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Chapter 229: Blueberry Rush (7)
Rosemary looked around her.
A box of mana grass. Hundreds of scrolls. Training dummies sprawled all over.
And several bottles of the ever so rare mana water, even.
“Well, isn’t this a party.”
She didn’t know why there needed to be all this equipment for training.
Rosemary smirked as she sat on the bench swinging her legs. The mages who were watching this from a distance tightened their grips on the scrolls, and she kept snickering as she glanced at them.
“What a bunch of cowards.”
What those mages were holding was the White Night scroll.
The magic that had once driven her onto the road to death. A few shots from it and she would immediately be incapacitated.
But there was no need to be scared.
She just had to dodge them, no?
The only reason she had lost to the chairman was because it had been a surprise attack. Back then, Rosemary had only known that Robespierre’s party would raid the palace, and never imagined that they would bring an insane weapon such as that.
But not anymore; she could avoid most of it. If she put her mind to it, then it wouldn’t be difficult to wipe out this whole place. 이젠 아니다. 웬만한 건 피할 수 있다.
Not that she really needed to.
In front of the large sports field of Tilette, Rosemary shifted her gaze to the man swinging his staff.
Fwoosh! Fwoooosh!
Vermel was hitting the target with the spells he shot straight ahead. The passerby who saw him walked past with impressed remarks.
Certainly, his movements were remarkable compared to before. Just what had happened in a month, seriously
As Rosemary was thinking that while chuckling, a purple-haired student short in height appeared with popcorn.
“Hey, how many hours has he been at it?”
“As if I know.”
The girl who sat next to her was ‘Freyr Fon Fasstrand’, a Youko under the protection of Jǫrmungandr, one of her superiors.
Unlike before, Freyr wasn’t wearing her large witch hat.
Her fox ears perked at the occasional breeze. They were small and cute, looking like something you’d want to touch.
Still.
“A beastkin, hm.”
She was reluctant, however, because her mindset was still stuck in the old times when discrimination had been prevalent.
The most consideration she could show right now was not expressing her disdain outright.
“I got popcorn and drinks. Do you want some?”
“Go give it to him.”
“Then what are you going to eat?”
“Beryllium milk tea with an extra shot.”
Freyr went ‘heeeh’ and flicked her ears.
“By the way, aren’t you scared of me?”
“Scared? Why?”
“I’m a Beast, a Cataclysm at that. I can burn this whole place down if I want to.”
“But you aren’t going to.”
“.......”
“Am I wrong?”
Rosemary laughed in disbelief.
Even so, how could she be this easy-going?
“If I get scared of you, how am I supposed to face Aether?”
“Sis must’ve treated you really well, hm?”
“She didn’t say anything despite knowing I was beastkin, and she treated me as who I was. So she’s a good one.”
“Even if that friend is a Beast?”
“What does that matter?”
Siiip, sip. Freyr’s face went soft as she sipped vigorously on the tapioca.
“Huaah.... Anyway, a Beast is one who does bad things. It’s rude to call a good person a Beast. There are so many people in the world who are worse than Aether! I’d rather call those people monsters. Especially the racists!”
“Humans are Beasts? Then what do you call us?”
“Uhh....... Golden-Eyed?”
“Not that. Anything else?”
“Mmm, machine-folk? Because your bodies are machines.... I don’t know!”
Of course. It was stupid of her to have expected a serious conversation with this naive child.
While they talked, Vermel ran twenty laps around the field. After that, he took out his staff again and swung it repeatedly.
A series of simple stabbing and swinging motions.
But it wasn’t at the ordinary level.
There was weight behind the geometric trajectory along the tip of the staff; it was a form that she had never seen before.
Vermel was masterfully using martial arts that even Rosemary had never seen before and training his whole body evenly.
Moreover, well-timed spells were being cast with the minimum amount of mana. And every one of them was hitting the dummy. It was a training method that could build one’s basic stamina and improve concentration at the same time.
“Pretty good.”
“Right? It’s already been over a month of him doing that. Apparently he can even take down a Calamity without Flare now.”
“Hmm.”
His body was sleek for sure, and it looked like it packed some muscle as well.
“Achieving all that without a single Elemental, hm.”
Rosemary was purely impressed.
If he was left to it, he was going to grow even stronger some day, perhaps even beat her later on. She felt a sense of threat at the thought.
If she could get rid of him, then doing it now would be best.
But Rosemary shook her head.
She decided to believe in that elf for Aether.
It wasn’t an easy decision, and so she had no intentions of going back on it that easily, either.
Even if they become enemies later, right now she should do her best to help as an ally.
“Amazing, yeah? Even I was impressed, to be honest!”
Freyr puffed up like she was proud of her friend’s growth. Rosemary nodded and stood up.
“Not bad, although he is lacking in some areas.”
Rosemary approached Vermel who was hard at training.
The mages standing guard tensed up and unraveled their scrolls, but she didn’t pay it mind. She waved her hand to show that she had no intentions of harming him.
Rosemary handed him a sports drink and struck up a conversation.
“Well aren’t you working hard, elf brat.”
“...It’s still not enough.”
“Seeing as you’re doing martial arts, you must be thinking about fighting directly with sis as well. That’s a good attitude.”
“There’s that, but also I can’t train if it isn’t now. I have to increase my mana to the maximum by the time we leave for Iliad at the very least.”
Vermel put down the sports drink, then picked up the bottle of mana water that was on the ground.
Mana water–an expensive item containing the power of the Four Elementals.
It was a valuable potion that not only instantly replenished one’s mana, but also allowed one to use magic of all systems for hours.
Vermel gulped down such a potion like it was nothing.
“Do you want to get stronger?”
“Of course.”
“Then.......”
Rosemary snickered and lit a cigarette.
“Fight me.”
Vermel realized anew that he still had a ways to go.
“Kuh, hugh......!”
He looked up at the sky while covered in dirt.
Fall was passing by.
Sand must’ve gotten into his nose and mouth as it wasn’t easy to breathe. Was blood pooling as well? His mouth also tasted salty.
“Gasp, gasp.......”
“Don’t be a weakass; I adjusted my power so it shouldn’t hurt that badly.”
Rosemary filed her nails with the violin string, appearing relaxed without breaking a single sweat.
Vermel got up as soon as he caught his breath. Grip–his hand tightened around the staff. It felt like his bones were screaming, and the muscles of his heart pulsed like a marlin leaping on the deck of a fishing boat.
“Alright, get back into position.”
The duel wasn’t over yet.
“Is that really okay?”
“If something happens to Horde at this rate.......” n𝚘𝚟𝚙𝚞𝚋.𝚌o𝚖
Worried, the mages on guard fiddled with their scrolls but no one thought to fire it.
“What you did just now wasn’t bad, but you can’t fumble your magic on that last timing. If the opponent pulls a feint just like now, you’ll be the one screwed instead. Got it?”
It was because Rosemary was taking it easy on him.
She wasn’t bombarding him with magic, and advised him while matching his pace. Whenever Vermel collapsed, she’d even joke around and give him a break.
However you looked at it, it was giving guidance. The guards had no reason to attack Rosemary.
“Good, back into position and again.”
“Khugh!”
“Slice across the middle, not low. What if the opponent dodges it by jumping? Again!”
“Kuhghhh...!”
“Did you forget the form I just taught you? Make the magic flow like water when you slash, I said. Again!”
“Khakk......!”
“This time wasn’t bad. It was simply lacking the strength. Again.”
No, they might have a reason.
Rosemary beat up Vermel for over two hours; he felt like he’d become the drum he used to play during music class in elementary school.
“Whoo, now that’s better.”
After having wildly played Vermel like a drum until sundown, Rosemary wiped the beaded sweat from her forehead.
“You, what did you just.......”
“Be grateful that a novice like you didn’t die after facing the Demon Army’s guerilla commander-in-chief, because you won’t get this kind of training anywhere else. Kyahahaha!”
His whole body was screaming for mercy, but Vermel got up once more. It was a firm stance.
“Anyway, that’s amazing. Normally you can’t get up after getting beat this much.”
“Because... I trained.”
“Hmm.”
“This is a low price to pay if we can get Aether back to who she was....”
“Is that so.”
For the first time, Rosemary gave a pleased smile, unlike her usual wicked one.
The look in this elf’s eyes... it was the best she’d seen yet.
Thinking that, Rosemary said unconsciously.
“Okay, again.”
