Chapter 109

Alex’s Perspective

Long past the point where he could feel his arm anymore, Alex continued swinging the black sword he had found after clearing a dungeon.

He had been doing this all morning, and thinking about the unfairness of the world made him want to cry, but the threat of being hit was a very convincing reason not to.

It had been over a week since he got to wherever he was, where he had been taken against his will.

He remembered the journey only in fragments. Suddenly, one day, this random, insane stranger attacked him out of nowhere and knocked him unconscious as he desperately tried to fight back.

Each time he regained consciousness, he struggled to break free or run away, only to be knocked out again soon after.

However, in his mind, complaining about that made him lose his focus for the tiniest moment, and Master Veyl immediately took notice of his slightly unfocused swing.

“Hey!”

Striking the floor in a trajectory that was between his legs, he couldn't help but shrivel up and redouble his effort not to lose focus.

He had defeated powerful monsters, monster hordes, criminal organizations, and even cleared a dungeon for someone his age. Yet, this person was up there, if not matching the most terrifying person he had ever faced.

Master Veyl had a similar air of insanity as when he fought Nyx. Though they were different, both situations were equally terrifying for two different reasons, in which he wished someone would save him already because he didn’t want to die.

Alex swung and swung until, eventually, he heard the dojo door slide open. Unfortunately, the fear of getting hit kept him from turning to see who it was.

However, as the sliding door closed behind them, he heard a voice that he immediately recognized.

The flat, emotionless tone startled him so much that the sword nearly slipped from his hand.

Without missing a beat, Master Veyl swung his wooden sword, sending Alex flying through the air before he landed with a loud thud and let out a lifeless groan.

Too tired to even get up, Isaac came up to him and offered him a canteen of water, then propped him up a bit.

Still extremely exhausted, Alex was too focused on catching his breath; he couldn’t hear what Master Veyl and Nyx were saying, but did confirm that it was, in fact, him.

Alex didn’t know why Nyx was here, but the hope of escape rekindled in his heart.

However… huh? Why were they both smiling like that?

That spark of hope was immediately doused with a whole tub of cold water. In front of him stood two monsters, and he knew he was right in the middle of their crossfire.

Turning to Isaac, one of the few people who actually treated him like a person, Alex noticed the troubled expression on his face. It was the kind of look that suggested this situation was completely normal, even though it was the worst situation they could possibly be in right now.

It made Alex wonder if Isaac truly understood the full extent of the chaos that happened when two insane, battle-crazed lunatics fought each other.

“Hey, Isaac.”

“Yeah?”

“Please run and tell my party members, when they come looking for me, that I’m sorry.”

Alex wore the expression of someone who had already given up on everything. At the very least, he hoped his final words would reach them.

However, not hearing, no, not understanding what he meant, Isaac let out a questioning “Huh?” without knowing he was already a dead man if he did not run for it.

Rita’s Perspective

“Good morning, Master.”

Bending forward in a full 90-degree bow, his master had a scowl when he turned to look at us like we were interrupting something important.

“What is it, Isaac? And who’s that?”

Turning to Isaac and then looking at me after he sent Alex flying like that, I was thinking to myself, What kind of insane lunatic would beat someone so senselessly like that when they clearly had no will to fight?

“That would be Blake, Master.”

“Hmm… I see.”

A frown was about to form around my face because I was going to have to deal with an insane idiot. Why can’t these types of people ever leave me alone?

I was expecting someone more heroic, not someone who looks like a religious zealot shouting out their beliefs to poor Alex over there.

We silently stared at one another, and I could tell he was eyeing me to gauge my strength.

After a couple of seconds, “Hmm, Isaac was right; you certainly are strong.”

Then grinning, “It’s a pleasure to meet you." I am Swordmaster Thalric Veyl.”

Contrary to my expectation, since I thought he was a lunatic, his greeting to me was… surprisingly normal.

“Ugh… It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Please excuse the unsightly scene before you. This new student of mine is still rough around the edges, and as you can see from that sword, he wields something rather powerful.”

“Really? How can you tell?”

I figured as much. Alex had found it in a dungeon, but how could he know, since Alex had originally planned to bring it to the royal capital for appraisal?

“The aura it emits."

“Aura?”

“Yeah, aura, and I sense that she is a strong and powerful sword, one that requires a wielder to be strong. I'm afraid that she has already chosen that idiot over there, though he can’t hear her.”

No way, so I was right! I wonder if I should tell Alice about the sword part, where she got another rival in the harem. Eh… maybe not…

“Really? How are you able to tell?”

Smirking even more at my question, “If you swing your sword long enough, that is a given.”

“Huh, that is really interesting.”

I guess my earlier assessment of him being really insane, like the named pilots of my past life, was wrong.

Swordmaster Veyl is really strong, and more importantly, he has spent more than a lifetime swinging his sword to reach a level where he can even listen to the voice of a sword of all things.

Feeling a smirk forming on my face—how interesting. How very interesting. This made me want to fight him even more now.

We stared at one another, and though he was a good two or three heads taller than me, he was the first to break the silence.

“Isaac, fetch me my sword.”

A bit startled by the bloodlust Swordmaster Veyl and I were radiating at each other, Isaac did as he was told. But when I looked at Alex, he had the eyes of a dead man.

Why does he look like he has given up on everything already? Since I know he’s here, he should be happy about it; it shouldn’t take too long before Alice and I find some way to free him from his hell.

Wondering what the heck was going through Alex’s mind, Isaac finally came back with his master’s sword.

When I saw the sword in question, it made me wonder whether someone from my past life had come to this world and had a thing for the eastern aesthetic, or, more likely, whether there was a place that was nearly like a certain eastern sector of my world.

It was a straight-up katana, a fully authentic one, different from the ones I’d seen in some weapons shops that were like a vague recreation of one.

So genuine samurai might exist in this world, not just in the games from my past life. The thought was exciting, and just thinking about it made my smirk grow even bigger.

We walked to the center of the dojo, where we both unsheathed our swords and pointed them at each other.

“Before we start, do you mind telling me what happened to your arm? I heard from Isaac that you can’t use your left arm anymore.”

“I’m afraid that I can’t give you the details, but he is right; I can’t use my left arm due to a certain condition. I apologize for not being at full strength to fight you.”

“Ah, I see then. Please wait a moment.”

Having an understanding look, Swordmaster Veyl suddenly stopped pointing his sword toward me and slit his left arm without any hesitation, making his left arm unusable, followed by taking out some bandages to wrap the wound as it bled.

“Now this makes things much fairer.”

Isaac, who was by the edge of the dojo, next to Alex, looked shocked, but Swordmaster Veyl went back to pointing his sword at me with, now, an even bigger smirk that grew into a smile, radiating his bloodlust even more.

Feeling the full brunt of it, I couldn’t help but turn my smirk into a smile in response to it.

Just as we were about to start our fight, he suddenly smacked his forehead with the hand holding his sword, as if he’d just remembered something.

“Ah, right, forgive me, it seems that I’ve forgotten to set the rules of this match.”

Rules of this match? Why should that be a problem? Wait… On second thought, maybe we should add one.

“How about this: whoever draws first blood wins, and we don’t target each other’s left arms.”

Saying the second part with a pause to make it sound less suspicious, Swordmaster Veyl seems to have bought into it.

“Those seem sufficient. First blood then, and we don’t target each other’s left arms.”

With that, now everything was out of the way, and the fight could finally officially begin.

The first to move was Swordmaster Veyl, closing the distance between us in the blink of an eye and taking an aggressive swing at me.

Seeing that, I was forced to slow the world around me from the very start just to react to his swing. Even then, I knew instinctively that if I tried to dodge or block it, he would immediately follow up with something else.

It forced me to counter, which is a problem since it limits my options. His movements were too sudden, and my sword simply couldn’t match the reach or weight of his.

I am holding a rapier that I bought from a store Clare recommended. It’s good, I’ll tell you that, but compared to Swordmaster Veyl’s katana, that was a work of art and made by a master blacksmith, from the looks of it. If I’m not careful, my sword is going to be cut in two.

Additionally, the innate nature of our sword makes it kind of bad for me because my sword was meant for thrusting; given its slender blade profile, it’s going to be much harder to guard or block against a katana.

Swordmaster Veyl already knew this when he made his first attack. He forced the exchange, taking full advantage of his sword, which left me in a pickle.

Despite the predicament I was in, I couldn’t help but smile. With countering being my only option, I poured all my strength into my right hand and swung my sword, the blade nearly bending like a whip as I swung. At the same time, I flung my body to the right, my feet off the floor entirely.

It was a sudden and improvised move, and from the expression on Swordmaster Veyl’s face, he hadn’t expected it at all.

Even though he hadn’t expected my sudden action, I couldn't really capitalize on it because of the awkward position I was in. To put it simply, I just swung my sword at him while I jumped down onto the ground to dodge his swing.

Still, though, even if I had found some way to capitalize on the opening I created, his surprise was only for an instant. I would have expected him to have found some way to stop it and slash me with his sword because of his current superior position in this engagement, making his win all but guaranteed.

Dodging my swing in the midst of missing me with his, I felt my left shoulder hit the wooden floor hard, which hurt, but I smiled through it, even giggling a bit. Immediately after, despite my swing missing him by the skin of his teeth, he took the lead and attacked me first once again with a downward swing.

Using all my strength in my legs and slowing down the world around me, I managed to move out of the way despite him adjusting his swing down to hit me.

Now having some breathing room, in the process of getting up, I thrust my sword in quick bursts, laying in some pressure onto him so I could take several steps back to get some distance to restart this engagement.

However, Swordmaster Veyl, instead of being pressured by my attacks, pressed forward instead, blocking, redirecting, dodging, and parrying all of my thrusts.

Damn, he's good, exactly as I expected, if not better. Even I would find it hard not to get a single cut during my barrage of pinpoint-precision thrusts, ones aimed for his hand that was holding his sword or any other place I had thought I could land a hit.

This ended when I had to jump back to dodge a swing from him, followed by several more swings.

Not wanting to let Swordmaster Veyl take the lead again in the fight, I quickly thrust my sword three times at his face. Though he barely moved his head out of the way, where there were marks left behind from my sword, there was no blood coming out.

Expecting that, I whipped my sword toward his, letting the blades clash. Using the moment, I closed in and slammed the guard of my rapier into his hand with all my strength, creating a small opening.

Then, I flick my sword back at him, thinking I was about to land a hit. I aimed for his cheek, but of course, he wouldn’t let it through.

His options were very limited, so there wasn’t much he could do until I felt his knee kicking me in the gut, sending me back, rolling onto the floor.

The air escaped my lungs as I rolled on the floor. I slowed the world around me once again, trying to catch my breath and getting up to see him charging me.

Without a moment to lose, I tried to strike first before he could swing at me. I couldn’t get fully to my feet, which made my footwork clumsy as I dodged his multiple strikes.

In the end… feeling a stinging pain across my right cheek, with blood flowing out while I held my rapier millimeters from his throat, I had lost.

We pulled our swords back, smiles still on our faces, and one thought ran through my mind: I can’t believe it. No, I do believe it. I want another round. That was too much fun; I want more.

“My, you nearly had me there a couple of times. Isaac wasn’t exaggerating when he told me about you.”

“Heh hehehehe, yeah, I could say the same. You're more, much more than I’d expected.”

“Gah hahahahha! How about we have a second round, since just one round doesn’t seem enough for you.”

“I truly thank you. I haven’t had any fun for months now, ever since I injured my left arm.”

“Oh, you poor thing. Shall we begin?”

Letting out a loud laugh, he swung his sword at me again. I laughed along as I dodged, and we battled relentlessly, round after round.

Losing track of time because I hadn’t had this level of fun since I hadn’t had someone who was nearly my equal, like my sister Norn in my past life—no, how should I say it, someone who was better than me.

We continued to fight each other to our hearts’ content, and after I got fully used to my rapier, I even won a few rounds. Though during our fight, some no-life tried to step in, and both Swordmaster Veyl and I immediately sent him flying through the walls, crashing into the pond outside.

By the end of it, where I lay on the torn-up floor, completely exhausted, where I couldn’t even move anymore, Swordmaster Veyl, who was standing over me, out of breath, asked.

“Have you had enough?”

“Heh heh heh heh, yeah. That’s it for today.”

“For today? So you want to do this tomorrow. I don’t mind, but I still have to…”

Looking around for someone, I wondered who it was.

“Oh goddamn it, where the hell did he go?”

It took me a while, longer than I’d like to admit, to remember who he meant. Then it hit me: he was talking about Alex, who… I’d completely forgotten I was even here.

Looking back at me, he asked if I could move at all.

“We have to find him. How dare that idiot just leave her behind!”

Remembering she meant the black sword Alex had found in the dungeon, now lying on the floor, I replied.

“Yeah, I can.”

Moving my aching body that was covered with cuts and bruises, I took out a regeneration potion from one of my pouches and grimaced seeing it in my hand.

I guess I have to find him before Swordmaster Veyl, so I need to drink this.

Before my motivation could drop any lower, remembering how it tasted, I uncorked it and downed it in one gulp. Feeling my body recover and grimacing, the pain throughout my body starting to slowly fade, I got up and followed swordmaster Veyl outside to start looking for Alex.

Unbeknownst to us, we had completely forgotten Isaac, who was still floating in the pond.

Separating to cover more ground, which was something I had suggested, with Swordmaster Veyl agreeing to it, we looked for Alex throughout the rest of the afternoon.

Even after searching for so long, night had fallen by the time I returned to the dojo. There, Swordmaster Veyl was waiting outside, and I shook my head, telling him I hadn’t found Alex.

“Tsk, damn, he got away. What a pain. I guess I will have to train him even harder to make sure he won’t run away.”

“I see; that is unfortunate.”

Sighing at my response, he gave an apologetic smile and said, “Sorry for wasting your time, and thank you for helping me. You can go now.”

“Oh, it’s fine; I’m happy to help after you gave me such a fun time today.”

Seeming a bit uplifted by my words, I waved goodbye to Swordmaster Veyl, wishing him a good night, with him doing the same as I walked back to Alice’s manor.

Going back home, I was hoping I would somehow meet with Alex on the way, though I would have to explain that my eyes were blue again. I can change both my hair and eye color, but I can only change my eye color separately from my hair. I had originally planned to borrow one of Edwen’s necklaces to help me blend in around town, but since he’d already seen me, that plan was out.

I let out a sigh, annoyed that this little hiccup was marring an otherwise enjoyable day. I stopped flowing mana through my body, letting my eyes return to their blood-red hue and my hair to its silvery shade as I approached the gates.

As I approached the guard and lifted my hood to reveal my face, he recognized me and opened the gate. He did look surprised, though, seeing my slightly tattered, blood-soaked clothes covered in cuts.

I passed through the garden and the main doors, closing the door behind me with my hood still up. I was heading to my room when a loud commotion erupted, followed by a door slamming open and someone rushing out.

What the heck is that? Turning to look behind me at the noise, I was frozen in shock, seeing who it was.

Running out of a room several rooms behind me, down the hall, which was next to Alice’s room, I saw Alex frantically run out, practically buck naked, other than a single piece of white cloth he had wrapped around his most private of areas.

The heck—stunned and shocked, Alex, frantically running out of the room, too busy to see where he was running to, slammed straight into me in the hallway full force.

The next thing I knew, my back hit the floor as Alex, who had knocked both of us to the floor, was on top of me and had one of his hands pinning my right hand down, and the other… was groping in an area that would make any anime girl send him flying. This was all the while, as the only piece he could call clothing was no longer covering his private areas, leaving him actually buck-naked.

“Ughhhhhh…”

Trying my best not to look at what was in front of me, just looking at the ceiling so I wouldn’t try to see something I shouldn’t, I heard him groan in pain as he got up and opened his eyes.

Seeing his face uncomfortably close to mine, he said.

“Sorry, sorry, I…”

Opening his eyes wide open as he said that, he immediately fell silent as he stared at me.

Looking at his face and inadvertently reading what was in his mind… he is remembering the time he saw me bathing in a stream.

I saw his face slowly and steadily turn red with that thought solely on his mind. Jeez, this can’t get any worse.

As I said that, it, in fact, did get even worse.

From the room that Alex had just run out of, I heard Alice’s voice, which sounded sweet and giddy, like a newlywed on her honeymoon.

“Oh Alex, where did you…”

Coming out as she said that, she saw both of us, Alex in his birthday suit, straddling me as I lay on the ground with one of Alex’s hands in a place it shouldn’t be and another pinning my right hand to the floor.

She stood there, perfectly still and silent, while Alex was stammering out excuses and insisting it wasn’t what it looked like. Instead, it only made things worse because I could feel a deadly, murderous aura radiating from her that was directed toward both of us.

Goddamnit, Alex, you idiot!!!