It had been a few days since Presia started living with Troll.
While reanalyzing the ritual that turns humans into liches, Troll decided to prepare a new residence to make Presia’s life more comfortable.
After all, the secret workshop was basically a sunless cave!
For Presia, who was still alive — and an elderly woman at that — such an environnt could never be good for her health.
Of course, even if they were to build a new place, it couldn’t just be anywhere.
No matter how much Presia had gotten used to camping out and going through rough experiences while traveling to subjugate the black dragon in the past.
She was now an old woman.
On top of that, she had spent over fifty years in the Holy City, living a comfortable and pleasant life befitting her fa as a saintess.
And now, just building a random shack in the forest near the secret workshop for her?
Giving that kind of treatnt to a woman who’s in love with him?
Ridiculous.
Absolutely unacceptable.
That’s why Troll pulled out an old map that had been gathering dust inside the secret workshop.
Then, he spread it out in front of Presia and asked her.
—Pick a place where you want to live, Presia!
Since Troll could warp anywhere, it didn’t matter where on the Derxia continent they went.
As long as it was sowhere secluded, Troll could build her a ho in whatever environnt she wanted.
“Hmm... Then I think I’d like this place.”
What Presia chose was the far edge of the Derxia continent.
It was a hilly area near the sea.
“I’ve always wanted to live in a house where I could look out at the vast ocean.”
Presia could still vividly rember the first ti she saw the sea while traveling.
The endless, wide-open blue ocean.
She had been so deeply moved when she first saw that scene.
—Alright! I’ll get started right away! Just wait a few days!
Troll, for the first ti in a while, pulled out the architecture books stored in the secret workshop.
It was back when he had first decided to build the secret workshop.
He had debated whether to dig a cave or to construct an actual building, so he had bought the books for reference.
While reading, he thought it would be easier to make a cave, so he didn’t finish the books and left them aside, but now they finally ca into use again.
Normally, architecture requires a lot of money.
But Troll solved that with magic.
The materials needed to build the house?
He just warped to a forest with good-quality trees and gathered them.
Making construction materials?
He simply cut them with magic and processed them right away.
Digging the ground to stabilize the house?
That too was easily done with magic.
Of course, an ordinary mage would never be able to pull that off.
If it were possible, all architects would have been replaced by mages long ago.
It was a technique only soone with Troll’s precise control and enormous mana could manage.
In this way, the new ho on the hill near the sea that Presia wanted was completed.
“So this is the new house we’ll be living in. Thank you, Ventus.”
—I can’t have you staying in that old place for too long. Besides, there’s still a lot we need to prepare.
‘First of all, I need to buy a bed.’
While building the house on the hill, Presia had to stay at an inn in the village when sleeping, due to Troll’s firm insistence.
Presia had said she wanted to stay by Ventus’s side even when she slept, but...
—I can’t let you sleep on a cave floor!
On the first day they started living together in the workshop, Troll was too busy to pay attention.
Then, the next morning.
When Troll saw Presia waking up wrapped in blankets and saying, “Good morning, Ventus. Hehe, it’s been a while since I slept like this,” he realized his mistake.
From then on, he had her sleep at the village inn.
Presia was a little sad she couldn’t stay by Ventus’s side longer, but she was happy that he cared for her and obeyed him.
‘But the problem is, how am I going to get a bed?’
Money wasn’t an issue.
Before Alia and Paulen parted ways, they had given Presia all their leftover money, except for what they needed to survive, so she had more than enough to buy a bed.
The problem was how to move it.
Of course Presia couldn’t carry it herself, and he couldn’t warp together with the store employees, either.
The most reliable option was for Troll to go with her, summon a golem, or use telekinesis to pretend to have superhuman strength.
‘...............I need to find a way to suppress my aura.’
For the first ti ever, Troll genuinely thought he needed to suppress the aura of death flowing from him.
And the one who presented the solution was none other than Presia.
When Troll said he’d quickly figure out a way to suppress his death aura and prepare a bed...
“Ventus, would you like to try the thod I ntioned before?”
Presia’s proposed thod was to use sacred magic on Troll.
Of course, not by directly blessing him, but by creating a kind of protective barrier around him.
The powerful aura of death intentionally released by a lich has harmful effects on the human body.
Also, the ambient death aura in areas frequently haunted by undead has similar effects.
So there exists a sacred technique that sets up an invisible veil around the body to prevent harm from death aura.
This veil effectively blocks the death aura from affecting people.
Presia decided to try using this technique to block the death aura emanating from Troll.
And the result was...
“I can’t feel it at all.”
—Who would’ve thought this sacred technique could be used this way.
It was a success.
The death aura from Troll’s body was completely contained within the veil.
“Ventus, does it hurt or anything?”
Instead, Presia worried that the divine barrier might hurt Troll.
—No, it doesn’t hurt at all. Fascinating. So if there’s no intent to attack, even divine power doesn’t affect a lich...
Setting aside the new research topic for later, now that they had a solution for the death aura, Troll imdiately went with Presia to the village to buy furniture.
Using illusion magic, Troll transford into a giant man.
“The bed is heavy. Will that be okay?”
“It’s fine. This person is really strong. Please take care of it.”
—Yeah.
Troll raised one hand and lifted the furniture effortlessly with telekinesis.
“Wow, you really are strong.”
After securing the bed, Troll and Presia left the shop, moved to a secluded place, and then warped back ho.
—Alright, with this, you won’t have to sleep uncomfortably on the floor anymore, Presia.
“Thank you, Ventus. Then, let’s go to another village next.”
—Huh? Do we still have more to buy?
“No, I just want to walk around the village with you.”
—Th-that’s...
“I can block your death aura with my sacred technique, so it should be fine, right? This ti, please transform into a form closer to your true self. And… hehe, could you also make look like my younger self?”
Presia’s sudden request for a date right after getting the bed made Troll’s long-gone heart pound wildly.
***
This was Chilture.
A village that, until just a few days ago, had been on the verge of being ravaged by a horde of orcs, including an orc champion.
However, the crisis was safely overco thanks to the sli and the adventurers.
The one who played the biggest role in defending against the orc horde was none other than the sli.
If soone else heard that, they’d probably laugh it off as nonsense, but at least for the people of Chilture, they would nod vigorously and say “Of course!”
And now, the sli, who was being treated like a hero in the village…
“Wow, Tongtong!”
‘Yep! Sparring!’
Sproing!
…was playing while sparring with Claire.
To be exact, the sli thought they were playing, but…
“This ti, I’m going to hold out longer.”
Claire believed the sli was helping her train.
She knew that the sli was much stronger than her.
After all, it had taken down two orc champions by itself!
If anyone still thought the sli wasn’t skilled after seeing that, they were no better than a brainless fool.
Claire had the attitude of being willing to bow her head to anyone if it ant getting stronger.
“Tongtong, let’s spar.”
Claire had said that the day after the orc attack ended.
It was also the day after the sli had completed its evolution.
‘Sparring!’
Sproing!
Of course, the sli was happy to accept Claire’s request.
For the sli, sparring was just a fun ga that helped it grow stronger.
Then, while moving to et Claire for their spar…
[Free Spirit] ▶ Squishy, make sure to hold back when sparring.
At that mont, Troll, who was refining materials with magic for Presia while watching the stream, gave so advice.
▷ Hold back?
[Just Slam First] ▶ Who holds back during sparring! You gotta go all out or it’s not training at all!
▶ The type who never goes easy when playing with kids, so they sulk.
[Just Slam First] ▶ If they stop playing with just because I didn’t hold back, that’s their fault!!!
▶ Lolol did I hit a nerve?
▶ The type who never ends it in one shot.
▶ Lmao.
Ignoring the random chatter in the chat, Troll continued.
[Free Spirit] ▶ You can’t do it like when you spar with or Paulen. Especially, don’t use Bounce Tackle.
▷ Why?
The sli tilted its head, confused, since Bounce Tackle was usually its basic attack in sparring.
[Free Spirit] ▶ Claire is weaker than you. If you use Bounce Tackle, she’ll die.
▷ Ah!
The excited sli, hearing Troll’s words, rembered the difference in skill between Claire and itself.
Claire was weaker than the sli.
▷ She can’t die!
[Free Spirit] ▶ Exactly. So just treat it like casual play and go easy.
▷ Got it!
▶ Lolol “My precious human can’t die~.”
At the sli’s current strength, most humans would be one-shot.
The fact that anyone had even sparred with it until now was already weird.
[Thread-Lady] ▶ Squishy, you’re so cute for holding back with soone weaker~.
▶ Is there anything that you think that isn’t cute?
[Thread-Lady] ▶ You.
▶ Lmao.
Thanks to Troll’s advice, the sli was able to spar with Claire while holding back.
But this actually turned out to be surprisingly good training for the sli.
Sparring with the weaker Claire was perfect practice for the newly evolved sli to learn how to control its strength.
Through sparring with Paulen, the sli had naturally learned to adjust its strength through physical training.
Thanks to that, it avoided the mishaps it had during its first evolution when it couldn’t properly control its newfound power.
However, since it had beco even stronger than after its physical training, the sli couldn’t yet control its power perfectly.
In other words, it needed to get used to it through practice.
That’s why the sli didn’t use any skills when sparring with Claire and only focused on adjusting its raw physical strength for its tackles.
After a few days, thanks to the sparring, the sli got more comfortable with controlling its power and was able to use tackles more reliably.
Of course…
Sproing~!
“Ugh!”
Even those tackles were barely avoidable for Claire.
‘Tongtong is holding back for . I’m going to draw out even more strength!’
Claire burned with the desire to get even stronger.
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