Loyalty is a Beautiful Thing

"Could it be that this little girl is actually the descendant of the Archmage?" A burst of excitement could be heard coming from the Void immediately. The Ancient Rohserl Empire had fallen a long time ago. Even to the group of Voidwalkers who had been imprisoned for several thousand years, that empire was nothing more than a rumor because not much was known about its history. Being able to meet one of the emperors in the Void was something that went beyond their imagination. Who would have ever thought that they would actually meet a living descendant of his?

"Ask her for her last name." The Archmage whispered after calming himself down.

Baiyi obeyed his teacher's instruction but before that, he shouted, "Mia!"

"Eh?" That little girl immediately turned around.

"Look over here! Right here!" Baiyi instructed as his finger began to draw a variety of peculiar circles in the air. After staring at his finger for a little while, her eyes started to turn blurry and her lids slowly drooped down. At once, her body turned soft and in no time, she had fallen asleep.

That was a Hypnotizing Spell that was usually used by chaplains to treat insomnia. It could only be cast successfully if the target had his or her guard down.

Baiyi quickly used his Mana to catch her before she fell to the ground. Without a pause, he knitted a magical hammock in the air and lowered Mia, who was completely fast asleep, unto the hammock. He then took off the navy cape and covered her body to prevent her from catching a cold.

"E-Er, Mr. Hope? W-What are you doing?" Startled, Tisdale asked with an alarmed look on her face.

"Tisdale, what's your last name?" Baiyi suddenly asked.

Upon hearing the question, Tisdale did not answer but instead, her body began to tremble unconsciously, partly due to excitement and partly to shock. There were a flurry of beautiful memories flashing through her mind as her emotions were boiling in great turmoil.

It was because Baiyi was conversing with her... using accurate Ancient Rohserlese! It was the exact same language that Tisdale used to recite the pledge earlier--- a language that was declared completely extinct by the academia.

The reason why Tisdale dared to say her pledge out loud was because she believed that after the death of her father, the one who taught her the language, she was the only one in the world who could speak that language. Therefore, when Baiyi asked her the question fluently in Ancient Rohserlese, she was completely taken aback.

"M-Mr. Hope? Who are you actually? C-Could it be that you are..." With a quivering voice, Tisdale asked in Ancient Rohserlese. She actually wanted to ask Baiyi if he was one of her ancestors. But when she gave it more thoughts, other than her dad, the souls of the rest of her ancestors had either completely dissipated or had become somebody else's Soul Armature.

In a flash, she became more excited. She had never thought that Baiyi would be one of the descendants from Emperor Rohserl but instead, instinctively, she thought that he was her father.

"Answer my question, Tisdale." Baiyi said as he patted her head gently, with the intention to calm her down.

To Baiyi's surprise, Tisdale suddenly rushed forward and threw herself into his arms. With her face rubbing against the cold metal chest, she unleashed a torrent of tears. Choking with sobs, she cried, "F-Father! Father!"

W-What? Baiyi was the one who caught off guard this time. What is happening right now? Why am I suddenly her father? He looked down just in time to see Tisdale rubbing her face on his chest just like a purring kitten. Looking at the behaviour of that girl who was even cuter than Mia, of course he would choose to overlook that little mistake of hers.

... W-Wait a minute! How can I possibly overlook this matter! Baiyi promptly cast a powerful Calming Spell on her and gently unwrapped her arms. Holding on to her shoulders and shook her harshly, he spoke in a low voice, "Calm down, Tisdale! You've got the wrong person!"

A Calming Spell was a spell that was often used by a chaplain on soldiers on a battlefield. The effect on Tisdale was very apparent. Almost immediately, she stopped crying and took a few steps backwards. Her face was so red that she lowered her head and she did not dare to look at Baiyi at all, she looked like a kitten who was caught doing something wrong.

"Have you calmed down?" Baiyi passed a cup of hot tea to her which she quickly took and finished in a few gulps. Embarassed, she apologized in a soft voice, "I-I'm sorry, Mr. Hope. M-My surname is Aegis."

Hoping to alleviate the awkwardness, she chose to answer the question.

"W-Wait what? She's the descendant of that kid?" Suddenly, the Archmage exclaimed in the Void. With a bitter laugh, he continued, "That kid really kept his 6000 years old promise?"

Faced with the curiosity of the other Voidwalkers, he went on to say, "Her ancestor was an orphan whom I happened to save in a battlefield. All of his family members were massacred by the enemy and he was the only person I managed to rescue that time..."

"After I sent him to the orphanage, it was another 20 years before our paths crossed again. At that time, he had already become a strong, trustworthy warrior and became one of my guards. When he saw me again that time, he boldly walked out of the troop and kneeled down in front of me to swear his allegiance to me. He vowed that he would guard me forever and even if he was already dead, his descendants would continue to carry out this duty..."

"What a silly boy... At that time, I had completely forgotten who he was. I've heard such honeyed-words countless of times before so I just took him as a boot-licker and let the troop leader punished him fiercely."

"After another ten years, with his own determination and strength, he finally took over the position as my troop leader and it was only then that I got to know his background. Touched by his faithfulness, I bestowed the last name 'Aegis' to him that stands for 'the guardian shield' in Ancient Rohserlese."

"Later, I could faintly feel that my power had violated The Law and I immediately called for a few of my trusted confidants, including him. It consisted of my most trusted regiment commander, my palace royal mage and a few others. I told them that I might be going to a faraway place but I would return soon so they need to guard my empire while I was away and wait for my return."

"Each of them had made their pledge to me, vowing that they would wait for me to come back... At that time, I was already at the Demigod Level for quite some time and so my confidence and ego made me think that not even God could stop me. However, after I was gone, it turned out that my body was smashed into pieces by the barrier separating the realms... When Baiyi returned to the realm of reality, I really didn't expect that anyone would still remember that pledge. After all, 6000 years is far too long! So long that everything seemed to be ridiculous and insignificant compared to it!"

"... It is only until today that I realized that I was wrong..." At this point, the Archmage's voice began to turn serious with frustration, "WHAT A BUNCH OF FOOLS THIS FAMILY ARE! WHAT A GROUP OF IDIOTS THEY ARE! THEY'RE JUST EXACTLY LIKE THEIR BLOCKHEAD ANCESTOR! SIGH! THEY ARE SIMPLY THE STUPIDEST FAMILY IN THE WORLD!"

In those several thousands of years that Baiyi had known his teacher, it was the first time he saw his teacher losing his cool. He originally thought that the Archmage who had been through all the ups and downs of life, and was the first person to be imprisonned in the Void for more than 6000 years, must have a heart that had already turned icy cold like the realm of the Void that they were stuck in. He had never thought that the stony ice would be smashed into pieces in front of a 6000 years long loyalty.

"My dear student, I hope that you would be able to accept her as your second student and impart all of my knowledge to her," The Archmage said with a slight hint of plea in his voice.

It shall be as you wish, my teacher, Baiyi replied, at the same time he turned to the other Voidwalkers and asked, I'm sure none of you would object to this, right?"

"I will be the first to agree! Loyalty is the most wonderful thing in the world. It's also my most favorite trait! That is why I chose to become a Lich because I feel that there is no one that could be more loyal than my undead army. But, after listening to this story, I must admit that I've been so wrong."

Even the Devil who was infamous for his cunning and deceit also added in, "I agree as well! Even though we devils love making fun of this ridiculous thing called 'loyalty', but even though we mocked it, we still could not help but be slightly envious of it."

Since the two representatives from the Evil League had spoken up, none of the other Voidwalkers had any more objections. Switching his attention back to reality, Baiyi announced to Tisdale, "Thank you, Tisdale. You don't have to bear this heavy duty all by yourself anymore."

For a moment, Tisdale was completely stunned. When she slowly began to grasp the meaning of Baiyi's words, she could not believe her ears. Shaking with emotions, she startled, "M-M-Mr Hope? A-Are you..."

"No, not exactly," Baiyi shook his head, "I'm only his representative, the incarnation of his will. From now on, Tisdale Aegis, you will be my student. Let us bear that duty together."

Tisdale immediately knelt on one knee with both of her hands crossed and placed on her shoulders. As she lowered her head, she wanted to say something but there was no words would come out and she did not know what else she should do. 

"Just calm yourself down first," Baiyi helped her up with his Mana and poured another cup of tea for her.

After Tisdale had finally calmed down after a long period of time, Mia woke up from her nap at the same time as well. When she opened her eyes, the first thing that appeared in her sight was the beautiful, clear, big eyes of Tisdale who was lying next to her. With her signature sweet smile back on her face, she pinched Mia's cheek and beamed, "I'm back, Mia-chan!"

Dazed, Mia was completely at loss as to why she would fall asleep so suddenly. She also had no idea what Tisdale was talking about but she could feel that the blond beauty that once brought her running through the ruins whose golden sillhoutte that she always looked up to was now finally back to herself again.

She could not help but let out a smile of happiness and contentment.

"Now that you have two beautiful girls as your students, I'm sure Lady Fairy would make a scene again when she wakes up," The Scholar suddenly interjected in the Void.

It doesn't matter. She's still having fun in the game anyway, Baiyi replied calmly. Turning his head to look at the smiles on the faces of the two beautiful girls, somehow, he wanted to smile as well.