In Ais’s heart, her background had always been her greatest secret.
In the Loki Familia, aside from Loki, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, no one knew this secret, and Ais did not dare to tell anyone.
Yes.
It was not that she could not say it, but that she did not dare to.
Possessing the bloodline of a spirit might sound unbelievable, but spirits were originally a race capable of performing miracles, so even if something like this really happened, it would not be impossible for others to accept.
However, if it were revealed that she was the daughter of the last hero, Albert, and the Great Spirit Aria, that would truly cause an enormous sensation.
Not to mention anything else, Albert and Aria were figures from a thousand years ago, extraordinary people of the ancient era, and for their descendant to appear in the world a thousand years later, even the gods would likely find it difficult to remain calm if they learned of it.
One had to know that even long-lived races such as spirits and elves could live at most several hundred years, and no one had ever possessed a lifespan reaching a thousand years.
Naturally, Ais herself could not live for a thousand years either, so if her circumstances were exposed, just imagining the looks that people and gods might give her, or what they might regard her as, was enough to make her feel a heavy weight in her heart.
Especially the companions in her familia.
How would her companions see her?
How would Lefiya, Tiona, and Tione see her?
How would Riezel see her?
Whenever she thought about such things, Ais instinctively chose to avoid them.
Consequently, until now, except for Loki, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth, who had learned about it on their own, Ais had never taken the initiative to reveal her background to anyone.
Now, the secret she had hidden for nearly ten years had been discovered, and it had even been discovered by one of the people she cared about most.
Evidently, such a shock was greater than Ais herself had imagined.
However, faced with such an Ais, Riezel let out a sigh.
"I can’t say I know everything, but I do understand some things," Riezel said in a gentler tone. "I know who your parents are, and I know that you’ve always wanted revenge, that you want to take back everything you once lost, but I don’t know why you came to Orario, or why you joined the Loki Familia."
Why Ais had lived until the modern era a thousand years later was never explained in the original work. It only stated that she was the daughter of the Great Hero Albert and the Great Spirit Aria, while everything else remained unrevealed.
By what method did Aria give birth to a descendant?
Was it even true that Albert had a daughter?
Whether Ais was truly the biological child of Albert and Aria had never been revealed in the original work.
Of course, the spirit bloodline within Ais might not necessarily have been inherited through birth, but could have been obtained through other means. Such things were not without precedent, since when applied to the spirit race, who were skilled at bringing forth miracles, anything was possible.
From what Riezel remembered, the original work only stated that after losing her parents, Ais joined the Loki Familia for the sake of revenge, had a Falna engraved on her back, and pursued strength with near-mad obsession.
Because of this, Ais managed to rise to Level 2 within just one year, becoming the holder of the world record for the fastest level-up.
Needless to say, the famous alias of ’Sword Princess’ was born from this, and she thus became a widely known First-Class Adventurer.
Aside from that, the original work revealed very little.
In other words, regarding Ais’s background, Riezel only knew a little and understood half.
However...
"All of that isn’t important."
Riezel bluntly threw out this sentence, and it struck Ais directly.
Yes, none of that was important.
So what if the original work did not mention it?
So what if Ais did not want to say it?
Riezel was not the type of person who insisted on digging into other people’s secrets. If he did not know something, then he simply did not know it.
He truly did not care.
Compared to that, what mattered was...
"Do you think that once your background is exposed, people will treat you like an outsider?"
Riezel looked at Ais and spoke slowly.
"You’re thinking too much. You could even say you’re overly self-conscious."
"Do you think the others in the familia don’t have secrets of their own?"
"For example, let’s talk about Tiona and Tione. Before the Kali Familia appeared, did you know they were from Telskyura?"
Riezel’s question immediately left Ais speechless.
Yes, the fact that Tiona and Tione were from Telskyura was something that, within the familia, only Loki, Finn, Riveria, and Gareth knew.
Why?
"Because that’s also something difficult for them to talk about."
"I mean, the rituals of Telskyura forced them to fight others to the death constantly from childhood."
"If their background were exposed, then everyone—including you—would know that their hands were once stained with blood."
Riezel’s calm explanation caused Ais to lower her head.
In fact, this was also a question that many people, including Ais, deliberately avoided.
Once someone knew that Tiona and Tione came from Telskyura, anyone who was not a fool would immediately realize that the pair of amazoness sisters must have participated in many of Telskyura’s so-called rituals since childhood, rituals of bloody fights to the death, rituals of violence without reason. No matter who you were, once you stepped into the arena, only one person could survive.
Such was the kind of life Tiona and Tione had lived as children.
Even though they later left Telskyura, it could not change the fact that they had once killed many of their own people, among whom there might even have been close friends.
How cruel, bloody, and unreasonable that was could easily be imagined.
"They never spoke about their background, just like you."
"They were afraid that if their origins were known by their companions, those companions would care about the blood on their hands and look at them with different eyes—that’s the same as you."
"And now that you know about their past, will you treat them differently?"
Hearing this, Ais almost reflexively answered.
"Of course not."
Right after giving this answer, Ais finally understood what Riezel was trying to tell her.
"See? You don’t even care about it yourself, so why do you think others would care about something like that?"
Riezel stated calmly, pointing straight to the heart of the matter.
"Remember that day outside the captain’s office? You also heard the conversation between me, Tiona, and the others, right?"
"At that time, we had already connected the dots and realized that you were related to the legendary Great Spirit Aria, that her blood flowed within you."
"But did anyone care about that?"
"Everyone still treated you as family. Whether you are a human or a spirit, that won’t change."
As he spoke, Riezel almost reflexively reached out and patted Ais’s head.
"Listen, the reason everyone didn’t ask you about Aria wasn’t because they didn’t want to ask, but because everyone knew you didn’t want to talk about it."
"So, including me, no one asked you about it—that was our way of telling you that no matter what kind of relationship you have with the legendary great spirit, or what kind of background you possess, none of us care."
By this point, Riezel more or less understood the complicated emotions within Ais’s heart.
"Ais, the reason you’re feeling so unsettled, aside from the matter of the Corrupted Spirit, is also because you think your background can no longer be hidden. Everyone already knows about your mother’s existence, and they know that the Corrupted Spirit is fixated on you, so you’ve been struggling with whether you should explain everything clearly to everyone, right?"
Now that things had developed to this point, Ais naturally felt that perhaps it was no longer right to keep everyone in the dark.
Although it was now known that the Corrupted Spirit might not have a deep connection with her mother, Ais was very aware that the Corrupted Spirit had targeted her. And if the Corrupted Spirit had targeted her, then there was a high chance it might also implicate the companions of her familia—that was what she was worried about.
Under such circumstances, if she continued to hide her background and allowed her companions to be targeted by the Corrupted Spirit while knowing nothing, that would not be good.
Ais had been thinking about this all this time.
On top of that, the disappearance of Tiona and Tione, along with the matter of the Gate of Heaven, had all mixed, creating many complicated emotions that affected Ais and left her feeling confused and helpless.
As a result, she could only come here to practice her sword, trying to calm herself.
Understanding all of this, Riezel naturally had a way to guide her through it.
"Don’t worry."
"Tiona and Tione were most likely taken by the Kali Familia. As long as we bring Goddess Kali back, we can exchange her with the Kali Familia and get Tiona and Tione back."
"I’ve also cast magic to interfere with the Gate of Heaven. At the very least, for one month, and possibly several months, Orario will remain safe."
Riezel patiently unraveled the factors disturbing Ais’s mind one by one and explained them to her.
"So don’t think too much about it. Just focus on doing what you’re supposed to do."
Upon hearing this, Ais lifted her head beneath the hand Riezel had placed on it and looked at him.
"What I’m supposed to do...?"
Ais murmured to herself, looking slightly enlightened.
"Yes."
Riezel answered calmly.
"As someone who has inherited the blood of a spirit, you should follow the duty of that bloodline and send the fallen members of your kin back into the embrace of the gods."
"As a member of the Loki Familia, you should fight side by side with your companions."
"And as an adventurer of Orario, you should protect the city and destroy the enemy’s schemes."
"All those are what you’re supposed to do."
Even though Riezel’s words were spoken plainly, they carried a firm strength as they reached Ais’s heart.
"..."
Ais said nothing more, but the confusion and gloom within her clear golden eyes had already vanished.
Seeing this, Riezel understood that Ais had finally cleared her mind.
From this moment onward, Ais had truly let go of many of her worries, whether about the Corrupted Spirit or about the familia.
"Thank you, Riezel..." Ais said, thanking Riezel as she looked at him with a grateful gaze. "I know what I should do now."
Riezel immediately smiled.
"Good."
Once the word fell, silence returned between them, and only then did Riezel belatedly withdraw the hand that had been resting on Ais’s head.
Yet when Ais saw this, she suddenly reached out and grabbed the hand he had just withdrawn, causing their hands to be clasped together—one gentle yet firm, the other soft and smooth.
Both of them instinctively glanced at their joined hands, then looked up and met each other’s gaze, falling into a subtle atmosphere that was difficult to describe.
Pitch-black eyes, with a faint trace of transparency, looked into golden eyes.
Golden eyes, with a similar transparency, looked back into those black eyes.
Both pairs of eyes carried a clarity that others could hardly perceive, as well as strikingly similar qualities—a touch of detachment and a sense of firm resolve.
In that moment, both Riezel and Ais could not help but recall the scene of their first meeting.
Back then, it had also been at Twilight Manor.
Riezel had been standing among the surrounding crowd, while Ais had been within the returning expedition party. At that time, just like now, the two had suddenly met each other’s gaze and discovered that the pair of eyes before them looked very much like their own.
Two overly similar swordsmen had formed their bond from that moment onward.
Remembering that moment, both Riezel and Ais found their expressions softening at the same time, then their hands, which had merely been holding each other, slowly shifted into a clasp where their fingers intertwined.
Why it had turned out this way, neither of them knew, nor could it be determined who had started it. Regardless, if an outsider were present and witnessed this scene, they would certainly be surprised.
After all, neither Riezel nor Ais was the kind of person who would do something so suggestive and ambiguous, though Ais might be an exception, considering she was somewhat of an airhead.
Ais might unknowingly do something astonishing without realizing it herself, completely unaware of how intimate it might appear.
Riezel, however, rarely took the initiative to do something this ambiguous.
For that reason, this was quite a rare sight.
Nonetheless, there was only one thing that could be said for certain—both of them felt that this was natural and comfortable, without any sense of embarrassment or awkwardness. Some things, even without deliberate effort, would naturally fall into place, and the way Riezel and Ais interacted with each other was clearly like that.
Because of this, neither of them let go of the other’s hand, nor did either of them feel that anything about it was inappropriate.
"Oh, right..." Riezel suddenly remembered something. "How is Lefiya? Is she alright?"
"Lefiya exhausted her mind and is still asleep..." Ais answered without much hesitation. "She hasn’t woken up since we returned. Riveria said she’ll probably need to sleep a while longer before her energy recovers."
"I see..." Riezel frowned, and after hesitating for a moment, he asked again, "Can I go see her?"
He was quite concerned about Lefiya’s condition because, within the entire Loki Familia, aside from Ais, the person closest to him was Lefiya. Now that she had not yet awakened, he truly wanted to check on her.
However, Lefiya was resting in the girls’ dormitory, and going to see her meant entering the female dormitory.
Knowing that, Riezel was naturally somewhat hesitant.
Ais, on the other hand, answered very directly.
"I’ll take you there."
Immediately after saying this, Ais pulled Riezel’s hand and headed toward the girls’ dormitory together.
As a result, on this day, within the tower where the female members lived, there was a building from which many screams could be heard.
Afterward, the members learned what had happened: one of the female members had been wandering through the hallway dressed rather inappropriately, and the young man brought by the Sword Princess had seen everything.
Upon learning this, many of the male members were extremely jealous.
In response, Riezel silently complained in his heart.
’I’ve already seen things far more incredible than that. What’s the big deal?’
Riezel was naturally referring to the time he had used ’God’s Eye.’
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[A bonus Chapter for every 300 Power Stones.]
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