(5 months and 15 days after Klada Disaster)
[Kyrielle's POV]
This guy is really agile..... Brandishing two daggers, he dodged and jumped on the trees to avoid my attacks with the help of wind magic.
I shot at him three times in total with Forbidden Sun, but he dodged all of them using his superior agility. Worst of all, it seems that he is really familiar with fighting in a forest.
"(You won't hit me anytime soon with your slow fire spells!)"
"(Bold words, you haven't hit me once neither.)"
"(Saint of the air, grant me the ability to slice through-)"
Mana Bullet!
'Phiuc!'
"(Nope!)" The orc who was standing on the ground just now jumped to the left and dodged my transparent Mana Bullet, landing on the side of the trunk of a tree.
'Thud!' He kicked off the tree an jumps towards the tree to my right as he continued his chant.
"(-my obstacles, Wind blade!)"
'Fwoosh!' From his hand, a transparent wind arc flew at me.
Thruster Dash! 'Bwuom!'
'Slash!' The sharp wind misses me, and cuts the tree behind me... and I lost sight of him, great.
But that isn't a problem because I see what this guy is trying to do.... anyone with a brain would've figured it out.
'Rustle...' From the shadow of the tree behind me, I heard loud sounds of leaves rustling. I quickly turned around and it's jackpot.
"(Wha-)" The orc is jumping towards me from one of the tree, intending to sneak attack me.
"(Yah!)" I immediately swung my katana at him.
'Tank!!!' Sparks were seen as our blades collide with each other.
'Thush!' He lands on the floor, and immediately as he did so...
Mana Ball!
'Phiuc!'
"Too slow!" He once again jumped to the sides and dodged my spell.
"Tsk..." At this rate we won't get anywhere if we don't hit each other.... I'll have to match his agility with my thrusters then!
Thruster Dash!
'Bwuom!' I dashed towards the man and closed the distance in the blink of an eye.
"!"
'Fwoosh!' I swing my sword at his head and ducked backwards to avoid it. I swung once again after I missed, and this time he jumps backwards, once again avoiding my sword.
'Thud!' He jumped onto one of the tree trunks and then kicked off it and jumped to yet another tree...
This guy is now trying to get away now that he knew I have the speed that can match his. His jumps around the trees are exactly like how those vampire beasts jumped around the terraces.
I'll need to match his agility, but how can I catch him off guard?... That's right, he doesn't have thrusters to fly so he can't change directions mid air, I can easily catch him off guard when he jumps!
"(Your monkey acrobatics won't save you!)"
Thurster Dash!
'Bwuom!'
Using the thruster, I dashed at the air and landed my legs on one of the tree trunks, copying his movement.
'Bwuom!' With my hand on the tree, I fired off yet another thruster and dashed towards his direction, where he is standing on one of the tree's branches.
"(Shit!)"
Mana Bullet!
'Phiuc!'
He narrowly avoided my mid air Mana Bullet as he jumps onto the trunk of the next tree to dodge that.... He fell for my trap.
'Bwuom!' With my other hand, I fired yet another thruster and changed my directions towards where he is heading to, we will collide mid air. He can't change directions mid air unlike me, this time I can catch him!
"!"
"(Earth, grant me a lance that shall pierces all....)"
With my sword raised overhead, I swung it down at him as I flew into melee range.
'Tink!' He raised his two daggers and blocked my slash, which threw him downwards towards the ground.... it's checkmate.
"(Earth Spear.)"
"(Wha-)"
'Stab!' Raising an Earth Spear directly on the ground that he drops to, he impaled right into the spiky rock.
"(Argh!!!)" His blood splatters onto as the spear impales into him.
Thruster Brake!
'Fwuom....' (2x) I slowly hovered and lowered myself to the ground next to the bandit orc.
He lied on the ground, with a gaping hole through his stomach from my spell, and bleeding out buckets worth of blood.
"(Kah!!!.... How....)"
"(You only used your magic to attack.... I used mine to set a trap and you fell for it.)"
I deliberately hit him with a vertical slash just to throw him down onto the ground. Summoning an Earth Spear on the ground at this time would mean a direct hit, a perfect trap for an agile opponent like this.
"(Why did you.... kill... us....)"
"(Don't assume that I'm stupid because I'm young, if I spared you you'd just rob others instead of us. You scumbags deserve no mercy.)"
"(This.... is... karma.... huh?...)"
His face loses expression, his head drops to the side.... he is dead. Seeing his eyes open, I pulled his eyelids down to close it.
I guess the least I could do is to bury him properly to stop him from turning into a ghost huh?
______________
(5 minutes later...)
I started to walk back to the carriage. As I got to the highway, I saw the damage that I did to the forest....
In an area of about 50 meters in diameter, the forest was burned up entirely. This was just the destruction of one of my Forbidden Sun, and I fired off at least three Suns during this fight.
2 body was burned into a char, and the other 5 who I aimed directly at was no where to be found, likely turned into ashes already from the heat of my strongest Forbidden Sun yet.
"Uwah..." Maybe I've gone overboard this time?... There is no doubt that anyone who see this will not call it self defense, but rather it's a massacre.
On the floor is two other body... One with a blown open face, and the other with a severed arm. He is still alive, I should save him I guess.
I searched around and found his severed hand.... I put his hand into his pocket and dragged him towards the carriage.
On my other hand, I held the katana that was stained with blood. My face, outfit and hair was stained with the blood of the guy that was stabbed by Earth Spear as well...
.....I look like a villain! If you asked someone else in another story, this'd no doubt be the introduction of a villain character!
The other 3 from the carriage came out and saw me....
"(....You... What ARE you?...)" Jackal, the body guard said out to me.
"(Wait wait, I know I have definitely gone overboard, but-)"
"(Miss Kyrielle... no, whatever you are, you aren't the adorable little girl that I've hired! Return her to us!)" Mr Altan yelled out, with a hint of fear in his voice.
"(I'm still the cute Kyrie that you hired! I'm not a monster!)"
______________
(5 minutes later....)
"(Ahh... That makes sense...)"
I told them about how I am the apprentice of Lynn, the Magic God, and how I am not a killer who's about to attack them.
And then I told them how if I spared those bandtis, they'd just go rob other people in the future who uses this road.
"(Umm... Mr Altan, do you have a healing scroll? This guy here is bleeding out.)"
"(We do have some. I'll go take it out.)"
"(Thanks.)"
The merchant man went inside the carriage.... Then he took out a piece of paper and handed it to me.
"(Here.)"
With the healing scroll in hand, I took out the bandit's severed hand and put it in the place where it belongs to. Holding the severed hand in place, I opened the scroll and then put my hand on the healing crest.... pouring mana into the scroll, the crest on it lights up.
Golden aura came out of my hand that was holding the severed arm, and the wound slowly closes as the stump of his arm slowly reattaches itself to the severed arm.
"(I'll tie him up and bring him to the guards in the next city.... We should leave this place now, there might be more of them soon.)"
"(I agree, but our horse died and we can't move the carriage.)"
"(I see... What can we do then?)"
"(I'll try to see if we have nah solutions... You can take a rest first.)"
"(Thank you, Mr Altan.)"
I sat down on the carriage, and then put down the sword on the floor of the carriage.
"(Umm, Kyrielle?)" The merchant's wife talked to me.
"(Yes?)"
"(Please wipe off the blood on your face.... you look scary with so much blood on your face.)" She handed me a wet towel as she said that.
"(Ah, thank you.)"
First I wiped my face with the towel. Then, I untied my hair and wiped it as well. With the color of my hair, it isn't very obvious that my hair was completely stained with blood but when I'm cleaning it there's a lot of blood coming out.
I jumped down the carriage and used water magic to clean my hair.
"(Here, let me help you with it.)"
"(Ah, thank you madam.)"
I sat down on the carriage again, with my back facing the woman. She helped me wipe my hair using the towel.
"(...A girl shouldn't leave blood stains on her face.)"
"(Hmm.)"
After a few minutes....
"(It's done. You should change your clothes as well.)"
"(I'd like to as well, but....)" I said as I look at the undead who's still sitting inside the carriage. He soon took notice of me.
"(....Ah, excuse me.)"
I quickly changed my blood stained desert clothes to my blue traveller clothes, and then lightly washed the desert clothes with water spell.
Once I was done, I sat back down inside the carriage.
"(You know, you should learn to maintain a sword if you want to use one. Leaving blood on your blade makes it rust really quickly.)" Jackal said to me.
"(Ah, this? Well, I don't know how to maintain a sword...)"
I picked up the sword that is still on the carriage's floor..... Dad only taught me ways to use a sword, not how to maintain one, so I would actually want to learn to do so if I plan to keep a sword in the future.
"(I can teach you a thing or two about it... As repayment for saving our lives.)"
"(Mm! Please teach me well.)"
"(Listen here everyone, it's no good. I can't find the horse that ran away, and without the other horse besides this dead one, I can't get the carriage moving. It seems that we have to abandon the carriage and move to the next city on foot.)"
"(But isn't there a lot of cargo in here, husband?)"
"(Yes... but we have no choice. Everyone, pack up your things and let's move-)"
"Ogrr!" Lizzie jumped out from the bushes.
"(Oh Lizzie! You are safe!)" I jumped down the carriage and hugged her face.
"(...She's a smart lizard, when the arrows went flying she immediately ran to the forest to hide.)"
"Ogrr!"
"(.....)" Can't Lizzie just drag the carriage by herself? She's bigger, and far stronger than a conventional horse, afterall.
"(...There's the solution, Mr Altan.)"
"(Very well! I'll salvage what we can from our saddle and make it work on your lizard.)"
______________
(4 hours later...)
The next city is set in the middle of a forest with mountains surrounding it and a river leading into it, just like most cities. Right now it is about mid noon and we are close enough to the city to see it's majestic walls already.
It's walls is once again in blue. This implies that the city every monarch lives in is blue in color, just like King Hal's castle.
Lizzie happily dragged the carriage like it was nothing, she's a strong lizard luckily. Inside our carriage is also a tied up orc with a cloth gagged up his filthy mouth. He wasn't allowed to talk because of his constant swearing and cursing at us.
"(Mmmm! Mmmm!)"
"(Just shut up already before I decides to cut off your arm again.)" I threatened him.
"(Mmmm!!!....)"
"(....As I was saying, first you must wipe away all the blood and dirt from the surface of the sword. You apply a bit of oil or water if you have no oil, and wipe the sword once again to remove any blood stains. Finally to help the sword stay polished, you apply a bit of wax on the blade of the sword before sheath it back into the scabbard.)"
Jackal helped me to clean the sword. He is rather knowledgeable about weapons like these, this undead is no doubt a warrior.
"(I see... But what if I run out of wax then?)"
"(You can easily replace the wax with wood ash from bonfires, that also prevents rusting like wax does. But if you don't have anything like those, just wiping off all dirt and water is fine. )"
"(Oh I see...)"
'Ching.' I put the blade back into the saya, and it made a really satisfying click sound.
"(We have arrived.)" Mr Altan said out to us from the rider seat of the carriage.
We have finally reached the city gate after about 3 days of traveling.... Mr Altan steered Lizzie to the inspection zone of the city gate, where a few guards checked our carriage for anything suspicious.
I brought the criminal out and handed him to the guards... they immediately recognized him as one of the many wanted criminals in the city.
"(-Thanks for capturing him, we'll definitely get the location of their hideout from this guy.)"
"(I see. Please do take care of the bandits and make the road a bit safer to travel, because if I wasn't there... if I wasn't there, they'd have died.)"
"(We understand. I still can't believe that a little girl like you is the one who captured him.)"
"(Well, it's a long story. Anyway goodbye, Mr Guard.)"
It seems that they found nothing wrong with the carriage, and we are allowed passage into the city. All of us has finally reached our destination, so it's time for us to say goodbye.
"(I'll be leaving first. Goodbye, merchant couple. See you around, little girl.)" Jackal was the first to leave.
"(Mm, see you around!)"
He walked away and waved his hand without even looking back. Is he trying to look cool?...
"(...Whatever. Anyway, I'll return your sword back to you Mr Altan.)" I unstrapped the sword from my waist, and handed it back to the man.
"(Goodbye then, Miss Kyrielle. Thanks for protecting us back at the forest, and also borrowing us your lizard.)"
"(No worries, it's just part of my job as a bodyguard. Anyways, see you as well.)"
I turned around and walked away with Lizzie in hand. But after I have just walked for a few steps...
"(...Wait!)" Mr Altan called out to me as he walked forward.
"(...You should keep this sword as thanks for saving us. It's also as sorry for that I said about you when you saved our lives... This sword is called a 'Katana', and it's worth about 90 silver coins which is enough to buy you food for a few months.)"
"(Eh?! I can't accept this, it's too expensive!)" And my Japanese instinct of rejecting gifts kicks in....
"(It's fine just take it. If you can't accept a reward this expensive, then treat it as a souvenir for us. Don't go forgetting about me and my wife now!)"
"(Well if you say it like that, I suppose I'll keep it then. Thank you very much!)" I retrieved the katana once again with two hands.
"(Don't worry about it. Besides, you look cuter with that strapped to your waist!)"
"(Eh?! Y-you are married, you shouldn't say that to a single girl like me!.... Ahem, sorry for saying such weird things, thank you for the compliment.)"
Did I seriously just got flustered when someone called me cute? It feels kind of weird when I realized that I used to be a boy, and now here I am doing something so girlish.
Before I know it, I had completely changed my identity into a girl... even my inner monologue has become the little girl voice of my current self. It's crazy....
"(Anyway, you take care of yourself, Miss Kyrielle.)"
"(You too, Mr Altan. Goodbye.)"
I strapped the sword to my waist....
"Ogrr!"
"(I guess I'll bring this fatty lizard to a stable first then.)"
"Ogrr!!!" 'Bite.'
"(Ouch! Like I said, I put lots of effort into my hair so don't nibble on it! Besides, you are actually a fat lizard so I'm just telling the truth okay?!)"
______________
[Lynn's POV]
Somehow, I found myself in really thick makeup, with a really fancy braided hairstyle, and an extremely expensive looking white dress.
Now I'm sitting at the balcony enjoying a cup of afternoon tea, watching the scenery. I mean, I am enjoying my life here but....
"(Sigh....)"
"(Lady Lynn....)"
"(What is it, Lord Jern?...)"
"(You can leave if you want to already.... My Lord is just that kind of person....)"
"(Well... I am waiting for someone to come here...)"
"(I see...)"
I'm bored beyond my soul during these past few days. Seeing my state of mind, Asmedea took advantage of me and turned me into her dress up doll because I couldn't find the will to resist....
"(I am back! Lynn!)" Asmedea immediately jumps and clings onto me as soon as she returned from the toilet.
"(Were you waiting for me?)" Asmedea said, with a big smile on her cheerful face.
"(....You are not just old, but an ancient shape shifting slime. I'm waiting for my young and cute, adorable little apprentice to come fetch me okay?)"
"(Oh come on, why the sulking face? Smile a bit! You look more beautiful like that!)"
"(.....)"
"(You are my only friend at this castle! So you should show a bit of enthusiasm!)"
"(....)"
"(Geez, you are no fun at all...)"
"(I'm tired.)" I said, with a bored face.
"(My Lord, Lady Lynn is exhausted it seems, please spare her some rest.)"
"(Alright then.... But before you go, have you thought of what you want for a reward since you are helping us so much?)"
"(Hmm, reward huh?... I could use some money, or at least someone else could.)"
"(Money is it? Then I'll reward you with 5 gold coins as payment for helping us out.)"
"(Thank you very much, your highness. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll return to my room to get some rest-)"
It was then, footsteps of a guard wearing metal armour was heard walking up to me from inside the castle.
"(Lady Lynn. I've received words that your apprentice, Kyrielle Buffet has arrived at the castle gate already.)"
"(She's here?! Alright then, I'll pack my things up and leave.)"
"(Huhu, your cute little apprentice is here now, you may go then Lynn. It was a pleasure to have you visit our castle, farewell.)"
"(Yes, your Highness. Farewell. You too, Lord Jern.)"
"(...)" Jern sternly nodded his head.
After bidding farewell to them, I turned around and walked into the castle hall.
'Tok tok tok....' Wearing high heels that Asmedea picked for me, I walked in the hallway of the castle towards my room...
'Cha Chank.' I opened the door to the bedroom, and undressed myself. I dressed myself up in my comfy robe, and put on my favorite white hood.
'Knock knock!'
"(Come in.)"
'Cha Chank.' Opening the doors and walking into the room is a maid.
"(Lady Lynn, Asmedea has ordered us to give you these money as your reward. Please accept it.)"
"(Thanks for taking it to me.... But I feel like killing myself.)" I headed straight for the window intending to fly off and prank this maid before I leave.
"(Huh?... Lady Lynn, what are you sayi-)"
"Hmpt!" I jumped off the window of the castle...
"(What?! Lady Lynn!)"
...And then hover back up.
"(H-huh?!)"
"(Hahaha, your reaction is a good one! Don't worry, I can fly!)"
With my luggage in hand, I jumped out of the window and flew down towards the gate of the castle.
After flying down, I saw that waiting in front of the castle gate is a petite girl dressed in a blue skirt and with red twin tails hanging from her head. And she has a sword by her waist?... A new weapon?
By her side is a fat lizard. As she looked around the castle, she finally saw me up on the sky.
"!" Her face livens up as I gently dropped down on the floor.
"Lynn!"
"Kyrielle!"
'Grab!' We ran at each other and then when we got close, we hugged each other tightly.
"Kyrielle, you were safe!"
"Mm! It's nice to see you again, Lynn."
"Same here.... Same here."
______________
After about an hour of walking, we left the city far enough already to not see it anymore.
"So, what happened in the city? It's rare to see you so tired."
"Well, it's just that the negotiations there are kinda tiring... I've been at it for almost an entire week now and I'm just bored out of my mind."
Being the middle man of the negotiation means that even though I had nothing to do, I have to sit in the negotiation and just listen... it's boring.
"That explains the long face."
"So, what's with that sword by your hip?" I said as I looked at the sword that was strapped to Kyrielle's waist. It's an exotic looking curved sword.
"Oh this? It's just a gift from an acquaintance."
"I see.... Did you do a lot of things while I was gone?"
"Yeah! You won't believe the tricks that I was able to learn by myself once you were gone, I think even you will be surprised."
"Oh, really? Show me!"
"Okay! Let me get further away cause this one is a bit dangerous..."
She got down from Lizzie walked a bit farther from us. With a smirk on her face, she readies her body.
"Hehehe! Now watch closely because you would never get to see this in your life!"
"I am not blinking."
Two crests appears behind her back facing away from her, in a V shape.
'Bwuom...' (2x) From the two crests, small flames comes out. After charging it up for a while....
"Now, here I go!"
'Bwuom!!!' (2x)
"Woah!" The crests suddenly bursts out a large amount of flames and propels her body forward at super speed.
What an exotic way to use Flame Gush! I would have never thought that you could achieve flight like this as well if Kyrie didn't show me this.
In just the blink of an eye she had cruised so far away that I can only see the bright flash of her thrusters burning.
In the distance I could see that she tilted her momentum upwards and flies higher up in the air. Then, she circled around the entire sky to change her direction to fly at us.
'Fwuom!!!' She passed over our head soon. Her thrusters generated extremely loud air sounds that even distorts the air.
When she flew pass us, I saw her face. It was an expression full of excitement and joy, one that screams out that whatever worries she has is not present in her mind at the moment.
How nostalgic, she reminded me of the first time I discovered flight as well using gravity magic... It is extremely thrilling to fly for the first time, and even decades later I still really enjoyed flight using my Gravity magic.
What a show off, Kyrie! I'll join you as well and this time I'm not holding back my speed to catch up on you!
In the instant that I dropped my hand held bag on the ground, I fully controlled the gravity of my body by coating it in the spell's Mana, and then bursts forward up to the sky.
'Boom!!!' A loud explosion was heard as my gravity magic blasts a crater into the ground while I flew up.
"Ogrr??!!"
I'm up in the air now, and I'm chasing after Kyrie. She is circling above head, I easily copied her circling movement with my gravity flight and flew side by side with her.
"You are pretty good!!!" Flying by her side about 2 meters away, I loudly yelled at her.
"I can't hear you!!!"
"I said you are pretty good!!!"
"Still can't hear you!!! Try to catch me if you can!" She yelled out as two more crests appears behind her back, forming four crests in total.
'Bwuom!!!' (4x) With just a burst of the two new crests, her body accelerated forward almost twice as fast as she was just now, easily faster than me. The layout of her thrusters forms a shape similar to a butterfly wings.
"Damn!"
I chased after her with the fastest speed I've ever flew using my gravity flight.... I couldn't catch up to her at all, she's slightly faster than me.
"Sigh... I give up!" I yelled as I immediately stopped my flight with gravity magic, hovering mid air. It seems Kyrielle can't hover like I can, so despite the fact that she might be faster than me in flight, she is less agile than me.
I slowly lowered myself down to the ground where Lizzie is... after a little while of waiting, Kyrie flew back here as well.
Kyrie disabled the four thrusters behind her back and fired two thrusters with her hands to act as brakes... stopping her momentum. She slowly lowered herself down to the ground she landed softly on the ground.
'Thush!'
"Hahaha! I've left you in the dust completely, Lynn!"
"Shut up! I could've catch up to you if I wanted to!" (She couldn't.)
"Hehe! I finally have something better than you!"
"Whatever... But more importantly, how does it feel to fly for the first time ever?"
"It was great! It feels so exciting and relaxing to be able to just let loose on the sky like this."
"Mmm! That I definitely do agree with you... But now, shall we continue on our walk then?"
"Let's go! "
"Ogrr!"
"Although you might have to protect me a bit, Lynn... I've burned up a bit too much Mana when I flew in Super Speed Mode..."
"So you can't fly like that for long huh?"
It has been just one week or so since we last saw each other, but it feels like a really long time. We can finally travel together as a trio once again; Kyrielle, me and Lizzie, just like we normally do.
It's been such long journey just to get here ever since we arrived at Monproximus... It is extremely relieving to think that we have came so far out already.
(Chapter end)