Ch 134: Don’t make me feel guiltier than I already am!

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'Taking her in my arms, I removed the lint from her eye.'

'Rest in peace, Alessia.'

'Emilia: "..."'

'- Don't make me feel guiltier than I already am!'

'"Ahh. Why are you tugging at my ears, mother?"'

'"Haa..." Sighing mother walks over to Alessia and tidies her hair. "You won the lottery by meeting such a woman, Emir. She has brilliant talent in the sword. You must take good care of her."'

'Gone is that mocking expression she gave her while they were fighting. Now she only has a warm look on her face.'

'As I caress Alessia’s cheeks softly, she wakes up and looks at my mother with innocent eyes.'

'It's true that Delia is very adorable when half asleep, but Alessia is no slouch either.'

'"You woke up completely?"'

'"Yes."'

'"Then... Congratulations, you've learned everything we could give you. Now it's up to you to keep training to create your own style."'

'All the training was not to make an exact copy of my parents' sword style, but to improve her experience in combat.'

'In a battle, so many events can occur. So, you must learn to use a battle instinct. One that allows you to react as the situation requires.'

'For that reason, although it is annoying to accept all the paranormal events that happen when fighting against my parents, they are extremely useful in the long run.'

'Of course, that's not to say that she hasn't learned new moves. I'm sure Alessia's repertoire must have increased a lot while I wasn't around.'

'"Thank you, mother-in-law."'

'"You're welcome. With what you learned here, you have enough tools to beat my son if he misbehaves!'''

'Hey, don't teach her bad manners.'

'"Mn!"'

'"As a celebration, let's have lunch."'

'With my mother's words, we all headed to the dining room. And there was my father serving the plates with the food!'

'Emir: "..."'

'"Father... Don't you know that learning how to cook increases your chances of netorare by 30%?'"

'"Your mother cooked, and I'm just serving"'

'"Wonderful move.'"

'We all sat down at the table and began to eat. Both my father and mother kept congratulating Alessia on getting through the training that took their silly son an entire childhood to overcome.'

'You can't blame me! As a child I was so innocent I didn't even touch the user interface. On the contrary, Alessia is riddled with cheats and tricks in her status. You can't compare that cheater to a child who only had 1 point in luck!'

'Still, I can't deny that I'm proud of her too. I'm just mad at how dumb I was as a kid. If only I had controlled the UI a little. My childhood would have been so much more comfortable!'

'"Now that Alessia is allowed to go out, what do you plan to do?"'

'Just after finishing the meal, my father asks that question. The atmosphere quickly ceased to be lively, and silence along with seriousness flooded the surroundings.'

'"I want to accompany master-.... Emir to the war" Alessia said.'

'Did she say my name? Did they have a conversation while I wasn't present?'

'Well, it doesn't really matter. Someday, I'll release her anyway. But, before that, she and Delia have to get along well. That's a critical condition!'

'"Do you agree with this Emir?"'

'"Yes, we have talked about this before."'

'"I understand. If you have already made your decision, then we won't interfere. But you must be careful. Wars are full of old foxes. If you act carelessly without knowing it, you will be being the chess piece of one of them."'

'After my father's words, my mother also added a few more warnings until they were both satisfied.'

'In the sight of a third party, Alessia and I look like siblings being warned by their parents before going to a party. Where, if we don't answer 'yes' to everything they say, then we will be grounded without leaving the house.'

'***'

'"Good riddance," said my mother, waving her arm from side to side.'

'"Drop by from time to time," my father said, waving goodbye.'

'As I said my casual goodbyes, Alessia's eyes were a little moist.'

'I understand that with getting through the training, surely she thinks the chances of seeing my parents have diminished considerably. But we have a house in this town… and I'm sure that, with their luck, we'll run into them even when we go to buy bread.'

'"... Space Travel"'

'We walked through the illusory door, and arrived in front of a thick forest with no one around to witness our arrival.'

'"Where are we?"'

'"In the forest near the rear army, we are heading to your friends to greet them. Ah, if they ask you, tell them you came here thanks to an unaffiliated Traveler we have as a friend."'

'"Alright, to make it more believable, I'll say it's Mr. Alfred"'

'"Good idea. I have his contact details, so the lie is very close to the truth."'

'Since I got the Traveler class, the chances of me needing Alfred have diminished a lot. Maybe if I get hold of any friends who need him, I'll recommend him.'

'My identity as a Golden Archer is someone with dark clothing and an indistinguishable face who carries a bow and magic arrows, while my other identity is the Emir you can find anywhere, with upper-middle class clothing and a sword at his waist. I fear that even Commander Cael may not be able to distinguish me. After all, someone so skilled with bows and swords at the same time is almost impossible to find.'

'The biggest proof of this is that Archers and Swordsmen have their status points lodged in different attributes. They may be skilled at using a different weapon, but they will never be able to get the most out of a weapon different from the one of their class.'

'If the commander was perceptive enough to realize that I travel through an unaffiliated Traveler, then he will have heard about the battle I led along with Yair. Specifically talking, about my skill with the bow.'

'Of course, so as not to arouse suspicion, I removed the insignia from my shoulder. There are many who don't even carry one, so we will go more unnoticed this way.'

'As I left the forest, I zoomed the map in full screen to find the 3 annoying beauties. It was a huge surprise when I realized that they were not in this place but in enemy territory, heading towards a group full of red dots.'

'Emir: "!!!!"'

'Something weird is going on here.'

'"Should we ask around for their location? They are so beautiful. It's almost impossible for people to have missed them," she said, smiling.'

'"You're right. But to make the search more effective, we should ask the mission managers. They told me they were getting special treatment from those in charge of the missions..."'

'They literally drooled at the sight of them. So, if they accepted a mission, those guys must surely know about it.'

'Walking at a brisk pace, we arrived in front of the mission board. There are a lot of quests posted in it. Anyone can accept a quest. And, after completing it, they can receive the corresponding reward.'

'"Do you happen to know where a group of three beautiful women are? Their names are Irina, Miria, and Zia. As for their appearance..."'

'Skillfully, Alessia described the 3 annoying beauties, and the mission's manager immediately nodded.'

'"Not long ago, they accepted a mission from a guild. As for the description of the mission, I can't give you the details," the man denied, hinting that he wouldn't say anything even if we tried to bribe him.'

'"Please?" Alessia applied her adorableness.'

'"They headed towards this place..." Adorability was super effective.'

'According to the manager's map, they're headed exactly to the place where that cluster full of red dots is.'

'"Something smells fishy. Let's go and see what's going on."'

'Now that I finally got the excuse I needed, I didn't hesitate to make my suspicions known to Alessia. And I tell her that I've heard nasty rumors from that place.'

'"Master's instinct has never failed us. Even if nothing bad happens, it's better to make sure." She nodded at my proposal.'

'Without a second thought, we leased two horses and rode into the territory of the Drial Cenit kingdom. We got off the horses when we arrived near the vanguard army, and then we started to run. By following directions through my map, I managed to find the shortest way to reach them.'

'Only a few minutes later, we found a group ahead of us.'

'In the group we can immediately see the 3 annoying beauties. But not only that, they are also accompanied by 4 Warriors whose levels are between 10 and 14. While they are all of a similar level, these men look less experienced in comparison, as if they had leveled up without going through any danger in between.'

'"Zia, Miria, Irina!" shouted Alessia with a smile on her face.'

'The group stopped and everyone looked at us, only then 3 beautiful women approached us with a wide smile.'

'"Alessia!" they shouted at the same time.'

'Of course, they didn't even look at me. They must have mistaken me for a tree.'

'My abilities to camouflage myself with the environment must have reached the level where I unknowingly go unnoticed by the surroundings.'

'Yep, that must be it.'