Five People, and (2)

“Ugh?!”

“Eu Ugh!”

Sneaking away stealthily from his position, the thug approached Riley when suddenly a sword came out of nowhere. He shrugged his shoulders and shook his head.

“What, what is this?”

BANG!

The tired and breathless thug saw a sword slamming into the sand. When they turned their head, they saw Sera, who was completely immersed in battle.

“That, that b.i.t.c.h!”

The sword that she threw away had somehow managed to graze her face. The thug, who were already tired, changed their facial expressions and began to move louder and faster.

“Let’s take a hostage! I will give the signal!”

Blocking the stream of weapons that were flying towards her, Sera saw the sight of the thug approaching Riley and his a.s.sociates, and bit her lip.

The, the accuracy rate…..

This was the first time that she had met someone who was worthy of being her opponent, hence the reason she bit her lip.

“Just like that……”

“…… the sword?”

Nearby were Nainiae and Nara, who were watching her at Riley’s request. Unlike Sera who was biting her lip out of regret, Nainiae and Nara were astounded and surprised by Sera’s att.i.tude in the field, having absurd expressions on their faces.

“Master, Young Master….. That is……”

Slightly embarra.s.sed, Nara called out to Riley, who was quietly watching Sera fight. He smiled gently and muttered.

“……. This is a pa.s.sing score.”

Just a while back, Nara witnessed the girl throwing the sword and she was more startled and disturbed than Nainiae.

Sword.

It was a tough action to throw the sword and hit the desired goal, and she knew how hard it was to accomplish.

“Miss Sera… when did she learn how to use a sword? I don’t think so, no way…. she’s never been to the mansion……”

She too, could a.s.sert that Riley had practiced with his sword in the magical cave of Endal.

Unlike a dagger, a sword was lengthy and difficult to hit a target with…I was barely able to hit the target even after imitating it by increasing the hit rate with the help of a magic spell.

Almost hit it.

In the end I did not… yet it wasn’t a problem.

Only once?

“Look at that. You can do it.”

Showing both her swords, Sera was praised and at last Riley decided to join the action. He picked up a sword that was attached to his waist.

[Sera. I think you are a sensible person with a sword. Tell me which part you don’t understand.]

After suddenly hearing Riley’s voice in her head, Sera who was surrounded by the thug raised her eyebrow, waiting for a sign.

“… Young Master?”

Sera peeped into the gap that was present between the thug and saw Riley warning her.

[The sand is about to rise, so take a big step back when I signal you.]

“….?”

[Okay?]

He drew his sword, according to his premonition and his opinion of the sand. Sera took a stance without the three people near him noticing it.

…. That’s it!

Last spring, Nainiae saw Riley pierce through the heart of Astro. Now looking at Riley taking the same posture, her heart started beating at an uncontrollable rate.

“The s.h.i.+eld, will it hit?”

“No, it won’t do much.”

Nainiae’s question of whether the s.h.i.+eld would be effective against the shock was met with Riley’s response that it wasn’t necessary.

“….. Intake.”

Riley waved his hands in a brief movement.

“These b.a.s.t.a.r.ds will freeze…”

After disarming Sera, the thug who started to approach Riley and his companions suddenly started to freeze. Riley took a breath.

“……”

Holding the sword in his hand, they witnessed Riley swing the word, yet it vanished immediately like a mirage.

One.

In the split second when the thug took a breath, a great gust of wind came at the back of the thug, making them shriek.

“Keuk?!”

At this, the thug were surprised as they were unaware of the reason for it, and Priesia, who didn’t know what was happening, let out a loud scream.

“….. Ugh!!”

From the place where the sword was thrown a sound ‘Bang!’ was heard. Then, Riley and his companions were hit by a large sand wave.

“Oh?”

The gust of wind was lighter than he expected, and Riley had a grim expression on his face after looking at the sand particles that completely filled his vision

Like this, Sera will be able clear up her surroundings.

Riley was beyond worried and decided to use time magic to help them out. On the other side the sand wave that had been speedily surging over slowed down noticeably as Nainiae stared at it.

“Be prepared for what’s going to come.”

He tested the s.h.i.+eld by knocking on the opaque membrane of sand, banging hard. Nainiae concealed herself with a momentary move.

“… Oh! AaaaarrggggH!”

Nainiae embraced Sera in her arms as she came back.

“Miss Sera, are you alright?”

“Nai, Nainiae?”

Sera who suddenly noticed that she was still in the arms of Nainiae, looked at Riley and took a deep breath after seeing him realize that she was alive.

“Dead… I thought I was going to die.”

Riley’s dungeon sword dashed out and wounded his foot; however if it had been thrown hard enough, the shockwave would be so strong that a person would be blown around like a bomb. When she leaped back, the image of a new Sera rising from the ground came to his mind.

“Ha Ha Haa….”

In front of Riley until just a while ago was Nara, muttering to herself as she searched for the vanity that had disappeared somewhere due to the sword.

“Young Master, What did you do?”

“What I did? I pushed those troublesome guys out.”

“Wow, monster…..”

In order for Sera to withdraw immediately from being encircled by the thug, I scattered them up with a strike from my sword and this explains how Riley’s foot was hurt in the process.

“Monster, what…..”

“You are a monster! Is Young Master even human?”

He appeared confused at Nara’s words, and Nara looked at Riley whose expression remained unchanged.

“You are really a monster, right?”

“I’m human. Really a human.”

Standing in front of Nara, Priesia immediately changed the topic by asking the companions,

“No one’s tired…. right?”

The girl who was blown by the sandy wind from the east dusted her white hat and Nara shrugged her shoulders and answered.

“No one.”

“It’s, it’s a relief.”

At this response, Priesia took a breath of relief. Nara scratched her hair thinking that the previous wind would have swept away the thieves.

‘I have no idea what happened to those guys.’

Scratching her heard, Nara moved back not knowing that Sera was approaching her.

“Excuse me, Teacher…. I’m injured.”

“Ah. Is that so? I’ll treat you right away. Where are you hurt?”

“It’s my heart.”

“Hmm?”

“My heart…. seems to be injured. I was too surprised a few moments back.”

“…….”

Joke cla.s.s, a person with a serious face was ‘Joke!’ing. Priesia burst into laughter and almost immediately shrugged her shoulders, putting up a blank expression on her face.

“I’m sorry. That field is not my specialty.”

“Oh.”

“Hahaha. It seemed like my heart was hurt too, but it is fine now.”

Since the mess had been cleared, they took a breath while Riley looked at the four people who still had traces of sand on them and said,

“……Let’s get back to the main topic.”

At Riley’s words, Nainiae who was conversing with Sera and Priesia nodded her head.

“Then…….”

Nainiae created a teleportation portal with a good mana source in order to maintain mana efficiency during transport, even when it was to be carried through five people. She spoke while her arms shook.

“Please take a deep breath, everyone.”

Nainiae warned everyone to take a deep breath before pa.s.sing through the portal, because if not, their stomachs would turn upside down. Once the preparations were complete, she looked at Riley.

“The preparations are done.”

“Let’s move quickly.”

They were worried about Abyss and Andal who had remained in Ansyrium. Without further delay, Riley enter the portal from a side, and as soon as he put on foot in the portal he spoke.

“….. to Romella Village.”

Before entering the portal, only three of them had the idea of their destination, while the remaining members were wondering what they were going to face.

“No way……..”

“Ian…. Sir? It is Mr. Ian?”

Last winter…. In Romella Village, Nara, Priesia and Mr. Ian solved a major event for the monsters who were muttering his name when Nainiae opened her mouth and said,

“Please enter first.”

The dimension portal that she created a while back connected them to Romella Village. When the three people were look at her for an explanation, Nainiae s.h.i.+fted her gaze and started to sweat.

“Nainiae, it is Mr. Ian, right?”

“Has it been decided that Mr. Ian is going to be the last, sixth member?”

“Wait a minute…. I saw, I saw it in the newspaper that Mr. Ian was in Romella Village! Why didn’t he return to the mansion?”

Along with Nera and Priesia, Sera also questioned her but Nainiae turned her gaze to the side and pretended not to know.

*     *     *

“Uh! Every time we go through Nainiae’s portal….. Miss Priesia are you feeling alright?”

“Me? Do you think I’m alright?”

“Miss Sera’s stomach seems to be weak. I’m having a lot of fun. Is this how it is supposed to feel, like flying around and around in the sky?”

Riley turned, looking at the people who were behind him and at the messy town and woods of Romella.

“You two were here the last time, isn’t it?”

At Riley’s question, Nara and Persia who were conversing with Sera nodded their heads and answered him.

“It was not messy. I tried to stop in the forest, but the monsters came to one side of the village…. The big one especially was rus.h.i.+ng towards the buildings.”

Wielding the sword without any hesitation, Nara and Priesia took a deep breath as they remembered the day they fought the Holy Spirit all day long. They were through with ‘moments like that.’

“As a result, all the members united and there were no casualties. But Priesia was the biggest saint.”

If she had had no divine power then the number of casualties would have increased during the outbreak, and Nara’s absence would’ve added hundreds more casualties.

“Miss Nara made the right judgment to stop the tragedy. And was it Miss Nara who persuaded the people who were in a turmoil?…. The force… I was smiling because it was not appropriate for some reason.”

Nara scratched her head due to Priesia overly praising her for what she did and she started being praised by the people for her excellent work.

“I am more active than I look. It is said that she can be compared to young master Riley. It cannot be seen, but it is a fact that she showed dedication.”

Listening to the conversation, Sera whispered to Nainiae.

“Miss Inaril? What is this about her being skilled enough to be compared with Young Master Riley?”

Feeling uneasy on how to answer, Nainiae simply responded, “Last winter.”

“Ah, That… last winter……..”

Nainiae explained the story briefly, and after listening to the incident, Sera stared grimly at Riley.

“……..”

“….. What are you looking at?”

“Nothing! Nothing at all.”

Riley looked towards Nainiae to ask why Sera suddenly turned, and with the sound ‘huh’ began looking at him.

“What happened?”

“Her heart is broken after hearing about what happened to you last winter.”

“…… Oh.”

Riley looked at Sera who seemed to know what happened and moved towards her to let her know that he was feeling better.

“Though Miss Inaril is Miss Inaril, it is amazing that she was comparable to Young Master Riley.”

“I’m Miss Inaril’s pupil.”

Riley started to walk from the woods to the town of Romella. The two people in front of Sera broke her line of thought by starting a conversation with her.

“Just, just now you heard the story of Young Master Riley?”

“Miss Sera, calm down. I will explain it to you.”

Sera didn’t know what happened in the Romella Village, so Nainiae who was in front of her started to tell her the story of what happened there.

“….. Bring me a board!”

“There aren’t enough nails here! Get me some more!”

To avoid any confusion that might arise, Riley went into the forest and checked from near the entrance of Romella, and looked at Nara and Priesia who were behind him.

“There isn’t much, just a few shattered buildings?”