Alice in the Land of Steam

Chapter 1378 Are you planning to keep going like this?

I have more than one life!

Leticia had intended to say that, but then she reconsidered. It didn't seem like something to be proud of, and the words caught in her throat, leaving her feeling somewhat stifled. She looked at the girl before her with a frustrated expression, finding her nothing like the werewolves described in stories—cunning, fierce, vengeful, and brainless, easily swayed by a few provocative words. Normally, vampires in these stories played a different, positive role: cold-blooded yet elegant, proud and noble, manipulating the foolish werewolves with ease…

This is the correct script!

But now it's the other way around.

The little bat was in a bit of a dilemma.

Since she had already admitted defeat, she couldn't very well force her to continue the duel, could she? That wouldn't be the behavior of a noble and elegant vampire. But turning away and pretending nothing had happened seemed like self-deception, and she didn't want to leave in such a pathetic manner.

So, as expected—

Leticia took a deep breath, her expression turning serious. Under Selena's curious gaze, she slowly spoke: "..."

"Ah, Leticia, what are you doing here?"

The sound coming from not far away instantly dissipated the momentum that the little bat had painstakingly built up. The two of them raised their heads at the same time and looked in the direction from which the sound came. They saw a pink-haired girl leading a snow-white lamb, standing on the street outside the forest watching them.

“It’s Miss Medien!” Selena had a good impression of this goddess devotee who was close in age to her, and waved to her happily in greeting.

"Uh, Medine, Medine!?" Leticia seemed to be on high alert.

Good morning, Leticia and Miss Serena.

The pink-haired girl, leading a lamb, approached the two. She had been walking the lamb nearby at her brother's request when she heard a familiar voice and came to investigate. However, the situation seemed rather unfriendly: "Were you arguing? Or did you bully Miss Serena, Leticia?"

"That's not true." The werewolf girl shook her head. It wasn't to cover for Leticia, but she genuinely didn't think what had just happened was a conflict. She had once been a despised wandering thief, and later a holy warrior who was hostile to the Imperial Army. Regardless of her identity, she had suffered discrimination and targeting from outsiders. Compared to her, Leticia's attitude was already very friendly, as friendly as... the level of friends joking around.

"No, no, that's not true!" Little Bat also denied it outright, but her flustered tone and attempt to cover up her lie only showed that she was really bad at lying.

"Ladycia?" Medion narrowed his eyes and gave a meaningful snort. "If Shamy knew you were bullying a guest..."

They'll definitely laugh at you mercilessly, won't they?
"Ugh!" The little bat understood her unspoken meaning. Losing face in front of Shaymi was far more unacceptable than losing face in front of the guests. Her expression changed several times, her little fists clenched and unclenched repeatedly, as if she were going through a fierce internal struggle. But in the end, she slowly turned around, lowered her head, and apologized to the werewolf girl in a stiff tone: "I'm sorry, I was wrong just now. I apologize to you."

How could the proud vampires easily bow their heads?
She muttered to herself as if she had never suffered such humiliation in her life.

Serena was both amused and exasperated, but she accepted her apology nonetheless.

"Yes, that's it." Medine nodded in satisfaction. "Friends should get along well!"

"Huh, when did we become friends?" Leticia thought to herself.

Selena, however, thought Medion's words made a lot of sense and nodded in agreement. The pink-haired girl was even happier and extended an invitation to the two of them: "Since we're all friends, how about we take a walk together and chat, Miss Selena, and Leticia too?"

The little lamb, who had been waiting impatiently, bleated twice, as if urging the two to make a decision quickly.

The werewolf girl naturally agreed. Leticia originally wanted to be reserved, but seeing that Medien had been dragged away by the lambs, and Serena quickly followed, it seemed that no one cared whether she was reserved or not. So she curled her lips and reluctantly followed behind the two, just to clear her head.

Along the way, Medien and Selena chatted happily. Medien kept asking Selena about the Cult of the Creator Goddess and the Holy War Army, showing great interest in the spread of the Goddess's doctrines in the province of Atoliga. Unfortunately, Selena didn't know much about it either, as she was merely a combatant responsible for carrying out missions. The only certainty was that the vast majority of the Holy War Army members, including herself, had converted to the Goddess's faith voluntarily, largely due to their past life experiences.

Selena was once a wandering thief, Edwin was a barbarian from the desert discriminated against by the Empire, Gordan was an outcast driven from his own people, reduced to the point of having to work as a mercenary to survive, and Kalia's Dark Elf race, though part of the Empire's ruling class, was deeply divided, with the oppressed living even more difficult lives than ordinary people. Within the Holy War Army, similar experiences abounded. They were an undervalued group on the continent of Eastern Empire, where true and false gods held them in high esteem, despising their origins; evil and malevolent gods tempted them, coveting their souls and flesh. Apart from the benevolent and virtuous Goddess, no one truly accepted them. Therefore, their ultimate choices are not difficult to understand.

Hearing these words, Medion couldn't help but recall his missionary work in the Ansers region. Even though he knew that the Goddess's teachings were not accepted in the Eastern Continent, Mitch, Kadora, and others were still willing to listen to her sermons. The Grayhill Eagles never stopped them from becoming the Goddess's followers. Was it because, for them at that time, hope was always more important than anything else?

If a glimmer of hope appears in the darkness, one will grasp it without hesitation; this is the nature of humans, or indeed all living beings. So, could the real reason why the Goddess's teachings haven't spread widely in the Eastern Continent be that most people here haven't yet reached the point where they need to desperately grasp at hope? If darkness has not yet descended, there's naturally no need to grasp the last ray of light before dawn, even if it is actually warmer and brighter.

However, if it is truly necessary for the world to experience darkness before it can believe in light, then the kind-hearted girl would rather that day never come.

This is a contradiction that seems impossible to resolve for the time being. Besides, with Xia Xia tracing the fate of the Gray Hills, Mitch and Kadora have probably long forgotten themselves and the doctrines they preached, haven't they? In the end, the Goddess's faith has failed to take root in that land filled with ashes.

Thinking of this, Medine sighed sadly, drawing Selena's attention and concern. She repeatedly asked what was wrong, and the pink-haired girl thought for a moment before deciding to tell her about the uprising that had taken place in the Ansers region, but omitting the role of the Cloud Whale Sky Island group in it—of course, in this new destiny, they were no longer a part of it.

Upon learning that in another distant region, people were engaged in the same rebellion as herself and had achieved remarkable results, the werewolf girl was still excited and thrilled, even though they were rebelling against colonists rather than their former rulers. She pressed Medion for answers to many questions about Grayhill until the latter sheepishly admitted that he was just passing through and didn't know much about the situation, at which point she finally stopped.

Of course, he still kept thinking, "How wonderful! One day, our province of Atoliga will surely be able to drive away those despicable invaders and create our own peace, just like Gray Hill!"

Upon hearing this, Medion couldn't help but ask with some curiosity: "Are the Imperials invaders?"

“Of course!” The werewolf girl nodded vigorously. “But they were invaders from a long time ago!”

Medion seemed thoughtful, but didn't ask anything more.

Afterwards, their conversation shifted from Gray Hill to Cloud Whale Sky Island, and from Cloud Whale Sky Island to the Western Continent. The werewolf girl was fascinated by the unfamiliar continent across the sea, asking many strange questions. For example, was the Western Continent really as the Empire portrayed it, filled with oppression and infighting, with a greater gap between rich and poor than the Eastern Continent, where the rich exploited the poor more ruthlessly than the evil gods exploited their followers, where the poor couldn't even support themselves after working twenty hours a day, where the religious environment was harsh, where every church faced the crisis of extermination, where believers were displaced and met untimely ends, and where ruthless hounds hunted down innocent outsiders and magicians, and where ordinary people would be arrested and persecuted for discussing anything related to the mysterious world…

Medine was speechless. She wanted to tell her that the Western Continent wasn't so bad after all, but upon closer inspection... it all seemed to be true.

The self-proclaimed civilized people of the West always portray the East as a primitive and barbaric land, but are they any better themselves? At least the people of the East never shy away from the fact that their continent is rife with betrayal, deceit, evil sacrifices, and cannibalism, while the people of the West always try to cover it up with various excuses. This reminds the pink-haired girl of a famous anti-war poet's lines written in opposition to colonial wars: "The civilization that claims to be civilized is another kind of barbarity, and the barbarity that knows it is barbarity is another kind of civilization."

Conflicts are not only manifested in religion, war, or culture, but also in all aspects of civilization.

……

After circling the Cloud Whale Sky Island, they finally returned to the front of the Heavenly Heart Church. Only then did Selena remember her original purpose and asked to pray in the church. Medion naturally did not refuse, but said that he wanted to go outside for a while longer and did not accompany her into the church.

Since Medien wasn't going inside, Leticia had even less reason to share a room with the werewolf girl. So the two of them sat on the grass outside the church to rest, feeling the gentle breeze on their faces, which was quite pleasant. The little lamb wandered around the grass like it was on a treasure hunt, although no one knew what it was looking for. Perhaps it didn't know itself either; it was just simply too restless to stay still.

The little bat was still replaying the humiliating apology in her mind, wondering if she should try to get revenge elsewhere, when Medion suddenly spoke up and asked her, "Leticia, you actually really like the fairy tales that Sister Xia tells, don't you?"

"Who!" Leticia nearly jumped up from the ground in shock. "Who told you that! I hate those boring fairy tales the most!"

Indeed, everyone on Cloud Whale Island knows that Little Bat hates fairy tales the most. Every time Saint Charlotte tells stories to the trio, she is always the most dismissive, as if she has never been moved by the beautiful love or sincere friendship in fairy tales. She also always adds some violent content that is not suitable for children to the stories. In her mouth, killing can solve all problems, even though it may not conform to children's moral values.

Only Medinee disagrees.

“Just now,” she said softly, “I heard your conversation with Miss Serena.”

The pink-haired girl turned around, looked at her best friend seriously, and said, word by word, "If you didn't truly love fairy tales, you wouldn't believe those strange and wonderful settings, right?"

Werewolves and vampires are natural enemies; werewolves are impulsive and easily provoked, while vampires are noble and elegant, aristocrats of the night; the latter can easily toy with the former, like a cat playing with a mouse...

Only fairy tales are written like this, because it's too simple. It's so simple that it seems like anything in the world can be explained with a plot that even a child can understand, without being so complicated as to be difficult to calculate.

Medion's voice was soft, yet like a tiny needle, precisely piercing Leticia's layers of disguise. The little bat's cheeks instantly flushed crimson, almost as if they were about to bleed. She abruptly turned her head, her silver-white hair tracing a defiant arc in the air.

"No way," she replied curtly, probably speaking to her best friend in such a stiff tone for the first time.

"Whether you admit it or not, that's the truth. But denying it only makes you seem stubborn, while admitting it makes you seem frank." This was the first time Medine had spoken to a close friend in such a didactic tone: "I think frankness is always better than stubbornness, isn't it?"

"..." Leticia remained silent, seemingly still sulking.

But Medine's preaching didn't end there.

Actually, the most important part is what comes next.

"And," the pink-haired girl raised her head slightly, gazing up at the white clouds slowly drifting in the blue sky. The two of them were sitting on the horizon where the clouds met the sky, and the changing light and shadows made the corners of her mouth seem to outline an enigmatic smile, "Are you really planning to continue like this?"

　Give me some cats
　　(End of this chapter)