My consciousness returns from there.
Upon waking up, my tear continues to fall to my cheeks slipping down to my face. My meeting with mother is still fresh in my mind.
That brief time I had with her feels like an eternity that abruptly ended.
It felt really long but lacking.
I wipe the tears from my eyes even though it’s futile since it relentlessly leaks from it.
The blanket that lay upon me is slowly getting drenched from my tears.
I survey around me to know what’s happening around me just to find out that it’s already night. The room I was is Fon-nii’s room.
I look around more and saw someone sleeping on the sofa near the bed, leaning his back to the inclined uncomfortable sofa.
The smell of the room is different. It smells like an aromatic incense.
At the table top beside the bed, there’s a candle-like thing that’s standing. The smell was coming from it. It kind of soothing and refreshing that I can already guess this is a medicinal incense Violetta-nee put.
…
It seems I made people worry about me.
Especially that man sleeping on the sofa…
I get up from the bed and approach him slowly not to wake him up.
My tears have already settled so there’s no more problem with it.
I get close to his face and observe him carefully.
…
Yeah…
It greatly resembles mother’s face, but it has much more manly features that one could call it handsome.
And if I look at a mirror, I will be seeing a younger version of her face.
Fon-nii and I are somehow connected after all.
I don’t know what kind of connection is that but we definitely share something.
But right now, I think this fake brother and sister relationship will suffice.
…
I try to touch his hair…
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!!?
Ah?!
I was suddenly grabbed by my back and hugged!
“Thank goodness… you’re awake…”
“Y-you were conscious?”
“I am glad…”
“I see… sorry for making you worry…”
“Nonsense… I’m always worried about you.”
“Thank you… so… what happened?”
“…you were unconscious for two days straight…”
“That long?!”
“I panicked when you fell unconscious two days ago! You wouldn’t believe how I rushed to Violetta in a hurry.”
“…”
“I don’t know what happened, neither Violetta does. The only conclusion we came up is that your body was overworked by that dragon guy…”
“Eh? What happened to master?!”
“Nothing…nothing yet…”
“Then to Milin?!”
“I won’t do anything to Milin without any decision coming from you.”
“I see… thank you…”
“…”
“…”
“…”
“Can you let me go now? It’s kind of stuffy…”
“…Okay.”
He let me go from his embrace and stand up from the sofa. Dark lines are visible under his eyes and it seems he is even paler.
“You should probably take a rest.”
“Asagao… but… you…”
“Fon-nii… we tomorrow, we will go to the dragon capital right?”
“Yes… but… we can postpone that to--…”
“No. Please do as I say now… there are things I want to do now.”
“Right now?! In the middle of the night?!”
“Yes! Don’t worry about me…”
“But… are you fine now?! We even don’t know why you fell unconscious that time! Considering your health…”
“Please… I am going to tell Violetta-nee too.”
“Maybe I should go with you…”
“This is… something I want to do alone right now. Please do not stop me. I really need to. Trust me.”
“What are you even going to do in this time of night?!”
“Training!”
“…”
As I flatly said it to him, I turn around and headed to the door leaving him behind.
As I grab the handle of the door, he called out to me.
“Asagao! You better…”
“Sleep now… trust me… believe in me… I know what I am doing… and about what happened to me… it was nothing…”
“…If something happened to you because of that man… with or without your consent… I am goin—“
“No need to. I am the one who is going to give him a beating.”
“…I see.”
I open the door and go out from the room and close it.
As I step out, I saw someone curling her body while sleeping beside the door…
“Milin…”
I gently put my hand on her head and stroke it gently…
“Nnn…wha--…!?”
“You shouldn’t sleep here Milin.”
“Princess…Asagao… you’re fine now?!”
“I am. Please don’t shout. You might wake up other people.”
“I… uh… I’m…”
“Save it for later. For now, please get me my usual attire.”
“Aye! As you will!”
Milin runs off to fetch my clothes as I am just wearing my usual sleepwear.
After a few minutes, Milin returned to me presenting the clothes. I take it from her and quickly change it regardless of the place.
“P-princess Asagao?!”
“I… don’t mind you looking…”
“T-that’s not the case! And… and… with all things that I have done to you… I am unworthy of your grace…”
“Didn’t I tell you already? I am more thankful that resentful to you.”
“Even if you say that… the fact that…”
“The fact this, the fact that! If you keep saying those, then pay your crimes by serving me, okay?!”
“Y-yes!!!”
“Besides, you are an irreplaceable friend to me now.”
“I am… unworthy… but… I am happy that you told me that.”
“I see… don’t cry now, okay?”
“Is that an order?”
“Take a wild guess?”
“Hehehe… when did you become a bully, Princess Asagao?”
As our brief conversation end as I finish donning my usual white shirt, leather shorts, and leather boots, I told Milin to rest for the night.
Even though she is reluctant to do what I said, she obediently followed my order.
Now… to face him…
.
.
.
As I arrive in the usual field, the bright starry sky came into my view.
And he, who is my master, is standing in the field alone, waiting for someone. And I am guessing that someone is his disciple.
The last disciple.
I walk up to him slowly while enjoying the glow of the night sky.
Closer
Closer
Closer
“Master.”
“You have come to, my disciple?”
“Yes, a little while ago.”
“Then why have you come to this kind of place instead of seeking treatment from Violetta or care from the human king?”
“Because… I know that you are waiting here…”
“That’s right. So far, your training is insufficient, nowhere near as good as my last worst student making you the worst of the worst and on top of that, really lousy.”
“That’s fine… there are more things that I wanted to achieve, and being weak is none of those!”
“I see. You just have woken up from an unknown cause that made you fell unconscious, and when you wake up, the first thing you do is to train with the man who almost had you killed…”
“…”
“Are you nuts?”
“Master… do you know someone named Nivalis?”
“That name… I see… every piece of the puzzle is now connecting.”
“What will you do?”
Master summons his dimensional storage and draws out two swords with strong magical power with it. One is a standard sword with normal length and one is a short sword.
He throws the short sword into my direction while he unsheathed the other sword and dons a stance.
I picked up the sword lying on the ground and unsheathed it too.
The sword that I was holding lit up a bit showing a faint pale blue light the same as what master is holding.
“Asagao, this will be our last bout before we depart tomorrow. No, this will be our very last.”
“Then, I will do my best.”
“Then, have at you!”
I close my eyes.
I try to feel everything around me.
I activated the intangible barrier that will serve as my extra senses.
And after a couple of second, I can already feel every movement inside the barrier.
To my surprise, the radius or range of it has become bigger than before. Almost double the distance of what it can cover.
I can see every movement master makes.
His breathing
His inch by inch movement
Even his shift in weight that controls the balance of the body
I can now go into further details now.
He charges at me with the tip of his sword pointing at me.
And so, the last dance of Calm Dragon Tempest between us started.