Side Story Part 8

However, when you try to be happy yourself, you somehow end up making others unhappy.

When Aubest was assigned to Waldrind as Mathias Kraische’s contracted Mage, he realized that while Elam was prospering, there were an increasing number of people in the other regions who were forced into poverty because of it.

That is probably the greatest contradiction in human behavior.

That doesn’t mean that people as individuals should give up in their efforts to be happy. The sum total of people’s happiness should increase more now than in a period of Extreme Chaos, or even in an era of peace and order. The only thing left to do is to eliminate the uneven distribution of happiness and unhappiness as much as possible.

Matthias Kraische is as good a leader, just like his predecessor was, so he was confident that he could bring happiness and prosperity to the people if he one day became Emperor. As his contracted Magician, Aubest also wants to make a contribution to help him achieve that goal, but that was going to be difficult, since in reality, all that he was doing in the Kraische family’s Magic Division were chores and manual labor.

And as if that wasn’t enough, now he was unable to make a little 7 years old girl open her heart up to him. That made him feel completely and utterly powerless.

(There was no way I could do it.)

Aubest hung his head in resignation. That’s all because he himself was not open with his feelings.

Ever since Aubest was a child, he was afraid to be around other people and would have violent seizures and panic attacks among large crowds. However, despite that, the family still forced him to live together with other kids at the dormitories.

And if he didn’t adapt to it, he would receive a terrible punishments. So the thing that Aubest did to avoid it was the only thing that he could’ve done under such circumstances: he erased his own emotions.

The way he sees it, emotions are a disturbance to reason. That’s why he thought that if he were to suppress them, he wouldn’t hurt anyone himself and he would remain indifferent to the feelings of other people.

Looking back on it now, it was a childish reasoning, but it was the only thing that he was able to come up with back then. Thanks to this, he was able to live a relatively normal life while maintaining the necessary minimum of his social obligations. But even now, when he gets excessively emotional for any reason, he’s experiencing anxiety and panic attacks like the one that he went through yesterday.

(I haven’t changed at all since I was a child…)

That girl made him realize this.

Aubest returns the tree that was rampaging to its original place. He waved his magic wand to stop the sounds that the bugs were making and made the insects fly away. The he also brought back the silence and the natural lights of the forest….

And then Aubest realized that he was crying, without even knowing why. However, he was extremely sad, because there was nothing he could do for Aishela. Unless Aishela opens her heart, Superintendent Servia and Principal Crisk of the Magic Academy will make the decision to screen her out at the first possible opportunity.

Aubest was already prepared for that. Still, the tears wouldn’t stop flowing.

(We shouldn’t have come to a place like this.)

Even though it was his idea, Aubest felt regret. This was the only place where he could be his true self without others seeing him, so he must have unconsciously taken off the mask he was usually wearing around other people.

But now it was already too late.

Although he didn’t have a panic attack like he did last time, he couldn’t stop himself from crying anymore.

(I don’t care, it doesn’t even matter anymore…)

Aubest sat down on the spot and cried aloud. At that moment, he felt something warm wrapping itself around his head. He opened his eyes in surprise and saw the small pair of arms cradling his head.

「Why are you crying? 」

Aishela asked him, and her voice resonated in his ears. He didn’t say anything back to her because he wasn’t expecting her to ask him anything at all in these circumstances.

「Are you crying because of me? 」

Aishela asked again, and Aubest nodded silently.

「I’m sorry…… 」

Aishela apologized.

Aubest stood up and looked at Aishela. Her dark eyes were shining with tears.

(Why?)

As much as it made Aubest happy, he also felt somewhat embarrassed.

「What should I do? Should I become a Mage? 」

Aishela asked.

Aubest hugged Aishera’s small body.

He felt like he didn’t care if she became a Mage or not. As long as this girl lived her life the way she wanted to, that would be enough for him. That’s what Aubest was honestly thinking.

「Learn a lot at Magic Academy and acquire wisdom and power. No matter what hardships you find yourself in, you can carve out your own destiny. I will do anything to help you do that. 」

「I understand. 」

Aishela smiled and nodded.

「I will be your daughter. And you will be my father. 」

Afterwards, the two played in the Mysterious Forest until evening. Then, they got on the carriage that had been waiting for them and returned to the dormitories late at night.

While riding in the carriage, Aishela became exhausted and fell asleep. Aubest picked her up and went to visit Servia. When the superintendent saw Aubest’s face as he entered the room, she smiled and nodded when she realized that the problem was solved.

「Please stay in the child’s room tonight. 」

Servia said to Aubest, and he decided to follow his advice. He himself was exhausted, both in body and mind, and wanted to fall asleep in his bed at once.

The two slept in the same bed that night.

Servia saw them quietly during the night and thought they were more like a brother and sister, but she also felt satisfied that their two previously closed hearts have been opened.

No matter how strict the discipline you impose, you cannot bind a person’s heart completely, and no amount of merciless punishment can change a person’s personality.

Years later, a girl named Siluca became the second adopted daughter of Aubest Meletes.

* * *
「You did something like that? 」

After she heard from Aishela about the time she met her adoptive father, Siluca let out a deep sigh.The two of them were in the same bed, talking about their childhood memories.

「Don’t you think that’s a good story? 」

Aishera was proud of it, apparently.

「Aishela… 」

Siluca smiled bitterly.

「Didn’t you cause extra trouble for my father? Because you didn’t close your heart from the beginning, right? 」

「As expected of Siluca, she’s sharp! I wish I could use you as the tip of my weapon instead of the regular spear! 」

「I wouldn’t want that, so no thank you. 」

Siluca couldn’t help but imagine being tied to the end of a polearm being tossed around by Aishela, and she chuckled.
「The ship I was on to protect from the Chaos of the sea was attacked by people, and I was so angry that I was there when it happened. Then I was bought and sold like a thing. I knew that there was no point in resisting, and I thought that I’ll be able to get by if I just do whatever I was told, but that wasn’t really me. 」

「You were just a child then, weren’t you? 」

However, Siluca didn’t think Aishela has changed much since then. But that’s what’s so great about her.

「However, I quickly realized that he was a good person. He would be my true ally. However, he always said difficult things to me, and he was somewhat intimidated by me. That made me angry. That’s why I decided that I shouldn’t rely on him at all. 」

「So you’re saying that you won the patience contest with my adoptive father? 」

「Yeah, pretty much. 」

Aishela smiled in a heartfelt way, and Siluca smiled back at her.

「I was spoiled by my adoptive father from the beginning though. 」

「That’s because I spent a year training him. 」

「But didn’t you think that he would lose interest in being your adoptive father and would get rid of you once I came along? 」

「I … I thought…something like that might happen, yeah. 」

Aishela said with a clouded expression.

355

「But Siluca was so cute that it didn’t matter to me. 」

She lowered her voice and pricked her forehead with her index finger.

「The you from the past did a really good job then. 」

Siluca was relieved to hear that.

「Even now Siluca’s loveliness hasn’t changed at all! On the contrary, if it keeps on increasing, I won’t be able to hold myself back anymore! 」

Aishela started breathing heavily and entangled her limbs around Siluca.

「Stop it~~ 」

Siluca tried to resist her affections.

The two played together for a while in the bed.

「You’re really amazing, Aishela. You knew from the first time you met that Ms. Ritte from the Magic Workshop was targeting father, right? 」

「You’re just too obtuse about things like that. But you’re cute in that way, too. I really wish I could use you instead of a Warhammer! 」

「Whether it’s sharp or blunt, you’d still like to use me as a tip of your weapon, huh? 」

「Because then I could carry you with me everywhere! I think it’s a great idea, isn’t it? 」
「Don’t say that with a straight face. 」

Siluca forcefully pulled Aishela away from her.

「Ever since she went to Magic Academy, Miss Ritte was afraid of people, especially men, but that’s because she was just afraid of being hurt, and she knew that with father she wouldn’t have to worry about that. That being said, I don’t even want to imagine what she was doing at night with all the slimes and gizmos she created. 」

Aishela said with a grin on her face. Her delusions were about to overflow, so Siluca hurriedly pushed Aishela’s words out of her head.

「But in the end, being an adoptive father hasn’t changed him much. In the end, he suppresses his emotions and makes decisions based solely on reason just like he used to. 」

Siluca was almost killed twice by her adoptive father, Aubest. Once when she was at Magic Academy, and again recently when her request to join the Factory Alliance was rejected. Still, she doesn’t hate her adoptive father which was admittedly kind of strange.

「People don’t change that much over the years. 」

Aishela mumbled and turned on her back.

「Both now and in the past, that person is overconfident. He doesn’t know what to do with it, so he makes decisions based on pure reason because of it. 」

Aishela seemed to be saying that into the distance.

(Looks like the same thing can be said about you.)

Siluca laughed in her heart as she looked at Aishela’s profile, and she quietly closed her eyes, since she had to wake up early tomorrow.

(I want to see your childhood in my dreams.)

Siluca hoped so.

She dreamed of a time in that Mysterious Forest when she was playing with her adoptive father and Aishela, but deep in her heart, she still felt a little lonely listening to stories about her adoptive father and Aishela when she was not a part of the family just yet.