"It's not control or command. My Salan ability is something entirely different. I can't help you out at all, Prince. If that was all you wanted to say, may we leave?" I said.
"Sidika's reports-"
I interrupted Asem.
"Sidika's reports were real. I know she knows when someone lies, but I'm the world's best liar. I deceived her, that's all.
Our conversation ended. Asem offered us a place to stay the night, but he didn't take it to heart when I said I didn't trust him. I had him look at our map and pinpoint the exact location we were at.
"Cross here. The Asian Border Patrol are stationed after that point. You have your papers with you, so entering Asian Land will hopefully not be a problem for you. Anything else you might want to say, Niam?"
"No, that's all." I paused. "Well, there is something I wanted to say but didn't."
"Go on."
"Do you love your siblings? Do you truly love and cherish Tana, the other princes and princesses, or are you more concerned about the wellbeing of the Empire?"
Asem was seemingly taken aback by this sudden question. He thought about his answer for a few seconds.
"I love them all. I'm proud of every single one of them. Tana, the rebellious First-Princess, she is very strong, both in and out of combat. Zain, the beautiful Second-Prince, who is still injured after an European attack in Central Superio. Emir, the disciplined Third-Prince, has never not exceeded our expectations. My father had sent him to the southern border. Since then, he racked up countless of bodies while protecting the Land. Since we were kids, our elders wanted Emir to become the Emperor. I could go on with my other siblings, but I will spare you the time... Your question was quite random, but I thank you. Thanks to you, memories of my siblings came to mind. I love them and would do everything in order to keep them safe."
"Good."
"Goodbye, I guess. We'll leave you." Asem said his goodbyes and left.
We waited for a few minutes until we were sure they'd left.
My back faced Tsuki. Mana swirled around her, anger tainting it. 'Whatever she is doing, she probably has a right to.' I felt Mana imbue a certain crescent-shaped object. After that, I stood still, until a swing to my head brought me down to my knees.
"I HATE you!!" Tsuki yelled.
She continued to hit me.
"Do YOU know how I felt while you were away?! First, you kill my savior Melina! Then you leave me alone at night, while I wonder, if my survival was simple luck! I hate sleeping alone! I trusted you to get information. But what did you do? You slept with some princess. You should've gone with her if you liked her that much." Tsuki beat into me.
We rarely talked about our feelings. Doing so would make us look weak and undependable to the other. If only I had known about her thoughts, I would've been extra careful to not hurt her. I needed her after all.
"Say something!"
She swung her bow at me again. Tears fell out of her eyes like a waterfall similar to what we had seen a couple days ago. Behind Tsuki, a full, blood moon. I couldn't look at it properly.
"I-"
"What?!" She stopped her assault.
"...didn't know. Is that really the only reason you hit me? If you remember, I truly regret what happened that night. I feel even greater anger about what I did. I would've also never told you, but this situation required me to speak the truth."
"SOB."
Tsuki walked towards Ganko and rode away. 'She won't go far.'
"Damn. My training seems to be effective. That'll hurt for a week. What's up with her? It's not like she couldn't have told me. We promised to keep each other safe."
I stood up and treated my injuries as good as I could. I could only treat external wounds, internal wounds had to heal on their own.
"Gin."
Gin nudged its head on my shoulder. It was seemingly concerned for my health.
"Follow Ganko. And be quick."
*NEIGH*
Gin neighed and started to walk into Tsuki's direction. She wasn't far away, she was still in my 100 meter Galaxy-Sight radius.
Tsuki had stopped to sit on a bench by a dirt path.
It was dark, so I couldn't see her face properly. I didn't know if it was the right thing to do, but I sat next to her.
"You said it once before, I seemed to have changed after we arrived in Central Superio. That day, I had subdued Alejandro and his men, and after interrogating them for a bit, you pulled me away and said I should rest. In the same night, I saw a dream where colored figures spoke to me. They said that they were me and that they were freed by Mana. I unconsciously grabbed 2, of the 3 figures, and since then, I lost emotions such as sadness and fear. And now, I simply lack the emotion needed to empathize with you. You can just tell me what I did wrong. In my perspective, I tried to get information from a mysterious woman. That woman turned out to be the Princess, and the alcohol was her weapon. I was wrapped around her finger after that, just as I said." I explained.
Tsuki's legs were up to her stomach. She hugged them while resting her chin on her knees. I tried to light a gaslight but Tsuki stopped me.
"Get it together. It was your fault too. Should've told me that you hate sleeping alone. Things would've been different."
"Do you not know what I feel?"
"No."
Tsuki leaned her head against my shoulder.
"It's your turn to stand guard while I sleep."
'Like nothing happened.'
***
"Here it is. The place where the map ends."
A once electric fence stretched out for miles in front of us.
We had finally reached it, the border.
And no matter in which direction we looked, there was nothing except the fence. We were right in the middle of nowhere. I couldn't judge if that was a good thing.
On one hand, not showing our papers to officers of the Asian Empire could decrease the chance of active pursuit. And on the other hand, showing our papers to officers and being written down as "currently in the Empire" could decrease the chance for altrications.
'Do I let our existence be known to the Empire, or do I keep our heads down and risk becoming an "illegal immigrant"?'
"There is a sign." Tsuki informed.
When I looked at the sign that Tsuki pointed at, I saw information written in many languages. Japanese was on that sign too.
"I can't read some of these Kanji. I can only read city hall." I stated.
"This Kanji says Asian, and that one says immigrants." Tsuki pointed out.
'I guess being completely Japanese has its perks. My mother rarely taught me Japanese Kanji, and I couldn't bother learning.'
"Sidika mentioned immigrants. The Asian immigrants that lived in Central Superio, tried to enter the Arabic Empire, in order to get to the Asian Empire. The immigrants should've entered their Empire via the shortest route. We are literally in the middle of the Arabic Empire. Why is a sign, that is meant to guide Asian immigrants, here?"
A was confused. Logically, immigrants should've been guided to the Asian Empire the fastest way. It made no sense that a sign was placed 10 weeks of travel away from the spot that the immigrants should've been guided to.
My skepticism considered the sign as a trap, which also affected my judgement on how to proceed. It was very likely for small fractions to have been established that not only defied the Empire's rule, but also acted as they wished. People didn't have to fear power anymore. They were a government's equal in terms of strength. 'A mere farmer can rival a soldier, thanks to Mana.'