The person I was secretly following was a woman nad Dane. She was forrly a mber of Astley's Paladins and apparently a unique skill holder. After the revolution, she joined our military, and she had been training her body vigorously since then. When asked about why she joined our military, she just said that she still had a long way to go after seeing a fraction of our power. She originally planned on retiring, but she changed her mind to pursue greater strength. As a renowned adventurer, many recognized Dane, and they were surprised by her coback after her retirent. However, nobody but our family knew her identity as a forr Paladin of Astley. She was the most powerful, in terms of Level, among our knights and soldiers so far. Michael, Lucy, and Uriel had been suppressing their levels and skills, so ostensibly, Dane only surpassed them in terms of current stats. Dane displayed her overwhelming superiority over the others without the use of her unique skill, so she had been highly regarded by her peers. She also showcased her leadership skills, so even though she was a new recruit, we had been thinking of making her the captain of her own squadron. Click. Click. Click. Stalking her, her sabatons resonated with her steps as she ascended the next floor through the spiral stone staircase. After she passed the flight of stairs, she reached the enclosed room on the second floor of the tower; the floor above was the watchtower. Adorned with straw dolls as archers' target practice, the room was an indoor training area. Due to the enclosedness of the room, it was normally used to train privately. Perceiving that there was no one around, Dane one by one removed her gauntlets, vambraces, pauldrons, and cuirass, revealing her white tank top, which was a new clothing popularized by Rick, that followed the contours of her sweaty and sexy body. After that, she sheathed a bastard sword from her waist and gripped it with both hands. She raised the sword overhead before she mightily swung it down. She then raised the sword again and repeated the process. After roughly three hundred repetitions, a sweat finally broke from her temples. She made another five hundred swings before she finally called it a day. She wiped her forehead, and a waterfall of sweat cascaded down her face. "Good work you got there." "!" Dane was perplexed, as she imdiately turned to look in the direction of my voice. Standing on the landing between two flights of stairs, as I leaned on the walls with crossed arms, our eyes t. She instantly recognized who I was and gaped. "Lord Raphael Raevender?" "Yes, it's ." "Ah!"
Realizing that there was a person in this room the whole ti, Dane attempted to turn her back to for a second as soone violated her privacy. But she also realized that I was the son of the ruler of this city, so she chose not to turn around, kneeled, and lowered her head before instead. "Lord Raphael, please excuse my rudeness!" "No, no. I should be the one excusing myself for barging in while so trained privately. You may raise yourself." "Thank you, milord." With that, Dane slowly raised herself up. However, she was still embarrassed that I saw her doing her daily routine. Even though she faced , her eyes had been constantly averting mine, which I found rude, though I was the one being rude here. "Um... what can I do for you, milord?"
"Nothing in particular." "So can I ask why you are here?" "Well, recently, I have been noticing you entering this tower after training. So I secretly followed you here to find out. But all you do is train your body, apparently." "...Is that so?" "Improving yourself is not bad; pushing the limit kills, you know?" "Well, I might have pushed myself a bit too hard..." Dane slouched her head down as she expressionlessly said that. I then let out a sigh before I made an approach toward her. "But why are you pushing yourself too much, though? Are there any particular reasons behind it?" "..." "It seems to be a long talk. How about taking a seat so that we can talk it out?" ◆◇◆◇◆◇
After we took a seat on the wooden bench sitting at the side of the room together, we started talking about ourselves. She sweated quite a lot, so I gave her so glasses of cold water to refresh herself. "—My dream since I was a child was to beco a great swordswoman, a master of swords. Carrying that dream, I trained myself how to hold and wield a sword. There were many obstacles, but I persevered and overca them all." "Uh, huh." "So as soon as I reached the age of fifteen, I imdiately signed myself in the adventurers' guild. I used to adventure with a party in my first years. But when I reached the rank of A, I decided to leave the party since they were dragging down. They were aware of that, so they just let go." Dane took a sip of her glass before she continued. "After so years, I rose up to Rank S until I eventually reached the Supre Rank at the age of twenty-five. I felt so much confidence at that ti that I challenged the dungeon boss on the 40th floor, which I barely defeated at first try. Afterwards, I was secretly knighted by the king, and then I beca a paladin." "That is quite a ride. But I have a feeling that you want to achieve greater heights." "Yes. I have another dream, which is to beco the greatest swordswoman." "It ans surpassing the Sword Saint, my Mother, huh?" "That's right, milord. One of my greatest dreams is to surpass the Sword Saint." she said, looking at the stone ceiling. "But I just realized that our strength is like heaven and earth. Even if it seems impossible, I would like to at least achieve so of her feats, such as conquering the Imperial Dungeon. That is why I have been improving myself even if I have to push myself."
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