Eris’s POV
…
Lately, everything felt so weird. Eris would suddenly feel happy when she was with Rudeus for no reason. But then there were times when she felt dissatisfied for no reason either. And then there’s Laurel.
Eris hated Laurel. No. Wait. That’s not exactly the right word. Dislike? Distaste? Dis—Urgh, this is so complicated. In short, Laurel’s annoying.
She first took him in because she wanted to boast to Rudeus how generous she was. Then she was suddenly shocked by Laurel. He was younger than Eris since he and Rudeus were twins, but he was much stronger. Stronger than her, and stronger than even Rudeus, strong enough to fight toe-to-toe with Ghislaine.
She didn’t exactly dislike his presence. He wasn’t exactly loud and bold like her grandfather, but he wasn’t exactly as meek and squeaky like her father either. He was also quite a good sparing partner.
But then Laurel and Rudeus would often huddle together at times and talk about weird, complicated things that she didn’t understand. So, she got annoyed. For one, it felt like she was excluded from their conversations; second, it was because she felt like Rudeus was spending more and more time with Laurel outside of classes than with her.
“Hah. Hah. Hah… Miss Eris, what, exactly, did I do to deserve this?"
She stared at Laurel, who was lying on the ground rolling pathetically. After a few months of being ambushed by the Long Sword of Silence, he had finally failed to block her, his shield broken, and he was down to the ground. He did manage to recover the body shield, but the fact that he was on the ground and being pummeled by her didn’t change anything.
She wanted to just ignore him and go away, but then she remembered that Rudeus was always going on endlessly about reports, communication, and discussion. She didn’t want Rudeus to suddenly hate her for lashing out at Laurel.
“Because. Your face. It looks so punchable.”
Yup. That’s probably it. Laurel’s face looked like Rudeus; though he wasn’t Rudeus, he kept reminding her of him, so Eris ended up punching him without thinking about it too much. It couldn’t be helped. It was just reflex.
…
Laurel’s POV
…
I gave in. I thought I could hold on for longer. But being constantly attacked by the Long Sword of Silence and having to use shields 24/7 to block her was so overwhelming that my mana was rapidly on the verge of depletion.
It was like Gojo running out of curse energy and getting ambushed by Toji. JJK reference. There’s nothing I can do if it reaches that point. Of course, I could copy Gojo—constantly use mana for telepathy at the minimal amount in comparison to my recovery, only catching things that are faster or more dangerous. All while resting my mind to not end up frying my brain.
It was impossible, of course, considering I have no ability to recover my frying brain, no six eyes for efficiency, nor enough attention span to block what I want to block. But… it was actually doable?
Wait… Hold on. I wasn’t alone. I had caterpillars. They were on standby, sucking on air and gathering reserves, but they could use magic, albeit advanced being their limit due to their intelligence. However, what if I had them operate autonomously, but instead of gathering mana, they were delegated to observe, protect, and handle things? Since there are many, they are naturally able to switch shifts, making this a true 24/7 defensive system. Gojo infinity style… Holy shit. No. Wait. That’s not the point.
The point was that Eris was constantly withering my reserves. So, rather than holding on and emptying my mana reserves, I chose to play dead and lie on the floor to get pummeled. Of course, for Eris it would be like punching a wall, but it should be enough for her to vent all her frustrations, whatever it was.
“Hah. Hah. Hah… Miss Eris, what, exactly, did I do to deserve this?"
I sincerely asked. I don’t really know how I ended up on her blacklist. But if she were going to end up being my sister-in-law, then we might as well settle it as quickly as possible. Eris went silent, but unlike the other times, she finally answered with a straight and honest expression. Her lines, however, made me feel incredulous.
“Because. Your face. It looks so punchable.”
… Damn it, Paul! What did I do to inherit such a punchable face? I got scammed thinking it didn’t look bad, but it turns out it was a scam! A SCAM!
Tch. Whatever. I’ll just have to make do with what I already have. Anyways, I basically accomplished all the things I could obtain here.
The first was knowledge of Beastfolk language for the dictionary, plus more complete knowledge from Demon language. Thanks to Roxy copying from a dictionary somewhere, I had now obtained a true dictionary for referencing my six-face language dictionary plan into motion.
Second was that my combat skills and assets had started to form into a proper combat art. Ghislaine struggled an entire minute just to find me. And it took her another just to catch me. And one more just to ensure my defeat. A total of three minutes. That was how long it took for the fourth strongest King of Sword God Style, a sword style famous for its speed, to win.
It wasn’t long, just enough to dual cast water and Thunderbolt and knock out any unsuspecting opponent. And that was if I only had three minutes. Ghislaine said that I am capable of knocking out a King-ranked if I’m lucky enough using “only” thunder.
That means I could at least hold my own against a King-ranked Swordsman in a death match. IF they let their guard down… Well, not really, but it really depends on who’s luckier that day. If I were in an advantageous environment, then I would be at my peak; otherwise, I’m at most capable of having a dogfight with a Saint-rank swordsman.
Assessment of abilities and tactics: I was probably in the middle of the Saint-to-King rank in terms of combat power, but considering that I was a noob and a child, my future looked quite promising.
I did write down notes to not forget, but I still haven’t remembered what I have forgotten, so that’s all I will report for now. After a few more days, I was going home.
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