God of Tricksters

A few days later.

Theo's group managed to safely return from their trip. The World Martial Institute and the Empress' Palace seemed to have returned earlier than them. Nonetheless, he had no intention of approaching them anymore, so he remained in his room until the night came since Phyrill wanted to have a serious discussion with him.

Theo was looking outside the window as he had prepared a table and a pair of chairs for their discussion, waiting for Phyrill to come in.

Soon, he heard a knock on the door as he waved his hand, using the Magic Power to open the door. But to his surprise, the one entering the room was not Phyrill. It was Ellen.

"Ellen?" Theo widened his eyes in surprise. From the look on her face, Ellen seemed to have been thinking about a serious matter, so he extended his hand. "Please sit."

Theo sat down in the opposite direction, staring at Ellen's face. It seemed Phyrill was talking on her behalf, so he asked, "So, what do you want to talk about?"

"First of all, I'd like to apologize." Ellen lowered his head politely. "Due to me living with Phyrill, he changed, albeit to not your liking. You even needed to accommodate us… I felt guilty."

"There's no need to be so formal. I mean, we've known each other for a long time, so…"

Ellen shook her head. "This and that are different. Even though we're friends, I still need to apologize since your expectations fell short…"

"Ehm…" Theo furrowed his eyebrows, wondering how to talk to her. It felt like Ellen was distancing themselves from him.

"Come on, this is not like you, Ellen. In my memory, you are like the elder sister of our group, taking care of everyone." Theo tried to cheer her up, telling her that it wasn't her fault.

However, Ellen shook her head furiously, denying his claim. "I think it's fine to tell you this. Actually…"

Ellen began to recount what had happened in the past few years.

After graduating from Thersland, Phyrill accepted the invitation from the World Martial Institute. He was supposed to go alone to the institute, yet, he still asked her to accompany him, giving her a huge opportunity.

Back then, it caused so much trouble for his enrollment. But Phyrill never stopped smiling, assuring her that it was fine.

Even she started falling in love with him from that time. Not wanting to burden him continuously, Ellen began training like crazy.

Eventually, she managed to gain some recognition. And due to her natural dual casting system, she became an object of interest.

Many tried to target her whether to harm her or invite her. Those who wanted to harm her ended up getting defeated by Phyrill. Of course, Phyrill couldn't defeat all of them. He had suffered many times when they attacked him.

Their condition was quite severe as they barely managed to handle all those problems. And the ones that hated him weren't limited to Supreme Rank Experts, some Mythical Rank Experts also bullied Phyrill.

Still, Phyrill never complained and kept protecting her. She also managed to stop a portion of them, but if Phyrill wasn't there, she would have suffered a worse fate.

After living together for a while, Phyrill and Ellen were in a relationship. Phyrill gradually changed when they were together, just like her, who gradually became quiet since she didn't want to get into more trouble so that Phyrill didn't suffer much.

They relied on each other and somehow survived until now.

From the story alone, Theo realized why Phyrill and Ellen could still smile like that to Alea was to make sure Alea wasn't worried about their current condition.

After listening to the story, he could also understand why Ellen and Phyrill had changed. Phyrill abandoning his way in the darkness such as assassination, torture, and all that stuff, was to show that he was serious in their relationship. He didn't want to drag Ellen into this darkness by living in the light itself.

So, Ellen had been blaming herself this whole time because Phyrill deserved more. She had even talked about it to Phyrill, but how could she reject him when what Phyrill wanted was her the entire time.

Hence, their relationship only grew stronger.

"…" Theo closed his eyes, listening to the story. "I see… I can understand why you're blaming yourself, but I don't think you've made any mistakes. My offer might not be the same, but I still need Phyrill. That's why you don't need to blame yourself anymore.

"In fact, there's a person in my group that will do the same as Phyrill if he has a second chance. He is away right now, but when he returns, you should talk about it with him if you don't mind. I'm sure you can finally understand why Phyrill is like this and stop blaming yourself because it'll hurt Phyrill more."

Ellen bit her lips before letting out a long sigh, disappointed in herself. "I'm pathetic, ain't I? You said I was the one taking care of everyone when we were in our group, but now… I'm just a burden."

"Huh? When did I say you're a burden?" Theo tilted his head in confusion. "If you think you're a burden, then you're a burden. I can't change it because you've accepted yourself that way. But if you think you don't want to be a burden, there are plenty of ways to do it. Supporting him from the back is also a solution. And if you want to fight together with him, there are many elites in our group. You can just ask them how to get stronger.

"It's your mind, Ellen. If you don't want to change, then I won't say anything, but…" Theo rose from his seat and extended his hand to Ellen. "But if you want to change, I can help you, Ellen."

Ellen widened her eyes and bit her lips. She didn't want to be a pathetic person anymore who always relied on Phyrill. "Please, help me."

"Okay. Don't think of yourself as a burden because you have the quality and the will to be the one in the lead." Theo smiled.