Chapter 45 The Test

At night, Aldred was in bed like usual. What wasn’t usual was that Mira was sleeping with him along with Mary on his right.

Their hands were still handcuffed together. Mary was asleep. On the other hand, Mira was wide awake. She looked at the boy, curios.

“How did you become a soldier, child?” She caressed his head. “You are so young and talented, but war isn’t a place for you. At this age, you should be playing at home with your parents.”

She grabbed his hand and ran her finger on his palm. “Rough and hard.” She then ran her hand along his forearm. “Sturdy and strong. This is the hand of a warrior, not a magician.”

She gazed at him with beautiful deep, green eyes. “And certainly isn’t the hand of a child.”

Mira got closer to Aldred, making him nervous. She smelled so nice. Like flowers. And as Aldred breathed in more, her smell became stronger in his nose. It was caramel sweet.

Her blue tight dress wrapped around her body and the outline of her breasts was wonderful. It didn’t lose out to her curvy hips and would make any men want to hold her and hug her.

A slender hand softly grabbed his chin and lifted it up. “My eyes are here, child.”

Her beautiful face was so close to him. Aldred blushed. Even though he had been in the company of beautiful women a lot of times, he still blush when he was found out of checking the goods.

Mira raised an eyebrow. The boy surprisingly had a great temptation of lust. It was normal for them to feel embarrassed, but she did not see the innocence of a boy. It felt like she was in front of a teenager instead.

“How long have you been a soldier, child?”

Aldred gulped, and nervously answered: “I think around a month now.”

“Ten years old, a month on the front line, and already at silver ranks. Is Mary your mother?”

Aldred shook his head. “She is not. But she always takes care of me.”

“Tell me who are you?”

Aldred was about to answer when Joseph brandished a sword at Mira’s neck. He glared at her. “Keep your question on hold, cresian. Remember that you are not in your own monastery, but in the barrack of your enemy. I am watching you.” He then left and returned to his bed.

Mira sighed. “Seems like sleeping is the only thing left to do.”

“Tell me about you,” Aldred asked. “Since you cannot ask questions, I will do the questioning.”

“I am a nun from the Abbey of Kristiel, in other words, I am from Ocray, the capital and religious center of Montcresia.”

Mary, Joseph, and the other soldiers flinched. They only pretended to sleep.

Aldred grabbed the sleeping Pongo and hugged him as he looked at Mira. “Ocray is located far to the west, right? What are you doing here?”

“To end the war without violence, child. So little boys at your age do not need to stain their hands with blood anymore, so the fathers, husbands, and brothers of a family do not need to be buried as a result of violence.”

“Seems like a wonderful dream.”

“It is wonderful.”

“Sadly, it will stay as a dream. You cannot end the war without violence. To stop others from using their power, you have to overpower them. How can you, a lone nun, expect to fight against an empire?”

“I do not intend to fight it. I intend to educate it.”

“What will education do? Are you going to teach people how to be grateful, how to be kind, and how to hold their anger? Let me tell you that will not work. Who you need to educate is the people in power, but good luck in making the captain or the emperor listen to you.”

Mira was intrigued. “You are highly knowledgeable for a child.” Instead of accepting and nodding to her teaching, the boy in front of her could argue against her logic which made her rethink how to reach her goals.

“I’m merely a depressed child. Nothing special.”

“Are you not interested in making the world a peaceful place?”

“Of course. I will be stronger and kill the emperor. That way I can take over the empire and everything will be peaceful.”

Joseph and the others were shocked to hear that. If Aldred said it a few weeks ago, they wouldn’t believe it, but they had seen firsthand his talents and his progress. All of them believed Aldred will reach Diamond Rank in no time. And maybe he could even reach the legendary Adamantite Rank.

“World peace cannot rely on one person. You need everyone to act and behave according to the teaching of the gospel to achieve world peace for generations to come.”

“Why not? If I eliminate all evil people, the world will be in peace.”

“And can you resist the temptation of becoming evil yourself?”

“Of course, I can.”

“Then let’s test it.” Mira ripped her tight dress and revealed her breasts.

Aldred flinched as he stared at her beautiful tiny nipples. Though her breast was full, the nipples were smaller than his pinky.

Mira smiled when she saw the boy was so intoxicated. She then rubbed her breasts and enticed him even more by giving him a seducing smile. She opened her mouth and licked her fingers before pressing her left nipples.

“What are you doing?” Aldred said while staring at her breasts.

Mira did not say anything. She kept fondling her own breast and ripping her dress more, revealing her breasts in full form. She approached, making her breasts stop right in front of his face.

Aldred’s cheeks were red. She licked her fingers again before rubbing them on her beautiful pearl-like nipple. She started moaning to entice him even more.

“Ahhhh.”

Mira smiled inwardly. She was a philosopher at heart and had been studying people’s behavior since she was a teenager. As a philosopher, she would do anything to prove her point. She shouldn’t have to prove it to a ten-year-old, but her discussion with him made her take him seriously. Yes, she tested the boy like she tested an adult. Maybe she should start to test boys at an early age, after all, it was harder to change a person when they were fully-grown adults.

Or maybe not. She did not know what impact would it do on young boys. Now, she felt stupid to test the boy in front of her. She sighed and was about to cover herself with a blanket until she felt someone sucking on her nipple.

“Eh…”