Cannot Ignore Those Around You

Misaki City, residential area.

In an apartment room, Shana gently helped Fang Li to the bed and laid him down.

"Call..."

Fang Li, with a much calmer breathing than before and a peaceful expression, was quietly asleep.

Shana's fiery hair returned to its jet-black color, her burning eyes disappeared, and her Night Cape was concealed. She knelt by the bed like an ordinary girl, staring blankly at Fang Li's peaceful sleeping face, unable to come back to her senses for a long time.

It was starting to get dark.

By the time the battle ended, it was completely dark, and it was late at night.

The Misaki City was brightly lit, but this room in the apartment building remained dark and unlit.

In the darkness, Shana stared at Fang Li's face for a long time before speaking in a low voice.

"Hey, Alastor."

The pendant in front of Shana immediately flashed with a fiery pink light.

"What's wrong?" Alastor asked, his tone devoid of any doubt, as if he knew perfectly well why Shana was behaving this way.

Shana was completely unaware of this; she simply frowned her beautiful brows and said this with a troubled expression.

"I don't know what to do now."

A sentence that seems to come out of nowhere; I believe no one would immediately understand its meaning.

However, Alastor understood.

Although she understood, Alastor didn't say it directly, but instead asked, "Specifically, what is it that you don't know what to do?"

"... I don't know how to say it." Shana clutched her chest, seemingly savoring the feeling, and after a long while, she uttered these words.

"But there's something I don't understand."

This is Shana's feeling.

Shana really couldn't understand it.

Because of the beliefs in one's mind.

That's what the maid who once took care of Shana said.

"From now on, you must face everything alone."

But this human who suddenly came into contact with Shana said this.

"The world doesn't belong to you alone, so don't think that mission is yours alone!"

The words of that person, who was like a mother or sister to her, and the words of the person she had only recently met, kept intertwining in Shana's mind.

On one hand, Shana is left to face everything alone.

On one hand, it's about telling Shana not to treat everything as her own possession.

The completely contradictory statements from two entirely different people left Shana truly bewildered.

"Who is right after all?"

Generally speaking, given the unequal status between the two parties, Shana should have chosen to believe the one who had always taken care of her, like a mother or older sister.

However, after witnessing Fang Li's battle firsthand, Shana simply couldn't ignore the words of a human who was willing to fight to the point of being covered in wounds.

Therefore, Shana really couldn't figure out which side was right.

"I just feel really annoyed right now." Shana could only say with a bitter face, "I hate this feeling."

It's no wonder Shana spoke so incoherently; Shana simply lacked the ability to express her feelings.

From a young age, Shana was taken to the Heavenly Dao Palace and trained as a Flame Haze Warrior.

During this training process, Shana did learn some knowledge.

However, all of those were based on common sense and knowledge, and there was no record of any personal subjective opinions.

In other words, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call Shana naive and ignorant of the ways of the world.

This is a completely blank sheet of paper.

They were not taught anything other than combat and knowledge.

Naturally, Shana didn't know how to express her current feelings.

Shana only knew that she was very annoyed, extremely annoyed, so annoyed that she wanted to throw a huge tantrum.

Faced with this situation, Alastor did not try to correct anything.

It's not because Alastor only wanted to train Shana to be a contractor who knew nothing but fighting.

In fact, Shana was practically a daughter to Alastor.

As her guardian, Alastor hoped that Shana could gain more social experience, but she didn't want this blank slate to be tainted in any way.

As a guardian, I believe everyone would want to preserve this purity, right?

Therefore, Alastor simply said, "So what do you think?"

"Me?" Shana paused for a moment, then fell silent.

Shana then said that.

"I don't think Wilhelmina is wrong."

Wilhelmina is the maid who once took care of Shana.

Then Shana said this again.

"However, I don't think this person is wrong either."

That's why Shana finds it annoying.

If it were clear who was right and who was wrong, Shana wouldn't be so troubled.

Although Shana is a blank slate, it doesn't mean Shana doesn't understand anything.

At the very least, Shana is a very opinionated person with excellent judgment.

Shana is still able to distinguish who is right and who is wrong.

Of course, it is precisely this impeccable ability that makes Shana so annoying.

Then, Alastor's thunderous voice softened, and he said, "Since you think both sides are right, just write down what both sides said. There's no need to worry."

"Write it all down?" Shana asked doubtfully. "But what this person said is completely different from what Wilhelmina said."

Upon hearing this, Alastor said the following.

"Are they really different?" Alastor said. "Think about it carefully. There's actually no contradiction between these two sentences, is there?"

"There's no contradiction?" Shana immediately looked at the pendant in front of her.

Alastor told Shana with certainty.

"As a Flame Haze Warrior, you must learn to face enemies independently and not rely on luck. That's what Wilhelmina Carmel wants you to do, which is why she told you that."

"But that doesn't mean you have to do everything alone. If you're alone, even if all the 'disciples' in the world are no match for you, how could you possibly defeat them all?"

"You must be independent, but you can't ignore the people around you."

"I think that's the conclusion you should have drawn."

Alastor's words immediately brought a sense of clarity to Shana's mind.

"You must be independent, but you can't ignore the people around you..."

Shana turned her gaze to Fang Li, staring at Fang Li sleeping face without saying a word for a long time.