CHAPTER 345

  FIRE (I)

  A muddy road stretched through the massive plains whose ends and beginnings were impossible to determine . The road pierced through tall grasses, small dips, wild gardens of flowers, and dens of various beasts and critters . Though sparsely populated, if one looked from above and took in the entire road, it always had thousands of travelers bounding it, east or west .

  On it, partway through the plains, a lightly-decorated wagon moved at a brisk pace, pulled by four beautiful, white manes . Curtains were pulled off its two windows, revealing the insides where two women were sitting opposite one another . One had starkly golden hair and a pair of beautiful, blue eyes, while the other had rather unruly-looking black hair and a pair of black eyes .

  Lucky and Alison had departed from the City of the Thousand Lights a week ago, taking a carriage ride over the Cantanee Road bound for the Celeste Empire and its capital city, Do’r . Though they could have taken the teleportation array, or even a griffin ride, the two settled on making due the old-fashioned way .

  Alison was currently reading a book with a quaint smile on her face while Lucky was going over some papers listing out materials Lino told her to keep an eye out . Though she’d managed to find most of the things from the list, she was still lacking a few . She wasn’t worried too much, as if all else fails, she could still ask Alison for help .

  "Ah, this was a nice read . . . " as the sun began descending down the horizon, Alison closed her book and sighed in pleasure, smiling faintly .

  "What’s it about?" Lucky asked .

  "It’s a tale of the Seven Trolls of Wyndmare," Alison replied . "And their uprising against the Ogre Clans . It’s based on a rather popular myth, though no one has ever managed to prove the existence of either the Trolls or the Ogres . "

  " . . . you sure do have some weird tastes . " Lucky commented, looking at Alison dubiously .

  "Hey! You don’t see me commenting on your fashion sense, do you? So keep your opinions to yourself!" Alison pouted lightly in anger .

  "What do I need a fashion sense for?" Lucky scoffed . "Do I look like one of the noble ladies to you?"

  " . . . you would if you tried . "

  "Pft, ha ha ha, aaah, it’s adorable you think that . "

  "No, I’m serious!" Alison exclaimed, sitting over next to Lucky . "You have a pretty face, but you do your hair all wrong . You’re very tall, have a nice stature, and with a proper dress, you could steal many-a-breath away . "

  " . . . " Lucky remained silent, inwardly wondering when was the last time she had this sort of a ’girly’ conversation involving dresses and hairstyles and makeup . She came to a very disturbing conclusion: not since she was thirteen and her mother prettied her up for a meeting about an arranged marriage .

  "I know you don’t care what other people think of you, but don’t do it for them; do it for you!"

  "Ha ha, I appreciate it," Lucky said, ruffling Alison’s hair gently for a moment . "But, that’s just not me . "

  "How can you know if you never tried?" Alison asked, meekly lowering her head .

  "Because," Lucky replied, taking a deep breath . "I’m at my prettiest when I’m shanking someone in their guts, or splicing open a line over their necks, or gouging their eyes out with a spoon, or——"

  "I-I get it, I get it! Geez . . . you’re really weird . . . how can a girl say she’s at her pretties when she’s doing grizzly things like that?"

  " . . . why not?" Lucky quizzed with a faint smile . "Isn’t there that old saying, we look our best when doing what we love?"

  " . . . you love killing others?" Alison asked, her eyelashes quivering faintly .

  " . . . sometimes," Lucky shrugged . "Other times," she looked outside the window, into the distant where she saw a flock of sheep . Alison spotted a flash of pain in the corner of those black eyes, her heart momentarily stilling . "I do it ’cause it’s the right thing to do . "

  "What kind of a weird sect asks people to kill against their will?! Humph! You better tell me so I can go and have a chat with the Sect’s Master!"

  " . . . ha ha ha," Lucky laughed heartily, momentarily imagining Alison trying to withstand Lino’s barrage of explanations on that question . "Don’t worry, you’ll meet him soon enough . I have a feeling you’ll actually like him . "

  "As if! There’s no way I can like someone so difficult on you!" Alison said with a trace of faint anger in her voice .

  " . . . when did I say he was difficult on me?" Lucky asked .

  " . . . isn’t he?"

  " . . . no," she shook her head . "If anything, it’s the opposite . If there’s anyone he’s difficult on, it’s himself . Sometimes . . . I fear it might be his undoing in the end . "

  " . . . you really care for him, don’t you?" Alison asked in a strange tone .

  "I do," Lucky replied, her lips curling up into a wonderful smile . "I wouldn’t be where I am without him . But, if you ever tell him that, I will have to kill you . "

  " . . . a-are you . . . in love with him?" Alison questioned, lowering her head into her bosom .

  "In love?" Lucky grinned strangely for a moment before replying . "What makes you think that?" .

  " . . . it’s, uh . . . it’s just the way you look . . . when you talk about him . . . is all . . . "

  "What’s it to you?" Lucky persisted with a playful grin .

  " . . . I . . . I just think you can do better . . . "

  "Ha ha ha, well of course I can," Lucky laughed freely for a moment, patting Alison’s back . "God, I pity that poor girl that’s stuck with him . "

  " . . . you’re mean, you know that?" Alison mumbled with a pout, sitting over on the opposite side again .

  "And you’re adorable . Are we done stating the obvious?"

  " . . . humph . "

  "He he . . . "

  Lucky quietly gazed at the mildly-mannered girl she’d gotten to know quite well over the past couple of months the two had spent together . She was the strange sort, Lucky mused inwardly, with a natural capacity to disarm all those who spoke to her . It was a part of her natural charm, her smile that simply melts away all defenses and walls one puts up with her . She’s quite similar to Lino in that regard, Lucky realized; both had the sort of charisma that was difficult to replicate, cast the sort of light that was difficult to snuff out . The difference lay in the intensity; whereas Lino was the haggard, loud, bright sort, Alison was the mellow, gentle and warm kind .

  She was a rather strange choice for a Bearer, Lucky mused; after all, every Bearer she met thus far was quite . . . difficult, for want of a better word . Lino, Hannah, Eos . . . all three had the ability and capacity to overwhelm the world around them through their mere presence . Alison, on the other hand, seemed to lack that initiative, that fire . She more resembled a Princess of a Kingdom than a Bearer of a Writ, one of Immortality no less . When she though about how both her and Lino were body cultivators who throw themselves head-on into the inferno, she really couldn’t reconcile to the two; Lino, with every fiber of his being, looked like he belonged there, in those flames . Alison, on the other hand . . . Lucky couldn’t even imagine .

  After all, she saw nothing in Alison that would suggest that madness lived inside of her, madness practically required for one to use their body as a weapon . Lino, however playful he may appear, Lucky had come to realize is always like a beast on alert; if one were to carefully inspect him at any point, they’d realize he gave no openings, even if he was just innocently taking a nap . Air around him was always akin to a beast guarding its den . Alison, however, was full of openings all the time; even now, Lucky was almost entirely certain, she would be able to kill the young girl without much trouble .

  However, after musing for a moment, she realized why the difference was so stark . For instance, even Hannah lacked the same edge Lino possessed, as did even Eos . Though the two did have the certain imposition Lucky only ever felt from them, when it came to the presence itself, both paled in comparison to Lino . The reason was simple, however: their lives . Lino never had security of a Holy Ground, never had an army of Elders behind his back to support him and defend him, never had a safe place to retreat to when things got ugly . He’d spent most of his life on a road with a target on his back . Eos, Hannah and Alison . . . didn’t .

  It was similar to the difference between Felix and her; even when the former was several realms above her, he was never able to defeat her .

  "What are you thinking about?" Alison asked, spotting a rather painful look in Lucky’s eyes .

  " . . . did I tell you I used to be engaged?" Lucky asked, smiling frankly .

  "E-eh? Really?!" Alison exclaimed with surprise .

  "Sheesh, you don’t have to sound so surprising . There are some dudes out there who dig the whole ’she looks like she’s gonna rip my nuts off while I’m sleeping’ spiel, you know?"

  " . . . I-I’m sorry . . . I didn’t mean it that way . . . "

  " . . . pfft . . . "

  "You are so mean!! Stop teasing me!"

  "Ha ha ha . . . fine, fine . . . "

  " . . . what happened?" Alison asked .

  " . . . he was killed . " Lucky replied . "Right in front of my eyes . And all I could do was stand there, watching it happen . "

  " . . . "

  "He was a whole lot like you," Lucky added, glancing at Alison’s now-teary eyes . "Quite frankly, it pissed me off that he was a more of a woman in our relationship from time to time . . . but, it was also quite sweet . Every morning when we lived together, he’d wake me up with a breakfast . And every morning, he’d make it more and more elaborate . He’d also blush and bury his face in his chest when I teased him, he’d also tell me I didn’t have to go around killing for another . . . staying with you in the past few months has been quite nostalgic . . . "

  " . . . do you miss him?" Alison asked .

  " . . . every day . "

  " . . . did . . . did you avenge him?" Alison asked with a faint tremor in her voice .

  "I was too weak to do it," Lucky replied . "However, he was avenged . "

  " . . . by your Sect Master?"

  "Hm," she nodded, her lips curling up into a faint smile . "I think you’ll understand when you meet him, Ally, why I do the things I do for him . He’s a lot like you, in ways Felix was not . He has the capacity to make everyone around him feel as though absolutely nothing can go wrong . . . that even if the sky were to fall down onto us, he’d hold it up all by his lonesome . Whenever I’d hit bottom . . . he’d be there to lift me up . I’d lay down my life for him, anytime, no questions asked . "

  " . . . don’t sell your life so cheaply," Alison said . "It’s not so worthless . "

  "Cheaply?" Lucky grinned . "Never . . . "