Soul Eater Of The Rebellion

Lunamaria ②

「As I expected of you, Lars. You"re amazing, you totally tricked that coward and got him right where you want him!」

Miroslava praised Lars with a smile of satisfaction on her face.

In response to that, Lars smiled in an uncomfortably self-conscious manner.

「Sorry, Miro. The things you were saying along the way here completely went out of my other ear…And I wasn"t putting on an act… I was seriously angry at that guy」

「Hehe, it"s because you"re that type of person, after all. I"m sure you got him shaking in his boots. With this, you"ll be able to free that Ciel girl from Sora"s grasp. It"ll be all thanks to you」

Miroslava held Lars" hand with both of hers and faintly smiled.

Lars smiled bashfully.

While the two of them was like that, Lunamaria was watching them suspiciously.

When Miroslava"s eyes met with Lunamaria"s, she casted them down and spoke,

「However, I didn"t think that the other side would be after Luna instead of me. That was the only thing different from how I expected it to go. I"m sorry for that, Luna」

「Umm…」

「But like I said, it"ll be alright!」

Miroslava raised her voice and spoke over Lunamaria when she was about to say something.

「There"s no way Lars will lose to that coward. Lars is level 16 and the other person is level 1. No matter how badly Lars messes up he still won"t lose. You might not like the condition of becoming a slave, but don"t lose faith in Lars. Me as well, that is also my wish」

With that said, Miroslava bowed her head deeply.

Then, Lars also nodded strongly at Lunamaria to try to get rid of her uneasiness.

「It"s just as Miro says. I will never lose to a coward who hara.s.ses a slave that cannot fight back. Um… it wasn"t my intention to put you up as wager, but I hope that you could understand. I also want to help that girl named Ciel…please!」

Even though Lars was saying please, he did not doubt for a second that Luna would refuse him.

He was confident in his victory and he believed that his comrades were also confident in him, so there was no way that she would refuse him, he thought.

But Lunamaria did not nod, she could not nod.

It"s because she"s the one who could feel Sora"s hidden power more than anyone else here.

After seeing him for the first time after a while, he looked even more powerful than before.

Since she expected it this time, her body did not freeze up like before, but Sora still gave off a pressure as if he had a grip on her heart.

If she was asked if Lars could win versus him, she would have no choice but to shake her head.

When Lars noticed her suspicious hesitation, he was going to open his mouth again in an outrage.

The one who put a stop to that was Iria, who had been silent this whole time.

「Stop it, Lars. We all know what each other is capable of, no? It"s just that it isn"t easy to accept having your own fate decided by other people"s victory, right? It"s natural that Luna would be hesitant」

「Ah, you"re right. I"m sorry, I might have gotten a bit too defensive」

「But still, isn"t it strange?」

「What is?」

「You"re level sixteen, the other side is level one, you"ll win if you two fight, right? But Sora knows that as well. So why would he take such a disadvantageous fight?」

「Why, you ask…? He probably thought that he could win, right?」

「That"s what I"m saying, why does he think that he could? He accepted the duel because he believes that he has a chance to win. And we"re the ones who have no idea what"s making him think that. He didn"t show his face in Ishka for nearly two months after the Fly Lord incident. It seems that he took a trip to the Empire, so maybe there"s a chance that he obtained some strange power from there」

Lars knitted his brows and went into thinking after hearing what Iria said.

At this point, Lunamaria began to reveal the thoughts in her mind for the first time to her comrades.

「Lars, about what Iria just said…」

「What is it, Luna?」

「This is just how I feel as a spirit user, and I don"t have any concrete evidence on this but…the Sora right now is different from the Sora from the past」

「Different?」

「Yes. I"m afraid that he isn"t a level one anymore. I could feel a power from him that can"t be compared to before. I think something happened at the Fly Lord"s nest」

She did not mention anything about a dragon because she might lose all her credibility if she did. That"s why Lunamaria explained Sora"s abnormal situation in an easy-to-understand manner.

The crease between Lars" eyebrows deepened after he heard her words.

It was Miroslava who spoke out to him then,

「Lars, there"s no need to worry」

「Miro?」

「So what if that guy leveled up? Even if he spent those two months hunting monsters, the highest he could be now is around level 3. He might have reached 4 if he fought until the verge of death, but that would be the limit. Yeah, his power would have doubled or tripled if compared to his past self, but he would still be a child compared to you」

Miroslava raised her voice as she explained how it is in the first place.

「The guy who"s been doing nothing but gathering herbs all these years versus you, who had gone through many dangers as an adventurer; there"s a big difference not only in your levels, but experience as warriors as well. That gap can"t be closed in just two months, don"t you think?」

「Oh! Of course!」

「Moreover, I have a clue on why he"d think he could win like Iria said 」

「Really?!」

「Yes. That guy has already said it last time. He paid thirty gold coins to buy that girl named Ciel. Where did he get that money from? During the incident from before, he also had the money to call for a priest who could use 『Detect Lie』. Where did that money come from? In my opinion, he most likely looted the belongings of the dead at the Fly Lord"s nest and exchanged them for money」

Hearing what Miroslava just said, Iria mumbled something under her breath as if something came to her mind.

「…Speaking of which, that guy did bring back the identification tags of some adventurers」

「Yup. He did bring back the identification tags to report to the guild…but he must have kept their money and equipment. If he didn"t do that, there"s no way that a b.u.m who was kicked out of the inn without ever paying any tips could suddenly bring out gold coins」

「Is that so? I also noticed an unfamiliar looking sword by his waist from the other day」

「Yes. He must have gotten that from selling the dead"s belongings. There"s no other explanation for it. The reason he went to the Empire was to sell those things that he could not in Ishka. And then with the money he got, he went and bought a weapon and a slave in his arrogance. Now that man is flaunting to everyone around him with a smug look on his face. You can see his evil intentions from how he went out of his way to live at the inn that he stayed at in the past」

「So, that means, the chance of victory that he thought he had from what Iria was talking about earlier…」

「I bet it"s that sword by his waist. Haha, it"s like a kid who has never touched a sword before took out his parent"s to swing it around in joy. This is clearly the case」

Miroslava, who had cut off the fear of Iria and Lunamaria, faced Lars again.

Then, she gently put her hands on his cheeks.

The way those two looked at each other, for one moment, Lunamaria had noticed an indescribable light, but maybe she thought she was thinking too much.

「Lars, it"s the job of an adult to teach a naughty child a lesson. It"s the responsibility of a senior to teach the newbies who get full of themselves just because they"re leveling up quickly. Let"s show Sora the power of a real adventurer, a real warrior, shall we? You should do it to help that poor therianthrope girl as well…」