Mysteries: Arcana Wars

Melissa stood in silence for a long time in front of the bright light, drawing a huge circle around the question, still unable to make any choice.

She looked up at the dark night and bright moon outside the window, and her face was reflected in the bright glass. Bean-sized raindrops hit the window one after another, and the falling bodies left long traces, which became Melissa's tears that could not be wiped away in the hazy reflection.

It has only been three years since the beginning of the new era, and Melissa can count them on one hand. In such a short time, she has not yet gotten used to this yellowish white moon.

Nearly ten years have passed since she and he met, but she can't help but feel her doubts about Yis growing.

These strange and suspicious emotions came from all aspects of life, from some details that had no spiritual warning at all. She wanted to use her suspicion and spiritual silence to convince herself that these unnecessary speculations were just the product of her anxiety and suspicion, and were made out of nothing when she was mentally weak. But she still sat in front of this desk driven by anxiety and uneasiness.

It's not that Melissa doesn't trust Iss at all. On the contrary, from the current point of view, apart from her brothers, Iss is the man Melissa trusts the most. He not only strongly supports every one of her ideas, but also provides great help to her and Benson during the disaster of the end of the fifth era.

Melissa even felt that if Is hadn't been by her side during the apocalyptic disaster, she and the Benson family would have had a much harder time. With Klein's protection, they would have been able to survive the apocalyptic disaster, but Klein himself was already in danger at the time, and the protection and response he could provide were very limited.

There is an unbridgeable gap between humans and gods. In such a severe situation, Melissa knew that she could not help Klein do anything, but she did not want to become a burden to Klein. With the help of Is, at least their family could survive intact on their own.

One more fighting force means one more vitality.

But if we really died in that apocalyptic disaster, perhaps Klein would no longer shed tears for it...

These thoughts seemed too negative, but Melissa's perfectly functioning rationality told her that this was the most realistic possibility.

Just like every time they think of Is, Melissa and the Benson family think that he is a gentleman worthy of entrusting their lives to, but every time they think of this, the gears of reason will feel a little stuck. It's like a gear machine that has been out of repair for a long time, and a small screw is stuck between the gears, but the lever and gear crush the small screw during movement. No one finds this small screw, people just think that this machine is more laborious than usual, but it is not impossible to turn.

But these tiny feelings of incongruity made Melissa feel uneasy. The more reasonable she felt, and the more her spirituality agreed with them, the more frightened Melissa felt, as if her body and soul were betraying her spirit and consciousness.

After agreeing to Is's confession some time ago, Melissa felt that these incongruities were so sharp and her doubts were so acute.

The book "On the Advantages and Disadvantages of the Russell Steam Engine (First Edition)" was right next to her. This was the beginning of Melissa's encounter with Is. And now, Melissa borrowed it again as evidence in her own court tonight.

She couldn't help but open the book and took out the stack of manuscripts to examine them carefully. On it were the revision suggestions that Is wrote down for her when they first met.

But on the back of a sheet of manuscript paper was a quick sketch of Melissa.

The portrait is simple and precise. During the break of the conversation, Is completed the portrait with quick and skillful strokes, just to give Melissa a surprise.

The sweet candy fell to the ground and was scraped into the trash can by the huge clipper.

Melissa put the portrait and manuscript paper back into the book and divided everything on the table into two categories, placing them on both sides.

Isi Shezil was acquitted.

Yis Shizil was found guilty and sentenced.

Melissa took a deep breath.

Now the judge will begin to make the final decision.

She picked up the pen and listed Is's doubts and concerns on two pages of the notebook. The two different ideas were debating fiercely in her mind.

Finally, Melissa dropped her pen in frustration. The judge was unable to make a rational judgment on the existing evidence and testimony, and with a thunderous explosion, the court finally adjourned.

But Melissa needed an explanation, an answer that would allow her to decide the rest of her life.

When her own rationality could not solve the problem, Melissa decided to confront Is Shezil face to face and question him about the contradictions in her heart one by one.

This is definitely the most dangerous and deadly date between the two.

Both he and Is are currently at Sequence Three of the Universal Path. If Is really attacks Melissa because his identity is revealed, the battle will be very troublesome.

After much deliberation, Melissa finally decided to set the date in the main library of the Gales Library.

At present, the construction of the Gales Library has been completed by more than half, and the main library is basically completed. Here, Melissa has arranged many protective measures to protect the collection of books, so that the fight will not affect the people and objects around the main library.

On the other hand, since she was in charge of the design and construction of the Gales Library herself, Melissa knew it very well and had set up many back-up plans and traps here, which would provide her with a lot of help when necessary.

If Is really approaching me for another purpose, what could it be?

Could he be a spy from Feysac or Intis? Was he approaching me to get close to the top leaders of Backlund's academic community, or to monitor the steam engine improvement research I was conducting?

Could he be an elite from some other mysterious force or extraordinary organization? Would he go to such great lengths to get close to me in order to gather information about the Church of Steam?

Or maybe, he had already discovered my relationship with the Fool and wanted to use me as a key to learn some information about Klein, or to influence Klein's current state?

Don't know, don't know anything.

Or...

No, I can't get stuck in this fruitless spiral of thinking.

Many conflicts are not impossible to mediate. If it is a spy, it may be possible to turn against him; if it is an elite, it may be possible to abandon the mission; if it is just a dangerous lone wolf, it is not impossible for him to go along with the crowd. If it is a true false alarm, it would be even better.

But if that were the case, then the most fundamental contradiction would have been doomed to be irreconcilable...

Melissa was silent for a moment, tore off all the pages filled with self-confrontation, then quietly held a corner of the page in front of her eyes, lit it, and burned it.

The red flames were small and fast, biting the paper and climbing up. The yellowed cheap pages were burned into black carbon, staining the bright flames. Then the leaping flames spread to Melissa's hands, Melissa's table, Melissa's house, and finally the black flames devoured the entire illusion, leaving only the pages of books falling down and turning into black smoke before landing.

When this date reaches an irreconcilable deadlock, the research results buried under the main library will become Melissa's last trump card.