Law of Space and Time

"Who exactly are you?" Lana asked as she stared at Aglea with a serious expression.

"Is that really so important to you?" Aglea asked as she cocked her head to the side. "Even if you had all of your memories, I don't think you would've heard of me."

"Why is that?"

"You come from the south, and this is the north."

Lana fell silent upon hearing this.

"Besides, things like reputations are like clouds in the sky. They dissipate just as quickly as they gather."

As if to illustrate her point, Aglea swept her sword through the air, and the dark clouds in the sky quickly faded, revealing a pristine blue sky.

It was as if nothing had ever happened, as if the freemen had never come, and as if that battle hadn't taken place.

"I was somewhat renowned 20 years ago, but everyone has most likely already forgotten about me by now," Aglea said with a self-deprecating smile as she looked up at the pristine sky.

"My name is Aglea," she said as he turned to look at Lana with her grey eyes.

Lana nodded in response, then turned to look into Aglea's grey eyes with a curious expression. "Are you... a different person from the one you were before?"

"Don't think this changes anything between us. You're still my slave," Aglea said in a cold voice.

"Looks like you're no better than before, after all," Lana harrumphed as she turned her face to the side.

"Stop trying to dig into my history," Aglea said as she glared at Lana while tightening the bone claw necklace as a warning.

An agonized look appeared on Lana's face, and it was clear that the sense of asphyxiation was extremely torturous for her. "You can torture me all you want, but if you had any backbone, you'd kill me right now. Otherwise, you're going to die by my hands, I swear it!"

"You know that I'm a woman now," Aglea said as she released the bone claw necklace. "Let me tell you that women are very skilled when it comes to torturing other women."

"You're not a woman, you're an old hag!" Even though Lana was gasping for breath, her tongue was still as sharp as ever.

Aglea had just said that she had forged a reputation for herself 20 years ago, which meant that she had to have been in her late thirties at the very youngest.

Aglea faltered slightly upon hearing this before immediately bursting into laughter. "Even back when I was your age, I never counted on my looks for anything, so it doesn't matter whether you call me old or not."

"I see, so you're both old and ugly," Lana replied.

Aglea shook her head with a smile, not interested in engaging Lana in a war of words.

"So what do you want to do now?" Aglea asked as she looked down at the two armies, which had stopped fighting long ago.

The soldiers of Intelar and the freemen were hailing the two women in the sky as deities, and they were on the verge of falling to their knees.

"As opposed to going and searching for him without any leads, why don't we make some noise so he comes to find us?" Lana suggested.

Aglea shook her head with a smile upon hearing this.

"What's the problem?" Lana asked as she turned to her with furrowed brows.

Aglea was still smiling as she asked, "Do you know why you're not as powerful as I am?"

Lana shook her head begrudgingly in response. No matter how reluctant she was to admit it, Aglea was indeed far more powerful than she was, and the way that Aglea was able to convert matter energy was completely beyond Lana's realm of understanding.

"You're tied down to too many things, so you're not sufficiently pure."

Lana turned to Aglea with a perplexed expression upon hearing this.

"In simpler terms, you have too many wants, so you're too distracted," Aglea explained. "Regardless of whether it's magic or martial techniques, if you want to improve, you need focus, absolute, single-minded focus. In my eyes, you can only truly do something well by spending your entire life doing that single thing. However, not only is there a man in your heart, you're also bound to all of these worldly affairs. A person's mental resources are limited, how could you possibly focus on so many things at once and expect good outcomes?"

"You just can't do it because you're not talented enough," Lana countered in an extremely unreasonable manner.

"Oh? If you're so great, then why didn't you dare to come with Erwin when he set off on his journey to the north?" Aglea asked with a cold smile. "If you had been half as determined as you are now, we would've never met in the Terarody Mountain Ranges."

"What made me hesitate back then?" Lana asked in a frustrated voice, clearly inconvenienced by her lack of memories.

"Ha, you had a ton of reasons," Aglea said with an amused expression. "You were jealous because Erwin was extremely promiscuous and already had a woman by his side who didn't lose to you in any regard, whether it be looks, power, and status, and you were also unwilling to leave your family behind. There's no point in arguing with me, you were the one who made these decisions."

Lana took a moment to contemplate what Aglea had just said before a mocking look appeared on her face. "So you're saying that it's all thanks to you that I'm able to focus on my magic now? Should I be thanking you?"

Aglea paid no heed to the disgruntled tone of Lana's voice as she said, "I hope you can continue to maintain this focus. At the very least, take inspiration from the spell you just created. Then again, everyone progresses in different ways. Perhaps you can become the most powerful magician in the world through constantly thinking about men. In my eyes, it's very fortunate for you that I took away those unnecessary memories in your mind."

"Ptui!" A deep blush appeared on Lana's face as she protested, "What nonsense are you spouting? You're the one who's constantly thinking about men!"

"Oh? Looks like you saw right through me," Aglea chuckled with an amused expression. "That Erwin does seem like quite a sumptuous young lad. You may not be able to defeat that silver-haired lover of his, but I can easily crush her on a whim. Don't blame me if I go ahead and steal Erwin from you."

"You think he would fall for an old hag like you?" Despite what Lana was saying, the look in her eyes indicated that she really was furious.

Aglea was elated to see Lana so frustrated, and she immediately burst into amused laughter.

If the bystanders down below were to learn the topic of the conversation taking place between the two beings who were like deities in their eyes, their jaws would've most likely dropped straight to the ground.

...

After the two of them descended from the heavens, Perry was the first one to approach them.

"Master... Master, you..." It was trying to say something, but it was too nervous to muster up a coherent sentence.

Aglea took a cold glance at it, clearly not intending to explain herself.

Perry became even more fearful and reluctant to speak upon seeing this.

Meanwhile, Lana landed directly before Yuran.

"Go to the city wall and tell the freemen to retreat and wait outside the city. We'll decide what we're going to do with them after a negotiation," Lana instructed.

Yuran immediately did as he was told, beckoning for his subordinates to follow him to the city wall.

After that, Lana turned her gaze toward Aike, and he and Quinton immediately approached her.

"The two leaders of the freemen have already been incapacitated by me," Lana said as she took a glance at the unconscious Ewen and Moustache. "At this point, I don't think there's any to continue this battle. What do you think?"

"It's all up to you, Ms. Lana," Aike immediately replied.

"I fully agree, Ms. Lana. I'll go notify our troops right away," Quinton said before also hurrying away toward the city wall.

"What do you plan to do with these people, Ms. Lana?" Aike asked in a quiet voice.

"I'm planning to take in all of them and make them serve me," Lana replied with a smile.

Aike was stunned to hear this, and he wanted to say something, but didn't dare to.

"What? Are you scared?" Lana jibed at the sight of Aike's pale complexion.

"N, no, of course not!" Aike denied, putting on a tough facade as he did so.

"Let me remind you that if I hadn't been here today, you would most likely already be dead," Lana said with a smile.

"That's very true," Aike agreed with a firm nod. He knew that he was about to be extorted, but it was indeed undeniable that Lana had saved his life.

"You are the only heir to the Fano Dukedom, so essentially, I've saved the Fano Dukedom's future, right?" Lana continued.

"You can say that," Aike replied as he lowered his head, making no attempt to argue.

After a moment of contemplation, he finally made up his mind and said, "Tell me what you want, Ms. Lana. As long as it's something within my capabilities, state it and you'll have it."

"I don't want much, I just want to borrow Intelar for a while."

"Borrow in what way?"

"If I can take over these freemen smoothly, then essentially, this city would've been conquered by the freemen."

Aike's heart jolted slightly upon hearing this, and he couldn't help but wonder if Lana was contemplating taking the city by force.

Lana knew what Aike was thinking, and she consoled, "But thankfully for you, I have no interest in this city, so you don't need to worry. I already told you that I'm here to search for someone. However, searching aimlessly for him like this won't do me any good. Hence, I want to make some noise and get him to come and find me."

Aike cast a rather perplexed gaze toward Lana upon hearing this. You did all of this just so that Erwin would come to find you?

With that in mind, he was feeling very envious. Lana was like a beautiful dream that he would never be able to attain in this lifetime. Furthermore, he also understood that the gap between them was only becoming wider and wider, and that only served to exacerbate the sense of inferiority and envy in his heart.

"But surely those freemen wouldn't be willing to pledge their subordination to you so easily," Aike said as his brows furrowed slightly.

"You don't need to worry about that," Lana said. "If they dare to refuse, then I'll just have to kill them all."

"I think I should stay behind, just in case something goes wrong," Aike said as he cast his gaze toward Lana. He knew that if he were to leave at a time like this and allow Lana to take over the freemen, then the next time they met, they would've most likely been enemies. He was certainly unwilling to allow Lana to become his enemy, not just because she was the woman of his dreams, but also because of her fearsome might as a magician.

"Do whatever you want." Lana knew that Aike was still worried about the city and was only using his concern for her as an excuse to stay and oversee proceedings. "However, I have to remind you that the leader of the freemen really wants you dead."

"Then let's just kill him," Aike replied with a resigned smile.

Lana was rather amused to hear this. She knew that Aike wanted to have the leader of the freemen killed through her. She also knew that if she really were to go ahead and kill Ewen, then all of the freemen would be completely disillusioned, making it impossible for her to recruit them to her side.

However, she wasn't looking down on Aike for this. In her eyes, this was completely understandable. She would've thought far less of Aike if he had completely disregarded everything because he was so enamored with her. Then again, this was a bit of a double standard as she certainly wouldn't be opposed to Erwin giving up everything to be with her.

"There's also another predicament that we'll have to face soon."

"What is it?"

"News of Intelar being surrounded is most likely already traveling toward Fasentate, so reinforcements from my father will be arriving in a few days. How do we explain the situation to him? If we tell him that Intelar has been taken over by the freemen, he'll definitely raise an army to quell the rebellion."

"In that case, we'll just have to have a chat with him once he arrives," Lana said with a smile. "I just hope that he's a reasonable man who knows what's good for him."

Aike couldn't help but shudder slightly at the menacing smile on Lana's face.

He was very familiar with the prowess of the armies within the Fano Dukedom, and they really were no match for Lana and her servant.

Of course, at this point, he had already identified that the armor-clad "monster" most likely wasn't Lana's servant.

There was no servant who would've dared to lash out at their master, but Lana and that monster had just been engaged in a fierce battle.

Even if Lana had been on her own, she would've still been able to inflict terrifying casualties upon the regular army of the Fano Dukedom.

"Rest assured, Ms. Lana, I'll be sure to explain the situation to my father. I've already agreed to help you, so I'll do everything in my power to facilitate this. I'm sure my father will be willing to listen to reason once I tell him about the situation."