A day of traveling had passed by on this week-long locomotion. In that time, not a single word was spoken in the wagon Ryuji occupied. He was starting to wonder just what kind of unapproachable aura did he give off? With weary eyes, he looked out at the hills slowing rolling by. They were the same hills he had seen since coming into this world. Since he had never been outside the northern part of Dengal, he was pretty used to seeing breathtaking mountains in the distance. Staring at the ever-evolving landscape definitely made for a pretty easy way to pass the time. The problem was he wasn't actually paying attention to the scenery. A nagging voice in the back of his head wouldn't leave him alone.

'What the hell am I gonna do when we get further in, and it turns into plains as far as the eye can see? ...I'll be screwed.'

He turned around and looked at the source of his dilemma. She was still seeing the sights, although it didn't look like this was new to her. Judging from the high-grade armor, he assumed that she probably traveled across Dengal all the time. Then there was the symbol of Dengal blazoned across her breastplate. He had never seen the brand of the High King on anyone before. All he could assume was that she was someone super important.

The rustling of her mail made him look away immediately. Bashfully he started fiddling around with his blade as if he needed to look like he was doing something else. He took his katana out of its sheathe and inspected it. All along the edge were cracks. Some were hair fractures, but a few others were much more extensive. Holding his blade forward, he saw a warp down its spine. He couldn't remember the last time it had looked so bad. Looking up, he confirmed that she was still gazing out the window.

He chanted quietly as not to disturb her. "Smith."

As Ryuji was a grandmaster of the power class, he could learn just about any low ranking ability given enough time. So he went out of his to learn the skills necessary for basic upkeep on his weapon. He searched his luggage and brought a small hammer he would use as a medium, then set aside a whetstone he would need after he was done. With the tools handled, he began dinking away.

Ryuji, still bored, started having conversations with himself as he slaved away. 'I love the aesthetic and usage of them, but katanas break so easily! I guess it doesn't help that I'm swinging them around like the Hulk...'

While he was working in silence, he could feel the presence of a gaze. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the woman staring at him. She looked intrigued by what he was doing. But being the giant pussy he is, Ryuji pretended like he didn't notice anything and carried on about his business.

'Huh? Why are you staring, lady? Didn't your mother teach you that's rude!? Guess I've been staring a little too, so it's fine.'

He hammered away at the blade and slowly removed the imperfections.

'.........Why is she still staring? Is this that amusing to her? I cannot concentrate with this insufferable suffocating atmosphere hanging over me!................................................................................................... Does she need something?............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................ I swear on my mom that if she doesn't stop, I'm going to make things awkward for everyone here!'

He lifted his face and stopped working. He met her fiery eyes with a determined look like he was about to risk his life.

All he got in response was a raised eyebrow. "?"

Operation 'staredown' didn't work, leaving him back to square one. It was now or never! He would have to resort to his final measure. He couldn't help but gulp at the momentous task that lay before him but he swallowed his fear and marched on.

"Hey, I'm Ryuji! What's your name?"

The woman now looked down and slowly closed her eyes. Ryuji thought that maybe his terrible speaking skills lead her to ignore his existence, but upon looking closer, he could see her doing something. Her lips were moving like she was praying or reciting something in her head, and he couldn't help but notice her clenched hands that seemed to be cheering something on. Then suddenly, her eyes shot open, and she nodded firmly before looking at Ryuji with newfound vigor.

"Uhm...I-I'm Rhea, Rhea Aloisa."

Ryuji couldn't remember the last time he had tried talking to the opposite sex without some kind of work being involved, but even without remembering, he knew it had gone poorly. So in his mind, Ryuji had achieved something akin to getting an A+ in your calculus class. He was so shocked that he didn't notice how nervous she was. All he could think was-

'Wow! Go get 'em, tiger!'

He realized that she was awkwardly looking around, and Ryuji remembered how conversations were supposed to work.

"That's a nice name!-" As he praised her name in a light tone, he could see her shift around nervously like some shy kid who needs to go to the bathroom. From years of being a nervous wreck around people, he could tell that she probably wanted to know his last name since she gave hers but just didn't know how to just ask.

"-Do you want to know mine? Ryuji Koyanagi! Adventurer for hire. What do you do?" Ryuji's voice was stiff, but he didn't seem to notice.

Rhea had a look of pure perplexion as if Ryuji had asked the literal dumbest question ever posed. Then after a few seconds of checking whether or not he was playing a joke on her, she decided that he was being serious.

"You have a really... Uhm... weird name. Are you from North Kevic? Everyone up there has weird names too." She sounded as if she was trying to relate to him in some way but was massively failing.

"Nope, never been."

"Oh..."

Then just as quickly as it came, the conversation had died. Ryuji wanted to kick himself for giving the most boring answer of all time.

"You never did say what you did for a living..." He prayed with all his might that his question would save their dying social interaction.

Thankfully Rhea looked pleased that Ryuji wanted to keep talking. "I'm an adventurer too! I'm also a sanctioned knight of the king." She seemed embarrassed by her titles as she said them with little energy.

"Oh, you're an adventurer? That's a shock. With the phoenix on you like that, I thought you might've been some super important royal guard or something. Thank go- I mean the gods! I would've been way too stressed out if you were somebody that important."

Ryuji closed his eyes and smiled his generic anime MC smile. At that moment, if he had kept his eyes open, he would've seen a flash of worry come across Rhea's face. When he opened the

"Soooooo, what are you traveling down here for?"

"I-I'm going to meet a f-friend." The last part of her sentence was almost inaudible, and she quickly covered it up with her own question. "What about you?"

"I'm going to meet a king."

"A king!?"

Ryuji realized that upon further reflection, a statement like that makes him seem more important than he actually is. Though the god did tell him to say he was a hero, so maybe that thought process wasn't such a far stretch?

"Yep, I'm taking this train to get down to where he is."

"What do you need to see him for?"

"Don't know yet."

"----------------"

Silence filled the wagon as Rhea processed the absurd statement.

"How does that make any sense?"

"Would you believe me if I said a god told me so?" Ryuji leaned forward and talked in a joking manner.

"Pffffft- And you... you just listened?" She slapped her knee, and a metal clunk echoed throughout the wagon. A single tear of joy clung to her eye as she tried her best not to laugh. "I can't tell if you're brave, stupid, or just plain ignorant."

'Is she making fun of me, or is she amused? Please let it be the second one!'

She reached out her hand and placed it in front of Ryuji. "You're an interesting guy! I hope you'll do me the pleasure of continuing this talk later." The brilliance of her shy smile and slight blush sent shivers down his spine and made his hairs stand up. The beautiful eyes, which intimidated him mere minutes ago, softened into a sweet and cheerful gaze.

'THANK GOD!'

Ryuji breathed a sigh of relief before shaking her hand. He felt a sudden giant weight in his chest. It was as if breathing had now become a chore for him. As he realized why he was having heart palpitations, Rhea turned around and stepped out of the wagon. It was only then that Ryuji recognized the caravan had stopped for dinner. He hopped out and quickly got some grub.

He tried to focus on his dinner, but his gaze kept wandering to Rhea. Apparently, everyone else had the same problem as he saw multiple men and women staring at her.

He listened in on rumors as he ate. Something about a saint or something like that. Ryuji didn't consider himself much of a churchgoer, so he stopped paying attention to them and started paying attention to his stomach.

From then on, Rhea and Ryuji talked the days away. Remarkably he had not passed out a single time from the social pressure of having to keep a convo going with a literal goddess of beauty. He figured that a big help was that she was just as nervous as he was. Ryuji had found out in the last few days that Rhea was essentially just a big teddy bear despite her formidable appearance. He was so caught up in his new acquaintance he had forgotten his newly discovered curse. That was until the fourth day of travel came.

//////////////////////////////////////////

"Monster horde!"

"Get the damn guards out here, stat!"

As they sat in the stalled wagon, Ryuji noticed Rhea kept her hand tightly gripped to her blade.

"Shouldn't you just let the guards do it?" Ryuji was having a hard time understanding. The people guarding the wagons were getting paid to do it; there was no reason for them to risk their lives and pay for their services. Rhea didn't seem to think along the same lines as him as she continued to stay on guard. But as the monsters approached, she saw that the guards wouldn't be in trouble. After all, it was just a pack of some goblins. Newbies could take those out.

With her worries gone and the wagon stopped, she sensed an opportunity, and for the first time, went on the offensive.

"You have quite the unique sword. I've never seen anything like it. Can you please, please, please, show me some of your skills? I really want to see how you use this blade!" Her cuteness went up five notches. She was in his face, literally jumping up and down in anticipation.

Ryuji was sure he could see literal stars in her eyes as she asked the question. This was his time to shine. No matter how old and no matter what walk of life they're from, every guy eagerly awaits the day they can show off in front of a cute girl.

"I can't say no if you act so excited to see it, now can I?"

As such, Ryuji accepted with no hesitation.

He walked out of the wagon and positioned himself on the side of the road. Across his way was a tree line. Behind him was Rhea, still bouncing in anticipation.

'God, I thought she was cute already, but it appears she can get even cuter!'

He drew mana in from his internal supply and injected it straight into his blade and his muscles. He entered his stance and prepared his strike.

"Void style: vorpal cut."

By drawing at an intense speed and channeling the power of momentum through mana currents, Ryuji managed to leave a vacuum of space. The void flew in a straight line, and the force of mana traveled through it. In the next moment, the tree directly that was standing some 300 feet away fell over. He didn't need to shout the style, but he felt cooler if he did.

"How about-" Ryuji was just about to truly start showing off when he got brutally interrupted.

"Oh! What was the level of that skill?"

"It was only advanced. The last move of the style is master level though." Ryuji puffed out his chest as he attempted to sound cool.

"Does that mean you're a master swordsman?"

"Uh no. I'm actually Grandmaster."

"Grandmaster! That's super rare! Can I see some Grandmaster skills then!?"

"Uh, I... actually can't do master or grandmaster skills that well. They sort of... break my body."

Her brow creased upon hearing his halfhearted explanation. "Why did you become Grandmaster then?"

"Well, it was my birth class, so I knew it would be easier than any other one, and I've always been obsessed with blades. I'm self-taught besides the basics."

Rhea looked like she wanted to keep quizzing him on the subject, but she quickly remembered something she wanted to do instead. "Please let me see your blade! I wish to try it! Please, please, please?!" With each please, her eager face got closer and closer to his.

"Um, sure." Ryuji caved in and handed her his prized weapon while deciding to stare at the ground. It was only then that a thought hit him.

'How the hell is she planning to do that after just seeing it once? I don't care how good you are; you just can't-' His thoughts were interrupted by the intense flow of mana beside him.

"Vorpal cut."

Ryuji's mouth lay agape, and his hopes and dreams dashed. Any thought of impressing this girl flew away, and so did his fragile masculinity.

Her face quickly turned from deadly serious to cheery as she faced Ryuji smiling. "How did I do?"

Not one, not two, but twelve trees lay on their sides after what can only be described as a shockwave was sent out.

"Fine."

All he could muster was a barely audible response as the winds were taken directly out of his sails. Good thing for Rhea that she barely noticed otherwise she would have had a come apart.

"That skill was super cool! Do you have any other ones you could show me?" Her smile was still just as wide as ever.

"Huh? Uhm... yeah, oh, I know! I'll show you Flash-" For the third time, Ryuji was interrupted. And at this point, he was kinda getting sick of it.

"Dragon!"

All thoughts disappeared. Ryuji immediately started panicking. He had never seen a dragon and thought that, if he never did, he could die a happy man.

"I thought goblins were too cute to be the work of my curse but a goddamn dragon! This is way too unfair!" Ryuji lamented his bad luck out loud, which caused Rhea to look at him with a suspicious glare. Any trace of the awkward cute girl from a moment ago was gone.

"Curse?" Rhea walked forward with her hand on her hilt.

"Watch out! It's coming your way!" The guardsman attempted to warn Rhea of the danger, but she ignored him.

"I knew it was after me! FUUUUCK THAT'S HUGE" A flying lizard the size of three semis could be seen descending towards them. It was a crimson red with flames billowing out its mouth. It was about 1000 feet away at most, but it was gaining fast.

"What did you mean when you said curse!?" She seemed more like a knight now than ever before.

"Don't you think the 5-ton lizard is a little more important right now?!" Ryuji pointed towards the approaching doom that she was ignoring.

"Stop dodging the question! As for that drake, it's already finished."

"Finished? The hell do you-" The lizard was still falling towards the caravan, but now Ryuji could see that it had been cleanly sliced in two.

As it fell, the two halves distanced from each other before crashing into the ground a few hundred feet up the road from the caravan.

"Who are you?" Ryuji asked his question in awe at the strength of this knight.

"I've already told you, now answer my question!"

Ryuji didn't think someone would get him to spill the beans this soon, but he knew he had no other choice. "I apparently bring bad luck onto myself, okay?! Hey, why are you grabbing me?" Rhea held firmly onto his arm and refused to let go.

"We're going...NOW."

"But why?"

With a pained look on her face, Rhea turned away and started stroking the top of her sinister sheathe.

"Because we'll only cause trouble for the others. I'll personally escort you to wherever it is you're going. I'll keep you safe, don't worry." She flashed him a small smile that strangely comforted Ryuji.

"Well, I do feel a little bad, and a good person would definitely go. Really I'll be fine as long as I get to spend more time with you!"

Maybe it was the adrenaline from seeing a dragon, or maybe Ryuji had fried a vital part of his brain, but either way, the formidable crimson knight now had a new layer of crimson on her cheeks.

"O-okay, hold on."

"Hu-aaaaahhhhhhhhhh!"

With a yank and a jump, Ryuji now knew what is like to be a bird soaring through the skies. He deduced that he didn't like it one bit.

"Down! Down! I want down!!!"

Hearing his pleas, Rhea descended and stopped her mad hulk jumping. They landed in an opening that sprawled into a field.

"So I guess we're gonna have to make it there the normal way and just walk, huh?" Rhea sounded extremely disappointed as she looked at the fish on land known as Ryuji.

"I-huff-need-huff-a whew sec."

Ryuji, laying on the ground, realized that thanks to the amazing knight, they didn't have any way to camp. He decided to put that thought on hold as he remembered what she had said before they jumped.

"Hey, I get me, but why do you need to be away from them?"

With a pained look, Rhea faced Ryuji and said, "I wasn't very truthful the other day. I am a knight and an adventurer. but first and foremost, I am the Sword Saint."