“Sorry I won’t be finishing my guide duties,” Beldo said. “I want to stick around here and help with the cleanup.” He looked back over his shoulder at Levire, still shrouded in a thick violet mist. “Not to mention keep an eye on our count for a little while, make sure he doesn’t start any other potential world-ending catastrophes.”
“It is fine,” Lusya replied. “I do not begrudge you for prioritizing those goals. The latter benefits me as well.”
He nodded. “Thanks for understanding. You sure you can find your way fine from here? I know we’re not on your original route.”
“We are not so far as to create issues. I should be able to navigate with the aid of a map.”
He smiled. “That’s good to hear.”
“Indeed. We should be going now. I would like to make at least some progress before stopping for the night. Farewell.”
She started to turn away. Though the gray, cloud-covered sky made it difficult to gauge the exact time, it must have been late in the afternoon or early in the evening by now. They had spent quite a bit of time in Levire. That left only a few hours of travel time at best.
“Wait, Lusya,” Beldo said. She paused and looked at him. “Thank you for your help. You might have just been being selfish, but I appreciate it either way.”
“No thanks are necessary,” she said. “I thank you as well, however. By my estimate, we are ahead of schedule, if only by a few days. You have fulfilled your part of the bargain.”
“I’m a man of my word.”
“So it would seem.” She cocked her head and blinked twice. “There are sure to be other devices in this region. How do you plan to deal with them?”
Beldo raised an eyebrow. “Are you volunteering?”
“If need be.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
The remaining devices may still present a threat. She did not know how they functioned or what their capacity for gathering Malice was, but they might very well be capable of producing anti-life and endangering the world. She could not allow that to happen until she had revived Father. Besides, if nothing else, they and their stagnant Malice would harm, possibly even kill, the people in the areas they had been set. She was supposed to be worrying about that now. If that had been all, she would have had to consider how far out of her way she would need to go and the risk of continuing to expose Ariya to the stagnant Malice. However, if Lusya needed to eliminate a potential threat anyway, it would serve her promise with Ariya to consider preventing those people’s suffering for the time being an added incentive.
“Well, I really appreciate that, but it’s all right,” Beldo said. “The count will be sending out men to deactivate and dismantle the devices and relieve the posted guards of their duty. If any of the devices have accumulated too much Malice for his men to be able to enter safely, he’ll send me with some official paperwork and payment to get the guards to stand down and written instructions on turning off and taking apart the machines. And I’d prefer not to, but I can handle smashing one if I really need to.”
“I see,” Lusya replied. “Then, I suppose my business here has concluded.”
He nodded. “Looks that way.”
“Bye, Beldo!” Ariya exclaimed far more loudly than the distance between them warranted, waving a hand through the air in broad motions also more suited for someone much farther away than he was.
Beldo grinned and crouched until he was eye-level with her. “Bye, Ariya,” he said with a far more subdued wave. “I hope we meet again sometime.” He winked. “After I’ve had a chance to stock up on candy.”
Beaming, Ariya replied with an emphatic nod. “Yeah!”
“And Lusya,” Beldo said as he stood, “think long and hard on the road ahead. Take a good, hard look at everything you’ve seen and done, at what’s really important to you, and decide what you want and how you’re going to get it. It’s impossible to live without regrets, but it’s not impossible to live in a way that makes you proud in spite of those regrets.” He smiled softly. “I may have only known them briefly, but I’m sure that’s what both Azure and Romoro would want for you.”
Lusya was silent for a moment as she swiftly pushed aside the flurry of thoughts that arose at his words. There may have been some merit to them. Reviving father would make her proud and happy, she was sure of it. But would—No, not right now. She didn’t have to think about it right now.
At last, she nodded. “I will take that under consideration.” Later. “Farewell.”
“Goodbye. Safe travels.”
“Thank you. You as well.”
With that, she turned and walked, hand-in-hand with Ariya, toward the final stretch of their journey.