Chapter 58 (1/2)

Chapter 58

For Lifa, life in the royal capital was full of freshness and stimulation. There, were numerous things she could never see or experience through her whole life in her village.

Although she seemed like she had spontaneously forgotten about the state of affairs thanks to this great environment, she still wasn’t able to enjoy herself from the bottom of her heart due to the considerable self-reproach she felt from troubling Harold with her careless conduct.

To get rid of these pent up feelings, all she had to do was to give him an apology, but whenever she met Harold face to face, she would give him a tit for a tat in response to his usual provocations, and she would always end up losing the timing to apologize.

And, on the third day of her stay, her heart was still unsettled. On this day, she finally had her first discussion with Justus.

It only lasted for an hour or so. However, it was enough to impress Lifa from how formidable Justus was.

He offered her new perspectives, and new ideas. One after the other, he found new ways to improve some points of Lifa’s logic that she had deemed to be perfect until now. Lifa felt guilty, but considering that this could improve her magic, her excitement far exceeded any shame or regret that she felt.

However, Lifa’s mood still hadn’t cleared up.

【”Haaah…..”]

【”You don’t look well, Lifa-chan. What’s wrong? “]

It was around the time the sun started setting. As Lifa was relaxing in a free space, a man who happened to be present called out to her. Even though she didn’t remember his name, Lifa still showed a courteous smile.

The man sat down, facing Lifa, as if it were natural.

【”Nothing really….”](Lifa)

【”Earlier, Lifa asked the boss about the technicalities of one of her inventions, but it turned out to have more shortcomings than she expected so she’s feeling a little down.”]

【”Mister Justus is really merciless…”](man)

Elu nonchalantly sat next to Lifa and joined the conversation. That was a lie made up so that the man wouldn’t inquire too much. The last few days, Lifa had started feeling like she didn’t want to talk much with the staff members.

【”But if that’s all, there is nothing to worry about. I thought for sure that bastard had given you a hard time.”]

And this, was the reason for her reluctance. The staff members always brought up Harold, in a more or less hostile way.

Their malice came to be because of Harold’s inhuman behavior that they learned about from hearsay and his behavior in general, in other words, this was Harold’s responsibility. She didn’t feel like ignoring that and covering for Harold.

Harold’s personality certainly was twisted, whenever he opened his mouth, all that would come was wave of sarcasm, cynicism, and scorn. She could understand how people would dislike him.

However, for Lifa, that wasn’t all there was to Harold.

He took the risk of fighting a hydra for a request that was based on a mere verbal promise. And Harold kept his promise even in the state of emergency where two hydras appeared at the same time. If he really was evil, he would have immediately run away, and yet he helped without any hesitation.

Would an outrageous, selfish person, honestly keep such a promise? Lifa, at least, didn’t think so.

He could have done it expecting to reap some returns later on, but in the end, this only served to help Lifa’s research, it didn’t seem like Harold himself had benefited in any way.

【”Well, there is no need to be cautious, he hasn’t done anything to us.”]

【”That’s to make you lose your guard! You should stay away from that guy.”]

The man insisted on how dangerous Harold was. For him, it was probably a fact, and he was likely really worried about Lifa and Elu’s well being.

However, that just made Lifa confused.

The man kept going on and on, hurling abuses about Harold. While listening to him, Elu questioned the man about why he was saying such things, so as to investigate Harold’s past. It wasn’t a conversation Lifa was eager to listen to.

As Lifa had such thoughts, she felt worse and worse. Or rather, she felt actually sick.

【”……Sorry, I’m going back to my room.”]

Saying that while not paying attention to the two’s voices, Lifa left her seat. Without looking back, she returned to the room allocated to her, lied down on her bed and pulled her futon’s blanket all the way up to her head.

This was a habit of hers.

Whenever she received a harsh scolding from her mother, whenever her research met a dead end, in short, whenever something bad happened to her, she would bury herself in her futon and try to calm her mind within the darkness. As she lied in her bed while holding her knees, various thoughts were going in circle inside Lifa’s head, she was thinking about her doubts regarding Harold, and about the regrets she had from her actions, but she couldn’t reach a solution.

She didn’t know for how long she kept doing this but when Lifa came to herself, she realized she had fallen asleep in that same posture. She had probably been in her bed for a while as she was sweating buckets and her shirt was sticking to her skin, making her uncomfortable.

She groaned a little as her face slowly came out of her bed. When she peeked to check the outside of her window, the dark veil of the night had already arrived. It seemed she had been sleeping for a quite a long time.

【”Are you up?”]

She turned over towards the direction of that voice, and there was Elu, who was reading a hardcover book using only the light of Lifa’s bedside light. Suddenly closing his book, Elu took a tray from a table and brought it to Lifa.

On the tray were a sandwich and a salad. Moreover, Elu poured some ice water from a jug to a glass and handed it to Lifa.

【”How are you feeling? I brought you some snacks, but if it’s not enough, I’ll go bring some more from the dinning hall.”]

【”No, this is fine. Thank you.”]

Lifa didn’t feel all that hungry so this was enough. First, she drank half of the ice water she’d be given, and then took a deep breath.

Elu was watching Lifa with gentle eyes. Lifa was a little embarrassed from that gaze.

【”What?”]

【”It looks like you’re worrying about a lot of things, I wonder if we could talk about that. Maybe I’m putting my nose where it doesn’t belong, but still.”]

Apparently, Elu had guessed what was going on in Lifa’s heart. Well, she wasn’t particularly hiding her thoughts either as she wanted to talk to Elu about that.

While thinking this, Lifa slowly started talking about what was on her mind.

【”Elu, what do you think of Harold?”]

【”Are you asking me if the rumors about him are right?”]

【”Yes”]

Elu accurately figured what Lifa wanted to ask about. Perhaps he had held similar thoughts.

【”I don’t really know. His manner of speaking is bad, and I can’t say he has a good personality, but he’s not a cruel man that you could portray as some sort of evil murdering fiend either. If I may borrow his words, it seems like someone has been spreading bad rumors about him.”]

【”Now that you mention, he did say that”]

Maybe that explained it all. In that case, maybe Harold wasn’t such a bad person.

However, as Lifa started leaning in that direction, Elu pulled her right back.

【”However, there is no smoke without fire. Judging from his personality, it wouldn’t be surprising if he caused some big problems here and there and accumulated grudges all over the place. That’s why, I don’t really know…. Or rather, there isn’t much that is known about Harold in general, so I can’t make a verdict based only on the information I have on hand. “]

【”But you seemed to know a lot about him.”]

【”That was just based on rumors. Like with the tribunal’s case, his informations are usually kept hidden. He’s likely concealing them himself, but that’s all I know, he probably has many secrets.”]