“No magic, no aura. We will spar using only swords techniques.”

Melka is not confident about defeating Lekas if it was an all-out fight, but if it is only swords, then, she can surely defeat him. She has to, in order to fulfil her own wish.

“Okay.”

Melka smiles brightly then takes her sword and goes out. Lekas may be strong but he is a disabled with a missing arm. There is no way he can’t use a sword as properly as her who trained almost her whole life.

***

Outside the hut, Melka is standing on a tree’s trunk, contemplating the moon shining and the stars. Soon, when she will win this fight and go to Guthenberg. She would join those stars, the souls of the departed watching over the living. Lekas comes out some time after her, followed by Seraphin who has a seriously worried look on her face. Lekas has no sword in hand.

“From the look of it, your wife is worried about you. You should listen to her, don’t you think?”

“No, mistress, it is not-”

“It is alright. Love can’t be compared to anything else. I was only your teacher and nothing more.”

Melka comes down from the tree’s trunk and stands five or six meters away from Lekas.

“You have no swords? I said no magic.”

“I know.” Lekas looks at Seraphin who then hands him her sword still sheathed.

“Her sword won’t hold against me, you know?”

“I won’t use her sword.” Lekas raises her sheathed sword in the air, taking a stance. He is going to fight her, a master swordsman, with a sheathed sword.

“You are mocking me, then.”

“Not at all, don’t worry.”

“So be it then.”

Melka cannot guess the expression behind the mask of the stupid man who is facing her with a sheathed sword but she knows one thing.

‘You will regret it.’

Melka unsheathes her sword and it starts glowing red. She pours her aura and magic in it as much as she could, giving the sword a bigger look than it actually is. She herself has already forgotten the rules she set for the duel. Then the aura around the sword starts spinning, like a hurricane, it is spinning around her sword, ready to tear everything it would encounter apart.

‘Good.’ Melka then looks at Lekas and her eyes almost come out of their sockets. The sheathed sword is completely engulfed in a purple aura. Moreover, the quality of the aura is superior to her own. How and why?

“A-another master…You are a master swordsman as well?!!”

Melka almost loses her composure as she jumps to Lekas. If he is really a master swordsman, then she has to defeat him before he could properly use it. The more refined your aura is, the more time it is required to use it. At least, that’s what Melka thought.

“Absolute dominance!!”

That is Melka’s ultimate technique she hadn’t shown to Seraphin. At first glance, it is a simple thrust attack with flaws everywhere, but with her aura deployed like a spider’s net, you would get hit no matter where you try to move as you avoid it, because her aura would bring you back to the path of her sword. Truly an absolute dominance over the enemy.

“…First strike: heaven to earth.” Melka didn’t hear the first part of Lekas’s sentence, but the next moment, everything becomes white. The night itself disappears for a moment as Lekas’s sword falls down. Suppressing Melka’s aura, devastating the whole place in front of him. Melka gets washed away by the attack like an ant carried by the wind.

As she lands ten meters far or so. Her trembling arms cannot hold her sword or protect her. She doesn’t even try to stand up, it is no use in front of such strength. From the dirt cloud, a figure appears in front of her.

“So, what do you say?”

“You are one hell of a bully, you know that?”

A hand appears from the cloud and when Melka takes it, a whirlwind appears, dissipating the cloud. Lekas is standing in front of her, holding her hand. He has a somehow majestic presence right now, almost…

‘Almost like an emperor.’

As she stands up, Melka sees Seraphin approaching.

“Mistress, please don’t leave. I still wish to learn from you.” Seraphin bows deeply to her master. Melka’s eyes turn red for a moment and become wet, but she manages to swallow her tears and places her hands on the bowed head of Seraphin.

“You better not give up midway, then.”

Seraphin raises her head back, with a huge smile on her face.

“Yes, mistress!!”

***

The next day, Melka wakes up with a slight headache, most likely the result of hitting her head during the fight. She goes out of her bed and sees Lekas and Seraphin sleeping while cuddling in a sheet beside the fireplace.

‘It must be good to have a lover.’

Melka isn't really jealous of the two lovebirds. But as somebody who never had a lover due to her life being in danger for so long, she did wonder how it would feel to love and be loved.

Lekas and Seraphin wake up one hour after her. They find her outside, swinging her sword diligently.

Sweesh! Sweesh!

“I see you are in a good mood.” The sounds made by her sword as she swings it make Lekas smile.

“Oh… can you know that?”

How can Lekas know whether or not she is in a good mood or not? They don’t even know each other.

“Your sword is singing.”

“What?”

Singing? How could a sword sing? Melka thought Lekas is a bit crazy and doesn’t bother answering, resuming her training. In the afternoon, they leave her and go to the Guthenberg.

“Seraphin!!!” Hithindil comes running after seeing her daughter at the gate, he takes her in his arms and lifts her up like she is a little child. Though she is as tall as him now.

“Dad, you are embarrassing me!”

Seraphin tries to shake him off but can’t. The strength of the arms which have trained for three years, hammering times and again, is not to be underestimated. Hithindil looks younger, for an old man of fifty-seven years old, he looks like he is still in his forty. Working with intense passion and resolve apparently has a very good effect on his body.

After a huge hug, he finally puts down his daughter and they all go inside the smithy.

Hithindil and Seraphin talk about everything that happened to each other.

“And then, guess what he said, ‘not good’. Can you believe it?!”

“No way!”

“Right?!”

Before anyone noticed, night has already fallen.

“Father-in-law, we have decided to go to Licol academy.”

“Oh? Why? you won’t stay here?”

“No, I want your daughter to become stronger. And I think that is the best place to do that.”

“I see. Well, if you both want to, I can’t really say anything. But before you go,” Hithindil takes out two gold rings shaped like an eagle’s claw. Each of them holds an amethyst with a vivid purple color.

“I didn’t get to give you any wedding present so I should at least get you your rings, right?”

Hithindil takes both of her hands and puts each ring on their ring fingers.

“May you be happy and have a long life.”

“Oh, daddy!”

Seraphin cannot help it and hugs her father. Tears are profusely falling from her eyes.

“Well, it’s not like we won’t see each other again, you know.”

Lekas thinks he has to say something since they are acting like it is the last time they will see each other.

“Ah, yes, also…” Lekas opens the black hole and brings out a huge bone, a weird black and grey rock, and finally, ten beautiful belgian scales.

“Wow!!”

“Wha!! Where did you find such-”

Lekas simply puts his index finger on his mouth as Seraphin and Hithindil start to make noise about the secret and precious remains of Leviathan he brought out.

“Sheesh, it’s a secret, so please, don’t talk about it too much. I want you to craft us armors and weapons with those.”

“Oh, I will. Don’t worry. I surely will.” Hithindil is looking at the materials he just received with envy and determination. His eyes are practically burning.

“You should take your time crafting them. We are not in a hurry.”

“Okay, okay.” Hithindil is already in a hurry to start crafting from the materials, he is not even listening to Lekas as he enters the smithy with the scales.

“I don’t think I ever saw him like that.”

“It’s normal, he wants to make the best for you.”

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

Lekas and Seraphin leave the smithy and Hithindil. It is time to go on a new journey.