Chapter 010: Alright, I Believe You
"How magical..." Emilia let out a soft gasp as she watched the colorful points of light dancing at Pandora's fingertips.
Noticing this, Pandora glanced toward the wall and smiled.
"Pandora, you must be an excellent spirit arts user too, right?" After carefully holding the glowing blue Lesser Spirit, Emilia asked excitedly.
"You could say that." Pandora simply patted her head with an ambiguous response.
Just the ability to summon Lesser Spirits at will demonstrated her qualification as a spirit arts user—and a superior one at that.
"Geuse told me I have the potential to become a spirit arts user!" Like a child showing off to others, Emilia said with a laugh: "So, I'm not too bad, right?"
"Yes, Emilia is very impressive." Pandora simply nodded in agreement.
The scene resembled an older sister praising her younger sister, not just because their personalities matched, but also because their hair colors were quite similar.
Silver and platinum blonde could almost be considered the same shade of silver in the dim light.
"Could you please go onto the table?" Looking at the Lesser Spirit in her hand, Emilia asked in a pleading tone.
Without any hesitation, the blue light spot obediently landed on the table.
"Eh?" Under the blue glow, seeing the notebook filled with writing on the table, Emilia showed a surprised expression: "Pandora, are you practicing writing?"
If there had been some distance between Emilia and Pandora during the banquet, now her heart was completely open.
"Yes, I'm not very familiar with characters yet." Hearing this, Pandora nodded in response: "I just started learning tonight."
She almost couldn't help mentioning Roshi next door...
"I've been practicing too." At this moment, Emilia looked at Pandora as if she had found a new playmate, her eyes "shining."
"Pandora, tomorrow shall we..."
She automatically stopped mid-sentence.
"What's wrong?" Still savoring the joyful feeling, Pandora roughly understood what was happening.
"I sneaked out..." Looking into Pandora's blue eyes, which reminded her of the familiar Lesser Spirit in her hand, she poured out all her worries: "Am I a bad child...?"
In response, Pandora simply shook her head.
"Did you promise your mother Fortuna that you wouldn't come find me tonight?" She tried to find a convincing point: "You didn't, right? And Miss Fortuna didn't stop you from coming out, did she?"
As she spoke, she pointed toward the distant cottage outside the window.
"No... but that's because Mother Fortuna and Geuse were asleep..." She stopped when she saw Pandora waving her hand, showing a confused expression.
"They didn't stop you because they never intended to stop you."
Otherwise, how could a little girl like Emilia have managed to come all this way from such a distance, bypassing three guard posts to get here?
"Let me put it this way..." Seeing she didn't understand, Pandora changed her approach: "Why aren't you afraid of me anymore?"
Hearing this, Emilia was momentarily stunned.
"Because... because the current sister is different from the previous sister..."
"See, that's exactly why."
"Uh..."
"Miss Fortuna and Geuse are the same. Because I'm not the original me, they didn't stop you."
After all, with houses all around, any movement would be heard no matter where you went, so they were truly at ease.
Moreover, Fortuna should be arriving soon, right? For tomorrow's matter...
Knock knock knock!
As if confirming her thoughts, a knocking sound suddenly came from outside.
"Pandora... is Emilia here?"
The voice belonged to—Fortuna.
"Hurry back to your little bed with mom." Without waiting for Pandora's response, Fortuna continued: "Otherwise you'll get a spanking!"
"Oh no, oh no..." Hearing Fortuna's voice, Emilia immediately panicked: "Mom found out... what should I do..."
Seeing this, Pandora sighed.
Really, still such a child after all... Can't even see such an obvious "premeditated plan"...
But this was also one of the reasons children were so endearing.
"Miss Fortuna, please come in first." Ignoring Emilia who had hidden behind her in the bed, Pandora spoke to the door.
"Mhm." After a brief silence came the response.
Creeeak!
With the sound of the door opening, Pandora saw the person outside.
"Please sit." After turning on the light, Pandora smiled and looked at Fortuna.
Roshi must have already been told by Fortuna to keep quiet...
Nodding at Pandora, she looked toward the trembling blanket.
"Alright, Emilia." She patted the blanket and called out: "No need to be so nervous, come on out."
Hearing this, the blanket shakily moved from the head of the bed to the foot.
"Mom Fortuna... I'm sorry, I..." Just as Emilia tried to apologize, Fortuna stopped her.
"Silly child, there's no need to apologize. After all... I secretly allowed you to come out."
Stroking Emilia's head, Fortuna sighed: "Alright, Pandora, you win."
Looking at the smiling girl before her, she shook her head.
"I choose to believe you."
Before, she had judged Pandora's good and evil through subjective perception, but after half a day together, she clearly noticed Pandora's change.
If the previous smiles were "professional smiles," then the smiles during this half day were "natural smiles."
The emotions behind them showed no trace of falseness.
"Is that so..." In response, Pandora simply glanced at Emilia: "I understand."
"What kind of reaction is that..."
"A normal reaction."
"What exactly defines this 'normal reaction'..."
"After all, I only plan to stay here for one day. I'll leave after handling tomorrow's matter."
She really only intended to play matchmaker a bit, borrow some pen and paper, and also—for tomorrow's matter.
But learning this world's writing from Roshi was completely unexpected.
"Huh?"
"Sister Pandora..."