Translated by: Silva
Edited by: PMBL, Comfortabull, Taffy
Chapter 53 – Genuine Freedom
Without any hesitation, all the girls quickly nodded without saying a single word. Clearly, they had already completely thought about this matter beforehand. For them, any price was worth it, as long as they could keep their appearances.
“Very well!” Suo Jia shouted loudly and said in a deep voice, “In that case, I will restore your originally beautiful appearances today. In addition, I can lend a hand and help transform you girls into your most perfect and beautiful forms! However… “
Halfway through his words, Suo Jia smiled and narrowed his eyes, “Before I do this, I will talk about my request first. If you all feel like you cannot accept it, then we will just think that this matter never happened before. What do you girls think?”
After hearing Suo Jia’s words, all the girls nodded simultaneously. At the same time, Suo Jia continued, “Even though I can restore your previous appearances, I don’t want anyone else to know about this matter. I hope that none of you will take off your cloaks even after your beautiful appearances have been recovered, after all… these are symbols of your identities, and… I need your mysterious atmospheres!”
“This… this is impossible!” One red cloak shook her head, “Even if we can keep the others in the dark, we can’t conceal it from the school and teacher. After all… we need to meet up everyday. This kind of secret, how can we conceal it!”
Smiling weakly, Suo Jia picked up a small package beside him and tossed it in front of the group of fire wind warriors. At the same time he said, “After you open that package, you will understand everything.”
A few girls were skeptical after they heard Suo Jia but they still acted according to his instructions, and opened up that small package. The next moment… a stack of strange objects appeared in front of all the girls.
He noticed the girls had realized and said calmly, “These are the masks I specifically ordered for you all. They are extremely firm and exhibit good ventilation systems. Not only can they help you conceal your appearances, they can also help block the direct impacts of the fire and wind. Most importantly, if you girls are the ones wearing it, nobody would dare to take them off, including your mentor.”
Listening to Suo Jia, all the girls finally came to an understanding. As long as they wore the masks, their real appearances wouldn’t be completely exposed even after their cloaks got destroyed. Suo Jia wanted to utilize the new faces he was about to grant them.
Smiling eerily, Suo Jia said, “As you all know, your lives do not belong to yourselves, but to the entire country. So after you all graduate, you will be recruited by the country and become soldiers. However, this is not what I want to see.”
Suo Jia’s words made all the girls jolt from their heads to their feet. Suo Jia was right: if they had the rights to choose, they would rather not learn fire and wind combat skills. But in reality, once they were discovered to have the constitutions for fire and wind, they no longer had a choice. In fact, they were forced to learn and practice. If they did not practice hard enough and were unable to reach the set objectives, they would be punished severely.
As the country’s executioners and weapons, they were deemed to be free on the surface. However in reality, their freedoms were fake. They didn’t even have the final say in regards to their own lives; could freedom even still be discussed?
They had thought about resisting a long time ago, but… no matter how powerful they became, they were still just some thirty plus people; how could they hope to confront an entire country? What’s more, they had parents, relatives and friends, and couldn’t bring disaster to their families.
It wasn’t that they didn’t want to resist, it was just that they couldn’t resist. They didn’t feel any gratitude for the country that trained them as weapons. On the contrary, they hated that country!
Looking at the girls’ trembling bodies, Suo Jia laughed, “To my knowledge, there are a few among you who are about to graduate this year. Am I correct?”
One of the girls nodded, “That’s right, six of our sisters who enrolled in the academy earlier can graduate already. In fact, our lodgings have already been prepared. But… why are you asking us this? What do you want to do?”
Taking a deep breath, Suo Jia heavily said, “I hope that you girls can find opportunities to let the world know that you are all dead. Then… change your appearances, and return to me. You should know, once you become the country’s weapons, it will be difficult for me to help you. Not to mention, you girls won’t be able to repay me.”
Suo Jia’s words deeply pierced their hearts, all the girls trembled more violently. After a while, a trembling voice resounded, “You mean to say, you can restore our freedoms?!”
Firmly nodding his head, Suo Jia said confidently, “That’s right, this is the best solution. Only in this way will you girls be able to repay me.”
“No problem!” Just as Suo Jia’s voice had faded, all the girls started to shout one after another.
Maybe it was a little impulsive, but Suo Jia’s idea really made it too hard for people to refuse. Not only could they keep their beauty, but they could also regain their freedoms without their loved ones getting involved. On the contrary, because they were thought to be dead, the country would issue a lot of money to their parents.
Imagine that! They could have the strongest military might and still keep their appearances at the same time. They could also fall in love and enjoy the warmth of a family. Moreover, they could have genuine freedom! They would no longer be at the country’s mercy!
All the girls knew that even if they broke away from the country’s restraints, they still wouldn’t be completely free. They were bound to serve Suo Jia whole-heartedly, but it went without saying that there was no true freedom in this secular world. Moreover… they were equals of Suo Jia, like two locust plugged on top of a thread; it was impossible for Suo Jia to treat them shabbily. Rather than higher or lower ranks, it could be said that they had more of a relationship like cooperative partners. It was unlike a country, which had absolute dominion!
While gasping, one of the red cloaked girl said excitedly, “Three weeks from now, we are going to the Magical Beast Forest for our first trial. I think… this is the best opportunity to fake our deaths. We just need to fix up a good plan in advance, and I promise we will mysteriously disappear to a place that neither heavens nor ghosts will know of!”
“En…” Suo Jia agreed while nodding his head, “Very well, you girls go back and think about it carefully. Set it up properly, and once your fake deaths succeed, you girls should change your appearances and sneak to Glory City. Afterwards, contact me with letters!”
“Okay, we will settle it this way!” The red cloaked girl said in a hurry.
Nodding his head, Suo Jia frowned and said, “But you girls also cannot neglect the opportunity to strengthen yourselves. The few of you who are graduating should pass on everything you have learned to the others. You girls should know this as a team: the greater the power of each individual, the higher the probability of survival. Regarding this point, there’s no need for me to say more right?”
Listening to Suo Jia’s words, all the red cloaked girls quickly nodded. At the same time, Suo Jia stood up and stretched his body, before he smiled and said, “Alright, next, there are people waiting upon you girls to change your clothes. After you have finished changing, wait for me here. I will call my classmates over here. We will continue the talk after we have restored your appearances.”
Hearing Suo Jia’s words, all the girls followed Suo Jia’s instruction ecstatically. Rushing towards one of the rooms at the side. At the same time, Suo Jia turned around and headed towards the exit.
Being led by Suo Jia, hundreds of water mage apprentices entered the underwater training ground. Looking at this mysterious and magical gigantic space, all the girls were astonished and full of admiration.
In order to keep the secret of those fire wind warriors, Suo Jia could not let these girls know what kind of people had come here to receive moisture. In order to achieve this goal, they naturally had to prepare a trick.
First, the maids were ordered to cover the pillars of the underwater training ground with white fabrics, surrounding approximately 40 square meters of space. Then… the 36 fire wind warriors were allowed to enter the space surrounded by the white fabrics. As a result, even though the girls outside could vaguely see the people inside, they couldn’t tell who the people inside were.