Chapter 104: - The Lord Is With Us (25)

༺ The Lord Is With Us (25) ༻

Even a child grew angry when someone spoke ill of their parents.

While it might stem from their love for their parents, such behavior was primarily driven by their instinct to protect the person they strongly trusted to protect them.

For instance, it was common for a disciple to get angry if someone insulted their master, or for the people to get riled up when foreigners insulted their lord.

The era they lived in also played a role – it was expected for subordinates to offer unconditional obedience.

Unconditional obedience was often associated with blind faith. In a world where such a way of life was natural, it was inevitable for subordinates to be hypersensitive when it came to someone criticizing their superiors.

While it was inevitable that horrible superiors were criticized, it was typically confined to the people under that particular superior.

Nothing good came out of an outsider criticizing another’s superior.

As such, Elsie believed her rage was justified.

To Elsie, Ian was someone who had validated her other fragile self that she kept hidden from others. Not only that, he had protected her at the risk of his own life.

Elsie had also admired his strength for a while. That was why it was inevitable for her to explode out in anger as Delphine’s continuous insults continued to grate on her nerves.

Elsie’s mind went cold as her heartbeat automatically slowed from her years of practical battle experience.

On the other hand, Delphine was still shocked. It was extremely rare for her to be so dumbfounded. As the heiress of the Yurdina, she, along with everyone present, had never imagined that she would fall victim to such humiliation.

Sensing the tension in the air, some of the children had run off to fetch the adults, and now, the two men, Leto and Gilford, stood frozen, shocked by the scene unfolding before their eyes.

Their only thought was that the situation was literally how the children had described it, and it was impossible to turn back time to retrieve the water that was thrown at Delphine’s face.

Suddenly, a crackling, blue ball of energy formed in Elsie’s hand, and sensing Elsie’s murderous intent, Delphine’s hand instinctively went to her waist.

Delphine drew her sword at the speed of light, but as soon as she did, a thin lightning whip wrapped around her and constricted her upper body with a resounding clap.

The whip was at most magic of the first-circle as it was impossible to cast higher-leveled magic in such a short amount of time. It was the same even for a senior wizard of the fifth-circle

Delphine snorted and circulated her mana around her body to negate the ensuing electric shock.

It would have been the correct move if the whip hadn’t suddenly dissipated, releasing the electric current in all directions.

Time slowed for Delphine. The electric current dispersed through the air, scattering brilliant blue light.

Although the electric current disappeared for the most part, a speck of blue light barely managed to come in contact with her upper body which was drenched in water.

The spark reached the water and created a chain reaction as it traveled through the moisture, repeatedly striking Delphine’s body like raindrops from the sky.

Sparks erupted like firecrackers.

Delphine clenched her teeth as her muscles involuntarily contracted in response to the electricity coursing through her body. Her balance crumbled.

At that moment, Elsie lunged at her with another glass of water in her hand.

Then, with all her strength, she landed a clear blow on Delphine’s head.

The sound of shattering glass reverberated through the air.

No matter how much they magically enhanced themselves, mages were still mages. It was difficult for them to physically land an effective blow on a swordsman, especially on one as skilled as Delphine.

However, with Delphine losing her balance, Elsie found it relatively easy to hit her. Delphine, who had been staggering up until that point, finally fell onto the floor with a thud.

A jolt shot through Delphine’s body as a splash reached her ears.

Water was once again dripping down her body. It wasn’t a particularly large amount as it was only two cups worth, but it was enough to wet the floor around her.

Elsie raised her hand before slamming it onto the floor.

Pajijik!!

A ball of blue electricity exploded upon contact and traveled across the wet floor, filling the air with a burnt smell, smoke, and loud crackling.

“Ku...ughh...!”

Delphine clenched her teeth as a muffled groan escaped her lips.

It was a fighting style that she had seen somewhere before.

It was the familiar style of using everything available to them to defeat the opponent through any means necessary.

Elsie’s current fighting style was similar to Ian’s.

Originally, Elsie’s fighting style was similar to her own in that they both used more orthodox tactics, but Elsie began to resemble the person she had feelings for.

Despite all her muscles contracting from the electrocution, Delphine refused to release her grip on her sword.

Instead, she circulated her aura.

Whoosh!

Flames of brilliant gold erupted around her as a terrifying heat spread out.

The stone floor instantly became searing hot, evaporating the water and freeing her limbs.

Just as Elsie charged at her with a lightning spear for the final blow, Delphine managed to pick herself off the ground and swiftly closed in on Elsie using her mana.

Elsie tried to strike down with her lightning spear, but Delphine pulled her arm and ultimately threw Elsie to the ground.

Boooom!

A shockwave shot out.Findd new stories on nov/e(l)bin(.)com

**

A question popped up in my mind after hearing Leto’s lengthy account.

“........Is it okay to tell me all this when you promised them not to?”

“Then should I sit around and do nothing? Their ceasefire is just a ticking time bomb... It’s up to the technician to defuse it before it explodes.”

Leto then pat my shoulder, as if he was saying he believed in me.

An incredulous laugh threatened to escape my throat, but I swallowed it back down.

“And you’re saying I’m that technician?”

“Yup, you gathered those girls, so you handle it. There’s nothing more Mr. Gilford and I can do.”

What he said was true. Leto and Mr. Gilford had nothing to do with my group. Senior Delphine and Senior Elsie were in my group, so it was only right that I resolved the conflict as the leader.

I just didn’t know how.

As I grasped my forehead with a groan, Leto, like always, offered some advice.

“Just keep it simple instead of overcomplicating things. Your muscle brain is incapable of complex thinking anyways”

I couldn’t tell if that was advice or just an insult, but either way, I decided to take his words to heart.

And so, I headed to Senior Delphine’s room.

*

Knock knock.

I knocked twice, but there was no answer.

The orphanage only had a few private rooms. Typically, one was for the volunteers and another was for the director’s office. However, as Senior Delphine and Senior Elsie were both part of the upper nobility, they were given private rooms. Naturally, the Saintess was also provided with her own room. Other than those, there weren’t any other private rooms.

Mr. Gilford had vacated the director’s office and offered the rooms to me and Yuren, but we had declined. In hindsight, it might have been nice to have my own room to have private conversations.

I cleared my throat before speaking up.

“I’m coming in.”

“.......What is it?”

A wary voice immediately answered back.

Confirming her presence, I promptly opened the door and entered. Senior Delphine, surprised that I had come in right away, looked startled as she sat on the edge of her bed.

“Y-you dare enter a lady’s room without permission? Hatchet Lord, I think you need to relearn the nobleman’s etiquette.....”

“I don’t think that’s something someone who greeted me half-naked should say.”

Senior Delphine’s mouth closed shut. She could have pushed back if she really wanted to, but she seemed to notice that I wasn’t in the mood to play around.

Her crimson eyes began trembling as she avoided my gaze.

“Senior Delphine, let’s go on a walk. Just the two of us.”

“N-no.......”

A quivering voice pitifully put up resistance to my calm suggestion, but I continued.

“I’ve heard that the forest air is quite refreshing, even more so during the night when the weather is coolor.”

“N-no.......”

“No one will know if it’s just the two of us. We can have a private talk ther-”

“......I said no!”

Senior Delphine yelled out, her body shaking as if she was having a seizure. Her expression contained something more than hatred. Fear was written all over her face, clearly expressing that she would never go anywhere alone with me.

Realizing that too much time would be wasted by going back and forth like this, I clicked my tongue and pulled out my hatchet.

Upon seeing the silver glint of the hatchet blade, Senior Delphine gasped and blankly stared at the hatchet while holding her breath.

Then without hesitation, I raised the hatchet.

“Kyaaaaaaa! I-I’ll go! I’ll go, s-so... please! S-stop......”

Should have done this from the start. With a satisfied expression, I swung down the hatchet.

Thuuk!

The hatchet struck the stone floor, leaving a dent.

“Huu.... hu...”

Unable to conceal her fear and nervousness, Senior Delphine let out heavy breaths as her fear-ridden eyes remained fixated on the hatchet.

I belatedly realized that we had to provide compensation for the floor repairs.

Oh well. I grinned and decided to leave it to Senior Delphine and her deep pockets.

“You made a good choice.”

She looked to be on the verge of tears, and her body was also visibly trembling while curled up into a ball.

It had been a while, and it was about time we had a conversation—just the two of us.