485 Chapter 485: Prelude to the Weaver’s Festival (1/2)

The summer holidays were marked by the Weaver's Festival. From what I knew, all the nobles and commoners would all gather in the city – as I said, it was basically the same as Tanabata Festival in Japan. So you would have stalls and booths set up in streets, selling food and snacks, or charging people to play games. The girls in particular would dress fancily, and at the end of the festival – long after the sun had set – there would be an incredible display of fireworks.

However, the main reason why the Weaver's Festival was so popular was because of the romantic aspect. People would go to the river, light up lanterns atop paper boats and let them sail down the waters. The idea was that the guy would put a love letter in the boat and hope it reached the girl that he planned to confess to. Thanks to magic and homing techology, the girls would be able to sense which of the boats was meant for them, and they would wait on the other side of the river to collect the boats. After opening the letter, they would all meet at the bridge, where a dance party would be held. Lovers or would-be lovers, the guys who wrote the love letters and the girls who received the boats would unite and dance with each other.

Provided the girl accepted the guy's concession, of course. Sometimes a single girl would receive multiple love letters, and she would have to make a choice. There were also close friends who would just dance for fun, and since the dance event went on for a while, you could choose to dance with multiple partners if you wish.

…well, whatever. It didn't concern me. I had no interest in indulging in romantic festivals. Anastasia was gone – not that we were ever officially in a relationship, and before that, the one girlfriend I had, Alicia Violet, had passed away. I felt a little hollow inside, but that was fine. My goal was to become a mercenary hero, to emulate my father. Not to become some harem king or get married or whatever.

Besides, these few weeks, I had been busy.

”Sensei, here I come!”

”Watch out, Brother Richie!”

”Hmph. Naïve.”

I smirked as Melina and Adrian attacked me from both sides, sweeping across from opposite directions for a flanking attack. Twirling my two swords, I swung them both in different directions to block the two attacks, and then followed up with dual ripostes that almost took them by surprise.

However, I had trained them well. Adrian and Melina quickly evaded, ducking under my swings and the retaliating with a ferocity I would never have seen a month ago. I was barely able to parry their next strikes, and was forced back onto the defensive.

”Not bad.”

”Heh.” Adrian smirked as well, and a huge shadow fell upon me. His Treeant swung its massive branch – about the size of a pillar – down on me, trying to pulverize me. Before it could, however, Taurus slammed into it from the side, knocking it over. His maw yawned and a gout of flames poured over the poor Treeant, incinerating it with Aldebaran.

”No fair, Brother Richie!” Adrian complained, trying to strike at my flank again, while hundreds of Sakura petals swirled around his wooden blade. ”Using a fire spell against my wood-type Treeant! Of course you'll have an elemental advantage!”

”Do you seriously think your opponent is going to care about honor and refrain from using a spell that has elemental advantage over your Soul Beast when he possses it?” I scoffed before knocking the poor kid back. Spinning around, I kicked up a cloud of dust at Melina, who was charging to stab me in the back. She coughed and stumbled through the dust, blinded, and then tumbled over when I struck her on the back of her neck.

”Ugh!”

However, her golden aura glowed brightly, absorbing most of the power from the blow and she whirled around to counterattack, forcing me to parry her thrust with my crossed swords.

”Oh? Not bad.”

For a moment, she had seemed to corner me, her barrage of attacks overwhelming me through sheer strength. Despite her slender body being smaller than mine, she appeared to possess greater physical strength – thanks to her magic, which buffed and endowed her otherwise diminutive frame with great power.

”But aren't you forgetting something?”

”?!”

Melina was thrown off her feet when ice erupted from the ground, half-entombing her. she lay sprawled on the ground, struggling to break free of the ice that now covered her legs and most of her lowr body.

”Ugh…”

”It's over.” I tapped my sword on her head and causing her to wince. ”I would have finished you off with this strike.”

”Man…we still can't beat you, Brother Richie!” Adrian complained, sagging back in resignation while licking his wounds. Not literally, of course.

”The day you beat me is the day I have nothing left to teach you,” I replied with a shrug. Not technically true, of course. To be honest, there was still a lot I could learn from the kids. This wasn't a one-way process where I taught Adrian and Melina. I found that I was learning a lot from them too.

The moment you were arrogant to think that you had nothing left to learn, even from an opponent who was less skilled than you, was the day you stopped growing as a warrior. The same principle applied in academia – whether I was a teaching assistant or had a PhD, there was still a lot I could learn from my students. Similarly, just because I was current their sensei didn't mean I didn't have anything to learn from my disciples.

Pushing my glasses up my nose, I turned and caught sight of Amelia. She smiled as she approached with a towel, which she handed to Melina. The blond girl had finally broken free of my ice, and was frantically wiping the melting moisture off her legs.

”Oh my. It's already summer vacation, and yet you three are still so fired up. Thanks for the hard work.”

”It's nothing,” I muttered, accepting the towel from her to wipe off the perspiration. Adrian was the last to receive one, and he also followed my example.

”Huff…but we're still a long way from reaching Brother Richie's level.”

”I'll be scared out of my wits if you reach my level despite being three years younger than me.”

”Anyway, you guys should go get ready for the festival tonight.” Amelia gestured back toward the house. I nodded and waved for the two kids to go. They smiled and jumped up excitedly, their sore muscles and bruises forgotten, and ran back to their house. Amelia bowed her head slightly toward me, and then excused herself.

I wasn't really interested in the festival, so I decided to take a break by having some snacks and mango juice. As I gulped down mango juice from the bottle I took from the fridge, Melina hurried toward me, flashing a simple but elegant dress.

”Sensei, please look at this!”

”…are you giving the dress to me?” I asked, feeling a sense of dread. I would rather die than walk around in public, wearing that dress. And it was too small for me, anyway.

”Wrong.” Melina glared at me, wondering if I was joking. I was, actually, but with my deadpan tone she couldn't tell. Flustered, she held her dress up. ”It's for the Weaver's Festival tonight. It's a major festival for the city.”

”Oh, yeah. I heard about it.” I nodded. ”It takes place with the river as the center. Yeah, that dress looks good. I'm sure you'll look lovely in it. I mean, you're planning to wear it for tonight's festival, right? For the dance?”

”Yeah.” Melina spun around happily. She then peered at me curiously. ”Did Jing Tian City not have festivals?”