How dare you (1)

The dawn that came the next day was cool enough to make one forget the early summer heat.

It was an early hour, when even the darkness had not completely lifted, and yet, the 2nd subjugation squad had already left the mansion.

There was no need to see them off.

In the first place, they were comprised of people who had already retired and were forgotten by the world. There was nothing to be sad about since it wasn't like they were hoping for anyone's hospitality.

'We were tied up longer than I thought.'

'It wasn't bad, though. This was necessary.'

'Just leave the present to us. And we will leave the future in your hands.'

Rather than sadness, there was a good feeling in the hearts of the old paladins.

It was because they were able to teach the talented people who would potentially support the continent for the coming time, maybe for the next 100 years.

Airn Pareira and Bratt Lloyd.

If they could succeed, they would be of great strength to Ignet, who was currently moving alone.

Hope filled into the old men's hearts.

At that moment, Quincy Myers, who was leaving the mansion, stopped.

"Wait."

Did someone come?

The squad members nodded at the commander's words and turned their gazes to where he was looking at.

In the small training hall, they saw a person wielding a sword.

They knew the name. Lance Peterson.

'He is pretty good, but…'

'Because of the two of them, my eyes never fell on him.'

'Then commander…'

The old paladins looked. And the High priests thought.

This young man wasn't great enough to stop the pace of their busy commander; although he was a young man who was strong and everyone wanted to support him, he had a limit.

Quincy watched Lance Peterson for over a minute, and then spoke to his squad as he turned.

"Certainly, there are a lot of talented people in this generation."

"…"

"We'll leave now."

Darin Horton replied with a nod.

No one asked what was so great about the young man.

These were the words of the oldest knight of Avilius. There must have been something he saw that the others couldn't.

And like that, they moved out.

Lance Peterson swung the sword, unaware that he had been watched.

Wheik!

Nothing had changed since his meeting with the Orc.

He was still inferior to Airn.

Wheik!

Compared to Bratt, his skills were too poor. But strangely, he felt fine.

It was true that things were difficult and painful, but…

He felt really comfortable with his current state when compared to a week back.

'Is it because of the advice of the orc counsellor?'

Lance Paterson paused for a moment, wiping his sweat.

An unidentified orc appeared and drank three glasses of beer, and disappeared.

Recalling the conversation they had, he turned his head to the side.

And saw Kirill Pareira looking at him with a smile.

'… if not, is it because of her?'

"…"

After thinking for a while, Lance focused on his swordsmanship again.

He still didn't know.

In fact, it was unclear what burden was removed. And even if he was fine today, tomorrow might not be the same.

Even if it was okay this year, then maybe the next year, he might be struggling with self-doubt again. But it was different from before.

It probably was because of his newfound confidence to persevere and move forward, which was blooming in the corner of his heart.

Either way, he was moving forward. Even if it was hard and painful, he wouldn't stop.

Looking back, he realized that he had travelled far more than he initially imagined.

Whik!

Wheik!

Lance nodded and swung the sword. And Kirill just watched him do that for a long time.

And,

Shhh…

The darkness which lingered around Lance for a long time had completely disappeared. Even more secretly than when it had first approached him. And it was careful enough to avoid the senses of the subjugation squad.

It was now early June, and the sun was high up in the sky and had started to sting as its rays fell on the skin.

Airn and his party got ready early in the morning to leave the Lloyd estate.

Bratt Lloyd and Lance Peterson, as well as others, appeared to see them off.

And Philip Lloyd said,

"Thank you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have known that there was a devil lurking around."

"No. I just did what I had to do."

Airn responded, humbly.

There was absolutely no reason to turn away from the devil just because the subjugation squad would appear at a later time.

If a devil appeared in front of him in the future, he would destroy it again with all his heart. And he would continue to work hard to acquire the skills to do so.

As Airn thought that, Bratt jumped up and said.

"Get ready to be nervous for our next meeting."

"…?"

"It is hard to know how far I will grow, even for me, hahaha…"

"…"

"… is it not funny?"

"Bratt."

"Yes, mother. I am sorry."

"It is good that the apology was quick."

"Please."

Airn suppressed his laughter.

It wasn't Bratt but his mother who was funnier. But if Airn laughed now, it would be like he was laughing at Bratt's words.

Turning his gaze, he reached out to Lance Peterson.

The two shook their hands and nodded at each other without a word.

"Hey! I'll be back later!"

"Me too. Thank you for taking such good care of us."

Lulu and Kirill bid their farewell.

And Kirill, sent a secret glance to Lance, and everyone noticed it!

Even Airn, who barely noticed things like these, saw it.

'I never thought that my sister could ever look at someone like that.'

It wasn't a bad feeling. It was rather good.

But he wasn't immersed in that thought for long.

Ilya Lindsay.

He remembered the face of his friend he wanted to see.

"Then, let's go."

"Be safe!"

Airn and his party got on Griffin's back, and they left the others as they took off.

There was a vigorous flapping of wings, and then it was followed by a fast flight.

Watching them disappear, Bratt Lloyd mumbled.

"He is going pretty fast."

He knew why.

It was to meet his own friend.

And she was also Airn's friend.

However, in the future, both of these friends might be in a slightly different relationship when he met them.

Thinking of her, he mumbled quietly.

"Are you going to take it to the next level with her soon?"

Of course, it didn't seem like it would be easy.

Didn't both of the people he was thinking of have boring personalities?

"Well… it will be fun to watch."

"Son, what is it?"

"Nothing. I was just talking to myself."

Bratt shook his head and looked up at the sky. It wasn't in the direction where Airn left.

He was looking at where Judith would be, and he mumbled.

"I miss her."

Airn and his party, riding on Griffin's back, flew towards the western part of the continent at a frightening speed, towards the Adan Kingdom.

According to Kirill, they would arrive there in four days, which was a ridiculous speed considering that it usually took two entire months to travel from the central part of the continent to the western part.

'I think we are moving much faster than before.'

Perhaps, through the fight with the devil, maybe Kirill had grown too.

Arin smiled brightly and just sat there thinking.

This time, it wasn't practice in the imagery world that he usually did. This was much more intuitive than that.

It wasn't swordsmanship, but something that can be said to be the basics of an Expert and Master.

Aura Operation.

Wong!

Wooong!

Woong!

The golden light flickered on Airn's great sword.

He was training to pull out and collect the Aura on his sword as quickly as possible, but it required Airn to perform a complex and difficult process, even though it looked simple on the surface.

'If the amount of Aura is generous like ours, it is fine to waste a bit, but you young men don't have that much. If you want to use the swordsmanship of the Holy Kingdom, you need to practice, and be more efficient and balanced in using an aura sword.'

Having said that, Quincy Myers gave them several training methods.

Forget Bratt; even Airn hadn't made much progress.

It was fine, though.

Airn was now different from before.

While keeping the enthusiasm when facing Ignet alive, he was in a state of balance where his impatience didn't keep affecting his mind.

It was now as natural as flowing water, and the effortless attitude he now had was leading him on the right path.

Thanks to that, the two of who were with Airn also felt a sense of security, unlike before.

'I'm glad that Airn looks good. I wish he was always like this!'

'It can't be like this. This time we need to make a little more progress!'

But Lulu and Kirill's thoughts looking at Airn were different.

To be precise, there was one thing Kirill wanted from her brother now, and that was to progress his relationship with Ilya.

She realized it the first time they met.

That there was something serious between them.

However, the reason there was no progress being made was primarily because of their personalities.

'Of course, this is fun to watch, but if I stay still, things will be the same even ten years later.'

In Kirill's opinion, Ilya was a nice person who was hard to find. Her ability, her appearance and personality were all excellent enough to pass her strict standards.

Of course, if Airn didn't like her in that way, it would be a bummer, but in her view, it felt like Airn had some kind of emotions for her.

But Airn was unaware of it, so she thought that she should encourage the two of them.

'But I am glad. Brother brought up the topic first to go see her.'

Kirill looked at Airn, who was training.

What should she do to make this dull person be aware of it?

Several thoughts ran through her mind.

However, the problem was that Kirill was a novice when it came to dating.

In the end, she didn't have much of a plan until they arrived at the Lindsay estate.

Rather, they just moved to the mansion, embracing the uneasy feeling they had.

"Kirill, is there anything wrong?"

"No!"

"Then what is with your face?"

"I don't know. Stop asking."

"Okay."

Lulu answered, and Airn looked at her with worried eyes.

Feeling Airn's eyes on her, she thought.

'Who do you think I am doing this for!... no, calm down!'

She took a slow deep breath.

It was good to worry for her brother, but it wasn't right to ruin the entire party's mood.

She was the ruthless sorcerer in the Cesar Duchy, but she couldn't be like that in here.

I have to smile.

For now, just smile.

With that in mind, Kirill stepped ahead with a terrifying smile which made Lulu's hair stand up.

Airn watched them from behind with a warm expression. But a problem arose when they arrived in front of the mansion.

"What?"

"Three carriages?"

Airn mumbled.

Three carriages were waiting at the gate.

Although the Lindsay family might have been the most famous family in the west, seeing so many guests visiting at the same time was still surprising.

It was because, after the match between Carl Lindsay and Ignet, the family had closed its doors.

Was something happening?

It was when they were thinking about it that another carriage arrived.

A nobleman with grey hair, who looked around 30…

Smirk.

He looked at Airn's party with a smirk.

"…"

Airn's gaze moved to Kirill. His younger sister didn't tolerate such things.

And she was glaring at the nobleman.

"Ha!"

And snorted.

At that moment, the man who was moving with the escort, stopped.

"…"

"…"

The noble looked at Kirill. And Kirill glared back at him.

In that weird air, Airn and Lulu felt bewildered.

Smirk.

And the noble showed a scornful laugh again.

"Huh."

And Kirill still didn't give up.

She replied to the laugh with a snort louder than the previous one…so loud that everyone could hear. The man now burst into a laugh as if he wasn't going to back down.

"Ha."

"Hu."

"Huh."

"Uh."1

"…"

"…"

"…"

Airn's group; And the nobles who arrived, as well as the guards at the gates, were all at a loss of words at this childish war of nerves.

The same was the case of the Headmaster of the Joseph Swordsmanship School, who arrived in front of the mansion a little late.

And with an expression of understanding things, he mumbled.

"Did that Stanton bastard start a fight again?"

"Right in front of Lindsay's mansion?"

"He is over 30, but I don't know how long it will…"

Everyone clicked their tongues at it and criticized the nobleman.

They didn't even have to think that it was the woman's fault and were sure that this man had started the problem.

However, the Headmaster of a swordsmanship school was different.

He narrowed his eyes and thought while looking at Airn Pareira.

'The one standing behind, isn't he the young man I saw in the Land of Proof?'