(Eris POV)
Sword God's decision was clear. He would be traveling to the capital of the Ranoa Kingdom.
Most, if not all, of the people of the Sword Sanctum, opposed that decision, but it seems my words made him finalize his decision, and word of it being my fault spread across the dojo.
People continued to disdain me even more after having provoked Sword God into this.
But I continued to ignore them all and went on to training. At least, that was my intention.
Since Sword God will be leaving the Holy Land of Swords, Ghislaine and I will be joining him.
We departed the next morning on a horse each, and in just a month, we reached our last stop before going straight to Sharia.
I sat at an inn waiting for my food while Ghislaine and Sword God went and got some information on something or another.
What irritated me wasn't just the time it took for the chef to cook my food. It was because there were two other people coming with us.
As I leaned on my chair in the dining hall, I crossed my arms and tapped my foot on the floor, tired from having waited so long.
"Would you mind stopping that? It's getting annoying as it is."
"I'm hungry, okay."
"People are already staring at us, and it makes us uncomfortable too."
One of the people who came with us was Sword God's daughter, Nina.
She insisted on coming with us on the day Sword God announced going away for a while. Her intention is to fight Rudeus before Sword God does.
I'm not worried in the slightest. Even Ghislaine admits she needed to take it seriously if she ever fought against him.
"Just let her be. Not like either of us could stop her anyway."
The other person who tagged along was Jino.
Tagged along isn't really the right word. His father, Sword Emperor Timothy Britts, pushed him to leave the Holy Land of Swords for once in his life.
Of course, the guy wasn't motivated to train for a sword, so leaving his home for one time wasn't ideal for him either.
I don't get him. When Roa still existed, I was always happy to leave the city.
This guy is the youngest Sword Saint, and Sword God predicts that he will become stronger than himself.
But the way he gets nervous just from being inside this inn makes it hard for me to believe that he is good at the sword at all.
"Jino! Just because she defeated you in an insidious way doesn't mean you should just let her be."
"You sound like my father. But he berated me more than being encouraging."
"I'm sure Master Timothy just told you the obvious."
"That I should be more selfish and arrogant like you?"
"Yes- wait, no- I mean, you know, you should-... wait, what is he saying about me?!"
"Just give it up already." I interrupted. "If he doesn't show interest in becoming stronger after his defeat, then it will take something else to show him how weak he really is."
"Don't you belittle him like that! What do YOU know about that?" Nina said to me.
"Pff. As if I need to explain that. I'm just saying that he needs to resolve something on his own. Anything at all would matter at this point."
"That sounds like something Master Sword God tries to convey to me." Jino grudgingly said after sighing.
It took another minute before our food arrived.
I was so stuck in eating my food that I didn't listen to the waiter excuse the delay.
As I was halfway done eating my share of the food, Ghislaine and Sword God came back.
The two of them looked… distressed, but they sat down anyway.
"Father? What's wrong?" Nina asked.
"I may have to take back my words about that Rudeus. He is more than the first rumor makes him seem."
I stopped chewing my food and listened to what he had to say. We haven't even met him yet, and he is already getting convinced by Rudeus's strength? I need to hear this.
"What do you mean?" Nina asked again.
"I was tasking an information broker to get me some intel about this Rudeus Greyrat, and he didn't even have to leave to tell me everything he knew.
With his accomplishments and deeds, the kid became the talk of the Three Magic Nations.
He is even being referred to as a true Magician because he can cast almost any Magic without the need to say the incantation."
I gulped my food down and looked at Sword God, who had now been admitting what I had already said to him.
"Told ya."
"Eris," Ghislaine said. "Rudeus is in more trouble than we thought."
"What else happened?"
"Upon his arrival in the Northern Territories, he was attacked by an assassin group said to have been hired by a noble relative of his. And I know of only one person who would do that. Philemon Notos Greyrat."
"Who?"
That name didn't ring a bell. Then again, that person has Greyrat in his name, so he has to be some noble with whom Gramps wasn't friendly.
"… he is Paul's brother… the head of the Notos household."
Ugh. That good-for-nothing father again. I didn't wanna hear his name again after he made Rudeus hurt himself with that explosion.
And again, with that noble crap. I thought I was forever done with it the moment I cast away my name as a Boreas.
"What does that have to do with his accomplishments?" Jino asked.
"I was interested in the particular group that was hired," Sword God said. "Nina, do you remember Jester?"
"You mean the guy with those brothers of his? What was their name again? [Tri-Daggers] I believe? Was he hired by that noble?"
"Yes, they were. But they are no more. The kid wiped out the entire group. It's said that he even came to the adventurer guild covered in their blood all over his face."
Covered in blood? Did he perhaps do the same thing as we did on the Demon continent? He definitely sets an example to let people know not to mess with him. That makes him look more confident in his strength than he was before.
"That kid certainly has a lot of things to say about himself." Sword God admitted.
"It couldn't get any worse than that. You could have done the same thing without coming back as a mess." Nina confidently said.
"Oh, but it can get worse. As some sort of trophy for defeating Death God, the kid took his Demon Eye and implanted it into himself to defeat a Red Dragon invading the city."
A Demon Eye? So, did he get a replacement for the one he had before? Wait, does that mean he could give me one as well?
I remember how he beat me with his previous one.
He just stayed in our room while I trained with Ruijerd, and he still beat me. This new Demon Eye should definitely make him stronger.
"I'm more amazed about the most recent rumor, though," Ghislaine added. "It seems he gave a bunch of people the ability to use chantless Magic."
"Really!?"
I was so excited that I sprang up from my chair and leaned in forward.
He found a way to teach chantless Magic to others now. I have to get that ability.
I always wanted to add Fire Magic to my swordsmanship. A flaming sword! The damage I could cause to my opponents would be so cool.
"Do you think I could get that as well?" I excitedly asked.
"I don't think so. It's being said that he only grants it to Magicians."
"He will definitely make an exception for me."
There's no way I'm going to miss out on that. I told Rudeus that I would one day make a fire like he did when we were kidnapped, and I'm going to keep my word.
"Eris, your plate," Ghislaine said as she pointed below me.
"Hm? Oh…"
I was so excited that flipped over my plate of food over the table.
Whatever! It was worth it after what I just heard.
***
(Third POV)
As Sword God's group continued their journey to the capital of Ranoa on their horses, the trip went relatively smoothly.
Without question, Gal Farion continued Eris's training.
He was still cranky about her belittling him in comparison to her boyfriend, but he was adamant about seeing for himself what this Rudeus guy had to offer, even after hearing more about the young Magician.
Nina was the same as her father. She trained with Ghislaine and occasionally asked her what type of fighter Rudeus was with his chantless Magic.
But to her misfortune, she didn't get any good answers to that, as Ghislaine hadn't seen what Rudeus was capable of before she met him again.
The best advice Nina could get was to avoid getting too far away from him, as he could throw her a large area spell in an instant.
Lastly, Jino was getting increasingly tired of traveling. His only relief is that he at least has Nina around, whom he has felt the closest to since their childhood.
All the hardships of each of them aside, the journey of the five swordsmen and swordswomen would have been peaceful if it hadn't been for the lack of monsters after they crossed the border.
Their tranquil trip came to a halt the moment Ghislaine raised her hand to signal to the others to stop their horses.
The rest of them knew that if Ghislaine, a Beast woman with sharp senses, told them to hold, it meant a monster was nearby.
For Nina and Jino, this would be their first time fighting against monsters instead of people, but they simply copied what Eris and Gal did and gripped the hilt of their swords.
All of their horses also became scarred, their ears pointing back, muscles tensing, and blowing and snorting from their noses as they became únsteady on their feet.
But that last sign from the horses was what tipped Gal off to find out where the monsters were coming from to make him dismount his horse.
Ghislaine and Eris noticed it, too, and dismounted their horses as well.
Nina and Jino were both confused and didn't know what to do. However, Gal Farion's specialty of speed came to their rescue as he quickly pulled them off their horses just in time.
A fraction of a second later, hock-like mandibles emerged from the ground and devoured two of their horses.
The ambushing monster mercilessly consumed the two horses as they screamed and struggled in agony.
One of the horse's heads fell off and rolled away, leaving the others to witness the threat they had just been ambushed by.
The sight was so terrifying that even the horses that were left behind bolted away in fear.
The monster they had witnessed emerging from the ground and devouring the horses was a Giant Centipede. This monster had a long body with legs on both sides, as well as antennae and mandibles protruding from its head.
A normal Giant Centipede would have been two meters long in terms of length, but this example reached a length many times longer than the original version.
The enormous monster was not content with those horses; they were merely an appetizer before the main course, so it was already eyeing its second meal.
Gal Farion readied his sword, waiting for the chance to strike the monster, knowing Nina and Jino were its main targets.
Just one slash might not be enough to take down the monster. Its colossal size poses a great challenge that requires more than a single blow.
Eris and Ghislaine unsheathed their swords as well, ready to overwhelm the hundred-legged creature.
But they were the ones to be overwhelmed, for even normal Giant Centipedes formed groups, and the same went for this specimen as well.
The ground beneath their feet started to shake before it crumbled away, and dozens of different-sized centipedes crawled out of the earth, going after each one of them.
Despite the lack of leverage, Sword God and Ghislaine made an effort to kill as many as they could in rapid successions of sword slashes, mostly [Longsword of Silence] and a few times [Longsword of Light].
But the number just didn't seem to dwindle, no matter how many they killed.
Nina and Jino also had to work their fair share of killing a small number of swarms of tiny to midsized crawlers.
They struggled to overcome their newly developed fear of insects but still made an effort to kill as many as they could on their own.
That is until one of the smaller-sized centipedes managed to sneak at Nina and bite into her leg.
Fortunately, although centipede bites can cause pain in humans, they are not fatal. However, the bite was still potent enough to make her step back, resulting in a swarm of centipedes pursuing her.
"Nina!"
Gal wanted to go over and save her, but the largest centipede, the one that came out of the ground first, already recognized him as the strongest of the group and occupied him.
With the hole as a base to hook on to, it used its lengthy body to swing itself around and aim its legs to clash against Gal and his sword.
The exoskeleton and legs were impressively durable, requiring significant force to inflict damage. They were clearly meant to withstand tough challenges.
This left Gal no other choice but to use Water God Style against it until a better opening presented itself.
Meanwhile, the smaller minions of centipedes went after the others. Ghislaine and Eris were occupied with their own side of countless insects to crush and slice, unable to help Nina, who was being dragged away at the moment.
"Somebody! Please! Help me!"
As Nina cried out for help in a flood of centipedes, Jino came in with a quick and precise sword slash that had the shortest path for his sword to defeat as many in a single strike.
But the more he killed, the larger the next ones became after devouring their fallen kin for the quick and absurd growth spur.
From the perspective of an outsider, these creatures appeared to be guarding their newly established territory. But to Gal and Ghislaine, it seemed as though the creatures were driven to kill at any cost.
The only one not giving a damn about all of this and only thought about a solution at the moment was Eris.
"[Fireball]!"
Finished with her incantation, she shot the sphere of flames close to where Nina was being overwhelmed, an explosion blasting a great chunk of them away.
Eris felt proud to have learned this spell from Rudeus and to show its usefulness in action.
With the instinctual fear of fire, the centipedes retreated from her as they avoided ending up as burned meals for their next kin to devour.
As Jino approached Nina, he noticed the bite marks left by the centipedes that had been feasting on her slowly.
Although her life was not in danger, Jino took it upon himself to protect her.
The largest centipede sensed the change in its kin and redirected its attack towards Eris, who stood ready to defend herself alongside Ghislaine.
Ignoring Sword God, the centipede crawled out of the hole and charged towards them with its dozens of feet stabbing into the ground, forming a dust cloud behind its path.
Meanwhile, Gal ran off in the other direction to where Nina and Jino were.
Not because he abandoned the other duo but because he saw the imminent danger plummeting down from the sky.
Ghislaine, with her beast instincts, also noticed it coming, so she pushed Eris away and ran away with her as far as possible before a surging heatwave struck the giant centipede.
The enormous insect was unable to dodge in time and received a vertical slash that cut it into huge chunks of pieces.
For the group of Sword God Style practitioners, it was a sight to behold, for their savior in red and green had just arrived.
All would have been well if it had not been for the fact that their savior was a dragon.
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