“Nice to meet you, my name is Jennifer and I am a person that was summoned from another world”
Jennifer stood up and bowed her head lightly.
“Nice to meet you too, please call me Lachersia. I’m the head Court magician and the director of the Royal Institute of Magic and Arcane arts of the Trelos-Agapi kingdom”
Lachersia also stood up and bowed her head lightly.
Originally Lachersia only allowed Jennifer to call her “Big Sister Lache” with the intent to artificially make Jennifer feel closeness and familiarity to her. Of course, it wasn’t necessary anymore. Or it would be more accurate to say that it was useless.
But letting Jennifer call Lachersia by simply her first name came with the implication of closeness and familiarity, Lachersia also showed her goodwill and lack of condescension on her part towards the summoned heroine that was lacking in power, influence, age and knowledge when compared to herself by eliminating the need to be called “Lady Lachersia”, “Your Honor” and such. This step was necessary as it was defining the way their relationship would proceed from now on.
Seeing Jennifer sit down with a light smile showed that she didn’t have any problems with such arrangements.
“I was summoned here four days ago. Truthfully, I can’t say much about my previous life and what kind of person I was”
Hearing that they had known each other for only four days was surprising for Lachersia. She had a strange feeling and didn’t know if she was happy or sad. A small smile appeared on her lips but her eyes became deep and downcast.
“Is there a particular reason for you to not reveal that information?”
“Yes. It’s because I don’t remember anything before I was summoned”
Lachersia was confused. This sounded like an excuse but why would Jennifer go to all these lengths to simply back out in the end? Or maybe… she was speaking the truth?
“I simply woke up inside the dungeon cell after I was escorted there with no memories of the kind of life I had previously led. It could be said that I’m four days old as of now.”
Her behavior so far didn’t have any actions that could dispute the claim. It was a slightly bizarre situation but it wasn’t too unreasonable to believe.
“Does not knowing your past bother you, Jennifer?”
“Of course it did!” – would be the expected answer for any normal person. But Jennifer wasn’t exactly normal, for better or worse, so this question wasn’t useless in her case and would allow Lachersia to have a deeper understanding of the person she was questioning.
“No, not at all. In fact, I’m grateful that I don’t have to carry the emotional burdens from my past life as they would likely affect my judgment. On the other hand, ever since coming here I’ve been lost and confused. It’s hard to navigate the world when you have neither measures nor standards to go off of. But in the end, I simply like being myself and I don’t think that my past life is very important. I can create and discover new directions and standards, so it could be considered a precious opportunity”
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Even though a rare person wouldn’t care about something that made them what and who they were and the loss of that something, what Jennifer said was reasonable. There was no reason to cling to the past she didn’t know a single thing about, as cold as it may sound.
Lachersia could imagine that having memories of the other world would only drag Jennifer down and cloud her judgment. The difference in cultures and values, her personal goals, ambitions and… relationships she had lost when she was kidnapped to fight a war that didn’t have anything to do with her, all of it would become a heavy burden weighing Jennifer down.
It was said that Gods would give blessings to their champions and it was hard to imagine that Lachesis, the Exalted and Venerated Goddess of Fate, would allow a blunder such as her heroine losing all of her memories of her past life. Besides, were it a natural phenomenon, Jennifer would find it hard to act the way she had already. Her actions have been very smooth and it didn’t seem like her mind was damaged at all…
Perhaps, having all those memories being taken was a blessing for Jennifer in and of itself? She would be free from every shackle that the other world had put on her... But what kind of life had she led to cause such a blessing to appear?
Still, having no memories of her previous life meant that almost all of her believes, values, fears, preconceptions, likes and dislikes had disappeared as well. Assuming that it was the Goddess’ doing, it would probably mean that the Goddess had left some base personality in with some basic knowledge inside Jennifer’s mind. Perhaps Jennifer and whoever she was before were very similar to each other.
Perhaps there were things that would be completely unexpected within her knowledge too.
Being in this state and having to put up with the completely unreasonable demands put upon her, it was no wonder she didn’t even hesitate to show her unwillingness to fight against the Demon Wave. It must mean that some of her values must’ve stayed with her.
Maybe that was the reason that Jennifer allowed someone as dangerous as Lachersia to be around herself. Because it's natural to seek support when feeling anxious. This thought was flattering to Lachersia.
“That being said, in this world I see very little of what I want to do and what I aim to achieve. There’re many things I would like to avoid and not do though”
Even though Jennifer was smiling while saying this like she was making a joke, this statement could only be taken at face value and very seriously. She was declaring her refusal to do what she was summoned to another world for in the first place to the person that was supposed to oversee her summoning.
”I know that what I have said may be unsatisfactory, but I hope you will be able to accept this me and I’m really sorry that I wasn’t able to clarify some things you might’ve been curious about. And I must thank you for the hospitality you have shown so far. You have allowed me to see that this world has things worth protecting after all”
She didn’t say a lot indeed. But she was blameless as there wasn’t much to talk in the first place. And Lachersia was touched when she heard the last sentence. It was quite mean of Jennifer to deal this kind of blow so unexpectedly, making Lachersia’s mind go in circles and taking up most of her attention.
Yes, despite everything, Lachersia wasn’t very well versed in dealing with people. Or with those she deemed to be such.
Even though the whole conversation lasted for less than six minutes, it felt that Lachersia has spent a lot of time talking with Jennifer and came out knowing her much better. It wasn't exactly fair that it was only Lachersia that found out more about Jennifer but it only meant that Lachersia would have to show more of herself to Jennifer too.
Lachersia wasn't going to let Jennifer go even if the latter wanted to, her real self too selfish and uncaring about anything else but her own desires to let such a thing happen. She didn't feel accepted by Jennifer and wanted to break down the wall separating them, that was why she had initiated the conversation. Because as long as they continued the act they had, they would never truly be talking to each other. She didn't lie to Jennifer that it would be better for them to be open with each other as those lies could not continue on indefinitely. But she guided Jennifer to come to her own conclusions on what she meant.
Lachersia readily looked at Jennifer, made a gentle smile, stood up, spread her arms, causing the wide sleeves on her robe to flatter, and said:
“Welcome to the world of Ulke. I will be glad to have you stay with me here”
It was impossible to see the silent suffocating possessiveness behind her words and gestures.