Everyone had a day off the next day, so they walked around the city sightseeing. However, on the next day onward, they got bored and spent most of their time watching Billy train with his siblings… life on the capital was rather boring for those tribesmen who did nothing but train or spar everyday, after all.
"That is the members of some warrior tribes for you, they don't know the meaning of taking it easy," Billy thought while he watched his visitors sitting on the ground of his garden.
"This is a good opportunity, we don't spar against each other often, do we?" Lucy asked.
"I don't ever remember sparring with you, Lucy, you are always working," Drew said. "In any case, Billy practiced a lot with your daughter, so i think you would benefit more from sparring with him."
"Do you mind?" Lucy asked.
"Sure, why not?" Billy said and then grabbed his spear.
It has been a while since Billy sparred against someone that used only a single sword. Lucy's level was seventy, but thanks to her battle experience and extra years of training, her status was almost the same as Billy's. She even learned Fierce Aura from Natalie, so that was bound to be fun.
After assuming their positions, Lucy dashed toward Billy and prepared to swing her sword. It seemed that Natalie got her wild side from her despite appearances. Although Billy lost the chance to strike first, he still had a trick up his sleeve and used Quick Spear while aiming at Lucy's wrist. Thanks to the length of his spear, his attack landed first, and since he used both hands, he overpowered her strike, stopping her momentum completely.
Lucy tried to recover, but Billy kept thrusting his spear while aiming at her right wrist. Aside from blocking, she couldn't do anything. She took a step to the side, and the very moment she began to swift her weight, Billy prepared a bigger strike. He used Light Spear and completely broke her stance since only one of her feet was on the ground. Despite that, Lucy blocked the strike and never let go of her sword, even when she rolled backward for several meters.
"That was a good one…" Lucy said while checking her wrists. "I didn't take you for the type who suddenly would change your fighting style from keeping the enemy away, to striking at the first opportunity."
"Well, shorter weapons have the advantage in close range," Billy said. "Your daughter gave me many painful lessons when I failed at keeping her at a distance."
Lucy already knew that a one-handed sword with her fighting style against a spear was a bad matchup, but she didn't expect to be defeated so quickly. The fact that Billy had experience fighting people that used the same type of sword wasn't much of an issue… In any case, Lucy already knew that Natalie was faster and stronger, her only weakness was her impatience, but even so, Lucy felt a bit bothered for being defeated by a kid three years younger than her daughter, even if it was just a spar.
Sometime later, Lucy sparred with Drew, and the duel lasted for quite a while. Against her senses, Drew had a hard time making use of his extra reach. Another person began to train early in the morning in Billy's garden from that point onward.
"The previous generation don't want to fall behind, huh," Billy thought.
Thanks to the visitors, Billy didn't have much time to stay in his workshop, but at least he managed to clear his mind and relax quite a bit, thanks to his family. Soon enough, the family would become even bigger and a bit more troublesome thanks to Lucy and Edward, but that wasn't a bad thing. They probably will become a lot less troublesome once they get some grandchildren…
In any case, they stayed in the capital for ten days, and after so many days just relaxing, everyone looked itchy to go back home and work. That trip worked well for them to recover themselves… Billy was also pretty thankful that no bad news came to spoil that time that he had with the closest people in his life.
"We will come again, once we have the chance," Camilla said and then hugged Billy. "Take care, Billy."
"Or maybe you will returned sooner than that, with those two," Edward said.
"It will depend on the current situation," Billy said. "If nothing happens, then in a year we will proceed with the ceremony, but if we deal with the beast tamers sooner than that, then we can speed up things a bit."
The others also said their goodbyes, but there wasn't much need for tears. No one cried when Billy left his hometown, so they wouldn't do it now. Samuel and Samara liked the big city, but they knew that they couldn't move in with their big brother when they were that young. First, they needed to become stronger to clear dungeons, and then their parents would stop treating them like kids.
Only one week had passed since Billy's parents began their travel home, and then he received another letter. The sender was Rosalie… as if that wasn't strange enough, the contents made Billy frown.
"The barbarians are heading west and some of them have been spotted near Riormi state."
Billy assumed that it was an alert coming from Aura… it would be dangerous if someone spotted a letter with her name. Still, it was also weird to write one using Rosalie. Nevertheless, it was time to pass the message to Jean in order for him to make the final preparations for the next confrontation. The enemies were a lot more reckless than before, so maybe they could use that to their advantage. They weren't giving their troops time to rest, after all.
"There is also the possibility that they are just using the barbarians for this first reconnaissance, but… we'd better be careful," Billy thought.
