Chapter 36: The Butterfly Flaps Its Wings, the Roxy Who Left and Returned
The smoky text dissipated and didn't reappear for a long while, as if it were carefully evaluating.
After a moment, the characters flickered and jumped out again.
[The gap to becoming a Water Saint swordsman is very small.]
[You are only one opportunity away.]
Allen blinked.
'An opportunity?'
[Perhaps you will achieve a complete understanding during a high-pressure real battle, or perhaps it will be an epiphany like the one you had during your duel with Paul this morning. To be honest, I cannot provide precise advice. Your rank increase is also a rough judgment based on searching for swordsmen of the same level. Swordsmanship skill itself cannot be accurately quantified. For example, when you activate your self-created secret art, if you could counter-attack, you would definitely be in a state that surpasses the average Water Saint... Unfortunately, compared to the Water Saints, you still lack a certain fluidity.]
Allen rubbed his chin.
'Counter-attack, huh...'
Rudeus, who had been stunned for a moment, saw Allen winking at him and then rubbing his chin. An involuntary shiver went down his spine.
'So you won twice, so what? What's with that expression, like you're examining your spoils of war! Am I some kind of wife from a barbarian tribe that you can take home after winning?'
Although he had been defeated by Allen twice in a row, once he had adjusted his mindset, he felt like he was back in the game.
After all, it was a decent back-and-forth, wasn't it?
'This is Allen, the guy who can hold his own against Paul!'
'I already tried my best. If Roxy saw this, she would probably just marvel at Allen's strength and wouldn't be too hard on me. After all, Roxy is so good at encouraging people~'
Rudeus quickly exonerated himself. Then, he heard the sound of slightly anxious footsteps, pat-pat-pat, coming from the top of the hill.
The next moment, Sylphie burst through the dense fog and entered the battlefield.
"A-Allen! Rudy! Are you two okay?!"
At this point, Allen finally came back to his senses. He turned to look at Sylphie's anxious face and smiled gently.
"We're fine."
Rudeus squinted at Allen.
'Why is your attitude so different now? Why were you just winking and rubbing your chin at me before!'
Sylphie walked forward, first looking Allen up and down, then turning to Rudeus. Seeing that neither of them had any injuries, she finally breathed a sigh of relief. She patted her chest and said seriously to Rudeus, her heart still pounding.
"Rudy, I think... you shouldn't have such a dangerous fight like this again. It's easy to get hurt."
She then pointed a finger at Allen's chipped blade.
Under Allen's somewhat subtle gaze, Rudeus's lip couldn't help but twitch.
'The way you say it makes it sound like I was the one beating up Allen, but that's not how it was at all!!'
Allen scratched his head awkwardly. He looked at the foggy surroundings and said to the two of them, "Let's put that aside for now. Let's dispel this fog first. It's too gloomy at the bottom of the hill. It looks like the site of some evil cult ritual."
Rudeus replied irritably, "Yes~ Lord Allen~"
After he had used a fireball to evaporate the fog, Sylphie, Rudeus, and Allen all wore embarrassed expressions.
The area at the bottom of the hill was a muddy mess, without a single clean place to stand.
If they were to plant rice seedlings now, they might just harvest a golden rice paddy by late summer.
But the problem was, this little hill was practically their secret base. It wasn't appropriate to ask the villagers to farm here. Besides, this place was far from the village, so no one would take it over.
So, Sylphie and Rudeus could only pick up the heavily damaged areas and use healing magic one by one to restore the grass on the turf, covering up the ugly, exposed mud.
This kept them busy for the better part of the day.
In the afternoon, the three of them went with Paul to the village blacksmith, where Allen got a new blade for his existing hilt. Fortunately, Allen's sword was just an ordinary sharp, thin blade, so it was easy to find a light, thin blade of a similar standard.
When Paul learned the details of their duel, however, he couldn't help but be amazed.
"You two were that serious in your match? The precision of those tactics is no different from adventuring in a labyrinth. And Allen, what's with that sword technique of yours? I've never heard of it."
Hearing this, Allen scratched his face.
"I studied swordsmanship at the Water God Style main dojo in the Asura capital since I was young. The inspiration for that secret art came from Her Excellency, Reida Lilia."
Paul and Rudeus's eyes widened simultaneously. Only Sylphie stood beside them with a confused look on her face.
Rudeus immediately became excited.
"So you've really met the Water God? Is she a super-strong, cool older-sister type? The name sounds like she'd be a blonde, blue-eyed, mature woman!"
'She sounds like Teresa from Claymore...'
Paul and Allen both squinted at Rudeus. After a long moment, Paul scratched his face and said helplessly.
"Ah, well... she is mature, and she is powerful, but blonde and blue-eyed... forget it."
'How should I put this... he really is my son, isn't he? His focus is always on the strangest things.'
Allen facepalmed.
"She's an old woman who's only about half a head taller than Roxy. She's very imposing, but her taste is a bit strange."
'To still hold a favorable impression of a fat pig like Darius, to the point of being willing to repay his kindness with her life... that's really hard to stomach.'
Three people, each with their own line of thought. Perhaps this was just the Greyrat way.
Rudeus was dumbfounded by Allen's words. Paul then turned to look at Allen. "Are you Her Excellency Reida's direct disciple?"
Allen looked up at him.
"Yes."
Paul nodded.
"No wonder you have such a high level of mastery in the Water God Style at such a young age... It also makes sense why you're not good at the Sword God Style. The Water God Style main dojo is mostly filled with noble children who will become guards or knights in the capital in the future. The Sword God Style, which emphasizes offense, is not suitable for that environment."
Hearing this, Rudeus looked at the two of them.
"Then is Allen also a noble?"
At these words, Allen's face stiffened. He quickly tried to laugh it off.
"Ah, well... I guess you could say that. Um... I was undisciplined in matters between men and women, got into a bit of trouble, and so I fled the dojo in a panic to become an adventurer."
Hearing this all-too-familiar life story, Paul's face stiffened.
'You little brat, you're clearly talking about me.'
He then gritted his teeth, the words squeezed out from between them.
"...Yes, yes, this little brat is truly undisciplined... haha, hahaha..."
Beside them, Sylphie, who had been an outsider, also had her face stiffen for a moment upon hearing this.
"U-Undisciplined in matters between men and women... what... what does that mean?"
The three of them looked at each other and fell into an awkward silence.
Rudeus, however, looked at the two of them and narrowed his eyes.
'Something's up... Is Allen really a wandering adventurer? If he were an ordinary person, he wouldn't have been able to study at the Water God Style main dojo, right? And from Paul's attitude, there are many suspicious points...'
Night fell. The lights in the Greyrat household were all extinguished. The moon was swallowed by dark clouds, and the night in Buena Village was silent.
After two fights today, Allen was exhausted both physically and mentally. He was already lying in bed and had fallen into a deep sleep before the nightly creaking sounds began.
Late at night, however, a faint noise sounded by his ear, like some kind of elastic object repeatedly making a soft pat-pat sound.
Allen frowned tightly. But the sound came intermittently, and instead of fading, it made him more and more awake.
Finally, he rolled over and roared in his mind.
'Will the couple next door please be considerate! Are you trying to let people sleep?! Who can stand this nightly ball game?!'
The next moment, as his consciousness cleared, he suddenly realized that the sound was not coming from next door, but from the crack of the window right next to his bed.
Allen narrowed his eyes and parted the curtains.
In the shadowy darkness, a not-so-tall figure was pacing back and forth cautiously on the steps in front of the small gate.
'A thief? Stealing from the village knight's house? That doesn't seem right...'
He observed for a while and found that the figure had no intention of leaving, just repeating the process of pacing back and forth, as if struggling to decide which room to start stealing from.
He rolled out of bed, grabbed his sword, and silently opened the window. Using his Touki, he scaled down the wall and landed in the yard.
The moment he landed, the figure seemed to be startled and jumped up on the spot, turning around.
The next instant, a gleaming blade was already at the person's neck.
Allen was about to speak a threat, but when he saw the person's face up close, his pupils widened in shock, his expression one of horror.
A mountain wind blew. The dark clouds in the sky, as if tired of the moon, spat it out from their belly. In an instant, the moonlight poured down from the sky like a silver sash.
It illuminated the figure of the newcomer:
Two long, blue pigtails swayed gently in the wind. The moonlight flowed over the bangs on her forehead. She was clutching her magic hat, her bangs somewhat messy, and she was looking at Allen with an expression of panic mixed with a strange sense of relief.
Roxy.
The light in a goddess's eyes needs no moonlight to enhance it.
It was already enough to make one feel a sense of longing.
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