༺ The Lord Is With Us (35) ༻
“Can I hit you again?”
The words ca out of my mouth without any hesitation. They were raw, unfiltered words.
It was rude of to say that out loud. The Saintess widened her eyes at my words, bit her lip, and lowered her head.
After a while, an angry growl erupted from her.
“…Uh, uhhhh, uhhhhhhhhhh!”
She started stomping her feet on the ground. The thumping sound resonated louder than I had anticipated, maybe because she was stronger than I thought. I watched the Saintess tremble in anger without uttering a single word.
In my opinion, the furious expression on her face suited her better. Her pale pink eyes glared at .
It seed like my intentions had hit the mark. A satisfied smile ford on my lips when I saw that I had achieved my goal.
I can control the Saintess’ emotions!
“I’m suffering another loss by caring for you again! You piece of trash! Have you been thinking that every ti you see ? To chop down with your h-hatchet?”
I stroked my chin at her words. To be frank, I disliked violence, so I had never thought of hurting the Saintess every ti I saw her.
Perhaps only when the Saintess provoked with her snorts or scoffs?
In order to clear up any misunderstandings that the Saintess might’ve had, I decided to share my true feelings whenever I saw her.
“No, honestly, sotis I’ve wondered what it would be like to touch your breasts.”
“Do you think I would let you?! You should thank for not reporting you to the Inquisition for such blasphemy!”
It’s not like her breasts are going to wear out if I touch them.
I thought she was being a bit extra and put a frown on my face. Seeing my expression, the Saintess appeared even more annoyed.
When my eyes inadvertently moved toward the Saintess’ breasts, she quickly covered herself with her arms. Her wary eyes turned to face .
She was the one who asked to look last ti, but it seed like she had changed her mind now. I clicked my tongue and shook my head.
“…Anyway, that’s what it is.”
The Saintess looked puzzled by the sudden conclusion I reached. I offered a bitter smile.
“As you can see, I’m not that great of a person. Moreover, I can’t beco a skilled and admirable soldier either. I’m quite honest with myself about my desires. I just do what I want to do.”
It was an uninterrupted flow of words. I was taken aback by the honesty that poured out of .
Perhaps I had grown fond of the Saintess—the one with a fake mask over her true self, and distrusting of people’s kind acts.
“To you, I’m a piece of trash. To the orphans, I’m an unpredictable adult. To Mr. Guilford, I’m a kind nobleman. So don’t think about it too much.”
With that, I took a step closer to the Saintess. She flinched and shivered for a second, but I didn’t molest her in any way.
I simply passed by.
“…In any case, you’re not gonna believe even if I claim to be a good guy, right?”
The Saintess quickly tried to follow , but my hand was already waving in the air. Since my treatnt was over, I had no reason to stay.
This way, I could avoid the Saintess’ nagging as well.
It was killing two birds with one stone. Besides, I was too imrsed in my own thoughts to realize what the Saintess was thinking.
That night, the Saintess remained deep in thought for a long ti.
Ti passed by quickly, and before I knew it, several days had gone by.
***
With each breath I took, I felt my lungs expand. Each deep breath sharpened my vision, and I could clearly feel the blood pumping through my body.
There was only one opponent standing in front of . It was an old swordsman who had retired many years ago––the man who once held the title of ‘Sword Expert’ but now served as a director of an orphanage in the countryside.
Nonetheless, I couldn’t find any openings to attack. His skills, probably honed through years of training, proved that he could still fight like an active swordsman.
The old swordsman, Mr. Guilford, spoke to .
“…Whenever you’re ready.”
There was no ti to wait. Mr. Guilford’s sword imdiately sliced through the air.
His thrust ca at with a terrifying speed, tearing and ripping through the air.
I knew that I had to seize the gap between his sword and my position. Plunging into a skilled swordsman’s line of attack was not sothing a sane person would do.
However, the repeated extensive training I went through had dulled my fears.
The mont my feet left the ground, I saw straight lines in the air directing where to go. I rushed at the old man with all my might. Before his sword even reached , I had arrived at the exact spot I had aid for.
That was when the trouble began. During that seemingly slow flow of ti, I saw his blade aiming for my neck.
I had to keep moving forward. In order for to fully make use of the gap, there was no other choice.
Trying to dodge his attack at the wrong ti would only expose an opening for Mr. Guilford to exploit. I stuck my head into the trajectory of his attack, trusting my body to go with the flow. It was a lunatic’s technique.
That was Diffraction.
I grit my teeth. My mind was already set. I had to take one step forward and, just before the sword reached my throat, go with the flow of my movent and spin to burrow into where Mr. Guilford was standing.
It was a rule of conduct that had been drilled into my head countless tis. But in that brief mont,
Mr. Guilford’s sword stopped abruptly, and he struck my upper body with the flat side of the blade in the blink of an eye.
It was a strong blow from the old swordsman. Even though the path of his sword changed midway through the swing, the power of his attack hit like a whip. I was thrown straight to the ground.
I felt a crushing pain in my biceps. I groaned and withered in pain on the ground.
“You hesitated at the end. If you hesitate, I can easily anticipate your intentions. It might be fine if you were up against a novice swordsman, but if you’re facing an opponent who is a veteran with a lot of experience, their experience would allow them to choose their next best move imdiately.”
His voice sounded almost cold. At his words recounting my mistakes, I went from groaning in pain to crying out from frustration.
“But I only hesitated for like half a second…”
“There are no ‘buts’ in real combat. Do you plan on making excuses like that in the afterlife?”
Mr. Guilford’s words were as flawless as his swordsmanship. After fuming in anger for a while, I finally sighed and stood up.
No matter what I did, I couldn’t shake off the last minute hesitation every ti. I was a person made of flesh and blood, so how could I not have a desire to live and avoid getting hurt?
It was simply the nature of living things to seek a path that leads to life. Even those who wanted to commit suicide are said to regret their decision at the final, irreversible mont before death.
The impact of Mr. Guilford’s attack hadn’t entirely subsided yet, so I staggered for a mont, unable to find my balance. In a brief mont, I fixed my grip on my sword and faced him once again.
My jaw tightened as I spoke.
“…I would like to ask you for one more, please.”
Only then did Mr. Guilford wear a satisfied smile. And then, right before he got back into position,
“Mr. Ian!”
An urgent voice rang out from nearby. When I turned my gaze to look behind , I saw Senior Elsie running towards us, panting.
Imdiately, as she looked at the wounds all over my body, she scrunched up her face as if she was about to cry. She then growled like a dog whose owner got attacked by an enemy and glared at Mr. Guilford.
But because of her small size, she only looked like a small, yappy dog.
She wasn’t threatening at all. Mr. Guilford seed to be thinking the sa and smiled bitterly.
His eyes seed as though he was looking at this granddaughter dancing around.
“Y-You… How dare a commoner hurt Mr. Ian!”
However, Senior Elsie seed to be sincere and began gathering her mana while uttering insults in a nacing tone. The air around us shuddered and shook.
Mr. Guilford was a kind person and disliked fighting. Normally, he would have been understanding of Senior Elsie’s tantrums, but since he was in the middle of training , he was extrely strict.
He shook his head and spoke in a firm voice.
“…Getting hurt is unavoidable during training.”
Senior Elsie was taken aback by his response. Her eyes widened.
Even Senior Elsie must have so level of respect for her elders, I thought to myself.
At least that was what I had thought.
“A commoner… Talking back?!”
At the words that spilled out of Senior Elsie’s dainty mouth, I sighed and put my hand to my forehead. She was a senior whose distorted view on the world starkly contrasted with her appearance.
Senior Elsie imdiately started shaking her fist in the air and threatening Mr. Guilford.
“You old bastard, you… Is your eyesight dimming? Is that why you can’t see what’s going on? Hey, I’m Elsie of the Rinella family! All I have to do to get rid of your shabby ass orphanage is…’
“Senior Elsie.”
At my words, Senior Elsie turned around to look at apologetically. I tapped my waist on a certain object that was concealed by my cloak, without needing to take anything out.
The sound of my hand hitting sothing hard rang out. That alone was enough.
Senior Elsie imdiately started to tremble and tugged on her cone hat while lowering her gaze.
“…I-I’m sorry.”
Only then did I smile with satisfaction and stroke Senior Elsie’s head. She visibly relaxed at my touch.
“Good job, Senior Elsie.”
Her smile and the hazy look in her eyes clearly showed her happiness.
Mr. Guilford looked slightly bewildered, but I was a man of efficiency, so I instead turned to ask Senior Elsie a question.
“By the way, what happened?”
“H-hm? Hehe… A cheeky low-class aristocrat nad Leto or sothing asked to call for you… Hehe……”
‘Leto…’
I thought for a while. As I recalled my recent discussions with Leto, a thought crossed my mind.
“Did he happen to find it? The base of the monkey beasts?”
“Yes, yeah… It seems like the search was successful. He said sothing about a eting… C-Can you keep touching my head a bit longer?”
‘Yes!’
I exclaid inwardly, feeling that things were finally falling into place.
Senior Delphine, Senior Elsie, Celine, Seria, the Saintess and Yuren had grouped together to search the forest for a while now. They were trying to find out what the monkey monsters were guarding.
However, the problem was that attacking imdiately was nearly impossible. We didn’t know how many monkey monsters there were at the location, and if the leader of the beasts was there, we had to assu that we would have to fight yet another nad-level beast.
So, we agreed to attack the base all together with all our forces combined when we found it. That was probably why Senior Elsie ca to tell the news even though she thought of Leto as ‘a cheeky low-rank aristocrat’.
Since it was really that important.
My gaze shifted to Mr. Guilford. He had a concerned expression on his face.
“…Will you really be okay? As I told you before, there might be a demon there. It would be dangerous for students to go alone.”
“If things don’t work out, we’ll retreat so don’t worry too much. We need you, Mr. Guilford, to stay and watch over the orphanage.”
Mr. Guilford sighed, as if to say he had no other choice.
And that was it. It was ti to slowly uncover the secrets of this mission.
I clenched and opened my fists wordlessly. After resting my body for a few days except for training, I had fully recovered.
Even the Saintess wouldn’t be able to hold back any longer at this point. It would be a pretty big problem if I were to get injured, but as of right now, all of my forces were ready for an important all-out war.
I recalled the mory of that night. The cold, blue moonlight and the claws of the beast that had pierced my stomach.
Now, it was ti for revenge.
With a strong will, my eyes sank deep in preparation for the upcoming battle.
Reviews
All reviews (0)