62

As Duke Cronos instructed, James Cronos immediately connected the magic communication with mage Aldebaran to elaborate on the battle between Count Perkins’ southern Ranger Unit and the party of the man who had taken the Dragon Heart. After communicating with Aldebaran, James told Commander Richard’s deputy, Ron.

“I’ll go after the party now with the northern unit. Please pick up the Rangers who can join the chase and follow us after you’ve sorted out the situation here.”

***************

For the last week, Id’s party repeated the same routine; advancing to the south about fifty kilometers a day and training swordsmanship and manna in the evenings, having found a suitable cave or other places to camp before sunset. As they entered the border area between the Icarus Empire and the Tartaria Kingdom, having passed the border area between the Icarus Empire and the Ur Kingdom, the mountain terrain became rougher. Id sometimes led his party to a ridge and sometimes to a valley. A week after the battle with Count Perkin’s southern Ranger Unit, they moved along a sheer cliff. The ridge, which was covered with rocks, was pretty spacious, but it was so high that you could not see the bottom when you stood on the cliff and looked down. At around four p.m., the group stopped the day’s trip long before sunset. Id, who found a huge groove in a rock, went down into it and examined the ground condition. The height from the top of the rock to the bottom of the groove was about five meters, and the ground in it was relatively flat, which seemed a good place to spend the night. The oval rock groove had enough space for five people to camp. As Id sent a signal, his friends also came down to the bottom.

“I think we’ve moved enough today, so let’s stay here tonight. I expect all of you to focus more on manna training today. I believe the manna saturation here is higher than in other places. How do you feel, Selena?”

“You’re right. This is a much better place to train manna than a cave.”

It was still too early for dinner, so the party put down their luggage and prepared for manna training. Spica, who spread a piece of leather on the ground in one corner, was the first to start the manna circulation. She was more eager to train manna than anyone else. Three days after learning Id’s method of manna circulation, she had succeeded in creating a manna hall in her lower abdomen. It was not surprising that Spica, who had a Dragon Heart though now in a virtual space, made a manna hall in a short period. Spica’s manna hall was still smaller than a walnut, but she was rejoiced at her achievement and engrossed in the manna circulation. As Lara and Selena sat next to her to prepare for their manna circulation, Sasha suggested Id.

“Let’s spar before manna training. The paths of my sword’s movement have changed a little since I made my manna hall, but I haven’t adapted to the new changes yet.”

“All right. Let’s study the changes together.”

Id and Sasha went to the other side from Spica and started sparring. Instead of starting their manna circulation, Lara and Selena watched the match between them. The movement of the two Aura Blades, which had been moving slowly at first, became faster and faster over time. The footwork of Id and Sasha have also accelerated. Later, it became difficult to recognize their movements clearly, and only the silvery sounds of the two Aura Blades hitting each other resonated. The aura which covered Sasha’s blade shone brighter blue than before. Lara stared at their confrontation blankly. She had confidence in her talents and thought she would be able to catch up with Sasha’s swordsmanship sooner or later. However, watching the match between Sasha and Id, she realized that the gap between Sasha and herself was rather widening recently.

Sasha took a few steps back after wielding his Aura Blade eighteen times consecutively, using the confidential sword skills of the Adelian family. Sheathing his sword, Sasha said to Id.

“I thought I’ve caught up with you a little since my sword skills improved recently, but I think I thought wrong. Are you improving faster than I am, or was I not aware that the difference in sword skills between us was originally bigger than I thought?”

Id approached Sasha and tapped him on the shoulder a few times.

“I believe you’ll be an owner of Aura Beam one day.”

Sasha asked Id with a surprised look.

“Do you really think that’s possible? I still believe only those trained in a unique method developed by the Mudria Wizard Tower can acquire an Aura Beam. Of course, you’re an exception. But you were born with an affinity to manna at the level of a dragon or an elf. I don’t think your case can apply to me.”

Id replied to Sasha with a big smile.

“When I told you that you could create a manna hall, you said something similar to what you just told me now. But you made it, didn’t you? It may take a long time, but I’m sure you can acquire an Aura Beam. William Cronos had to spend almost thirty years in the Mudria Wizard Tower to achieve an Aura Beam. I don’t think you’ll need that much time to get it. I think you can become an Aura Beam Owner sooner than expected if you continue to train with patience and confidence. I hope you inquire into the State of Harmony that Spica and I explained while training manna. You’ll become an Aura Beam Owner through a different route from mine, but we’ll end up in the same place. Your talent for swordsmanship is as good as mine. Try to create your own swordsmanship by refining what you learned from our master.”

Although Sasha could not agree with Id’s opinion that his talent for swordsmanship was as good as Id’s, he did not say it. It was good that he had a new goal regardless of whether it would be possible or not. Sasha thought he was destined to live as a swordsman anyway through his entire life.

Spica stopped the manna circulation at the sound of Id and Sasha sparring and watched them. After their sparring, Spica asked Lara, sitting next to her.

“Can you keep up with the movements of their swords with your eyes?”

Lara answered, shaking her head.

“I don’t think Sasha’s sword was that fast, but after his manna hall was created, his sword seems to have become extremely fast. I can’t follow its movements with my eyes.”

“I feel better that I’m not the only one who doesn’t follow their swords’ movements. I don’t know whether it’s alright for a dragon’s hatchling to feel this much inferiority to humans.”

Lara’s look was ridiculously distorted.

“If you say so, what should I, who feels inferior to you, do?”

Spica’s appearance was different from Lara’s since it was polymorphic based on Id’s, but the facial expressions of the two girls at the time looked alike. Spica asked with a frown.

“Do you feel inferior to me? Why?”

“You made a manna hall just a few days after you learned Id’s method of manna circulation.”

Lara, who had been confident in her affinity to manna and talent for swordsmanship, was pretty intimidated as Sasha and Spica had recently created their manna halls one after the other. Besides, Sasha’s swordsmanship improved noticeably. Selena interrupted the conversation between the two girls.

“Sasha’s sword is more than twice as fast as before, and his Aura Blade was immensely strengthened. The operation of his swordsmanship has become more sophisticated, and the movements of his blade more accurate. I think Sasha’s swordsmanship has entered an entirely different stage. A stereotype framework has constrained his swordsmanship so far, but now his sword moves smoothly and freely.”

Lara questioned Selena.

“Do you see all of their swords’ movements?”

Selena answered Lara’s question in a monotonous tone without any change of expression.

“Elves have good eyesight. That is why many elves shoot bows well. I don’t think you need to feel inferior to Sasha or Spica at all. It may be natural that Sasha’s swordsmanship is now rapidly evolving. From his early ages, he learned all orthodox swordsmanship from Andrew Adelian, who was one of the best swordsmen in the Icarus Empire, and he has been carrying out manna circulation steadily for the past several years. His efforts are now paying off as he has been spending more time in manna circulation recently in the manna-rich Polermone Mountains and building up his physical strength, running fast every day under heavy burdens in rugged mountainous terrain. Your manna affinity is much higher than Sasha’s, and your innate talent for swordsmanship is never worse than Sasha’s. Sooner or later, your sword skills will also improve rapidly.”

Though Selena spoke indifferently and calmly, her comments were a bit of comfort to Lara. Selena thought Lara would not be able to catch up with Sasha in the field of physical strength no matter how hard she made efforts, but she did not feel it necessary to tell Lara about that.