Chapter 121 - Consequences (5)

While Billy was waiting for the reply to his letter, he practiced hard for one week using his spear most of the time. He doubted that the battle experience he gained inside the dungeon would be useful against a person, but it wouldn't hurt to try. Besides, he learned other things inside and they were all practical knowledge. He was hoping for even more on the next dungeon.

"Hey, dad, if you have time today, let's spar," Billy said.

"Sure, why not?" Drew replied with a smile on his face. "It has been a while, after all."

This time, it was hard to say if Drew was being respectful of his son's growth, but he decided to spar with two training spears. Billy also took away his bracers to make things more fair.

As if he knew the level of strength Billy had attained, Drew assumed his starting stance while holding the spear with both hands, but he still could use Light Spear with a single one. Billy assumed one more defensive, but he switched to an offensive one when he dashed. At the same time, he used Light Spear. As if he had been waiting for that, Drew used the same skill and repelled the strike.

Billy was pushed backwards because of the difference in physical strength, but even before he could stop, he leapt while using Deadly Wind. That put some strain on his heels, but he forced his father to assume a total defensive stance and he blocked the attack. Billy saw his father's legs trembling slightly since he didn't have time to fix his stance and spread the damage around his body. Thanks to that, he had time to land and use Steel Spear. The upward slash caught Drew off guard, but he still blocked it with his own spear; he was pushed a few meters backwards, though.

Billy tried to continue the combo by using Light Spear again, but his father used the same move to repel his attack. It seemed that Drew wanted to show his son that he was still better in all aspects. Repeating the same combo again wouldn't change anything, so Billy tried to break his father's defence by using Light Spear again and again. Drew blocked those with his own attacks… until Billy's spear broke. A complete loss… When Billy's blood cooled down, he felt some pain in his hands, a lot of the skin had been peeled.

"Oh man…" Drew said while staring at the blue sky with a complicated expression. "If that is all, then I am going to work."

"Ah, sorry… I thought you were having a day off," Billy said.

"No problem, I can spar with you whenever you feel like it," Drew said and then left the area.

Drew's actions seemed a bit weird, he didn't look that satisfied even though he confirmed that he still was stronger than his son. Maybe it was because he didn't win in the way as before.

"So childish…" Camilla said and then sighed.

"Who is?" Billy asked.

"Both of you… you don't have to compete to see who is stronger," Camilla said.

"It isn't a competition, mom," Billy said. "People just like to compare their strength with those that are stronger… and the strongest likes to solidify his position by defeating those who challenge them… I suppose that is a competition."

"At least you accepted that… in any case, your father sure is troublesome," Camilla said. "Even in his days off, he goes out to train"

"I thought he was going to work…" Billy frowned.

"His work doesn't need to be done every single day and he can finish it in two hours… he uses the remaining daylight to train," Camilla facepalmed. "He says that he has to keep his dignity and be stronger than you until the day of his death. At least he has a goal now that we are in peace. However, don't force him to go to dungeons as well. If you defeat him so soon, he might think that he can train harder in those places."

"... I will be careful," Billy said while forcing a smile.

Billy didn't know what he could do to avoid that, but he certainly couldn't get lax on his training. Still, he was happy that he was making some progress, to the point where he forced his father to train every day to keep up with him. In any case, Billy finally recognized his physical growth when he sparred with his father. Two years ago, his father had to incline his head, to look at him, but things are different now since Billy was only ten centimetres shorter.

While Billy was thinking about that, he saw his hands healing. He could see the wounds closing at a fearsome speed… in exchange for that, he felt hungry and thirsty. Was that a coincidence? In any case, when his hands were back to normal, he decided to join the others on their training, but he stopped when a messenger appeared and delivered a letter. It was the first time he had seen a sealed letter… it was probably from Jean since the seal had the emblem of falcon… Still, why send it to him instead of Edward.

"You have the permission to use the dungeon of the snowforge dungeon town, I will be waiting for you there to talk about some matters."

Billy wondered why Edward didn't mention the incident, if he wanted to talk about the Count, being roundabout like that only made things weird. Unless he wanted to talk about something else…

"... Let's see if Edward knows anything about this," Billy said.

Billy left his home and found the other misfits already training in the yard of Kate's house, when he showed them the letter, everyone aside from Sarah celebrated. As expected, she couldn't take a leave for weeks or perhaps months from her duty as the elementalists leader.. In any case, Billy went to Edward's office and found him reading a letter with the same seal… that couldn't be good.