40~ The Truth of Persecution
“Dillin, are you going to spend your vacation at Coleman Academy?”
“Yeah, I don’t have anywhere else to go,” Dillin replied without even looking up upon hearing Aistride’s question. To him, it seemed like it didn’t matter where he was; it was just a change of address.
He had no place to belong here and no home to return to.
“Then what about Miss Tillysha?”
“I don’t know, but she’ll probably stay at the Crown Villa too.” Dillin answered with nonchalance.
That was a given. Now that he was staying in the estate, where else could Tillysha go?
“Is that so…” Aistride replied softly, lowering her head and clutching her intertwined hands even tighter.
With Tillysha and Dillin cohabiting in the villa for the entire vacation, one could only imagine what might or might not happen. To an outsider, their relationship was intimate enough that they had almost erased the last bit of social boundaries that separated them.
Dillin appeared to be unfazed about it, but no one truly knew how Tillysha regarded Dillin.
What kind of position did Dillin hold in her eyes?
Was he a comrade who had faced life and d*ath with her, a friend who had shared hardships with her, or perhaps…
Aistride didn’t dare to continue her train of thought. Yet, just the thought of that possibility caused her discomfort, as if a heavy stone was pressing on her chest, making it hard to breathe.
Why did she feel this way? Was it because of Dillin? Did she not want Tillysha to get too close to Dillin because of this reason?
With that thought, Aistride couldn’t help but glance at Dillin, who was still working at the desk.
She hadn’t figured out her feelings for Dillin, but after so much time had passed, she had a vague sense of it. If she still claimed not to understand, it was probably just her own reluctance to admit it.
However, this time was different. Exactly how it was different, even Aistride herself didn’t know. She couldn’t understand why her feelings had become so complicated, tangled together like a messy ball of wool, impossible to untangle.
Imagine a vacation where a young man and a young woman are alone under the same roof, with no one else around, constantly seeing each other, with their already heated relationship. Isn’t this like a pile of kindling just waiting for a spark?
Upon realizing this possibility, Aistride became slightly restless.
But this time, she absolutely had to take Sophia back to the Elf Forest. She couldn’t stay in Coleman.
Perhaps she could invite Tillysha to come along? That way, they would be separated.
No, no, what was she thinking? Tillysha had hidden her identity to avoid being known by other Moon Elves; doing this would completely go against her intentions.
Dillin was unaware of Aistride’s inner calculations. After completing the last task with the team, he began pondering about the vacation schedule.
He hadn’t finished reading the books in the library, but he couldn’t shut himself away in a world of books and ignore the outside world.
After all, reading ten thousand books is not as useful as traveling ten thousand miles.
After sealing the report form in the file bag and closing it, Dillin walked up to the third floor and arrived at the door of his room. As he was preparing to open the door, he was called back by Aistride.
“Dillin, do you need something from Miss Tillysha?”
“Hmm? No, not really.” Dillin was puzzled by Aistride’s question. Lifting his eyes, he froze momentarily.
On the door was a neat row of beautiful Elf writing, elegantly inscribing Tillysha’s name.
Uh-oh.
“Oh, I did have something to ask her, but it seems like she’s not in her room after all.” Without changing his expression, Dillin quickly altered his words and turned to leave, casually saying, “If she’s not here, then it doesn’t matter. I’ll just tell her when she comes back.”
Aistride looked at Dillin, who was walking toward his own room, with a slightly puzzled expression. From her perspective, Dillin said Tillysha wasn’t in her room and was about to leave without even knocking.
Was it because of her appearance that made Dillin change his mind about finding Tillysha?
There were indeed many secrets between them that even she couldn’t know.
For a moment, Aistride felt a loss, yet she couldn’t fully understand why.
Recalling the charming way that blonde girl, who was playing with her hair against her knees, Aistride felt a bit lost.
For some reason, every time she thought of Tillysha, the first thing that came to Aistride’s mind was the warmth of Tillysha’s breath on her knees during one of those moments in Ruglien.
Speaking of which, she hadn’t seen Tillysha all morning. Where had she gone?
Back in her room, locking the door behind her, Dillin let out a small sigh of relief that no one could perceive.
Wearing a mask for too long eventually made it impossible to take off. He had momentarily forgotten that he was now Dillin and instinctively placed himself in Tillysha’s shoes.
He hadn’t decided on the vacation plan yet. After sitting on the bed, he glanced at the golden butterfly quietly resting on the edge of the bedside table. Lazily lying down, he held the butterfly in his hand, raising it up. The golden light rippled like ripples in water, enveloping him.
Upon entering the interface of the golden hairpin, the first thing Dillin noticed was a strikingly familiar symbol: “new.”
It was indeed rare to see English in this world. Dillin clicked on the word. The scene shifted, and he arrived at the treasure pot page. The original UP items were gone, replaced by a wooden longbow wrapped in vines and pink flowers.
The “Flora Longsu” is currently UP!
This bow…
Dillin stared at the treasure pot page displaying the bow crafted like a flower vine. He felt an inexplicable sense of familiarity, as though he’d just seen a must-draw UP character or weapon and immediately felt an urge to obtain it at all costs, willing to throw everything he had at it.
But as he glanced at his almost-empty wallet, he realized that he seemed to never have the habit of saving. Every day, after finishing his daily chores, as long as he could scrape together enough for a draw, he would immediately use it, not leaving any savings for himself.
Eyes filled with longing, Dillin opened the detailed stats of the bow.
【Flora Longsu】:
【Revival】: If destroyed, can regenerate.
【Formless】: Can transform into any weapon.
【Spirit of Ten Thousand Flowers】: Amplifies the authority of divine natural powers twofold.
Upon seeing these three effects, Dillin was momentarily dumbfounded.
This bow was truly custom-made for Tillysha.
So far, Tillysha’s biggest problem was that her use of the Divine Authority and Domain required a wooden longbow, and to unleash her ultimate skill, it was necessary to destroy the Divine Artefact. This wooden bow named “Flora Longsu” not only regenerates infinitely but can also transform into any weapon other than a bow, making it practically Tillysha’s exclusive weapon.
Dillin realized a potential question: could it be that the weapon used by the Elf Divine Warrior Tillysha in a previous life was also this bow? And perhaps, what the golden butterfly was actually doing was guiding her to reclaim everything she had lost?
Since he lacked enough tokens, was there any way to obtain more?
This situation seemed too familiar, causing Dillin to instinctively look for a page where he could spend real money on virtual items. Unfortunately, the treasure pot did not allow real-money transactions, and the items in the prize pool were far beyond what money could measure.
Since he couldn’t spend money on it, Dillin had to think of other ways, like how to quickly obtain tokens.
He thought about the main quests.
The first main quest was for him to win the Crown Cup, which he successfully completed, and not once, but twice. Both championships were taken by one person.
In fifty draws, he had gotten a bottle of the mental enhancement potion, and without this potion, his journey in Ruglion might not have been as smooth sailing.
It had been a while since he last paid attention to the main quests—mainly because recent events have been rather busy, leading him to put it on hold for now.
Now wanting to draw, he remembered that the golden butterfly had such an option, so he opened the quest page.
The old quests had dimmed, indicating that they had either been completed or had timed out and couldn’t continue anymore.
Dillin then looked at the current main quest interface. A burst of golden light illuminated the faint provisions, and a line of text appeared.
【Investigate the Main Reason for the Empire’s Oppression of Heretics】
Reward: Tokens X60
The main reason for the empire’s oppression of heretics?
Is this mission really that simple?
Dillin wasn’t sure if he had yet to fully grasp the essence and difficulties of this quest or if it was truly this straightforward.
The reward was more generous than last time, yet the difficulty seemed greatly reduced. Is this a deliberate favor from the golden butterfly or does it carry a deeper meaning?
Is this hairpin attempting to guide him to learn something?
The first main quest involved a high-difficulty practical phase. Winning the Crown Cup was a battle that required both luck and strength. This time, however, it was only a short task—to investigate the cause—and that’s it.
This made Dillin wary. Were these 60 tokens truly that easy to obtain?
Investigating the cause, isn’t that easy? Simply look up information, done, right? It can all be accomplished without even leaving home.
However, the real question arose—what constituted successfully investigating the cause? The main quests of the golden butterfly offered no hints on how completion would be judged. Does one need to write a report, or will understanding the truth suffice?
It seems straightforward but offers ambiguous conditions that leave one guessing how the task might be completed. Perhaps this is the difficulty of the quest.
The empire refers to the once-mighty and vast human empire that dominated the continent but has dwindled to a shadow of its former self, exerting much less influence and power today than it once did and even lacking the capability to reclaim White Glass Kingdom.
It was a time when the empire could make the continent tremble with a mere tap. Now, it clings to survival and even self-destructiveness. Though one might sympathize, it’s hard to feel sorry.
Dillin had dabbled in the history of the empire. There had been plenty of wise rulers and plenty of incompetent ones who had caused chaos. Their actions had become so routine that surrounding countries were used to it.
Dillin remembered that the old empire used to be relatively inclusive, accepting heretics and other races, but for unknown reasons, after a devastating attack by the Demon Race, the empire changed greatly, beginning a crazed persecution of heretics and creating countless bloodbaths, with the most famous case being the one that pushed the White Glass Kingdom to declare its independence.
Karito, one of the Seven Saints representing justice, mercy, victory, glory, history, and witness, was the widely worshiped deity of numerous human nations and shared as the state religion of both the empire and the kingdom.
Still, for some strange reason, the empire enacted the “bl**d Moon Incident,” branding many believers of their own religion as heretics and wiping them out mercilessly.
Such actions intensified the conflict, leading to the independence of the White Glass Kingdom.
At least that is what the current historical records say. Dillin didn’t know more details.
As for why the empire suddenly became so fanatical and obsessive, no one knew.
A thousand years might be close, but a decade might feel distant. A lot of truths cannot be uncovered by those directly involved. To uncover the truth, one might need to wait for hundreds, even thousands, of years for someone to uncover what lies beneath the decayed empire’s coffin.
Oh, right. You can just ask Filisia.
How could he have forgotten that?
Dillin went to Filisia’s room and found her door open slightly, not fully closed. He gave a knock and walked in to find her packing her luggage.
“Did you come just to bid me farewell?” Filisia sat on the edge of the bed, a curved smile playing on her lips upon seeing him.
“Hmm, also, there are a few questions I wanted to ask you.”
“Just? Come on, I bet asking questions was the real reason you came,” Filisia teased, casting her eyes to Dillin’s lips, which made her involuntarily recall the activation of her breaking ritual from a few days ago. She looked away uncomfortably.
“Ahem. Do you remember why your White Glass Kingdom decided to split from the empire back then?”
“The split happened over a hundred years ago. I wasn’t even born yet, so how would I know?” Filisia said with a smirk. “Why are you suddenly so interested in all this? Did you start studying history or archaeology?”
“Just want to understand the reasons why the current empire has such an intolerant, even negative, stance toward heretics.”
“The reasons behind this? You’re asking the wrong person. I’m the princess of the White Glass Kingdom, not the princess of the empire.”
“As a party involved, you must have some idea, right? Unless there’s something inconvenient about it.”
“What’s inconvenient about history?” Filisia sobered. “You’re asking for the reason, and I don’t know it either. Probably, no one knows except the imperial family. But the old emperor is already dead.”
“What I can tell you is that the empire’s level of obsession back then was astonishing. They declared several dukes and marquises as heretics, and after several massacres and wars, the White Glass Duke managed to free himself from the empire’s control and declared the establishment of the White Glass Kingdom.”
“Otherwise, do you think in that kind of environment and atmosphere, who would want to start a war? The Demon Race war had already emptied the resources of all the Light Races. If the emperor hadn’t caused trouble, we would still be one family today.”
“What about today?”
“Today? The empire is still the same.” Filisia shook her head. “Some things rebound more when suppressed, and apparently, the people of the empire don’t understand this principle.”
“Why the empire people feel the need to go crazy suppressing heretics, their claim is that the Demon Army was summoned by heretics, and if heretics aren’t completely eradicated, the continent wouldn’t see peace.”
“Of course, that’s just their public excuse. Who knows the truth?”
Volume 3: Journey to Recover Memories
Prologue
“According to the official statement from the empire, the Demon Race were summoned by heretics using forbidden summoning rituals, from a place similar to an alternate dimension or subspace. They’re the primary culprits behind the invasion and loss of the continent. They must be wiped out completely.”
“Of course, this is just the public line the empire gives. The actual situation might differ from what they say,” Filisia explained to Dillin.
“In your opinion, how much truth is there in that?”
“Perhaps not all wrong, but discussing this is meaningless. Telling half the truth can be more misleading than outright lies.” Filisia shook her head. “If you’re asking for my take, I’m sure the empire isn’t telling the truth.”
“At least in my lifetime, the empire hasn’t done anything to maintain its good image. In my view, the leaders of that country are full of lies, deceiving the masses. They pretend to follow Karteito, but they’ve never truly believed in him.”
Dillin thought about how just recently at the Coleman Forest border, they had been harassed by the soldiers stationed on the edge of Coleman City. Without mentioning anything else, the lack of discipline among the lower ranks made them seem more like a group of street thugs, a point that caused Dillin to have no favorable impression of the empire.
For former subordinates to evaluate thus and express complete distrust in them indicates that, on some levels, the empire’s popularity was indeed pretty bad, with questionable conduct, earning general dissatisfaction from neighboring countries.
It became necessary after the Demon Race invasion. With the empire losing almost all its main forces during this event, they had to lower their recruitment standards, which led to the uneven quality of the army, and the outstations were often filled by such underwhelming elements.
“I think the empire’s claims are highly unreliable. Many races are still researching the reasons for the Demon Race’s appearance and have yet to arrive at a conclusion. It’s implausible that we’re all idiots except the empire.”
“Moreover, there is no explicit definition of what a heretic is. Sometimes even followers of other six saints may be labeled as heretics, indicating the extent of the empire’s obsession and lunacy, which is beyond control.”
“I understand,” with this information from Filisia, Dillin had new insights.
The empire was concealing the truth, or they may not understand it themselves, merely based on their rigid views conducted the strike against heretics, but it seems the misjudgment of their implementation led to innocent casualties.
This mission wasn’t as easy as it looked. However, he had ample time to complete this task given the holidays about to commence. He could exchange school internal points for money and go to the empire for a field investigation.
“Have you heard any recent news about the empire?”
“Are you expecting me to have been everywhere, Dillin?” Filisia responded humorously, her eyes twinkling like water-filled pearls. “I’ve been away from White Glass Kingdom for half a year. I don’t even know the news about the kingdom. How can I know the empire’s?”
“I see.”
“Why the sudden interest in the empire’s trivial matters? Just pure curiosity?”
“I have something I need to handle in connection with this.”
“I see,” Filisia realized that Dillin wasn’t giving a clear explanation and decided to accept it. Though she was a little dissatisfied.
She didn’t feel fully trusted by him.
This wasn’t wrong, since even after going through life and d*ath together, they haven’t known each other for even a year.
Yet, for some reason, Filisia felt a touch of discomfort, but she didn’t make it obvious.
“It’s best to stay away from the empire’s affairs. You might get caught up in the chaos.”
“I understand.” Dillin nodded, but he still planned to visit the empire. It wasn’t because he agreed; he had to go.
It wasn’t just for the bow that seemed so familiar. Dillin had this feeling for a long time, as if there was a whisper in his heart, calling him to find what he had lost.
Dillin had long speculated that every mission assigned by this golden butterfly might have an intention behind it, guiding himself. Who else could that be but this golden butterfly’s original owner—Tillysha?
Of course, there was another possibility.
But this possibility, Dillin had kept doubting until now, not daring to believe easily.
The memory of his past life was still vivid; he should be certain that he isn’t truly Tillysha. Yet, until today, he has even begun to doubt this certainty.
After getting the answers he needed from Filisia, Dillin walked downstairs with a contemplative look. At the entrance hall, he found Wenfu sprawled out on the sofa with bare feet, pen in hand, filling out some forms.
“Wenfu is really diligent. Just after exams, you’re already back at the grind.”
“Mr. Dillin, didn’t you learn anything from Miss Tillysha?” Wenfu pouted. “Your joking tone sounds way too similar. Not like I can judge who copied whom.”
“So, what are you doing? Are you really practicing questions?”
“Are you stupid? It’s barely days since exams ended, and you have me practicing questions? I don’t have enough cat hair left to fall!” Wenfu grumbled.
Having barely escaped the intense final exam revision filled with zero mercy for cats, Wenfu was still in a state of shock when she saw a test paper. She subconsciously calculated how long it would take to complete the questions, which ones she could answer, and which ones she could only guess at. It almost drove her crazy.
During the days leading up to the exam, she was so nervous that she even dreamt about being in the exam room, watching the sand in the hourglass run out completely while only having written one question on her paper, scaring her awake.
.jpg Cats really can’t take this
“I am filling out the holiday destination form.” Wenfu pouted slightly. “Did you fill it out, Mr. Dillin? It needs to be submitted before tonight.”
“Is there such a thing?” How is there even this in a different world?
Moreover, with such a long vacation, wasn’t it enough to just investigate where someone was going since, apart from a few, most students would simply go home?
“Hmm, I’m not too clear myself.” Wenfu scratched her soft cheeks with the end of the pen. “From what the upperclassmen say last year, there was no destination form, it’s this year’s new regulation.”
“Oh,” Dillin nodded, asking no more questions.
There was still time to write it before tonight. He would need to write two copies, one in Dillin’s tone and handwriting since this thing was essentially just for show, and wouldn’t be examined closely.
In the evening, after filling out the destination forms, Tillysha was about to deliver them to the Academic Hall when she thought of whether her roommates might have forgotten this task. She then came to Aistride’s door and tapped lightly.
Luckily Aistride was there. Upon opening the door, she saw Tillysha’s elegant and serene features.
Upon seeing Tillysha, it seemed that Aistride was slightly surprised and didn’t understand why Tillysha was finding her.
“Good evening, Aistride. Have you filled out your holiday destination form?” Tillysha pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, her delicate and refined voice gentle and lingering.
“Holiday destination form? No, I haven’t.” Aistride shook her head.
“I have an extra form here, you can use it to fill out your details. Hurry and finish quickly so we can submit them together.”
“Alright,” Aistride seemed somewhat surprised why there was suddenly a holiday destination form this year but did not say much more.
“Tillysha, please take a seat for a moment in my room.”
“Is it convenient?” Upon hearing this, though Tillysha didn’t move from the door but retained a polite smile, to Aistride, it seemed to carry a different implication.
“Of course, it is convenient.” Aistride ushered Tillysha into the room, sat neatly on the carved wooden chair, and after glancing briefly over the form, picked up the pen tip and started writing.
Tillysha sat on the chair, looking around. This was the first time she entered Aistride’s room, and also, the first time she entered a girl’s bedroom.
There was a subtle floral fragrance in Aistride’s room, like a cool rose, similar to Aistride’s usual body scent.
It was normal for a room to imbue itself with the inhabitant’s hair or body scent if one had lived there long enough.
Tillysha glanced around and then retracted her gaze.
Her first entry into a girl’s bedroom, but why was there nothing interesting? It was rather ordinary.
The bed sheets and quilts were perfectly laid without a hint of a wrinkle, books and stationery were neatly organized, no excessive accessories—everything was neat and clean.
On the right-hand side was Aistride’s prepared luggage; Tillysha sat behind Aistride’s side. From this angle, she saw the radiant silver-haired beauty peacefully holding a pen tip concentratedly, writing.
Silk-like silver hair cascaded down, contrasting vividly against the black stockings, glowing brilliantly in the warm lamplight. The silver eyelashes cast shadows, slightly veiling her eyes.
No wonder she was once enchanted by this silver-haired beauty to the point of distraction.
In the room, Aistride was dressed rather lightly—she wasn’t wearing shoes, only black stockings paired with a sleeveless shirt. This was usually how she dressed, although when she activated her domain, it seemed even more enticing.
Aistride seemed to have an affinity for black stockings.
Thinking about it, Tillysha adjusted the lace edge on her thigh, walking softly like a kitten toward Aistride’s back.
“Aistride, there’s a mistake here,” she looked at the form and stretched out her flawless white fingers, lightly tapping the seam in the middle of the form.
“Huh?” Aistride seemed startled that Tillysha suddenly appeared behind her, momentarily losing focus.
“According to my memory, your student ID should be Z705288, this Z looks too much like 2, and it could easily confuse people. I suggest you add another stroke on the Z.” At Coleman School, student IDs always begin with a letter, and besides a few minor differences, the alphabets here were similar to Latin.
“Is it so?” Aistride altered it accordingly and added a stroke on the Z.
Suddenly, Aistride felt a soft bouncy object land on her head, causing the hand holding the pen to freeze momentarily.
The next moment, a soft, boneless hand grasped hers, sending a tingle through her fingers.
“Did Aistride not learn how to draw the line for Z? It’s not from top to bottom, but like this,” Tillysha’s voice was soft and sweet, almost like cotton candy, and from this position, this larger, softer object…
Seeing the fallen strands of dazzling golden hair, Aistride guessed what was on top of her head.
She felt the pressure.
“Alright, to distinguish these two characters, you should draw like this in the future, did young Aistride learn? If so, please raise a little paw,” Tillysha mimicked the tone of a kindergarten teacher speaking to children, but received no response from Aistride.
“Aistride, are you okay?”
“Yes, I’ve learned,” Aistride’s tone remained calm, but her movements were stiff. Being held by such a hand, she seemed unwilling to move.
“Alright, I won’t disturb you anymore. You can continue filling out the form.”
Seeing Tillysha returning to her seat, Aistride finally exhaled the breath she was holding. Recalling her racing heart earlier, the two hands holding each other, they could feel each other’s warmth and the sensation of touch.
This feeling rippled through her chest, brewing into an exquisite kind of enchantment.
Aistride couldn’t fully understand it. She looked at the form again and found herself unable to settle down.
Upon completing the form, evening had already passed.
On the path, the golden and silver figures walked side by side. They had already submitted their forms and were on the way back to the dormitory.
“Your Highness will be returning to the Elf Forest during the holiday, right?”
“Hmm,” Aistride looked at Tillysha, wanting to say something but didn’t.
She wanted to ask Tillysha if she would return with her to the Elf Forest.
That place was not only her home but also Tillysha’s home.
Although she knew the reasons, Aistride still hoped that Tillysha would give the Moon Elf clan more trust.
She was born later, didn’t experience the Demon Race War, so she couldn’t understand why the elves would distrust each other.
However, she also realized that Tillysha had her own considerations, so she didn’t bring it up.
Even if she did, Tillysha probably wouldn’t agree.
Thinking about this, she started pondering, what exactly was her relationship with Tillysha?
That’s right, perhaps in Tillysha’s eyes, she was nothing more than a fellow clansman who had been together for half a year, and nothing else beyond that…
Recalling the point-to-point interactions with the young lady, Aistride felt an unexplained sense of loss. She couldn’t even figure out why it was happening.
