"He doesn't need to know it yet."
Instead of fervently denying that anything of the sort of what that man was speaking about was true, Ayda actually dared to confirm that there was indeed something else that she has yet to reveal to me.
"See? She's just playing with you. Take my advice and leave her before you will implode due to your own greed…"
Shaking his head with pity, Elenair turned his face once again towards the girl.
"I said that I won't help you and this is my final decision. If you need help with anything else, I'm willing to pay you back for all the favours that you offered, but unlocking that man's potential? I'm not willing to take his death on myself!"
Backing out two steps, the wizard revealed how wrong Ayda was when thinking that he would help us. Because no matter what she was hiding from me… For some strange reason, I was absolutely sure that she didn't mean to do me any real harm.
"Okay, I think its time for me to speak, don't you think guys?"
Instead of watching how the events would develop passively, I decided to step in. After all, it was not only my future hanging on the thread in here but also the well-being of my mother!
"Ah, right. This matter is mainly about you, so you have all the right to get off the chest whatever you want to say."
With both of them turning towards me, one a witch and the other a wizard, the two professionals that had a lot of knowledge about mystic arts of this world now awaited whatever the simple person like me would bring as a verdict.
But there was also one huge thing that I mentioned. While Elenair attempted to show how open he was for the idea of me talking, Ayda just needed a single look at my face to realise that it wasn't the time to speak herself right now.
Or maybe she was feeling insecure now that the cat was out of the bag about some dire consequences of practising witchcraft and wizardry at once? Maybe she was worried that I was about to leave her and thought that speaking up would either hasten my decision or reinforce it?
Or maybe she just decided that I had my personal right to speak freely, without her words influencing whatever I would say next?
"First thing first. I never asked what would be the consequences of becoming that true mage that you spoke off. Did I?"
Turning my head to Ayda, I graced her with a light smile. While this was something that I could think about now, there was no denying that when she first found me and even when she explained what she hoped to turn me into, I wasn't interested in any drawbacks of becoming that hero of her. As long as this newfound power would allow me to save my mother, I was even willing to die for it.
"Well… you didn't, but I was the one that should inform you about the legend in the first place. Listen… I'm sorry…"
"Cut it out."
Before Ayda would move on to profusely apologising, I cut her words with my own voice before turning my face towards the wizard.
"As for you, I pity you. You created some shitty sense of morals for yourself and you try to impose it on others. Do you know how people like you were called in my word?"
While I was quite curious to learn whether this Elenair was smart enough to catch the trap in my words, it didn't matter at all in the long turn as it springing it against him could only bring me some personal comfort.
"Excuse me… They were called?"
Smiling when hearing the man's response, I finally revealed my full smile right to his eyes.
"Yes. They were called fanatics. Well, before the rest of the world got fed up with their hypocrisy and eradicated them from the face of the civilised world. While some should remain in hiding in some backward places, their influence over the things that normal people care about… Is entirely gone. Take it as a hint of what the path that you are following holds."
Done with the man, I finally turned my face back to Ayda. Seeing how she was still devastated by the feeling of guilt-induced by that wizard, I couldn't help but smile gently towards her.
"And to wrap things up… Ayda, my dear. I think, in the end, my proposition still has the best chances of success, so I hope you won't stand against me once I will put my own efforts in motion."
Moving a few paces forward and placing my hand on the girl's shoulder, I looked her directly in the eyes. But despite my lips still curving, there was no warmth in that smile of mine. I went through way too much in the worlds where I failed to obtain a cure for my mother's situation to be bothered with spiling a bit of blood.
"Eh? Ah?"
Confused as to what I meant, Ayda could only watch as I calmly walked towards the wizard before smiling at him. Contrary to the face that she could see directed at her, this new expression of mine was full of warmth… but it wasn't the kind of warmth that she could see while we would cuddle. It was nothing more but fake happiness of someone used to pretending to be happy.
And amongst the actors of this world, given my experience of pretending to be powerless on earth, there was no equal capable of standing beside me.
This was something that even Elenair learned. But not in the way that he could ever want it.
Once I moved close enough to the man, I suddenly stopped my steps before looking behind his shoulder and widening my eyes in a sudden surprise. Raising my head in an attempt to point at what I saw behind him…
The wizard had to train their people perfectly. Before my hand even managed to reach halfway through the distance it was aimed to travel, the man's head was already turning away.
Right in time to miss the moment when my suddenly tightened fist buried itself in his guts, instantly snapping him in two. Unable to defend in time with how he didn't expect the attack at all, Elenair bent in half. His cheeks inflated before his mouth opened letting an awful waterfall of puke mixed with blood out of his throat.
"Seriously?"
Seeing how my shoes happened to be in the range of this unexpected attack, I moved half a step back, before using the momentum of my raised right leg to kick Elenair right in the side of his head. Only when seeing how the face of this unconscious man fell right in his own puke did my anger subside.
"Now, I hope you know some ways to stop him from escaping from my hands as my mean… You could consider them to be slightly brutal."
Turning my face back to Ayda, I could see how stunned she was by my little show.
"The guards…"
Glancing in the distance where the rest of the Elenair entourage has yet to realise what just happened, the girl quickly gave away enough hints to let me catch what her current main worry was.
"Don't worry about them."
Cutting her anxiety short, I pulled out a huge knife or rather a small sword from behind my belt. It would be the very first time for me to use it in this world, yet many notches already marked it blade.
"I will make a short work of them if you don't like your odds against them."
I never intended to kill them. With my earthy upbringing, I was pretty against needless killing. Thankfully, this stupid sense of morals that earth taught me didn't apply to mutilating them at all.
"No! Stop it!"
Suddenly, Ayda's shout brought the attention of both me and the guards of the now unconscious wizard. Looking at her with a surprise, I could see some pretty deep feelings going on through both her face and the aura, proving that it was one of the rare moments when she wasn't hiding the state of her mind from me at all.
"Come."
Grabbing my head, this girl once again pulled me behind herself. But this time, with my blood already full of adrenaline, I didn't cave in to her usual behaviour.
"We can't. If we leave them alive, they will know what happened and what you asked, making our chances of finding someone willing to help even…"
Slap.
For the very first time since I met her, Ayda slapped me. With her open palm, she took a swing and slapped me right in my cheek.
This hit wasn't hard enough to cause any real pain, but the stinging injury of my consciousness was still there. Raising my sight on the girl, I could see tears of desperation already brimming in her eyes.
"Snap out of it. You are a witch now. If I ever see you give up to that darkness in your heart… I will have to kill you myself. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice!"