Chapter 12: Mia is Missing Too

"What? Even Mia is missing now?"

When I just connected to Elara's spiritual network, I got some bad news - Mia, who went to Crestvale Republic, was supposed to check in at noon today, but she didn't show up.

You see, Mia isn't like us new angels who came from another world. She's Elara's trusted helper, so this is really strange.

"No way, did she run into monsters? But Mia is strong, she shouldn't lose easily! Plus, there aren't many monsters in Crestvale Republic. Maybe she just got held up by something?"

I was shocked and shared my thoughts. I wanted to ask about Aria being a spy and check on Nicola, but now I started worrying about Reed too.

Remember, Reed stayed alone in Crestvale Republic and didn't come back to Edenmere with the "Eye of Galadra". Now even Mia, who went to protect her, is in trouble. It's hard not to think the worst.

"It shouldn't be! Mia never misses her check-ins when she's out. But for now, we can only guess. I really hope nothing bad happened to them!" Elara said, sounding worried. 

She lost all contact with Crestvale Republic, so she sent more people to check.

"Most countries in the south don't have many monster attacks, so they rarely see angels. Angels shouldn't be in danger there usually. But there are always exceptions. I'm worried Reed might fly around without knowing the area well. If she crosses the border by accident and the empire finds her, that'd be trouble..."

She meant the border between the Republic and Ilandra Dominion Empire. That's where we were exchanged before. The two countries are always fighting, so the border is tense. Even angels can't cross without causing problems.

Reed only has two wings. If Mia isn't with her, she can't protect herself well. Plus, everyone knows the empire deals with monsters secretly, so they're not friendly to angels. It's really worrying.

You'd think angels would be respected everywhere for helping humans fight monsters. But because of complicated reasons, some countries don't like angels much. They act nice in public, but who knows what they do in private. Ilandra Dominion is a good example of this.

"Anyway, I'll keep waiting for Mia to contact us. You don't need to worry too much yet. Maybe she really just missed the check-in for some special reason?" Elara said.

We can only guess for now, so that's all Elara could decide.

"I heard the republic's ships are near Crescent City these days. Maybe we can ask them about the situation there?" I suggested. I care about Reed's safety because she helped me a lot before.

"That might work. Let's do that then!" Elara agreed after thinking for a bit.

The "Dragon" class airships that survived the Parristol battle surely have magic devices to talk to their country from far away. They agreed to help Mia mainly to stop the empire from getting the sky city of Lantine Oasis. The city collapsed in the end, but they completed their mission.

It's easy for a big fleet to come, but hard to go back. The way home is very far and they need to go around the empire's area. So they have to pass through Sage Council's airspace. I heard the Dragon fleet leaders are talking with Adonis and others about passing through.

"Besides Reed, there's another important thing. I heard Nicola left the front line secretly and went back to find you all. Have you met her?"

Finally! Elara finally mentioned the main issue I joined this call. I quickly told her everything about Aria and what happened this morning.

"...I'm sorry, I planned to use Aria to lure Nicola to the north..." Elara said after being quiet for a long time. I didn't say this directly before, but I guess she knew she couldn't hide it anymore.

"If Nicola didn't refuse my request at first, I wouldn't have had to do this. But I hope you understand, without doing this, the monsters might not have agreed to talk so quickly."

Elara was being very honest as the leader of the angels. I understood without her explaining more. To stop light elements from growing too fast in the environment, angels need to reduce losses in battles. The best way is to use higher-level angels to attract attention and suppress the enemy.

But the enemy leader is Michelle, and we've seen how strong the Fire Angel is. Elara alone isn't enough for Edenmere. Nicola, as the reborn Wind Angel, was the best choice to fill the high-level power gap. But sadly, she has memories from her past life like us, so she doesn't want to fight for the angels.

"I understand what you mean!" I replied, feeling helpless. Since Nicola admitted she's reborn, she should take responsibility for the race she created. "But telling me this doesn't help, right? She didn't stay and left on her own. Didn't she contact you?"

"No! Isn't she with you now?" Elara asked, surprised. This is serious. We thought Nicola might go back to Edenmere or at least complain to Elara after leaving us. But she disappeared completely.

"Well, Nicola is an eight-winged angel now, and she's the Reborn Founder. I can't control her too much..." Elara said. She had too many things to deal with, so she decided to leave Nicola alone for now. But then she suddenly changed the topic to me.

"But the news about you and the new king of Parristol is everywhere. Do you really want to be with him?"

"Well... I..." I tried to avoid this topic before, but she brought it up. It's really hard to answer. I stuttered, "Maybe... probably... I guess so?"

"If you like him, just say it! Why are you being so shy? I've seen this before!" Elara interrupted me, sounding impatient. Her open-minded attitude surprised me. "Whoever you like is okay! Just don't be like Aetna! She liked the Pope, which gave me a headache for a while. Good thing that guy is dead now."

So Elara really hates Cysper! Probably because of the church. And we still don't know the Pope's true background, so it's normal for her to worry.

I glanced at Cyra. She didn't join the spiritual network this time because she was afraid of being scolded. She was excitedly running around the streets and shops!

"If you really like him, I won't object much. But this situation is rare. According to angel tradition, it must be approved by the council. Of course, he can't enter Edenmere, so we might tell you another place later!"

Elara was more open than I imagined, but she still made a troublesome request. Seeing I didn't respond, she added, "I know you have memories from your past life too, so you might not want to be controlled in these things. But you're different from Nicola. As part of the angel race, you must follow some rules. Please don't make it too hard for me..."

Looks like what I worried about still happened. Getting the council's approval basically means all those angel council members must agree for Adrian and me to be together. Even though Elara already said she's okay with it, it's hard to say if the other council members will agree. They might even say no.

After the call ended, Adrian and Cyra saw my sour face and couldn't help but come over to ask what's wrong.

"What's there to be scared of? Worst case, we just don't go back to Edenmere! The world outside is so big, where got so easy to catch us?"

After hearing what I said, Cyra quickly gave her opinion. This girl talks like it's no big deal, but I don't want to do something so extreme. To be fair, Edenmere has treated us quite well. As a way to pay them back, we really shouldn't go too far. But thinking about all this now is too early. Plus, we have so many other things to worry about. So I just put it aside for now.