The old man waved his sword with a straight posture and quick foot movements.
The sword cut the air as it collided with Aurora’s sword.
Slowly, the speed of that old man increased, making more sophisticated cuts, making Aurora wonder how an old man could move in such a way.
The way of directing the battle by changing the speed led Aurora to have difficult moments and adding the thoughts in her mind, her sword could not stop the old man’s sword and her cheek was cut subtly.
Aurora felt a small sting on her cheek.
“You are distracted,” said her elder master, and waved the sword back.
A quick slash Aurora tried to parry, and unlike what she expected, it was heavy and strong, causing her to lose her balance.
The old man didn’t stop and executed another slash pushing Aurora into the air like a golf ball and she controlled her body in the air and landed on her feet.
“I’m sorry, master,” Aurora apologized immediately lowering her head, and with a sigh, she muttered. “I have too many things to think about.”
The old man looked at her and put the katana away in the sheath and, after giving a simple nod, walked over to the small table where an old woman was eating snacks.
Aurora touched her cheek, and without her noticing, a white aura healed the insignificant cut.
Her gaze went to where her old masters were sitting, eating snacks she had brought for them.
It was strange... They said they were in a small dimension of Africa, but rarely had objects been here.
Although the number of times there were objects was increasing since the old woman had arrived and she was the one who invited both of them to play chess or other board games, getting the old man to stop meditating so much.
Now that they were eating, it made it obvious that this was real... Their masters were real, this place was real and while the background and reason remained hidden, everything else was real.
“Do you want to talk about something?” the old woman asked and, giving a smile, she commented. “Whenever you bring us something, it’s because you want something... Now you seem to want to talk. Well, your silly expression is also proof of that.”
A silly expression? Aurora, instead of being embarrassed by the bribe or the description of her expression, sat down with them.
“Are abyssal portals bad?” She asked aloud.
That was one of the questions on her mind that was agitating her enough to ask questions about her masters and this place.
They were the ones who assured that the abyssal portals would bring magical races, and it was with such confidence that it made more doubts rise in her mind.
The most incredible thing was that they were right.
Although she tried to suppress doubts about both masters, trying to maintain a status quo, it was difficult when more and more questions piled up.
This question sought to answer a doubt she couldn’t yet put into words completely and sought to calm her mood a bit.
“No, if we are strict, what is it to be ‘bad’?” Hesitated the old woman and when she noticed that the old man was looking at her pointedly, she ignored him and looking at Aurora, announced. “We have different conceptions of good and evil... Each person has his conception of it. It is up to each one to discover it.”
A moral conception of right and wrong was tied to the current society and values, but that conception differed between people and sometimes between powerful individuals.
For some powerful people, rules and morals were like bonds they wished to cut... Cells that held them prisoner.
A demon who liked ‘Chaos’ and ‘Disorder’ would see in a good way an abysmal portal that seemed to change things.
Aurora stood silently, unsatisfied.
The old woman basically told her they both differed completely when it came to looking at things and it was up to her to find the answer to her doubt.
It was at that moment that the old man sighed.
“Do what you wish and what you believe. I would like to believe that the only value I have taught you is to enjoy and love your sword art. As for how you use it, that’s up to you,” said the old man.
Aurora’s silence deepened.
Her master never told her what was right or wrong and in that sense, he did not engrave a sense of values.
And that she had known him since she was a child and he was basically the one who educated her when she wasn’t with her parents.
For someone who had been training swordplay with the old man since she was a child, it was normal to think that, as his apprentice and disciple, she would learn the values of her master.
However, neither his way of life nor his values matched and were never taught to her.
To love and enjoy sword art, using it as she wished... Aurora let out a long, turbulent sigh.
She had caught her master’s hint.
For someone who had treated her sword and her art as a weapon, it was common for her master to give her a hint.
After all, the only value of ‘enjoying’ and ‘loving’ her sword art was completely erased since she started to see her sword as a weapon... And for her, it was hard to enjoy, to use a weapon that could take lives.
“I’m sorry, master,” Aurora muttered, not knowing how to answer him properly.
The old man revealed no anger or annoyance and ate the snacks.
“We’ll continue the training while you can.” The old man added as he waved his hand simply.
Yes, that kind of master she had, one who was unreliable.
Without scolding her, without educating her, and without instilling values or giving her advice, he always gave her the freedom to do as she wished... The only times he was serious was when they were training.
Watching him eat next to the old woman master who was stealing his snacks, Aurora realized that perhaps his ways of life were extremely different.
The old man was seriously teaching her sword art, as if he was teaching her his way of life.
After saying a casual goodbye, Aurora murmured. “Let’s go.”
With those words, her vision changed and in an instant, she was in the room at the main camp.
Her master’s words were helpful in a unique way.
For the previous week, she had been helping the military and going on missions to rescue people.
It was quite an odyssey and at the same time quite a challenge to have to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people, but thanks to the portals and other means of movement, it was quick.
Although during that time she had not had so many confrontations and only in the last few days she had encountered a greater number of goblins, she had felt something of the atmosphere.
She wasn’t the only one; she had that doubt, but to her, it was significant.
Letting out a long sigh, she looked at the time, and seeing that it was getting close to dinnertime, she deactivated the security device in the room and went out into the hall.
They were given a small two-room apartment because of her status as captain, but the apartment’s next door were crowded and for that reason, she used an artifact when training.
Looking at Alice, who was on the living room couch reading a book, Aurora didn’t know what to say.
This building was held by the armed forces of the citizens, who could only take the most important items when evacuating.
While there were space rings to take the furniture, not everyone had it and the speed with which they acted made it impossible to get such items.
Still, Alice seemed to take this place as her home with an all too surprising assimilation.
“Are you done training yet? If you want, you can take a bath. Today Urfin will be in the kitchen as chef,” Alice said as she saw her enter and when both of their gazes met, Aurora noticed her sister’s eyes sparkle at her last words.
Just hearing herself made her get excited... It was certain that, if Urfin decided to pay her with plates of food, Alice would become the most loyal subordinate.
Aurora, instead of answering, hesitated for a moment and in the end, could not resist.
“What do you think?” She asked calmly.
On this mission, she was not alone, she was with her sister and even though Alice followed her everywhere no matter what she did; she had her own way of looking at things.
“I’d like something greasy for dinner, but surely Urfin will surprise me,” Alice replied in a serious tone, and seeing Aurora’s strange look, she let out a laugh and commented. “As for the goblins... I’m not interested in them.”
An indifferent answer, very befitting of that young woman, and Alice, without looking at her, continued.
“In the long history of Terra nova, goblins were seen in many ways. Savage monsters that kill, pillage, plunder, steal, and rape. Following their more natural instincts and giving into their nature,” Alice explained and just as casually, she commented. “But there were also scholars, noble goblin kingdoms, and goblin knights who followed strict codes of helping people.”
Giving her time to take in what she was saying, she continued.
“Sure, they were the smartest of their kind. What they knew was how to differentiate their savage nature from their reason and intelligence. Just like a human... An elf, a dwarf, a demon, a vampire, and any member of any race,” Alice commented and looking at Aurora, she specified. “In the end, it all depends on the time, the culture, the society, and the values they move with, but it’s all the same in the end.”
What was it she thought of the goblins?
They didn’t interest her because in her eyes they were all the same and just as she treated a human, she would treat a goblin... With total and complete indifference.
It was a rather unique point of view, and Aurora knew Alice had a sense of morals that was too... Peculiar.
To her someone, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ didn’t matter if they crossed her boundaries or had the task of taking care of them.
Aurora reflected on the current situation.
The goblins were in the center of the portal and the drones sighted that they were just organizing, using magical barriers to keep them from being spied on.
It wasn’t as if they knew something as technological as a drone could spy on them, but their security measures seemed to be magic-centered and functional.
The biggest reason they could evacuate all the citizens was simply that the goblins were too busy organizing.
Their numbers had been increasing, managing to create a sense of pressure on the allied forces, but Aurora sensed something different when she saw them.
Were they bad or good? Were they a race or were they monsters?
Humans liked to define everything and Aurora was no different, she just didn’t care too much before.
The goblins attacked some citizens, and there were occasional small clashes against the military forces.
Just as she told Urfin she didn’t care what they were, she would protect innocents by stopping those who tried to hurt them... She did it when human conflicts broke out and she would do it now.
Still... Still, a doubt arose in her, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“You don’t feel...”
“That this isn’t an invasion?” Alice finished the words she hadn’t been able to say, and they were both silent.
That was the doubt Aurora had been having.
She knew the goblin numbers were increasing, and the clashes happened, but that doubt was the first thing she felt.
Before, because she was evacuating people, she avoided reflecting on it, however, now it was different.
Now she could not deny that feeling that the goblins were not invading.
The higher-ups liked Duke Kristoph and Cardinal Auguste, who were the supreme authorities, took evacuation and also security seriously.
Still, that sentiment brought up too many complex questions.
If they were not invading, what were they doing?
If it was an invasion, then it meant the earthlings would be in a war, but if it wasn’t, then... what was going on?
The problem was that they didn’t know what they were dealing with on a very general level.
Would knowing what was happening change anything?
It was a hard question to answer, although Aurora was sure it would change something.
“Regardless of what happens, I’ll support you,” Alice said, smiling as she watched her ponder that topic.
Alice didn’t care and had no interest in goblins, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t move.
Maybe she was indifferent about others, but not with family, not with her sister.
Maybe they didn’t share ideals, but she would support her and help her whenever possible.
“As for your doubts... You just have to see it for your own eyes and at that time decide,” Alice added, giving a calm smile.
In the end, what it was all about was finding out on her own, with no one telling her and without other points of view affecting her own analysis.
If this wasn’t an invasion, then what kind of confrontation was it?
What kind of ‘war’ was going on?
The old man waved his sword with a straight posture and quick foot movements.
The sword cut the air as it collided with Aurora’s sword.
Slowly, the speed of that old man increased, making more sophisticated cuts, making Aurora wonder how an old man could move in such a way.
The way of directing the battle by changing the speed led Aurora to have difficult moments and adding the thoughts in her mind, her sword could not stop the old man’s sword and her cheek was cut subtly.
Aurora felt a small sting on her cheek.
“You are distracted,” said her elder master, and waved the sword back.
A quick slash Aurora tried to parry, and unlike what she expected, it was heavy and strong, causing her to lose her balance.
The old man didn’t stop and executed another slash pushing Aurora into the air like a golf ball and she controlled her body in the air and landed on her feet.
“I’m sorry, master,” Aurora apologized immediately lowering her head, and with a sigh, she muttered. “I have too many things to think about.”
The old man looked at her and put the katana away in the sheath and, after giving a simple nod, walked over to the small table where an old woman was eating snacks.
Aurora touched her cheek, and without her noticing, a white aura healed the insignificant cut.
Her gaze went to where her old masters were sitting, eating snacks she had brought for them.
It was strange... They said they were in a small dimension of Africa, but rarely had objects been here.
Although the number of times there were objects was increasing since the old woman had arrived and she was the one who invited both of them to play chess or other board games, getting the old man to stop meditating so much.
Now that they were eating, it made it obvious that this was real... Their masters were real, this place was real and while the background and reason remained hidden, everything else was real.
“Do you want to talk about something?” the old woman asked and, giving a smile, she commented. “Whenever you bring us something, it’s because you want something... Now you seem to want to talk. Well, your silly expression is also proof of that.”
A silly expression? Aurora, instead of being embarrassed by the bribe or the description of her expression, sat down with them.
“Are abyssal portals bad?” She asked aloud.
That was one of the questions on her mind that was agitating her enough to ask questions about her masters and this place.
They were the ones who assured that the abyssal portals would bring magical races, and it was with such confidence that it made more doubts rise in her mind.
The most incredible thing was that they were right.
Although she tried to suppress doubts about both masters, trying to maintain a status quo, it was difficult when more and more questions piled up.
This question sought to answer a doubt she couldn’t yet put into words completely and sought to calm her mood a bit.
“No, if we are strict, what is it to be ‘bad’?” Hesitated the old woman and when she noticed that the old man was looking at her pointedly, she ignored him and looking at Aurora, announced. “We have different conceptions of good and evil... Each person has his conception of it. It is up to each one to discover it.”
A moral conception of right and wrong was tied to the current society and values, but that conception differed between people and sometimes between powerful individuals.
For some powerful people, rules and morals were like bonds they wished to cut... Cells that held them prisoner.
A demon who liked ‘Chaos’ and ‘Disorder’ would see in a good way an abysmal portal that seemed to change things.
Aurora stood silently, unsatisfied.
The old woman basically told her they both differed completely when it came to looking at things and it was up to her to find the answer to her doubt.
It was at that moment that the old man sighed.
“Do what you wish and what you believe. I would like to believe that the only value I have taught you is to enjoy and love your sword art. As for how you use it, that’s up to you,” said the old man.
Aurora’s silence deepened.
Her master never told her what was right or wrong and in that sense, he did not engrave a sense of values.
And that she had known him since she was a child and he was basically the one who educated her when she wasn’t with her parents.
For someone who had been training swordplay with the old man since she was a child, it was normal to think that, as his apprentice and disciple, she would learn the values of her master.
However, neither his way of life nor his values matched and were never taught to her.
To love and enjoy sword art, using it as she wished... Aurora let out a long, turbulent sigh.
She had caught her master’s hint.
For someone who had treated her sword and her art as a weapon, it was common for her master to give her a hint.
After all, the only value of ‘enjoying’ and ‘loving’ her sword art was completely erased since she started to see her sword as a weapon... And for her, it was hard to enjoy, to use a weapon that could take lives.
“I’m sorry, master,” Aurora muttered, not knowing how to answer him properly.
The old man revealed no anger or annoyance and ate the snacks.
“We’ll continue the training while you can.” The old man added as he waved his hand simply.
Yes, that kind of master she had, one who was unreliable.
Without scolding her, without educating her, and without instilling values or giving her advice, he always gave her the freedom to do as she wished... The only times he was serious was when they were training.
Watching him eat next to the old woman master who was stealing his snacks, Aurora realized that perhaps his ways of life were extremely different.
The old man was seriously teaching her sword art, as if he was teaching her his way of life.
After saying a casual goodbye, Aurora murmured. “Let’s go.”
With those words, her vision changed and in an instant, she was in the room at the main camp.
Her master’s words were helpful in a unique way.
For the previous week, she had been helping the military and going on missions to rescue people.
It was quite an odyssey and at the same time quite a challenge to have to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people, but thanks to the portals and other means of movement, it was quick.
Although during that time she had not had so many confrontations and only in the last few days she had encountered a greater number of goblins, she had felt something of the atmosphere.
She wasn’t the only one; she had that doubt, but to her, it was significant.
Letting out a long sigh, she looked at the time, and seeing that it was getting close to dinnertime, she deactivated the security device in the room and went out into the hall.
They were given a small two-room apartment because of her status as captain, but the apartment’s next door were crowded and for that reason, she used an artifact when training.
Looking at Alice, who was on the living room couch reading a book, Aurora didn’t know what to say.
This building was held by the armed forces of the citizens, who could only take the most important items when evacuating.
While there were space rings to take the furniture, not everyone had it and the speed with which they acted made it impossible to get such items.
Still, Alice seemed to take this place as her home with an all too surprising assimilation.
“Are you done training yet? If you want, you can take a bath. Today Urfin will be in the kitchen as chef,” Alice said as she saw her enter and when both of their gazes met, Aurora noticed her sister’s eyes sparkle at her last words.
Just hearing herself made her get excited... It was certain that, if Urfin decided to pay her with plates of food, Alice would become the most loyal subordinate.
Aurora, instead of answering, hesitated for a moment and in the end, could not resist.
“What do you think?” She asked calmly.
On this mission, she was not alone, she was with her sister and even though Alice followed her everywhere no matter what she did; she had her own way of looking at things.
“I’d like something greasy for dinner, but surely Urfin will surprise me,” Alice replied in a serious tone, and seeing Aurora’s strange look, she let out a laugh and commented. “As for the goblins... I’m not interested in them.”
An indifferent answer, very befitting of that young woman, and Alice, without looking at her, continued.
“In the long history of Terra nova, goblins were seen in many ways. Savage monsters that kill, pillage, plunder, steal, and rape. Following their more natural instincts and giving into their nature,” Alice explained and just as casually, she commented. “But there were also scholars, noble goblin kingdoms, and goblin knights who followed strict codes of helping people.”
Giving her time to take in what she was saying, she continued.
“Sure, they were the smartest of their kind. What they knew was how to differentiate their savage nature from their reason and intelligence. Just like a human... An elf, a dwarf, a demon, a vampire, and any member of any race,” Alice commented and looking at Aurora, she specified. “In the end, it all depends on the time, the culture, the society, and the values they move with, but it’s all the same in the end.”
What was it she thought of the goblins?
They didn’t interest her because in her eyes they were all the same and just as she treated a human, she would treat a goblin... With total and complete indifference.
It was a rather unique point of view, and Aurora knew Alice had a sense of morals that was too... Peculiar.
To her someone, ‘good’ or ‘bad’ didn’t matter if they crossed her boundaries or had the task of taking care of them.
Aurora reflected on the current situation.
The goblins were in the center of the portal and the drones sighted that they were just organizing, using magical barriers to keep them from being spied on.
It wasn’t as if they knew something as technological as a drone could spy on them, but their security measures seemed to be magic-centered and functional.
The biggest reason they could evacuate all the citizens was simply that the goblins were too busy organizing.
Their numbers had been increasing, managing to create a sense of pressure on the allied forces, but Aurora sensed something different when she saw them.
Were they bad or good? Were they a race or were they monsters?
Humans liked to define everything and Aurora was no different, she just didn’t care too much before.
The goblins attacked some citizens, and there were occasional small clashes against the military forces.
Just as she told Urfin she didn’t care what they were, she would protect innocents by stopping those who tried to hurt them... She did it when human conflicts broke out and she would do it now.
Still... Still, a doubt arose in her, and she couldn’t stop thinking about it.
“You don’t feel...”
“That this isn’t an invasion?” Alice finished the words she hadn’t been able to say, and they were both silent.
That was the doubt Aurora had been having.
She knew the goblin numbers were increasing, and the clashes happened, but that doubt was the first thing she felt.
Before, because she was evacuating people, she avoided reflecting on it, however, now it was different.
Now she could not deny that feeling that the goblins were not invading.
The higher-ups liked Duke Kristoph and Cardinal Auguste, who were the supreme authorities, took evacuation and also security seriously.
Still, that sentiment brought up too many complex questions.
If they were not invading, what were they doing?
If it was an invasion, then it meant the earthlings would be in a war, but if it wasn’t, then... what was going on?
The problem was that they didn’t know what they were dealing with on a very general level.
Would knowing what was happening change anything?
It was a hard question to answer, although Aurora was sure it would change something.
“Regardless of what happens, I’ll support you,” Alice said, smiling as she watched her ponder that topic.
Alice didn’t care and had no interest in goblins, but that didn’t mean she wouldn’t move.
Maybe she was indifferent about others, but not with family, not with her sister.
Maybe they didn’t share ideals, but she would support her and help her whenever possible.
“As for your doubts... You just have to see it for your own eyes and at that time decide,” Alice added, giving a calm smile.
In the end, what it was all about was finding out on her own, with no one telling her and without other points of view affecting her own analysis.
If this wasn’t an invasion, then what kind of confrontation was it?
What kind of ‘war’ was going on?
