Two days later, the continuous and rapid construction of Waise village's orphanage had taken a break as the villagers gathered to bid Kazuya, who was going to leave today, their farewells. Not only had he helped with the improvements to the village chief's project, but he had also uplifted the villagers' spirits by providing them with many new things that they could use to make the village grow.

Not even Zwei and his men were able to get this kind of farewell when they left on the day after they arrived. They had camped near the village and didn't bother with them much after they were able to recover their injured companion.

"Everyone really doesn't need to go this far." Kazuya scratched the back of his head feeling a little embarra.s.sed. "It's not like I don't plan on coming back. I made a promise after all." he glanced at the Valentines. They gave him a nod as they understood what he meant.

"Yay! We'll remember those words Kazu-san!"

"You'll always be welcome in our village!"

"Be careful around the forest, alright?"

While the villagers flocked Kazuya, the males and adventurers went over to Julia who didn't expect to be treated in the same way. She hadn't really talked with people very much so it was a surprise that she was getting the same treatment as Kazuya who had connected with a lot of people.

"Julie-san too! Make sure to bring back Kazu-san!"

"That's right! Do it even if you drag him back!"

"NO! You don't have to come back with him! Come alone!"

The villagers offered to let them have one of the work horses at the village, but Kazuya politely declined their offer. Though it wouldn't be as fast, the st.u.r.dy and horse they rented would be able to carry both of them.

All the equipment from the orcs he had gathered from the forest was already given to Gain and his men to help improve the village's security so there was room for two on the rented mount. Though he placed a few books around the horse for show, most of them were already kept inside his soul ring.

"Take care, everyone! I'll come to visit after I'm done with some personal business." Kazuya waved towards the villagers and mounted the horse behind Julia who had taken the reins.

Feeling a bit embarra.s.sed about being seen riding together, Julia didn't look back and made the horse sprint towards the goblin forest.

"There they go…" Gain smiled and took a glance towards his daughter whose eyes followed their departing figures.

The father and daughter pair had not expected that the two troubled travelers would have such an impact in their village. Before they knew it, they were quite fond of the two who had hidden their ident.i.ties quite well.

Unfortunately, Kazuya and Julie didn't disclose their ident.i.ties to them before they left. Though Gain and Gale were already aware of it, the fact that they knew had made an invisible barrier. They hoped that when they return to fulfill their promise, there would be a chance for them to discuss it.

"Do you really think that they will come back?" Gale asked her father as the rest of the villagers started returning to their work.

"They will… they definitely will." He looked confident as he looked back at his daughter. "At that time, I will be prepared." He felt a little lonely after saying it.

"Prepared for what?" Her father had started to become incoherent once again.

"Nothing…" he shook his head. "More importantly, we don't know when they will return so you better work hard with the present the kid left you." He pointed at the book that had been enchanted with a lock in Gale's hands.

Kazuya, who already knew of Gale's potential hesitated but still handed her a book he had written after browsing through the different books they found. He picked out specific skills and spells that he knew that would be able to help Gale and had written them inside the book that was given to her last night.Find authorized novels in Webnovel，faster updates, better experience，Please click for visiting.

Of course, Kazuya's hesitations towards letting Gale learn these spells were due to his guilt and resentment towards her betrayal towards him. Though it was indeed true that she had suffered along with the children who remained at the orphanage in his first life, Kazuya had always thought that if she had told him, he would have at least tried to do something.

Gale's special situation was probably what caused Kazuya to let Sawada Mahiru off when he had betrayed him during this life's childhood. Otherwise, even if Matsuri was her mother, she wouldn't have been let off.

Though he had been pondering on how to handle the matter, the children he recognized was what made a major impact on his final decision. The fact that the church murdered these innocent orphans, who already had their fair share of sufferings, made him want to tear it apart even more.

"After he has done so much for us, it is a given that I also do my best. I still am technically his teacher on healing arts after all." Gale hugged the book tightly.

They may have already discovered his ident.i.ty, but she still had her own pride. She didn't want to be left behind even though she already understood that she was competing with a hero. It may have been due to grat.i.tude or generosity but she did not want to let Kazuya come back to see that she had not improved as much as he had expected.

"(This girl…)" seeing the determined look on his daughter's face, Gain could only inwardly sigh. Though she was only a 16-year-old girl, she was already considered an adult.

The two turned back to their village after Kazuya and Julia's figures had gone. If nothing unexpected happens, it would take them a little over two days to return back to the capital.

Regardless of everyone else's expectations, Kazuya was in no hurry to get back to the capital. Before they knew it, the Kazuya and Julia pair had spent two days inside the goblin forest.

Of course, it's because there was no reason to. Kazuya had shown an interest in getting used to battling monsters in the forest and began practicing the new spells that he was learning as time slowly pa.s.sed by.

"(This feels weird…)" Julia who had been observing by the sidelines felt awkward every time Kazuya had tried to fight a monster by himself.

Contrary to her expectations, the hero's soul weapon had not made an appearance during their extremely slow travel back to the capital. Kazuya had equipped himself with one of the short blades that the a.s.sa.s.sins used to own.

One would expect that anyone who wielded such a blade would aggressively attack with a weapon that was used by a.s.sa.s.sins. However, contrary to how things should have been fundamentally, Kazuya had taken a more pa.s.sive approach to his battles. He would let the monsters make the first move.

At first, Julia was worried about it. Kazuya already told her that he was not suited for close range battles. This was evident when he showed that he was only able to barely avoid the attacks of the goblins and wolves who rushed towards him after confirming that Julia would not make a move.

There were a lot of times where Julia almost jumped in to save him from danger but every single time, the monsters would suddenly end up being slain instead. This left Julia baffled and bothered so she paid more attention.

"(What is happening!?)" she couldn't help but question what was happening as she witnessed it happen again.

It was a given that Kazuya would have little improvements over these kinds of practices because what Kazuya needed the most if he intended to learn to battle in close range was improving his own physical condition first. Julia didn't mention anything and waited to be asked but from what was happening in front of her, she might not get that chance.

"(This guy is definitely weird!)" totally forgetting about the time it was taking them to return to the capital, Julia's attention was solely focused on solving this mystery.

She thought that maybe this was the secret that made Kazuya special compared to the people of Edea. Heroes over the span of history had always had something that made them special once they had crossed over to their world. The last hero specifically was almost unmatched when it came to mana control and eventually became the only hero that had entered the ranks of the greatest mages in their history.

The forest was full of resources, they didn't have to worry about expending much of the rations they received at the village. With Kazuya fighting the monsters they encountered, Julia was responsible for making camp and other miscellaneous tasks except for cooking.

"A woman who remotely doesn't know how to make a simple meal… Even in my world, I have never met someone like that." Kazuya shook his head sideways in disappointment at Julia's first try at making a meal.

"Shut up! I can save as many rations as I want. Though they don't taste like much, one set can last me for as long as a month if I wanted to!"

"I will teach you. You are my subordinate and it is my responsibility to make sure that you have the necessary skills. It would end up being my fault if you end up being poisoned or suffer from a disease because of starvation." Kazuya began to lecture her about simple cooking and seasoning as he made their meal for the night.

"Since I'm already practicing while we're taking our time, might as well have you learn new things as well." Kazuya handed over the spices and instructed her. "I will ask the kitchen staff at the duke's place to instruct you once we get back."

"Hey, tell me, how are you doing that thing with the monsters where they end up getting slain by you after they attack so intensely." She knew that she wouldn't be able to reject that request even if she wanted to and just changed the subject.

"Oh?" Kazuya looked at her with interest. "What do you think I'm doing?" as he was practicing, he had forgotten that Julia was an experienced knight so her input could be useful.

"I don't know… If I were to guess, I think you are making use of your excellent sight to counter at unexpected moments to make the blows that hit fatally." She glanced at his expression to see if she had gotten something right.

To her disappointment, Kazuya's neutral expression didn't show any signs of moving. She silently cursed him in her mind as this familiar face had taken over once they left the village. There was no longer any sign of the kind hero who played and spoiled children. What was in front of her was this cold young man who slaughtered random monsters for practice.

"I see… that is an interesting point of view." He crossed his arms. "Your a.n.a.lysis is not entirely wrong but, you are not right either.

"What do you mean? Was it something that you learned from the book you have been reading intently whenever we take breaks?" she glanced at the book that was resting on Kazuya's sleeping bag.

"You mean this?" Kazuya picked it up. "This is a book about healing and support spells. Most of the spells I wrote down for Gale to learn was taken from this book." He explained.

"Are you… going to focus on support magics?" she reluctantly asked.

"I'm not sure. I have never had the luxury of having so much mana under my control back on my world." Kazuya didn't mind answering such a question. "Besides, this magic is convenient. I need to get used to attacks because if I were against another party, I would set my sights and target someone in my position to make sure that the enemies would be eradicated swiftly."

Kazuya's statement made Julia feel a cold chill. Her intuition about how Kazuya learning healing magic was right on the money. This was one of the scariest things for someone like him to learn. It both suited him and didn't at the same time.

"At least, with me learning these skills, the probability of my subordinates dying in my presence will greatly lower." He smiled.

Natsu may have been an excellent magician but his skill set was mostly geared towards destruction magic. Though he knew healing magic, it was only a little better than Kazuya and Tsuna who learned the basics for self-recovery during their tenure as heroes.

Lailah was the same. Though Elves were known as a magical race, the high elf's magic was mostly cla.s.sified as spirit magic that helped her with her archery and nature.

Therefore, Kazuya had lacked experience in both healing and support arts. What he was taught and displayed at Waise village was something that he had already learned. His acting and lack of practice of using healing magic didn't make the apprentice healer Gale doubt him but Kazuya knew himself that these skills were not as polished as the other ones in his a.r.s.enal.

"Don't worry, once I've learned all of these. It is a guarantee that you will not be allowed to die unless I say so."

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