“You sure sound knowledgeable about the subject.”

“From time to time, the guards of the farm would get drunk and cause trouble.”

Heirina decided not to ask further since it was a delicate subject. Besides, Aleph was busy with the iron balls, and if he messed up, he might break the ceiling of the carriage and make them hit the head of one of those inside. It was better not to break his focus.

After suffering for half a day, the group’s mood improved after lunch. They drank a lot of milk, and that helped a lot. At the same time, they swore that they would never drink again, but Aleph knew that those were empty words. Even if they regretted the latter part, they could tell that they had a lot of fun while drinking in the beginning.

When night came, everyone looked completely fine, so they checked the surroundings for signs of people following them before camping, but they found nothing. Thanks to that, Heirina decided that it was time to make up for the lost time and do some training.

“Let’s spar. We should be fine for now.”

“Aleph stayed awake since yesterday morning. Perhaps this isn’t a good idea.”

“If it is just one round each, then I will be fine. I take it that only strikes with weapons are acceptable, and the one who gets first loses, right?”

“Yes, we can start first.”

It was the first time Aleph would fight Heirina, so it was a good chance for him to gain some new experience and try to understand her traits. Aleph grabbed his wooden sword and Heirina also grabbed the same weapon. Then they stood in front of each other.

Aleph stepped in without hesitation and then swung his sword horizontally… it was a simple and very predictable attack, so Heirina didn’t have a hard time blocking it. Still, the impact pushed her backward a couple of centimeters while her stance didn’t break at all… She looked at her arm and then saw Aleph preparing a swing from the other side. Still, when she moved her sword to block it, Aleph dropped the weapon and, grabbed it with the other hand, and then launched a sword strike with a reverse grip.

Heirina still reacted fast enough to block the attack, but her stance broke a bit, and her arms approached her chest as Aleph pushed her. During both attacks, Heirina’s eyes remained wide open, and she didn’t even flinch… her demeanor didn’t change at all, either. 

While studying Heirina, Aleph kept moving the wooden sword from one side to the other. The weapon was moving so fast that, at times, it looked like he had more than one. 

“If you can use both of your arms like that, why don’t you try dual-wielding style?”

“I like to keep one hand free from surprises.”

Aleph stepped in again, changing the weapon from arm to arm, and then swung down the wooden sword. She blocked the attack again and lowered her stance to counter until Aleph grabbed the sword with the other hand and forced her posture to break. Then, Heirina jumped down as she felt the weight of the attack.

At that moment, Heirina felt like it would be the right time for Aleph to use a follow-up attack, but he didn’t move at all. Things would have been better for him if he had used both hands. His strength could even surpass Heirina’s, but for some reason, he was too stubborn to try that.

“It looks like the more we keep going, the worse it will be for me… unlike your personality, you are quite methodical when it comes to fighting.”

“... How you can tell that… do you already know the secret of my trait?”

“No, but it is just a feeling that I have.”

Aleph charged again, but then he planted his feet on the ground until he smashed the grass for a couple of centimeters, and then he jumped with all his might… after reaching a ten-meter height, he began to fall and then swung down his wooden sword with all his might. Unfortunately, that gave Heirina more than enough time to jump backward and avoid the hit.

Irlan and Kaitrine opened their eyes widely… since Heirina had never done that before. At the same time, she squinted her eyes… Aleph had good instincts if anything. He was on the right path to discovering the secret of her main trait.

“All right, I give up. Nothing good will out of this.”

“Wait, what? This is a sparring. You can’t just give up like that.”

“My best bet is to use that kind of attack, but you will have plenty of room to avoid them, so this isn’t much of a real sparring. I learned that I need to be a bit faster to hit you, and you learned that you need to use your trait faster as well. Let’s consider this a draw, then.”

If they keep going, then the secret of Heirina’s trait will be exposed… and Hei’s as well. While they were all allies there, such a thing was still better to be kept as a secret.

“Who is going to be the next then? I am going to sleep earlier today.”

“You gave up on this spar, and you want another?” 

Kaitrine looked annoyed by Aleph’s actions, but at that point in time, it was a normal occurrence, so Aleph just shrugged and then went to bed earlier. He could tell that he would say something grumpy to get on her nerves due to his exhaustion, and that wasn’t worth the hassle. Kaitrine let out an exasperated sigh.

“... For someone of his age, he doesn’t know how to do things aside from doing at the beating of his own drum.”

“Don’t worry about it. He doesn’t do that out of bad feelings. He's just too methodical and logical to a fault. Besides, he was right about me. The more I keep fighting and buying time, the more my trait becomes easier to understand. Anyway, I am going to hit the sack a bit earlier, too.”

“I am going to be on the watch first. I will call some of you if I get too tired.”

Everyone nodded at Irlan’s statements, and then they went to bed. He needed some time to process what had happened… he tried to understand Heirina’s traits to a bunch of times. Still, he never felt that he was getting closer to it… he only felt that she was actually holding back against everyone… he believed that he had more knowledge and experience than a ten-year-old boy. Still, perhaps his mind was too set in his ways… he needed to open it to consider all possible solutions and explanations to a problem.

From that day onward, Irlan decided to use his head more and think more instead of talking all the time when he relaxed… he seemed deep in thought while considering several things, and that made the others realize that he was trying to learn from Aleph.

“That must be a guy thing… I can understand then, but this is kind of sad since I don’t have many chances to travel like this or interact with people of my age.”

“Aren’t you older than us, like by ten years?” 

“How rude… I am just eighteen.”

Kaitrine’s words cut deep into Edea’s mind… she looked better now, and the others realized that now that she looked less exhausted, she also looked younger. The trait of her clan was useful, but it came with some serious costs. That was the kind of thing that Heirina had never imagined, so he decided to delve a bit more into the subject.

“All of the cloaked people looked tall enough to be adults, but despite your age, you were the one who was sealing the traits of the most troublesome prisoner there. Isn’t that weird?”

“Even among my clan, some people develop the trait faster than others. Besides, my parents and grandparents already passed away, and I inherited their progress. So, that puts me ahead of those even twenty years older than me.”

That was something difficult to understand… but the reason behind their deaths was clear: the overuse of that trait. Her clan wasn’t a clan of fighters, after all. So, it made Heirina consider the dangers of using a trait like that… which also made her think about Aleph… wasn’t he following the same path despite his young age?

“It must be tough… in times like this, your clan always has to stay active.”

“It is fine. Considering the stories that I heard in the past, this is probably for the best. Our clan was pretty hated thanks to our abilities… only when we were hired by the council of merchants was when that stopped since we began to work actively for the country.”

Things got awkward for a moment. Talking about Edea’s clan was almost like walking through a minefield. The silence only ended when everyone suddenly heard a loud impact. When they left the carriage, they saw Aleph jumping from it and walking toward a one-meter-long rock at the side of the road. A good part of it had been destroyed by something. Amidst pieces of the rock, Aleph grabbed one of the iron balls that he had brought.

“It slipped from my hands, sorry.”

The author here, everyone. Thanks for reading the book. I hope that you have fun reading the book as much as I have writing it. If you want to join our discord, this is the link: https://discord.gg/AQsYm99A

I also have a Patreon for those who want to read ahead. Don't worry; I will post a new chapter every day here, but I will be posting two on the Patreon. There are currently thirty-seven chapters ahead there. Thank you for your patience, and have a nice day!