Chapter 338 (Self Edited) – Showing Potential
For the time being, Soma and Aina were concerned about Sheila, but there were things they had to do first.
Of course, it was Daniela’s mother’s treatment. It was a matter if Aina could do it, but they had to see if that was possible or not.
So, the first thing they did was to go to Daniela’s house, but…
“So, I suppose Sheila will follow us, yes?” (Soma)
Sheila, who came as if it was a normal thing to do, nodded.
“…Yes, I’m curious.” (Sheila)
“Well, we’re wondering why Sheila is here, so I guess it’s a good thing.” (Aina)
“…We can talk while walking.” (Sheila)
“Certainly, that’s true…” (Soma)
The question was, would it be fine to talk about Soma’s and Aina’s circ.u.mstances while walking? It was unknown how far Sheila knew about Soma, and if he talked about how they came to this place, they would naturally come from the empire.
However, this was supposed to be Veritas territory. While they couldn’t be sure why Sheila was here, this place was clearly not a normal village. So, they didn’t know what kind of feelings she had for the empire.
At the moment, the appearance of other villages didn’t look strange, but even if they told her, it wasn’t clear what would happen. They couldn’t just talk about it.
Sheila tilted her head while looking at their faces, as if she somehow understood what they were thinking about.
“…Hnn, is there a problem?” (Sheila)
“Well, if there’s none, we wouldn’t have come here in the first place.” (Soma)
“…Alright?” (Sheila)
“Uhmm…are three of you acquaintances?” (Daniela)
During such an exchange, Daniella asked with a hesitant look. She was still leading them the way, but as expected, she was probably curious.
She had been listening to the situation for a while ago, and it seemed that her curiosity had finally become unbearable.
“…Yes, we are. …Rather, Soma’s lover?” (Sheila)
“Wait a sec…!? What are you suddenly saying!?” (Aina)
“…I got scolded. Hmm, why? I have given up the seat of the first wife, you know. I don’t understand.” (Sheila)
“F-first wife!? Th-that’s not it! A-are you planning to do that to Soma!?” (Aina)
“I’m not sure why it is about me… I don’t understand.” (Soma)
“Isn’t it because she was saying that!?” (Aina)
“…Hmm, so Aina doesn’t want to be the first wife? Alright, give the spot to me then.” (Sheila)
“I didn’t say I don’t want it…. no, that’s not the case! I don’t think you can decide to have it to begin with!” (Aina)
“…Yes, certainly. Soma, are you alright with it?” (Sheila)
“Hey, don’t ask him!” (Aina)
Daniela smiled at them at the walk that suddenly became noisy. She was looking at them one by one. Then she tilted her head with a strange expression on her face.
“Ooh… will there be a bloodbath?” (Daniela)
“Now, now… if I nod unnecessarily here, I feel that I’m just a jerk.” (Soma)
“I see… it’s difficult.” (Daniela)
“I wonder about that… it can be said that it’s difficult.” (Soma)
At least, it would be a lie to say that it wasn’t fun. However, what was it like to tell such a thing to a girl who was obviously younger than himself.
When they were talking about that, it seemed that they arrived at Daniela’s house. They stopped in front of a wooden house similar to the ones in the surroundings.
“Uhm… it’s here. T-that…” (Daniela)
The gaze seemed to say something to Aina. Aina turned her gaze toward Soma, but he looked the other way as usual.
Then, Aina seemed to have given up and let out a small breath before turning to Daniela with a smile.
“…I can’t say that I can do it, but could you lead me inside for now?” (Aina)
“Y-yes… please come in.” (Daniela)
Perhaps, she was a bit relieved by the smile, the tense expression dissipated a little, and she entered the house as it was. After that, Aina followed, and when Soma was about to follow, his hem of the clothes was pulled slightly.
When he turned around, Sheila was tilting her head while looking at him, seeming to ask a question. She was probably wondering why he let Aina do that.
Of course, Soma wasn’t letting her do it for nothing. So, he shrugged his shoulders. Perhaps, that meant for Sheila to understand it as he wouldn’t answer her for now. The hand was released from the hem, and Soma followed this time with Sheila.
The inside of the house was quite simple, and it didn’t seem to be very s.p.a.cious. However, it was also enough to live, and three to four people could live here without any convenience.
There seemed to be four rooms, including the living room. In one of them, the woman who claimed to be Daniela’s mother was lying down.
“T-this is…” (Aina)
Aina gasped at the sight of her, and Sheila was staring at the woman’s face with an expression that couldn’t be understood. Daniela looked at her mother for a while with a crying face, but she bowed her head and went out of the room, perhaps because she didn’t want to disturb Aina.
This left only Soma, Aina and Sheila in the room. At that moment, Aina turned her gaze to say something. However, as he stared back at her without saying anything, Aina realized that it was useless. She turned to the woman and walked to her side.
Then…
“–Light. Follow my will and my thoughts. Turn it into a power to dispel impurities and heal.” (Aina)
The moment Aina touched the woman and ended the casting, the woman’s body was wrapped in a faint light and began to shine.
The light was soft and warm, but… The condition of the woman remained unchanged.
“…I told you. I can’t…!” (Aina)
“…Soma?” (Sheila)
“Hmm… I don’t want you to misunderstand me, but I’m not saying that I’m bullying by giving you a difficult task, you know.” (Soma)
“So..!? This is–…” (Aina)
Aina’s eyes moistened, and her mouth opened wide as if she was about to shout something. She turned her face toward him, but the words never made a sound.
Perhaps, she noticed that Soma was looking at her seriously. Yes, in all seriousness, Soma wasn’t bullying Aina or forcing her to do anything she didn’t want to.
It meant that he believed Aina could do it.
“…Are you for real?” (Aina)
“I’m serious in most cases, right?” (Soma)
“…I know that well, but… it’s impossible. And you know that well… I’m good with offensive magic, but other than that…” (Aina)
“Hmm… that’s true, but I think that’s because Aina just thinks so.” (Soma)
“Eh…? What do you mean?” (Aina)
“Well… let me ask you a question, Sheila. You often use speed-oriented techniques in swordsmanship, yes? So, what is your reason?” (Soma)
“…It’s because it suits my nature?” (Sheila)
“I know, right? Then, aren’t you not good at defense?” (Soma)
“…I don’t think I’m not good at it. I just don’t like it so much.” (Sheila)
“That’s what I mean.” (Soma)
“Eh… what’s that? In other words… can I do it if I want to use other magic? There’s no way it’s true. It’s just that…” (Aina)
Soma knew Aina was studying, researching, and making efforts at the academy. The result was mainly offensive magic, and when it was about recovery and support magic, she could only do the basics.
However, Soma asked Satya before. He asked about Special Rank skills.
There was a difference between other ranks, but he felt that the difference was too large for the Special Rank skills. He also felt that Satya and others tended to give special attention to Special Rank skills. For that reason, he asked the question.
And the reply was… Special Rank skills were those obtained by outliers.
Existences that were outside of the laws of the world. There was a difference between each person, up to a fingertip or half a foot, but it seemed to be easy to make a difference because of this. This was because the degree of one’s self-awareness and readiness to be different from the rest of the world made a difference.
However, that was why this fact shouldn’t be told to people with special skills. As a result of becoming aware of it, there was a possibility that they would flip things around.
Since these existences weren’t bound by the laws of the world, they could do anything they thought they could. There were limits because common sense got in the way and they unconsciously thought they couldn’t do it, but essentially, the laws of physics had no meaning for those who had Special Rank skills. They could travel to the other side of the world in an instant with a single will, and they could shatter stars with a single fingertip. That was what having Special Rank skills was all about.
Of course, since it wasn’t bound by the laws of the world. a reasonable price was required. On the contrary, anything is possible as long as they paid the price, and it was possible to easily disturb the world. To prevent this from happening, the information was contraindicated.
Therefore, Soma wasn’t going to tell Aina about this. He merely suggested one thing. That was it was impossible that Aina, who had Special Rank skill, was only good at offensive magic.
In other words, she was only good at offensive magic, probably because she thought so. That cause was… surely because of her childhood.
She was called a failure in the past. It was a mistake, and he was sure Aina now understood that it was the result of a conspiracy, but childhood trauma wasn’t something that could be easily cured. Deep in her heart, which she didn’t even realize, the trauma was probably still there, unhealed.
Unfortunately, Soma had no knowledge of such things. Soma couldn’t fix it, so…
“Well, it’s probably difficult to reverse the perception now. But you can do it, Aina. I’m sorry, but I can’t give you any evidence to support this… hmm, yeah. I believe in you. So, how’s that?” (Soma)
“…Yes? What in the world do you want to say?” (Aina)
“Hmm…? I thought you trusted me, but… was it a misunderstanding?” (Soma)
“Eh, no… that is… well, I surely believe you, but… what are you trying to say?” (Aina)
“It is as it is. Do you believe in me? As for me, I believe that if it is you, you should be able to use more than just offensive magic. If I believe in you, would you believe in me as well?” (Soma)
“…What’s that? Aren’t you being unreasonable?” (Aina)
“Unreasonable…” (Sheila)
“If it opens up more possibilities, I’m fine being regarded as that.” (Soma)
When Soma shrugged his shoulders, Aina and Sheila gave a dumbfounded look, but there was a small smile on their mouths. Then, Aina let out a breath.
“…Goodness, I get it. If you say that much, I can’t help but to do it. I don’t feel I can do it as usual, but yes, I’ll try to do some more non-offensive magic.” (Aina)
“Good…” (Soma)
Aina said she wasn’t confident, but he knew how hard she would go for it. Then, he was sure the other magic would be materialized without problems.
“Well, as expected, it’s going to be difficult… but this time is special.” (Soma)
“…Eh?” (Aina)
He walked up to Aina, who was wondering, and looked down at Daniela’s mother. As he looked at her while squinting his eyes, he stabbed the sword he had pulled out.
— The Rule of the Sword – Divine Protection of the Dragon G.o.d – Single Mind – Serene State of Mind – Void Eyes: Secret Technique – True Sword of Compa.s.sion.
“Phew… hmm, how about this?” (Soma)
When he looked at the situation while pulling out his sword, he saw the mother’s complexion was completely improved. Apparently, the treatment was successful.
Soma thought it was fine to do so, but when he put the sword in the scabbard, he felt a gaze. When he turned his face, Aina was looking at him for some reason.
“Hmm…? Aina, what is it?” (Soma)
“Right after I’ve made up my mind, you’re already… do things as usual.” (Aina)
“…Yes, this is Soma.” (Sheila)
Aina sighed and Sheila nodded her head. Without knowing why the two of them reacted that way, Soma frowned and t.i.tled his head.