Arad woke up on his bed in the morning, seeing Jack asleep on the couch. He stood, looking at the ceiling.
^Something is on the roof,^ He could feel a faint aura above the tiles.
He walked toward the door and slowly opened it, inspecting the hallway. He could see a ladder at the end with a trapdoor above it. ^That should lead above the roof,^
Arad approached and grabbed onto the ladder, [I have a bad feeling about this. That aura doesn’t belong to a human, and it’s being suppressed.]
^The more of a reason to check it out.^ Arad stared at the trap door. ^There was nothing last night. I should make sure everything is okay before we leave for the elves.^
Arad climbed the ladder and pushed the trapdoor open, slowly crawling into the rooftop. He looked around, seeing a masked kid sleeping on the roof.
On a closer inspection, the kid had two horns sticking from the top of his head, tattoed white skin, and strange clothes that didn’t match anyone he saw before.
“Excuse me,” Arad approached the kid, looking at the chizzled white mask.
The kid tilted his head back, “It’s early on. Let me sleep,” He curled back into a ball, snorting.
“Everyone should be waking up now. It’s been a while after dawn,” Arad looked at the kid. ^Is he a tiefling?^
[That aura is far purer than a tiefling. He might be a demon or a devil. But devils shouldn’t be able to walk the world freely.] ｏｖ𝚕．ｃｏ𝚖
“Can I ask what are you?” Arad poked the kid.
“Name is Chris, a wind devil.” He sat up and turned toward Arad, “Shouldn’t you introduce yourself first, void wyrm.”
CLANG! Arad pulled his sword, “What are you doing here?”
“Nothing to harm you,” Chris stood, “I felt that a Deianira was about to fall into the wrong hands, so I flew here. I’m leaving now since she’s safe.”
[Arad, wind devil. The fourth S-rank. Nina did say he’s a little kid warlock. But she was wrong. He’s the real deal, a true devil.]
^The fourth, so we have no chance of winning,^
Chris cracked his neck, “You’re going to the Elf nation next. I bet you’re going to meet Grant, the spirit king. He might look bad, but give him some slack. He’s a good guy.”
“Wait, you’re already leaving?” Arad growled, seeing Chris turn around.
“Of course, I have no business around here.” Chris started floating, “I came to kill that purple dragon if he managed to capture the Deianira girl, but since he failed, I don’t need to interfere.”
“The dragon ran away. Shouldn’t you chase and kill him?” Arad growled.
“Extra work? No thanks, I much rather sleep under the warm sun.” He pointed at Arad, “Be careful. You’re growing too fast and are drawing the attention of higher powers. We S-rank might not care, but the high A-ranks might come to kill you.”
“You say other adventures are coming for my life?”
“Right, I would say your power is in the midrange A-rank from the rumors. But from what I see now, you’re barely escaped the lower A-rank.” Chris started floating higher, “See you in the future, and hopefully not as an enemy or a corpse. I tend to oversleep and miss big events like I did this time.”
BAM! The wind devil blasted away, leaving a green trail behind him.
“We should go to the elves and discover just what Aella’s family is. Something has to be wrong for the fourth-ranked to come all the way here.”
[You’re right. We should probably get to level up. He said you’re barely above the lower A-rank.]
^I’m still at B-rank. Isn’t that good?^
[From a human perspective, yes. From a survival standpoint, the stronger you get, the better.]
Arad walked to the trapdoor and climbed down, seeing Jack walk slowly out of the room, rubbing his eyes. “What is it?”
“Nothing. Just checked the rooftop,” Arad replied, “We should go out and check on the girls,”
“You’re right. The village chief should have prepared the supply.” Jack scratched his head, yawning as he walked toward the stairs.
As the two walked down, they started hearing Isdis playing her Biwa in the tavern with people listening. Aella sat at the front desk with a bowl of salad in front of her.
“You’re awake,” Aella smiled, waving her hand to Arad.
“Good morning,” Arad approached Aella, “Is Lydia still asleep,”
Aella looked away, “Well, about her.” She pointed toward the back door, “She should be training in the backyard,”
“HAA!” Jack sighed, scratching his head, “I will drag her inside. The healers told her to lay low,” He walked toward the backdoor, pushing it open.
Lydia stood in the backyard. Her eyes closed as she sheathed her sword and stood naturally. ^That attack was fast. The pain in my chest prevented me from accelerating fast enough to counter or block.^ She remembered the Major when he attacked her.
^I need a way to draw my sword more efficiently, faster, and stronger. How to counter an attack when I can’t move well?^ She channeled some holy magic into her hands.
^This is the best time to train for such a thing when being critically injured. It stimulates the situation in which I will need to do it,^
Since she was training on a way to counter while injured, being really injured helps make it more realistic. If she can’t do it now, there is no way she will do it in a real fight.
^The stab is on my chest, so I need to avoid using those muscles and even breathing heavily.^ Lydia shifted the position of her legs, turning sideways and pulling her right arm in front.
^I don’t need to move my arms. As long as I do this, I can use my shoulder to deflect an attack, relying on my heavy armor.^ Thud! She then jumped back, releasing a faint stream of holy magic into her body.
^Then I need to stop the bleeding with healing magic,^
“What are you doing?” Jack called her from the back.