Chapter 11: An old troll
(Zelretch's pov)
Hahahaha!!!
Unexpected, very unexpected. Who would have thought that she would do something like that.
She tried to be secretive about the whole process but doing something like that wouldn't while not noticing, at least me, wouldn't be possible even for her.
Maybe I should give him a visit just to see how the situation is over there...
"Don't even think about it."
Without any announcement, warning, or even sign, a woman clothed in beautiful kimono appeared in my office.
"Oh, if it isn't Akasha herself visiting my humble office. Forgive me if I didn't have time to prepare some tea and snacks."
I was being polite on the outside, but we both knew that I just liked to act serious around her because it annoyed her.
Hearing me, she narrowed her eyes in annoyance, and not many things in my long life bring me more joy than seeing this expression on her face.
"Can you stop this stupid act, and you know why I'm here."
She glared at me. I'm probably the only person who knows that side of hers. She tries to act serious and divine in front of people she doesn't know and is goofy in front of her family and people she wants to mess with.
"I wonder why. You see, this old man has bad memory, so can you be so kind and remind me?"
Before I could blink, I had a sword near my throat, but she won't kill me. I know that this is just a harmless threat so she wouldn't lose her face.
Shame that this doesn't work on me. A+ for trying, though.
"Don't try anything with him. He will have enough of the problems in the future, and he doesn't need you to be one of them."
"That makes me even more curious. Why are you giving him this special treatment, and even you broke your own rules for him? For what reason? As far as I know, you wouldn't move your finger even if the world was ending, and here you are, taking away Alaya's toy."
I narrowed my eyes, trying to see her reaction and answer.
"Why I'm doing things is of no concern to you. You only need to know that I did it, and I forbid you to interfere."
We both know that she can't stop me, but I'll play her game for now.
I put my hand on where my heart is.
"I hereby promise on me being #3 of 27 DAA that I won't do anything to the boy."
She gave me a deadpan look.
"...You aren't Dead Apostle in this timeline."
"I'm not?"
Of course, I knew that I wasn't, but I tried to see if she remembered it and if she didn't, then I could act however I wanted. Meaning what I was going to do anyway.
She finally put away her sword from my throat.
"Listen to me very carefully because I'm not going to repeat myself, and it will probably be the last time these words to you."
I'm intrigued now.
"Please don't do anything, at least until the cards appear."
...
Well, it certainly was something she never said to me. She never asked me to do anything. Mainly she demands it, and I pretend to agree until I don't.
It must be really important to her. I was about to agree, but Akasha had more to say.
"If you agree, I'll give Solomon a chance to survive."
My eyes went wide as I heard what she said. It shouldn't be possible, but I know that she wouldn't lie about something like that.
I calmed down quickly and turned serious for the first time since she arrived.
"Is this boy really that important?" I let my chin rest on my hands which were intertwined.
"On the grand scale, sometimes yes, sometimes no, but I don't care about that that much. I'm only doing that for my daughter."
"I didn't take you for a family person~" I started teasing her again.
"I'm full of surprises. The point is, let him alone for the next few years. After that, you will be involved enough for it to be natural."
I feel there's something more about it, but I'm not going to probe into it for now. She is giving me something that shouldn't be possible.
"What about Alaya? She wouldn't let go of him so easily, even if it was you who took him."
"It shouldn't become a problem. I made a deal with her with some... convincing on the side. She can still reach him under certain circumstances and even take him back."
I closed my eyes.
"I see..."
It would make sense. Alaya is known for being... possessive of her belongings.
I opened my eyes again. I needed to know the answer to that.
"Then how do you plan on giving Solomon a chance to survive, as you said? He is completely gone."
"As the user of 2nd True Magic, you should know how."
She went to the table where a chessboard with an unfinished game started on it. The game was pretty much won if I made a few good moves.
She picked up one of the eliminated pawns and looked at it from different angles. Shen then proceeded to return the game a few turns back.
Unsurprisingly she knew exactly how the game went on before.
"It's pretty simple. I'm taking a pawn from somewhere else and putting it on the board before an important move happens. This pawn will be able to change Solomon's fate if it's played correctly."
I raised my eyebrow.
"And who will be this pawn you speak of?"
"Don't you worry your little head about it. I already have a perfect candidate. He just has a little growing to do, but as time is not of importance to us, it doesn't really matter. I can tell you that you don't know the guy. He is outside my jurisdiction, so even I didn't meet him, although I don't have anyone better at hand. I will need to 'convince' an old friend to let me borrow him for a while, but it will be easy."
She smiled. It wasn't a pleasant smile, though. The kind of smile she gives when she plans to mess with someone. Do I look like that too?
"Now that we are done with this talk, I'll be going. I'm not as free as some people around here."
With these words, she disappeared just as fast as she appeared.
I like our talks.
But now that I was alone, I opened one of my desk drawers to take an old letter. I didn't need to read it. I already knew its content as I had read it countless times before.
"I hope that you will be able to find happiness this time... Teacher."
---
END
Discord server: https://discord.gg/HB2DweuG4J
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
kurit_kun
kurit_kun Have some idea about my story? Comment it and let me know.
Creation is hard, cheer me up!
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone