Line’s Diverging Road

With Aika good to go, the next one to express their interest was Line and without any surprise, she said, "I want to continue what I'm doing and maybe expand my medical knowledge and expertise to other branches such as the physical and soul aspects."

"Aren't you doing great right now? Wouldn't you just overwhelm yourself if you ask for more?" Artemis asked full of skepticism. She didn't want her to push herself too much, as compared to all the children she had met in the past, she was already a top-notch healer that everyone would scramble for.

Line immediately shook her head, "I can heal most injuries, yes. I can even treat the curse that hit me and everyone in the Loki Familia thanks to the extensive Magic knowledge that Kisuke-san passed on. However, I can only do that with the use of Magic. There would definitely be a time where I won't be able to use my magic and I'll be next to useless."

Yoruichi nodded in understanding, however, she had to warn her, "Are you sure about this? It's going to be extremely hard. What you're going to learn would be far beyond your notion of reality. If you're not careful, it may change who you are now. That's how big of a difference the knowledge you have compared to the knowledge we know of."

But without any hesitation, Line nodded, "I'm prepared! Kisuke-san already warned me of this even before he started teaching me."

"Great. However, that's not what concerns me the most. Let's say you've successfully learned all of this, what do you think would happen?"

Line was silent. She thought about it for a while but the only answer she came up with was she'll be a lot better at treating and saving other people.

Guessing what she's thinking, Yoruichi continued with a grin, "What I meant is, are you prepared to become the enemy of the world once this knowledge is passed on to you?"

"W-what...?" Different from before, Line was speechless this time. She would have never thought that such a question would pop up for her to answer. In confusion, she unconsciously looked towards the Deities in the room and found them making complicated expressions, making Yoruichi's question a lot more serious than she initially thought, "T-that... what does that mean?"

To her question, Hestia was the one who answered while looking straight into her, "Kisuke-kun's medical knowledge... Goes against the natural order of things. As you've already heard earlier, Irina-kun and Akeno-kun supposedly died, and yet, they are still somehow alive. As Artemis's children, she couldn't be mistaken nor could it be faked since she would be able to immediately tell if someone tampered with her Falna. And even before that, I doubt Kisuke-kun and Yoruichi-kun have any reason to tamper with it. If by any chance they needed to touch the Falna, I trust that they'll be telling me about it."

"Not just the Gods of Death, Reincarnation, or other Deities that oversee the cycle of life, but all Deities would frown upon reversing death outside of the Falna-granted skill's 'miracle'. With that in mind, you should be able to understand why you could become the enemy of the world. It's because you're about to acquire the power to ignore the laws of this world."

Before Line could even process everything, Yoruichi added, "If you're thinking that you should only be taught enough that it won't reach that point then forget it. Giving you a half-assed knowledge would not only endanger you, but also everyone around you."

Seeing this would be a good chance since Line wouldn't be able to provide an answer right now, Serafall also chipped in her own warnings, "And since you'll be studying medicine, be aware that you won't just be able to concoct medicine to restore health but make one to completely destroy it. In other words, you'll be able to make poisons. Depending on your stance, we may or may not allow you to go further than this."

With all the acting leaders staring daggers at her, the pressure on Line was immense and made her incredibly nervous and fearful. But before she could give a haphazard and panicked answer that they might want to hear, someone took her cold shaking hands.

The surprising warmth shocked and cleared her mind a little bit. Slowly, she lifted her face up and saw Sona smiling gently at her, "This is a lot to take in so you don't have to answer now. Go take some rest first and contemplate on them slowly." Sona then looked towards Medusa and said, "Medusa-san, We'll leave her to you."

Medusa saw her wink at her and nodded, "Understood. Line-san, I'll accompany you to your room."

As Medusa slowly escorted the disgruntled Line and went through the door, Sona suddenly called out to her once more, "Line-san! Whatever your decision is, please don't forget that nothing will change. You'll always be our precious comrade."

Line quietly looked at her with unsure eyes for a moment before leaving.

After the barrier went up again, Aika suddenly asked, "Is it fine to bombard her like that? I feel bad for her."

Hestia heaved a large sigh, "It's fine. All this time, despite being with everyone, she's always been unsure of what she should really do and the only thing she can do to escape from those thoughts are her studies and research making her feel disconnected from the rest of us. While this may be hard on her, it should force her to think about the future and the position she's in, and by extension, she should be able to at least have a clear goal other than 'tagging' along."

While looking at Yoruichi and Serafall, Artemis asked, "But are you really sure about this? You've already repeatedly expressed that you don't have much time and I don't think you'll be able to wait for her to decide. It's not something that one can give an answer to within a few days or even years in time."

Without any hesitation, Yoruichi gave an answer that surprised both Artemis and Hestia, "We'll leave her. We'll give her as much time as we can since Kisuke is really looking forward for her to take his mantle as a medical practitioner. However, when the time comes that we need to move on, bringing her, who can't look forward to her own future, would only cause her own demise. As good as Kisuke is at nurturing people, he's not that great at preparing them."

"Well, even if that turned out to be the case, she's already sure to succeed... By this world's standards, anyway."

Sona then sat back down while saying, "We don't really have to worry about that. Medusa-san is with her and I think she'll be able to help her splendidly. No matter what decision she comes up to, she first needs to have some trust in herself and get out of everyone's shadow."

Yoruichi eyed her before smiling, "It seems that it wasn't just your magic that improved. If you don't mind, I'd like to hear some details about it later."

"Sure~"