"One of your attacks … I saw—" Out of the blue, Nagao was almost being slashed by the enemy, targeting on his neck.
*Swoosh!*
"?!!" With his reflexes, Nagao dodged those attacks by performing back handsprings several times. Because of his actions, the enemy targeted Nagao's hand, aiming to disable his movements ...
*Tap!* *Slash!* *Tap!* *Slash!* *Tap!*
As a result, Nagao got enough distance from the enemy, assuming a defensive stance. Unfortunately, he also received a few fresh incisions, causing him to become exhausted from losing his blood ...
*Sigh* *Sigh* *Sigh*
(Her speed ... her attack flow ... always puts me on the edge of death line! Once she gets my vital point, the death will greet me swiftly!) Nagao thought while observing his surroundings.
She then briefly stopped her attack, putting some distance from Nagao. By the same momentum, she spoke,
"How ... did you know?"
"Huh? What do you mean?? Did you—" in the blink of an eye, Nagao remembered the secret mission at the old house. A name that wrote on the secret mission board. But, at the same time, Nagao also confused because Adolph didn't remember him and attacked him instead, especially how she spoke was totally different than normally she did—"Who the really are you?"
With no warning, she dashed towards him, remarking with a deep voice,
"Please die!"
Comprehending that her quick attack couldn't be dodged, he did something unpredictable ...
*Srrak!*
"Oh—" she surprised about what was happening in front of her—"What A surprise!"
"I thought so … but your attack … like an ant's bite for me …!" He responded sarcastically, grinning at her directly.
He blocked her attack with his bare hand, making her sword stuck amidst his palms. As she wanted to attack again, Diana —Adolph's other side— received a hard kick from him, aiming to her stomach ...
*Thumps!*
"Urgh!" She felt the pain and bounced away several meters as a result. On the other hand, Nagao withdrew her sword from his palm ...
*Shrrk!*
Then, Nagao looked at her sword and realized that it made from wood ...
(She got me several times with same sword that I bought before? I must admit that she has a significant strength!) Nagao thought in shock.
Before he could continue to observe her sword, she stood up gradually and started to speak,
"You resisted it by risking your left hand. As it reached your skin, you strengthened the muscle to the maximum, slowing down its thrust. The right hand ... supported the left one from behind, gripping after it stuck definitely. With those schemes, the counterattack happened. I'm amuse with your gambling mind!"
"Thanks, but every death 'smile' at me ... something must've to be sacrifice, right?" Nagao grinned, clenching his right hand reflexively.
Their eyes met each other. Both of them made a defensive stance, waiting to receive for another attack.
Out of the blue, she started to disappear from her spot. Although she disappeared from his sight, Nagao remained on alert ...
(Try to make another sneaky attack? Let's see it'll work or not for second times!) He tried to predict her attack.
However, she didn't appear again for a long time, noticing that she withdrew and left the weapon behind. Realizing it,
"What An unpredictable opponent ...," I remembered about last mission with her, making me thought deeply. "It feels like I fought against two different persons at once. But I must heal myself first ...."
Inevitably, Nagao returned to Mr. Schmidt place. Long story short, Mr. Schmidt and Emilia treated him with care due to quite serious injuries, causing him to rest.
…
The next morning, May 10th, 2223 ...
His wound started to dry up, making his strength started to recover. Mr. Schmidt, through Emilia, gave Nagao medicine for pain relief after he trained his limbs ...
"Don't overdo it to your body, Big brother," Emilia gave advise him.
"I know but, sometimes my limbs become stiff if I didn't do that," while trying to exercise my body.
"NO! REST!" Emilia still insisted on what she said.
"Emilia, why are you—?!" He realized that her face turned into red. Her eyes filled with tears, trying as hard as she could to hold her cry.
Aware with her concern, Nagao stopped his training,
"Alright, Emilia. You really took care about my health conditions into become your personal matters ...." Eventually, Nagao finished his activities and rest his self-conditions.
Later, because of his condition got better, Nagao did daily activities like usually. However, Nagao still thought about the latest incident with Adolph ...
(I still can't get it. Why did she attack me? Is she still angry about last incident? But … her speak … her reaction … was strange. Is someone took her identity? About that secret mission ... other side of Adolph ... what's that mean … Ugh!) Nagao got a headache suddenly, stroking his head.
"Ya good, brat? Yar face turn white like a pale-ass-elf!"
"Ugh … just … too much thinking!"
"Don't bother the small thing, unless it's worthy to thinks about,"
"Wow … I didn't expect that … it came out of your mouth. Try to become a monk this time?"
"Didya really think that I ain't wise side?? Brat, I'm live more than ya!"
"Fine! Fine! Step aside … that matter first. Speaking of the devil, you said about the side, right?"
"And?"
"From your point, what's that 'side' mean?"
"Hmmm," Mr. Schmidt suddenly hold his chin. "Ya know that everyone has own mask, ain't ya? Good things, Bad things, even the side of someone ya never know were gathering into a piece,"
(Wait, does he mean that someone else's character is included?) Nagao thought about Mr. Schmidt's statement.
"Even someone's true colors?" Nagao asked him, making his thought clearly.
"Ya said it!" he replied casually. "Looks like someone got the fire spark here," Mr. Schmidt commented to Nagao's act.
"I got your point," he sighed. "However,"
"However?"
"That person is totally different. It's like there are two persons at the same time,"
"Ya sure 'bout it?"
"Twice. I've seen it twice,"
"How?"
"What do you mean 'how'? You don't believe what I said??"
"Idiot! I ain't aim to that shit. Tell all of it, so I can catch up yar point!"
"She … has a 'special condition'. Only one leg she has. Instead, she could play the sword like an expert. I know that because, coincidence, I've seen her practicing at her yard. Story goes on, we fought each other. But when we met again, as if, she didn't know me in the first place. When I talked about the last sentence, it happened twice,"
"Twice and didn't know ya? Ya cheating on her?"
"For God damn sake, we talked about one topic. Don't switch it to a silly topic!"
"Geez! Ya ain't sense of humor. Ya'll gets old fast, ya know! Hahahaha!"
(I shouldn't say to him about this topic in the first place!) Nagao annoyed to hear his replies.
"Well!" his tone switched to serious. "I got one thing to say,"
"What? Another silly topic? Or your selfish answer?"
"No. It's 'bout a proverb, Unknown and Danger are much like sibling on no time!"
"Sibling, huh?"
Hearing what Mr. Schmidt said, Nagao got insight …
(His proverb has many meanings. Instead of getting stuck on that, I should make sure of it!) Nagao then decided his decision.
"Old man, have you upgraded my equipment already?"
Abruptly, Mr. Schmidt threw something toward him …
*Swoosh!* *Catch!*
Nagao caught it and realized that his equipment was done …
"Yar babies were whining to be played with!"
Hearing that, Nagao borrowed one of his rooms and put on his cloak to disguise, wearing his light-sized iron gauntlets swiftly. Not only that, but Nagao also carried out Adolph's weapon, tying it behind his back.
Amidst his preparations, he got a notification from the status board ...
*Ting!*
[There are several optional missions you can choose. View more.]
(Optional missions?? Look like I got something fishy here!) I questioned it inside my mind.
Driven by curiosity, he pressed the mission board ...
*Click!*
[...There are several optional missions that you can choose:
a) "Escape with the loner": You have to run away with the loner to escape the enemy's chase.
b) "Fight with the loner": You have to fight the enemy with the loner.
c) "Killing the loner": You have to kill the loner with your own hands.
d) The mission's name is locked due to some of the conditions you must attain.
Choose wisely and the difficulty level will be selected automatically.]
(Great! Now, I trapped amidst difficult choices!) Nagao irritated in his mind.
Then Nagao thought for a moment about this mission. In fact, he repeated to read the sentence on the status board missions several times. Every single word, preventing the simply hidden meaning ...
(Either choosing mission A, B, C, or D, it will affect the level of difficulty. Even so, there's no guarantee that all missions are easy. Or, do all of these missions have a high-level difficulty?) Nagao weighed and processed the information.
Moreover, his curiosity also increased when Nagao saw the last mission. The mission that hold a mystery ...
(The last mission also piqued my interest. But there are terms and conditions that affected the success of this mission to be carried out!) Nagao filled with curiosity, wrapping with wary.
"Logically, I would've chosen another mission. However—"while looking back at the mission board—"A mission like this, sometimes, hold a special reward or dropped a rare item. Such a dilemma!"
Nagao weighed many things based on the aspect of probabilities, difficulty, until who he must fight or save later. All these stuff contributed to influencing the level of this mission in the end. Whether it's at the beginning or in the middle of the mission ...
(In the end, a decision born from an opportunity that triggers hope and a sense of selfishness, huh ...!) Nagao sighed with a long breath.
Many times of weighing ...
"No ways back after all these times then!"
*Click!*