It was the first day of what would be known in the future as the seven days of death. Lefiya was in a panic, much like all the people in the city, as she heard one explosion after another. She was not included in the raid party, nor were the Amazon sisters; they watched through the window of Twilight Mansion, as the city took on a colour of crimson fire and smoke.
"Wh-What is happening?!" Lefiya could only mutter the question for which there was no answer.
They could only stand there and watch as the evil god made his announcement, marking the start of a great strife.
No one had the strength or the determination to do anything against the despair creeping up in their hearts, except the high human who alone stood in the face of despair, throwing his sword like meteor towards that very despair, To Arin it might have been just a personal thing but that move alone kept a lot of people form giving into the despair.
Then came the next day, the attack intensified, and people died on both sides.
"Umm… Are you two going to fight?" Lefiya asked the Amazon sisters, seeing they were readying their weapons.
"Yup, after all, we need all the help we can get!" Tiona turned around to face Lefiya and said with her usual cheerfulness, but Lefiya could tell that Tiona was much more serious than her usual self.
"Do you want to ask something, Lefiya?" The older Amazon sister, Tione, asked the young elf.
Lefiya mustered up the courage to ask for the favour. "Can I come with you? I am sure with my magic, we will have a great advantage over them."
"I mean, we do not mind, but are you sure? It won't be a pretty sight out there." Tione warned her, knowing that the girl had never seen bloodshed of this degree before.
"Yes! I want to fight with you and help Lady Riveria and Miss Ais!"
Lefiya wanted to prove her worth as the successor of Riveria and wanted to be someone who could help Ais with her goal, so she made the decision to enter the battlefield.
A decision she came to regret.
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Lefiya was accompanying the Amazon sisters alongside Bara, an older Amazon who was like a mother to the sisters.
"Tione, take out the guys on the left! Tiona, take care of the guys in back!" With Bara's precise instruction, they killed enemies left and right. Blood and limbs flying in the air.
Lefiya's young and naive heart was not strong enough to handle the cruel scenes the war brought with it; all her determination crumbled before this cruelty, as she emptied her stomach.
"Lefiya!" She heard Tione's voice, and as Lefiya looked up, she could see a fanatic raising his sword to kill her. The sword was brought down, but before her life could be taken by the sharp blade, another sword intercepted the strike mid-air.
"Why are you here?" The familiar voice of the person she dislikes with every bone of her body entered her ears. His cloak fluttering in the wind, as he moved his sword, eliminating the fanatic with one swing.
"Lefiya, are you okay?!" Tiona quickly finished the people in the back and ran over to check on Lefiya.
"Yeah, I am okay, Miss Tiona. I am sorry for being so useless." Lefiya said, downheartedly.
"It's fine, don't worry about it."
"Girl, you need to go back to the rear group." While the girls were trying to console the young elf. Bara did not mince her words. She knew if this continued, then the girl would die.
Lefiya could do nothing but nod her head. "I am also going there, let's go together."
Arin said and started walking ahead. Lefiya followed behind him, the bloodied scene not escaping her mind.
"Are you going back to the HQ to talk plans with Lord Finn?" Lefiya thought talking might help her forget those scenes, so she made an effort to talk with Arin even if she did not like him.
"Hm? No, I want to see Riveria, that's why I am going there." Arin said like it was something natural to do. But to Lefiya?
'THIS! This is the thing I dislike about him. Always trying to make a pass on Lady Riveria and Miss Ais.' What frustrated her more was that Riveria and Ais were letting him scott free for doing that, she could not understand what was so great about him.
Her dislike for Arin was such that Lefiya and Alicia became friends solely on their shared dislike of him.
"Are you not ashamed?" She asked him. Until now, both have tried to keep themselves out of each other's way. This was the first time she had questioned him directly.
"Why should I?" Arin asked, tilting his head like an innocent child. Which only fueled Lefiya to announce even more.
"To try and flirt not only with Lady Riveria and Miss Ais but even with Persues and Gale wind? What else?!" She asked, her voice rising higher, the emotional high she felt for the past few days seeping into her words. "You act like you can just charm everyone without any consequences! Don't you have any shame at all? Do you not have a sense of propriety?! Or are you just playing with them?!"
Arin stopped walking and turned to face her fully, his expression becoming more serious. The playful tilt of his head was gone, replaced by something more contemplative.
"Is there a rule that says a person cannot love more than one person at the same time?" he asked quietly. "Or that one person has to be more important than the others?"
Lefiya blinked, caught off guard by the directness of his question.
"Because for me," Arin continued, his voice steady and sincere, "all of them are equally important. I don't see it as flirting or playing games. I care about each of them for who they are, and I want to protect them all."
He turned and started walking again, with Lefiya following behind him. Before long, they reached the HQ and saw Riveria, while still injured, giving instructions to others.
After the instructions were complete, all the adventurers left, leaving Reviria alone, who noticed both Arin and Lefiya.
"Seeing your looks, Lefiya, it seems things did not go well, did it?" She asked, observing Lefiya, who ducked her head. "And Arin, did you come to drop her off?"
"Nope! I just wanted to see how you were doing." Lefiya could not believe his shamelessness.
Riviera's cheek gained a tint of red with how close Arin got to her face, tilting his head in front of her. "Kno-Knock it off, Arin. It is not the time for you to be messing around. Besides, did you not just leave earlier?"
"You are right," Arin said, his serious expression back on his face. He turned back to leave. "Then I will get going. It seems Lefiya wanted to talk to you."
Lefiya wanted to punch his face for embarrassing the High Elven princess like that. Well, at least until she heard the part about him recently being in the HQ, which told her that he came back most likely to escort Lefiya safely.
"So I take it you are not faring well on the frontlines, are you?" Lefiya could only lower her head in shame.
"It is not anything to be ashamed of, Lefiya. It should be us who should feel the shame, for not being strong enough to stop them who force young adventurers like you on the battlefield."
"I-It's not like that, Lady Riveria! I was not forced by anyone, I wanted to fight!"
"Even so, that does not change that we failed in our duty." Lefiya could not say anything to Riveria self self-deprecating words.
"But I will be a failed master once more and will ask you to fight Lefiya. And if you are not able to fight on the frontlines, then use your healing magic and take care of the wounded, that will help you to get used to death." Lefiya could see that it was a difficult thing for Riveria to ask her.
But Lefiya also wanted to show her that Riveria was not a failed master and that she did not make a mistake in choosing her as her disciple.
"Yes! Lady Riveria. I will try my best and show the world why I am your student."
"I am counting on you, Lefiya." Riviera smiled at her precious student and felt pride in seeing her.
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From then on, Lefiya worked as a medic, sometimes saving lives, other times failing to do so, and met another elf named Filvis, who, just like her, was afraid to enter the battlefield. And finally, on 4 day, she entered the battlefield again, helping Tione and Tiona with her magic support.
She could see that people were losing hope, and the one who brought that hope back was not the Braver nor was it the warlord, nor any other top-class adventurer, but a lone Level 2 adventurer who brought that hope back into the people's hearts.
His exploits of fighting opponents stronger than himself while protecting people earned him a nickname from the people and adventurers alike, 'The Hopebringer'.
Even Lefiya and Alicia had to respect his strength and determination.
And now that same Hopebringer was lying unconscious on the bed.