Besides the wide and decorated garden in their lodging, there was also a small backyard. Although it was managed well, it didn’t give off the same feeling of care and novelty as the garden did. Yet, it was this aspect that appealed to Hans more.
Whoosh!
He clutched Estellade harder and swung his sword. Even though he had come back from watch duty, he didn’t skip on basic training. He always practiced some sword swings even when Zich gave him a vacation to rest. It was because his body had become so accustomed to training that it was more uncomfortable for him to not do them.
Whoosh! He focused all his attention on each swing. Since he had suppressed all his mana, sweat flowed down his face.
‘I think that’s enough for today.’ Since he had to be on watch duty the next day too, he couldn’t overexert himself from training. At this point, Hans knew that sufficient rest was also part of training and put Estellade back away. Then, he said, “Good to see you again, miss.”
“Likewise, sir.”
Before he realized it, Lara was standing beside him.
“Did I interrupt you?” Lara asked.
“It’s not like I was officially training. Besides, I’m not such a great person that I would be bothered while swinging my sword a couple of times to loosen up.”
“Thank goodness.”
“Anyway, what are you here for, miss?”
“My team and I moved out to stay at this place, and I happened to see you.”
“I see.”
The two didn’t speak for a moment. Although they couldn’t say that they were strangers, they weren’t friendly with each other to the point that they could fervently exchange topics to discuss. It wasn’t that they disliked each other; they simply didn’t have a common topic to talk about.
Hans thought about just leaving when he saw the sword on her waist.
“I see that you haven’t given up on your sword yet.”
“…Yes.” Her expression wasn’t bright. Considering that she had talent in swordsmanship and personally liked the field, it seemed most likely that there was an exterior force behind her dark expression. He could think of only one thing.
“I suppose Sir Zenard isn’t pleased with your decision.”
“…” Lara bit her lips, proving that seemed to be the answer. No, seeing her response, it seemed that it wasn’t easy to disagree with Glen.
‘Now that I think about it, she looked out of place when I saw her last time.’ Hans got this impression from a simple glance in her direction. That was how obvious Lara’s situation was.
“Is your group perhaps treating you like an outcast?” Even as he asked this, Hans thought there could be no way. Yet, Lara didn’t answer him right away.
“…Is it really true?”
“That’s not it.” Lara twirled around and disappeared into the building like she was running away. Although she denied it, considering her attitude and the party’s atmosphere, it seemed like the other members weren’t treating her well.
‘With her abilities, isn’t she an impressive party member?’ Hans wondered. Although Hans didn’t have a clearly favorable opinion of Lara since she didn’t think well of Zich, he knew she was a skilled swordsman. Even Zich had acknowledged this fact. Yet, Hans decided to stop thinking further. ‘It’s none of my business.’
She was a member of a different party. Furthermore, he wasn’t close enough to her to intervene either. He remembered Zich’s teaching, which was, ‘Don’t fool yourself into thinking that you can solve everything.’
Hans wiped off his sweat with the towel he prepared beforehand and went inside the building. He was trying to think of what to do after taking a refreshing shower when he saw Lara in the lobby leading to his room. Since they had parted ways awkwardly, he didn’t plan on talking to her and decided to pass quietly to enter his room. Lara was staring blankly somewhere, and without thinking, Hans turned to see what she was looking at. In the wide-open lobby, he saw the lodging place’s garden.
Hans saw Lyla first. That wasn’t strange since she frequented the garden these days. There was no reason for her to not go there just because Zich wasn’t with her. However, the problem was the person with her.
‘Ah, Glen Zenard.’
Hans didn’t have a very good impression of this fellow. Not only had Hans been influenced by his party’s leader, Zich, who passionately hated the man, but Hans also wanted to distance himself away from Glen after meeting him several times. Glen was conversing with Lyla while wearing an amiable smile on his face. Lyla was responding to him fairly well.
‘How strange. Ms. Lyla isn’t the type of person to exchange lengthy conversations with others besides our party members.’ Furthermore, he knew that Lyla—although not as much as Zich—also disliked Glen considerably.
‘I suppose she is trying to do something.’
Hans didn’t think for a second that Lyla was becoming friendlier with Glen. He could easily tell that she was purposefully putting up a pretentious act for Glen. However, unlike Hans, who made such projections, Lara couldn’t have been more unsettled. She turned around. Although she noticed that Hans was near her again, she didn’t react to him. Her mind was too full of thoughts. In the end, she walked back up to the staircase, and as Hans watched her go, he thought she looked like a straggler about to collapse.
* * *
Snoc and Elena toured the area. Pialu was a trading city where people from beyond a mountain range and completely different cultures exchanged goods. As expected, there were many exotic goods. At least, there usually were such goods.
“There’s not much today too.” Elena pulled her eyes away from the goods showcased on the stalls and murmured. Since they reached Pialu, Elena frequently wandered around the streets to find interesting items, but she hadn’t been able to find any item she liked so far. In the first place, there were not many items on sale, and the reason for that was obvious. Due to the monsters attacking Pialu right now, the supply chain in Pialu had been blocked. Since they weren’t completely surrounded by monsters, basic trades still took place, but most of the trade that passed through the Denest Mountain Range had been basically cut off. However, since Pialu was still a trading city, precious items could be found sometimes, and magical items were one such example. Of course, for Elena, they were not very impressive items since Zich’s group possessed all kinds of rare and special items. However, they were enough for eye-shopping.
“…Dwayne?”
While Elena was looking at a magical item, she heard someone call her name. “…Acous?”
“We meet here of all places.” Pina Acous was next to her; it seemed as if she was also looking at magical items. Pina looked at Snoc. “He’s your companion, right?”
“Yep. His name is Snoc.”
“Hello.” Snoc awkwardly bowed his head. Nowem rode on his shoulder and yelled, ‘Koo!’
Pina’s eyes sparkled when she saw Nowem. “A magical beast of the earth.” Pina had witnessed how Snoc and Nowem fought in the last battle. Pina’s curiosity, which all mages possessed, appeared in her eyes.
Koo… Nowem hurriedly hid himself in Snoc’s arms. Even the great magical beast of the earth, Nowem, was terrified by the inquisitive eyes of mages.
Pina frowned, but she didn’t make any other gestures towards Nowem. “I’m Pina Acous.” Instead, she introduced herself to Snoc. “I’m from the same magical tower as Dwayne.”
“Yes, I’ve heard. I’m Snoc.”
The two shared a short handshake.
“I didn’t know that you also came out of Sunewick.”
At Elena’s words, Pina calmly replied, “I left because it was hard to stay there.”
“As expected, is it because of that event?”
“Yeah.”
Elena closed her mouth, and Pina didn’t say anything. Snoc glanced at them as they stood in heavy silence. Nowem also poked his face out and darted his eyes around.
“…You use magic well.” Pina was the one to first break the silence.
“You were also amazingly skilled as usual,” Elena replied.
The two went back to silence. Snoc was about to say something to break the awkward silence when Pina moved one step closer to Elena, startling her. She sensed competition or a strong emotion-like hostility in Pina’s eyes.
“I’m going to go back to Sunewick no matter what and I’m going to become the next master and restore my school’s honor.”
“Uh, Acous?”
“Then, I’ll show the world for sure this time.” Unlike Pina’s aloof tone so far, her words had strong emotions in them. “I’ll show them that the Quaral School of Magic is better than the Pulru School of Magic.”
Pina turned her body around—her attitude was cold enough to freeze the atmosphere. She disappeared among the crowd while continuing to let out a cold aura. Elena stared at her back in a daze.
“No matter how I see it, it seems like she resents me.”
“Rather than you, it’s your father. Or your grandfather. Or she might have a grudge against your whole school.” Snoc stood next to Elena and continued, “But if she wants to get mad at you, there’s no reason for her to resent you. Even though the Jaewick family was used as a ploy, in the end, it was their choice. I guess, there’s no need to have a reason to dislike someone.”
Koo. Nowem jumped out from Snoc’s arms and hopped onto Elena’s shoulder. Then, he tapped her shoulders a few times as if to comfort her. Elena chuckled.
“You don’t have to put yourself down for such a thing. You didn’t do anything wrong, and you don’t have anything to be responsible for. Even if you understand her anger, it’s a different story altogether to accept it. There’s no need for you to feel guilty.”
“…Do you really think so?”
“Yeah. I think the same for what she said about her school of magic. You’re not thinking about getting pushed back by her, right?”
“Of course not.” Elena’s words were filled with confidence this time. It was a bit of a reach to say that Elena’s school of magic was the Pulru School of Magic since Lyla was her teacher. However, it was precisely for that reason that Elena could not be defeated by Pina. Elena could not possibly accept defeat when she was getting taught by a teacher who was the very definition of perfection.
“I won’t ever lose.” Elena made a firm resolve.
* * *
Zich opened his eyes. He raised his senses and scanned his surroundings. Nothing much had changed since the mana explosion. The space he was in was still gigantic, the chains were listlessly sprawled on the ground, and the Tree of Wind was still floating in the air. However, there was no way that nothing happened when such a large amount of mana had resonated.
Zich looked down at Windur, which was in his hand. “What did you do this time?” Windur was treating him however it wanted to. Zich wondered if he should slowly put his ego sword right below Zich Brave and Glen Zenard on his list of top annoying guys.
Tap! Zich heard footsteps. Someone other than him was in the space, and Zich turned his head. When he found out the identity of the person, Zich’s eyes widened.
“It’s nice to see you. Talking to you like this is the fir—”
Bam! Zich swung his sword before the other party even finished talking. His sword filled with mana directly pressed down on his opponent, but his opponent thoroughly blocked Zich’s attack. The white sword that blocked Windur was also very impressive.
“Hey, I just want to have a conversation…”
“Ah, a conversation. Of course. I also like to talk. Let’s do it, but only after I break your skull!”
At these words, Zich Brave couldn’t help but smile bitterly.