Zion had been ignoring Lia after their argument that day, and he would practice elsewhere. Still, today, he decided to face her even after hearing her harsh words, only to ask her to go to the library. So he and Lia headed over to the open ground behind the inn and started their daily practice. Today, she decided to change her teaching routine. This time, she didn't allow him to use the wooden sword and only taught some basic defending skills against magic. He didn't know any magic, so using bodily flexibility to avoid attacks would help him escape faster the next time without any misgivings.
Lia, after teaching basic dodging style, moved over to the other side and said, "I'll attack you with my spiritual power. Try and dodge it."
After saying this, she took out her wooden sword and inserted her Qi in it. Soon, the sword started glowing with bright light, and the more she channeled, the brighter it became. Later, she used hand signs to create droplets of water that appeared on the sword's surface. Lia had the tendency to change the temperature of the water at will, so this time, she made it so hot that the entire wooden sword's color changed, and it seemed as if its surface was painted in the mirror color. Bubbles on the surface that seemed as if water were boiling. He was sure that if he were to be attacked by this sword, both his outer and inner skin would burn alive.
Zion saw this and became speechless. Could she not use such a dangerous technique? It was a wooden sword, not something made out of metal that could handle boiling hot water!
But that was not all. She used another set of hand signs as bubbles of water rose in the air from her sword that further turned into balls of boiling water. Her hands paused as she stared at him with squinting eyes. "Ready?"
Zion watched the boiling water ball that shone brightly and gulped. Could he say no? But when he thought of how he was attacked so quickly last night, he gritted his teeth and nodded. He had learned all kinds of dodging techniques from Lia. Before today, he didn't know people could dodge the attacks in so many ways.
After that, Lia made hand signs with her free hand as the ball of boiling water channeled through the air and flashed toward Zion. He could see fumes coming out of the ball, and as soon as it reached him, he used one of the techniques to dodge the attack. But before he could relax his muscles, another boiling ball of water approached him again.
He flexibly dodged the attack one after another and soon got exhausted. Sweat poured out of his forehead, drenching his clothes wet, but the princess didn't stop attacking. Was she taking revenge against him now for not telling her where he had gone last night?! He glared at her and continued to dodge one after another.
Noon arrived soon, and at this time, Zion was lying on the ground as his entire body was filled with pain. He couldn't lift his eyelids. What to speak of heading over to the library, he couldn't even get up on his feet. This princess must have done this on purpose!
On the other side, Lia seemed as if she was utterly satisfied. She exhaled a breath and looked at her servant before scoffing. Then she used a few hand signs. Slowly, energy from Lia's hands channeled through the air toward Zion's body as it enveloped him with the warmth of healing light. His body shone brightly, and he felt as if something warm had entered him that cooled all the burning pain that he was feeling throughout his body.
It went away soon, and Zion's pain lessened by a higher degree. He moved his fingers as he looked at Lia in astonishment.
The princess ignored his gaze and walked toward the inn and said, "Now you're ready to face at least those bunch of useless elves who only know how to cast energy balls."
"Wait," Zion said as he still remembered his real intention for coming to the sword fighting class today. "Take me to the library."
Lia's steps paused, and she glanced at her servant with a complicated look in her eyes before she shook her head. "Let's go then."
The human was left dumbfounded at the spot as he stared at her for a long time. Why did she suddenly agree with him? Wasn't she against the fact that he was trying to solve this case?
As if Lia could hear his thoughts, she added. "Don't think I'm doing this for the elves. I want to find some books in the library too."
After that, they both stayed silent before heading over to the restaurant. Just as they entered the public place, the hall that was filled with general chatter silenced in an instant. The customers, waiters, and even human servants sweeping the floor all stared at Zion's face collectively.
His footsteps paused at the door as he narrowed his eyes at them. Did the news reach their ears so fast? He wasn't even the actual perpetrator, and people had already started considering him a murderer? Indeed, he believed it was the real killer who had spread the rumor overnight. Otherwise, how could anyone point fingers at him randomly, saying he was the murderer? Of course, this world was strange where humans were defied and blamed for no reason at all, but he could still tell that no one would randomly point fingers at the humans unless manipulated.
Someone must have manipulated the crowd, and he believed it was the killer!
Just then, he looked at the crowd that was glaring at him coldly. Suddenly, one of them got up from his seat as the chair shifted back, and the elf hit the table in anger. "So here's the human who killed five children last night! Just saw his poster this morning!"
The murmur started again. "I've heard that this human was able to fend off a group of citizens easily and killed those children!"
"If only I were present, I would have prevented that!" A middle-aged man spoke as he glared at the human standing at the door.
Zion took a step back as he stood on his guard. For some reason, he felt that he and Lia wouldn't be able to have lunch today.