Translator: Seven
Editors: Ana_Banana, Sei
Even though they were in a hurry, he couldn’t skip his al. After recovering from sickness, it was necessary to pay close attention to his body and nutrition.
Snow and Lukas filled their stomachs with a al of soup and bread before setting off.
The forest was about two days away from the academy. Or at least, that was the case if one was riding a carriage, but Snow didn’t get a carriage. She didn’t use the Warp Stone either. (There weren’t any Warp Stones near the forest in the first place.)
Nevertheless, Snow and Lukas were able to arrive at the Amalgam Forest in just one day.
“Urg…”
Lukas forcibly suppressed the urge to vomit. Even with the fresh air of the forest, the nausea didn’t go away easily.
Snow snickered as she saw this. This sight pleased her a great deal.
“You’re tougher than I expected.”
“…wasn’t there… another… way?”
“There wasn’t. But thanks to that, we were able to arrive much faster than if we took a carriage.”
She wasn’t wrong.
Nevertheless, it wasn’t good to only look at efficiency when doing a task. Oftentis, it could cause disasters to occur.
Lukas gagged a few more tis before finally straightening his back with a sigh.
“…the people we passed stared at us like they had seen so kind of ghost.”
“Ahaha. This Queen saw that too. They all had funny expressions on their faces.”
“…”
Well, anyone would stare if they saw a white haired woman carrying a white haired man and running at a speed that surpassed the Fly spell.
He thought that it would have been better since Snow was wearing a mask, but instead, it only seed to make the scene even more bizarre.
…In any case, it was a mory that he would not easily forget.
“This is Amalgam Forest.”
He looked around at Snow’s words.
They were in a clearing in the forest, but it didn’t seem to be completely natural. The grass in the clearing was cut very short, there were tents at one end, and in the centre, were traces of bonfires.
Although the traces were a bit old, it was clear that a group of people had stayed there at so point.
“This is the place we take talented people who want to enter the alliance. To be precise, this place is a test site.”
“…a test site.”
“Right. The goal of the test is survival. You just have to survive in this forest for a month. Simple, right?”
“…”
It wasn’t that difficult.
The forest was neither hot nor cold, there were tents, and it seed easy to obtain drinking water. It wouldn’t be difficult to find food either since he saw the shadows of beasts moving within the forest from ti to ti, and there were many fruit trees.
Snow walked forward with light steps before bending over and picking sothing up.
“This isn’t too bad.”
It was a branch.
However, it was very thin. It wasn’t even 1cm in diater. It was a thin twig that even a newborn baby could snap into two pieces.
But.
“…”
Snow swung the branch once.
From top to bottom.
As if she was drawing a line in the air.
Whoosh-
And a strong wind billowed around her. He could even see bugs who were sent flying by the sudden gust.
Snow looked down at the branch appreciatively before turning back to Lukas.
“Draw your sword.”
It seed she intended to start right away.
Well, she had said that they didn’t have any ti to waste.
Doing as she said, Lukas drew the sword he’d bought from the city.
“Get into your stance.”
He did as she said again.
Lukas’ swordsmanship was heavily influenced by Lucid’s Dreadnt, but he had added his own interpretation due to the constraints of his left arm and right leg.
He held the sword in his hand at an angle, and lowered his head slightly. He placed his left foot a half step in front of his right, and his right shoulder was also drawn back slightly.
All in all, it was a strange stance that caused the right side of his torso to stick out.
“…”
Snow glanced at Lukas for a mont before tilting her head to the side.
“You, are you from Luanoble?”
“…well…”
“Right. You did say that you lost your mories. Hmm… Anyway, this is better than I was expecting.”
She nodded to herself before continuing.
“First, we’ll work on fixing your stance.”
Swoosh-
Snow narrowed the distance in an instant. It was shorter than the ti one took to blink. She circled around Lukas a few tis before nodding.
“Imagine that this foot can’t move.”
Then, she pressed the tip of her branch to the top of Lukas’ foot.
“It can be used as a fixed point. Your legs and movent are limited, but that doesn’t an you don’t have any power.”
“…that’s true.”
He understood what it ant to use it as a fixed point. But he felt that limiting his movents in battle could prove fatal.
Folding her arms, Snow continued her explanation.
“If your mobility is your weakness, then it’s better to leave it as it is rather than waste ti doing a poor job at fixing it. You can be like a fortress.”
“You an to focus more on defense than offense?”
“That’s right. With your legs, if you were to actively attack, the efficiency would be reduced by at least half.”
This was sothing he knew. In fact, it could even be considered a kind estimation. After all, if one took his left arm into account, it would probably be even more than that.
“There are attacks that I wouldn’t be able to deal with with a fixed right leg.”
“You an magic?”
That was typically the case.
“How would I deal with attacks like that?”
“You can’t deal with those. So it’s best not to try.”
“…what?”
Lukas looked up at Snow with a frown, but the expression on her face was serious.
In fact, her eyes were even a bit cold.
“Are you telling to just accept death then?”
“Who said anything like that? I’m just saying that if you encounter attacks that don’t suit your fighting style, you should avoid fighting as much as possible.”
“In most cases, fighting is inevitable.”
“That’s true. So you should find so way to buy ti until an ally who is capable of dealing with magic attacks arrives.”
“…”
For a mont, Lukas was speechless.
It felt like he’d been hit in the back of the head with a hamr.
“Did I say sothing strange?”
“No.”
It wasn’t just strange.
He couldn’t be sure when it had first started, but he was used to dealing with everything on his own.
Not 4,000 years ago.
At that ti, he’d had four friends who were on par with him.
If so, then was it when he was Frey Blake? Of course, there were people who he’d called companions at that ti. Snow in front of him was one of them, and Ivan as well.
However… had he really treated them as equals?
‘No.’
In the end, Lukas had handled everything on his own, including the final battle with Lord.
Right. At so point, he’d gotten used to fighting on his own, and now it seed that he had taken it for granted.
That’s why he’d been so shaken by Snow’s words.
To allow others to deal with attacks that he couldn’t handle for him.
“…”
Of course, apart from that thought, the feeling of relying on others simply made him feel uncomfortable.
“For today, we’ll only work on the general frawork of your swordsmanship. Tomorrow, I’ll guide you in swordsmanship. And on the day after that, the last day, we’ll have a spar, so do your best to satisfy this Queen. Then I’ll acknowledge you.”
“What happens after you acknowledge ?”
“I will recomnd you to the Alliance’s talent training centre. And I’ll tell you this Queen’s na.”
Talent training centre.
Snow’s words made Lukas feel a bit uncomfortable.
“What about Diablo’s subjugation?”
“…”
“Can’t I take part as well?”
Snow’s eyes narrowed slightly. Then she spoke in a slow tone.
“To be honest, the strength of our alliance is not much. Even though the Circle split into two parts, the sides led by Ivan and Iris are still stronger than us.”
“…”
“Nevertheless, I can assure you. The number of talents the Alliance can mobilise is more than three figures. They are all stronger than you and they have no flaws either.”
Snow didn’t say more, but her aning was clear.
In other words,
Even if Lukas were to participate in this battle, with his current strength, he’d most likely just die.
It was only then that Lukas understood the situation and Snow’s attitude.
She wasn’t treating Lukas like an ‘equal companion’ or ‘soone to leave her back to’.
He was just one among dozens if not hundreds of people.
Although he was crippled, he still had a lot of potential.
That was all Snow’s expectations of Lukas amounted to.
Perhaps her act of investing her ti now was also just a part of trying to recruit a good talent.
“…”
It was true. But it severely wounded Lukas’ pride.
Crunch.
The hilt of his sword creaked a bit as the strength of his grip increased.
Before coming to this forest, there had still been a number of tangled thoughts in his head. His heart had been heavy and his mood was gloomy.
This was natural, because he’d gone there without any idea of how to deal with his many problems.
But at that mont, he forgot about everything else.
Snow’s attitude was understandable.
In all honesty, it couldn’t be said that she was looking down on Lukas, in fact, it was possible to say that her attitude was excessive compared to the worth he had displayed.
‘…nevertheless…’
Lukas had no intention of being looked down upon like this.
He made a decision at that mont.
There were three days left.
During that ti, he would change Snow’s attitude towards him, regardless of what it took.
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