Chapter 4: The old man visits the town of ice and snow

After returning to camp safely, I thoroughly enjoyed the dinner made by Phil.

Selene who got to try the taste of shrimp meat for the very first time was satisfied as well.

Afterwards, we continued with our usual routine as I started the evening training session with Luna and Selene.

Currently, I was having my sparring session with Luna which took place at the end of our training as our surroundings was illuminated by several magic torches.

Recently, although I’ve been forced to draw out about 60% of my strength however Luna would still be bitter everytime she lost. I dodged Luna’s all-out thrust with her wooden sword and struck her shoulder while walking past her, causing her to lose her balance and fall onto the floor.

The time for the match was over.

[Time is up.] (Yuuya)

Just as I said that, Luna who was trying to get back up forcefully, fell back down to the ground and sat up with rugged breaths.

[Muu, ever since Yuuya started attacking, not a single attack has landed.] (Luna)

There were actually several stages to this sparring battle.

For the first stage, I allowed Luna to attack me as much as she wanted without retaliating for her body to memorise her attacking pattern through pure muscle memory.

For the second stage, I only launched counter attacks whenever she showed any balant gaps in her defense while attacking as this would lead to unnecessarily reckless attacks and bad habits to form.

For the first two stages, Luna had successfully landed a single attack onto me and now we were in the third stage. In a sense, this was the real battle training stage as I had finally begun to move freely in our battles.

Although it might seem similar to the second stage, in the second stage I had only seized the initiative in specific situations based on Luna’s breathing however in the third stage I began to take the initiative to create favourable situations for myself instead.

[Yuuya-ojisama, Luna, that was a good battle. I’ll begin treating your wounds. Recovery Heal.] (Selene)

Selene who had been observing the mock battle rushed over as she began treating Luna’s cuts and bruises with her recovery magic, Heal. Luna turned towards me with a sunken expression.

[Yuuya, I remember everything from our battles and it is already the fourth match. At this rate, I won’t have enough hands for everything.] (Luna)

[You’re right, you did complete the first few stages perfectly. However it might still be better for you to have the initiative instead for the next battle.] (Yuuya)

Since her battle style was completely reliant on her ability to land critical hits, our main goal was to polish Luna’s battle style which relied on Assassinate. Her accuracy on her thrust was high but the main objective was for Luna to be able to land a critical hit in any situation with any of the nine slashes. However her usage would be half-baked at best if she was to attempt all nine slashes in one go, thus I made her increase her repertoire of slashes one at a time.

Currently, she was capable of landing three slashes consistently with a critical: The thrust, the sideway slash (横薙ぎ) and the upward slash (切上げ). It was about time for her to try the downward slash, either using the diagonal downward slash (袈裟切り) from her right or straight downwards. It was arguable if she should even practice this due to her small stature but it was still necessary to increase the number of her attacking patterns.

[Then can you teach me straight away.] (Luna)
[That’s a no. Anymore than this will affect your performance tomorrow. I’ll only start teaching you tomorrow.] (Yuuya)
[Uhn. Then Luna will do her best starting tomorrow. I will definitely land one on a serious Yuuya!] (Luna)

This girl was a genius. I’m sure that she would master everything in less than two years. In fact, her talent was enviable as this mock battle match that we were having everyday was already starting to bear fruit. Although this match was primarily for Luna, it also served as my training. My speed and strength was currently much higher compared to my pre-reset status and it was embarrassing to admit that I had trouble adjusting to my current speed.

My speed during my battles currently were in fact much slower than I was actually capable of as I wouldn’t be able to utilise my techniques that required proper form.

[Selene, Luna. This will be the end of our training for today. You can go ask Phil for some hot water for you to wash your body.] (Yuuya)
[Understood, Yuuya-ojisama.] (Selene)
[Luna’s covered in sweat!] (Luna)

The two girls headed towards our tent while it was time for me to spend some time practicing my slashes.

[Divine blade Dainsleif.. I want to control it somehow.] (Yuuya)

After some consideration, I realized that there were numerous disadvantages for me to use the sword, but it was also possible to make use of it effectively.

Once I draw the blade, it’ll never return to its sheath until all life around me is snuffed out.

However, reflecting on my state after drawing the blade, I was completely focused on the nearest lifeform to my body and that focus hadn’t changed until the target I was focusing on, was killed. This meant that if I drew the blade when I was extremely close to the enemy, I would be able to focus on killing my enemy without worrying about attacking my own allies. I would be able to use the blade and defeat my target then immediately ingest the Elixir I kept at the back of my molars. However, it was still dangerous to follow my assumptions just from one experiment. I’ll have to have several more tests.

The next side effect was the damage incurred when I recovered from the Berserk state. It wasn’t a steady flow but a large chunk of damage released proportional to the duration of the Berserker status. This meant that it would be an undeniable immediate death if I failed to defeat the opponent within three hundred seconds. In other words, based on the condition of my body and health, I would be able to calculate how long I could maintain the Berserker state in any given time. Plus I would be able to remove it by ingesting the Elixir behind my molars if the situation was unfavourable.

[In any case, I’ll have to try it out a few times. That is how I can become stronger.] (Yuuya)

The corners of my mouth began to raise as I swung my sword. This was a great discovery, aside from discovering Dainsleif’s performance. Just by entering the Berserker state, I would be able to triple my status but I wouldn’t be able to utilise the techniques I learnt from experience. Afterall, I can’t even utilise my techniques properly without reducing my speed with my current status. Despite this, the sensation on my body when I moved three times my maximum speed still remains as I continued to swing my blade.

If I am able to acclimate myself to the Berserker state and be accustomed to swinging my blade with my full power at triple the speed, it might become easier for me to utilise my current speed.

Above all, I want to relive that sensation once more.

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After performing my exercises, I wiped my body and changed my clothes before returning to the tent. Since the magic tent wasn’t large enough for five people, we prepared two tents, one for me and Phil and one for Luna, Til and Selene.

[You’re finally back.] (Yuuya)
[Yeah. Keep this a secret from Selene but, I managed to pull Dainsleif out of its sheath. However…] (Yuuya)

I told Phil everything about Dainsleif as well as my thoughts about how I could utilise it to fight at three times my usual speed.

[So you had such an experience, it makes sense why you ended up practicing this late into the night.] (Phil)

Phil definitely knew me well after being together for a long time.

[However, it’s a shame. I thought it was finally time but if you’re tired for tonight..] (Phil)
[Don’t worry, I have plenty of energy left.] (Yuuya)

I pulled Phil into my embrace as we didn’t have any time alone at the inn despite being in a relationship. Luna was satisfied with the two-three split we did with the magic tent however if we were to get a seperate room at an inn, she would remind us that we could rent a large room and begin to call Phil out for being careless. She doesn’t seem to read the atmosphere well as we couldn’t just say out loud that we wanted a separate room together.

[I’m glad. Let’s do some extra tonight.] (Phil)

[I intend to.] (Yuuya)

I intend to savour tonight as I leaned in to kiss Phil

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The next morning, we left early in the morning after having breakfast.

Looking into the carriage from the coachman seat, I could see Phil half-asleep as she started to yawn. Erik who was sitting on Til’s head was also adorable as it yawned right after Phil.

[Oneechan, you enjoyed last night a wholeee lot right.] (Til)

Til began her usual old-man jokes as she made a joke that would have sent a fist to her face if she was a male.

[Til, I hope you enjoy your porridge boiled thoroughly with plenty of moss since you love vegetables.] (Phil)

[Oneechan, I’m sorry I understand my mistakes now.] (Phil)

And she was shut down as usual.

Luna was tilting her head as she doesn’t seem to understand the conversation and entered the coachman seat. She didn’t intend to do anything as she immediately headed towards my lap and began to take a nap while leaning onto my body. Since the weather has been becoming colder as we continued north, it was nice to have Luna this close as her body temperature was naturally high.

I took out an Elixir from my magic bag as I crushed it, turning it from a small tablet into powder as I pulled out one of my back molars. This was a special molar that could be placed behind my molars created by a dwarven blacksmith which allows me to store the powder into it and chewing onto the molar would cause its contents to pour out.

I returned the molar back into its original position.

The number of elixirs I had left was three and it was difficult to replenish.

Since it was capable of curing all kinds of status ailments, it was extremely valuable and wasn’t obtainable from the market.

This means that I can only draw Dainsleif if I could instantly kill all the creatures in my vicinity as it would be a waste to use my Elixir everytime I wanted to test it out.

[Yuuya, how much longer until we arrive?] (Luna)

[Let’s see.. We’ll be arriving much earlier than expected, around tomorrow evening since our carriage is much stronger and faster than a regular raptor carriage. Plus our raptors are trying their best.] (Yuuya)

This was the same for the Raptor which has been with me for god knows how long.

Our new addition was much faster than a usual Raptor as well.

Since I was feeling bored, I reached out and held onto Luna’s tail.

At this moment, something cracked as Luna’s doll which was kept in my magic bag was spat out of the bag completely split into two.

I immediately stopped the carriage as I scanned the surroundings for any hostile presence.

I couldn’t detect anything in the area at all, much less anything hostile.

The nature of the magic bag made sure that whatever that was stored within would never age or change. However there were exceptions to this.

….The dolls made from Grannel could break after nullifying a curse.

Looks like the dolls do indeed have the same effect in reality as they did in the game.

[Yuuya, Luna’s doll is..] (Luna)
[It’s completely broken now. I’m sorry.] (Yuuya)
[Yuuya doesn’t need to apologise. Actually, Luna is glad. Yuuya said that if Luna and Yuuya loved each other then it would work. If it broke means Luna protected Yuuya.] (Luna)

[That’s right, thank you Luna.] (Yuuya)

I stroked her head.

In any case, I never expected to be protected by her doll rather than Selene’s doll instead. In the game, the dolls would only break if any bad flags were to occur.

Does that mean that someone just tried to curse me.

[Yuuya, if we ever get close to Grannel, then we can get another doll. Luna wants you to have a Luna doll.] (Luna)

[I want to do that too. I plan to ask if it could be repaired too.] (Yuuya)

I signalled Raptor to continue our journey.

If the doll did break due to a curse, then someone might be targeting me at this moment. The most likely candidate right now would be Filoria Cartel.

If it was indeed a curse then the caster would most likely be dead. Curses were extremely powerful spells that posed a risk towards the caster if the spell failed. Especially since there were very few items that could inflict curses, it is highly unlikely that I would be cursed again. Although let’s be safe and look out for anything in our vicinity.

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Afterwords, I revealed the situation during dinner.

As planned, I taught Luna her fourth slash while Phil tried to repair the broken Luna doll.

The night continued as usual until…

[Uggg, it’s so cold. Yuuya-niisan. It’s freezing. Only for now, Til-chan will give you permission to hug her.] (Til)

Til hugged my body while being wrapped in a blanket.

Our destination was on the mountain, causing our surrounding temperature to decrease drastically as snow began to fall.

[If you feel cold then you could just return back to the carriage.] (Yuuya)

[I’m tired of the carriage! In the first place why is Erik and Luna so comfortable! Even though their clothes are much thinner than mine!] (Til)

[Kyu!]

[Foxes are fluffy~.] (Luna)

Erik was a faerie dragon with feathers while Luna had her fluffy fox tail to keep her warm.

[Contrary to them, Elves were vulnerable to both cold and heat.] (Yuuya)
[…The temperature at the village is just too perfect! It’s comfortable all year long!] (Til)

As Til mentioned, the elven village was a warm place that stayed that way all year long, making it an extremely fertile land where you could harvest crops all year long.

[Now then, we have finally arrived at the village of Snow and Ice, Kritarus. This is our destination.] (Yuuya)

It was a medium sized village lined with brick houses with chimneys in the roof. There were also countless goats grazing on the fields.

[Hurray! Let’s hurry up and buy some warm clothing! Just like those people over there! Then some warm drinks and a delicious warm meal!] (Til)

Til looked envious of the villages who were walking around in thick fur coats.

[Yuuya, what delicious food are there in Kritarus?] (Luna)

[According to the guild receptionist, one of the item drops in the dungeon, the Torotoro cheese was delicious. It was good enough that people would visit here just to try it. The best way to eat it was to grill meal with the cheese in a pan.] (Yuuya)

[We must definitely eat it! Luna loves eating cheese!] (Luna)

[Kyu!] (Erik)

[That sounds great. It sounds warm. Yuuya-niisan let’s hurry!] (Til)

I let out a bitter smile as I signal to Raptor. When we enter the town, we’ll immediately try out their special cheese hotpot.

Now then, I wonder what kind of amazing things will we encounter in this city.

<End of Chapter>