“…What exactly did the two of you do?” Cecilia said, glancing suspiciously between Alnea and Vestia. But her suspicions were justifiable. After sharing a room with Vestia, he had not looked at her directly even once. If it was just the flush on his face, he could somehow deal with it using his Aspects. His Heart though… Every time he looked at Vestia, he would find his eyes getting drawn to her chest…
No, it was not just with Vestia. Although Cecilia’s and Yuri’s chest were not as prominent as Vestia’s, they were much larger than what they used to be a year ago. And much more attractive too. They did not have as much gravitation as Vestia’s chest did, but they were attractive enough to draw his eyes every once in a while. So, when Alnea returned to the mansion with Vestia after dinner, he found himself trying his best to keep himself from looking at the girls.
On the other end, having exposed most of her secrets to him, it was not a surprise that Vestia was acting all shy and demure. After all, unlike him, she had to rely on her acting skills to conceal the flush on her face. And after the promise he had given her, she could not frame him with ridiculous excuses, could she? In the end, without any good reason to explain the flush on her face, Vestia could only try her best not to look at him, while trying to deflect the topic away from herself, sneaking a glance at him every once in a while. But she was not very subtle in her actions, leading the others to look at them even more suspiciously…
“Nothing,” Alnea said, wondering if framing him would have been a better choice. At the very least, it would have diverted the topic away from them. “We just roamed around a little, and talked about a few things.”
“Is that so,” Yuri said, looking at him even more suspiciously than before. “What did you talk about?”
“…About a few things,” Alnea said, trying to sound as natural as he could, until he saw the smile on Yuri’s face…
“I will tell you about it later…”
“…I will believe you for now,” Yuri said with a nod, restraining the edge in her smile. “How about we go back to what we were discussing earlier?”
“…So, does anyone have any new information about the Lotus clan?”
“…I heard that they might be coming into a deal with the people from the Nuon clan. Apparently….”
“…Good work, Karl,” Alnea said, nodding at the grey robed man, before turning towards the girls. “What about you two?”
“…What about you? You don’t have any new information either.”
“…I was a little busy—
“Playing around with the vixen,” Cecilia said with a scoff. “We all know it. No need to shove it into our face.”
“…Are you jealous?”
“Who is going to be jealous of a vixen?” Cecilia said, scoffing once again. “And what is there to be jealous about anyway?”
“Really?” Alnea said, pretending to be surprised at Cecilia’s words. “You do not want to spend some time with me?”
“…Stop thinking so highly of yourself. I have much better things to do than to just roam around with you…”
“…Is that so,” Alnea said, with a hint of dejection in his voice. “I thought that you would like to share a similar experience with me, so I reserved an entire day to spend just with you… but if you feel that it is waste of time then—
“When did I say that it was a waste of time?” Cecilia said almost instinctively, and in a hurry, as if she was afraid of what he might say next.
“…Didn’t you say that just now?”
“…I just said that I had better things to do. But since you went out of your way to plan a day with me, I guess I cannot let it go to waste…”
“…You don’t have to force yourself—
“I said, I can spend a day with you.”
“…Tomorrow?”
“If you insist so much, then I cannot refuse you in my good conscience… Well, just treat this as my favour to you.”
“…Then I must thank you,” Alnea said, smiling at the way Cecilia was puffing up her cheeks. Although she could be hardheaded at times, tending to rely on violence for resolving all of their problems, that only served to accentuate her cute moments. Especially the way she was trying her best not to let herself be embarrassed…
“…If you two have flirted enough, can we go back to what we were discussing?” Yuri said, surprising Alnea into coughs, and Cecilia into a crimson flush.
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“…Who is going to flirt with the idiot?”
“…As I was saying, after our trip into the Black Desert, the Lotus clan has been a little short on manpower. Especially their higher end force… their Peak Stage False Wanderers. Vestia has all but confirmed that they will be staying low for a while, and not try to pick a fight with us until they replenish their numbers. But we still have to be careful. Just like how the Lotus clan is lacking in manpower right now, so are we. Our current state…
“And then there is also the news that Karl has brought. All Orthodoxies have complicated relationships with each other, so we already expected the Lotus clan to have a few friends. But the Lotus clan making new deals right now does not sound like good news for us… From now, we must proceed assuming that all the Orthodoxies that the Lotus clan is coming in contact with might end up being our enemies. And we must always be ready for their counterattack. Until we have recovered, try not to pick needless fights, or fall into their traps…”
Alnea summed up what little information they had gathered in the past couple of days, and warned everyone of the dangers that they might face in the near future, before dismissing their meeting, and heading back to his room. After agreeing upon a time to meet with Cecilia, of course. Though she tried to act as if it meant nothing, everyone could see how excited she was…
Back in his room, Alnea put away his sword, before sitting down on the ground, and examining his body. It was not as sore as it was two days ago, but it still ached a little. Even his reaction time was down from what he was used to. He was so weak, that even taking down Advanced Stage False Wanderers would be difficult for him, let alone Peak Stage Wanderers. And the others were even worse than him. Especially the five who had yet to wake up. Fighting the Lotus clan in their state…
Alnea shook his head, vanquishing his fears away from his Heart. He was Alnea Oathkeeper. There was no place for fear in his Heart. As for the Lotus clan… He would deal with them as they would come. For the moment, he had other things to worry about. It had been three days since he had trained properly. Three days since he had been to the Origin Sea…
He was a Wanderer. Wandering the Origin Sea was his creed, his passion. And over time, it had become something akin to an obsession… That was true for most Wanderers though. And it was not like he could never Wander the Origin Sea again. In fact, his injuries never stopped him from Wandering the Origin Sea. It was his Heart that was the problem.
Although he had told Yuri that his Heart had advanced once again, he still had to do a couple of things before he could complete its transformation. And Wandering the Origin Sea with an incomplete Heart was nothing short of courting death. Just like what Cecilia had planned to do nearly a year ago. Silly girl…
Regardless, he was sure that he could completely transform his Heart in a couple of days. By then, he would be able to resume his Wanderings without needlessly risking himself. As for his fighting techniques and instincts… he had never stopped training them. Rather, it was exactly because of his daily training in the Mirror World that he was able take down the Wanderers of the Lotus clan so easily. His Martial Styles though…
Be it the Martial Styles of Auxiliary type, or his Sword Martial Styles, practising either of them required some specific movements. Not necessarily in a set pattern, of course. Except for a few special cases, as long as he stuck to the essence of the Martial Styles, he could move as he liked. But he had to move. And not just for the sake of moving. Practising Martial Styles with any effect required a certain amount of sincerity, both from his movements, and his Heart.
Alnea never lacked in his Heart. Especially when it came to practice, and progressing on his path. His movements though… His body was not exactly in the best shape to move at the moment. And neither was it fit enough to bear the load of summoning his Aspects. That was also a necessary condition for practising Martial Styles. At least at his level of proficiency, he could not make any progress without his Aspects.
The only Martial Style he could think of that did not require any Aspects were the Blood Crystal Martial Styles. But those had their own problems. He could not practice eight of the nine Blood Crystal Martial Styles without recondensing the Blood Crystals. And he could not recondense the Blood Crystals until his blood vessels recovered from the trauma they had suffered. Yet, that was just the first of the many problems of the Blood Crystal Styles.
Alnea had already prepared himself to face the consequences of detonating his Blood Crystals when he first practised the Blood Crystal Martial Styles, but it was only when he detonated the Blood Crystals that he came to understand just how dependent he had become on the Blood Crystal Styles. Especially the four Blood Forging Styles and the Blood Manipulation Style.
The last Martial Style aside, the four Blood Forging Styles had worked miracles in increasing his body’s strength, raising it from the level of average Advanced Stage False Wanderers to the level of some recently advanced Peak Stage False Wanderers. And this was despite the Martial Styles he was using being of just the Initial Stage. He had often wondered why they were said to have only barely reached the threshold of the Lowest Grade. Feeling the weakness in his body, Alnea finally understood why no one questioned the Blood Crystal Style’s Grade.
It looked like the increased strength of his body was dependent on the constant supply of energy from the Blood Crystals in his blood. The moment that the Blood Crystals disappeared, so did most of the strength he had acquired. Such glaring flaws… Maybe, if he could fuse the nine Martial Styles, or better yet, get the complete version from the city… If the city had the complete version, that is. Though, from the rumours that he had heard…
Regardless, he was not in the state to practise any Martial Styles at the moment. That left him with just the Art of Spirit Rebirth. Technically, just like honing his fighting instincts, Forging his Spirit had nothing to do with his body, and as such, he should have been free to practise the Art of Spirit Rebirth. But the Art did not just Forge his Spirit, it made it go through countless cycles of Destruction and Creation. A process, which involved Mysteries from three different lineage clashing inside his Spirit. And no matter what was said, in the end, Spirits were inextricably linked to bodies.
With the state that his body was in, Alnea did not need his master to tell him what and what not to do. Even if the chances of the Art affecting his body were low, there was no need to take such meaningless risks. But… After living close to two years spending his every waking moment in pursuit of his path, of his conviction, he was having a hard time adjusting to doing nothing. Especially when he recalled the Oath he had taken.
“…I will never stop moving forward…”
…Even if his Oaths ended up helping him more often than not, he could not deny that they also often brought him some inconveniences. Though he was not afraid of them anymore, dealing with their restrictions could be very tiresome… He should try to be a little less reckless in the future, Alnea made a mental note to himself, before diving into his Spirit World to conduct a few experiments. After all, risking himself was not the only way to move forward.