.
"Tell him that there are two Espers here that wants to see the World Diagram as a whole." The afro guy said as he scratched his bushy head.
But before Alina could feel happy, the afro guy added some words that made her blood run cold.
"Also, tell to Lord Ergo that we will use Elizabeth as a hostage. If anything bad happens to the completed World Diagram later, then Elizabeth will be killed in return."
"!!!!!!!!!!!"