Chapter 29: Lunia Arden (1)
9iKH0oShe stood tall and proud with her tough and imposing physique. Her back was so straight that it looked like she was being supported with a thick stick and her long black hair reached all the way down to her waist.7LsK5
7hCV6The buttons of her jet-black suit were all undone except for the few around her chest, which thus revealed her voluptuous lines, but she gave off a dignified aura that overshadowed it.agQ0Br6
1A2DA heroine.Avt
cSYCVeIt was as if that word had been made solely for her sake.DT2N
rEW– Flop!Gm9Jupl
yxApThe monster slowly crumbled to the ground after the sword pierced through the head of the horse all the way to its rider.DMiGTM
J3yxRyCThe Grade 1 demonic beast, ‘Dullahan’, that had been pushing Alicia to her limits died in the blink of an eye. Even though it was a surprise attack, only someone like Lunia who was at the level of a semi-Unique Grade Knight would be able to defeat such a sensitive monster in one strike.kixU
42zS“U, unni…”AI92y
wns2g1She was the contemporary heroine, Lunia Arden.dJV
DSv8Qk0Her bluish brown eyes, elegant set of facial features as well as her physical characteristics all the way up from her legs – even from a glance, it was easy to spot the similarities between these two sisters.8sbD
RFjU9WNHowever, they gave off a totally different atmosphere. It was as different as a tiger and a rodent.Zvba
W7jaXnUnlike the innocent and warm look on Alicia’s face, Lunia looked so sharp and cold that the chilliness seemed to affect the surrounding air.fWx
raIxfLunia opened her mouth without even hiding her animosity against her younger sister, Alicia.1ycj
Kk8CUxp“That was pathetic. Why did you not fall back after seeing the Dullahan? Why didn’t you scout the enemy beforehand? And most importantly, what was with that miserable attack?”7SBz8S
RxHzJMVShe coerced Alicia with her voice. The coldness of her expression and the contempt in her gaze were so intense that no-one would be able to forget it after receiving it even once.ITl
sEO“S, sorry…”HDd4IIX
x3yTUxG“Stop. The result of your actions are all a part of your responsibility. A few words of apology are not going to be enough. Be aware that your carelessness was what endangered the soldiers who had followed you out of trust.”jKsq
Zj0“Yess…”5Z8m
C6mAlicia shrunk and instinctively lowered her shoulders when the back of Lunia’s sword struck her arm like a whip.DPx
iFWA“Ugh…!”BsY
UTHD“A swordsman of Arden must stand tall at all times.”dF9L
WRcsU“Y, yes…!”VRdgqS
R8m3sCjThey seemed more like a higher-up and a subordinate of the military instead of sisters. In truth, that indeed was the base culture of the Arden household.h4b6jH2
mVOMYcWell, they were actually more like a group of gangsters than the military.Wy8MqS
vwy“But still… to think there’s someone unwilling to help their comrade in distress.”TiK1hK2
GEZof9lLunia turned her sharp glare towards me. She might have noticed that I was watching Alicia while pretending to have my hands full.OTZ
uOlAHowever, she soon turned away from me as if she didn’t want to bother quibbling about it.UlNUP6
iFo5After a while, several female swordsmen wearing suits neatly lined up in front of her.voz
NA5“Captain. We have finished dealing with the nearby demonic beasts.”6Djj8xA
GBh“Shall we chase the ones that are running away?”CWRd
dTRBM7Those swordsmen that followed Lunia Arden around looked like armed gangsters wielding weapons but they were the elites of the Arden dojo.iB3F9
wJHOiJennie the Rapid Sword, Sirin the Duel Wielder, Lena of the Rippling Sword, Mei the Sword of True Darkness, and Milia of the Illusionary Sword.PUIGf
9JWThey were the Five Swords of the Arden family who were each at the level of a Grade 2 Knight. Each and every one of them were either stronger or as strong as Alicia.LDoJ
JHC3p“There is no need to chase after them. We’re going back.”rYiAh
HpwIg6“By your will, Captain.”2yt
hg0N7RThe five swordsmen lowered their heads without raising any questions about Lunia’s command. Then, they gave a comparatively warmer greeting to the intimidated Alicia.NkkHkR
7v7FtKv“It has been a while, young miss.”lzRxVF
McWzeM“H, hello. Sisters…”Q2RY4
lB1eSN– Tap!xbIPQi
DqQo4w2That was when Lunia tapped on the ground with her scabbard as if she wasn’t content with something, as they immediately re-addressed her using a different title.3EJ0
XOqd“Do you have any injuries, Junior Sister?”MH54fC
LCbuC“I, I’m fine. Senior Sister Jennie.”1CXLvD
e4PbU5After making sure they were calling each other using the right title, Lunia turned around. While the security guards were almost done inspecting the nest of the demonic beasts, Alicia fidgeted with her hands before carefully walking up to her.8FMVXr
y1ao81“W, what brought you here?”l91ih
DOZA“That is classified information.”DA7
QOWH2gu“T, then how long do you plan on staying…”Lm7aGf
2Ka3LVV“That is classified information.”raJPp
mWv“…”NAiK9
YWvpR8jTheir conversation was followed with a heavy silence. This was how their conversation always went.MfE9Ot
qzrMl“Of course, I didn’t come to see such a pathetic side of my kindred. It’s a shame I do not have any other choice.”CuGD2z
qZ6yjU“Ughh…”j813v
1evWThis time, Alicia didn’t shrink her shoulders because she knew she would receive a fierce strike with the back of the sword.YGlYv5
jMSzVicAfter turning her back to Alicia, Lunia clomped her way towards me along with a ferocious vigor.jbPlpD
FeRvI“I am the head disciple of the Divine Arden Swordsmanship, the First Captain, Lunia Arden.”1cy
xn7KpPC“…”F35r4q
r8rrhlHmm. Because of her formal explanation of herself, I had to do a matching introduction of myself.Ibqp
ixb“I am the worldly disciple of Eight Trigrams Spearmanship, Korin Lork.”Qu2FD
SIh“…”u0Cxh6
PG4vLunia stared directly into my eyes.g3H
bqO1NYes, I know.nYa0Rf
OvPTpVI knew what she wanted to say but I couldn’t tell her the real identity of my spearmanship.Ieug
xTqQIn the current era, there were only two people apart from me that were using this specific spearmanship. There were only a few people that could notice its true identity just by seeing it, but there might be problems in the future if I talked about the name myself.FL62tv
P0xMO“Don’t worry if you don’t want to talk about it. What is your relationship with our fool?”bj6f
3x5“Umm… I’m her friend.”lbTwZl
zo0M9q“A friend? …… Take this.”n7LYlB
Md6Juz9After slight hesitation, Lunia took something out of her pocket and handed it over to me.s0CX
um2oBtUThe outer packaging had the unique decoration of a bee. I knew what it was since I had been sending a few of them back home because of the letters of my sister.LIBDX
QjlwHoney bomb candies.Bo4OGe
Z3lIts characteristic was the explosive bomb of sugar that showed the extreme limits of sweetness and numbed your tongue.AWq
IRq8f17“…”eW40Qdh
UHed7CtAs expected of sisters, their tastes were exactly the same.eQT
DwI“Let us return.”pnX
mInJDGLunia Arden commanded the security guards as if it was the most natural thing in the world.HRvv
gBLAfkB****aJ0hj
vWih97V“It seems that young miss… I mean Junior Sister has been healthy.”Je0w
yt5ur“It looked like she even gained some weight.”UaM
ervsRvThe Five Swords casually talked about Alicia while following behind Lunia. The reason they were so carefree despite the conversation concerning the one and only competitor of the successor candidate they were loyal to was partially because they knew how upright Lunia Arden was, but there was another reason.jHHECe
cxjlSomeone like Alicia Arden would never be able to contend against Lunia Arden.e8Z
FWX75yEven though the Sword Emperor personally chose Alicia as a successor candidate and gave her the demon-slaying sword on top of that, Alicia had been unable to display herself as a suitable future successor of the Arden household.Pin5
ECT0Ever since ‘that incident’, Alicia Arden grabbed the attention of many people, but at the same time, that caused her to break. The weak-minded girl was not suited for the path of a killing sword.qILyiyL
dznY“Hmph.”b0VHev
NvjRLunia Arden scoffed at her junior sisters that were following from behind. She didn’t feel the need to correct their thoughts because of how pathetic her foolish sister had been.xnKWS
cmFXI9h“In any case, do any of you know about that boy?”8wZDz46
G58uaC“Do you mean that boy called Korin, Captain?”yNo82w
GzXF2Jennie and the other swordsmen of the Five Swords showed doubtful looks on their faces after hearing her question.rQkSrRa
6jnLPFu“That boy was just a Grade 5 Knight though, was he not?”xVT
qmj“Grade 5?”yALh4NR
CKFuJennie replied as the only one who bothered to ask questions about Korin’s identity, but Lunia frowned in response.4gJx
BLgP“That can’t be. Were the grading tests of Merkarva Academy that unreliable?”xqi3U0
zmAXWC“???”Q0W
PuwqLunia knew how that boy had been relaxed despite fighting against a horde of monsters.UhSpx
PSVvpIt looked like he was barely holding on with the rest of the monsters while leaving the Grade 1 demonic beast, Dullahan, to Alicia, but Lunia Arden knew how that couldn’t be any further from the truth.G1fK1ss
XYxKorin’s gaze had been on Alicia from the start to the end, and the group of monsters around him weren’t even able to attract 20% of his attention.yVj
442He wasn’t just a little bit more experienced than others, and that wasn’t something that was achievable through training. Korin had the sensitiveness and a compulsive behavior that could only be polished through actual battles.8yLvB
KOdWiDlThe habits that were formed from extreme situations where it was either ‘kill or be killed’ weren’t easy to remove.ihS
Ovr0Even if someone was to throw a rock at him in the middle of his sleep, he would probably use the same move.WJo
FGj‘And that spearmanship.’mloFBil
yAC0ZCuIt looked simple at a glance but Lunia had practically mastered the Arden swordsmanship and could thus see the destination of that spear. Those spear moves were like the preheating process that was there to let him reach and accomplish something in a higher plane. In that sense, it was similar to the Arden Style’s Domain Severance.1ylUxx
2cq‘Is he looking into the domain?’aV8iWT
hwsfIf he was, then that would mark the appearance of the first Spear Saint in 80 years. There was the request she had gotten from the Academy, so Lunia decided to observe him whenever she had time.PPa
fXI33dIt was a short encounter. Her younger sister was still disappointing, but her friend was quite decent.8o3E7hN
L94vezOIf that boy continued staying next to her sister…M3j
qxI5iA rare smile faintly appeared on Lunia’s lips.joRUl
6XXZKIt was out of expectation that she might be able to see it again this time.35y9
FiJmp****Yq4wk5
RCe2NIMy friend circle has increased massively to the previous iteration.CcPmP5
TeGI usually listened to lectures with Jaeger and Lark but the lunch was random. Sometimes I ate at the cafeteria, and sometimes I ate at the kitchen which was open to the students.j0YPlQe
ZPZvA1That was usually only when Marie brought some fresh ingredients for lunch but quite surprisingly, Yuel also sometimes brought precious mushrooms from the forest.MIagG
u0kv6On days where I had lunch with Yuel, we would go to the library immediately after the meal to start the lecture on the Ogham alphabet.pbsM8W
wMyXShe remembered all the letters but still wasn’t sure with the meaning, interpretations and applications, which was because the woods had been burnt down before she could hear anything proper about them.ZCvwl
wAlPipF“I have a mission. With good pay.”06d9
iafGAnother surprising fact was that Dorron would also come from time to time. Was it from friendship and a sense of camaraderie that was created during the time we fought together? It would be great if that was the case, but it obviously wasn’t for this money worshiper.IdrNxcr
JvucbIn his eyes, it seemed that I was a decent teammate of the same industry. He would sometimes offer doing a mission together whenever there was a difficult mission that paid well.FenSb
kwDMAfter recovering all of his swords, Dorron was back to being one of the top damage dealers among freshmen. He was experienced and saw many things in the world, so working with him was always very comfortable.J1Mr0v
8nPR9e6To be honest, he was very helpful in the last iteration as well.euzkPRk
EI7Ltg0In any case, I realized once again that my relationships had broadened by a lot compared to how tiny it was due to Park Sihu’s disruption.bgSHP
rczsD“Korin. You know, for your mandatory course, they were looking for a helper from the 2nd year students. I attended as the assistant thanks to Professor Josephine’s help, and you know what? That druid girl—”vVWeW
xZrUEspecially because of how people like Marie, who had been impossible to see in the previous iteration, often came to me. I constantly felt pride for saving a girl from the temperamental acts of that stupid Park.b5YDvOf
y3H“Oh right. This is a potato pie. I put minced lamb inside and baked it together. Have some when you’re feeling hungry.”nqtx4
z9LAs expected of someone who was known as the potato-sunbae by the freshmen, Marie always brought a bunch of stuff whenever she came for a visit.qMXyzRE
zkN4Like how grandmas living in the countryside prepared tons of stuff for their grandchildren, Marie always prepared a large amount of food which was enough to feed 3~4 people.LcV2d
hzXmM“It’s too much though…”W4u
Ghu8nPb“Reaally? Umm, should we eat it together then?”z55
EqEwULsI would always say it was too much to eat by myself and Marie would stay back to help me finish the food. These days, I would pretty much always eat dinner with her and thanks to that, I didn’t have to go to the cafeteria at night.16g
1SK“Wait. This lamb. Don’t tell me…”K0L8j
YhWS5oh“Can you tell? It’s a fresh lamb that was butchered just today!”SexMC
RQkSU4“Ohh…”aa7FJ
b2Zj5CjI heard there were less than 20 livestock except for chicken that were being sent to the Academy. Even though Merkarva Academy always gave away food for little to no return, they were still quite eager to reduce the cost by reducing the menus and stuff.cIr
vJyConsidering that, having fresh meat instead of a frozen one was remarkable, but for some reason, it was actually common for Marie to bring fresh meat.dUhL
B2b“Actually, Professor Josephine told me to help with butchering the livestock. I’m helping out so that I can practice controlling their blood and drawing them out clean.”Q1JMdV
TXES“Ohhh…”dDVXw7n
wSGQH1A terrifying scene of Marie snapping the neck of a lamb and extracting its blood appeared in my mind. But in any case, it was true that the best way to learn something was through consistent practices.kRg
l7R“I’ll bring beef next time! They said they’ll be sending three later! Do you like braised ox-tails?”6SmhYEB
YmyfCdHGrip!olvi
R4RI immediately held onto her hands. Senior Marie looked a bit surprised but she didn’t shake my hands off.THoJj1
XxZL“Senior.”yWyESy
Qey7“N… nn?”7bmiLt
IRLT“Please call me anytime. I’ll go wherever you tell me to.”XuOLzQ
ZFne1LxBraised ox-tails!uUhd
m2ZX3n3“Y, your hands…”wvMU0
bu5vC“Sorry?”Sna
9aH“I, I will bring them so can you please… let go for now?”Sb62OVQ
zRomMarie lowered her head and used her other hand to lower the visor of her cap. Her tiny hand twitched inside my hands but I could feel the faint and stern grip.fv6P
6jgwQF1Didn’t she just ask me to let go of her hand?yzGFLEB
h4ah“H, hmm… Your hands are big, aren’t they?”MqxBg
aO5mU“I am a guy after all.”fgg0
QJxm“Mhmm…! They’re very rough, and there are a lot of scratches… I can feel your hard work.”UaaRWxd
kANe0lDespite telling me to let go of her hand, she was observing mine while touching every part of it. Since she was a clever mage herself, she seemed quite intrigued with the hands of a knight.3FbZ
4SdQAH“They’re just like my dad’s hands!”miF
zZL“Your dad’s?”viRSm9T
VuHK“Nn. They’re like the hands of an adult.”4Kizq
fPn2AI was indeed an adult. Marie was sometimes very sharp and on point.0z7J4SV
3gC“Very cool… and mature…”L43fl
BnoVk1That was when the voice of a 2nd year student reached our ears.GDqapj
tj4Mfp“Marie?”TLU6wh
fCkfZaAs soon as Marie heard Isabelle’s voice, she let go of my hands in fright and hopped her way to Isabelle before she could say anything.KN4cU
dlDyik“H, hello Isabelle! Have you had dinner?”NbN
0fZ“Uhh, yeah… by the way…”ylGK2rB
Gl73qo“I didn’t do anything!”rX2U
vdDje“I mean…”n4WRgI
VSV7nON“I didn’t. Do. Anything!”XdA
QNdxx8“…Umm, okay.”sa4kmm
vHuNzh“Bye Korin! See you later!”fXuxCdy
Cn3zD6BHmm. I didn’t know much about kids these days.xpOu
0uWArLike, it had been a long time since I last played with girls. Because of the disruptive actions of Park in the last iteration, I didn’t have any girlfriend in the past 3 years.T2t
xNLMThere were some suggestive atmospheres and relationships but… it’s all because of that stupid Park that I didn’t get to make any girlfriends.jAunv
gtrJZI’m serious.L0TNylI
voLomLThat had to be the case…uVR
cbi7dZJAnyway, Marie would probably reappear out of nowhere tomorrow like always.A7q
RkLteThe next day, I was heading to the cafeteria to have lunch with my friends when an unexpected person stopped me in my tracks.Y5Rh77
91pI1L“Huuik!”5Ujrn
PtUK“U, uaah…”DeojMo
4dZJuGJaeger and Lark shivered like herbivores in front of a carnivore. Their instinct as an organism was telling them to lower themselves before the predator in front of their eyes.zxi1
nNLVSS“Hua Ran?”UHOb
fEhHua Ran with the same chained nun clothes came to me.ToF8ioZ
suX7“What’s up?”17gH6E
Z1sHLol“Your promise.”YmUy
SVvdhd9“Nn?”ncX
ICt3“Meal.”WhE5wS
Faq“…Ah.”haLI
zNzxfIt was about a month ago that we made that promise.RGcQ0z
mxxBack when I was suspicious about Marie’s awakening, I had gone looking for Hua Ran at the special dormitory to ask about Lady Josephine’s whereabouts.MJI
Ez6PlI told her I would buy her a meal as a show of gratitude but I had completely forgotten about it.WUATDt
Hb2J“Hmm…”atXm
1PYI actually didn’t mean it when I said that though…hL8n
kZXkw8“Guess I can’t have lunch with you guys today.”O709i0I
SGaj“Y, yeah.”uKKP
iexCNAV“Hmm… Actually, I think I forgot to do my homework.”MAeZR
Jdr“I can help you!”Kai
OG6inlThe two of them ran away in the blink of an eye. They didn’t do anything wrong to Hua Ran but their fear was justified because her aura alone was already in an overwhelmingly different league.NpwI
yXBSFj“Rice.”uS4Yc
vvp“Hmm… what do you want?”aXaIi
2lz“Rice.”QQYjGlU
oun“Do you want some spicy chicken feet…”Y6Ti
OIz“…”8gC
k9QwJHmm, judging from her reaction, it seemed that I would probably become one with the spicy chicken feet if I tried to feed her that.pfP
qggLJcLLet’s see. Hua Ran looked like a sharp cat… and cats like fish so…jgISa
aCf8Cg“Do you want some mackerels?”OavXd
bJxWL13– Nod.cH86
r1m5w5vGood. It seemed that Hua Ran was fine with fish. In the central streets of the Academy, there were plenty of other restaurants apart from the academy cafeteria. Although most of them were high-class restaurants that were incomparably more expensive than the cafeteria, there were still some normal ones.9kEIw3Z
P25sdb“Aunty! A mackerel set and a roe soup for us please!”IlISZ
4PMSoon came roe soup in a black stone pot and a set meal with grilled mackerel. In addition, there were also 2-people’s-worth of side dishes.XZM
MoeMSm“It’s Eastern style, but it’s a bit different from your place, right? Even apart from the peninsula-style cuisine, there are some oversea-style cuisines here.”z8M7c
EOxJj8q“Oversea-style?”Ihw8If
i5ScgI“You know, places that sell raw fish on rice.”j0NH
JMaZcV“…Are they tasty?”z2K9
sLm3kX“They’re not cost-efficient but they are tasty.”dfc
UEN226“…I want to go.”W2w4gO
WAwDid I have to take her there next time? I guess I had to talk about it with Lady Josephine.1psR
GHfHua Ran put aside the steaming bowl of white rice and was about to pick up the mackerel with her bare hands.9qply4
83XuNjT“Wait.”Ld9EnB
vBA5rme“…”AD9CT
aksom“Are you going to eat that with your bare hands?”l0OIO
SJN“???”f8T8m9
gsb2lpCShe appeared to be asking why not.z12PH
qC6w“The bones are going to be stuck in your throat.”b4bsMWv
mkXkiP“I can eat the bones as well.”FDKw
PwUe“…”G4zNUsA
DBk0H4She probably could, considering how she had the Unbreakable Vajra Body but still, that was not how this dish was supposed to be consumed.pyqA4
BQt9Vg“Let me take the bones out. Wait a bit.”MnqoJi
vwHII used to come to this restaurant quite a lot in the last iteration because both Park and I kept ourselves from feeling homesick with the help of Korean cuisine.NIDPF5X
BuaGDRBy separating the flesh of the fish into two, I separated them into chunks and skilfully removed the back bone. When I was done removing the small and fine bones of the fish and separated the flesh into nice and edible pieces, I saw Hua Ran gulping in front of me.t3jS0A3
e2PUmEr“Let’s dive in.”kFN
XP6jxfHua Ran began eating the mackerel set meal.8l1
ND5SThe grilled mackerel was moist on the inside while the skin had a golden crust and was more than sufficient for a nice meal.ZTsujX
a93LBesides, it was grilled quite nicely and didn’t smell too much like fish. But that didn’t mean you didn’t have to brush your teeth after eating it!c0pr6
IY8In any case, watching her eating all the pieces of deboned mackerel was a very pleasing sight. She was only three years old now so I was worried that she might be picky with some food but that must have been my prejudice…uKVjs
IQg5“Hua Ran.”7YJL1
PLLIdzY“…What?”kug
xVmy5l“Why do I have double the pickles from before?”FSlvxir
EgKGsnL“…”jgw
RHqHKlIShe directly stared at me as if she did nothing wrong. After that, she raised her bowl of shredded radish salad and nonchalantly poured it into my bowl.xrjKiw
ntjbrtYWhat? Why?ZcqVB
wdhIShe replied to my gaze.K3povb8
kHc“I don’t like this.”QndQfZr
6lXAo“…”5N7G
GVeYeVE“I don’t want to eat this.”GbU6
7O12“…”5t6xj0
EzJ2wJG“I can eat this.”xNMvj
zS6xxCBLastly, she picked up my bowl of stir-fried fish cakes. She seemed rather proud with that ‘We’re even now right?’ look on her face.mib
F3xAnyway, that was how I spent my life everyday. On the weekdays, I would listen to lectures and go to the training rooms, and I completed missions to clear the 1st Precept on the weekends.mh9
6ESThe weapon that I had requested from Ferghus was about to be done as well, and it was about time to deal with the Murderer of the City of Fog.VP8y
tcY7ZIt was a bit early, but it was the start of the 2nd Arc.mYFQ9I
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