Chapter 915 - Cold ashes (Patreon)

The hug lingered in silence. Chino clung to Sofia like she was afraid she might disappear again, her face buried deep in the white robes. Sofia kept gently running her fingers through that familiar fluffy black hair, just like she had done so many times when Chino was small.

Eventually, Chino’s shoulders started shaking again.

“I saw… Burning…” she whispered, voice muffled against Sofia’s chest. “The orphanage… Did you…” Her voice cracked. “Was it…”

Sofia’s hand froze in Chino’s hair for a moment.

She took a slow, painful breath.

“It’s… How much do you know?” Sofia asked gently, almost whispering.

“They told me… That all burned… That everyone… hic-” Chino struggled to say, she pulled back slightly, looking Sofia in the eyes, desperate, “Please… Tell me… Tell me it wasn’t you…” she pleaded, another stream of tears forming at the corner of her already red eyes.

“You can tell when people lie to you, right?” she asked softly.

Chino gave a tiny nod.

“No one died in the fire I lit that day.”

Chino stiffened in her arms. “But… How… And why…”

“There was… Someone who wanted me dead. They came to the orphanage looking for me. I wasn’t there when it happened… When I returned and saw what they’d done…”

Sofia’s throat tightened painfully. She had to force the next words out.

“I burned what was left. It was the only burial I could give them. I thought… For a while, I feared you were gone too.”

Chino’s breathing hitched sharply. Her small hands clutched Sofia’s robes even tighter, knuckles turning white. “So… It really is just us?” she whispered, voice breaking. “Everyone else… Clarice… Lauri… They’re all…”

Sofia could only nod, tears rolling down her own cheeks.

“I’m so sorry, Chino.”

Chino seemed lost, dazed, for a second, before looking up at Sofia with eyes full of rage.

“Who?! Who was it?! I’ll kill them! I’ll kill them all! Their entire bloodline! Everything they–”

Sofia stopped her by pulling her back into a tight hug.

“We’re really the same, you and I…” Sofia whispered with a wry smile, “It’s a god. That’s my enemy. It might take me a few years still… But he will perish at my hands. Be sure of it. I feel the same rage as you. I won’t ask you to abandon it, but don’t let it control you. I made that mistake before; I really regret it…”

Chino sobbed in Sofia’s arms, thoughts too messy to answer. It took a long time for her to even begin to calm down, long enough that Sofia could feel the headmaster moving further away from the door to give them some privacy.

The two of them simply held each other in heavy silence, Sofia’s words hanging in the air. Only after Chino’s breathing had steadied did Sofia gently pull back.

“Let’s sit down,” Sofia suggested, helping Chino sit on a nearby couch. “Here, drink this. Moonspring water. It will help you relax.”

Chino downed the entire glass of silvery liquid without hesitation, a conflicted expression lingering on her face.

“Can you… Really kill a god, Sofia?”

“Not yet… Not yet.”

“Can I help?”

“You would have to become really strong really fast. Why don’t you leave it to big Sis here, and stomp on his corpse with me once the deed is done?”

“That…”

“I am the one he was after,” Sofia continued, “It’s only right that I get him. And I will, without a doubt.”

“What if I do it, if I get strong enough?”

Sofia smiled, “You know, level 99 is already impressive for your age. I won’t discourage you from getting stronger. In fact, I can help you if you want. But I won’t wait. In four and a half years, I will kill that sorry excuse for a ‘god’, and nobody can stop me.”

Chino was silent for a bit, processing her emotions. “Why… Why is a god after you?”

“Do you remember the night I disappeared from the orphanage?” Sofia asked.

“Yes… It was very strange. A lot of priests came the next day, but nobody would tell–” Chino stopped mid sentence. “The skyreach god was already after you?!”

“It’s a bit of a long story… Let me make this short for you…”

After Sofia gave her side of the events, from becoming the Saintess to the orphanage ambush, Chino was a lot clearer on the entire situation, and burning with even more rage than before. The soft and shy young girl seemed to have entirely disappeared. Chino paced the length of the office, her fingers clawing unconsciously into her own palms, eyes darting around like a trapped predator with nothing to bite on. Only when Sofia asked about her part of the story did she regain some calm.

She was adopted not long after Sofia left by nobles of the Red Winds Empire, Count and Countess Blacklumber, both around level 190, whose age were nearing sixty, and who desperately wanted a child but had never managed to conceive. Chino had a hard time adapting to her new life for a time, but she had nothing but praise to say about her adoptive parents, who gave her the best education they could afford and treated her with genuine care and love.

It still felt lonely, the count’s manor sometimes feeling like a gilded cage where she had no friends, so she spent a lot of time training with the count’s knights. Seeing how eager she was to participate, the count ended up letting her join them on expeditions under his supervision, as they protected the villages from the northern mountain range’s monsters

Then, when she turned twelve, the count decided to enroll her into the academy where she could fill the gap between her abundant battle experience and lacking magical theory knowledge.

And the conclusion to this all was a surprising question.

“Sofia… Are you stronger than the headmaster?”

“Probably.”

Chino nodded, “Then… Will you really help me get stronger? I want… Even if I can’t kill a god… I want to help…”

“It won’t be easy, nor safe. You might not have much time for the academy, or for much else. Are you sure?”

Chino seemed to hesitate, caught in an internal struggle.

“Ahahah…” Sofia laughed, “You’re so cute like this… Sorry, I might have taken this a bit too seriously. You don’t have to train like I do. I would prefer it if you didn’t, in fact. How about I talk with the count and the countess first? Maybe I could come visit you at home and be your private tutor, a few hours a week? What do you think?”

“That… That would be great!”

“Alright. Here, come give me another hug. I’m sorry it took me so long to come see you.”

“I’m sure you had your reasons.”

“Silly reasons. I should have come earlier. I’ll let you enjoy the rest of your last school day for now and–”

The headmaster knocked at the door, “May I?” he asked from outside.

“It’s your office,”  Sofia answered.

The headmaster entered with a light laugh, “Well, I came just in time, it looks like. Congratulations on your reunion, I suppose, before you leave, I have a proposal,” he told Sofia.

“Yes?”

“Would you give me the honor of a light spar? The students have nothing on their lips but the Phoenix and the ‘shining angel’. We only need to exchange a few flashy moves and… Well, I am sure you understand.”

Sofia raised an eyebrow, “It would be great motivation for them, is what you hope? Or are you just itching to try your skills against an outlier like me?”

The headmaster smiled, “Can it not be both?”

“I want to see it!” Chino butted in, “It’s only normal to wonder how good one’s teacher is, right?!” she pleaded to Sofia.

Sofia shook her head. “Always asking for one more story... Alright, sure, I’ll spar Sir Merad. Happy?”

“Yes! Thank you, big sis!”

“You heard her,” Sofia told the headmaster who watched over the two with a smile, “how do we do this? The storm is closing back in.”

“We have an indoor arena, of course. We will have to hold back a bit, of course. If now is good, follow me, everyone is already on the way.”

“Huh. Were you that confident that I would accept?”

“I was that confident that young Miss Blacklumber would want to see it. You did not strike me as one who would ignore the plea of a friend. Was I wrong?” Ulfric Merad asked back, stroking his short gray beard, looking a bit smug.

“... Lead the way.”

On the side, Chino was in awe of Sofia's calm confidence. She wasn’t aware about just how strong Sofia was exactly. Even if the Phoenix was impressive, she had seen just how out of this world the headmaster’s magic was during the Phageid attack, and she had to admit that it was hard to believe Sofia could be as strong as he was, even if she herself seemed convinced of it.

On the other hand Sofia’s next words seemed to indicate that she really was not worried at all.

“So… How much of a beating can you take, ‘headmaster’?”

“Oh dear…”