Straf glances at the broken sword in his hand once more.
「Well. You wanted to overpower and dominate evil, and you dominated the shit out of that guy. What a way to go. That solves the issue of getting rid of the sword, at least.」
He says, and throws it out like an empty soda can. It takes off into the air, speeding away in a high arc.
「Hup! Hope it can't steal souls anymore!」
He turns around to face Cycelia, who is looking at him with her huge, emerald eyes. She lunges forward and leaps at him.
「Again-? Hmpf.」
Straf grunts as she rams into and wraps her arms around him.
「Straf! Straf! How do you do it!? How do you just fix every problem I have without the slightest issue?」
「Well, the fact most of your problems have health bars helps.」
《Level up. Attribute points gained.》
《Ah! Can she shut up already? I get it!》
Straf screams internally as the monotone female voice keeps repeating herself over and over in his head.
「What happened!? Where did the demon go!? Why was it winter all of a sudden!?」
Cycelia wipes her eyes and looks up at Straf. She blinks rapidly as she stares into his eyes, still clinging onto him.
「What happened is, I kicked his ass. Like I said I would.」
He manages to peel himself away from Cycelia, and looks into the sky.
「The demon should be in orbit right now, probably.」
「…Orbit?」
「You don't know? Well, that doesn't matter. At least not yet. Though in a few months from now, I might get a random level-up.」
「Huh?」
Cycelia tilts her head in confusion. Straf waves his hand dismissively.
「Forget it. As for the winter…」
He looks at her with a troubled expression, with his hands on his hips. She looks back at him with her big, green, rapidly blinking puppy eyes. They stare at each other silently for a moment.
「…Yes?」
「Hmmm…」
Straf looks aside and rubs his chin as he thinks.
「Um. If it's a secret that you can't tell me…」
「No no, I can tell you. It's just I don't know how to.」
He glances at Cycelia again, she tilts her head slightly.
《Right. How do I explain the theory of relativity to a girl who probably thinks her sun is a chariot?》
「Lia. Do you know how big men tend to be strong?」
「Um… Yes?」
Her eyes narrow slightly as Straf says the most obvious thing in the world.
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「And you know how fast punches tend to have a lot of energy behind them?」
「…Yes? But I don't understand what that has to do with anything-」
「It's a little convoluted, bear with me. Would you say that there is a possibility that a regular punch from a big man could have the same force as a very fast punch from a smaller man?」
「Uh… Maybe?」
She lowers her gaze and thinks for a second.
「Right. And…」
Straf again rubs his chin as he thinks.
《There's energy equals mass. Now, how do I explain time fucking warping if you go too fast with two men throwing punches?》
Straf turns around, and sighs with his head hanging low.
《I give up.》
「Lia…」
Cycelia gulps with anticipation.
「…Yes?」
「I am too fast for this world. The summer returned because the world had to correct me.」
Ba-dump.
Straf shrugs as he explains.
「I could give you a full explanation, but it would bore you to death and it all boils down to is, things going fast break stuff anyway. Basically, words fail me and you already got the point.」
Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
「In short… Because I am the fast man, I become the big man. Sorry, that's the best I can do. It's not that the winter came. It's because I was so fast, that the summer was late because of me.」
《Man, I completely butchered it.》
Ba-dump. Ba-dump. Ba-dump.
Straf glances over his shoulder at Cycelia again. She stares at him in awe with mouth slightly ajar.
《He knows exactly what happened, but can only give me a watered down explanation because he's struggling with my language! It's like the heavens sent him as a divine punishment for that bastard! A divine punishment, and a killer-handsome knight for me! He's so cool!》
「So, do you get it?」
「Ah, I kind of do… A little…」
Straf looks away, embarrassed for himself that he mangled his explanation. Meanwhile, Cycelia is desperately trying to hide her blush with her hands as she's smiling like a madwoman.
《It's over. She thinks I'm a complete drooling idiot now.》
《What did you do!?》
Straf stares blankly into space with a defeated expression. He stops as he hears Athea demand an answer in his head, and looks up at the sky.
「Huh? Nothing. I just killed a demon that was after Lia.」
《That's it? Nothing else?》
「Nope. He just attacked us, so I defended her.」
Straf answers, and Athea sighs. Her crossed arms are almost audible.
《…If it was self-defense, I guess you're off the hook for now. I'm glad you protected the girl, maybe you'll stop being a scumbag eventually. I need to find out what caused this…》
「Caused what?」
《Mind your own business!》
「Wow. Look who's talking.」
Straf raises his eyebrows as his jaw hangs slack.
「Um, Straf… Are you talking to your… Girlfriend, again?」
「Yeah. She's glad to hear you're safe.」
Ba-dump.