Lukas said that they needed time to discuss.
Elijah accepted this without thinking too much about it, but he gave Lukas a deep look of interest before leaving the room.
Lukas deliberately pretended not to notice his gaze.
Thud-
After the door closed, silence befell the room for a moment. Lukas sat on a nearby wooden box, lost in thought.
Currently, there were two paths they could take.
The first was to go to Kran as they had originally intended.
To do that, they would have to say goodbye to the Gray Sun. In other words, they would have to refuse their request for help. This might cause the Gray Sun to feel discontented, and there was a chance that they would do something drastic.
Of course, he wasn’t really worried about that.
The Gray Sun already had its hands full carrying out resistance activities. It couldn’t afford to pay attention to Lukas and Joanna, and if it did, it would only be a weak observation.
It was almost certain that they wouldn’t want their relationship to devolve beyond that point.
So the first path wasn’t so bad. In fact, it might even be the best choice.
After all, meeting the Top Three was the reason he came to this land in the first place.
‘However…’
Lukas recalled the halfblood boy he’d just seen.
Hybrid.
A being who had the traits of both the demons and the humans.
God had talked about being able to ‘fool the laws of this universe’.
So what if the hint wasn’t about Kran but about the half-bloods?
In fact, wasn’t it Lukas’ assumption that the hint, ‘three’, that God had mentioned to Sedi referred to the Top Three?
Helping the Gray Sun might give him more clues on ‘hybrid’, which he was still uncertain about.
That wasn’t the only advantage.
Lee Jong-hak had said that the true identity of Dragul Phisfounder, the ruler of Zinga, was Gullard, the Vampire Duke.
One of the Five Dukes, who was the most powerful and influential among the Demon Dukes.
Lukas had never met one of the five dukes before. That wasn’t all. Unlike the other Dukes, whose information was easily attainable, little was known about the Five Dukes.
And yet, such a mysterious being had Iris’ last name. At first, he thought it might have been a mere coincidence, but now, he wasn’t sure if that was the case.
The most obvious way to resolve his doubts was to capture Gullard alive and ask him about the last name ‘Phisfounder’.
But that was hard for Lukas at the moment.
‘I can’t overpower one of the Five Dukes with just 9 star magic.’
It might be possible to kill him, but that would be going against his agreement with Sedi. And it wasn’t the time to do so. He at least had to maintain his alliance with her until they got rid of Nodiesop and figured out Letip’s goal.
Then what could he do?
The only other power that Lukas could use at that moment was Joanna, but even if she was an Archmage, she would only end up dead if she ever had to fight against a Duke.
Furthermore, capturing a target was many times more difficult than killing one.
“…”
Lukas turned to look at Joanna.
She still had her head bowed in a depressed manner.
“Joanna.”
“Yeah.”
Joanna looked up at Lukas. Her gaze seemed to be asking him what he wanted.
“Are you feeling guilty? Or perhaps you’re disappointed by North America’s policy.”
“…I.”
She bit her lip for a moment before finally opening her mouth.
“I never thought it would be like this.”
“…”
“I grew up thinking that America was the best. And I thought that while being revered as the leader of the world, we were fulfilling the duties and responsibilities that came with such a position. But we weren’t.”
Joanna wasn’t really to blame for this. After all, the trust and approval that Neil gained from the Americans were overwhelming.
Gaining such trust wasn’t particularly difficult for him. As Lukas always said, he was a transformer who only appears once every thousand years. For him, securing public sentiment and manipulating public opinion was as easy as flipping your hand over.
In a way, Neil had deceived the entirety of North America.
And Joanna was one of the many people who had been fooled by this deception.
“Do you think America is wrong?”
“…that…”
Joanna opened her mouth, but the words wouldn’t come out. After a while, she could only lower her head again.
Only then did Lukas notice Joanna’s biggest flaw. The reason why she couldn’t become a true 7 star Archmage.
Joanna had become too reliant and entangled. And in this state, she didn’t know how to move on her own.
North America had always supported her. It would be accurate to say that she depended on them. She was afraid to stand on her own. She was worried that the shield which protected her, would disappear.
This wasn’t something to despise her over. After all, no one hated the warmth of a shelter. The feeling of gently closing your eyes without having to worry about anything.
However, to grow up, to be a better being, you had to have the courage to step out of that warm room on your own.
Lukas had been lost once, too. There was a time when he hadn’t been confident that he would be able to handle the storms of the world alone. He lacked confidence in himself. He stayed up all day and all night, drowning in his thoughts, but he still couldn’t find an answer.
After all, the answer laid outside the warm shelter. In the harsh, freezing winds which tore at his flesh and nibbled at his bones.
Only those who had managed to step into those cold winds deserved to be called Great Wizards.
“Are you America?”
“Huh?”
“If not, then there’s no need for you to feel guilty for the wrongs they have committed. Because you’re not the one who committed them.”
Lukas looked at Joanna and saw a lost being who was in desperate need of advice.
“Being a part of an organisation isn’t a bad thing. Especially if it’s with people you like or care about. However, that doesn’t mean you have to leave your thoughts and choices to the group.”
“…!”
“Maybe it’s the Association President or other executives who give you orders. But it’s up to you to decide whether you want to accept those orders or not. Because in the end, you will have to take responsibility for your actions. So think carefully before making a decision. So that in ten years, you wouldn’t look back and regret something you did now.”
Maybe he was more determined to help Joanna after teaching Leo and Min Ha-rin.
The people Lukas felt the most sorriest for, were those who were born with outstanding talent and good personalities but fell onto the wrong path.
Many of them walked along this path to the point where they could no longer turn back.
But Joanna hadn’t. It was not too late for her.
“This place is outside of President Neil’s reach. So you have plenty of time to think for yourself, no one will interrupt you. Take this time to make your conclusions. And when you’ve found the answer, tell me.”
“…”
After those words, silence fell once again.
Outside, people seemed to be moving around hurriedly, as their bustling footsteps could be heard.
Then, the sound of breathing could be heard.
It was Joanna.
She took a few deep breaths before slowly raising her head again.
“Why should I tell you that?”
Her voice was still soft, but it seemed that she had regained some of her energy.
Lukas smiled.
“Of course, it’s up to you whether you tell me or not.”
“…you’re a good talker. You’d be amazing if you were in sales or something like that.”
After saying that, Joanna suddenly let out a soft cough before glancing at Lukas and blushing slightly.
“A-, and. Thank you for comforting…”
It was at that moment that the door was suddenly opened and someone walked in.
Joanna frowned as she turned to look at the door.
A man was standing there.
It was the man who had been sitting on Elijah’s left earlier. He had a tattoo of three suns on his forearm.
Now that she thought about it, she realised she hadn’t heard his name yet.
The man spoke in a blunt tone.
“Have you made a decision yet?”
“Haven’t you heard about knocking?”
The man folded his arms instead of answering. It seemed that he didn’t like Joanna either.
If it had been before, she might have flinched at this action, but now, she didn’t react in any way.
Joanna turned to glance at Lukas, who nodded to say that she could decide on her own.
She felt greatly encouraged by his attitude.
This man was a strange person.
He was weak, his looks were only so-so, and he didn’t seem to have any special abilities, but strangely, she couldn’t treat him lightly.
Joanna had a wide range of knowledge since, instead of hunting, she frequently met with the famous hunters and leaders of various regions.
Thanks to that, she was able to build a facade that allowed her to not shrink back when faced with the various big names.
Nevertheless, she had been completely overwhelmed by Elijah Kipatosh. The pressure that this man, the Big Boss of the Gray Suns, gave her was beyond imagination.
At first, Joanna was able to pretend to be determined, but it didn’t take long for him to peel her mask off, causing her to flounder.
But Lukas didn’t.
He had clearly expressed his opinion in his distinctively calm demeanor. It was as though he couldn’t feel the heavy pressure rolling off Elijah’s body.
It was only then that Joanna saw the true face of this man named Frey.
‘This man is weak, but he’s not weak-willed.’
At the very least, Lukas had always displayed confidence in himself.
When he’d run away during the beast tide, she’d wanted to pull his head off, but when he returned she couldn’t even be mad at him. Because he acted like he’d done nothing wrong.
It was to the point that Joanna couldn’t help but wonder if maybe something was wrong with him. Nevertheless, she couldn’t help but envy him a little.
‘I want to live like that too.’
Though faint, it couldn’t be denied that she’d had that thought.
She had a thought that she’d never had even with Association President Neil, whom she admired the most, for a man that she hadn’t even known for a week.
“Joanna Goldberg.”
The man at the door called her name as if urging her to answer.
Joanna turned to learn him.
Lukas had already displayed the attitude of leaving the decision to her. So Joanna had to make a choice that wouldn’t disappoint his expectations.
But at the same time, she had to make a choice she wouldn’t regret.
Her lips slowly parted.
(TL: Changed mixed race to halfblood. I just felt it sounded nicer.)