Asura in Arknights

After that, all of Adele's messages disappeared without a trace, and it was even questionable whether Li Ang had received them.

Unable to find Li Ang's whereabouts no matter what she did, Adele could only keep her worries about Li Ang to herself.

But Adele is actually a very easy person to understand; she can't keep many things to herself. It wasn't long before Maria saw through her, and after learning about Adele's worries, Maria began to comfort her.

“He’s definitely doing secret training!” Maria said with great certainty. “Hasn’t he already qualified for the main competition? He’s definitely doing special training somewhere right now, there’s no need to worry at all.”

"I'm so envious... I also want to stand on the main competition stage someday," Maria said enviously.

Her biggest idol is her sister, who won the Major three years ago. For a time, Maria also wanted to be like her sister, participate in the Major, become a knight, and revitalize her declining family.

However, both her uncle and aunt strongly opposed Maria's idea. Without the support of her relatives, Maria had to give up her idea. However, she later learned what she really liked—engineering—and this idea in Maria's heart gradually faded away.

However, when other people around her made it to the Special Championship, Maria's idea began to resurface.

"I wonder where my sister is right now," Maria muttered casually, then turned to Adele beside her and said, "By the way, Eyjafjalla, what do you think I should buy to take with me?"

"Maye's Selected Fruit Gift Box? Elena's Premium Herdsman Meat? Or would you prefer something else?" Maria asked with great interest.

"...Was it really necessary to buy such an expensive gift? Sarah might not accept it if it's too expensive," Adele replied somewhat embarrassed.

The price of those gift boxes Maria just mentioned... is equivalent to Adele's food expenses for a whole month. Only in such a delicate situation can one truly appreciate that Maria is indeed the eldest daughter of the Nearl family.

"That seems true..."

After thinking about it carefully, Maria felt that Adele's words did make some sense.

On this day, Maria planned to visit Sarah.

"That person is...my sister?" Maria could hardly believe what she was seeing.

Among the crowd on the street, Maria actually saw the person she had been dreaming of seeing.

Although the person's hair was black and their height and other features differed slightly from her memory, Maria was absolutely certain that the person was her older sister, Margaret Nearl, whom she hadn't seen for three years.

If she still can't recognize him from this distance, then she's wasted nearly twenty years of living and working with Margaret.

Maria may be a bit impulsive, but that doesn't mean she's stupid, especially when it comes to things related to her sister, where her little brain works at 200% efficiency.

The fact that her sister was here in this state meant that she was hiding her identity, and she couldn't be foolish enough to do something that would only make things worse for her.

My sister is back!

Although Uncle Marner had warned Maria not to get involved in this matter, it shouldn't be considered intentional interference, right? She was just out shopping with Adele and coincidentally ran into Margaret.

Maria quickly convinced herself with a well-reasoned excuse. Suppressing her excitement, she quietly headed towards Margaret's location.

At that moment, Margaret was looking around the street as if searching for something, unaware that Maria was quietly approaching from the other side.

Margaret was, after all, a champion of the Special Championship and had considerable skill. When Maria quietly crept within three meters of her, Margaret's intuition led her to spot Maria hiding in the crowd.

The two locked eyes.

When Maria saw her sister twitch her lips, she knew she had messed things up.

Margaret had no intention of saying goodbye to her sister at all. Instead, she turned and ran without hesitation, her speed leaving everyone else in the dust.

"Wait! Don't run!" Maria couldn't help but shout, and took off after him.

Adele, who was not far away, heard Maria's voice and looked around. She then realized that Maria had unknowingly left the supermarket and seemed to have simply abandoned her there to chase after someone on her own.

Adele hesitated for half a second, not even taking the change from the cashier, and then chased after them with the gifts she had bought.

The three of them chased each other down the shopping street, but it was clear that neither Maria nor Adele had any chance of catching Margaret.

"Damn it... I'm going to lose her..." Maria looked at her sister's back in the distance with some resentment.

After pursuing them for a while, the distance between them didn't shrink at all; on the contrary, it seemed to be growing further apart.

Maria was alright. As the youngest daughter of the Nearl family, she had undergone very formal knight training since childhood. Even though she had neglected it somewhat in recent years, her foundation was still there, and she was able to keep a close distance behind Margaret.

Adele was having a tough time. Although her physical condition was not bad, the important thing was... she was holding something in her hands! Without figuring out anything, she couldn't just drop the gift in her hands in order to catch up with Maria, could she?

Looking at Adele, who was still trying to catch up, and then at Margaret, who was getting further and further away, Maria could only reluctantly choose to give up.

Maria knew perfectly well that they would soon be out of the shopping street, and without the crowds to stop them, she would have even less chance of catching up with her sister.

However, just when Maria had given up on catching up with Margaret, things suddenly took a turn for the better.

Just as Margaret was about to escape the crowd, the two men suddenly blocked her way.

“I knew it would turn out like this…” Shining sighed. “Don’t you want to see your sister at all?”

Chapter Forty-Six: Convergence

"Shining...you..."

Looking at Shining and Liz blocking his way, Margaret felt both angry and helpless.

Margaret never expected that Shining would secretly follow her and interfere at such a crucial moment... It seems that Shining had been planning this for a long time and had been waiting for this opportunity for a long time.

Amid Margaret's somewhat indignant expression, Shining said nonchalantly, "Your sister has already found you. Do you still think you can just run away like this?"

"In that case, let me help you make up your mind."

"Sigh... alright." Margaret opened her mouth, but finally sighed helplessly.

The matter is now settled, and even if Margaret wanted to escape, it would be too late; her sister would not let this opportunity pass.

"elder sister!"

At this moment, Maria also ran over, out of breath. When she saw Margaret's face clearly, she immediately complained, "It really is my sister! Why did you run away? I chased after you for so long, and I thought I had mistaken you for someone else."

Upon seeing her long-lost sister, Maria immediately perked up and chattered incessantly. Over the past three years, she had so much to say to Margaret.

“Maria…you’ve grown up…” Margaret looked at her sister with a complicated expression.

When Maria stood before her, Margaret truly realized how much time had passed and how many marks it had left on them. The little brat who used to follow her around everywhere had now grown into a graceful young woman.

"How have you been all these years?"

"I'm doing alright, it's just that I often feel lonely when my sister isn't around... Oh, right, sister, are you planning to leave again this time? Can you please not leave me here alone?" Maria gently shook Margaret's arm, pleading pitifully.

"……no."

To be honest, when Margaret saw her sister's expression, she did feel a momentary pang of sympathy and had the urge to stay. But when she thought about her current situation, she immediately calmed down.

"I have an important matter to attend to in the Great Knights. I will leave Kazimierz after this is over, no later than the end of the Major."

Shining had already quietly pulled Liz aside, leaving the two sisters alone to talk.

“Is that Nearl’s sister? She looks just like her…” Liz whispered to Shining.

“Yes… just like when we first met her, the two sisters are practically cut from the same mold,” Flash exclaimed.

Margaret also had her youthful impetuosity. Three years ago, when Shining and Liz first met her, Margaret was about the same age as her sister.

However, after experiencing a dramatic family change and wandering around for the past three years, Margaret's personality has gradually become more stable, while her sister... remains a flower that has been well protected in a greenhouse.

Even now, with the family in decline, the only two adults left in the Linguang family, Manna and Zofia, have made tremendous efforts to ensure Maria's current daily life. The fact that she can still do what she loves is the best proof of that.

Seeing the atmosphere between the two sisters gradually becoming more harmonious, Shining shook her head slightly.

Therefore, all of Margaret's previous worries were unnecessary. Having spent so much time with Margaret, Shining knew the astonishing things she had done. If her family truly harbored resentment towards her, Margaret would never have been able to leave Kazimierz unscathed.

"I didn't expect to meet you here, Miss Eyjafjalla. Isn't Mr. Leon with you?" Shining said calmly.

At this moment, Adele, who had been left far behind by Maria, finally arrived.

Shining had already sensed Adele's presence and had wondered why Adele was there and whether she had any other purpose. However, after asking Liz, Shining dismissed these speculations.

Like Leon, Liz can also roughly sense other people's emotions, and Shining has great faith in Liz's judgment.

So... is this just a coincidence...?

"call……"

Adele placed the gift box on the ground, took a deep breath, and said, "Miss Shining, and Miss Liz, it's nice to see you again. Leon... has other work to do, so he's not with me right now."

“Um, and… I’m so sorry, I told Maria about you two,” Adele bowed deeply to them, apologizing repeatedly. “I remembered that Miss Margaret and Maria look very similar, so I told her about it…”

Although Adele meant no harm, when she heard about her sister's past from Maria, she realized that she might have done something wrong, and now that she had met the people in question, she naturally had to apologize to both of them.

“I see.” Shining nodded in understanding. This explained why Margaret, in her disguise, was recognized.

"This is not your fault, you don't need to apologize."

She paused, then continued, "But could you tell me how you met Margaret's sister? I'm a little curious about that."

"Actually, it's like this."

Adele nodded and told Shining about her and Sarah's situation. There was no point in hiding it. "Maria and I were planning to visit Sarah, so we came here to pick out some gifts. We didn't expect to run into Miss Margaret here."

After hearing Adele's explanation, Shining couldn't help but marvel at how small the world was. The two people they had casually met on the border of Kazimierz were able to reunite with them in such a convoluted way after they parted ways.

"You mean, you and Maria are planning to visit Miss Sarah, who is ill?"

The two sisters were still chatting enthusiastically, and Shining didn't want to disturb them, so she casually started a conversation with Adele.

“No, it’s Sarah’s husband, Ryan, who is sick,” Adele explained, shaking her head. “He fell into a coma for some reason, and even the hospital can’t find the specific cause.”

"coma?"

Upon hearing this, Shining subconsciously frowned.

Then, as if struck by a sudden thought, her expression gradually turned serious. "What exactly happened? Can you tell me?"

"I think Liz and I might be able to help in some way."

"No,"

Chapter Forty-Seven Visiting the Sick

"That's roughly the situation. After leaving Kazimierz, I met Shining and the others. After that, the three of us formed a traveling doctor organization called 'The Apostles,' wandering all over the world and helping to treat patients we encountered along the way."

Margaret briefly summarized her experiences over the past few years and then told Maria about them.

To everyone's surprise, Maria was very envious of Margaret's experience after hearing about it, to which Margaret could only offer a wry smile.

The world is not as wonderful as it is depicted in storybooks, and Margaret only truly realized this after leaving the protection of her family.

The stories she had just told Maria were mostly not pleasant memories for her; Margaret had simply omitted the dangerous parts to avoid worrying her sister.

"Poor mountains and bad waters breed unruly people"—this saying, though harsh, is an indisputable fact. The trio of apostles generally do not travel to large mobile cities; they often stay in villages that don't even have mobile plots.

It's easy to imagine what kind of people live in these places; the vast majority of them are far from being 'simple and honest.' In those three years, Margaret witnessed firsthand the wickedness of human nature.

Moreover, they are three women, and Sarkaz's identity can only scare ordinary people at most.

Sighing inwardly, Margaret took the opportunity to glance in the direction of Shining. Seeing that Shining and the 'Eyjafjalla' were talking about something instead of having a conflict, she gradually felt relieved.

Of the three apostles, Margaret is the easiest to bully.

Margaret was ultimately raised by a traditional knightly family, and the 'chivalrous spirit' was ingrained in her very bones. Because of this, she suffered a lot at the hands of those unruly people, and the method of moral blackmail was always effective for her.

Liz, being gentle and delicate, can see through people's hearts and is not so easily morally blackmailed. Shining is even less likely to be swayed by such trivial matters.

Because of the Sarkaz's image, Margaret usually handles the communication with others, but the one who makes the final decisions is Shining. Shining hasn't shown any hostility towards Eyjafjalla, so Margaret has naturally lowered her guard against her.

Margaret wouldn't have let her guard down so easily with any suspicious person appearing near her sister before.

"Alright, mind your appearance, my friends are coming."

Margaret patted Maria, who was still chattering incessantly. Maria immediately quieted down after her sister's pat.

Seeing that the touching sisterly reunion had come to an end, Shining and the others walked over. Shining waved to Margaret and said, "I have something to talk to you about."

"what?"

Margaret walked over with some confusion, and Shining then whispered something in her ear.

"...Are you sure?"

Shining shook her head. "I can't be sure. Only by seeing it for myself can I be sure if it's as I think."

“I don’t think there’s a problem,” Margaret nodded very seriously, “but I need to talk to my sister about this first.”

Maria was a little reserved in front of Shining and Liz, two strangers. She was very curious about what her sister had said to them, but she was too embarrassed to do anything too outrageous. She could only peek and move closer to them, which looked a little funny.

"Maria, are you going to visit Miss Sarah next?" Margaret asked, turning around after ending her conversation with Shining.

"Ah, I almost forgot about that!" Maria exclaimed in surprise, covering half of her face.

Maria was so excited to be reunited with her sister that she probably would have forgotten what she had planned to do if Margaret hadn't reminded her.

It was then that Maria noticed the gift boxes placed at Adele's feet.

"I'm so sorry, Eyjafjalla, I left you there all alone just now," Maria said, feeling very guilty.