Mage Manual

Chapter 1743: Chapter 1290: A Little Bit of Cruelty

Felix nodded repeatedly as he listened. Indeed, rescuing Ash is one thing, but establishing a relationship with him afterward is another. Even if you find Ash, that scumbag, and want to lash out at him, you first need to find him—

However, Siflin’s impeccable suggestion received no response. Vishi stretched lazily, Weiser folded her arms and contemplated, Diya’s head hung low, and Sonia pressed her lips tightly, looking conflicted.

"You all..." Freyja glanced around, feeling as if she had fallen into an ice cavern, like she was seeing them anew: "Are you really unwilling to even save him?"

"How should I put it?" Vishi hesitated for a moment: "Altering the world line for us—"

"We are afraid of regaining our memories."

Sonia spoke calmly: "Although Siflin, you say that after we save him, we can reject our past relationship with him if we don’t like it, you think this way because you don’t understand us."

Siflin was startled.

"For example, I would never allow a lover to be unfaithful. The Witch and Silver Lamp are somewhat lenient, but, given the choice, who would want to share a lover? As for Vishi, don’t even mention it; she’s been a cold-hearted lone wolf for thousands of years, someone like her would never fall for anyone." Sonia glanced at Vishi and continued: "Though it’s possible Ash mistook Vishi’s false affections for true feelings, I think Vishi actually fell for him."

Vishi seemed not to hear Sonia’s words, she went to the fridge, opened a bottle of beer, and drank it down in gulps. Felix was baffled: "Sonia, at first you said Vishi wouldn’t like anyone, so why do you think Vishi genuinely likes Ash?"

"Because our past selves liked him." Sonia said: "Considering how much we valued Ash, we wouldn’t have allowed a scheming Ghost Prophet to meddle in this tumultuous relationship unless Vishi proved to us that she too was deeply in love with him just like us."

"So do you all understand what ’Ash Heath’ represents?" She looked at the diary photocopy in her hand, her expression unusually complex: "Not just me, the Witch, and Silver Lamp, even the Cruel and unyielding Ghost Prophet fell for him, willing to humble themselves for him, our principles were shattered by him... Even after becoming demigods, we still could not escape the emotional vortex... If you told me he was actually an Evil God, I wouldn’t be surprised at all."

"Whether it was through a miracle that he corrupted us or by his personal charm that he moved us, it all proves that we are already in his grasp. We understand ourselves well, so we know that there’s no possibility of ’leaving him after regaining our memories’, or even without restoring memories, merely reuniting with him might make us fall for him again."

Weiser concluded: "No matter how many times we repeat, we will always like him."

Diya shivered: "Why does it sound like a curse?"

"I’ll be straightforward," Sonia took a deep breath: "After reading this diary, cross-referencing it with my memories, my first reaction was relief... Relief that he has disappeared so thoroughly, leaving not a trace in my world, it’s really great. If I was to miss him like a resentful woman, I’d rather be killed."

"Without him, we would never have the power we have now, I know what’s owed to him can never be repaid, I wouldn’t hesitate even to give him my life, but ’self’ is the one price I am unwilling to pay."

"If I save him, I might no longer remain myself." Sonia said: "I would either be cruel to him or cruel to myself."

"I think Freyja was right just now." Diya whispered: "Ash is certainly the perfect lover, but precisely because he’s perfect, that’s why we’re afraid. If he wasn’t so perfect, if we didn’t love him so much, if we weren’t so happy with him... maybe we wouldn’t fear reuniting with him so much."

"Just three days ago we were donning wedding gowns for him." Weiser chuckled: "Running around with him these past six months, we must have been very happy, right? But more than the inescapable joy, I still want autonomy."

"Now is our only chance to break free from him." Vishi said: "Because every trace of him was erased, our rationality can retake the high ground, realizing how absurd our past selves were... Into the fire pit once is enough; how can we repeat the same mistake?"

Freyja hugged Siflin tightly, murmuring: "Isn’t this too cruel to him...?"

"Page 187." Sonia held up the diary photocopy: "In the Distant Realm, he first confessed his love for me and the Witch, and then I expressed the desire to break up, but we still maintained a lover relationship... Even if it’s written in his diary, I can feel how conflicted I was at that time... I believe I thought countless times about leaving him, but never succeeded."

"I’m sure you all considered letting go too, but this is the only time we truly got what we wished for. Maybe I was happy when with him, but without him in this world..." She tilted her head slightly, speaking softly: "Isn’t it quite nice too?"

Weiser said: "Even if we wanted to save him, he left no information, neither what he was doing nor where he was, not even whether he is alive, how do we save him?"

"Just from the diary, we can see he didn’t want us involved, hiding critical information like memory loss. Maybe he had his reasons, but indeed he was the one who didn’t trust us first, the one who pushed us away... even if it was ’for our own good,’ we are not his pets, he has no right to make decisions for us."

Diya exhaled in relief: "Right, since he doesn’t trust us, there’s no need for us to force it either!"

"So, have we reached a consensus?" Vishi smiled: "Looks like you finally understand, just a little bit of cruelty makes life much easier."

Felix looked at them, suddenly reminded of her selfies with ratings, an inexplicable sadness welled up inside her. She wasn’t sad for Ash, Ash’s confession was right; just reading his diary, Felix despised him from his hair to his soul. She secretly agreed not to save him; she didn’t want to know why she would send him selfies... She just realized that Sonia and the other three, they probably could never go back to how they were.

Learning cruelty, learning selfishness, Sonia and they seemed no different from other Mages now.

Turns out being truly unique wasn’t about them.

"Then, I’m leaving." Vishi said: "For now, I don’t want to provoke any of you, what are your plans?"

"I’m going back to Senluo." Weiser said: "Senluo will eventually be my lamp kingdom."

"I should fulfill the duties of the Gospel Empress." Diya sighed: "Hanna has complained so many times."

"I’m going back to Dazzling Star to spend time with family." Sonia looked at Dedarose and Felix: "Let’s part ways here."

"So, goodbye."

"Come find me when you’re free."

"Farewell."

"Hmph."

Once their plans were decided, the four of them did not hesitate any longer, said their goodbyes, and went their separate ways. Once the room was left with only Siflin and the others, Freyja took a long time to return to her senses.

Meiwa looked down at the diary copy in her hand, mumbling: "Is it really over like this?"

"It’s over." Siflin said: "Not everyone is a romantic like you."