Chapter 97. Kaori’s Reasoning

After separating from Mana, Leisha, and Flora; both Kaori and I went the other way, heading towards the direction of Aurora or the headmaster’s residence which was located far east of the city which is inside one of the richest locations in the city which is rumored to have several A-Rank adventurers guarding the place almost all day long.

While walking down the streets, a sudden thought came to my mind as I looked at Kaori with a tilt before asking, “Right… I forgot about it since it has been a while but weren’t you the Queen of that kingdom called the Nostalgia Kingdom?”

“You mean that little kingdom over the south, pretty much…” she answered casually, placing her hands behind her head as she looked at me with curiosity, “Why do you ask?”

“Nothing much… I am only wondering why you have so much free time despite being a Queen of a medium-sized kingdom, wouldn’t you be busy watching over your citizens and handling the affairs of the kingdom?” I responded before she sounded a hmm.

“I guess… in normal situations, I would definitely be as busy as you say but the circumstances in my case are fairly different since I could freely move through dimensions as far as I want as long as I have touched my foot on that place once,” she said before continuing.

“Not to mention, the one handling almost everything over there is my trusted aides who always monitors every nook and corner of the kingdom. They are strong enough to deal with everything over there by themselves and their loyalty is pretty solid that even when offered by the Goddess of Dark Lilies, the chances of them betraying is only less than 0.5%, not to mention, I also have a body double there…”

I was a bit surprised by her nonchalant response, it was almost as if another normal talk for her but from the perspective of a spectator, it sounds like a bossy CEO handing all the work towards her workers while taking all the credit which made me giggle a bit as it was not the usual way Kaori works.

“You seem to have changed a bit, normally, you would be the person who would go ahead and do everything herself instead of relying on others to do the stuff for you,” I smiled before she averted her gaze, blushing.

“Why do you make it sound like a compliment when it shouldn’t be?” she responded, making me chuckle even more as I poked her cheek.

“It’s because it is a compliment; to rely on others is also called growth since being independent forever won’t solve everything, there are millions to billions of activities you cannot do by yourself which is why companions exist,” I said before she smiled wryly.

All of a sudden, a groan could be heard from the side causing both Kaori and me to be alert in an instant as we turned towards the direction of the groan where a young black-haired girl could be seen resting on the floor, her eyes drained of color.

The black-haired girl was super thin that she could practically be mistaken as a skeleton if she was only a bit thinner, her gray eyes were completely drained of color while her skin was pale as she looked at us with a tear on her eye.

I felt horrified, not because of her look but because of her state… she was a child that is for sure, yet her figure was super malnourished that a cold breath comes out from my nostrils from looking at her. She looked pitiful as she looked at both Kaori and me while others passed by like it was a normal day.

“Child, do you have a name?” Kaori looked at the girl with serious eyes, her mood had turned sour as she looked at the child who stared at her before attempting to open her mouth only to stop as she looked down with sadness.

“It seems like she can’t open her mouth… how long has she not eaten?” I said while looking at the girl with a heartache before an elderly lady stopped beside us with a frown.

“The two of you should ignore that girl, she has been there for five days now and is super suspicious…” the elderly lady warned before Kaori stood up and looked at the elderly lady with disappointment, pressure came rushing down towards the lady as Kaori’s voice echoed.

“It’s none of your business, scram…”

The elderly lady was a bit surprised but sneered as she walked out of the scene, leaving the three of us alone as Kaori looked at the child with her serious eyes. It felt like I was looking at a different Kaori almost like her other personality.

“You over there, do you have something to say?” Kaori asked the girl who looked at Kaori with an expressionless look.

“Food…” the girl opened her mouth, leaving a tiny near inaudible voice to which both Kaori and I still managed to pick up, and without hesitation, Kaori opened up her little waist bag which contained a little bit of bread, handing it to the girl as Kaori sat down, resting on the wall as she looked at me with a wry smile.

“You already know me…” Kaori said as her eyes turned gentle.

I knew from her expression what she meant, it was her nature as someone who once experienced hardship as someone who was originally extremely poor… she had seen people die from hunger and many different things that I who was born with a fair bit of inheritance couldn’t see.

Her eyes glanced back at the child as she plucked a few tiny pieces of the bread, feeding the girl gently while manipulating her mana in a special manner that felt super familiar to me… in particular, the formation of the mana was that of exchange magic.

Exchange Magic which in Solis VR means to hand someone your mana, is a type of magic where you embed mana into a special formation to which can be converted into health points by the consumer… it is a kind of healing magic, to say the least, but as handy as it may be, the spell is not taught on this world since no one has discovered it so far.

“Are you trying to heal her?” I looked at Kaori before she nodded as the little girl ate the bread before a health bar appeared above her, stunning me as her health which was nearly zero started rejuvenating back at a slow pace.

“Did you know the reason why I decided to take the Nostalgia Kingdom away from its original owners?” Kaori suddenly asked before I shook my head as a wry smile blossomed on her face, “It’s because the King and the Queen over there didn’t care about its civilians, the nobility took the civilians as their pleasure thing which angered me who only arrived here a week back…”

“I decided upon realizing the state of the kingdom to take the kingdom with my own hands and making it a place where people have all the rights they deserve, the right to be fed, to be educated, to live…” she looked at me and smiled before turning towards the girl who was smiling as she continued to be fed by Kaori who soon added.

“And most importantly… the right to smile.”