Chapter 186: Decency, What's That?
Kael was dumbfounded for a moment.
'What do you mean by unknown? You don't even know what kind of risk it is? Or are you telling me to fear the unknown? Well, she's far more knowledgeable than me... so, I've got no choice but to trust her on this one.'
He studied her beautiful face and contemplated her words for a moment.
'Basically, in order to muster those reflexes, I need to make myself capable of sensing pure mana, which is not only impossible to achieve but also very dangerous. Is there really no other way to learn it?'
A trace of disappointment appeared on his expression as he said, "I will... keep that in mind."
His pupils constricted a little as he looked down with a gloomy face, his earlier enthusiasm fading little by little.
Noticing that, Seraphina let out a sigh, "Are you giving up already? But what I've mentioned until now was only about instinct... which has nothing to do with reflexes at all. All of it lets you sense the incoming attack, but doesn't give you the privilege to react according to it. Which means, whether you'll be able to dodge or avoid an attack despite knowing it's coming always depends on you and your body. Surprisingly, you have the capacity and quality required for it."
She paused for a moment before continuing in a gentle voice, "So, why try to waste it on something that's not worth it, when you can try to muster the reflex on your own without the help of pure mana?"
Kael raised his head, "I can do that?"
The corner of her lips curled up into a faint smile as she said, "Yes, you can. Though it won't be as effective as with that instinct, and this might also take some time to learn. The only advantage is that... you'll have the time and choice to grow. So, what do you say? Are you willing to learn it?"
Kael chuckled, "Of course, I am. Besides, who'd be stupid enough to reject an offer of training by a jade beauty?"
Seraphina stared at him with a complicated expression, unable to understand how she should react to that or how she was supposed to take it.
Kael took a step forward and extended his hands on both sides, "You know what, darling..."
Without any hesitation, he jumped straight at her with both hands closing in as though he was about to hug her. A knowing smile appeared on his lips, "...you're the best."
Of course, this time he had no intentions of being dramatic or anything like that. He was just happy that she wanted to teach him something, so he decided to express his gratitude. That's all he could do, after all.
'I have no ulterior motives. None at all.'
Seraphina, who was already struggling to react to him, was caught off-guard by his sudden course of action.
She blinked a couple of times as Kael came closer and closer to her, to the point that she could almost feel his breath. In fact, there was only an inch remaining between them before their bodies would collide, but due to the height difference between them, his face would hit her neck. That was exactly what she found most suspicious.
Just before his attack was about to land, Seraphina gracefully sidestepped and kicked at his ankle. Since there was nothing to anchor himself to, he fell to the ground and struck it with his face.
For a while, he silently lay on his chest there without moving at all.
Seraphina looked down at his sprawled body from above and had the urge to facepalm herself, but held it back.
'His indecency is getting out of hand lately. No wonder he was so determined to train... so as to find some chances in between those times. I need to be extra careful.'
Kael rolled his body and lay on his back, looking at the vast blue sky. With a faint smile, he muttered, "Ah, what an age and generation has become of... can't even hug my own wife these days... tsk, tsk."
Seraphina's brows knitted together, "Stop talking nonsense. And stand up."
'She's awfully serious today? Here I thought she became a little bit softer after that night.'
He glanced at her from the corner of his eyes and sighed.
'I couldn't have been more wrong.'
The rays of golden sunlight fell into the grass while the breeze made the shadows dance and leaves drift through the air, giving both of them a tranquil feeling that was strangely refreshing.
Seraphina's silver hair cascaded down her back, each spidersilk-like strand glinting with a soft golden hue.
She was silent for a moment before asking, "What are you waiting for?"
Kael shielded his eyes from the sunlight with his hand and said, "Nothing. It just occurred to me that when we first came here, my impression of Velhart was completely different from what it is now. I was expecting to run into monsters everywhere, prepared to forget about sleep for the rest of my life, and peace was unthinkable. Back then, I was just thinking about which district would be the best hiding spot or the safest place to be when an attack happened. In the end, all that worry turned out to be for nothing."
Seraphina's expression changed slightly as she said, "People tend to exaggerate sometimes. So, if you put too much trust in gossip, these mistakes are bound to happen. Besides, those who have never visited Velhart before will never know what kind of place it really is. It's only natural that they would assume things based on the vague information they had."
Kael sighed, "Yeah, you're right."
Seraphina turned to the side, her shoulder facing the rising sun as she asked, "So, what do you think of the town now?"
Kael smiled, "I'm not sure yet. But I can tell you that much... it's the most peaceful town I've ever been to. You may think I'm being quixotic, but trust me, I'm not. After all, I'm living the life I've always wanted."
Seraphina kept staring at him with a complicated expression before saying, "If all you do is quarrel, eat, sleep, go around, and keep repeating it over and over again... indeed, it'll be peaceful. It's surprising that you're not even bored with this life yet."
Kael shot her a blank expression, "Hey, is it really necessary to say all of that? Should I remind you that the life I'm living now is the dream of countless people... hmph! Or wait... do you have any problem with it?"
As a breeze passed by, her hair fluttered into the air. Her expression softened a little as she said neutrally, "I don't."
Kael looked at his wife with a hint of wonder and curiosity before asking, "In any case... tell me about your impression of the town?"
Seraphina gave him a cold look, "Why should I?"
Kael sighed, "Because I want to hear it."
Seraphina crossed her arms over her chest, "Haven't we agreed that we won't try to delve into each other's private life unless the other person wants to share them? Are you not abiding by your own words?"
He beat her to it, "It sounds ironic coming from someone who doesn't know the first thing about personal space. Whenever she gets a chance, she never forgets to pet my head and hair without my consent, no less. Where does the matter of private life go then? What about following rules? Why do they always apply to me but not to you?"
Seraphina froze for a moment, a faint shred of pink appearing on her cheeks. However, she didn't speak a single word afterwards.
Kael groaned, "Come on, don't be so silent. It's rude, you know. Say something. Hey?"
Seraphina tucked a lock of her silver hair behind her ear and said, "You've wasted enough of my time, Kael. Do you want to learn from me or not? Decide this instant, or who knows... I might change my mind."
'You... how dare you threaten me? Just when I almost got her, she did that. Damn it!'
Kael shifted his gaze, "Yeah, yeah."
Without wasting any more time, he sat up by leaning against his hand and then stood up. Rubbing the back of his neck, he asked, "So, how are you going to teach me that? And what do you want me to do here?"
Seraphina unsheathed her sword and pointed the tip diagonally toward the ground before saying, "It's simple. I will attack you without holding anything back, and you'll just have to evade them."
Kael froze for a moment, "You'll what now? Don't even think about it."
Paying him no mind, Seraphina took a few steps forward and said, "Keep yourself calm and don't close your eyes. Don't try to look at my sword or the tip either, focus on me and my body only... I mean, the movements of my wrist, my hand, or my shoulder. Study every step I take and observe how I move. By doing so, you'll be able to predict your opponent's movements, and only then will you be able to dodge their attacks. But if you focus on the sword only, your opponent will have the advantage over you."
'I actually know all of this.'
Kael nodded hesitantly, "I understand. But there's no need to go all out, sweetheart. Please, reconsider once again."
Ignoring him, Seraphina launched herself forward like a shooting arrow. Before he even realized what was happening, she was already standing in front of him.
Feeling a cold sensation against his neck, Kael instinctively traced her hand and noticed that her sword had sliced the side of his neck, leaving a shallow graze behind. Drops of blood were sliding down from it.
He swallowed hard, "Excuse me?"
'Why did it have to be the neck, though?'
Seraphina, who was standing face to face with him, spoke with a deadly calm, her expression remaining unchanged, "Perhaps I forgot to mention this before... but if you don't take it seriously, there's a great chance you might lose a limb or two."
'What's the point of training then?'
Before he could even look at her, she drove a devastating fist into his abdomen, making him gasp for air as the impact forced his body to bend forward.
'Argh!'
With another fist, she sent his body flying through the air. He crashed into the grass before rolling a few times across the ground and finally coming to a halt.
'Hell, I-I can't see her movements at all. Even though my strength has been downgraded due to Mana Veil... I should've been able to sense them, but I can't. But why? Is my E-Rank persona really that weak compared to her?'
He glanced toward her, but all he could see was a dark silhouette walking toward him, with blue flames dancing in the depths of its eyes.
Her lips parted slightly, "Rise."
A cold chill ran down his spine.
'What's wrong with her? No, who even taught someone like that? Isn't this straight-up bullying? I suppose all those exaggerations about how terrifying her training methods were turned out to be true. No wonder Arwyn never lets her train any new knights. Man, I ignored those warnings because she only instructed me to do exercises and nothing else... but who knew those exercises were meant to make my body strong enough to survive her attacks?'
He pushed himself up and wiped the drops of blood away from his lips.
'Just what in the hell kind of family was she adopted into... I don't even want to know.'
He shook his head for a moment.
'In any case, I should focus on surviving her attacks first, or else, knowing her... I doubt there will be a bone left in me.'
Before he could even react, Seraphina was once again upon him, her sword descended from above and struck his head, almost knocking him out.
'Damn her! Why's she so fast!'
In the next moment, Seraphina lashed out at him with different kinds of approaches in a barrage of attacks, sometimes thrusting her sword forward, while at other times slicing or cleaving from different angles.
The worst part was that she never attacked in the same way from the same position again, constantly changing the rhythm and direction of her attacks to prevent him from finding any coordination in her maneuvers.
Sometimes, it seemed as though she was attacking from everywhere at once, but there was a strange beauty in it, as though he were watching a dancer moving gracefully across a stage.
Naturally, he hadn't managed to dodge a single one so far. It wasn't that he wasn't capable of doing so, but if he learned to dodge them in such a short amount of time, she would obviously doubt him or become even more suspicious of him, so he was deliberately holding himself back from learning it directly and kept making mistakes over and over again.
'Ah, sometimes, I really hate my weak self.'
Throughout all of this, he received a complete and faithful beating from her, with his shirt covered in several cuts of different sizes, making him look like a beggar.
He had lost count of how many fists had struck his abdomen, face, and shoulder, but judging by how heavy his body felt, how moving even an inch had become so damned difficult, and all the pain coursing through him, it had to have been a lot.
Drops of blood lingered all around his body as he struggled to remain even standing.
'It feels like she has finally taken her revenge for all the times I've annoyed her.'
Kael huffed a few times.
His breathing became rough, his body swaying softly but he was forcing himself to remain on his feet. Even then, moving himself forward felt as though he was dragging a boulder behind him.
'Damn it! I don't want to continue anymore.'
For a moment, everything around him seemed to slow down, and then, suddenly, he felt as though he had sensed something.
At the same time, Seraphina's sword flashed through the air in a horizontal arc and was about to strike the side of his chest. However, Kael dropped to the ground before the blade could touch him, narrowly dodging the blade in the process.
In a barely sitting position, Kael wore a look of pure puzzlement and surprise.
'W-what just happened? I feel like I sensed something wrong, and my legs just gave way at the perfect time. Is it the reflexes? No, it's not. It's that sense again, but what caused it to trigger this time? Unlike the Forest of Death or that ghost house ceiling, where the mana density was higher because of the Silent River and Effie's spell... there's no reason for it to be that high here. What does it imply, then?'
Kael's pupils constricted.
'It can't be, can it? If it's not related to the healing element, then what the hell is it? Don't tell me... it's the Elemental Insight. Am I able to sense through the natural wind around me? It's not entirely impossible. But according to Seraphina, there had to be some limitations to it... perhaps that's why I can't control it on my own will. If that's true, then it's possible to muster it without any danger or risk even. But how can I muster something I can't activate on my own? Is there some special way to do so?'
He felt as though he was going in circles without any hope of finding a way out.
He glanced at his wife with a quiet look.
'Should I ask her? No, bad idea. She'll realise that I lied to her again.'
After a while, Kael's mouth curled up a little.
'I think I get it now. If I try to muster it in some way, I can't learn it... which means I shouldn't try to muster it at all. Instead, I have to let it appear within me on its own. Of course, if I sit still and do nothing, it won't work. So, what else can I do? Battle against some stronger monster? No, it won't be that easy. There has to be some special circumstance or specific criteria that must be met for it to activate. But what?
Speaking of which, when this sense first appeared... there were only a few emotions I had back then.
Fear, anxiety and desperation.'
His eyes lit up.
'Perhaps these are the key to learning the Wind Sense.'
Kael heaved a sigh of relief.
Noticing that Seraphina hadn't said anything about continuing the training, he sprawled onto the ground as though doing so would remove all the tiredness from his body.
He glanced at the position of the sun.
'Huh? It's closer to 9 A.M.? She'll be late again. Doesn't that mean I have to cook my own breakfast today? But I don't want to.'
Seraphina sheathed her sword and stared at his bloody body with an expressionless face.
'Even though he complains a lot... he's got the courage and determination to learn it.'
She took a step forward, her silver hair swaying behind her, "In any kind of battle, our intuition, instinct, or premonition, whatever you would like to address it as, always plays a major role in ensuring victory. It's good to rely on it, but don't get too used to it. Otherwise, it might become the very reason you lose the battle."
'Something's not right here.'
Kael blinked and said, "That reminds me... how am I supposed to predict a monster's attack? I mean, unlike us humans, many monsters possess different kinds of limbs. It's impossible to study them all at once."
Seraphina tilted her head and said, "In that case, you'll have to focus on their attacks, or the weapon they are using."
Kael's mouth twitched, "So, why are you teaching me how to fight humans when all I will fight are monsters in the future?"
Seraphina sighed, "Because humans are far more treacherous than monsters."
'That's all you've got to say?'
He shot her a suspicious look and said, "Forget I asked."
She didn't say anything else.
There was a long silence between them, where neither of them bothered to speak.
Eventually, Kael broke it, "Ah, my whole body hurts. I can't move at all. It feels like I will die at any moment... no, in a mere second. If someone... anyone could help me get to my room by supporting me with their shoulder. No, that won't do. I need to take a bath first. But I'm covered in dirt and sweat, so a normal bath is utterly useless. I need to scrub my back, no, my entire body... but my hands are feeling numb. Ack! It hurts! If someone could help me do it... maybe... maybe then I can reclaim my life again. Otherwise, I'll have no choice but to sleep the way I am, in a shared bedroom, no less. How tragic! I wonder if there's anyone kind enough to lend this dying man a hand."
Seraphina shot him a cold look and sighed, "Where do you even get the strength to talk like that? Besides, how many times do I need to reject you over that bath offer before you give up? Even a regular man doesn't propose to his mistress as many times as you ask me that. Have some decency at least?"
'You see, dear, when it comes to my wishes, giving up is simply not an option.'
Kael smiled and asked, "Decency? Um, what's that?"
Seraphina couldn't help but face-palm.
'It's no use, Seraphina. He won't listen to your advice, not even once. He'll always keep doing whatever he likes... and you're not capable of stopping him. You should be grateful that he only uses those dramatic flairs on his wife and not some random women.'
She moved her hand away from her face, her eyes scanning him curiously.
His messy brown hair covered his forehead completely, almost reaching his cold gray eyes. He wore an expression of excitement, and he was grinning like an idiot.
Suddenly, her vision became blurry.
At that moment, she felt as though she saw a boy lying there instead of Kael, but the image was blurry and illusory, making it impossible for her to make out anything beyond that vague figure.
She quickly touched her forehead.
'What was that about? A hallucination?'
After sighing softly, she pushed the strange image out of her mind and casually asked, "Kael... pray tell, what type of breakfast would you prefer to eat today?"
Kael was so stunned that he immediately sat up straight, forgetting about the pain that had been troubling him a moment ago.
'Huh? What? Did I hear that right? She never even agrees to cook for me, but now she's not only accepting it, she's also asking me about my preference in food. Is it some kind of compensation for beating me up?'
He cleared his throat and asked, "Won't you be late for duty if you cook for me?"
Seraphina blinked a couple of times before looking at him, "It's that late already? I didn't realize it. I suppose you'll just have to cook for yourself, Kael."
Kael shot her a blank expression.
'Eh... why can't I keep my mouth shut? After all this time, she finally decided to make me the dish I wanted to eat... and then this had to happen. Why? Why? Damn me!'
Seraphina watched his disappointed expression for a moment before laughing softly, "I'm joking, Kael."
Kael didn't know what kind of expression he should make at this point.
'You suck... no, it's a good one.'
Unnoticed by either of them, the Love Blossom glowed with an unnatural light.
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(Chapter Ended)
To be continued...