I walked upstream for a while until I found a small clearing near the river. There was a spot with a small mound of rocks, I climbed it, trying to find a spot where it was just me and the moonlight.

I stopped near the peak, right under the last rocks. I closed my eyes and imagined Kaguya sitting on top of that rock. I then climbed it and saw a girl sitting on the rock while facing the opposite side. She was dressed in white, with long silver hair and she was crying silently.

I didn't know why my mind imagined Kaguya while crying, it probably was just a manifestation of my distress.

I sat down on the rock, giving her my back, and bathed in the moonlight.

“It's been a while, Kaguya.”

“......”

“It seems that things didn't go well with Oliver. He got angry at me and said I'm powerless. I didn't expect that from him. It seems I have no one left I can count on, just like back then.”

I recalled a certain episode of my past. The night right after that event, I called Kaguya to me for the first time and told her what happened. From that time I told her this story countless times but every time still felt like the first one.

“Hey Kaguya, do you mind if I tell you that story again?”

“.........”

“In middle school, when I wasn't in class with Mark I was bullied. Mark was too busy doing his things, so I couldn't see him much. I had no one to rely on back then.

It was hard, but it was thanks to that that I could get to wake up.

One time, when I was returning from school after a really bad day, I saw a stray dog getting closer to a man, asking for food. The doggy was white and small, it was quite dirty but it was still cute. The man then kicked it away, hitting it in the temple. The doggy died just like that and the man ran away.

In the beginning, I didn't think too much about it, but after a while, that scene began to come back to my mind more and more. It took a lot of time, but in the end, I understood.

The world is mad, that's why that man killed the dog, but it can be changed. That dog couldn't do it, it hadn't the strength to, but I must do it. It was a cruel show but it taught me an important lesson, it's thanks to that lesson that Lae is still alive. I have to get even stronger and part of that is to be able to not rely on anyone, maybe Oliver's betrayal is a blessing in disguise.”

“.........”

I straightened my posture, took a deep breath, and then, with a solemn voice, almost as if it was a motto, I said:

“Keep fighting or turn dead.”

“.............”

I looked at Kaguya and saw she was crying even more copiously.

'Is she crying for me?'

“I feel better now, just your presence was enough to calm me down. I'll go back to the camp now.”

I got down from the mound, walked back to the camp, silently returned to my sleeping bag, and fell asleep right after.

The following morning I woke up feeling better than usual. When I got out of my military tent I saw Lae roasting the rest of the horned rabbits we caught yesterday.

“Just in time, master, breakfast is almost ready.”

I waited for it to be finished and in the meanwhile, Jane also woke up and sat next to me.

“Are you fine?”

I asked her.

“I'm all right.”

She replied.

For a while now, I took up the habit of checking how she was every day. She tended to get burned out after a while, so talking about it with someone from time to time helped her.

Obviously, that someone was me. It was quite troublesome but it was the price for safety. She told me about her life back at home and small details about her; in turn, I had to tell her things about me but I paid attention to tell her only unimportant things or lies.

Thanks to our talks and my blessings I came to know her weaknesses. The scene I saw using my power was a chameleon constantly changing color while being looked at by giant eyes. If I zoomed in into the eyes I could also see Jane's real figure being reflected.

I guessed that she was someone that relied heavily on how others saw her to define her self. That explained why she was so desperate for someone to rely on since she lost the mean she used to determine who she was.

I definitely could use that.

In exchange for some troubles, I could shape her the way I wanted and also keep Ron from making a move on her.

From what she told me, Ron seemed to be trying to establish himself as an emotional support to her. But unfortunately for him, I beat him in time. After she told me, I immediately warned her he was trying to use her and told her not to trust him.

While we started talking about how she did in the last battle, I used my blessing on her to check if her scene changed in any way. That was also another habit I took to study my blessing and see how much the scenes I saw could change. Until now I didn't notice any sign of change in her scene.

The more time passed, the more I liked my blessing. It wasn't a direct help like the one Oliver had but it had a lot of uses.

I could use it to understand people's weaknesses, and that wasn't useful only outside battles.

I could use an illusion to create openings as I did with Ron, and when I would learn the Charm attribute, capable of directly influencing people's minds, then my blessing would become a lethal weapon.

The only downside was that it seemed to create an empathetic connection with the target. After I used it on Jane I came to dislike her less and less. I still blamed her for being in the group that bullied Oliver but I couldn't help to think that she did it because she was desperate to blend in with that group. That, of course, didn't justify her but now I couldn't hate her completely. Also, now the thought of her suffering didn't leave me indifferent anymore.

That of course was a great weakness. It made my blessing quite dangerous but using it was still worth the risk.

Lae handed us some meat and then went to pack up my things. I went to the river to wash my face and saw Oliver sitting near it. After I washed my face in awkward silence, I was about to turn back.

“Wait.”

I stopped.

“Sorry again about how worked up I was yesterday. I still disagree but I admire you for your courage, I couldn't do what you are doing even if I wanted to.”

He kept it at that, probably because he feared Alua could hear us.

“Anyway, have you seen the book that arrived four days ago?”

Just like that, we started talking about the small stuff, forgetting about what happened yesterday.

When we returned to the camp Lae already finished preparing all my things and Alua was standing in the center.

“Here you are, now that everyone is here we can start heading back. As I mentioned a week ago, this evening the hero from the holy empire will arrive to join you in your training, we have to be back on time.”

I asked her:

“Do you know something else about him now?”

I already asked for information about him or her, when she mentioned it, but at the time she didn't have much information.

“Yes, it seems he's an extremely talented hero, with a very powerful blessing, he performed very well and managed to grow rapidly in strength. It also seems that he is someone that likes to help people since he managed to obtain the trust of the saintess Erian that decided to follow him all the way here.”

“Do you know his name?”

“Yes, his name is Mark.”

'Fuck, I knew it.'

It seemed a truck full of headaches was heading my way at full speed, again.