"This is really a coincidence. Anyway, I don't know the names of the other four, so it doesn't matter if you don't tell me your master's name."
There was no way that Eini had access to that kind of information. It was one thing knowing about the existence of the five strongest Law Gods, but a weakling like her wasn't allowed to ask for information about that kind of expert.
She knew her sister because they were sisters, but there was no way she knew anything about the others.
"Thank you."
Hearing that Eini didn't plan to continue asking about his master's name, Shiba sighed in relief. He feared that he would really end up speaking if she were to continue asking about it.
Although he didn't think that Eini would harm him even if her family had grudges with his master, he wanted to keep it secret anyway.
Of course, there was no way he knew that not only they weren't enemies, but they were even allies.
"Since you obtained it from your master. Are you someone from this planet, or your master brought you here after you became ten?"
Eini was really curious about Shiba's situation. Although he cared about the people of the town attacked by the Soul-eating Eagles, it was obvious that he wasn't a native of that town.
"I am a person of this planet. I was just a slave about to die after my previous owners tried to eradicate all of us when fate brought me to my master. He saved my life and accepted me as his disciple. This happened less than two months ago."
Shiba didn't know why, but he spoke about his past to Eini.
Although he didn't want to remember his past, that was also what made him be who he was.
It was dangerous telling it to others since the news could leak to the family that enslaved him in the past, but he felt that he could tell it to Eini.
Maybe it was because both shared a secret about something that could attract far more danger, but Shiba didn't feel any restrain when speaking with her about his past.
Moreover, Shiba never had a person to speak about his past before, so he was quite eager. In the depths of his heart, he wanted to speak with someone about it.
"Are you serious?"
Eini was really shocked after hearing those words. After all, it hadn't been that long since she discovered a place where a lot of people, most likely slaves, died.
She never imagined that Shiba was a survivor of that place.
"I know that it is difficult to believe, but it is the truth. Thanks to my master, all previous health issues were solved when he saved me, so I look quite different from before."
Shiba didn't know that Eini had been at the place he almost died, so he believed that the shock was because he didn't look like a slave at all.
"I already guessed that. The thing is that I have been at a place where a lot of slaves died, and I was chased out by the guards. They really wanted to kill me. I bet that there is where you were attacked, right?"
Those guards made that Eini was already the enemy of the whole family they belonged to. If Shiba was a survivor of the deceased slaves, it meant that both had the same enemy.
"It should be. There isn't any other powerful family with slaves in the arid zone that I know. If there is another, it should be quite far."
Shiba couldn't believe that Eini also had conflicts with his previous owners.
"It isn't too far from here, so it is the same then. It seems that besides sharing Path, we also share a common enemy. It seems that we were really fated to meet. We even fought a difficult battle together. It shouldn't be wrong for us to be friends, right?"
Eini couldn't deny that she was quite lonely since she had been left on that planet.
Since Shiba seemed to be someone that could follow her pace when training, she felt that Shiba could be her friend. Moreover, she quite liked Shiba's personality.
"Friends? I have no issues with that, but I never had a friend before."
Given his past, Shiba never had a person that he could call a friend.
Those in the first town he visited were on good terms with him, but it didn't feel that they were friends.
On the other hand, Shiba felt that his relationship with Eini was different, and he couldn't deny that he also wanted to have a friend.
"You never had one? I never had one either! You are my first friend, and I am your first friend. Perfect!"
Since she was with her family until being left on that planet, and she maintained a distance from everyone after reaching the planet, Eini never had a chance to have friends.
"You never had one either? Then how do you know how friends are supposed to act?"
Shiba didn't expect that Eini would be in the same situation as him.
"I don't know! Let's just go with the flow! I don't think that there is something like a set of rules to be friends. At least you need to follow my training pace to not fall behind, though. However, having reached level 6 in a month is already a great pace. I know that you spent almost a month sleeping. For your information, I started training at ten, and I only needed two weeks to reach level 7 since I started to train."
There wasn't any problem by having a difference of a couple of levels, but they wouldn't be able to battle together like before if their strength were too different.
Although she hadn't mentioned anything about the topic yet, she was planning to form a team with Shiba to hunt beasts, or even for traveling later. She believed that it would be far more fun than hunting and traveling alone.
"Two weeks? How is it that you haven't reached Rank 1 then?"
It was obvious that although Eini was still a bit younger than him, she wasn't ten years old.
"Because I don't want to. Reaching Rank 1 is easy. However, after reaching it, my aging will slow down, which will make that I remain for longer looking like a kid, and I don't want that. Moreover, after increasing my lifespan in each rank, the aging would slow again and again, so I believe that with my speed, I would remain like this until becoming a Law Master if I were to rush to reach Rank 1. Currently, I am already at level 8, and I don't plan to advance."
For others, reaching Rank 1 might be a feat, but for her, that had never been a problem.
Her problem was that she wanted to grow into a beauty like her sister, so she didn't want to spend a lot of years looking like a kid.
Although there were resources to hasten the aging until the body matured, she didn't know where to find them on that planet, in the case that there were some, which wasn't sure.
Even if she found such resources, it would be better to use them when looking already as a fifteen-year-old girl than a ten-year-old girl.
"Wouldn't it work to wait at level 9? That it is the limit of the Mortal Rank."
Shiba could understand the matter of growing up. He wanted to grow up, so an early breakthrough to Rank 1 could be problematic. However, usually all the people Shiba knew were just worried about if they would be able to reach Rank 1 or not. No one thought about the possibility of reaching it far before the time limit.
"That it is too dangerous! What if I advance by mistake? I already reached level 8 by advancing accidentally!"
Others worried about how to do to advance to the next level while Eini was worried because she could just advance by mistake. If the people of border Town heard her, they would die of shame.
"Accidentally? Is that even possible?"
Although Shiba advanced quite quickly, he had been glad each time he advanced, so he never tried to suppress his level. This, he didn't know if it was possible to do something like that, but he felt that stopping to train should be enough.
"Of course. However, before continuing to speak about this. You should first try to recover a bit of your energy by training. You seem about to reach your limit. It is also better to not rely on pills too much."
Pills were an external force, so it was better to only use them in emergencies. Anyway, Shiba didn't have any left, and he didn't plan to ask Eini to lend some to him.
He was thinking to just continue walking after being depleted, but after Eini told him to recover his energy, he decided that it was a good idea. After all, it didn't seem that Eini was exhausted yet, and he didn't want to slow her down.
"I will try, but my consumption will be faster than what I can generate by myself."
Training while flying required him to split his concentration. Besides, given the rate that his energy was used by Wind Wings, the effects weren't so great. Moreover, he had an important conversation, so he couldn't split more his attention before.
[Congratulations on reaching level 7.]
At the moment he tried to recharge his energy, he advanced to level 7.
"What?"
He didn't feel that he was about to advance, and he wasn't trying to advance either.
"Do you understand now? When fighting, you depleted and recharged your energy constantly, which also counts as training. Given how many pills you have eaten, as soon as you tried even to recharge your energy by yourself, you advanced. Even if I don't try at all, just by battling, my level goes up, so I need to actively suppress my energy to avoid advancing."