Triiffic-Soul: Can I Be In Control?

Chapter 131 – Decision Made

[Was it really a smart idea to agree to teach the children?] (Luna) 

[Maybe not, but learning to beat people up is never a bad thing.] (Syrus) 

[I would say it very much can be...] (Eva) 

Anlesa sped around the town looking for a place to rent for a short period of time. They found a local inn that met their needs and got a room without issue. Teaching the kids anything would be hard, considering that they didn’t plan on staying long in Greenvale.

When it came to teaching itself, there was also the issue that they wouldn’t be able to go into any personalised teaching with fourteen people to teach.

In the end, they were all in agreement that some form of self-defence and mana training for those whose attributes had been awakened would be for the best. 

[Hmm… with Leah’s hair changing slightly, I would assume her attribute has awakened.] (Eva)

[She has awakened it early, then; she is still only eight.] (Syrus)

Leah didn’t have her attribute revealed in the same ceremony that Anna was a part of. At the time, Leah was only five, so she would’ve been a part of the next batch, which would’ve occurred when she had turned nine. Having it revealed just meant a person knew what to expect when their attribute awakened.

[It was a blue shine… so that narrows down the options.] (Luna)

[Unless she has something completely out of left field. We can just ask her during the training.] (Syurs)

[That would be for the best.] (Luna)

The trio rested for most of the day, as Eva didn’t want to keep the transformation up; any extra time was simply impacting the body’s recovery, which she didn’t want.

Their body’s condition was still awful, but it wasn’t all bad news. According to Syrus, their overall body condition hadn’t dramatically worsened; their short-term condition certainly had, but that was fixable as long as they rested well. The main point was that Syrus didn’t believe that as long as they didn’t continue to stress the body, the time before their full recovery wouldn’t decrease.

This meant that Syrus wasn’t using her Blood attribute in any way to improve her senses, which was irritating, as for the past few days their hearing had been nearly blocked by how bad it had been.

The next day, Anlesa left the inn without any problems. The plan was to meet back up with Elly and the children and figure out some sort of plan to do while Syrus was in town. Anlesa also wanted a moment to do some self-training before they returned to Arisea Station.

Before they even reached Elly’s house.

They had already found an unpleasant sight.

“Hello, child.” A smiling female priest walked up to a kid on the street. It wasn’t one of the children, but Syrus did notice some of them around. Specifically, it was Ella ordering a small group of children, which included Jerry and Billy, to stay back.

“Lady, I have… Go pick up vegetables.” The small child replied. 

“It’s alright, I have your parents' permission.” The priest answered, and she pulled out a small glass tablet from her uniform.

[I really miss those travelling church bands, so much nicer to deal with than these bastards.] (Syrus)

From a quick observation, it appeared that the priest wanted to see what the child’s attribute was. Based on the familiar tablet in the priest's hand.

[Why would she even try this?] (Eva)

[Impatient, possibly greedy; we won’t know the exact reason.] (Luna)

Anlesa called out, “Hey.” 

“Yes–” The priest turned her head, only for her body to flinch back as a knife embedded itself into the wall next to the head.

“Ah! W-wha-t are you doing?!” The priest screamed.

“Me? I could be asking the same thing.” Syrus walked towards the priest. Her longsword was on her back, and her body cast a shadow onto the priest.

Syrus decided it would be best to create a grave for the priest.

“You know, who knows what you could possibly be doing to those children?” Syrus pushed; her voice darkened, leaving her question up to one's imagination. She was loud enough for a few people to turn in their direction.  

“I am a woman of the church! I would never commit such heinous acts.” The priest in  

“I wasn’t suggesting anything heinous, but if you are going to admit it, well–” Luna stepped closer, her figure standing over the priest. “It would be best if such actions never happened again.” 

The noise had grabbed most people’s attention. Some people were looking at Syrus with concern, but most seemed to understand that the priest was overstepping their bounds, though they wouldn’t have done anything about it.

“Now scram.” Syrus' eyes shone with bloodlust. “Before I take your head as a trophy.”

The priest was pissing herself scared; she rapidly nodded before running off.

Syrus noticed the nearby children had bright eyes staring at her. This brought in part an awkward pride and concern. The fact that the children had seemed so worried about the priest in the first place was a worry. 

[Luna... do priests.] Eva asked, disgusted and terrified. Any actions towards children were absolutely horrifying to her. 

Luna immediately answered, [Just as I mentioned before, only physical and emotional abuse. Other types of more horrendous actions were completely outlawed.]

[Colour me surprised.] (Syrus) 

[The Nevald Kingdom church is only a branch of the main Aurora Church, so even among the corruption that worsened every year, they could never change any rules and stipulations of the church. Otherwise, strict punishment would follow the whole branch.] (Luna)

The children weren’t the only ones to watch the incident. 

Elly went up to Anlesa. “I want to have that private talk now.”

Syrus' eyes sighed, and she followed Elly. They quickly moved to a very quiet edge of town with no one around.

[This isn’t going to be fun.] (Syrus)

Elly spoke first. “A-” 

Syrus interrupted, “Syrus.” 

Elly sighed, “Syrus... was it the church?” 

Elly’s question caused Anlesa to pause. The question could be about many things, but in all likelihood, Elly was referring to the tragedy. Originally, they purposely never told Elly who was responsible so as not to drag her and the children into any trouble. 

Luna asked, “What would make you assume that?” 

“Your attitude, for one. I’ve never seen you with so much hate in your eyes.” 

“You haven’t seen me angry often.” 

“True.” Elly agreed. “But are you not denying it?” 

“Deny... What exactly?”

Elly looked up. “How about that revenge? That has already started?”

“You saw that?” Syrus just shrugged. “I was just trying to keep the child happy.” Syrus inwardly complained about her senses being worse than normal; she should’ve noticed Elly listening in before.

“Again, your smile at that moment said otherwise...” Elly’s expression darkened. “A-Syrus, how about you stop this?” 

“Stop what?” 

“The revenge... I understand it, I really do.” Elly pleaded, “But your support is more important than losing your life while trying to get revenge on some nameless people.”

Elly prayed, “You're an innocent soul; I don’t want you to have your hands stained...” 

Luna smiled, “Elly, I appreciate your words.” She hugged the lady. “We can talk about the self-defence training when we return to your house.”

“But–” 

“Elly, I’m already far from an innocent soul.”

Elly simply teared up, and neither noticed the small retreat of footsteps.