A gentleman can be deceived by principles.
Ron’s strategy stemmed from his understanding and familiarity with Isis, and after this period of contact, he was confident he could persuade and manage the Hero.
“What do you want? Or rather… what do you want me to do?”
After a silence, Isis’s tone was noticeably much softer than before, no longer carrying the overt hint of threat.
“You should have guessed.”
Ron let out a long sigh.
He understood that it was precisely because she was unwilling to fall into becoming a demon, because of her adherence to the honor of the Hero and the quality of her convictions, that Isis had held on until now.
Even her motive for seeking Lifa was to pin her hopes on the so-called Destiny as a final insurance, to avoid the worst outcome, allowing herself to die as a Hero and not as the Demon King.
“I hope that after we help you find the origin crystal, you will stop pestering Lifa.”
Ron had formulated this sentence long ago, but the taste of actually saying it out loud wasn’t very good.
The outcome from the last save file was still vivid in his mind. After observing Isis for several days, he had made an assessment.
Perhaps as long as he didn’t expose his identity and didn’t trigger Isis’s actually fragile emotional and mental state into severe fluctuations, her condition might still hold on for a considerable period of time, especially after obtaining the origin crystal.
Over a dozen seconds passed. Isis used silence to avoid the choice of acceptance or refusal, her eyes lowered, her thoughts unknown.
“Isis.”
Looking at the white-haired Hero who had fallen into thought and lowered her head, Ron couldn’t help but call her name, bringing up an untimely side topic.
“I think… you don’t need to rely on others. You should believe in yourself a bit more.”
“You are the youngest, most legendary Hero in history. Since you could kill the Demon King’s supposedly invincible physical body, there’s no reason you should lose on the mental front!”
If, in the game’s Uthis Continent, things like willpower and spirit could still be concretized into attribute numbers and status descriptions for reference and comparison…
Then now, Ron could only choose to believe that the noble soul and indomitable will Isis originally possessed could overcome the erosion of the demon king remnant soul.
At least… Isis, please hold on until you give me a chance to save you, to apologize face-to-face, and to correct my mistakes.
Holding this mindset, Ron spoke the earlier request and the half-lecture, half-encouragement to Isis. And Isis’s reaction to this was…
Thump
“Oof!”
The hilt of Isis’s sword beneath her cloak struck Ron’s abdomen heavily. At the same time, to prevent Ron’s voice from attracting Lifa, who was concentrating on cooking, Isis’s hand directly covered Ron’s mouth, leaving him truly unable to voice his suffering.
“Mr. Ron, you have no right to speak such self-righteous and condescending words to me.”
Isis, who had stepped forward, leaned close to Ron’s ear and said this in a warning tone. Before pulling her leg back to create distance, she added two more words in a hoarse voice.
“Sorry.”
After Isis released her hand, Ron’s torso, having been struck in the abdomen, instinctively curled up like a shrimp, and he slumped onto the rock.
“Hisss—”
He looked up at the complex expression on Isis’s face and realized that ending up like this was entirely his own fault.
Some words, he as Isis’s former master could say, but as Ron, who had just met her not long ago, he could not.
“You may indeed be well-traveled and knowledgeable, and were once a senior, powerful Adventurer.”
“But… my situation is far more complicated than you imagine.”
Isis’s right hand extended from beneath her cloak. As she spoke to Ron, she looked at that palm, which was also covered in self-harm scars when spread open.
“As for things like me pestering Lifa…”
At this moment, Isis looked down at Ron, her crimson eyes blinking with her breathing, intending to make him retract his request with her gaze.
The situation was almost exactly as Ron had guessed.
Isis, who could maintain her sanity, still adhered to the character and honor of a Hero.
This destined her not to forcibly take Lifa away, not to fight Ron for his student, and even to set aside her strength and abide by the previous bet she made with Ron and Lifa.
“Mr. Ron, don’t you think my presence by Lifa’s side is also a great help to her? Moreover…”
“We are also friends now.”
A gentle breeze brushed by, stirring the white hair on both sides of Isis’s cheeks.
The syllable ended on the word ‘friends.’ By the time she said the latter part, Isis’s softened tone was already pleading with Ron.
She didn’t deny the selfish motive of following the prophecy to seek Destiny. However, after coming into contact with Lifa, Isis genuinely admired and liked Lifa and had considered passing on her knowledge.
So why exactly? This man before her, who knew her identity and situation, was so repulsed and looked down on her.
Isis thought this, unable to understand as she waited for Ron’s answer.
“No.”
Ron uttered two words, slowly standing up from the rock.
“Hero, Isis, I still hope you will leave Lifa’s side.”
It seemed a normal, gentle request wasn’t enough to persuade Isis to back off. After calming his emotions, Ron could only use the prepared, more radical statement.
“Even you yourself feel the curse on you is beyond imagination and difficult to break.”
“How can you expect me to feel at ease leaving that child by your side? Even to be taught by you?”
Ron’s hand, behind his back, forcefully pinched his own thigh. As he spoke these words, Isis was clearly deeply hurt.
“You mentioned Destiny once. I don’t understand its specific meaning, but… can I understand it this way.”
“Sorry, Isis, could you please stop persisting?”
Ron’s tone shifted. Compared to the originally more direct and sharp words, he changed his approach upon sensing the change in Isis’s emotions.
“Me, living in seclusion, encountering and teaching Lifa is part of the arrangement of fate. And your persistence, Isis, might instead interfere with the original trajectory of Destiny.”
“This kind of forcefully sought and altered fate, I don’t believe will have a good outcome.”
As Ron stated his position, Isis’s originally raised, fair neck kept lowering.
“So Mr. Ron’s thinking is… like this?”
The white-haired Hero revealed a bleak, forced smile.
From the standpoint of Lifa’s teacher, Ron having such thoughts and decisions left her with nothing to say.
“In my homeland, there is a story about a butterfly and destiny…”
Ron believed Isis’s resolve was beginning to waver, and he proceeded to slowly tell her the story of the butterfly effect.
However, his story was only halfway through. Before he could wait for Isis’s decision to yield, another head had already appeared beside him.
“Sister Ash, Teacher… why can’t you tell stories inside the camp!”
The atmosphere between the two had been quite heavy just moments before, but with Lifa’s noisy interruption, it instantly became nothing but an awkward silence of exchanging glances.
“This, Lifa…”
After such a long emotional and logical buildup, Ron watched the change in Isis’s expression and knew the progress was almost reset to zero.
“Apologizing won’t work, Teacher.”
Lifa, taking over the host’s role, wasn’t having any of it.
“Dinner is ready! If Teacher wants to be forgiven, tell Lifa the story again alone tonight~”
Who’s forgiving whom?
“Mr. Ron, let’s go eat first.”
Because of Lifa’s interruption, Isis still hadn’t given a reply. She simply left Ron behind, stepping off the rock first and walking over to Lifa’s side.