Book 5-6.2
Yulian watched an extremely beautiful woman come out of the stagecoach and questioned his eyes.
‘Aizen clearly said Hwai was not here. So who is this woman getting off right now?’
However, Yulian quickly determined that this woman was not Hwai. Hwai had white hair similar to Aizen, but the woman getting off had golden hair. Most importantly, Hwai had an air of indifference while this woman seemed to resonate joy with her every movement.
“It is my pleasure to meet the Pareia’s Glow. My name is Adelina.”
“Nice to meet you. It must have been a difficult trip to come here. Please get your rest in our Pareia. We will let you see a lot of the desert’s unique environment.”
‘Her voice is different as well.’
Yulian thought that way as he started to smile toward Adelina. Adelina bowed her head in response.
“Aizen, your residence is next to my paoe. I would have put more attention to it if I knew your wife was coming with you.”
“Thank you for your generosity. I would like to feel the typical desert life while I am here.”
This woman was clearly used to speaking with people, and her status would probably be high as well. The aura that was resonating from that thin body was similar to Grace.
Yulian personally guided the Aizen couple to their paoe and introduced them to Grace and Violet.
It may have been their first time meeting, but all of the women were getting along very well. Seeing them getting along so well, Yulian and Aizen were able to head out of the paoe on their own.
“A lot seems to have happened.”
“Yes.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
“It is a very long story. I would need to start from when I was a young child.”
Did that mean Aizen did not want to share? Yulian was debating how to follow up after Aizen’s ambiguous answer.
“More importantly, hyung-nim, when did you leave the Magic Tower? I was surprise to hear that you had left already.”
“I’m sorry I had to leave without even saying goodbye. The old hag said you would be very busy.”
Aizen nodded his head. He really was busy at that time. He had no time to relax and was extremely anxious back then.
“You heard about it right?”
“You mean that decision we need to make and such?”
Aizen nodded his head.
“I heard it, but I really don’t know what use it has for me. Something similar happened out here as well.”
“Something similar?”
“Something our ancestor told me. Well, it seems similar to what the old hag had to say, but as a person of the desert, I can only try to understand it using the desert’s method. That is why I am starting to prepare.”
Aizen nodded his head at Yulian’s answer before looking toward him.
‘So this is a king.’
Aizen had such a thought. Someone who knew the road he needed to travel down, and the will to accomplish their goals.
“What are you looking at?”
“I was thinking that hyung-nim was an amazing person.”
“Me? Why are you saying that all of a sudden?”
As Yulian asked with confusion, Aizen turned his head away before responding.
“I am still debating about it. It really does not seem like a realistic story, but we’ve already seen that the Magic Tower and the ancient continent both exists for real.”
“Do what your heart tells you to do. They say you need to make a decision to be one of the chosen, but wouldn’t one of the potential decisions be one where you do not make any decisions at all?”
“I feel like something is becoming twisted. I cannot be satisfied with it. I had something I really needed to do at that time, and now that everything has been resolved, I feel like there is an empty spot in my heart.”
He wanted to clench a part of his chest, but Aizen just smiled with embarrassment seeing his han slip off his armor.
“Is it because of Hwai-nim? That emptiness?”
“……”
“I guess it is.”
“I am not sure……”
Yulian lifted his hand and started to pat Aizen’s shoulder.
“I cannot say much because I do not know the situation, but if I was to say just one thing, I would say focus on your life and the present.”
“I am working on it.”
“If I was to say one more thing, it would be to live fiercely. Doesn’t the current you feel like something is missing? What is the problem? If there is something you want to do, do it. And if not, don’t do it.”
Aizen had to think about Yulian’s response in silence before finally responding.
“I want to do that very much, but I cannot get myself to do so after thinking about the people who raised me and the people who accepted me.”
“Is that not an excuse?”
Aizen turned his head back to look at Yulian after that comment.
“I can’t do it because of something. This prevents me from doing that. Isn’t that the current you? Live fiercely. If there is something you want to do, shouldn’t you do it regardless of what people around you will think?”
“……”
“I know that you are very important to the Rojini Kingdom. However, although it might be difficult, that nation will not have any issues even if you were not around. You may be stuck in the past, but the present continues to move on without you.”
Aizen lowered his head. Yulian was thinking that the nation was his biggest obstacle, but in Aizen’s opinion, Adelina was the one that lingered on his mind. She was the one that he had made a Guardian’s Pact with, the woman he loved and needed to protect.
“Well, a third party cannot tell you what to do or what not to do. You need to decide your own actions so that you have no regrets in the end. It is enough to make a decision that you will not regret later on. I’m sure you are not the type to be greedy and think that everything will work out.”
“Hyung-nim, you may be right when you say it might be my greed… the greed to not lose anything…that type of greed……”
Aizen’s mind cleared up once he started to think that way. He had not made his mind up yet, but he figured out how to make it.
“Hyung-nim, thank you very much.”
“Don’t make such a sad expression. I have prepared a large celebration for the envoy, so at least for today, eat and drink all you want.”
“Yes.”
The two men started to smile while looking at each other.
The extravagant celebration ended extremely late into the night but Runa and Pumetrin were up very early to start their negotiations.
Pumetrin and Edwin had already done the first round of negotiations and confirmed the alliance between Pareia and Rojini. Once Yulian gave his permission to today’s round of negotiations, the alliance would be solidified.
Edwin had done well in the first round and with both sides wanting the alliance to succeed, Yulian and Pumetrin both worked hard to agree to the requests of the other party. The results started to appear almost instantly.
The thing that both sides were lacking.
For Pareia, they were lacking food and materials, while the Rojini Kingdom was lacking military might.
The Silence Empire had been sitting as the strongest nation in the Eastern continent from a long time ago, and even though the Rojini Kingdom might not lack much compared to them, it was still true that they were behind. They may be maintaining the balance with quality, but when it came to the number of soldiers, they were definitely lacking.
If it was a direct confrontation, they could definitely make up for the difference of 300 or 400,000 soldiers, but the Rojini Kingdom had to divide up their soldiers to many different areas they needed to protect. That was where the danger came from.
“We will use our warriors to put significant pressure on our border with the Silence Empire. It will be significant enough that they will need to be serious in their defense. If they look down on us, we just need to sweep a couple border towns to set the tone.”
Seeing a solution come out so easily from Runa’s mouth, Pumetrin wanted to jump up and down in joy. He did not think that the Rojini would lose to the Silence, but he couldn’t help the fact that he was a bit nervous.
But if Pareia was pressuring the Silence properly, the number of soldiers should even out on both sides. Most importantly, Pumetrin was extremely satisfied to see that Pareia showed a strong amount of hatred for Silence.
“However, in order for us to do that, we need a significant amount of materials. A minimum of 30,000 warriors will need to live in the border area, and such an expedition is pretty difficult for Pareia right now.”
Of course Runa’s statement had a degree of lie in it.
“Since they are moving for our alliance, I think it is natural that our Rojini will take on that burden. If you will allow us to, we want to continue to send enough support for 50,000 warriors to move.
Both were very aware of each other’s situations right now. They just needed to helped each side save some face in the process. The basics were already determined with Edwin and Pumetrin met, the only thing left was to make the final decisions.
The conditions for alliance between the two nations were completed that night, and the alliance between Pareia and Rojini was announced.
End of chapter
Next up:
The Two Runaways
Fate
