[23 April 2023, 08:00 AM]
[House]
"Alright, I will leave for a while. I need to visit the Waterflow Training Center to give Smith his thing and attend the Academy, so I will be back before sunset." Saying so, my brother left the house.
For so reason, the Hero, Chloe, woke up in the morning to see him off with her.
"Be careful!" She waved her hand at my brother while I rubbed my sleepy eyes in my pajamas, hugging my favorite white pillow.
It seed like, prior to this, they also had their breakfast together. What were they? A newlywed? But the brother that I knew wouldn't do sothing like this.
Because of so reason, my brother had a hard ti trusting anyone and only trusted . If he was close to a person, then he must've so plan to use that person. It wouldn't be any different with Chloe.
So that ant he had sothing more in his mind by living with Chloe.
'Is it related to the guy that he asked to tail? He sounded serious yesterday.'
Anyway, his plan was always mysterious to . Maybe only pops and he knew about his entire plan? However, I doubted that pops would tell if I asked him. His lips were tights, after all.
Another strange thing was Chloe. Why did she follow my brother? She must've known that he hid a lot of things from her. However, she seed to trust my brother. Why?
After seeing my brother off, Chloe turned to with a kind smile and asked, "Do you want to eat breakfast, Tina? I cooked a scrambled egg and toast earlier."
"Yawn~ Yeah… I will eat it." I answered groggily. My brain had yet to fully function, but I did my best to think about strange things about my brother.
"Fufufu, let's go to the dining room then."
We went to the dining room, and she prepared breakfast for . Scrambled egg and toast as she said earlier.
For so reason, she sat across from while I was eating. After I put the scrambled egg into my mouth, my brain began to fully function again, and I noticed the chance to talk to Chloe alone.
'Isn't this my chance to ask her?'
Thinking so, I gulped and looked at Chloe.
"Chloe, can I ask sothing?" I asked.
"Hmm? Sure. I will be happy to answer!"
"Well… then, I will cut into the case," I said seriously as I pointed a fork I held to her.
"Why did you choose to stay with my brother? Don't give bullshit about whether you want to help him or he needs help. I know about your Trait, considering that I worked under pops for a while. My brother also knew about you, but why did you decide to stick around with a person you t for the first ti?"
No matter how I thought about it, it was strange. Why did the Hero go along with my brother, scum of society like , and trust him? I trusted my brother because I had known him for as long as I could rember.
However, from what Chloe said when we were in the pop's office, my brother entered the dungeon illegally to et him. That ant my brother t Chloe for the first ti as a criminal.
Even if she was a Hero, she wouldn't be that naïve, wasn't she?
To my surprise, Chloe's lips curled into a lonely smile.
"I have trusted him since I first t him because of my Trait and my personal feelings. I will tell you because you are Vincent's little sister, but please keep it a secret." She said.
"Sure." I answered without much thought.
It was for my personal indulgence; I was curious why the Hero stuck around with my brother. But, if Chloe's explanation endangered my brother, I would tell him about it. Call a brocon or sothing. I didn't care.
All this ti, there were only two of us living our lives. My brother had protected from thugs in my childhood, now I could help protect him from malicious intent by collecting information before the danger struck him.
"After I Awakener as a Hero, there was always this noise inside my head each ti soone asked for help from . The noise told to help them. If I refused, I would get a bad headache." She said.
That was new information. While I knew that soone with Hero Trait couldn't refuse any request for help, I had never heard about the side-effect of getting a bad headache. But she hadn't done talking yet, so I just nodded my head to urge her to continue.
"It continued for five years. I have helped a lot of people, but no one helped . To be honest, I am lonely. Strange, right? For a Hero to be lonely? But, Vincent was the only one who reached out to to help . He even used a Magic Contract to bind the two of us. The content of the contract was to help each other. At that ti, the voice inside my head told to go with him. It's strange, but I followed it." She explained.
When I heard her story, I rembered sothing familiar. She was similar to us. Maybe that was why my brother took her in? No, he must've so other plan, but maybe that was also his reason to take the Hero in. We were similar to her before pops took us in, wandering with no place to call ho and no one to help us.
A Hero was a lonely existence. The second Hero was also famous for doing anything by himself before finally, people helped him to slay Demon King.
The existence of the Hero was one and only. By binding the Hero with a Magic Contract, my brother essentially obtained the Hero's power. However, he also needed to help her, but that was easy. Why? Because the Hero had never asked for help.
'I think I understand his plan now. So he wanted to use the Hero for his own gain, as expected.'
I was satisfied with Chloe's explanation. Her explanation was short, but I got what she ant.
'She's lonely and depressed. No one had ever helped her even once in her five years in the Association. However, my brother, who suddenly appeared, gave her a Magic Contract and offered help to her. She's at her lowest point in life. Of course, she will feel dependent on him now.'
The help from my brother was sothing that she needed desperately at that mont. I imagine she cried and wailed in front of him when he offered her help.
But as ti passed, she beca natural with his presence and trusted him unconditionally. But, my brother was also careful enough not to lose her trust. That was why he trusted to follow that guy and keep Chloe out of his way to kill the Demon.
'He will do sothing big, I guess. Maybe so people would get killed. That's why he wanted to keep her away in the anti.'
If that was his plan, then…
'I will follow along, brother.'
"Thank you for telling , Chloe!" I exclaid as I took her hands. "It must be hard… But, you can also count on ! Ask anything. I will also answer it for you!"
Chloe's expression brightened as she said, "Thank you. I-I think I will ask a lot of things from you in the future."
"Sure! Leave it to !"
"Then let's talk about fashion and cooking!" Chloe exclaid excitedly.
***
[08:30 AM]
[Waterflow Training Facility]
I had so feeling that Tina was doing sothing useless with Chloe as of right now. I hoped she would get along with Chloe, as I would need both of them in the future.
'But, I don't think I need to worry. Maybe Tina will misunderstand sothing, but I think I can leave it alone.'
Brushing those thoughts aside, I arrived in front of the Waterflow Training Facility in my Academy uniform. I planned to attend the Academy after this; hence, the uniform. I may be late for the first class, but it was better late than never.
I was also still wearing the black eyepatch given by Chloe. My eye had yet to turn to normal, so it would freak the students out if I showed my black sclera to them. It would turn back to normal tomorrow night, so I was forced to wear this eyepatch.
I knocked on the door of the training facility and shouted, "Master! I am here with the item of your request!"
A second later, I heard Smith's voice coming from inside.
"Just enter! I am in the training area!"
"Alright!" I answered and opened the door to head to the training area.
The training area he talked about was where I usually trained in this training facility. I opened the door of the training area only to see my old Master's shirtless figure as he held a wooden sword, similar to the shape of a Japanese sword, while sweating profusely.
A faint blue Mana was dancing around his body, making the atmosphere inside the training room to be heavy. My breath stopped when I looked at him. He slowly raised his wooden sword above his head.
Swish–
Each movent was slow, but I heard the wind severed with each movent of his wooden sword.
It was a beautiful movent, and then, he suddenly opened his eyes wide and swung the wooden sword down fast while shouting.
"Hah!"
Swoosh! Bam!
His swing generated a shockwave that pushed everything backward. It even forced to use my hand to protect my eyes.
The floor under Smith cracked, and in front of him, a rift appeared. The sliced floor displayed his strength and mastery of the sword.
He did use Mana, but I couldn't hope to slice a sword with a wooden sword without even touching it at my level.
His display surprised for more than one reason, but it quickly disappeared from my head as Smith turned at with a smirk.
"How is it? Do you think you can reach my level?" He asked, clearly provoking .
"I will reach that level soday," I answered as I entered the training area, approaching him. "Anyway, your request is ready. Do you want to try it?"
I pulled the [Dark Mask] from my magic bag and showed it to him. "Don't forget the Brahmastra that you promised ." I waved around the mask in front of him.
"Tsk, ungrateful student. Wait here for a minute. I will take the sword from my warehouse." He left without even waiting for my answer.
Without much choice, I waited in the training room. However, I didn't sit and stay silent while waiting. Instead, I took a wooden sword from the shelf after putting the [Dark Mask] back into my magic bag and got into my stance.
Smith's figure earlier made want to try to swing a sword. Unfortunately, I couldn't produce such a shockwave from a single swing, even with a normal sword.
What was his trick? I rembered his figure earlier and copied his stance.
Imitating every single movent of Smith, I began to move. Raising the sword above my head, I began to infuse Mana into it. However, as soon as I infused my Mana, the wooden sword began to make a creaking sound and break afterward.
Bam!
It exploded due to the excessive Mana that I infused, and the splinter hit my body and the training area, leaving only the handle that I held in my hand.
"What's wrong with it? I even use less Mana than usual." I grumbled, looking at the handle of the wooden sword in my hand. "Did I do sothing wrong?"
I scratched the back of my head, confused about what was wrong with my thod. It was similar to what Smith did earlier, and the Mana control was perfect too.
"Is there so trick that he used?"
It had been two weeks since I last t Smith. In the anti, I only did basic Swordsmanship that Smith taught and focused on my plan instead.
'I should ask him to teach how to do it. I just realized that my Swordsmanship is still a ss compared to the Sword Saint. It's laughable that I thought I could imitate what he did after training under him for a month.'
I still had a long way to go. Even compared to Zaiden, my Swordsmanship was still a level below. This wouldn't be enough if I wanted to make him suffer and survive in this world.
'But my Archery is top class. I am confident in that.' I sat with crossed legs in the section where the floor was not destroyed to wait for Smith.
I put the handle of the destroyed wooden sword in my magic bag, so Smith wouldn't notice it. The splinters that were spread across the room were fine because the room was a ss after Smith destroyed the wooden floor. So it wouldn't be noticed by him.
After a while, Smith returned while holding a red sword with a blazing red blade in his hand. It was a one-sided blade, and the overall shape of the sword was like a gun. The handle of the sword was black, with a fire decoration on the tip of the handle.
'That's Brahmastra Sword?' I thought as my eyes were glued to the sword.
"This is the promised sword. Now, my student, care to give the mask?" Smith asked, sitting in front of as he stabbed the sword on the floor.
It easily cut through the wooden floor without resistance, showing its blade's sharpness.
Seeing the sword, my heart was beating so fast. The sword in front of was [Brahmastra], a sword used to slay Demons and Rakshasa King in mythology.
That ant it would have so effect related to Demon, which would be really useful for the future.
Without any hesitation, I pulled the [Dark Mask] from my magic bag and put it in front of , on the floor.
"Here, you can check the effect by yourself."
"Hmm…" Smith humd, picking the [Dark Mask] and raising it in front of him. "This is… Is that guy the one who made it?"
He recognized it, as expected. I nodded and said, "Yeah, I asked the Artifact Dealer to help make the mask after I got the material. I can only Enhance, so I need soone to make the mask for ."
"Well, it can't be helped, I guess. The effect is satisfactory too. Here." He picked the sword that he stabbed on the floor and gave it to . "It's yours now. You can leave for now, but I hope you visit this afternoon." He said.
I was confused by what he said, but I took the sword regardless and put it inside my magic bag. I also planned to train under him more, so I guess the ti was perfect.
"Sure. I will return at 3 PM."
"That's perfect. Now go." He waved his hand, chasing away.
"Yeah yeah," I answered half-heartedly and stood up, walking toward the exit.
I didn't know why he was in a hurry to chase away, but that was not my business. More importantly…
'I got a good sword.' I thought as I grinned.
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