Chapter 150: Talking with Lila I strolled over to where Nina had requested me. I wonder if this is about the lovely job I did. (“ Lovely is certainly a word to use ”) A little self-praise never hurt anybody. (“ Besides all the people in history that it did hurt ”) Okay, correction, never hurt any ‘Stellar.’ (“ Correct, since you are the only member of your race and the consequences of such actions haven’t befallen you since your ascent, that second statement is correct. congratulations, do you want a cookie?”) I’m good, thanks. Thanks for asking. I moved out of the central area and found myself in a jail cell after a few detours. “Sup, Nina.” I waved my hand to the woman standing in front of the many jail cells. “Did everything go well?” “Yes…” Nina sighed. “Everything has been sorted.” Everyone in the cells had been completely knocked out for the time being. “Thank you for the help.” Said Nina. “It is kind of my job,” I replied. “...On paper, I guess...” Nina signed and returned a little chuckle. “Feeling better? I think that is the first time I’ve heard a genuine laugh from you.” “Heh, maybe.” Nina shrugged; she pushed away the hair that had fallen down in front of her eyes and turned away from the prisoners and looked at me. “It has been quite hectic, but everything ended up fine, and we are near the end of this stupid conflict.” “You think it will be finished with this one fight?” I asked; that sort of wish had to be a little unrealistic for someone in her position to make. “I like to believe…” I could hear the clear doubt in her voice. “But even I know that is likely just a dream.” “...” I didn’t say anything immediately. “I have been alive for a long time now.” “True, but I have had a busy life.” Nina said, “Every moment I was trying to do something for someone, not because I had to, but because I wanted to. Healing, charity, you name it, I continued, and I have participated in conflicts, dungeon runs, and the occasional pirate operation, but this has drained me.” She gestured for me to follow, and we left this part of the ship. “Very blunt way of putting it.” “I figured you would expect that by now.” “I do.” Replied Nina, “But yes, I am drained, dealing with a terrorist organisation whose unknown, likely stupidly selfish motives have brought so much malice to the universe. It can degrade the minds of many just seeking a peaceful life.” “I guess I’m pretty degraded.” “Someone would just call you insane,” Nina replied very bluntly. “Sadly, very correct, but honestly, I have gotten better. I was so close to murdering people when I first got off Espoiramissa constantly. Managed to hold back and act my way through it.” “...I don’t believe you were as bad as you think you were, though; I don’t doubt you have improved. It would be hard not to after experiencing life again.” I asked, “What brought this up?” “...I got the feeling you will be living a very long life…” Said Nina without turning around. “High-level life expectancy?” “That, but I just wanted to say be careful, because the mind can tyre out faster than the body, and sometimes you don’t notice for years, but at this point in time it just stretches out.” I didn’t rebut anything and decided to accept her warning. “Understood, thank you.” Afterwards, I was led back to Nina’s ship, as she wanted a break from the party happenings. While back on her ship, before we split again. I was given a quick breakdown of the plan now that an infiltration had been attempted. We would be leaving tomorrow, on the dot. Which sounded perfect to me! The sooner I got to killing, the better it was for me and everyone else. There was going to be a large sweep of everything to ensure there wasn’t any leftover that Dominous Hood decided to leave as a present. Of course, they would be looking out for more infiltrators and spies as well; that was a given, but would they all be found? Eh… I wasn’t too confident. The assault force wasn’t small, and all it really took was one soldier to be a spy for there to be additional leaks. There were likely countermeasures they were going to try and implement, but I wasn’t too hopeful with the allied forces' technology alone. I mean, there were lie detectors on board, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they literally asked every member of the board about it, but there were ways around that. In my case, they just didn’t work anymore, among other things. (“ Looks like you will be back to murdering real soon ”) I know, it has taken long enough. I sighed. I really did just want this bundle of joy inside of me to let loose and run wild. I paused and thought for a moment about the possible infiltrator problem. Hey Espr. Couldn’t you find all the other infiltrators? (“ Hmm… I could, but you should be fine. I will let you know if something bad, in your previous human terms, is going to happen ”) Espr’s answer made me pretty confident that most of the problems had been dealt with. The fact it was offering the extra help as a precaution for something extra bad to happen was nice. I very much enjoyed this more helpful Espr. Still, it made me want to learn how to read minds or whatever Espr did to know where people’s loyalties lay. (“ Besides, there is something interesting about prophecies I can mention ”) Oh? I know you hate them and the fact that they don’t work on Spiritual Beings, which includes me now. (“ Exactly. So prophecies work by utilising the fact that everything within Existence is part of it. It is basically an act of communicating with the fabric of reality and getting an extremely bad response of something the caller wants ”) And because I am no longer a part of Existence, can it not read me? (“ Correct, outside of the other reasons, such magic is shit. It cannot work on Spiritual beings, but what is funny for us, we can control how it doesn’t work ”) Interesting… In what ways? (“ So at base level our existence is basically just ignored, but we can make our presence in fact a prophecy blackhole ”) Espr explained to me how I could utilise my energies to become the biggest annoyance to diviners across the universe. Well, I am going to have some fun with this. With all the important people's talks done, it was time to look for my little niece. “There you are.” I hummed to myself; I had found Lila standing in another hallway on the ship. After a few quick turns. “Hellooo, Lila.” I balanced on my foot as I leaned past the corner of the wall. “I hope you have been well in my absence.” “Ceella~!” Lila nearly jumped but managed to constrain herself. “Don’t do that…” “A little jumpy?” I asked earnestly, but she seemed to be processing a lot at the moment. Lila didn’t immediately reply. I gave her a moment to sort her thoughts. “You know, when I was told they had prisoners… I thought for a moment Rosa could be alive…” Lila held back her words for a long silence, as she didn’t want to say them. “But… I know they couldn’t be true…” “Lila,” my arm wrapped around her shoulder, “I understand… I kind of thought the same thing when I first heard the news…” From the melancholy in my tone, Lila knew what I was going to say next. “It was a nice dream, but they aren’t coming back…” Sad in a way since I now had the power to save their souls. I didn’t have any weird regret about that, since there was no way in existence I would have had this power back then. Life has a weird way of doing things… I kept my awkward internal thoughts to myself and continued. “I wish they would, but sadly they ain’t.” “I know,” Lila replied, not crying, not looking depressed, just simple acceptance. “I know, but… It’s weird; it brought back memories, and… well… I’m still not over it, but I know better than to wish for impossibility.” “Attagirl.” I cheered and pulled her in closer for the hug. “You know, that makes me sound old.” “Still older than me. So sure, you are old.” “Why do you hurt me so much?” “You aren’t even hurt.” The two of us giggled and laughed that part of the conversation off. I asked, “So, why did you decide to join Nina for this whole war thing?” “The answer is likely obvious.” Nina let out a depressive sigh. “Revenge mostly.” “Oh, mostly? Thought it would be a hundred percent thing.” “Heh, I mean, probably reasonable.” Lila shrugged, “It wouldn’t be hard for people to think that, and yeah, I have a lot of hate in my heart, but a lot has burned away thanks to all the other mistakes I’ve made and the life I want to live.” “What are you planning to do with your life then?” “Well, first, no longer be a criminal, and before you say anything, I am technically a criminal. I did actively work with a terrorist group after all, and my involvement with Tyell before didn’t exactly help my case.” “I’m sure Nina would help you fix that.” “She would, but while I am willing to work for a number of years to pay back my debt, I would rather reduce that time by as much as possible, as I want to enjoy life…” Lila paused, and I had a feeling that I knew what she wanted to say. “So joining this mission would solve both my desires.” “Cat got your tongue.” Her face flushed with embarrassment, “If you know, do I have to even say it?” “No, but I would like to hear it.” I smiled and gave her a hug. She didn’t resist but took a moment before continuing. “...I would like to spend time with your family.” “Then I will be sure to make that happen.” Many hours passed, and finally the ships began to move. The many vessels pushed towards the tunnels, ready to travel through the vast depths of space for this mission. The stars moved by, and the world slowed. I didn't stay in the pods to rest through the experience. I doubted many here would need to do anything with their bodies's strength, but I saw that there were many who chose to sleep through part of the journey.