'It wouldn't have really mattered if we had let him go alive. We didn't give him any explicit information, plus I could have knocked him unconscious and destroyed this artefact. By the time anybody comes to this position, we will be long gone,' Akeru wasn't really amused by Erza's action.
Akeru stared at Erza, seemingly waiting for a proper explanation.
Erza tossed the bag that was in her hand; Akeru caught it without looking and then examined the contents.
He sifted through the items inside, then looked at the sky.
He heaved a sigh, his expression unreadable.
Red-green lightning appeared on the bag, and in the next instant, the bag along with its contents evaporated.
The corpse of the knight met a similar fate, though it took a few seconds for his entire body to turn to ash.
Akeru looked at the artifact, seemingly thinking about what to do with it.
'I don't know whether this has a mechanism to notify if the artifact is destroyed or not, or if the owner is not in contact with this for a certain period of time, after which it would notify, so let's just throw it away.'
Akeru cocked his hand back and, like a softball throw, hurled the artifact in a random direction.
BOOM.
He had done this with pure mana enhancement, and the ball easily broke the sound barrier.
"What if some random passerby gets hit by that?" Erza asked with her lips twitching.
"I threw it in that direction because there is no civilization there," Akeru said while showing her the map.
"Anyway, let's go." They continued their journey.
---
It took them more than a week to reach Abyss Grip due to the large distance from Amber Wind.
This city was unusually heavily guarded; however, Akeru and Erza were able to easily enter it.
"Why do you think the security is like this here?" Erza asked her boss.
"Well, I wonder too. This is a harbour city similar to Dustspire, yet the circumstances are very different from that, so I guess that's not the reason. I am tempted to think that it's due to our presence, but that might not be the only reason," Akeru shrugged.
"Maybe because we are close to Spade Kingdom from here?" Erza suggested.
"Yeah, or it could be due to something interesting going on here, which requires this much security." Akeru was really getting curious about what was special about this city.
"I wonder how the Spade Kingdom is. Maybe we could go on an undercover mission in that country next time?" Erza jokingly suggested.
"You could go on your own then, don't drag me along. I don't have plans to die young," Akeru said almost on instinct.
"Hmm, what do you mean? Are you trying to say that Spade Kingdom is much more dangerous than Diamond Kingdom?"
"Yup," Akeru said in a tone like he was mentioning facts.
"Why do you think so?" Erza asked curiously.
She didn't have much information on that kingdom, so she was really baffled that the calm and collected boss was afraid to go there.
"Just think about it as advice from an experienced person like me." Akeru wasn't going to say that it was due to his meta-knowledge that he knew how dangerous that kingdom was.
"But I am older than you," Erza said flatly.
"Anyway, we are going to explore the city to find that interesting part." Akeru ignored her words and decided to start with the objective they had.
"So, are we going to go separate ways?" Erza asked, excited at this prospect for some reason.
"Hmm, no. I don't really want to deal with a hostage situation. Those guys are lunatics, so no," Akeru shook his head.
"Ugh, I could hold my own against a captain-level individual, at least survive until you come, right?"
"Nope. What if I got intercepted by another captain-level individual? Plus, don't underestimate them. Yagos didn't move fast previously due to being cautious of me."
"Fine, I guess I am a burden now." Erza sighed, really not liking her powerlessness.
Akeru felt a bit awkward about what to say.
"Well, you will get stronger with time. You are not that far away from a Vice-Captain level, and you do have the potential to be a Captain-level individual." Akeru didn't lie when he said that.
In his team, apart from Kaiser, he was sure that the other two could reach Captain level in a few years if they kept their current training regime and survived. He was sure that Kaiser would reach Vice-captain level, but reaching Captain level was a different ball game altogether.
"Also, if you really feel that weak, maybe I should increase the intensity of the mana control exercises," Akeru asked with a devilish grin.
They were still continuing their training during the breaks they took as they weren't focused fully on traveling every day. Plus, even while traveling, some sort of training could be done, especially when Akeru's mana zone was out to prevent any sneak attacks.
Erza's face fell. She tried to make some excuses, but it ultimately led to her training amount increasing.
"You should be lucky that not only are you getting an opportunity to train during a long mission like this, but also getting help from an expert," Akeru said without any hint of shame.
"Yes..." Erza mumbled. Though Akeru's words were correct, she didn't really like to admit it, afraid that he would increase the intensity again.
The current intensity of her training was several times more compared to when she started, which was not that long before.
"Anyway, let's have some dinner before we do some investigation."
"Oh, I know, we could finally have seafood! It's been so long!" Erza's mood changed very quickly.
They went to a restaurant and ordered food.
'Well, I don't know who they will send after me. People like Broccos and Mars are out of the way, as they have plenty of disadvantages against me. Yagos could be annoying, but I am very confident in beating him, so that leaves three of the unknown individuals,' Akeru furrowed his eyebrows.
'Well, whatever. It won't really matter in the end. It would only be troublesome if they had some different types of mana zones. Also, assuming that they are stronger than Mars, how dangerous could they be? At most, one of them could have mana zone, and that person confronting me—even then, I would be at least able to escape,' Akeru didn't really expect the worst-case scenario to happen.
'Even if all three of them had mana zones and attacked me simultaneously, I would still be able to escape, though in that case, I can't guarantee my subordinates' safety, but that's unrealistic.'
"What are you thinking, boss?" Erza noticed him not digging into the food that had already been served.
"Just thinking about the strength of the three generals which we don't have any information on."
"Do you think we might be in trouble?" She asked while eating.
It was really shocking that she was able to elegantly eat while talking with food in her mouth.
"Well, I can't guarantee your safety if all three of them have mana zones and attack me at once. I can only escape then," Akeru shrugged while deciding to be honest with her.
"I don't think individuals who can use Mana zone grow on trees, you know. I'm not even sure if my captain could use it."
"I guess I was just thinking about the worst-case scenario."
"Won't it be if all of the six generals attack us?" Erza suddenly asked.
Akeru blinked.
He blinked again.
"Okay, that would be very much troublesome," Akeru's eyebrows twitched.
'I hope that doesn't happen. I don't even know what will happen in that case,' Akeru thought while starting to simulate with the five generals he had data on.
They had dinner, and the next day, they explored the entire city while trying to find some guarded secret.
It didn't take much time to find it after observing some knights going through a secret bunker in a remote location.
They knocked out two of the knights who had entered the base before, wore their uniforms, and sneaked into the base.
It was surprisingly easy.
'Well, I guess that is due to the fact that the people who are allowed to enter are at least Third Class Senior Knights,' Akeru thought while exploring the secret base.
"Thi-This," Erza said, her voice not concealing any of the shock.
Akeru looked in the direction in which she was looking.
His eyes widened, the eyeballs almost popping off.
"Wh-what the fu-fuck? Are these people really insane?" Akeru was shocked to the core.
***
A/n:
Guys, seeing that the Romance option won with a majority, it's time to choose the FL (Female Lead).
To be honest, I had decided to have Mimosa as the FL initially, and I still want to continue with that decision as I have planned some Plot points and things related to that beforehand and their character interactions till now had been subtely skewed towards that result.
Anyway, if you guys want to, we can change the FL. Though I would be a bit disappointed, I could think of new scenes for the new FL we would decide on.
So, time to vote. Do you agree with Mimosa as the Female Lead?
Mimosa
Any other character (Drop your suggestions in the comments)
***
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