*Parry* *Block* *Parry* *Evade*

“You’re doing pretty well for yourself. Improving rather fast all things considered” I complimented Floria as both of us are sparring and training swordsmanship. Both of us are about four meters apart, she has her swords in hand and so do I. Of course just sparring won’t make her stronger on her own, but we can deal with that later.

“Hmph, well I’ll prove you wrong and improve even faster!” She boasted and-

*Dash*

Immediately close the distance between us, moving to my side as I began putting my blades to my front, if I wasn’t significantly stronger with good perception to boot I would’ve already lost.

*Spin* *Swing* *Leap*

I leaped backward after I turned to face her, swinging and grazing a bit of my cloak. I landed gracefully and stared at her posture after swinging her sword. Only about a meter of distance 

*Dash*

She quickly rushed towards me and closed the small distance in a fraction of a second.

*Parry*

Her two swords coming down on me got parried by my own dual blades, both of us standing strong on our position still even if the collision could’ve pushed us back. She quickly changed her stance to a more stable and direct one.

*Swing*

A pincer attack, this would be a problem to block if one only had one weapon at their disposal, but I have two.

*Block* *Dash*

I blocked the attack dashed backward to gain some distance. Now there’s a few more meters apart to not get blindsided easily. 

*Dash* *Leap*

She rushed towards me while I leaped towards her in retaliation, jumping over her and confusing her.

“[Thunderbolt]!” I chanted one word with one of my swords pointing at her.

*Shock*

“Ugh!” She groaned out in pain and almost completely lost her footing. I land on my feet and turn back to see her on the floor, twitching and trying to stand back up.

...After a while she does so, looking back at me and panting.

“I think this is a good transition into magic, since you already seem pretty good with swords already I don’t think we need to dwell on it too much, you alright there?” I suggested and asked how well she’s doing, I wasn’t putting in much mana into that attack, but a shock is still a shock, not exactly harmless.

“I’m… Fine” She said trying to move no doubt having some pain left in her.

“Well let’s move on to the topic of magic. Have you been practicing magic at all since yesterday?” I asked. 

“Not really. There would be quite an annoying commotion if I were to do so” She answered, that certainly makes sense, she seems to be quite an infamous adventurer, so if she does something she has never done before obviously it’ll be quite the news. 

“Make sense. Then let’s move on to that, you got to about apprentice level yesterday, rather quick considering you were magically crippled before then, not counting my assistance of course” I replied with a compliment. She doesn’t look too interested in it and just stays rather silent.

“Okay then… How about you teach me something regarding spells then? You haven’t talked about it that much beyond the common knowledge” She said anticipating an answer. I don’t think there’s much to learn outside of the basics, it should all be about self-discoveries and that, I mean I could teach her a specific spell I supposed… What would I teach her then? I think… Well I’m not even sure what she’s good at yet, maybe I should use that. Yeah maybe that first.

“Before that, put your hand on this tablet” I instructed, which gained some confusion from her, but she obliged thankfully.

 

Growth Rate

HP: 23

MP: 24

Strength: 23

Magical Prowess: 25

Dexterity: 23

Agility: 26

Luck: 20

Vitality: 21

Magical Resistance: 20

 

Talents

Sword

Cold

Water

Lightning

Wind

Earth

Dark

 

Now that’s one hell of a growth rate, sure she doesn’t have the buffs to growth rate like my friends but still, her natural growth rate makes up for it. She has a lot of elemental talents as well, rather ridiculous, I mean not as much as mine, but still way too many.

“What the heck is all of this?” She asked, looking a bit skeptical. I guess such a numerical system isn’t a common place.

“It’s a really convenient tool that is able to tell your strength and potential n numerical values” I explained. 

“Really? That’s extremely convenient, why isn’t this thing more well known?” She replied and pointed out. 

“It’s extremely intricate and hard to replicate, also it’s from an entirely different land altogether, no way anyone around here would know of it” I explained. Different land as in a different world altogether.

“Make sense, so how do these numbers compare anyway?” She asked, sounding slightly curious.

“Above average in every area with a lot of magic affinities to boot. You’re very strong in all areas, both physical and magical. You have a good future ahead of you I can tell, whatever you’re planning if you tried your best I’m sure you can succeed, so let’s get back to training okay?” I said encouraging her with a smile. I put the tablet away and look at her approvingly.

“Thanks for the encouragement” She quietly replied. Cute I must say.

“No worries, at least you know full well which elements you could realistically self-learn on your own” I responded.

“I see. Guess with any other elements I should have you help with isn’t that right?” She asked for clarification.

“Yep, so unless you’re in a rush to get a particular spell of the elements you’re proficient in you don’t need to ask me to teach you, of course if there’s some trouble I’ll give advice whenever possible” I replied.

“I see… Well there’s nothing I particularly want right now, so I guess I’m supposed to just try out new spells according to my imaginations isn’t that right?” She asked for more clarification on the topic before she actually started practicing.

“Yep, I’ll watch and make sure nothing goes wrong, you can trust me on that” I said with a reassuring smile. She looked bemused for a moment before turning away and becoming lost in thoughts. Guess she’s thinking up spells, I’ll make sure to guide her every step of the way.

 

#####

 

“[Wind of Blades]!” She chanted as the wind became sharp and moved according to her blades, it’s one of the stables of the spellblades. She’s doing pretty great so far with her wind magic, as it’s really good at complimenting physical attacks.

“You know, moving water is surprisingly deadly, try that, like it moving around the blade, at… really fast speed… Jetting water” I suggested, and she went silent looking at me, then back at her swords.

“[Blade of Water. Blade of Jetting Water]!” She chanted one more time now with water appearing around her blades and began moving around like a chainsaw. Her face looks a bit strained no doubt due to having to use her mana to contain the state of her blades.

“Now swing it at the few trees around here” I suggested and wanted her to demonstrate its strength before she dispelled her enchantment.

*Swing* *Crash*

She swung both of her swords at a tree, which ended up with the tree being split into three and then ultimately fell down.

“Haah…” She sighed and the enchantment went away. That must’ve been very taxing with the high speed of the water jet.

“That’s a very strong-if taxing-spell isn’t it? Better not use it for more than the attack okay?” I said, walking over to her and patting her shoulder, looking at her reassuringly.

“Yeah, are there any other spells I should know about?” She replied, still panting a little.

“Not as far as I can tell, I mean what are you even fighting against? A monster? A humanoid? What exactly?” I answered without having any other suggestion at the moment.

“...Humanoid” She replied quietly, seeming rather hesitant. It does seem like it’s a very personal matter so of course she seems rather hesitant saying anything on the topic. 

“...Okay then, I don’t think there’s much weakness or exploit you won’t know of since you’re a human yourself. Anyway let’s continue your training shall we? Here’s a mana potion, rest for a bit and then continue” I commented and handed her a mana potion. I walk away and continue to observe her.

 

#####

 

*Swing* *Swing*

Perhaps to get her imagination running Floria began swinging her swords about. I wonder what elements could she be thinking about right now.

“You okay there? What kind of spells are you thinking about?” I asked her as I walked over to her to make sure she’s alright.

“I was thinking about one thing. What exactly is the dark element?” She turned around and answered. It is a strange thing isn’t it? Dark element is extremely unorthodox due to how it actually works, what it actually represents.

“It’s about the force to pull something in, to simplify it” I answered in a way that should make her understand, she looked a bit confused but not much else.

“Really? That sounds convenient” She commented not having much to say, probably still a bit unsure of my explanation. It’s something about this really strange type of matter and energy, both with the dark prefix.

“When you use said dark element there would be a void of darkness where you use it as well” I added. She then pondered for a while then looked back at me.

“Nothing inherently evil?” She asked a rather strange question sounding calm and rational still at least.

“Why would it be? That’ll be stupid” I casually replied, which makes her scratch her head and then look at me probably wondering about something.

“What?” I asked flatly.

“How many elements are there that exist on that tablet?” She said, guess she wants to know what magic can do. Technically anything but by each element then…

“There’s fire, cold, water, lightning, wind, earth… light, dark, life, death, mind, space, and time… That’s thirteen in total” I listed them all, and that’s technically not all of them as magic can be outside of those thirteen categories. 

“Some of that is… hard to tell how it’ll work. Life? Death?” She commented and essentially asked me for details on those.

“Life is about regeneration and bringing life, death is about destroying life, living being, all about decay” I explained, not the most well explained without using science that no one from this time should have any idea of.

“I see… I guess the power of light and darkness had nothing to do with it?” She asked, seems like people here have a belief about such a thing.

“Yep, don’t believe those zealots, nothing good came from them” I replied with a scorn, bastards, all of them. Wait, is there a church here perchance?

“So that’s how it is. I’m not really sure who to believe more but at least you’re not annoying” She commented. 

“Why would I be? It’s a simple fact. Anyway there’s a church in the capital?” I then asked a rather ominous sounding question.

“Yeah? What about it?” She answered, sounding dull and uninterested.

“Nothing… I just think that space could be used for something else” I maliciously implied, was I making a face back then? She backed away for a bit.

“Not my problem if something bad happened to them” She said practically snarking at me, bold of her if nothing else.

“Of course not, you’re not involved in my personal matters after all. Anyhow any more questions regarding the elements?” I noted and then asked.

“None. I’ll just go back to practicing spells for now” She said, sounding somewhat bored.

“Okay then, don’t forget to hit me up if you have any more questions or want to go back early” I said with a thumbs up then give us some distance.

 

#####

 

The surrounding of her blade became pitch back and it feels like the world got sucked into it. Her body is extremely strained using the dark magic.

“[High Heal]” I chanted and her body began recovering quickly, or at least the pain started to stop. Hopefully she doesn’t harm herself too much trying out new spells. She looks back at me with an appreciative glance, then back to training she goes.

 

#####

 

The sun is getting down and I think it’s best we leave. I feel a bit stiff sitting for so long… I’ll just teleport around.

*Zoom*

Floria looked visibly surprised at me just teleporting only a few meters just to meet her face to face. 

“What was that for?” She asked hoarsely. 

“Like it mattered, it’s not that costly anyway” I dismissively replied.

“Yeah… okay… So I guess now it’s time to go back?” She asked for clarification.

“Yes, I think we should rest… Actually how about we hang and talk a bit more after going back? Sounds nice to you?” I replied then thinking about something, as she and me being associated is most likely known already so us hanging out in public probably won’t cause too much commotion right?... Well at least it’s better than me being with a stranger at least.

“Sure” She responded flatly. I immensely take her hand and-

*Zoom*

Teleported back to her room. We didn’t take any mission today nor do I see a reason to for now, maybe if I really need money for something… which I could probably steal somewhere, and Floria as a rather well known and strong fighter no doubt have quite a fortune on her already, if not believing it’ll be enough just yet. Yeah it’ll be entirely on her to pay for our tour together, I’m not broke or anything but I very much do not have the world’s currency, I mean I still have some valuable and stuff from different worlds and times, like slime’s fluids for example, I think slime’s fluids can be use to make potion and- Ohhh, so that’s what was in the potions. Now that I think about it Elvana could probably make a monopoly on that considering her-

“So what exactly are we supposed to do exactly? You’re the one planning this” Floria interrupted my train of thoughts. Well I was getting a bit lost in thought there so whatever, that point wasn’t important.

“How about we just walk together and have a bit of a chat? How about you show me a restaurant or something? On you of course, I’ll find a way to repay it later” I suggested with a smile, she doesn’t look like a particularly social person so that might be hard for her, but let’s see how she’ll react first.

“That’s fine I supposed. You’re more than deserved it, helping me out so far” She replied sounding a bit melancholic. I’m not really a fan of that kind of sound.

“Look, I do believe you need to relax outside of your room for once, c’mon, maybe you’ll enjoy yourself for once. Whatever plan and ambition you have in mind can be put to rest for a while right?” I suggested patting her shoulder, having been doing that gesture for a while and so far she hasn’t objected to it, that’s nice to see.

“Okay…” She replied, sounding a bit more… neutral I guess.

“Let’s go” I said with a gentle smile. I walk to the door and Floria also follows me. We walked out of the room and down the stairs.

People were looking at us as we began walking down and out the building. Thankfully no one was stopping by and interrupting us as we leave, but it seems her notoriety is quite a problem when trying to not gather attention or do anything relatively normal.

“Do you always deal with such a thing?” I asked, feeling curious about her life so far.

“Not always, but it sure is unwelcome” She replied sounding dull. She really doesn’t do social interaction too well.

“Well I’m here so no need to worry” I said with a reassuring smile. We walked on the road and I continued to look around. 

Floria and I continue to walk around and sightseeing more or less, a few looks here and there but nothing as bad as in the guild building itself.

There’s a few food stalls as well, but I think an actual restaurant would be a better atmosphere for us to relax, I think she needs it.

“You do know where the restaurant is right?” I casually asked the woman besides me, she sighed in response.

“Not really” She replied, guess she’s really not good with places. I’ll make due somehow.

“I’ll make sure to look out for it then, let’s keep going” I said to reassure her and continue to move and look about. It’s certainly a rather peaceful afternoon… Oh I think this is a restaurant… Yeah seems that way, looks a bit modern to be honest, but perhaps there are otherworlders before us who make or inspired such a place.

“Let’s go inside shall we?” I said to Floria.

“Very well” She replied, following me into the restaurant.

 

#####

 

We sat down and ordered already. A few European dishes… So where is this exactly? Might be in America, or Europe. Oh also I ordered some alcohol, she doesn’t seem to object at least even though it’s a bit expensive.

“So isn’t there something you could perhaps share with me? I think you need to open up a little and relax” I said starting the conversation.

“First off you just spend a good deal of my money on some wine, secondly I really don’t know what to tell you” She snarled at me, at least it’s better than being apathetic or sad.

“Eh, I’ll go steal something from the royal place. No need to worry” I just casually spill that fact out there, while many would probably take it as a joke considering both her experience with me and her general demeanor she can see full well that I’m being very serious there… not including the gold I raided from other castles… Yeah I’m a bit of a Robin Hood I’d say, a bit of a weird thing to say considering we’re both folk heroes… though in my case a bit more debated.

“Seriously?... Well if it compensates for how much I have to pay here then sure. Whatever” She responded with equal parts dispassionate and unnerved.

“Well let’s just relax and stay together for now. Take it easy” I said to her so the situation so far doesn’t feel too down.

 

#####

 

*Sip*

Another sip. The wine isn’t that good but it works, so I won’t complain.

“You sure can drink wine” Floria commented finally something a bit more off beat, then again I peer pressure her into drinking some as well so maybe it’s because she’s under the influence… Well she only takes like two sips so I doubt she’s drunk enough to say stuff randomly. I don’t think she’s a lightweight.

“Well… I’d say I’m a pretty good drinker, I believe I raided some places with high quality wine as well” I mentioned.

“Then why even bother ordering some?” She grumbled.

“Just testing it out. Don’t worry I can make up for it later” I replied. She doesn’t respond.

…

We already ate everything we ordered and now we’re just chilling. She doesn’t take another sip…

*Sip*

But I do. It’s slightly bitter but still there is the sour and sweetness one would expect from a wine. I’m not exactly a drinker, or at least don’t make a habit out of it. I prefer both wine and sake to other types of alcohol since it’s not overly bitter… 

“Say. After I finished all of this let’s go back to our respective places okay? We’ll see each other tomorrow” I said while gesturing to her to perhaps try out more of the wine. She silently obliged while I took another sip as well.

**Sip**

 

#####

 

I certainly drink a lot there, if only because I ordered perhaps a bit much. I stand up and look at Floria also standing up and ready to leave.

“Let’s say our goodbyes” I said, as a way to end the day.

“Okay… Let’s see each other again” She replied sounding a bit pained there. Maybe I make her drink a bit more than she can.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be there tomorrow, just stay put and I’ll compensate” I said to bring her some positivity. I’m not the most optimistic person out there but I still don’t want to bring anyone down. 

“Yeah… You will… I’ll be going now” She said still can’t come up with many words, and left. A bit of a lonely goodbye…

Well it’s time for me to go back as well, soon the sun will set and the sky turns dark blue, I should go back before then…

 

#####

 

Back in my room and ready for a night’s rest. She seems to open up to me a bit more, hopefully things will go well even after this… I wonder if I even need to help out the otherworlders after this point… Well I should help with the lecture part at least, then I’ll go to see Floria quickly… There are still a few things uncertain, but so far so good. I need to look out for anything else suspicious besides those two and find out what their deal actually is… and to help the one I can’t just keep my hands from. The second day, with still many days left until the climactic showdown… I have to get some answers before then…