Capítulo 164: Traitors everywhere, again.
"Mercy!"
"I will think about it" said a purple-haired woman with pink eyes, whose expression might have made the Aeon of the Remembrance feel cold while looking at the man in what could only be called a seiza position in front of her. "I will pardon 'future Keith', but the one in front of me is going to suffer."
"...dammit" muttered Keith, who sent a glare towards the grey-haired girl who was looking at the scene with amusement shining in her golden eyes. "Traitor."
"I warned you" Stelle shrugged. I was going to sell you out for more amusement."
"You sent this raging woman our location even before we departed!" shouted Keith, who for the first time was seeing someone worse than him. "You 2 were on this together from the start."
"Don't worry about it" said Stelle with a smirk. "Leave it to 'future Keith', the one who will live a single second in the future."
"That's too short" complained Keith, all fear disappearing from his face as he felt the need to explain this clearly. "To be considered future Keith, it must be at least 3 minutes from now on."
"...that's too little" said the deadpanning Stelle. "I envy your ability to forget about punishment in so little time."
"Stelle, shut up" said Kafka with a frigid voice. "He is trying to make enough time for a new future Keith to appear."
"Oh! How devious" muttered Stelle after a sharp intake of breath, sending the frowning Keith a wary glance.
"So, what will you have me do?" asked Keith, sighing in defeat.
"For starters, I need to pay her" revealed Kafka, pointing at Stelle who made a victory pose. "And I have the payment right here."
"NO!" shouted Keith in despair, seeing what Kafka had taken from him. "NOT MY BOX!"
"Hehehe" Stelle let out a creepy laugh once the now-clean box arrived at her hand and looked at it with pure greed, slowly caressing it with her other hand. "My treasure..."
"And now" Kafka's icy voice drowned out the scream of pure indignation that was about to leave Keith's mouth. "It's my turn."
"Why do I need to be punished anyway?" complained Keith, looking at Kafka's pink eyes. "And why are you still using those contact lenses?"
"Are you really unaware of what you did?" asked Kafka with a cold voice, conveniently ignoring the second question.
"Well...I guess I got lost in the training, and got too close to death by my own folly" admitted Keith with a reflexive expression, which quickly turned into an aggrieved one. "But still, I don't get why it's my problem. I only fought following what I felt, how could I have expected my teacher's rampage? You should punish him, not me."
"I already did," replied Kafka, still glaring at Keith. "I forced him to read a dozen of self-help books."
"...really?" asked a shocked Stelle. "You made the man begging for death read those?"
"How cruel" muttered a horrified Keith, only now realizing how loyally pissed she was. "Now I get why the 2 of you are so close."
"Even I wouldn't go that far" complained Stelle, sending the livid Kafka a curious look, sensing that something was a bit strange.
"S-Still, what was exactly my fault in all this?" asked Keith, who knew that if Kafka was willing to use her ability to inflict pain on others, she had reached the boiling point. "I get you might be angry, after all, I kind of forced you to use your ability on me, and I get why you might be angry about the backlash. But why are you SO angry?"
Kafka stood silent, but the ominous look in her eyes only got stronger.
Keith only shivered in place, but Stelle, as a third party, saw it for what it was.
Mere confusion, and inability to reply to such a question.
'Ohhhh, I see now' thought inwardly Stelle with a silly grin that thankfully for her, went unseen.
Keith could sense Kafka's hostility growing, and knew that something was making Kafka even more angry, which only turned out to be her defence mechanism against her inability to reply to such a question, and knew that divine punishment was about to arrive.
But... he then wore a smile.
"Do you find this situation amusing?" asked a livid Kafka.
"I won" declared Keith, standing up, unafraid of the repercussions. "Your Saintly Trashness, the Lordly Trashcan favours the faithful, and your vile betrayal to appropriate what he so selflessly put in my hands has made you lose His favour."
Stelle and Kafka looked at the completely unafraid Keith, wondering what was he up to now.
"Let me tell you" said Keith looking at Stelle. "That BOX will return to its rightful place, and I will open it."
"NO!" shouted Stelle. "How could you open it?! The treasure will be lost!"
Because the box only had value precisely because it was closed.
"And you" said Keith, sending a smirk to the irate purple woman. "Stop using those stupid contact lenses, your eyes are prettier."
And with that, Keith fainted with a smile.
He had sensed dizziness taking a hold of him, and knew he would be meeting that child in that mysterious space once again.
And that meant that for the next 3 minutes, he was going to be safe, so a new 'future Keith' to whom he would put all his troubles on had appeared.
Indeed, Keith had won, at the expense of his future self.
But again, it was not his problem.
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"Ugh" Elea grunted, watching her bruised hands. "Mom is so demanding..."
Elea was learning swordsmanship under her Ei, which considered the art of the sword to be something more than a mere fighting style.
It was a way to express yourself, a method of knowing your own person, to carry the hopes and goals you had, to show the path you had been following, and a way to tell who you were.
And as such, her instructions here as demanding as the seriousness such an important think required.
An archaic way of thinking that had its merits and demerits, but one Elea had promised to learn.
At first, it was because she found interesting to learn, and as a restless child who was always in movement, it called out to her.
But later, she could see how it helped her mother.
She could faintly sense other's emotions, so she could feel how much it was helping her mother, who appeared happier and more relaxed overall, even if her face didn't usually express that many emotions.
Which Elea was starting to get suspicious of.
She had always sensed that her mother seemed to have different expressions and behaviour, but she had never thought much of it.
Her mother was a God in the people's eyes, and she was busy all day dealing with the numerous affairs of the whole nation, maybe it was her mother's way to release some stress.
But when she started growing up, she started to feel other's emotions with more intensity, and with it came her doubts.
Because what she felt from her mother was vastly different.
When she was 'outside' what her mother called 'Plane of Euthymia', she could sense the sadness, but also happiness and expectations coming from her mother.
But when she was 'inside'....
Everything she could feel from her mother was love for her, at least that was what Elea thought, but the rest was an unending pit of pure sadness.
How could her mother be so different 'inside' and 'outside'?
Elea, after learning how to face the world she lived in with a curious and critical attitude, was willing to search for the answer.
But when she felt the precarious state her mother was in... she always decided to postpone it.
Because she feared that something would break, and her mother would end up worse than she was now.
So all she could do was try to help her mother as much as she could, and turn into a person her mother could be proud of while training and learning from her.
"Elea, pay attention"
A black-haired woman with short hair and golden eyes scolded the distraught child, but sighed quickly after.
"Sorry" muttered Elea, who was receiving a lesson from Sara, one of her mother's aides in charge of domestic affairs.
Elea knew Sara had been the General of the Shogunate's army, but now that the army was mostly only for ornamentation or to face the enemies outside the country her mother always warned her about, she was helping in keeping order within the country dealing with those who broke the law.
And today, Yae had been travelling to Liyue to meet some friends, so Sara had taken over the role of teacher.
Elea had to admit that Sara was a good teacher, but in her modest opinion, Yae was better at teaching.
The pink-haired woman always had a way to make the lesson feel more 'vivid', and her usual jokes and commentaries took a lot of the boredom away, even if learning some things would always be a chore.
"Are you worried about something?" asked Sara, who sensed Elea's complicated mood. "I know I can't explain things as well as Yae, but you have been too distracted."
Elea opened her mouth, but closed it soon after.
"You should know I will always be on your side, Elea" said Sara with a soft smile only reserved for her lover's daughter. "I know I'm not the most forthcoming person, but don't hesitate in asking for help if you need it."
"...okay" muttered Elea, knowing that Sara would never do something that might hurt her or her mother.
Sara only nodded and sat on Elea's side, changing her position from a teacher to someone willing to aid another, with a straight face.
But she wasn't able to hide her happiness from Elea, who felt how delighted the older woman was when she decided to trust her.
"It's about my mother" started Elea, who received an inviting nod from the attentively listening woman. "I don't know if there is something wrong with her."
"Why do you say that?" asked curiously Sara, who had an inkling of what Elea was referring to.
Yae was the one in charge of assessing the changes in Elea's 'ability', and over the last month it had been increasing, following the fainting episode.
And Sara knew that sooner or later, the topic of Ei and Makoto would have to be revealed, not that they had any intention to hide it forever, but they wanted Elea to be a bit older so she wouldn't have some doubts the situation might give her.
"I feel that her emotions are too different" and with that, Sara knew the rig was up. Elea also sensed what she thought was resignation coming from Sara, and realized that the woman with the tengu bloodline was in the know. "You also know about it, right?"
"Yes" admitted Sara. "We wanted you to be a bit older, but I guess we need to tell you about it."
Elea bit her lips, and making a decision, spoke again looking at Sara's eyes.
"I can wait" said Elea, stomping down her curiosity and anxiety at not knowing what her mother was hiding from her. "I didn't want to say anything because I think my mother is... not good. Mostl-"
"Mostly when you are inside the Plane of Euthymia" ended Sara, receiving a surprised look from Elea. Sara then patted Elea's head with a proud smile. "It's a beautiful gesture from you to make that offer, even more knowing how restless and curious you always are, but I don't think its needed. Your mother wouldn't want you to live with those doubts, and there is no reason for you not to know."
Elea sighed in relief, because even if she offered to wait if that meant her mother wouldn't live through some bad moments, she wanted to know.
Because she now knew there was something up, and it affected her precious family.
"Let's go" said Sara, standing up with a soft smile. "I'm sure your mother already told you."
"If there is something you decided on, move towards it" nodded Elea, steeling her expression.
Now that the course of action had been decided, all she needed to do was to charge forward.
But then, she felt faint, and knew what would happen.
And Elea's body fell limp on the floor under Sara's alarmed gaze.
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""...""
A small girl with purple hair looked directly at a face she had never seen before.
Dark purple hair and purple eyes a shade lighter than her own.
"Who are you?" asked Elea with a frown, lamenting the absence of her training sword.
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