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n

n“Though, she was still a good person. She definitely wasn’t evil,”

n“H-Huh? She was a traitor, but she wasn’t a bad person? How does that work?” I replied, still a bit wiped in my mind by the sudden news.

nI always believed my mother to be a good person, and she had been wronged… but if she really did deserve being locked away, then what the hell did she even do to receive such a punishment.

n“Was she the head of a criminal syndicate or something like that?” I asked yet another question, not allowing the man before me to respond.

nAfter a few seconds of blank staring, the general just sighed.

n“I looked up to your mother and honestly still do. I believe she was the one who ascended into being a goddess, meaning I must respect you as well. You both look very similar… almost a bit frightening how similar you look… except for the eye, of course,”

n“You didn’t answer any of my questions,”

n“That’s because you wouldn’t be able to handle the news. It sounds so cliche, but I can guess what created that fermented hatred deep inside of you. I’m not a therapist or anything, but I can sense the amount of rage flowing through your veins… You’re doing a pretty good job at suppressing it… Or maybe it has become second nature to you,”

n“You’re just making it more obvious for me to figure out… You no longer need to tell me what she did… She was lovers with a god, wasn’t she?”

n“Huh? How the ** did you come to that conclusion?” The general muttered, a bit shocked by the immediate response.

n“Am I wrong?”

n“Sort of… Though, you know the gist of it. It must be unfortunate hearing that news… I almost feel a bit bad for you,”

n“I expected this outcome. There are some things I can’t tell you, but yes… I’m very mad at this long time answer,”

n“You don’t look very angry,”

n“That’s because I’ve been expecting it. Also, being angry wouldn’t help with anything,” I muttered before leaning against the general’s desk.

n“You can say that… but that expression tells me otherwise,” The general chuckled before placing an ethereal blue hand on my head.

nMy consciousness quickly slipped away from between my fingers, causing me to fall asleep almost instantly.

n…

nThe next morning, news of the dispersing enemy reverberated around the entire camp, causing cheers of celebration to erupt.

nFirework-like shouts crackled in the air, and the spilling tops of cheered beers coated the already muddy ground.

nAnd as if in celebration of this event, a light snowfall with the sun peaking through a corner of the clouds welcomed us to the land of victory.

n“Ugh… We can finally leave this **ty place,” Aisa muttered as we all packed up our stuff.

nEverybody was also done with this hellish environment, ready to sleep in a nice and warm bed, eat hot meals every morning, take soothing warm showers and baths, and finally just have the comfort of not being constantly with the threat of death looming over you.

nWe were all soon dismissed with a motivational speech by the general and then carried away in packed trucks, still celebrating this joyous win.

nMost of the people here would have to go back to their sardine-like life packed away in those warehouses, but still drunk on the liquor of victory, they couldn’t care less.

n“Goddammit,”

nAnd after about an entire day of filling out forms and walking back to the Wony household… we were stopped by a few men draped in black cloaks.

nEvery part of their features was hidden, but the slight illusion of magic distorting their bodies made it obvious what was happening.

n“Have you come to take revenge?” I smirked, and the assassins shook with anger before snapping their fingers.

nI felt my senses distort entirely, the world around me flipping around, my ears hearing just the smallest twitch of a muscle, and my skin feeling each and individual piece of fabric rub against my skin.

nIt was a complete sensory overload, but just as I almost fell to my ass, a pair of arms caught me.

n“Who the ** do you think you are? Using such puny illusion magic in front of me… Did you not recognize me? Huh?” I heard Luna’s voice permeate through the distorting air, and after hearing yet another snap of the fingers, all of my senses returned to normal.

nFindir, who had caught me, let me puke up mostly nothing while Luna made the men in front of us go mad.

nEventually even caused them to slit their own throats.

n“W-Was everybody else in that state… Geez, that was horrible,” I muttered before puking up another stomach full of acid.

n“Seems they only targeted you. How unlucky,” Luna muttered before giving me a smirk that told me everything she wanted.

nFuck… now I have to pay her back.

n“Wait, in exchange for not telling anybody, I don’t have to pay you back… how about that bitch,” I smirked while giving Luna the middle finger.

nShe chased me all the way back to the Wony household, where I stormed into the head’s office, knowing she couldn’t make a commotion in front of the head.

n“Seems you all were having fun,” The head chuckled, and soon everybody else came into the room, neater and more formal than the two of us who had ruffled clothing and messy hair.

n“Huff… Huff… Huff… Now, I have something to discuss with you but make sure to give all of them a reward. Give them a useful title or something,” I shrugged.

n“Hmmm… I’ll give them and you a title, but I’ll also reward you with something tangible. Let me think of the rewards, so all of you but Orion are dismissed. A bath for each and every one of you has been prepared,” The head said, and his voice was like an angelic horn being blown, basically telling us that all of our problems were no more.

n