The battle began. As she expected, Delicia was no match for this young noble girl whose every swing and slash carried finesse and grace. The latter was not just randomly swinging, there was intent and control over the movement of her sword.
Of course, it was not too profound; however, it was there. As a former knight, Delicia could tell that the woman was slowly inching closer to the transcendent state of [One with the Sword], where the sword which bees an extension of you, reacts faster than your thoughts.
That said, pared to the girl, her state was... truly pathetic. She knew that she had bee extremely weak; however, it was only after fighting a squire like Gwen that the reality truly kicked in.
"Don’t worry big sis, you were a former knight, so you know the way already. I’m sure it won’t take you long to bee a knight again," Gwen encouraged.
While it was true that she had regressed and bee a level 1 again, she knew the way to bee a knight. With training, senses, and enlightenment that had now seeped into her being, being her muscle memory of sorts, she could quickly raise her body back to that level again.
That said, only she knew what sort of extreme training and trials she had to go through to reach that stage. It was not going to be easy, even if the path was already laid for her.
.
The training was over, Delicia, Gwen, and the other female members of the Temple of Light were having a discussion when Bob, the holy knight approached them.
Seeing one of the four holy knights appear before them was enough to make these girls quite anxious.
The holy knight stood before them, scanned them with his eyes at the result of their training before nodding his head.
"It looks like all of you are progressing well and are not cutting corners. Keep training with such focus".
Seeing that Bob was all praise for them instead of his usual uptight and serious self, they relaxed a little.
"Why is Sir Bob here?"
The training was over; however, it didn’t mean that their work was. As a Holy Knight, the burden and work on them was second only to the mander.
At that question, Bob glanced at them, his eyes stopping at Gwen. "mander wants to see you in his office. It looks like someone from your family has arrived at the Snowpoint City".
Gwen, who was her bright, haughty self just until this moment, suddenly made a plex face. She nodded her head and went with the Holy Knight to meet the mander.
Her rades who saw her leaving, discussed about the obvious change in her expression. Among them was Delicia.
.
Inside one of the halls used for entertaining guests, Reinhardt was in the midst of a discussion with a middle aged man with greying hair. He wore extravagant looking clothes tailored made to suit him perfectly, and had ten rings on all of his ten fingers.
That said, other than the obvious aura of authority the man gave off, what stood out about him was his physique. His sharp eyes, straight posture, and defined outline suggested that the man was not just your average noble, but a one who had trained his body and fought on the frontline.
A former high ranking knight and the current head of the Earl House of Odessa, the man was none other than Gwen’s father, Gerard Vayne Odessa. A fierce knight who had fought on the same battlefield as his father, Raymond.
"How is that man doing?" Gerard questioned as he drank his tea.
"Thank you for asking, father is doing well. Although he does say that his body aches a lot these days, a proof that he is getting old".
"So that man can age too, huh. Even the Holy Crusader cannot beat old age, I guess." There was a smile of ridicule on Gerard’s face. However, that ridicule was not out of spite as it was out of self mocking.
The Holy Crusader that the other party mentioned was the class given to his father by the altar after he reached level 9 and made numerous legends.
"That man, even until the end, stayed ahead of me and retired as a level 9 knight. How very maddening".
"Haha, please take your plaints to father".
"Hmph, how can that be? That man is my rival, I would rather fight the Heavenly Kings than act humble in front of that man".
Reinhardt didn’t know what to say. It appeared that this person here had a love and hate relationship with his father.
While they were making some light conversation, Gwen appeared.
"mander, I brought her" Saying that, Bob joined the knights brought by Gerard and stood by the side.
"Father!" Gwen called.
The man who was up until now the very definition of stoic melted a little as he laid his eyes on his daughter that he hadn’t seen in a long time.
"How have you been?" However, it must be said that stoicism runs in their bloodline; he still maintained his serious face against his daughter even though he was happy in his heart.
"I have been well. How about you and mother?"
"Hmph, you would have known had you maintained contact with us. For this past half a year after joining the Temple of Light, you did not write us a single letter". It appeared that he was a little salty that his daughter did not write a single word all this time.
"About that, I was busy and..."
"Too busy to even talk to your parents?"
The first half of the conversation was all parental talks. Gerard scolded while Gwen listened, intermittently acting rebellious. It was your usual family drama.
"Ahem, forgive me, Sir Reinhardt, I got a little carried away there" Gerard coughed, getting into his stoic expression once again.
"Now that my daughter is here, let’s get to the business. The reason why I came here is to take you back".
User Comments
0 comments from readers