Manowa

Chapter 217 - Let"s Train

After they finished eating and settling in, Kazane accompanied by Tatsuo went up the escalator-like stairs .

Ao, who had been with them until just before, was now entering the bath . One person was giggling while imagining his surprise at the jacuzzi and shower and wondering which would surprise him more, and by the time she came to herself, they had reached the rooftop .

『Mother, the stars are beautiful . 』

Tatsuo looked up at the sky and said .

「Yeah . 」

Kazane agreed with Tatsuo’s words . As Tatsuo said, there were certainly many stars shining in the night sky . She was unintentionally captivated for a moment, but Kazane shook her head and slapped her cheeks . Tatsuo tilted his head at that situation, but Kazane didn"t go there to look at the stars .

Then Kazane unloaded Tatsuo and took the Tonfa Primer out of her Item Box while basking in Tatsuo"s reluctant to part gaze .

『Mother, what is that?』

Tatsuo was interested in the book and asked while glancing at it .

「A book to make mom stronger?」

Kazane replied to her son"s words .

『Even though Mother is sufficiently strong, Mother will become even stronger . 』

After Kazane smiled and said「Well, I suppose so」at his admiring expression, she immediately summoned Yuuko-nee .

「Nyaa」

And a huge kitty cat jumped out of the Childstone . Naturally, it was Yuuko-nee . As a matter of fact, Yuuko-nee"s fur had improved from eating the Beared Dragon meat . Her Magic Resistance had probably also increased . She ate Earth Core Dragon meat after that as well, so her teeth may have become st.u.r.dier .

Although it was the familiar Yuuko-nee, it was the first meeting with Tatsuo .

『Oh! Who is this lady?』

In other words, it was the first contact between Tatsuo and Yuuko-nee .

『She has Mother"s smell . 』

「Nyaao」

Tatsuo"s cheek was licked by Yuuko-nee as he approached, and Tatsuo rubbed his cheek against hers .

Advertis.e.m.e.nt「Nn, it seems your relationship isn"t bad . 」

『Yes . A person with Mother"s scent can"t be a bad person . 』

Tatsuo said while continuing to rub their cheeks together .

「Well then, Yuuko-nee . I leave this child to you . 」

「Nyaanya」

Yuuko-nee simply nodded after being entrusted . Then Yuuko-nee lay down on the spot, and Tatsuo clung to her . It seemed her fur felt good . Tatsuo was rolling around on her fluffy fur .

Kazane took a relieved breath when she saw that . It was difficult to imagine from his manner of speaking, but Tatuso was a very spoiled child, and Kazane was extremely worried that he would only have eyes for her, but it seemed that was a needless fear .

At the same time, seeing him get attached to someone other than her felt a little lonely, but Kazane had to develop the『Kick Devil』Unique Skill she had awakened .

And when she examined the『Kick Devil』Skill, it seemed it was an ability that strengthened the growth of kicking techniques, increased attack power depending on Combo number, and had an auxiliary function to intuitively designate the way to continue the Combo .

If it were a game, she could hit the specified b.u.t.ton after an attack to launch the next combo attack, but naturally, Kazane wasn"t moving with a controller, and there were no b.u.t.tons . Kazane thought the auxiliary function that intuitively showed the next part of the Combo was like the『Reading』that was Jinrai"s forte . And the main const.i.tuent of『Kick Devil』was kicking, but if the first attack was a kick, it seemed punching or joint locking techniques could continue the Combo .

This isn"t a growth a.s.sistance specialization like Yumika . . . Kazane thought when she looked at the explanation, but the damage enhancement based on the Combo was quite attractive . Nonetheless, Kazane decided to start with trying to strengthen her technical capabilities by looking at the『Tonfa Primer』she had received . The basics were important .

Then Kazane put out a golem called Renshu-kun . Since it was a human-type golem that could only make simple movements, it could be repaired immediately after being destroyed, and the damage load it received could also be monitored with the Window . Kazane created it that way because she was thinking that being able to fight as many as she liked would be optimal for her sparring partner .

Thanks to the Status increase from leveling up, Kazane"s basic stamina was already at a high level . Thanks to her Wisdom, her comprehension ability was also considerable .

Since she possessed such a foundation, Kazane swiftly absorbed the Tonfa Primer, and it seemed she would be able to master it . The growth enhancement of kick techniques from『Kick Devil』was probably also showing its effect .

Then Kazane silently continued learning by rote as Yuuko-nee curled in on herself with a「Nyaago」and Tatsuo fell asleep sprawled out on Yuuko-nee"s belly . Ao came up along the way, but she didn"t notice .

He was going to call out to her, but he was stopped by Yuuko-nee"s gaze . Then Ao shrugged and decided to sleep in the guest room on the second floor .

The next morning, when Ao woke up and went up to the roof, Kazane was up there learning by rote .

(Well, her form is much better than yesterday . . . )

Ao thought, but when he saw the unchanged figure of Yuuko-nee and Tatuso sleeping to the side, he realized that she wasn"t doing early morning training but had continued all night long, so he hurriedly stopped her .

「Ehh, Ao-sann?」

Kazane said with a hazy expression, and Ao made her take a bath to wash away her sweat, then took Kazane to her futon . Apparently she had been too immersed and stayed up all night . Ao thought she was a girl that took things to the extreme, no matter what she did .

And that day"s departure was just past noon .

◎ Soldard Kingdom, Sky, Evening

「I"ve realized the value of a.s.sistance from Skills like Intuition and Nimble . 」

Kazane muttered to herself as she rode on Ao"s back in the sky . After waking up, she took another bath, ate lunch, and put away the Cottage, so as might be expected, she was wide awake .

『Did you practice with your Skills off?』

Kazane nodded after Ao"s question .

「Yeah . But if I don"t use Skills during practice, it might not mesh smoothly with the real thing, and I might learn faster with Intuition . I"m troubled . 」

It seemed she spent all her time yesterday memorizing every form from the primer in the end . Since she could actually remember all of it, Kazane truly felt that high Wisdom was important .

「I think I"ll actually try it out starting today . 」

『Try it out? Will you practice with something like the Golem from yesterday?』

「That is also under consideration . I think several forms will be easier to master with a monster opponent, though . 」

Kazane looked at her greaves . It understood its master"s intention and emitted red light .

『It shone . Mother, it shone . 』

「He"s motivated, isn"t he . I hope I don"t get killed . 」

Kazane said boo-hoo-hoo, but her voice was cheerful .

『Is that the Berserk Ogre you told me about? Is that okay?』

From the conversation so far, Ao had a rough idea who her sparring partner would be . Although it was a summoned Ogre, its nature was wild . Such a thing could occasionally kill the caster .

「He has acc.u.mulated some stress from being made to return last time, so I have to let him vent a little . 」

『Hmm . Mmm . . . . . 』

It seemed Ao had discovered something .

「Did you find a place to stay tonight?」

『No, it"s something different . 』

When she followed Ao"s line of sight, it seemed there was another dragon in the distance coming toward them .

『It"s a Soldard Dragon Knight on a dragon mount . Kazane, Invisible and Optical Camouflage . Tatsuo-kun as well . 』

「Roger . 」

『Then I will hide myself . 』

The figures of Kazane and Tatsuo disappeared when they used their Skills .

Then the Soldard Kingdom Dragon Knight pulled up alongside Ao in the sky .

「I am the Soldard Dragon Knight Omaka Niwana . 」

『Soldard Dragon Knight dragon mount Mejirodori . I a.s.sume you are the West Dragon Village Laguna"s Ao-sama . 』

The Soldard Dragon Knight and his mount spoke first .

『Yes . I am the West Dragon Village Laguna"s Ao . 』

After Ao"s response, the knight Omaka said「Ooh」with deep emotion .

「It is truly an honor to meet the legendary Ao-dono . However, this is Soldard"s territory . Could you tell me why you are pa.s.sing through here?」

Ao nodded after Omaka"s question .

『You may have already heard, but the East Dragon Village was invaded by black monsters . 』

「We received a message about that . 」

After the Dragon Knight spoke, his dragon mount nodded .

This Soldard dragon mount was a foster child from East Dragon Village Zegan . He was considered a Soldard dragon, so he was different from the East Dragon Village dragons, who were officially affiliated with Hyvern, but Mejirodori being worried about his hometown after hearing about it was natural .

Then Ao explained to them that he was en route to tell Minshiana about it himself . Of course, the Dragon Knight didn"t have a good facial expression when he heard Minshiana"s name, but that didn"t mean he would stop Ao .

The dragon villages stuck to political neutrality, with the recognition that dragons handed over to nations would be considered part of those nations for matters like war . Ao was also an adviser to Tsuvara, but he had pledged that he wouldn"t be involved in wars .

So he couldn"t stop Ao here, but when the Dragon Knight left he advised him that it would be better not to enter Soldard for a while .

There was domestic backlash against dragons due to the mysterious harmful dragon that attacked near Minshiana"s border . It seemed the kingship was usurped after that problem, and now there were various domestic issues . Omaka would also have to report about Ao"s journey to Minshiana to his superiors, so he said it would be better to pa.s.s through the country before it became a strange story .

By the way, that mysterious harmful dragon was a hoax to camouflage Yuuko-nee"s a.s.sault, so there wasn"t anything more to the story beyond causing trouble for the dragons, but Kazane who didn"t know such circ.u.mstances thought (various things happened, huh?) as she listened to the conversation while hiding .

After those few minutes of conversation, Ao parted from the Dragon Knight and mount and headed toward Minshiana . It seemed like something troublesome would occur if they stopped in Soldard, so they crossed the border with Minshiana and spent the night at the foot of the mountains there .

Name: Yuihama Kazane

Occupation: Magic Swordswoman

t.i.tle: Ogre Killer, Dragon Slayer, High Beast Summoner, Rea King

Equipment: Staff 『White Blaze』, Two Handed Sword『Black Fang』, Adhesion Sword『Gum』, Spell Dagger Feather x2, Dragonscale Breastplate, Drake Gauntlets, Silver Sheep Clothes, Sylphyn Skirt, Plasma Pants, Dragon Eating Ogre King"s Greaves, Indestructible Cloak, Mysterious Pouch, Crimson Saint Coffin, Heroic Spirit Summoning Ring, Circlet of Wisdom, Aim Bracelet, Magic Acc.u.mulator, White Magic Acc.u.mulator, Rainbow Necklace, Rainbow Dragon Ring

Level : 32

Health: 124

Magic Power: 235+420

Strength: 55+20

Agility: 50+14

Endurance: 32

Wisdom : 62

Dexterity : 39

Spell : 『Fly』『Torch』『Fire』『Heal』『Firestorm』『Healer Ray』『High Heal』『Golden Dusk「Dragon Exclusive」』『Mirror Shield』

Skill : 『Kick Devil』『Warrior"s Memory』『Night Vision』『Crushing Blow』『Dog"s Sense of Smell: Lv2』『Golem Maker: Lv3』『Rush』『Fire Principle: Third Chapter』『Healing Principle: Fourth Chapter』『Air Jump: Lv2』『Killing Leg: Lv3』『Fear Voice』『Invisible』『Tiger Eye』『Wall Walking』『Intuition』『Cheat Death』『Nimble』『Charge』『Material Shield: Lv2』『Information Link』『Optical Camouflage』『Dash』『Bloodsucking Blade』『Dragonization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Regenerate』『Soul Breaking Blade』『Stealthy Placement』『Thunder Chariot: Lv2』『St.u.r.dier Teeth: Lv2「Dragon」』『Crystallization: Lv2「Dragon」』『Fabricated Coercion』『Stone Minotaur』『Mega Beam: Lv2』『s.p.a.ce Expansion』『Pseudo-silver Creation』『Poison Claw』『Fireball「Dragon」』『Cuticle「Dragon」』

Yumika:「There was a dangerous story . 」

Kazane:「Soldard"s bad relation with Minshiana that was talked about at the beginning showed up . 」