Serendipitous Encounters and Fateful Connections

Vermilion impatiently paced back and forth near the entrance of the village, eagerly awaiting Carmella's return. She couldn't wait to share her encounter with Captain Raynolds from earlier. Finally, she spotted a familiar silhouette in the distance that seemed to resemble Carmella. Excitedly, she ran towards her.

"Carmella! You're back!" Vermilion exclaimed with a beaming smile.

Carmella's face also lit up with excitement as she held up a newspaper, saying, "Heyyy! Vermilion!

I have something to share with you! Huh?! Hahahaha!"Both of them spoke in unison.

"Why don't we go back to the house first? You seem to have something happy to share with me."

"Alright. I just met someone special by the waterfall!" Vermilion said, unable to contain her excitement.

"I wonder who it might be..."

As they reached their house, Carmella swiftly showed both Vermilion and Ayukawa a piece of news from the newspaper. "Tada! See, those guerrilla remnants have been fully suppressed by the military! It states they will clean out the streets tomorrow, so that means we can go back to Luthernza after tomorrow!"

"That's great! Hmm? What happened, Ayukawa? You don't seem happy about it at all..." Vermilion inquired, noticing Ayukawa's cold demeanor.

"That place has given me a bad impression, I don't like it at all," Ayukawa responded, still distant.

"Then why did you come to Luthernza?" Carmella probed further.

"That's right… I remember you told me that you are from another continent, why did you come here from afar?" Vermilion added.

"… Two reasons, but the most important one is I am looking for someone, and I heard I might get some clues from Luthernza."

"Who is the person exactly? Maybe we could help you," Carmella offered.

"... My younger sister, and her name is Vermilion Melaugh. I was so surprised when I heard your name for the first time," Ayukawa revealed.

"Same first name as my sister, Ms. Yeleona here. This world is really pretty small, as I thought," Carmella remarked in disbelief.

"Vermilion?! What a coincidence..." Vermilion's face showed astonishment.

"Last time I saw my sister was about eight years ago. She had a pair of big eyes and long, pretty black hair just like you... I thought you were her, but I guess I was just overthinking," Ayukawa shared, her voice tinged with disappointment.

"How can you be so sure that she is not your sister? You just said she looks like her, right?"

"It's my sixth sense, I suppose... And she doesn't seem to recognize me at all."

"The sixth sense as a woman is reliable, but don't forget that she lost her memory. Maybe that's why she can't recognize you. Vermilion, take a closer look at Ayukawa, try to recall whether she could be your sister or not," Carmella suggested.

"I just can't, I only remember the first time I met her was on the train..." Vermilion admitted, feeling conflicted.

"Don't force her, I have been living with my sister for some time, and I can feel it... deep down from my heart, she is not my sister that I am looking for... One more thing, if I'm not wrong, my sister was four years old when I last saw her, which means she's only twelve years old now, but this girl in front of me looks like she's fifteen years old... So… she is not my sister…" Ayukawa revealed with a disappointed expression, her eyes welling up with tenderness as she shed a tear.

Vermilion and Carmella both gazed at Ayukawa with deep sympathy. For the first time, they saw her showing a gentle and vulnerable side. From her eyes and tear, they could tell how much she cared about her sister.

"Why are you two staring at me like that?! It disgusts me!" Ayukawa snapped, quickly reverting to her usual sharp demeanor.

"Nothing... But Vermilion Melaugh and your name, Ayukawa... they don't sound like sibling names…" Carmella pointed out.

"I was adopted by a foreign family, and that's where I met my sister..."

"Then do you have any ideas about the clues? Hmm?! Hello! Did she just fall asleep?" Carmella laughed, bringing back the light-heartedness to the conversation.

"Yeah, she has fallen asleep already... So, Ayukawa is looking for her sister who happens to look like me as well. Although she hasn't said a single word about why she hated the soldiers so much, I believe she will tell me someday…"

"Without any clues, we can't do much to help her…"

"You are willing to help her?"

"I will just give it a try…"

"Me too!"

"And how about you? You said you had something interesting to share with me?"

"Oh yes! Do you know who I just met at the waterfall this morning?" Vermilion asked with excitement.

"... A mermaid?" Carmella playfully guessed.

"No, it's a soldier, and he is the Captain of the army!"

"A Captain? Why would a Captain appear in such a deserted place?"

"He is from one of those troops that passed by our village last night."

"Oh, I see! And then?"

"He has a pair of very attractive and beautiful blue eyes…"

"Blue eyes... Are you talking about Captain Raynolds?" Carmella asked, recognizing the name.

"Yes! You know about him?" Vermilion was surprised.

"Of course! Who doesn't recognize the well-famous Captain in Kothern?! He holds the same reputation as the three heroes of Kothern and is well respected by the people!"

"I had no idea he is such a great person…"

"What happened next? Did he talk to you?"

"Yes, we had a pleasant conversation. But he seemed frustrated about his blue eyes, as he mentioned he needed to cover them to avoid others from seeing them…"

"I can understand his feeling because people are still afraid of blue eyes nowadays,"

"Why is that, Carmella?"

"Didn't you learn about it in school before? Ah, just forget what I said. But I can't remember the whole history about the race of blue eyes, so I'll just give you a brief summary. They are the root cause of the world war now since they were the ones who started the war two hundred years ago. They brutally conquered almost half of the world, which led the other nations to form military alliances and fight back. Therefore, the race of blue eyes couldn't stand a chance against the strong alliances and had to surrender."

"Is that all?"

"No, there's more. The race of blue eyes is physically stronger than ordinary people, which is why they could easily conquer others. The entire world was terrified of them, so after the alliances defeated them, they began to massacre the race of blue eyes to prevent any future disasters. However, the alliance couldn't exterminate them entirely, so the few remaining descendants were exiled all over the world to prevent them from reuniting."

"I can't imagine such a tragic fate behind his beautiful blue eyes," Vermilion said with a hint of sadness.

"If I'm not wrong, they are called Prussian Blue Eyes, according to my sister," Carmella added.

"Your sister?!"

"Yeah! Didn't I tell you about her before?

"No…"

"Well… My bad! She is also a soldier."

"A soldier?!" Vermilion was even more shocked.

"Yeah! She holds the rank of second lieutenant in the army."

Vermilion was taken aback and said, "I was so shocked, I almost couldn't breathe! But is she your biological sister?"

"Of course! Are you getting jealous? Don't worry, I will take good care of you! Hahaha!"

"Where is she now?"

"I'm not sure. We rarely see or interact with each other after she joined the army eight years ago."

"Ayukawa mentioned she has a younger sister whom she last met eight years ago, and now you're telling me that you have an elder sister who separated from you eight years ago as well. There are so many coincidences today..."

"You're right! I didn't even notice it until you mentioned it. It seems like fate loves to play tricks on us."

"By the way, what is the name of your sister? Please don't tell me it's Vermilion too..."

"No need to worry, her name is Rosseaulyn Winton!"

"Even her name sounds like that of a great person…"

"Sorry, my name sounds boring and has disappointed you..."

"That's not what I meant!"

"Come on, I'm just kidding! Anyway, you are very fortunate to meet Captain Raynolds. If I see my sister next time, I will ask her to introduce me to Captain Raynolds. I'm curious about how the race of blue eyes looks like..." Carmella said with intrigue.

"Oh right! He also asked me to stay away from here; the war is going to start soon."

"Alright, I guess we'll be leaving here after tomorrow. So, Captain Raynolds will be leading the war against Nisaeria..."

"Do you have more information about the blue eyes? You mentioned that the world formed alliances, but why are all the nations fighting against each other today?"

"That is a long story, and I'm too lazy to explain it. You can read and learn from the books. I remember I gave all my secondary school study material to Lyon already... Perhaps those books are still with him…"

"School... It would be nice if I could attend school," Vermilion said wistfully.

"But you are using a fake identity, so it is very risky for you to attend school alone..."

"Then I will just try to study by myself, so I can learn more about this world."

"Studying by yourself? Sounds easy to you… Once we get back home, I will find all those books for you."

"Thanks in advance!"

"Tomorrow, I will head to the town again and find out the situation in Luthernza. If it is safe, I will buy the train ticket for three of us"

"I thought you didn't have any money left with you?"

"Well... I secretly 'borrowed' from Dr. Apgar. Please don't say anything about it to her!" Carmella admitted sheepishly.

"Why does it sound more like you stole from her rather than borrowing?"

"Oh please… It's for the sake of our survival, I really had no choice... Unless the door could lead us back to Luthernza..." Carmella said with a hint of desperation.

"I won't give up; I will try it again tomorrow!"

"Okay, but I will still buy the ticket since I think the chance of the miracle happening again is nearly zero," Carmella said pragmatically.

"In that case, I must do everything I can to open the door! I want to avoid taking the train again!"

"What makes you hate the train so much?"

"No, I'm just afraid Ayukawa will go on a killing spree against those soldiers again..."

"Hey! Don't you know there are things you shouldn't say?! If you want to get slashed like them, I won't hesitate to do it for you right now!!" Ayukawa suddenly woke up and said angrily.

"I'm sorry, but that's not what I meant! Déjà vu... ?!" Vermilion quickly clarified.

"Just forgive my silly little sister; she always says something silly. Right now, the most important thing for us is to get a good rest. We have a lot to do after we go back to Luthernza," Carmella said, trying to defuse the tension.

Ayukawa remained silent and went back to sleep, while Vermilion also fell into deep thought, seriously reflecting on what she had just said.