Chapter 20 – Whereabouts of Prayer (4)
‘Sparring with Mr. Kalt? Me?’
Nellis was puzzled by Kalt’s proposal.
I just came to watch Kalt’s training, but suddenly it’s a sparring match.
“Mr. Nellis, you want to use the Mana Blade, right?”
“Yes.”
“To use a Mana Blade, you must have a certain level of skill in addition to magic manipulation. When using a Mana Blade, not only the magic power used to strengthen the body, but also the user’s pure skill has an effect.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Think about it. When it comes to magic manipulation skills, wizards are better than warriors, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then shouldn’t all wizards be able to use Mana Blades?”
“… Ah!”
“That’s why the Mana Blade is proof that warriors have reached a certain level.”
“I see!”
After learning new facts about the Mana Blade, which she had vaguely wanted to obtain, Nellis listened to Kalt’s voice even more.
Every word Kalt said was truly precious.
Because, even in the same warrior party, there was no one talking about this information in detail.
In particular, no one had any expectations and tried to teach anything to Nellis Party, who was rumored to be a sloth party.
“Let’s take this opportunity to check Mr. Nellis’ swordsmanship skills. Then I can give you more advice.”
Nellis’s heart was already filled with emotion at the kind senior’s smile.
“Mr. Kalt…! Thank you!”
“What? It’s the same party.”
‘Mr. Kalt, you are so kind! A gentle smile is also nice!’
Runia, who was watching the scene from the side, was excited to see the gentle and handsome man’s smile.
“Then, please draw your sword and come out.”
“The sword…?”
I was shocked at the word sword! And Nellis trembled.
“Are you talking about Jingeom?”
“Yes.”
“You don’t use a wooden sword?”
“There isn’t one.”
“Ah…”
“Why are you doing that?”
“Oh, no! It’s nothing!”
Nellis quickly drew her sword and confronted Kalt in her backyard.
‘What do we do! I suddenly find myself sparring with Mr. Kalt! No, thank you for your consideration. If things continue like this and Mr. Kalt somehow finds out about my problem… !’
Nellis was worried in her heart and broke into a cold sweat.
“There’s no need to be too nervous. It’s just sparring at best. And Mr. Nellis, you can use your protection.”
“Oh, no! I have protection!”
“Really?”
“It’s hard to know your swordsmanship skills properly when you use divine protection! Ahaha…”
‘I don’t know if I can use divine protection against Mr. Kalt in the first place! It’s better not to use it!’
‘What are you hiding?’
“I understand. In that case… Mr. Nellis, please come first. I will give it my all.”
“Yes! Yay!”
Kaang!
Kalt’s sword and Nellis’ sword collide.
Nellis then widened the distance for a moment and swung his sword again, and Kalt observed while blocking Nellis’ sword.
‘What is it?’
And Kalt felt something strange about Nellis from the beginning.
‘My momentum has decreased compared to when I fought the kobold. Furthermore…’
Nellis, who was swinging her sword at him, seemed to be holding back something.
An expression as if he was trying to force himself to endure something scary.
The longer the swords clashed, the more crude and excessively powerful Nellis’ sword became.
‘I think this might be the clue to Nellis’ problem. Let’s take a closer look.’
Kalt stopped just blocking and swung his sword.
Kaang!
Nellis’ sword was bounced off by Kalt’s sword.
“… Ugh!”
“Mr. Nellis, this time I will attack too, so respond accordingly.”
“Yes, yes!”
Kalt swung her sword at Nellis.
It wasn’t swung in a particularly threatening way.
Kalt swung his sword at a speed that Nellis could easily block and watched Nellis’ reaction.
Visor! Visor! Chang!
“Haa, ugh! Haaaaa! Haha!”
Nellis was working hard to block Kalt’s sword.
Nellis is not a fool either.
I know that Kalt is wielding her sword at his level.
Even so.
‘No, no, I can’t be caught by Mr. Kalt now…’ !’
The hand holding her sword began to tremble.
My heart starts beating vigorously.
A cold sweat broke out on my back.
Like a lamb facing a wolf.
Nellis desperately blocked her sword in front of Kalt, who was stronger than her, trying not to let her own problems be noticed for now.
Meanwhile, Nellis is anxious and desperate.
‘Is it a problem to cross swords with people? No, if that were the case, it would have been obvious from the moment I suggested sparring. If…’
Kalt watched Nellis’ reaction and recalled her suspicious symptoms.
After choosing a candidate in her head, Kalt stopped her sword and spoke to Nellis.
“Are you okay, Mr. Nellis?”
“Ha. Huh? Well, what is it?”
“Your complexion suddenly took a turn for the worse.”
“Really? This is…!”
‘What should I do, what should I do, what should I do! Did you get caught? My problem? I was planning to tell you later! I’ll be really disappointed if it turns out like this!’
Nellis’s heart was pounding violently with anxiety and nervousness.
“As expected, resting today was the right answer. I guess I was very tired.”
“… Yes?”
“It happens sometimes. During the long-awaited recovery period due to the fatigue that has accumulated without my knowledge, the symptoms suddenly come upon me while moving my body. It would be better not to spar today and get a good rest.”
‘Oh, I wasn’t caught!’
“Ah, is that so? For some reason, she suddenly felt depressed, and her body became tired…”
Nellis decided to go along with the excuse that Kalt had prepared for her.
“You’d better go to your room and sleep. Now, come on in.”
“I’m sorry, Mr. Kalt. I was trying to show you my skills…”
“Health comes first. Our bodies are the most important to us. Come on.”
“Yes, yes!”
Nellis hurried into the inn.
‘I’m sorry, Mr. Kalt!’
In her heart, she felt remorse for Kalt.
“Mr. Kalt, is Ms. Nellis okay?”
“If you get a good night’s rest, you’ll be fine.”
‘Because I wasn’t that tired to begin with.’
The standard for accumulating fatigue that Kalt mentioned is doing harsh requests without sleep for several days and nights.
It’s completely different from sleeping on a kobold that she can barely catch as part of her daily routine.
Even though Nellis left, Kalt continued training by pulling out the Mana Blade.
Then, after washing her body, she went into her own room and slept for 30 minutes.
After a short nap, Kalt went back downstairs to the inn and helped Nadia, who was moving a box containing planting materials, and checked to see that Runia was not nearby.
He grabbed Nadia’s lovely butt and whispered in her ear.
“Tonight, I’ll tell you about Ki Seung-wi.”
Kalt left the inn, leaving behind Nadia, whose ears were turning red.
‘Let’s look for Aria.’
As I was moving her luggage, I asked Nadia that Aria had not returned yet.
Kalt followed her steps and searched for Aria’s whereabouts.
However, Aria was not seen outside her building.
“Hey, handsome guy over there!”
While walking around, a man called Kalt in front of the store.
He was a man with a generous appearance and a slightly protruding belly.
“What’s going on?”
As Kalt approached with a smile, the man also spoke with a bright face.
“You’re him, right? He’s the new member of Nellis’ party who killed the kobold in our village.”
“Yes.”
“Thank you for helping our village! Here’s this!”
The man handed Kalt some bread that looked warm.
“This is bread I just made! Our bread is delicious!”
I glanced at the building sign and saw that the generous man was the owner of a bread shop.
Nellis joined the party and was purely offering goodwill to Kalt, who was hunting kobolds.
“Thank you. It looks delicious.”
Kalt took a bite of the bread right away.
The bread I just made was definitely hot and delicious, just as the man said.
The bakery owner, who was happy to see Kalt eating the bread quickly and stuffing it into his mouth, smiled happily.
“How do you think our bread is delicious?”
“Yes, that’s right. I really want to give it to my colleagues. I’ll buy three.”
“Oh my, thank you!”
Kalt asked as the bakery owner was putting bread into the store.
“Have you seen our party nun?”
“The nun at the party? Oh, if she was a nun, she went to the church in town.”
“I see. Thank you.”
“What! Come on! Here are three breads!”
After paying for the bread and receiving the bag containing the bread, Kalt left the store and walked towards the church.
The village church was not very big.
It is a building about the size of an ordinary home, with the symbol of the god of light that serves this world hanging on the roof.
The shape of the light symbol is a round circle with a cross superimposed on the bottom of the cross. It is a cross pattern with a horizontal bar attached near the bottom of the round circle.
When you enter the church, there is a larger symbol hanging on the wall than the one hanging on the ceiling, and there are several long benches for the villagers to pray.
Because the village was not that big, there was no priest to manage the church.
It was only used as a place to pray to the God of Light.
The front seat of the bench in the church.
Kalt found Arya sitting.
I hurriedly approached Aria’s side.
“God… God of light…”
Aria was concentrating on her prayer, folding her hands together as if she was clinging to something even as her kalt approached.
Kalt sat next to Aria without speaking to her and gently placed her bag of bread on her bench.
Kalt waited quietly until Arya finished her prayer.
And after 1 minute.
“Whoa…”
Aria’s prayer has ended.
“Are you finished praying?”
“…!”
Whoosh! Aria turned her head in surprise and looked at her kalt.
“Kah, Mr. Kalt!? Uh, when will you be next to me…”
“Even when I entered the church, I was concentrating on prayer without even knowing I was there.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I can’t believe I didn’t notice.”
“No. I can’t disturb you when you are praying faithfully.”
“You are faithful…”
Aria slightly lowered her head.
It was a movement that seemed to be painful or guilty, not something shameful.
“Oh, would you like some bread? This bread was just made at a bakery in this town. It’s delicious.”
“Okay, thank you.”
Aria quickly took the bread that Kalt gave her and took a bite.
Just as Kalt said, the bread was still warm and good to eat.
Slowly, one bite at a time.
Kalt slowly waited for Aria to finish eating the bread.
“It was delicious.”
“Is that so? Eating something delicious doesn’t make you feel better about your worries?”
“…! Mr. Kalt, you mean…”
“Did I tell you? My specialty is mental counseling. At least I know what a worried face looks like.”
Kalt said while looking at Aria with his clasped fingers.
“I don’t know what Aria’s worries are. But sometimes, it’s easier to open up your worries to someone than to keep them to yourself. And I can give you advice to solve Aria’s worries.”
Kalt’s soft, comfortable voice came through Aria’s ears.
“It hasn’t been long since I joined the same party as Aria. Aria and I are colleagues. I want to be Aria’s strength. So Aria, can you tell me about your concerns?”
Kalt asks with a worried face.
If Aria hesitated again, Kalt was planning to use her hypnosis.
There is silence for a moment.
“Mr. Kalt…”
Aria opened her mouth.
“I’m sorry.”
‘Of course you have to use hypnosis…’
“I hid it all this time.”