"Clang~ Clang~"
In the evening, in the backyard of Pedro Manor, Lynn held a wooden sword and struggled to fend off the relentless onslaught of the young girl.
Despite being mentally prepared, Ivina's ferocity still caught Lynn off guard. Each move was merciless, aiming for vital points as if it were a battle of life and death rather than just practice.
After the twenty-first move, the brown-haired girl swung horizontally again, knocking Lynn's long sword to the ground.
After several rounds, battling for nearly an hour, both Lynn and Ivina had reached their limits. Their arms and shoulders, hidden under their clothes, were bruised from the slashes, and their physical strength was almost exhausted.
Lynn, who was not good at close combat, ultimately could not break Loth's record. Pedro, who was watching, did not mind much. He could see that Ivina's swordsmanship had improved slightly, so losing was normal.
What pleased him even more was that Lynn finally listened to him. During the battle, he was no longer as hesitant as before and fought with more sharpness.
"Stop, that's enough for today." Baron Pedro waved his hand, stopping the fight. His gloomy face finally showed a hint of a smile.
"Very good, my son. You've finally gained some insight. If you continue to practice like this, you'll have a seventy percent chance of passing the evaluation."
This year, there were two additional slots for the knight assessment, so the standards would certainly be lowered. Moreover, he had often donated funds to the church priests, so he should be able to pull some strings.
Thinking of this, Pedro's mood improved. He then turned to Ivina and spoke.
"Ivina, your swordsmanship is excellent, but you can pause the training for now and spend your time on other things."
"The Duke of Nord's son is indeed obsessed with swordsmanship, but if you appear too aggressive, it might cause displeasure..."
Pedro carefully instructed Ivina on how to use their common interest to gain the Duke's son's attention and how to protect his fragile self-esteem.
Pedro was quite satisfied with his daughter. Aside from being very beautiful, she also had an exceptional talent for swordsmanship. If she could capitalize on this to marry the Duke of Nord's eldest son, the family might have a chance to revive under his leadership.
Listening to Pedro's words, Ivina gritted her teeth, her delicate face full of resentment and unwillingness.
However, Pedro did not notice the young girl's expression. After his guidance, he no longer lingered.
Due to the chaos caused by those devil believers, many important figures who usually couldn't be seen had appeared in Harbor Town. This was a great opportunity to make a good impression!
After the baron left, Lynn looked at the brown-haired girl in front of him with a hint of pity.
To have such a strong level of swordsmanship at the age of sixteen, Ivina must have worked very hard, probably hoping to gain her father's approval and change her fate.
Unfortunately, Pedro always saw his daughter as a tool to curry favor with the powerful.
Maybe after he left, Ivina's situation would improve a little.
Thinking about it, Lynn put away the wooden sword and was about to comfort her as a brother should.
He remembered from the diary that Loth was still quite concerned about this sister.
But before Lynn could speak, Ivina raised her head, coldly saying,
"Are you finally planning to act against me, my brother?"
...
When the moonlight once again illuminated the night sky, a confused Lynn was led back to his room by a servant. He couldn't figure out what the girl's last words meant, even after thinking about it all the way back.
Who would've thought that the relationships in a small baron's manor could be so complicated?
"Forget it, this isn't my concern," Lynn shook his head in resignation. Fortunately, he was only temporarily using Loth's identity and was not a family mediator, or he would definitely have a headache.
In comparison, he was more concerned about the devil believers Pedro mentioned that the church caught while returning.
Lynn couldn't determine whether it was Johnny or Bai Ge, or if both had been captured by the church.
But one thing was certain, Anluoke, who had suffered a great loss at his hands, was fully prepared. Three thousand guards were secretly stationed inside and outside Harbor Town, likely targeting him.
In a few days, the church would probably spread the news about publicly executing the devil believers the day after Monday to lure him into saving them.
Imagining himself walking into the church's trap unprepared made Lynn shiver.
Not to mention, a thousand archers firing a volley would turn him into a porcupine.
Springing a jailbreak ahead of time seemed like a good plan, as he could use transformation magic and disguise techniques to sneak in.
As long as he could accurately identify who was captured and which cell they were in, Lynn was confident he could get them out...
Then he would need to consider how to escape Harbor Town.
The more Lynn thought about it, the more his head hurt. He wasn't really Carl and had no emotional bond with Johnny and the others, but having gone through life-and-death situations together, he still planned to save them if possible.
"071, is there anything that can help me against three thousand elite soldiers?" Lynn asked in his mind.
The next moment, a long list appeared before his eyes.
[Dongfeng-180 missile, plasma railgun, antimatter bomb, high-energy rays, galaxy-class long-range battleship...]
"I only have a few days. Give me something practical!" Lynn was speechless. If he could produce these things, he would have overthrown the Pope and transformed this dark alternate world into a bright medieval era long ago.
Under such a request, the several-meter-long list immediately shrank to a few lines. Lynn was quickly attracted by one of the pictures, reminding him of something he had seen in a Harbor Town shop. He had actually forgotten about it.
After contemplating for a moment, Lynn had a plan, but it was clear he couldn't do everything alone. He needed reliable allies.
Laud the lame...
A familiar name resurfaced in Lynn's mind. He was the easiest ally to win over in Harbor Town, with deep ties to the wizard and a low probability of betrayal.
Now, the remaining problem was how to flush out this hidden old fox!
(PS: New book asking for recommendations, collections, monthly tickets, and continuous reading!)