Chapter 54 – Road to Sharia

Chapter 54 – Road to Sharia

— Sylphiette —

“Stop,” Leon said, raising his hand to halt the caravan. “We have company. Thirty, in the tree line.”

As soon as he said that, a rain of arrows descended on the group, only for them to be blocked in midair.

...For some reason, I knew that was Leon’s work.

While I was surprised, I quickly got into a combat stance with practised ease.

We were being ambushed.

With that, the battle started, with the thirty enemies Leon had mentioned sprinting toward us, to which Eris, Leon, and I ran forward to intercept.

Luckily, they only seemed like bandits, so it was looking increasingly likely that the initial ambush after crossing the border was the only group of assassins sent to harm Ariel.

But, as I was just about to engage them, I was left behind, watching in amazement as Leon and Eris fought.

I was sure that Leon could have dealt with them in an instant.

After all, he had done that against stronger opponents during our first meeting.

But instead, the two of them fought together, dominating the opponent’s overwhelming with perfect coordination and unmatched skill.

It was beautiful, in a way.

Every time Eris cut down an enemy, Leon supported her by blasting anyone closing in on her back with wind magic, and cutting down any that tried to sneak past her.

Going one by one, the two of them dispatched all the bandits, all without our group assisting in any way, leaving the rest of us to simply watch on in amazement.

And through it all... Leon had yet to use his sword, instead using his body as a weapon, cutting through the enemies nonetheless with his bare hands.

I was a bit confused as to why he was using unarmed combat when his sword was right there, but... it didn’t seem to be impeding him too much.

But still, those two... they really were quite strong.

It had only been a week since they joined our group, and our first instance of fighting together, but to think the gap between us would be so large...

I was as annoyed as I was astonished, especially at Eris, who was able to fight right at Leon’s side.

I then watched as the final bandit, hiding beneath the treeline, formed a ball of flame in his hands, his gaze directed at...

“Leon!” I shouted. “Magician.”

“Thanks, Sylphy,” he said, not moving from his position as he extended his hand outward. “But I already knew.”

The bandit magician’s magic then... disappeared, the flame dissipating into thin air.

What?

Did he lose control?

No... the bandit looked just as confused, so that couldn’t be it.

“I just wanted the practice,” Leon said, forming a spear of fire at the tip of his finger that he then sent toward the magician, quickly searing a hole through the bandit’s head.

And like that, the ambush of thirty enemies, which would previously have left us with at least one casualty, had been nullified in a single minute.

“Dammit. I forgot about Aisha and Norn,” Leon muttered.

“I told you they’re already mature enough to see that,” Eris said, wiping the blood off of her sword. “They’re fine, right? They can close their eyes if they hate it.”

“I guess...” he mumbled.

And to them... this was natural.

I suppose fighting on the Demon Continent must have been a regular occurrence if it was as harsh of a place as I had heard, so it was obvious they were experienced in combat.

Still... it was quite amazing.

And from the way Luke was staring at them, he must have thought so too.

Though he was only looking at Eris... perhaps he appreciated her sword skills?

While only an Intermediate-rank swordsman, he was still a man after all.

However, it did give me a pleasant tingly feeling when I reminded myself that Leon was stronger and that, more importantly, he was mine.

Hehehe~

Leon was mine~

I felt my gaze trail down to my hand, where the ring Leon so lovingly put on me was placed.

To think, only a week ago, I would have thought that something like this was a dream, but now... Leon and I were promised to each other.

Ah! But still... I was more interested in Leon’s magic.

That initial defence to block the arrows... that was barrier magic, right?

And then there was that thing he used to stop the magician...

“Quite a splendid display,” Ariel said, poking her head out of the carriage with an appreciative smile. “Let’s stop here for now for lunch.”

With everyone dismounting from their horses and carts, I then decided to walk over to Leon, ensuring my voice was lowered so no one else would hear.

“Leon,” I said, tugging on his sleeve. “...What was that magic you used?”

He turned to look down at me, moving his body slightly to block my sight from the rest of the group.

“What magic, the one to disable the magician?” he asked.

I nodded.

“That’s... just something I picked up. Here, try to form a water ball,” he said.

I did as he asked, imagining the molecules of water combining, just as he had taught me all those years ago.

Remembering times back then, when everything was so exciting and Leon was so carefree, and now that those times had been taken away...

It was bittersweet.

“Good. And then...”

Extending his hand, I then felt my connection to the magic break, leaving the water to fall to the ground, splashing at my feet.

“W-What?” I said, too shocked to keep up the ‘silent’ part of my act. “H-How... what happened?”

Magic... wasn’t supposed to stop like that!

“I disturbed your magic,” he said with a proud smile. “How about I teach you? I assume it will be a good skill for a guard to have.”

Disturbed my magic?

That... I had never heard of such a thing.

But it was just like Leon to be able to do something so amazing...

Ah! He asked if he wanted to teach me, right?

I quickly nodded my head, looking up at him with a smile.

And so, during lunch, while Aisha and Norn decided to try preparing lunch for Leon, Eris, and me, Leon began teaching me the basic principles of the technique, correcting the flow of my mana with his Demon eye as I attempted to follow his instructions.

To be honest, I... really missed this.

After getting my bearings, I had attempted to learn more magic from the royal palace’s library, but I quickly found that without Leon and Rudy’s unique method of instruction, it was quite difficult and... boring to learn.

“It’s alright,” I said, walking forward. “Everyone stay back. Eris, Sylphy, watch out for any other monsters. I’ll deal with this.”

I had been quite... bored, with our slower pace.

After all, with the need to guard a caravan, and not being able to navigate the often unstable roads easily with just horses, we weren’t able to go nearly as fast as I’d hoped.

So it was only obvious, right?

I was antsy for a fight, and this was the perfect opponent.

Strong.

And an opponent I wouldn’t have to be overly cautious of, worrying about schemes to get to Ariel, like I would against humans.

“What are you doing so far from home?” I asked.

Instead of returning my greeting, it simply bucked its head, releasing a spout of flames towards us.

Ah, well, I tried.

As I thought, monsters were better to fight.

Unfortunately, its flame breath was not considered magic, at least from what I could see, so I couldn’t remove it with disturb magic.

But... since this fire was natural... and part of the environment, much like the wind and earth I manipulated for my magic... I could simply take control of it.

As its flames closed in towards me, I spread my mana into the air, infusing it into the fire and taking control of it before stopping it and concentrating it into a compressed ball.

Unsheathing my sword, I sent the fireball back towards it, watching as the dragon brought its wings up to defend itself.

Well... let’s see how far my renewed swordsmanship has come.

This was considered an S-rank threat, right?

While I wouldn’t be able to confidently kill it if it was in a large horde, if it was just one...

It should be a good measuring stick, at the very least.

Letting the touki spread into my sword, I stretched it into strings, forcing them to overlap and tie together, almost like braiding hair, as it trailed down my blade.

It wasn’t nearly as good as Orsted’s application, but that was okay.

I would get there eventually.

And the trees around the dragon... there were three big and sturdy enough to use as platforms.

Letting my touki flow into the atmosphere, I traced a path to my position and the tree to my right, and crouching down, as soon as the dragon pounced on my position, I leaped toward that very tree.

My feet planted against the trunk and I felt the lumber explode from the pressure, splinters of bark bursting into the air as I leaped once again, this time using the touki path I had created to speed toward the dragon, my blade dealing a deep gash in the back of its neck.

But that wouldn’t be enough to take down an S-rank threat.

Screeching in pain, the dragon turned its head towards me, its gaze blazing in anger as it leapt toward me.

Narrowing my eyes, I felt my perception of the world slow down as I focused on its claws as they neared my chest, and raising my sword... I parried it, stepping past the dragon in a blur as its arm soared through the air.

As for what I had done, it was simply the opposite of my other unique move.

For my boosted Longsword of Light, which was still unnamed, I used the application of Dance of Deluge, a Water God technique, to increase its power and speed.

For the move I had just used, however, I used the principles of the Sword God Style to increase the power of the Water God Style’s Flow.

Flow, in essence, used the opponent’s power and touki to reverse the effects of an attack, either through nullifying the opponent’s power or using their touki itself against them.

But with my technique, I also used the basic application of Flow, but instead of simply using the opponent’s power against them... I used it for myself, taking in the force to increase my speed and the touki to increase my power.

I still felt like my swordsmanship was missing something, something that was just out of reach, but I was still pleased with my accomplishments.

Rooaaaah!

Oh, it’s still alive?

Well... I used both of the techniques I wanted to try at full power, so...

“Uh, here.”

I then coated my sword in lightning, letting the touki mix with the pure energy as I stabbed into the dragon’s side, causing its body to freeze as the electricity ran through its body.

And a moment later, with smoke rising out of the gaps of its glistening red scales, it fell to the ground, limp, and most importantly, dead.

Hmm... were those techniques enough?

I know that my unique Flow move would only show its true power against a human opponent with touki, but still...

“Am I really strong enough...?” I muttered to myself.

After all, the Dragon God was far above the level of this lizard, and unlike this lizard, he would destroy me if I gave him a single second.

And my techniques... they were just a better version of the two most basic attack and counter techniques that I already knew.

Improved, but basic nonetheless.

I know they were strong in their simplicity, but... how could I make something truly unique?

That feeling of something missing... I don’t know how, but I have a feeling that once I got that, I could improve much more.

Sighing, I looked back to the group, only to be met by a collection of wide-eyed stares.

My battle was apparently impressive enough to leave even the level-headed princess speechless.

Eris and my sisters were the only ones not surprised, with Aisha and the now-awake Norn looking at the display with wide, excited smiles and Eris looking at me with... well, I could only describe it as lust.

...I guess I would be getting some action for two nights in a row, at least if those lidded eyes were anything to go by.

Anyway, with the battle concluded, our group decided to use this as the stopping point for lunch, and with a few of Ariel’s attendants carving the dragon scales and fangs off its corpse, I decided to take the time to have some fun in the snow with my family.

Norn and Aisha were initially confused about what to do, simply standing around in the knee-deep snow, but after I threw them into a nearby snow bank, they quickly found their way to have fun.

Unfortunately, the first way was pelting me with snowballs, an attack that Eris quickly joined in on, but they were giggling the entire time with wide smiles, so I bared with it, even if I got quite wet.

We then moved on to building a ginormous snowman, an idea that Rudy showed me back in Buena Village, with Norn and Aisha both deciding to make it taller than me and using my shoulders as a platform to place the rocks on its face.

And then, before we left, there was sledding, with Eris and I carving a pair of sleds out of the tree I had accidentally destroyed and going down the giant hill near our camp.

Of course, for Eris and I, who could move at speeds faster than sound, there wasn’t any excitement in the act itself, but seeing Aisha and Norn’s happy smiles made up for it and more.

It was at this point that Sylphy joined in, which I was surprised by as she was meant to keep up her ‘Silent Fitz’ persona, but soon enough all five of us began rolling down the hill and laughing with glee.

Even if I was acting childish, especially for someone who was currently the guard for a princess, I didn’t care.

Even if there was still a lot of work to do in reuniting with Mama, Lilia, and Rudy, I didn’t care.

Because these happy moments... those smiles on those four precious faces... this was everything I wanted.

These family times, where everyone was happy and carefree and the chilliness of winter was overpowered by the warmth of love... it meant everything to me.

During our time playing together, I looked over to Ariel who was near her carriage, only to notice her staring at us with a blank face almost... longingly.

...Odd.

That... wasn’t a face I had seen on the princess thus far.

But as soon as our eyes met, she performed a fake smile before getting back into her carriage, with Luke following behind her.

I had seen that fake smile quite a few times now, to the point where I had gotten used to it, but... why?

Why, this time... did it seem pained?