CHAPTER 561: CHAPTER 71: GROWING UP

Evening.

Today, it was Aske’s turn to guard the ancient book outside while the other girls had returned to Fire Island.

Aske moved a long bench from the church and sat outside the chapel, leisurely gazing at the deep night sky.

The light pollution in Solomon City had always been severe, but this time, due to the rise of the Magic Tide followed by the outbreak of a mutant event, most of the city’s lights had gone out, revealing the spectacular "Song of Iron and Fire" world’s starry night sky.

Although the continent’s topology and place names here were highly similar to those on Earth, this planet, named "Helel," was not Earth; therefore, the starry sky here was completely different from what one would observe on Earth.

There were no Big Dipper, no Southern Cross, no constellations that Aske recognized—though he probably wouldn’t have recognized them on Earth either.

The surroundings were engulfed in a solemn silence, except occasionally, a searchlight would sweep across the night sky, heading towards the edges of Ratlan Palace... Probably another incident involving attacking the Force Field Shield. It seemed that the high-dimensional creatures didn’t need sleep and were still energetically attacking humans.

"Aske," Nora’s voice came from behind.

"I’m sorry for the risk you all took to come with me," she said, crouching next to Aske’s chair and hugging her knees.

"It’s okay," Aske responded, "We didn’t encounter any danger."

Nora gently brushed her chestnut hair at the side of her face and smiled bitterly.

With the spectacle we faced when we entered the city, was that really safe? If it hadn’t been for Eleanor using the Unyielding Holy Sword’s ability-boosted shield to protect everyone, who knows what might have happened.

"I’ve spoken to my brother," she continued, "The Church Court will gradually arrange for personnel, equipment, and data to be evacuated through the secret passage to the Holy Angel Castle airport."

"We will be among the first group to evacuate."

"Okay," Aske simply nodded.

Actually, he didn’t know what else to say; confronted with this high-level mutant event that had never occurred in the original game, he couldn’t think of anything other than fleeing.

As an esports player, Aske had only extensively studied game combat and character builds. As for online game tasks and stories, the club’s resources department handled them.

For a massive instance task like the Solomon City mutation, professional clubs usually aggressively had the tech department directly capture and unpack packets, clearing all the local data updated in the game client: such as which monsters were involved, their strength, what the rewards were, and how to obtain them, all meticulous organized by planners.

As a professional player like him, all he had to do was follow the designed flow, control his character to complete the mission, and claim the full rewards.

At this stage, it hardly felt like playing a game anymore, rather it seemed more like a mundane job.

Now caught in an unknown mission storyline, without any clues or intelligence, completely in the dark, this was indeed an experience Aske hadn’t had in a long time.

He could only take it one step at a time.

A few minutes after Nora left, Aske heard Miel’s voice from behind:

"So, are we going to run away next, Aske?"

Aske was speechless, "Why are you guys constantly coming after me again?"

"It’s not fleeing, it’s a tactical retreat," he corrected Miel’s improper terminology, "just like last time we left the Empire’s allied forces."

"Last time, Eleanor saved those soldiers and knights, but what about this time?" Miel fell silent for a moment before asking, "The innocent civilians trapped inside Solomon City, those poor folks affected by the Mutants, isn’t anyone going to care for them?"

"Hey." Aske immediately became vigilant, "You better not act on your own like Eleanor!"

"I won’t, Aske," Miel shook her head, "I’m just feeling a bit... sad."

"I don’t know if you can understand this feeling? It’s like watching things slide into the worst abyss right before your eyes, yet being so powerless that you can’t do anything about it." She took a deep breath and continued, "Sometimes, I still dream about running away in the mountains near Constantinople, with people chasing me everywhere."

"I crouch by the river, trying to wash the blood off my gun, but no matter how much I wash, it doesn’t come clean..." She trailed off. Aske also fell silent, then placed his hand on her pink hair:

"Miel, you are a good and kind child. But you should know that in this world, there are many things we can’t do."

"We can only try our best, but don’t force ourselves to achieve perfect results."

"Aske..." Miel mustered her courage and said what she had always wanted to say, "I was lucky to have met you who came to rescue me back then, and it changed my life."

"But now, after the Church Court has evacuated, are the residents of Solomon City doomed to fall victim to the Mutants? There probably won’t be someone like you back then to stand up and save them," she said gloomily, "I know such things can’t be forced, I just feel... sad about my own powerlessness."

"If I could become stronger, could I... achieve what you did back then?"

"Yes," Aske replied, "You can look at Eleanor."

"She once faced unbearable atrocities and chose to stand up for justice—although we must admit that was a mistaken action—fortunately, things were eventually resolved. The Empire finally admitted defeat, and the soldiers were no longer forcibly sent to the battlefield, and she herself did not suffer irreversible harm."

"However, if we look back at the entire event from the beginning, you’ll realize that the positive outcome wasn’t because she was fighting for justice, but because she had a revelation of the Unyielding Holy Sword, which allowed her to protect herself while stopping the Emperor and the Demigod."

"On one hand, we need to acknowledge that human ideals should be beautiful and hopeful; on the other hand, we must face the reality that this world is objective and cold, operating only according to its own laws, not making any concessions for your justice and kindness."

"Attitude and means are two different things, and the latter is often more important than the former. A stance without the ability to act is meaningless. Since this world operates on the principle of ’survival of the fittest’ where the strong have a voice, we must strive to become stronger and earn the right to influence things we want to improve."

Having her mindset washed again with Aske’s "Strong Theory," this time Miel didn’t immediately nod in renewed spirit but remained silent for a long time before slowly asking:

"But what if the cost of becoming stronger is choosing another path, facing an even more uncertain future?"

"Miel, everyone’s path is unknown," Aske said lightly, "It’s just that your path ahead holds more possibilities than ours."

"This path is called ’growing up.’"

Miel: ..........

"I don’t want to talk to you anymore!" She muttered sullenly and turned to run away.

Aske: ??

He was stunned for a long while, a confused expression on his face.