Chapter 325 The winter sword festival?
Winter Break Arc
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(POV: Lumiere)
Garret downed his mug of beer, the satisfying taste washing over his tongue as he slamd the empty vessel onto the sturdy wooden table. Exhaling deeply, he stood up and turned to Ress, beckoning him to join him.
"We should get going," he told Ress.
"Huh?" I said. "Wait, you guys are leaving so soon?" I asked.
I wasn't necessarily disappointed, but it was just so abrupt. I could've done sothing like this to Garret— leaving during a conversation with soone I hadn't seen for so ti. But it was unusual for him to do it because he was always so friendly.
Garret flashed a grin. "Yeah, we have to et with Genevieve," he replied.
"Oh, I see," I responded. But then Garret surprised with an invitation. "Hey, you can co with us, if you want!" he exclaid. "We can all go see her together."
For a mont, I felt relieved. If I went to see Genny, then I could apologize to her for the way I left things between us.
"Really?" I asked.
But then sothing important popped into my mind...
I glanced at Ravenna.
She flashed a pretty smile and then said, "It's fine if you want to go, I've had enough fun already..."
There was no way I could leave things here, besides, we barely scratched the list of things she wanted to do for today. Yeah, we still had a lot of ti seeing as we could do it tomorrow or the day after, but it'd be better for her to enjoy it without uninteresting intervals.
I looked at Garret again.
"Actually," I began, "nevermind. I already have plans."
Garret's gaze flickered to Ravenna and then back to , a smile then appeared on his lips. "With your lady friend, huh?" he teased. "Well, no worries. We'll still be in Argentia when you're done, we could et up here say, tomorrow?"
"Looks good." I nodded.
"Honestly, we might be stuck in Argentia for a while..." Garret added.
I stroked my chin thoughtfully, considering what he said.
Winter didn't have a fixed date but it usually occurred early or late into the year, so it solely depended on how much the mana condensation in the atmosphere was— high or low.
If it was high, then chances were we'd have a very catastrophic winter.
If it was low, the opposite.
"I've heard that winter is particularly harsh on so parts of the continent," I ntioned. "Traveling during this ti would be quite risky."
Unless you could teleport or had high-level barrier magic.
Ress nodded in agreent. "Yeah, it'd be suicidal," he chid in.
Just as they were about to leave, Garret rembered sothing else. "Oh, and one more thing," he said, catching my attention. "Have you heard about the small Winter Sword Festival that's going to take place after winter?"
It was a little funny that a "Winter" sword festival would take place after winter, it'd be better if they called it a Post-Winter Sword Festival. But it was likely the reason they set it to be after winter so competitors could have a better chance of traveling without any issues.
Makes sense.
I shook my head. "No, I'm not really a swordsman, so it doesn't concern much."
Garret chuckled. "Yeah, I know that," he replied. "But Genevieve is really excited about it. She'll be thrilled to have you there."
I raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute, Genevieve is participating?" I asked, eager for more information.
She was in the Holy Sword Festival, but we didn't cross each other in the tournant brackets. But chances were we'd face each other in the later rounds.
Garret nodded.
"Yep, she broke her previous high-grade sword when we went exploring in a cave. Now she doesn't have a standard primary weapon, so she's hoping to create sothing new by winning the tournant."
"Oh, but that sword of hers was really high grade," I comnted.
If I rember correctly, it was made by one of the best blacksmiths in the Royal Capital. If we were factoring in the worth of the sword I'd say it was sowhere around 30 gold. Jericho wanted to get the sa blacksmith to make a sword for him but my father was against it.
Apparently, he felt it would look like he was trying to encourage Jericho to beco a Margrave.
And neither Bluestella nor the king wanted that— he was supposedly suited to be a Duke.
"How on earth did a dungeon raid manage to wear it out so badly?" I asked.
Ress leaned back in his chair and chuckled. "It wasn't just the usual dungeon monsters," he explained. "We stumbled upon this incredibly powerful creature that gave us one hell of a fight. It's a miracle we made it out alive."
"Yeah, that bastard..." Garret ntioned.
"What was it's na again, Valera... Val... Velrizar...?" Ress rubbed his chin as he thought.
To cut their unnecessary information short, I interjected. "Wow, that sounds like one incredible story," I said, leaning forward. "I wish I could've seen it."
"Yeah, you missed this guy, rlin." Garret nodded proudly.
I raised an eyebrow. "rlin? Who's he?"
"Probably the strongest guy I've ever t..."
"Really? He's that strong?"
I wasn't really taking his word for much. But the only reason it bothered was because he already fought and lost to Black in the Holy Sword Festival, so for him to say this guy was the strongest he'd ever t was a little concerning.
Either way, I chose to shift the conversation.
Although not curious, I prodded for more information. "So, what's the deal with this tournant? What's at stake?"
Garret grinned, clearly excited about the topic. "The winner of the tournant gets a brand new weapon," he revealed. "And not just any weapon, it's going to be made by one of the best blacksmiths in the entire continent."
That was... Actually a great prize.
"Who's the blacksmith?" I asked, eagerly awaiting the answer.
Ress leaned forward. "It's Sela," he responded. "She's the one responsible for crafting so of the legendary weapons used by the God Continent's Holy Knights."
I whistled appreciatively. "That's so serious talent," I murmured.
If I did win that tournant, chances were I could get this Sela to give Thrain a few pointers that he could use to improve his craft. In the end I wouldn't even need a weapon because if Thrain had about as much experience as her, I'd get a high grade weapon anyti I wanted. I could even sell to other continents.
Not bad...
Garret's expression turned slightly sour. "Yeah, and that's why I hope the tournant doesn't attract too many powerful swordsn," he confessed. "The competition will be tough, and my chances of winning will be significantly reduced."
Well, you didn't really a chance to begin with, but okay.
I chuckled at his competitiveness. "Well, I guess you'll just have to give it your all and see how it goes," I suggested.
"Hopefully Black doesn't enter the tournant..."
"Black?" I raised an eyebrow.
Who could such an aweso na belong to? I thought.
Garret nodded a bit. "He was the guy who one-shot in the last tournant.."
"Yeah, he's probably one of the strongest swordsman I've seen.." Ress added.
"Don't call him a swordsman, he's not worth that title." Garret frowned.
Uh, sure.
Garret looked a bit unhappy. The topic really reduced his spirits. He secured his sword to his waist and stood up. "I'd love to talk more Lumiere, trust I would," he said. "But for now, we must get going. Genevieve wouldn't like us being tardy."
"Hah~ I know that feeling." I chuckled.
They waved at and took their leave.
"Alright then, later," I bid them farewell, waving as they exited the booth.
I settled back into my seat, savoring the mont of relaxation. Ravenna turned to , she stared silently at and it made heavily uncomfortable.
For a second, I was planning not to talk, and just let her keep staring, UT then she started saying:
"Staaaaareeee~~"
"Uh, is there anything you want... Ravenna?"
"It's really fine if you want to go with them..."
I sighed and then flicked my finger against her forehead.
"Ouch!" she covered the spot I flicked with her hands. "Why'd you do that."
"Because you don't listen to ... I told you that we were going to have fun today, just you and , no one else and no distractions either." I shrugged and sighed a bit. "But it looks like you're being an unfaithful wife now."
Ravenna blushed a bit, and then her cheeks puffed up like buns as she shot forward and told . "I'm a great wife!"
"Prove it..." I told her.
"Alright then, we can keep going out~!" she said.
She's so easy... Heh~
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