"How about you stop dragging me away and actually tell me what the fuck is going on?"
At first, I didn't protest when Ayda dragged me away. In fact, I myself was running away along her side. With how she suddenly blew up just a few moments ago, I didn't dare do anything that could turn out badly later on. While she would have a lot of explaining later on, for now, I decided to follow her in our escape.
After all, it was easier to talk when an angry crowd of armed and most likely pretty-nicely trained warriors didn't chase after our backs.
"Later. But please… Don't allow the anger to get to you. I will tell you everything you want, I will do anything you want me to, just keep your emotions in check for now."
Seeing how desperation was filling Ayda's aura, her tone, her eyes and her entire being, I just couldn't help but keep being angry at her. If the entire self could exude this emotion and this emotion alone, then I could guess that there was some valid reason behind the way she did and said things in the past.
After all, everything that she did so far, wasn't a lie. She in fact taught me witchcraft and she told me the cost of practising it openly. If she was someone who would hide the bad sides of something they were offering and attempting to kinda sell, then why would she bother with doing that in the first place?
"Okay, we should be safe here."
Only after the two of us entered some kind of woodland did the girl slow her steps down before resting her back against a random tree and sliding down to the ground. With how heavily her chest was moving up and down, I could tell that while she had other qualities to her performance, doing long-distance runs didn't belong in that category.
The same could be said for the people that chased after us. With their heavy armours and weapons only adding the burden to every step that they made, by the time we were approaching the woodlands we were hiding in right now, they already disappeared in the darkness of the night. Just by stepping a fewteen meters deep into the woods, we could make sure that they wouldn't give chase anymore.
After all, how dumb one would have to be to try looking for someone in the middle of the night, in the middle of a damned forest without even the slightest way of tracking them down properly?
"I think this is the time for you…"
Before I could even finish my sentence with that cold voice of mine, Ayda already stood up… only to fall down to her knees and smash her forehead against the soft layer at the bottom of the forest.
"I'm terribly sorry."
While I wanted to believe that the shaking of her body was real, given how she - as a witch - had to be a master of manipulating her own emotions, I had some doubts in my mind whether her current state wasn't just a ploy to soften my heart.
"What are you apologising for? If you think you can catch me by heart by acting like that…"
Once again, before I could utter any real sentence, Ayda cut me out by speaking herself.
"But I already did though?"
Standing up from her begging position, she quickly swiped the dirt from her clothes before looking at me sharply.
Thinking about this… she might actually be right. I couldn't feel the anger that fueled me before. I couldn't feel the emotion of being betrayed that I slightly felt back on the road. I couldn't even feel the bloodlust that filled me back when I was about to massacre the entire group of people just to keep them silent.
All those emotions were gone… or rather, they were quickly replaced by a surprise when Ayda suddenly pulled out a knife from some kind of hidden strap under her clothes…
Only to put it against her own throat before moving the hand with a handle to a position most comfortable for me to grasp it.
"Take the handle."
Looking at me straight with her own big, full eyes, Ayda clearly communicated to me that she wasn't willing to hear a denial right now. Curious as to what she wanted to prove with her actions, I followed her order and grabbed the handle of the knife.
And just doing that made a wave of terror wash through my entire soul. What if my hand would twitch? With how forcefully Ayda was pressing her skin against the blade… Even the smallest movement would be enough to cut her throat open.
Ayda smiled.
"No, it's not what you think."
Before I could react to what seemed like an extreme kind of fetish, the girl calmingly moved her hands up before placing them upright, as if she wanted to put a stop to my weird thoughts.
"It's not that I enjoy the threat of death. I'm just happy that putting myself in that situation, made you worry. For that… I also do apologise."
This entire situation was turning weirder with each passing moment. She didn't even start explaining herself yet, and she already had me holding her on the tip of her own dagger, all the while claiming how she was happy that this situation made me worried.
OF COURSE I WOULD GET WORRIED!
Whether she hid some stuff from me or not, there was no denying that I already started carrying for this strange girl! If not for the single source of determination that kept me going so far, I would be trying to reach the limits of how much one could desire someone else, doing everything to fulfil that desire of mine.
"Well, let's get back to the topic before you will lose yourself in those violent thoughts of yours."
Smiling lightly as if she was talking with a friend about the problematic question on the math test while sipping on her cup of bubble tea back on earth, Ayda didn't seem to care about how this situation looked in reality at all.
"First thing first, don't bother yourself with what that idiot said. The belief that a true mage is doomed to die for reasons unknown is nothing more than a stupid misinterpretation of what really has happened in the past. It's like saying that becoming the oldest person to currently live is a curse because everyone who could call themselves like that is doomed to die shortly."
This girl… I never expected her to suddenly bring something I read from a meme-gathering site as a valid argument… Yet I couldn't question its validity in any way. Because it was true that anyone who would become the oldest person to currently live would be doomed to cease living in a relatively short amount of time. But that doesn't mean that receiving this title was a lethal course. It was just another example of how turning things that were connected into causality would create just misleading assumptions.
"So what is the real reason for that legend to appear? Because from your words I think I am safe to assume that all of the true mages… died in some special way."
I wasn't a naive idiot to fully trust this girl either. As long as she was of any use for my ultimate target, I didn't mind indulging in her behaviour a little, even if that meant developing some feelings for her down the line after my mother would be already saved. But if it turned out that she was just trying to use me for her own purposes instead…
And as little as I could do in order to judge whether what she would say would be true or not, this was a type of story detailed enough for me to confront it with literally anyone. As long as I would get to talk with someone else, the truth will come to light.
"Some of them died of age. Others died on the mission. Some of them really died because overusing their craft without any responsibility… but that was something that happened through the ages and was considered to be the risk of the job, just like losing your emotions is a part of becoming a witch. What Elenair forgot to tell you, is that the majority of the true mages that lived in the last period of their existence… They were killed by the alliance made by witches and wizards.