It's the boss lady...
Is it me...?
Can she wield a knife?
Pace felt a chill on his back. He felt that he shouldn't interfere with Pearlis's behavior, but now that he had thought of this, maybe he should talk to her.
"Uh... little princess, that is..." Pace's voice was a little weak, "That is, if you fight with the investigator, will there be room for you to leave someone alive?"
"Hmm?" Perlis didn't turn around. "What do you mean?"
"That is, if you don't want to kill them, can you make them just lose their ability to fight?"
"Yes," Perlis turned her head slightly, "but why?"
As expected, Pace's heart sank. She didn't want to show any mercy to those who blocked her way, not even a trace.
Subconsciously, Pace felt that he had to stop her from killing without mercy:
"Ahem, little princess, I have something to say," Pace looked at her cautiously, "Can I say it?"
"You've already said so much..." Perlis glanced at Pace, her red eyes full of helplessness, "Go ahead."
With Perlis's permission, Pace cleared his throat slightly and spoke nervously:
"It doesn't matter about those bad investigators in Lorton before, but if you meet people from the Legion in the mountains later, can you try to show them mercy?"
After saying this, Pace looked at Perlis nervously, but Perlis's expression seemed to have not changed.
"Can I ask why?"
Perlis' tone was light, and Pace was a little surprised. He thought this request would anger Perlis.
After all, she has always been arrogant and doesn't allow strangers to approach her.
"Well...you also heard what the boss lady said just now..."
Pes glanced at Perlis, who was still just looking at the sky, watching the bracelet absorb the destructive factor at high speed. After confirming that there was nothing wrong with her expression, Pes continued.
"There are many young men like Torm in the Infinite Steel Legion. They joined the Legion with nothing but passion. Unlike the evil investigators serving Venia, most of the children serving are innocent."
Pace recalled the expression on the landlady's face when she recalled Tom, and thought of Venia Irenforno, the cruel young master, and sighed.
"Those children do not serve the insane and cruel Venia. They are loyal to the Iron Lord and to Thebite."
In the cold atmosphere of the snowy mountain, Pace exhaled a breath of white air and looked towards the top of Wanren Mountain. There, the steel fortress stood. If it weren't for those figures wearing iron armor in the ice and snow, how could the Thebite Alliance, which is now entrenched in the extreme north of the continent, exist?
After all, Pace was a Thebite, and no matter what, he inevitably had a sense of belonging to his own people.
"So... could you..?"
"You are really too much... They are clearly going to kill me as soon as they see me, but you want me to show mercy."
Perlis's bracelet slowed down, and it seemed that it had finished charging. She withdrew her hand and turned to Pace, with a slightly reproachful look in her red eyes.
"Well... I know this isn't really fair, so I hesitated whether to tell you." Facing the direct gaze of those red eyes, Pace felt a little ashamed, "But, in fact, you are also an invader, and they are just defending their homeland."
Perlis lowered her head, thought for a moment, and then said:
"I'm a Federation man."
"Ah, yes..."
"I am still an invader of Thebeth, and a bad guy."
"Um..."
Pace looked at the expressionless Pearlis, and the two looked at each other.
"And you, you are a poor and downtrodden noble whose family was destroyed by the Legion."
"Yes..I am..."
Pace lowered his head slightly.
Perlis walked up to Pess, leaned close to his ear, and whispered in his ear as if she was blowing into his ear:
"Tell me, where does your self-righteous kindness come from?"
Perlis' words were like a huge rock breaking the ice, causing a violent wave in Pace's heart.
"Self-righteous kindness...? No! I'm not! I hate Venia more than anyone, but it was Ivar and Venia's lackeys who took my family away, not those children!"
Pace hurriedly defended himself, but Perlis just took two steps back and then gave a rare disdainful smile.
"Once you have chosen your opposite side, you are no longer in a position to be picky," Perlis' voice suddenly turned cold, reminding Pace of the night when they first met. "You can show mercy to your enemies and give each of them a hard time. But the fact is, when positions conflict and fighting breaks out, those children you call them will raise their guns at you no matter how innocent they are."
"At that moment, they represented the [Infinite Steel Legion]."
Perlis looked at Pace who was standing there in a daze with indifference, and continued to speak without mercy:
"Whether it was Ivar or the Inspector who killed your family, in the final analysis, it was the Legion who did it."
"No..." Pace's forehead was covered with cold sweat, "This is different."
"It's all the same," Perlis sighed helplessly, "Under the great unity of will, any individual is just a pawn. This is exactly what you Thebites like to say the most..."
"..for unity (Thebite)."
Perlis used Baizhe's fingers to casually pick up a bunch of her hair and curl it.
"So, my answer to your request is no."
After saying that, Perlis turned around and walked towards the inn.
"Since the people of the Legion share the same stance as Ivar and serve the Iron Lord, they are my enemies."
Enemy...enemy? Even a passionate boy like Tom, would you consider him an enemy?
No...that's not right, what do you know...
A fire of anger ignited in Pace's heart. He looked at the white-haired figure who left calmly and roared:
"Then what is your position? You want to bring the internal strife of the Federation to the end? What kind of excuse is this?!"
"Those people were just protecting their homes. Why did you take their lives?!"
"Tell me! What did Ivar do to make you feel so justified?!"
Perlis turned her head suddenly, and for the first time, her blood-red eyes flashed with a vicious and angry killing intent. The killing intent burst out, shaking Pace's body, reminding Pace of the identity of the little girl in front of him.
She is the [Blade of Babel], and Pace never had the room to negotiate with her.
"Do you really want to know?"
In an instant, Perlis regained her calm expression. She turned around and looked at Pace expressionlessly. Her cold eyes were like the cold wind of winter, making Pace unable to look directly at her.
"tell me."
Pace avoided Perlis's gaze, his voice exuding fatigue.
Perlis slowly walked to Pace again, she raised her head and looked at him. Pace looked back at her, but found that her usually cold red eyes suddenly became a little shaky, as if there were ripples in them.
The cold wind before the arrival of winter blew through the courtyard and gently brushed the corners of Wanren Mountain. In the cold wind, Perlis slowly exhaled a white mist, and her pure white long hair fluttered slightly, like a swaying white flame:
"Ivar..killed my father."
"..."
"what?"
Just like a bucket of ice water poured over him, Pace's anger was extinguished in an instant, and what followed was a bone-deep cold. He recalled Lianna's body displayed by the fireplace, and recalled himself crying and trembling in the snow, and himself gritting his teeth and vowing to avenge his sister.
And all of this overlaps with the girl in front of him.
The girl standing in front of me had tears in her eyes.
"You..what did you say..."
Pace felt the ground become a little soft, and the idea that had been vaguely flashing in his mind was confirmed at this moment. Countless guilt once again climbed up Pace's spine like a venomous snake.
But in a moment, the image of Perlis in Pace's eyes changed from the lofty "Blade of Babel" to a little girl who was trying her best to avenge her father.
A little girl younger than him.
In a trance, Pace recalled the words that Perlis kept muttering when she was seriously injured and unconscious:
"..Dad...no..don't go..."
In order to avenge her father, she broke into a strange city alone and was surrounded by countless enemies who wanted to kill her, enemies that Pace had asked her to let go.
What about me? What have I done for Lianna's revenge? Open a tavern?
Pace opened his mouth to say something, but nothing came out. Her blood-red eyes regained their former coldness. Perlis stared at Pace coldly for a while, and when she saw that he did not respond at all, she turned around and walked towards the inn without looking back.
Yeah...have I really been overwhelmed by the daily routine filled with laughter and hilarity in the past two days?
The reason they walked together on the Wanren Mountain was simply because they had the same destination.
And it is an endpoint described by Pace's lies.
In a trance, Pace suddenly realized that all this was fake. He and Pearlis were destined to go in opposite directions, but not because their goals were different.
But I am really not worthy of being like this.
......
Vans and the old butler arrived at the hotel at dusk, bringing with them more than a dozen servants of the Monarch family. They dismantled the weapons and giant armor into parts and mixed them in empty wine barrels, successfully going up the mountain through the Lord's Avenue.
"A snowstorm is coming..."
Sitting at the dining table in the inn's restaurant, the old butler stared at the sky outside the window and murmured softly.
"Tomorrow is your last chance to take back the mansion."
"We will set off tomorrow," Pace nodded, his eyes determined, "We will take back the house and restore the glory of the Monarch family."
"Where did she go? That Federal, isn't she coming down to have dinner with us?" Vans asked when he saw that there was no sign of the Blade of the Tower of Babel.
"She...she said she would eat by herself, so don't worry about her."
Pace avoided Vans's slightly questioning gaze and ate his bread with a guilty conscience. The upcoming battle in the mansion made Pace excited and a little uneasy. He was worried about how Perlis would react after finding out the truth. He was worried to begin with, and now this worry was accompanied by an inescapable sense of guilt.
In the warm atmosphere of the inn, Pace shook his head desperately to get rid of those thoughts.
No, now is not the time to think about these things. Right now, we just need to focus on taking back the mansion. Nothing else matters.
Pace looked out the window. The darkness covered the snow, but when the sun rose, not a single snowflake could escape in broad daylight.
Meanwhile, Perlis looked out the window, her hands pressed against the glass, staring at the snow.
"It's going to snow heavily..."
The previously out-of-control emotions have been brought back by Perlis. She locked everything into the little black box in her heart. The blood-red eyes that were looking at the heavy snow outside the window seemed to be covered with a thin layer of mist, and no longer sparkled as usual.
Pace's anger was normal, and Perlis didn't care. She had never expected anyone to understand her thoughts, and she had long been accustomed to others' doubts about her.
What she wants to do is the most important thing.
Perlis moved away from the window, sat down on the edge of the bed, and picked up her father's diary.
She needed to make herself accept the somewhat strange father and force herself to swallow Edward's story. If she wanted to become as strong as him, she had to accept it all.
Bai Zhe's fingers quickly turned the title page and came to the end of the last reading. Perlis read the words written by her father with misty eyes and read them softly:
"...On May , the Babel Tower competition was as lively as in previous years. After passing through the strange fog forest, the base of the Babel Tower was right in front of us..."
...END...
Lord of Ashes (Part 1)
Eight years ago.
Babel Tower Competition - Tower Base
"...On May , the Babel Tower Competition was as lively as in previous years. After passing through the Foggy Forest, the base of the Babel Tower was right in front of us. The [Champion] of the Aziz royal family also came here..."
As Edward pushed away the fog, the huge Tower of Babel came into view. The tower of Babel, whose range covered the entire continent of Admir, stood there so absurdly and realistically at this moment, and its huge body shocked every team that arrived here after experiencing the bloody battle in front.
Of course, Edward was not among those who were shocked, as he had been here countless times.
"This is... [the Babel]..."
Ivar raised his head. The huge Tower of Babel had never been so close to him as it was at this moment. An incomparable sense of oppression enveloped him.
"Come on, kid, don't act like you've never seen the world."
