Four Split Personalities

"Thank you, senpai!"

Teresa, who had been a bit listless from overusing her brain, instantly perked up, trotting after Foster—and in the process, she somehow managed to trip over a "threshold" that was practically nonexistent, letting out a yelp as she pitched headfirst toward the smooth Ying Shi floor.

Foster, walking a bit ahead, didn’t even turn his head, simply letting Teresa crash toward the ground in all her clumsy glory.

The reason was simple—

"Careful."

It was like a waft of fragrance brushed past. When Teresa came back to her senses, she realized she was already standing firmly on the floor again, and a Flower Elf woman with light purple long hair, a gentle face and elegant demeanor was smiling as she helped straighten Teresa’s collar.

"Lian-senpai."

Teresa immediately gave a small bow to this upperclassman who was practically glued to Foster’s side, had unbelievably good popularity, and was unfailingly gentle and kind to everyone. Her face reddened a little as she scuffed her toe against the floor. "Thank you..."

Lian·Yuan Rui only smiled quietly, then said somewhat helplessly, "Honestly, Little Teresa, I don’t think I’ll see anyone in this lifetime whose physical coordination is worse than yours."

Teresa: "...Foster-senpai just said that to me earlier."

"Which means you need to be even more careful, doesn’t it?"

Lian fondly ruffled Teresa’s smooth hair and suggested, "How about, starting tomorrow, you come and do—"

"No!"

As if some traumatic memory had been triggered, Teresa let out a shriek and bolted away from Lian like a frightened kitten—only to go "splat" the very next second and faceplant spectacularly.

Teresa: "..."

Lian: "..."

...

Fifteen minutes later

[Danu Military Academy] Main Building, 3F Student Council Office

Standing by the wide floor-to-ceiling window, Lian turned her head helplessly to glance at Teresa, who was now sitting at Foster’s desk, buried in reading, and said in rare hesitation, "Teresa is clearly a quick-reacting Child, and while she’s a bit on the slender side she’s still healthy enough, so why is she always... sigh..."

"When Heaven grants people certain things, it usually takes away something else to maintain Balance."

Foster took a small sip of coffee and said casually, "Aside from being a bit unworthy of that rather grand title of ’Witch,’ it’s nothing all that unusual."

Even though the person they were talking about was less than three meters away, neither of them bothered to lower their voices—partly because Teresa, frowning in a daze at a stack of Battle Reports, was definitely not hearing a thing right now, and partly because even if she did hear, she probably wouldn’t have any objections.

"If only she were willing to do some stretching with me."

Lian sighed in genuine regret. "Then at least she wouldn’t fall down every two steps."

"I have no doubt about that."

Foster’s expression turned a bit subtle as he nodded, and he commented very objectively, "I remember last time she did stretching with you for two hours, she couldn’t get out of bed for a whole half month—and that ended up being the longest record in her life for not falling down."

Lian coughed lightly, a bit embarrassed, and protested, "That was only two hours, that’s why. If she practiced more, things would definitely be very different."

"I believe you. But you’d have to get her to crawl out from under the shadow of last time first."

Foster chuckled, then steered the topic away from this dangerous Domain, lowering his voice. "Anyway, compared to her instinctive tendency to cause a minor accident every few days, what actually worries me more is her personality."

Lian made a soft "mm" of agreement and nodded. "Yes, that Child’s personality really is a problem. She’s fairly mature for her age, but... she’s still too fragile and Kindhearted. Mm, at least most of the time she’s too fragile and Kindhearted. Her friends are mostly us upperclassmen, to be honest. I’m really worried about what she’s going to do after you, me, Karuz, and Meili leave the academy."

Foster thought for a moment, then frowned. "Isn’t there still... Qian Bird?"

"You don’t actually believe they can get along peacefully yourself, do you? Little Qian Bird and Little Teresa’s personalities are polar opposites."

Lian took one look at Foster’s tightly furrowed brows and let out a deep sigh. "But we can’t just take Little Teresa with us. This academy is pretty much that Child’s home."

"I don’t really think it’s inappropriate for her to stay. Even if we leave, I believe that with Qian Bird’s help, she can still make some new friends."

Foster rubbed his temples, his deep gaze turning a bit complicated. "What I’m worried about instead is... can she really always live peacefully and happily here? Can she really graduate smoothly, become a teacher at our academy, and eventually inherit Richard-sensei’s position as dean in the future?"

Lian blinked and pondered. "You’re worried Little Teresa won’t be able to teach well? Mm... fair... she’s really bad at dealing with other people."

"No."

Foster shook his head, his voice turning heavy. "I’m worried that sooner or later, she’ll... be unable to decide her own fate."

"Unable to decide her own fate?"

Lian froze for a moment, then immediately guessed what he meant and asked hesitantly, "Because of her ability?"

"What else? You think it’s because she falls down a few times a day or knocks something over now and then?"

Foster turned to look at Teresa, who had completely tuned out the outside world and was pouring all her attention into the Battle Reports, and said quietly, "My strength lies in coordination and Balance. You have the Talents every Assassin dreams of. But Teresa is not like us. Her Talents are more dangerous than ours put together. To put it harshly, a lot of the time I feel like Teresa was basically born as a Child of War."

Lian’s face darkened with worry as she pressed her lips together. "But her affinity with War is awful..."

"Honestly now, Lian."

Foster pushed up his glasses with his index finger and asked, "Have you ever seen anyone whose affinity with War is better than Teresa’s?"

Lian opened her mouth, but in the end didn’t manage to say a single word.

After all, even having seen the most innocent and Kindhearted side of Teresa, she knew very well: the moment that girl—who couldn’t even bring herself to hurt a single Mudkaqiu—sat down in front of the sand table, when her true ’Witch’ side fully surfaced, that ferocious beast called ’War’ would immediately transform into her most loyal, most docile, and most considerate pet, obeying her every command.

Maybe that sounded a bit exaggerated, but in Lian’s eyes, there were truly too few people in the Domain of War who could be mentioned in the same breath as Teresa. Never mind her or Foster—even their dean, Richard-sensei, who practically treated Teresa like his own daughter, still fell just a notch short.

This completely defied logic. It was totally unreasonable.

But this world has never been particularly eager to reason with people. The creator loves to play favorites. Even if it lets Teresa trip on flat ground three or five times a day, it’s still playing favorites.

"Do you know why the organizers chose me as the Seed player this time?"

Foster wearily rubbed his temples and let out a long sigh. "Because in Teresa’s eyes, the much-anticipated Warfire League doesn’t even qualify as a game anymore. That’s why she asked me to compete in her place while she went to be a referee. It’s just that..."

"Just that what?"

"Just that we underestimated it. Judging from Teresa’s reaction, that Chief Priest Ramollok is clearly a Monster—one of the rare Monsters who can actually get that Child excited."

"So what?"

"So... our dear ’Witch’ who originally volunteered not to take part in the competition... her hands are itching."

"Her hands are... itching?"

"Mm. They’re itching."

Chapter 1279: End

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