Chapter 32 - Training and Preparing at Glaciem
POV: Haliel
Following the success of the [Shadow Stride] trial, we traveled for a week through the flatlands and arrived at Glaciem without much trouble.
As we had arrived a lot earlier than expected, the other members of Yoichi’s men aren’t here yet and will take another week or so for them to arrive.
It was also on the day we reached Glaciem that we met [Hero] Symond for the first time.
He was more built than Yoichi and was obviously not a Japanese but a European.
Symond had retreated to Glaciem after suffering defeat from the shades and came back to recover.
Upon meeting each other, they got a private room and discussed about the details of the fight.
Only three of his soldiers had survived the fight so it decided that when the rest of Yoichi’s troops came, half would be given to Symond and they’ll work together to try and defeat the Shade.
Me and mom on the other hand, were more concern about dad than the Shade itself.
It has already been three days since we got here and at the moment Yoichi and Symond are resupplying for the upcoming fight.
While all this was happening, me and my group had some free time, and I even visited some of the places that mom and dad had gone to when they were traveling.
“Princess, welcome back. Shall we continue our training with the others?” [Laurel]
Since we are about to fight someone who could take down a [Hero], everyone is training every afternoon after they did their part for the day, even Yoichi and Symond join in.
“Yeah, let’s go.”
We went to the soldier garrison in town and trained there with the other soldiers.
They had all been told about the [Hero]’s expedition this time and are housing us till we depart.
“Oh! Hey look the little miss is here. Hehe going to show us something amazing again.” [Soldier]
As I walked into the training grounds, a soldier noticed and called out.
After the first time I came here, they are always waiting to watch a spectacle as I train.
“Come now, show a little respect. She’s the Elven Empress’s daughter you know.” [Captin]
“Heh, you say that but you want to see too don’t you? Hahaha. We’ll settle down, don’t worry.” [Soldier]
Ignoring them, me and Laurel began our training.
Since the first day, we made plans to practice swords on the first day, magic the second, bow on the third, then repeat.
Today being the third day, I drew my bow and aimed at the targets 60 feet away.
After hitting dead center multiple times, Laurel and me began to spar with each other with the bows.
Of course we switched to wooden arrows so as to lessen the damage and piercing potential as well as active [Wind Shield] around us as protection.
The moment mom said start, I let loose an arrow that was a direct hit to the center of Laurel’s head had it not been for [Wind Shield].
“Ahh. Wow, I would’ve died already!? You are too fast Princess.” [Laurel]
“Dad’s going to be a lot faster than this so we have to be prepared. Come on!”
While Laurel was talking he also shot two arrows at me, which I dodge as I jumped through the air, slightly bending my back.
While still in the air I grabbed multiple arrows from my quiver and rapidly shot them at Laurel.
He managed to avoid three and blew five away with wind magic.
Laurel drew and fired three arrows aimed for my chest at the same time and I quickly responded by doing the same.
“[Scatter Shot]!” [Laurel]
The arrows met each other head on and broke while Laurel’s next barrage followed.
The one arrow that he had initially let loose shone before splitting into twenty.
“[Lightning Pierce]!”
As the arrow lunged forwards, a spark appeared at its tip before completely transforming into a thunderbolt flying pass the twenty arrows and destroying them.
Not only does it do AoE damage as it rips through the air, it was also going at the speed of a lightning strike.
Everyone could hear the crackling in the air as the arrow swished past Laurel and landed dead center on the target behind him.
A dust cloud was brought into existence as the lightning went crazy when it touched the target, slightly burning it.
“Huff. Don’t scare me like that Princess. You know I’m no match for you, Blaze would be a better partner.” [Laurel]
His face became pale when he saw [Lightning Pierce] so he was extremely relieved when it wasn’t aimed at him.
“What about me?” [Blaze]
“Ah, you’re back! Finally, spar with me. You’ve been with Yoichi and Symond this whole time you know.”
“Haha, but I had to. They wanted to know Alan’s arsenal of Skills and Spells.” [Blaze]
“Glad you’re back. Please take over for me, I can’t handle Princess at all.” [Laurel]
“Haha. She is quite a handful, especially when you put her strength into consideration.” [Blaze]
Saying so, Blaze and I prepared for our spar while everyone else who knew what was going to happen backed away.
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POV: Symond
After my encounter with the [Reaper of Flames], my entire unit got wiped out and I barely managed to survive.
With the help of Nari, Tiffany, and Wilfred we made it back to Glaciem where a local Priest healed me.
It still took a while to completely recover but in the meantime, I sent a message on what had occurred to King Grevis.
He responded by saying that he will be sending Yoichi and his troops over to assist me kill the Shade.
True enough Yoichi and co arrived at Glaciem one week later, an amazing speed for such a distance as the Elven capital and the edge of Slodidal.
When I asked how he did it, he presented to me a child not even in her teens but had already obtained strength on par with us [Hero]s, surpassing even us in magic abilities.
Hearing it was one thing, seeing it was another.
On the first day after my discussion with Yoichi, we began training to strengthen the troops for the upcoming battle.
What I witnessed that day was truly shocking, a little girl bested all the grown men in swordfighting and showed supurr swordsmanship for one of such age.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
An even more shocking event was when she showed off her magic in a ‘spar’ with Blaze, humanoid Blue Blazing Phoenix.
Today I also want to see what she could do and so after the discussion about Alan’s full set of Skills and Spells, I quickly went over to the training grounds.
When I got there, they had already begun as Blaze left early.
Today they were training with bows, the typical weapons of Elves.
Even if I don’t know much about the use of bows, I do know that even pros back on Earth can’t always hit dead center, yet this girl.
Her precision is too crazy, a glance at the targets and you’ll see multiple arrows piercing each other the hit the center.
Her skill is further show by its use in actual combat with a level 100 monster.
Her shots still manage to hit even when she and her target are always moving, good then Blaze is strong enough to destroy them before they pierce him though.
Not just her speed when using a sword, her speed in drawing and shooting her arrows were also beyond what could be considered normal.
“... To think that such a powerful girl actually isn’t a [Hero].” [Nari]
Looking at the spectacle before us, Nari who had also been observing Haliel, said what many soldiers thought.
“But, having her with us would make this a lot easier… I hate to use little kids but…” [Symond]
“There’s no need to feel that way Master. She herself agreed to come, didn’t [Hero] Yoichi said that she was adamant on coming even when he didn’t want her to come?” [Nari]
“Huff. You are right…” [Symond]
“What’s with the long face?” [Yoichi]
“Haha… Nothing much. But really, being here for the past seven years, it’s not as fun as you’d think a fantasy world would be.” [Symond]
“Yeah… but let’s not worry about the bad things and look forward to the good things.” [Yoichi]
“Yeah. By the way how many people are there in the troop that’s on their way?” [Symoond]
“King Grevis said he sent 60. So when they get her I’ll leave 40 to you.” [Yoichi]
“Alright then. We have enough food supplies for the number of people going. The mages and swordsmiths are also working hard on enhancing the swords with Light affinity to them. They should be done by the time the remaining troops gets here.” [Symond]
“Great, then the next two days can be used to increase our stats. Even if by a little bit.” [Yoichi]
I nodded to Yoichi’s statement before going back to watch Haliel’s spar with Blaze.
By this time though, the sparing was over and they were going to go back to solo training or meditating.
“She’s amazing isn’t she?” [Yoichi]
“Yeah, she is.” [Symond]
“Though how she acts sometimes makes me wonder how old she really is. At times she seems to be way too matured and at others she’s just like a little kid.” [Yoichi]
“Really? How so?” [Symond]
“I’m not sure how to explain, hehe. Well, how about we start our training?” [Yoichi]
“Yeah let’s go.” [Symond]
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POV: Nari
After risking his life to save us, Master got badly injured and it was me, Tiffany, and Wilfred who had to work together to take Master back to Glaciem.
Luckily we had dug a tunnel through Frostshield Mountain before for easy access, instead of going around it or over it.
One week after Master’s letter reached his King, the other [Hero] showed up at Glaciem.
For the first day, they spent all night discussing plans and preparations and on the second day, everyone including the soldiers of Glaciem helped to ready the supplies and weapons.
The third day was more of a confirmation day while the remaining work were left to Glaciem soldiers so that those going to battle can train.
There was a weird feeling I got when I met a little girl that Yoichi had brought along, Princess Haliel of the Elves.
The feeling I got wasn’t because she’s a Half-Elf but more that she gives off a similar feeling to that Master and [Hero] Yoichi.
I tried to brush off the feeling but when I found out that she wasn’t a [Hero] too, I became slightly cautious as she also has the scent similar to the [Reaper of Flames].
On the first day as Master was taking a break, he happened to witness the girl sparring with her father’s summoned beast Blaze.
I too was amazed by the skill that she showed but it also increased my tension.
I had tried talking to Master but since Yoichi trusts her so much, he believed in him but told me to remain vigilant if I don’t feel comfortable.
After watching her for three days, it seems that everything about her seems pretty normal aside from her abnormally high strength.
For the next few days, Master and [Hero] Yoichi did their training and sparred with each other.
By weeks end and a few days, the remaining troops arrived at Glaciem, stunned to see [Hero] Yoichi here before them.
They were soon briefed about [Shadow Stride]’s new application and those who owned Shadow Wolves became excited.
The following day, they were separated into two groups, one under the command of [Hero] Yoichi and the other to Master.
We spent that day introducing each other before training together to know each other more.
Nothing is worse than fighting a strong enemy with people who you don’t know, especially what they can or can’t do.
A week passed by and everyone has gotten used to the Holy Swords as well as working together with their new commander.
“Master tomorrow is the day we leave right? You should get some rest.” [Nari]
“I told you many times, it feels weird being called Master. Ah, nevermind, I’ll go to sleep after this.” [Symond]
Master was still practicing with his lance even though it was already late at night and we leave tomorrow.
With me urging him, he attack the dummies a few more times before calling it a night.
***
PS. There will be more time skips now, though it'll only be a month at most and it won't be that frequent. Enjoy