Chapter 16: It's not the main goal, but surely as exciting as the main!
Clenching his sword and fighting others has always been Bryce's best way of dealing with or forgetting about his problems; he learned that through the odd feeling within him.
And so, to forget what he had felt yesterday, that feeling of having blood on his hand, that he committed some crime, that it wasn't his hand, Bryce practiced his swordsmanship alone, neglecting warm-up and morning training with others. Those thoughts couldn't have come out without reason, and Bryce was skeptical about them being mental problems as all of them were connected to fantasy stuff.
Gengo, missing some morning run, laid himself on his side and watched his owner waving his sword. It was different to see Bryce performing one-handed swordsmanship, but it was exactly in this way that he defeated Arnold and his friend.
Bryce thought the same, but he worked his way to create his own swordsmanship by combining his experience from Earth and his heroic bloodline, yet the recent event caused him to doubt. What if he was a container to both bloodlines, a miracle of a demon lord and hero's scheme, and his future was to be used by them?
The memories of bloodlines came out to guide Bryce when he needed help. He saw his mother introducing E's might, the execution effect that took 10% of the troll's health points even when Bryce was just level one demon, and then he saw his father performing survival skills.
'My mother introduced me to her strongest skill, the execution, right off the bat,' Bryce whispered inwardly while still cutting through the air, seemingly focused; nothing could disturb his swordsmanship, even his mind contemplating over something else.
He recalled his talk with Sharla during his first stay at her house. Bryce asked her about demon lords, too, for these were one of the strongest entities in the world, and his intent was to learn more about his surname. He didn't want to straightforwardly ask her about the E, so he just asked about demon lords.
When Sharla told him about the most popular and devastating demon lord whose name had A. in the middle, Black Dragon of the Annihilation, Bryce wanted to steer their talk and make her talk about E, but he quickly inferred that Sharla was clueless about his surname.
'On the other hand, my father's bloodline gave me survival skills… Those are far from his strongest skill…' Bryce thought, his sword stopped, and he gazed forward, 'If I am to believe in the theory of one of my parents using me, I'm leaning toward my mother being my ally.'
His thoughts were riddled with holes because there was a chance that his mother didn't have any survival skills. She was a vampire that could simply drink blood from others to survive; she would just need prey. Moreover, his father might have reasons to hide skills behind bloodline lock, waiting for Bryce to awaken more of his lineage.
And how does one awaken bloodline, actually? Bryce thought inwardly.
Knowing that those were just wishful thoughts and he had no way of confirming any of these, Bryce sat down close to his friend and wiped off his sweat, he took to heart that one of his parents surely must have done something wrong and terrible, even for both a hero and a demon lord's standards.
"No one can blame me for being born, right?"
Gengo barked, agreeing with his friend while not knowing what exactly occurred in his mind.
"I'll make all choices on my own, without the bloodlines influencing me."
Gengo barked.
"Huh? I will listen to you, of course, I will."
And a few minutes later, a few friends peeked into the garden, when they saw Bryce and the dog, they waved at them and entered as Bryce invited them in, and they sat around him. All of them were villagers whose talent was highly appreciated as they were the next generations of hunters, and they soon would have their first hunt with two adults by their side.
Bryce liked them because they could keep up with him during his morning training, their endurance and stamina were actually pretty good. He knew their parents didn't like them siding with him, but after yesterday's battle, those opinions surely underwent some changes.
"You two will go outside to hunt trolls today, right?" A young man known as Karl asked, looking at Bryce with expectations.
Other boys had the same look, which Bryce would never mistake. They also wanted to fight with the trolls, and it was by his side, not experienced hunters!
And while Bryce actually gave some thought to that, he decided it was not time to play with others. True, they were good buddies, but Bryce's days in the village were counted, and he surely would leave soon to level up in different lands, maybe even dungeons. It was confirmed he would leave after killing a villain; if that man appeared, that is.
Still, there was a chance Bryce mistook their eyes. "Yes, Sharla will also go with us."
"Who is the third?" Karl asked, looking at Bryce confused; then he saw Gengo growling at him, which made him realize that Bryce considered dog more than he'd thought. Before Bryce could say anything, he blushed and said, "Can we go with you to hunt them? You actually can't refuse us! You know how strong we are, Bryce!"
"I actually will refuse you," Bryce replied, then said a few excuses, leveraging his amnesia card. In reality, he didn't want to become that close with others, and he also wanted to unleash Excalibur and fight with it.
One of the friends didn't like Bryce's excuses, though. He stood up as though something prickled his ass from the ground, pointed at Bryce with his wobbling finger, his young face contorted by anger and probably more emotions as he looked so ugly, not like the usual him.
"It will be a date, right? That's why you just want to go with Sharla! Don't think beating Arnold and his buddy is enough to take her! She's our village's best healer, and I will ensure it will stay this way, I will make her stay with me!" he spat and turned around, leaving with heavy steps.
Karl quickly apologized, and with his other friends, they all went after their furious buddy.
Bryce gawked at his peer as though he had seen a different person. "Does he really think I need a troll to make some momentum to ask a girl out?"
Gengo growled faintly.
Bryce wheeled to him and then asked, "You really think so?"
Gengo looked away from his friend's judging eyes; he taunted him to go for it with silence.
"This village isn't her main stage, nor it's ours. And romance can't be the main goal, either."
Gengo jerked his head back to his friend and narrowed his eyes at him.
"If we were still in our home world, I'd hit a club and bring someone back home. It's that easy, so how could it be the main goal? Unless we are talking about building some grand harem, oh, for that, I can imagine heroes and demon lords working their asses to please every jade flower they meet on their road. Haha!"
Gengo whined. Was it that easy?
"You got me, Gengo. Don't worry. Anyway, our Romeo's indignation seemed similar to Arnold, didn't it? But it might be just me, I can't compare everyone to that guy, can I?"