Chapter 76- Mixed Feelings

Chapter 76: Chapter 76- Mixed Feelings

Chapter 76- Mixed Feelings

"As long as you know that you should be careful, that’s what matters to me," Venera said as she sighed. "But I’m glad you’re ok and you could move around enough to go to the city."

"Yeah, I feel a lot better than yesterday," Rize said. "I can even move my shoulder a bit, but it needs some work."

"Mhm. Did you get the sword you’re looking for?" Venera asked.

"Yeah, here it is." Rize then pulled the sword from under his shirt and showed it to Venera, who frowned.

"You had it under your shirt the entire time?" Venera asked. "Remind me to give you a spatial storage kit. You can’t be carrying everything on you like that."

"Haha yeah, I don’t have one. I’ve been struggling to get things because of it."

Spatial Storage, as the name suggests, is a device that gives the user a small pocket space where they can store items to carry around. Since the space was completely disconnected from reality, it didn’t have the same worldly rules, so even if someone put something heavy in it, the device would still weigh the same, and it was easily carryable.

"Hmm, that’s a very weird sword you bought. Can I take a look?" Venera asked.

"Yeah, here."

Picking it up, Venera frowned as she inspected the weapon. It looked so old and fragile that for a second, she thought Rize was joking with her. ’Does he not know how a good sword looks?’

She almost wanted to believe that, but then remembered that Rize is a sword expert and a very good fighter; there was no way he would make such a foolish mistake.

"Um, is this really...?"

"Yeah, I know, it looks very old and broken. But I have a hunch this sword is special, and so I bought it." Rize smiled.

"What could be special about it?" Venera asked with a curious look as she traced the blade. She didn’t know why, but the sword gave her a very weird feeling that she couldn’t quite describe. It was as if the sword wanted to say something or send a message, but it couldn’t.

"I don’t know yet; that’s what I plan to discover. It was also very cheap, so I could just throw it away if it doesn’t have anything special about it." Rize said with a shrug.

"I see... We have a lot of good swords in the palace; you can just take one of those if you want." Venera pointed out.

"Thanks, I will if this doesn’t work out." Putting the blade aside, Rize looked at Venera. "Earlier, before I left, I met Yelena."

"You did?" Venera raised an eyebrow. "Did she tell you anything?"

"She did. A lot actually." Rize said as he recounted everything that happened to Venera. He knew that she was aware of the entire situation, so hiding it from her was pointless. After he was done, a rather solemn expression formed on Venera’s face.

"Is that so?" She muttered as she looked down. "Yeah, my father told me about the Zatharis and what they wanted. No matter how anyone tries to spin it, it is still wrong to invade their lands and try to steal their resources and then expect them not to retaliate. They’re proud people, and they don’t drop their heads to anyone."

"I agree... It still doesn’t solve the problem. Most likely, an all-out war will occur in the near future, and your father might announce that tomorrow."

"An all-out war in the Sagardian Mountain Range is a huge waste of manpower and resources. It’s for a reason my father couldn’t eliminate the Zatharis yet. It’s an extremely tough terrain to navigate, not to mention the abominations that live there. The Zatharis know how to navigate it like the back of their hands, so it makes any meaningful attempts at an invasion futile."

"Do you think a war would be a failure?" Rize asked.

"Most likely. Even if it isn’t a failure, it will take years to actually take control of the mountains." Venera said. "Either way, it’s to the advantage of the enemies. They won’t sit around and wait; they will try to deliver a strong hit to the empire."

This was the weakest Sagardia had been in a very long time, so it was a golden opportunity for the Clans and other nations to strike them.

"Either way, we will see tomorrow what he is planning. He didn’t tell me yet what he wants to do." Venera said as she sighed.

"Are you ok, Venera?"

"Hm? Yeah... It’s just... Sigh, nothing." She said with an annoyed look on her face. "More bloodshed for no meaningful reason other than greed. If I could stop it, I would... But I don’t have the power to do so."

Rize watched the frustrated look on Venera’s face, and he could only sigh. Rize knew how much responsibility Venera carried on her shoulders toward her people, and seeing them being led to their demise was something she never wanted.

He still remembers what she told him that night when he attended her brother’s awakening ceremony. Her goal was to take down this monarchy and every other monarchy that wants to rule the world with a fist iron.

To do that, she needed power, a lot of power. However, at her current stage, she was far from it, and it made her even more frustrated.

"Don’t blame yourself for this," Rize said. "It’s beyond our control at the moment. Whatever happens is bound to happen. You still have the future to change things, Venera."

"..." Venera pursed her lips. "I will stop it all. Soon enough, people won’t have to live under this illusion."

"Mm..."

"Anyway, I’m sorry for talking about this. You should get some more rest, Rize." Venera said. "Tomorrow will be a very long day."

Standing up, Venera walked to the door.

"Yeah, you too. Don’t think too much about it; everything will be fine."

"I hope so." She muttered as she left the room and closed the door behind her. Rize stared at the closed door for a few seconds before he threw himself on the bed, staring at the ceiling.

"War... huh? I’ve never really seen a war before. This might be the very first one I will ever witness with my own eyes." Rize muttered. He always found the idea of people killing each other on such a large scale to be so odd.

Why would a human wish to end another human’s life for reasons like money or control? How would that be the solution every time?

A human is ready to assault another for a belief. For something that doesn’t even exist, and it is purely in their minds. If that isn’t crazy, Rize didn’t know what is.

"Ugh, it’s so stupid. But it’s not the point. Let’s see what I got." Rize rose from the bed and grabbed his sword, inspecting it with his eyes. "Now, how did they unlock this sword’s full potential is the question? It wasn’t mentioned in the book, but I’m certain it happened."

Rize traced his fingers across the blade, searching for anything special about it, any trigger, edge, mechanism, or anything of interest.

For several minutes, he tapped around, feeling for every spot as if he were a mechanic, fixing a very fragile engine.