The vice-captain of the Mu Yue Adventurer Team, Anna-veil Alphares, has been in a bad mood lately.
The last dungeon expedition yielded no substantial gains, the whereabouts of the lord remain a mystery, they didn’t encounter any challenging monsters, no good equipment dropped, her feet got stinky, and nothing good happened at all.
But what really pissed her off was… what’s going on with Torina and that Milora? Torina is constantly hovering around her, with a level of enthusiasm that goes way beyond “apologizing,” almost like a rich young master in a romance novel showering a country girl with gifts, except this young master is a woman.
(No, no way, right? Is she really into her? Into that socially awkward, talentless country girl? Isn’t she straight? A whole bunch of guys at school are her fanboys, though I’ve never heard of her dating any of them…) As she was lost in thought, she headed to the Adventurer’s Guild and unexpectedly ran into some familiar faces.
It was Marian and Lilia, the two sidekicks Torina had kicked out a few days ago.
When they saw Anna-veil, they immediately looked embarrassed, exchanged a glance, and awkwardly slipped away.
(…Tch, two useless people.) Anna-veil shook her head disdainfully.
After being kicked out, those two didn’t immediately return to school but lingered around Garden Town.
They must have thought going back in disgrace was too humiliating, but that wasn’t Anna-veil’s concern.
She never liked them anyway, always sucking up to Torina was annoying to watch.
Torina kicking them out was a good thing.
But if Torina kicked them out for Milora, then that’s a bad thing.
(So where did they go now…?)
————————
Ji Xue generously showcased her exquisite swordsmanship to the two.
“Hawk Pierces the Forest!” A swift and nimble thrust like a bird of prey pierced through the tree trunk.
“Crossing the River!” The sword light cut through countless branches like a white ribbon.
“Autumn Wind Sweeps the Leaves!” A fierce sword wind blew up the fallen leaves on the ground.
“Rain of Pear Blossoms!” Dense and precise slashes tore through the leaves scattered on the ground.
“Wolf Hunts the Rabbit!” She threw her sword, pinning the largest leaf to the tree trunk behind her.
Her swordsmanship was a sight to behold, fiercer than a torrent, gentler than a breeze, sometimes dancing like a butterfly, sometimes stinging like a bee, sometimes diving like a falcon for a deadly strike, mesmerizingly beautiful.
The sword she used—a double-edged sword from the East—seemed like an extension of her body, moving entirely at her will.
After finishing a set of sword moves, she sheathed her sword gracefully, bowing like an ancient hero.
Then she immediately blushed, her face turning as red as a peony.
“That’s it… sorry for the poor performance! Ugh…”
“That was great, Ji Xue-chan, want to spar with me?” Torina said, pretending to be casual.
“Ah!? Isn’t that a bit…”
“Milora-chan wants to learn the correct way to use a sword, so demonstrate for her.”
“I didn’t say that.” ←Milora “To get stronger, you have to try new things—come on!” Torina drew her sword, and Ji Xue hurriedly raised hers again.
“Ji Xue, this is a pure swordsmanship spar, I won’t use magic, got it?”
“But what if we get hurt?”
“Then we’ll fight with the scabbard on.”
“Understood! I’ll do my best!” Ji Xue looked very nervous, after all, it was the captain’s order, while Torina was secretly plotting something else.
(To avoid a bad end, I need to steer Milora away from the original plot as much as possible.
If she can abandon the things the system taught her in the original work, that would be even better!)
Torina approached the flustered Ji Xue confidently, chuckling to herself.
Next, she would defeat Ji Xue in a dazzling display, making Milora admire her strength and charm, and then ask her to be her swordsmanship teacher! “Here I come, Ji Xue!”
“Please go easy on me!”
…
…
A minute later…
“Ah, pfft!” Torina made a strange noise as she fell to the ground headfirst, her butt in the air.
Her carefully maintained hair was a mess, her exposed skin was bruised from the scabbard, and her nails were scratched.
“Are you okay!? I’m sorry! I didn’t hold back!” Ji Xue hurriedly helped the dusty Torina up, nervously brushing off the dirt.
Torina was dumbfounded.
(Her sword skills are so strong!?) If she combined it with rune magic in actual combat, she was confident she could win, but in terms of pure swordsmanship, she was completely outmatched.
In the entire adventurer team—or even the whole Garden Town Adventurers—there might not be anyone who could match Ji Xue in swordsmanship! (A new character not in the original work, a swordsmanship expert from the East, full of mysteries… oh well, I’ll investigate her background later.)
Torina spat out the dirt from her mouth, tearfully smoothing her messy hair—then noticed Milora awkwardly turning her head, covering her mouth, her cheeks puffed like a frog, her body trembling slightly.
Ah, she’s holding back laughter! “You’re laughing at me!?”
“Mmm…” Milora shook her head vigorously, refusing to meet her eyes.
“You’re clearly holding back laughter!”
“Mmm, mmm!”
“…(poke her side)”
“Pfft!? Hahaha!!! Don’t, don’t poke my side, I’m ticklish hahaha…”
Milora finally couldn’t hold it in and burst into laughter, her laughter like a clear spring, like silver bells.
Torina suddenly realized—it was the first time she had seen her smile.
This girl, who always wore a look of deep resentment, was showing an expression befitting her age for the first time, as cute and fresh as a gardenia swaying in the spring breeze.
She suddenly felt that taking this beating was worth it, and with that thought, she couldn’t help but laugh too.
“Eh…” Ji Xue looked at the laughing Milora, then at Torina, who was tickling Milora’s waist, scratching her head.
(So I was just a tool for your flirting!?)
…
…
After enough fooling around, it was naturally time for sword practice.
In short, Ji Xue was completely incapable of teaching.
“Just, just like this, swoosh swoosh swoosh! Then swish swish swish! Then thud thud thud! Finally, clang clang clang! Like this… got it?” She explained the sword moves with strange onomatopoeia and a language organization ability that could be called a prank, leaving Milora utterly confused, and Torina, who was listening in, could only grasp a little.
Having Ji Xue accompany Milora in sword practice was indeed unsuitable.
But it didn’t matter.
Because what was learned or practiced wasn’t important.
“Spending a relaxing and enjoyable time together” was what mattered.
Over the past few days, as long as Milora’s attitude softened and her favorability increased, it wasn’t a waste of effort.
Hopefully, it would succeed.
In fact, Torina was feeling a bit anxious.
She had intentionally not led the team into dungeons these past few days, not giving Milora’s system a chance to gather information, and even deliberately avoiding other adventurers, all to delay the “team up to defeat the boss” event.
But no matter how much she delayed, there was a limit.
She had a vague feeling that the limit was approaching—
