Amidst the sound of horse hooves, the carriage swayed in the morning glow, heading towards Roa. The number, however, had been reduced from the four that had set out last night to three. With not many people to begin with, even if one carriage was lost, it shouldn't be a problem for each carriage to hold four people. It would be just right, and that was what Philip had suggested. But this became the trigger for the argument between Rudeus and Eris.
After experiencing a drastic change, people often find it difficult to control their emotions. Whether it was the sudden assassination attempt that caused an adrenaline rush, or Alan's safe return with two heads, which led to a crazy secretion of dopamine, there was no doubt that the three little ones' emotions were floating on a cloud, blown up and down by the wind, unable to land. When reason is not easy to restrain, arguments can easily erupt.
Eris insisted on sharing a carriage with the cat-girl, Ghislaine, Sylphie, and Alan, clamoring to learn the technique of catching arrows with her bare hands from her newly accepted teacher. Rudeus, on the other hand, strongly requested that he, Sylphie, Alan, and Ghislaine share a carriage. The murderous aura from his killing spree still lingered, his emotions had not yet completely calmed down, and coupled with his frustration of always being left behind, he actually started to debate in detail with Eris, whom he saw as a 'child'. Things like how he had already been squeezed out once when they got on the carriage at night, isn't it more appropriate for you, a young lady, to be in the same carriage with your dad? What can you learn in such a short time in the carriage? Do you think you can learn Alan's 'Flow' secret art in such a short journey?
Although the cat-girl was under Philip's orders to instigate Eris to push Rudeus to another carriage in order for the kidnapping to proceed normally, at this moment, with the opportunity to reallocate the carriages right in front of him, Rudeus had to consider whether this was a potential third 'can't catch' possibility. Please, he, Alan, Roxy, and Sylphie were the adventurer quartet. Who are you, young lady?
And so, the carriage Alan was sitting in was packed with a full six people. It has to be said, it was quite 'reasonable'.
Alan, Sylphie, and Rudeus were on one side. Alan and Sylphie were squeezed together, watching Rudeus, with an expression like he had used magic to burn off the rope on his wrists in an anime, exchanging sarcastic remarks with Eris on the other side. The cat-girl, Ghislaine, and Eris were on the other side. Eris was sitting on Ghislaine's lap, looking down at Rudeus from a high position, arguing with him with animated gestures.
Before getting on the carriage, Alan had originally wanted to persuade them, but found that he couldn't persuade them at all! As he was persuading them, the two of them started to move! One pulled Sylphie's sleeve, the other pulled Ghislaine's arm. They scrambled to get on the carriage! Then, they both turned their heads at the same time and looked at Alan, who was standing outside the carriage with a somewhat dazed expression, realizing that he was the outsider, and was about to move to the carriage behind. At that time, Alan's body immediately stiffened, his outstretched foot suspended in mid-air. His intuition told him that if he left at this time, he would most likely die. So he had no choice but to open his hands and let the 'two forces' pull him onto the carriage at the same time.
What else could he do? He had to give equal attention to both sides. The situation had become what it was now—Alan was looking helplessly at Rudeus and Eris attacking each other with words, while Ghislaine was holding Eris with a normal expression, facilitating the wild dog's use of her diaphragm resonance to utter sentences with a constantly rising intonation, her movements quite skillful. Sylphie kept her head down. Her hair had been blown fluffy and dry with her puff of air magic just now. At this moment, her gaze, through the sway of her hair, fell on her lap, counting the number of times their knees bumped. She was still sitting side by side with Alan.
After a night of cold rain, the spring morning was a bit chilly. The white-haired girl who had inherited elven blood had very little subcutaneous fat. This allowed Sylphie to clearly feel the body heat coming from Alan's knee. Intermittent, swaying with the carriage. But her upper body was a bit stiff, propped up on the carriage seat, maintaining a fist's distance from Alan.
At this moment, Eris's dissatisfied voice came to her ears. "You shut up! I want to learn now!!" She blinked and stopped counting. Eris's always rising intonation reminded her that the young lady in front of her knew very well what she wanted and could express the emotion of 'wanting to do' it very frankly, and then put it into action. This was something she lacked... and it seemed that everyone didn't dislike this kind of behavior.
The next second, as if to prove her words wrong, Rudeus's rather disgusted tone immediately interrupted her thoughts. "Oh~ how are you going to learn? Can you learn just by talking about it, young lady?"
Sylphie: ... Her expression stiffened. She glanced at Rudeus, then raised her eyes to look at Alan's face beside her. The latter was shaking his head with a rather helpless expression, but there was not a trace of annoyance. There was even a smile deep in his eyes (the entertainer in him had taken over). She lowered her eyes. She came to a conclusion. That is, Alan did not dislike this kind of behavior. That was enough.
After only a moment's hesitation, she completely relaxed her tense body. Not just her knees. She let her whole body sway left and right with the inertia of the carriage. In this way, her shoulders, legs, and knees would touch Alan beside her. It was very warm. This gave her the feeling that she had also expressed her own demands.
Okay, actually, she hadn't. But she had faced her own demands. Hadn't she?
She remembered when she had expressed her thoughts of missing her teacher to Alan before. He had said something like this: In this world, the distance between people cannot be 'shortened' by other means. Carriages are slow, letters take a long time to travel back and forth, and once people are separated, it is difficult to see each other again. So we should cherish every moment now. Seize every 'now' that you want to seize. Seize every 'now' that you want to... now.
The wheels turned, the morning wind blew into the carriage window. As her hair danced, she looked through the gaps in her hair at Alan's hand next to her knee. It was very close, almost touching her hand. She could grab it just by reaching out. Sylphie blinked. Only then did she belatedly realize why the 'farewell' just now had made her so sad. Worrying about Alan's life was, of course, the primary reason. But after that? After that, it was because... she felt that she hadn't had time to seize the 'now' she wanted.
The carriage was still swaying. To what extent? Sylphie's hand, involuntarily, slid towards Alan's hand.
At the same time! The verbal battle between Rudeus and Eris reached its peak!! Their speaking speed was extremely fast!!
"You're really arrogant! Ghislaine has already said that I have a talent for learning swordsmanship! She also said that Alan has talent, so why can't I learn Alan's swordsmanship? Who are you to be so arrogant here? And Alan didn't even say anything, that expression of his must mean that he thinks I'm right!!"
Alan: ?? I don't think so!
"Agrees with you, what? He's clearly laughing at you!"
Alan: ?? Don't talk nonsense!
Just as Alan was about to open his mouth to extricate himself from the battle that had suddenly burned to him, Rudeus's next sentence had already sounded. "You have the talent to learn the 'Flow' secret art in a carriage? Do you think Alan learned the 'Flow' secret art in just a blink of an eye? Talent? I don't think you understand the meaning of talent at all? I'll show you what talent is!"
Rudeus suddenly jumped up. In Sylphie's field of vision, he grabbed Alan's hand! In the latter's widened reddish-brown pupils, he pulled it in front of his face. "Do you see this? The calluses on Alan's hands! What is talent? Talent is just a moment of inspiration, but if you want to always grasp that moment of inspiration, you need to work hard day and night! If you don't work hard, how can you turn your 'talent' into reality?"
Eris frowned, her fiery red eyebrows raised high. She turned to look at Ghislaine. The latter glanced at Alan's hand and nodded in agreement. "Indeed."
Eris bent her knees and jumped off Ghislaine's lap, and came to Rudeus in two steps. "Let me see! Hmm... it's really thick, almost like Ghislaine's hand..."
"Right?"
"Yeah, it seems you're not completely useless after all!"
"...Yeah... huh?"
"What huh? I'm praising you. Are you dissatisfied?"
"Is that how you praise someone??"
Sylphie was a bit dazed. She turned to look at Alan's face. The latter's face was twitching badly, but there was no obvious resistance. Sylphie blinked. "Really? I... I'll take a look too..." Then, to Alan's astonishment, she grabbed his other hand and placed it on her knee to examine it carefully.
And while the few of them were holding Alan's hands and looking at them, Rudeus suddenly reacted. He looked at Eris, who had suddenly 'made up' with him and was examining Alan's hands together with him, a bit confused. Hmm? How did it become me and Eris looking at Alan's hands together? Then he noticed a gaze on them. He turned his head. It was Ghislaine.
He blinked, looked Ghislaine's 'sturdy' figure up and down, swallowed silently, let go of Alan's hand, and carefully spoke to Ghislaine. "You must be Miss Ghislaine, right? It's nice to meet you. Uh... I haven't introduced myself yet. My name is Rudeus Greyrat."
Eris turned to look at Ghislaine, who nodded. "I know, Paul's son. Just call me Ghislaine."
"Okay, Ghislaine."
At this time, Eris, listening to their conversation, realized that she had never formally introduced herself to Alan. She then turned to look at Alan, crossed her arms, and spoke. Her words were similar to Ghislaine's, but her tone was completely different. "My name is Eris Boreas Greyrat. I also allow you to call me Eris directly!"
Alan looked at Eris's tsundere appearance. "Okay, Eris."
Eris nodded with satisfaction. "What's your name?"
"Alan."
"Of course I know it's Alan. Just Alan? What about your surname?"
Rudeus had originally wanted to say something more to Ghislaine, but hearing this, he immediately turned to look at Alan. Ghislaine and Sylphie's gazes also turned to him at the same time. Alan just smiled. "I don't have a surname. Commoners in the Asura Kingdom don't have surnames, only given names."
"Oh... is that so." Rudeus and Sylphie exchanged a glance. He turned to look at Ghislaine and continued the previous topic. "I heard that you were a member of my father and mother's adventurer team back then?"
"Yes."
"We left in a hurry, and my father didn't see you, so he pulled me aside and asked me to give you a message." Rudeus hesitated for a moment and cleared his throat. "He said, Alan is his disciple, please don't have any other ideas. He's just lending him to you to play with for a few days."
The carriage was silent for a moment. Then, as expected, the sound of Heisou being drawn was heard. Alan and Rudeus's expressions turned horrified in different ways. The former quickly raised his leg and gave Rudeus a kick. Rudeus immediately followed up. "That was just a joke, he had another sentence!"
The blade was sheathed. "Speak."
"Just kidding. I bet you were about to draw your sword, right? Alan is a family member that both Zenith and I value very much. Please guide him carefully in swordsmanship. He is very talented, not just in the Water God Style. Please also help us take care of Rudeus. Thank you."
Hearing this, Alan's expression froze for a moment, and he was a bit moved. Ghislaine, on the other hand, looked at Alan's face, was silent for a moment, and suddenly spoke, but changed the subject. "Speaking of the Water God Style, I do know a genius with extraordinary talent."
Alan raised an eyebrow at her. Ghislaine spoke. "In the main dojo of the Water God Style, there is also a swordsman who was promoted to the position of Water Saint at a young age and was also granted a title."
Alan blinked. 'Main dojo? That girl Izolte? I didn't expect her to be a Water Saint already. But considering the time, it's about right. Her swordsmanship talent is indeed good.' Thinking this, Alan nodded and was about to say something. But before he could speak, Eris turned to look at Alan. "Alan, what's a title?"
"Uh... you can understand it as the characteristics of this swordsman's swordsmanship. It's also a recognition from other swordsmen. Generally speaking, it's passed down by word of mouth, and only a very few are granted titles by the dojo."
"What's your title?"
"Uh... ahem... I don't have one."
Eris's eyes widened, and she whipped her head around to look at Ghislaine. "What! Is this person stronger than Alan?"
Ghislaine was silent for a moment. "Perhaps."
"Hah? What's that person's title? What's his name? Let him come and compete with Alan to see who's stronger. If Alan is stronger, let him give up the title!"
As soon as these words fell, Alan's mouth twitched. He looked at Eris's angry expression, not knowing what to say to the young lady. Just then, Ghislaine's voice sounded.
"Main dojo of the Water God Style."
"Alan Boreas Greyrat."
"Title, Rock."
The carriage became quiet. Sylphie and Rudeus both turned their heads to look at Alan. Eris, on the other hand, was a bit confused. "Boreas... Alan?"
Ghislaine glanced at Eris. "The Boreas of the capital, the fourth son of the next head of the family, James. Also your... distant cousin."
The young lady's expression was a bit confused. "Then why is it Alan..." She looked up at Alan. The latter had turned his head at some point and was leaning against the window sill with his cheek in his hand, looking out the carriage window with a bored expression.
Outside the carriage window, in the morning light, the city gate of Roa was already within reach. The morning wind carried his emotionless voice, which then fell into the carriage.
"What a coincidence... he has the same name as me."
"I'm honored."
Join my patreon For Early access to Chapter : patreon.com/TheWorldGod
Tiamat 200 Chapter (Final)
Honkai 560 Chapter
Lobotomy 110 Chapter
MushokuTensei 360 Chapter
'Pure Evil' Simulator Chapter Ending
Crossover Fic Blapterue-Eyes Chapter Ending
Harry want to be Hero 120 Chapter