Vol 1 Chapter 23 (1/2)

Part 2 Prologue

Locke must have been really exhausted.

Dropping onto his bed after returning to his dorm, he slipped under the covers, and instantly let go of his consciousness.

If Locke had noticed, he would have realized that it was the time Wynn normally woke up.

The sky outside the window was still dark, but the whole sky was filled with stars.

There would also be fine weather today.

Setting his eyes on the neighboring bed, Locke also fell asleep in the very clothes he wore to the banquet.

How many months worth of Wynn’s wages did the suit cost?

No, rather, it might be on the scale of years.

The Marine House possessed that much wealth.

Though he was not the successor, he couldn’t present himself to the Emperor in shabby clothing.

Did it get creased?

Only having taken off his coat[?1?], Locke lay fast asleep.[?2?]

Wynn let out a small sigh.

Then, his eyes moved down to his own garments, and he frowned.

“… Whoa, I accidentally did it,” he murmured.

He had slept in his school uniform.

It was natural, since he had no recollection of changing his clothes.

He didn’t straighten them out afterwards.[?3?]

First, he took of his clothes and changed to his normal clothes.

Then, he took his practice sword, stepped silently so as to not wake Locke up, opened the door to the room, and stepped into the empty hallway.

After he went outside, he washed his face in the communal fountain.

All of the drowsiness left him when he felt the stinging cold water and the brisk dawn atmosphere.

As he used the towel around his neck to wipe his face, his stiff joints slowly relaxed.

“Okay, let’s go!”

Since there was the banquet yesterday, he wasn’t able to go training.

That’s why he would put even more effort today.

As always, he greeted the sentries who guarded the school entrance though the night.

He ran down the dim and yet empty main street.

His destination was Wandering Bird’s Mistletoe Pavilion.[1]

It was far enough from the knight school to be a good warm-up.

With light steps, Wynn slowly — it would be quite fast to anybody who watched— began running.

Once he filled the barrel at the back of the Wandering Bird’s Mistletoe Pavilion to the brim with water, he began was.h.i.+ng the vegetables.

Potatoes, carrots, daikons[2], he washed them all thoroughly, while thinking back to the food he ate at the banquet.

Soft, freshly-baked bread.

White fish soup with a rich flavor.[3]

A salad with fresh vegetables and thinly sliced ham.

Tender beef that melted in the mouth.

Magically refrigerated rose water, and freshly squeezed fruit juice.

He would probably never taste it again.

Though he had eaten, just by thinking about it, his mouth watered, and he felt hungry.[4]

After he washed the vegetables while enduring it, he proceeded to deftly wipe the tables and sweep the floor.

At that time, the boss, Randell, and his wife, Hannah, also woke up.

Wynn had permission from them to enter and leave through the back door.

He grabbed the sword leaning against the wall.

He took a deep breath, then exhaled.

He held an image inside his head.

First, he swung the sword once.

He started slowly, then gradually got faster.

During the coup d’état incident, Wynn had killed a person for the first time.[5]

While magic power was sealed, alone against many opponents Aldo, the senior knights, the soldiers, all swung swords, brandished spears, or shot arrows. He could see the trajectories of the weapons.

He could see the trajectories of his opponent’s blades during the practice matches, but against more advanced opponents, he couldn’t receive the blows, and was blown away many times.

However, while their magic power was mutually sealed, he was able to perceive the attacks, and evade or block them.

‘I became strong.’

He felt that for the first time.

Now, he imagined Leticia’s blade.

He was able to perceive her intense intimidation and the path of her blade.

Her slashes were faster and more pointed than the knights when he crossed swords with her.

He imagined Leticia’s strikes gradually get faster, until he couldn’t match her anymore.

“Kuh…”

He somehow avoided the last blow aimed at the head, but it destroyed his stance, and he fell to the ground.[6]

‘Strong, huh…’

Leticia was strong, more than he could imagine.

Compared to four years ago, just from the one match they had when they met again, he could tell that she was much stronger.

For one, while he could try to see the path of the blade, there was no time to react to it.

Moreover, when they met again. Leticia hadn’t been serious.

At the moment they crossed swords, Wynn knew he would lose.

Unable to brace his legs, he was blown away.

Otherwise, he would have been cut by the blade.

From the stories of those who saw the duel between the Hero Zaunas, and Leticia, the difference in strength was as big the difference between an adult and a child.

He lay on the ground.

The cool ground felt good to his drenched, burning body.

The sky was beginning to brighten, and birds began to chirp as they flew through the air.

Wynn lay face-up on the ground, watching the sky brighten up.

Not only Leticia, but if he also planned to beat other opponents using magic strengthening, he couldn’t just kill without crossing swords.

However, at that time, he reached the point that he was able to follow her sword.

Leticia stood at a distant, high place far, far away, but Wynn still felt happy that she had become strong.

“Okay, preparations complete!”[7]

The second son of the Wandering Bird’s Mistletoe, Abel, inspected the parcel that he had bought yesterday, and picked up a brand new one-handed sword.

He slowly drew it from its scabbard, and stared motionlessly at the s.h.i.+mmering blade, which had never been used.

Yesterday, he was invited to an adventurer’s party for the first time.

Though he was. .h.i.t by his father Randell, he often visited the Adventurer Guild to take simple requests such as collecting wild herbs, chasing away wild animals and monsters which damaged the fields, and other manual labour.

Recognizing his accomplishments, a senior adventurer that he was close with invited him to their party since they had a vacancy.

Their task was to subjugate a bandit group attacking villages near the border.

It was a mission taken in conjunction with other parties.

He couldn’t stop grinning.

“Kukuku…. Fu, fufufu, Ahahahaha!”[8]

He couldn’t hold it back, and ended up laughing out loud.

He felt elated.

Up until then, he had received only menial requests, but this time, he was going to be a member of another party.

Joining a party was a rite of pa.s.sage for adventurers.

Abel had taken the first step in fulfilling his dream of becoming an adventurer.

He returned the sword to its sheath, and donned brand-new leather armour.

He gagged a bit at the characteristic odor of leather, but held it in.