"--Then I thought it was cute, but dad said I can't have it!"
"I told you that even though it's cute, it is still a beast."
"Oh please, even though it's a beast, it's still a small furball y'know?!"
As we headed to our hunting grounds-- the forest, Kayla and her dad passed the time talking about their usual stories. When this first happened, I found myself a little jealous of their relationship, but now that it has been months, I can't help but feel exhausted just by looking at the two.
To kill time, I would usually just focus on mana circulation whilst moving. This time, however, the instructor said that we were diving deeper inside the forest.
"Mr. Renard, the purple leaves seem to be getting darker."
"It's Instructor, brat. And yes, that is because in the deepest part of the forest lives the guardian of this land."
"Guardian? so he's not a threat?" though I doubt I could do anything even if it was.
"No, no White! The Guardian is just called a Guardian because he reigns over this entire land. Meaning that if anyone makes a disturbance in its territory, it would punish them!"
Although Kayla's explanation has meaning to it, I found her shadow boxing rather awkward. So I just gave her a dry laugh before Master followed up.
"The guardian of this land is just an extremely territorial beast. The color of the leaves that outstretched the whole forest itself is a statement regarding the beast's magic power."
I see. According to the mana levels, I had read, the color of the mana being circulated in a person's body corresponds with the color of the rainbow. When I circulate my mana, red motes appear around me which corresponds to the quality of mana that I can circulate. If this guardian was able to influence this entire forest purple, that would mean said guardian would be extremely powerful.
"Hope we don't encounter it..."
"Pfft-hahaha! You don't have to worry about that. The guardian uses this entire forest as a camouflage, which is why even if we wanted, it wouldn't."
"Mhm! we can't see someone who doesn't want to see us you know."
I accidentally let my thoughts leak out, but I do feel relieved if that's the case. Although I wish Kayla can apply her logic to herself when she's teasing me, I guess it's part of her personality anyway, so I guess that doesn't apply...
Feeling a little disappointed, I cleared my thoughts and tried to savor the freshness of the air around me. Just thinking of how my previous world's air pale in comparison compared to the freshness of the air in this world makes me satisfied.
"Then again, beasts are considered harmless by the Gods of Dorr Valia, so we don't really have a reason to subjugate it either."
"Wait, pardon?"
Mr. Renard just dropped the information so casually, but that is troubling in my perspective, "If that's the case, then we have been hunting beasts just for training?" I calmly asked.
Even if I was a prince who prioritized thinking over emotions, I value the ecosystem. If we have been killing beasts this past few months just for our training, then that would just be horrible.
Sensing my troubled expression, Mr. Renard explained, "We weren't hunting beasts, we were hunting "Chimera" beasts."
"Aren't they the same dad?"
Kayla joins in and asks the instructor. From White's memories, it was just described that Chimeras were the "cooler" beasts, and I had no initial idea what a "cooler" beast means. But now that I have been fighting some Chimera beasts, it seems that these "Chimeras" are mixed in with a magic attribute.
"Beasts, in general, are capable of naturally circulating mana in their bodies, unlike the four-willed races. Chimeras, however, are products of malevolence." Mr. Renard continues to explain, "Kayla, what do you think of when you meditate?"
"Ehh? ahh! I just think of my calm. Why ask?"
"How about you White?"
"I just think of nothing until I reach an inner peace of sort like Kayla."
"Exactly. a trained mind, or inner peace in some works, is something necessary to process mana. Now, what exactly would happen if instead of inner peace, it's malice and violence?"
"They would become stronger?"
"The mana they circulate would be corrupted?"
"Uhh, both of you are correct. As Kayla said, they would indeed become stronger. But it would also corrupt their mana and mind which oftentimes turn them into Chimeras-- corrupted malevolent beasts."
"So it's okay to hunt them down?" I asked.
"Well Chimera beasts are just malicious incarnates, they're just trouble for everyone. Even the Gods of Dorr Valia marked them as existences that shouldn't have existed."
If that's the case, then I guess I can accept it as it is. Although I do feel pity for these chimeras, he did have a point. If we don't weed out their numbers, we might be the ones to suffer in the future.
We then continued our walk until we reached our new hunting grounds and spotted a pack of wolves, well sort of.
These wolves had a pointed horn in the middle of their foreheads and had the color pattern of a white tiger-- white fur with black stripes. The most eye-catching part of them would be that their limbs, instead of furry paws, resemble that of amphibians. God, I hope we don't eat this thing for lunch.
"You guys ready?"
Mr. Renard asks. Although the question itself implies that he worries for us, his proud expression and eyes that remained steady on the prey just tell us that he expects a good job from us. Well, that's to be expected. We have been training for over 4 months now anyways.
Failing to reach this man's expectation would be beyond shameful.
""Yeah!""
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Chimera beasts are hard to fight as they are unpredictable and instinctual creatures. Other than weapons, skills and tactics are also needed to efficiently fight against them.
To avoid unnecessary causing trouble to each other, Kayla and I set our sights on our targets. Feeling my bloodlust, the horned wolf dashed forward towards me attempting to ram me with its horn.
Letting out a small breath, I cleared my mind and let my mana fusion do its work. In an instant before colliding with the horned wolf, I kicked the ground using my left foot and spun right, and followed it up with an upward slash aiming for the wolf's neck.
Another wolf, however, attacked me from the side, forcing me to cancel my attack and switch to a defensive stance. Defending idly would be consequential against beasts with this kind of speed, so I jumped backward. This opened a window for my counterattack.
After landing backward, I kicked the ground full force, closing in on the vulnerable wolf and slashing downwards on its chest.
Blood spilled profusely as the dying wolf tumbled backward before collapsing on the ground.
A group of horned wolves then started to simultaneously attack me. Some lunged using their horns while some used their speed to gnaw at me. Although they had the advantage in numbers, the feeling of confidence with wielding a sword make up for it as I efficiently evaded and counter attacked.
Slashing, thrusting then evading. These simple actions were like swirling at the palm of my hands as I moved with ease without waste. In a matter of seconds, I had killed five of these horned wolves.
"Kayla! Do your best!"
The sight of a dotting father cheering for her daughter who's currently slaughtering a bunch of horned wolves like a sport gives off a different impression in my opinion.
"Shut up you creep, don't disturb me!" Kayla burst out in annoyance, but I can tell it was mostly because of her opponent.
"Kayla, you good?"
Normally, it would be easy for her to just cut down all of the chimeras she saw as her prey. But for some reason, it's like her mind is preoccupied. That thought, however, was short-lived as she eventually managed on her own.
"That's my little girl-" Mr. Renard spread his arms wide, expecting an embrace from his daughter. Said daughter, however, for some reason ignored the poor man and walked towards me, who was sitting below a tree, with an exhausted and pouting look on her face.
"...Yes?" I asked unconsciously, caught by her unusual expression.
"Why are you so good with a sword?" Her eyes, as if peering unto my soul, sent shivers running down my spine. 'So she also has that eerie stare huh' is what I thought, but more importantly, I have no idea how to answer her question.
Although it's true that we have been practicing for 4 months now, She started training before me. Saying that I'm just good would probably aggravate her, so I wouldn't want to say that as I don't want to hear her rant. Saying the truth would also be stupid as she would either not believe me, hate me, or even worse, tell the truth to my grandfather.
Luckily, Master came unto her side to cheer her up.
"Come on now Kayla, White's just probably lucky," Master said with a comforting smile.
"I don't think being 'this good' counts as 'luck' stupid dad."
Although such things are supposedly impossible, I could almost see Master turning white from Kayla's response.
Truth be told, learning swordsmanship just for the sake of knowing how is hard beyond belief. The only thing that kept me going was my mother's wish, but now that I am in this world, I simply plan to live a life I want to. Using a sword is not something I'm doing because someone wished me to, but simply because I need to.
"Although I am also pretty curious about that, I think it's time to eat lunch yeah?" Thankfully master changed the topic- wait lunch?
"But-"
"Wait hold up! We're not going to eat those frog legs, are we?"
I cut off the pouting Kayla. Changing the topic is ideal and all, but this takes precedence over anything else. Eating wolves and wild cats is something I'm used to now, but frog legs? no, no, no! impossible! Never will I eat those!
"Hahahaha"
Master laughed heartily. Although I couldn't see it, I believe right now my expression would be a mixture of disgust and disbelief.
"Don't worry brat, limbs aren't the only thing edible when it comes to these beasts."
Master then started collecting the wolves we hunted down inside his dimensional bag. "I'm just going to wash this thing in the river, you guys can just rest there." signaling to the exhausted Kayla. The ones we hunted are kept in the village's storage which they store for winter.
The village, although not that big, still has a large number of residents living in it. Although hunting packs of chimeras every day seem a lot even for normal standards, there are parts that should not be eaten as it may result in food poisoning.
Since they are "Chimeras," I figured that much is reasonable. After our hunt, Master would head out on the river to clean a chimera we hunted down for lunch. We usually come with him, but the exhausted Kayla was in a bad mood, so I figured this is also that guy's way to escape the situation.
'What a troublesome guy' I commented in my thoughts. My gaze then fell on the still pouting Kayla beside me. Unknowingly, her gaze was already locked on me even before I looked at her. Great.
"So? You gonna talk?"
"Uhm... I really don't have any idea. I guess I just found it doable when I watched you."
Since I can't really tell her the truth, saying "I don't know," even if it arouses more suspicion, would be the most efficient way to end her curiosity. Kayla stared at me suspiciously, then sighed in resignation.
"Whatever," Kayla said as she stood back up, "I'll just practice again and again." She declared before strolling off.
"Wait, Kayla. Mr. Renard said it would be dangerous if we get lost remember?" This forest is extremely huge after all, and I doubt only chimeras like these wolves live here.
"I'm not asking you to come, you know?"
Kayla shot back as she stuck her tongue out and did a weird thing with her lower eyelid. I have no idea what that means but I can't help but feel annoyed by it. This must be because of White, so the best thing would just be to let her go.
Additionally, Mr. Renard did give us rings that would track us in case we got lost. Looking at how exhausted she currently is, she'll come back eventually after letting off steam for a few minutes.
--Is what I thought.