Bratt Lloyd.
A person who was her best friend and, at the same time, the most annoying guy she had ever met.
When Judith heard the explanation for ‘Why did you fall and bleed?’ , her biggest emotion was confusion.
‘You should have just told me!’
Why did he have to show it to her when he knew that it would hurt him?
Of course, rather than just speaking, this was better to clear up the misunderstanding, but Judith thought that if it was hurting him, then she would have listened to his words.
It was a bit annoying though. She thought that it was because of her behavior that the situation with Bratt Lloyd had turned out like this.
She didn’t like how she was feeling bad for this.
However, all her doubts disappeared as she heard the next words which came out of Bratt’s mouth.
“I like you…”
“…?”
Judith’s mind went blank.
She didn’t quite understand it.
Like?
Whom?
No way, her?
She had to accept it that way, because it was just the two of them around, herself and Bratt.
‘No, no. He might be talking about someone else.’
Judith gulped and thought.
In her case, at times when her training didn’t go well, she would often mumble about useless things.
There were times when she would curse, pour out her thoughts and sometimes say what she wanted others to say to her.
This was probably the same.
And as other similar thoughts denying Bratt’s words came to her mind.
“I like you, Judith.”
“Ackkk!”
Thud!
Thud!
“Uh, ack…”
“Ah! Oh! Sorry…. No, ack…!”
Judith had suddenly got up, which made Bratt's head fall to the ground.
And as his head banged the floor, he groaned.
Judith, who watched him, felt restless as she knew that she had overreacted and had hurt him.
She even thought about running away, but she didn’t want to because she knew that he was hurting.
And…
It wasn’t like she didn’t want to hear more from Bratt.
‘No, what the hell is running through this bastard's head?’
She didn’t understand it.
Judith herself never thought of her to be attractive.
No, it wasn’t just that.
She knew her personality, her skills in pickpocketing and swords, all of which she learned as a child.
And despite not being ugly, she wasn’t exactly the pretty type like Ilya.
There was no reason for Bratt, a young lord, to like her.
‘This bastard, is he trying to pull my leg?’
Rather, him teasing her seemed likely.
In a very angry voice, she asked.
“Yah, do you really like me? Give me a reason.”
“…”
“If you like me, then shouldn’t you have a reason for it? B-by any chance, if this is a joke, say it out loud. If you won’t, I will definitely hurt yo…"
“It’s not a joke.”
“Then what is this!”
Judith looked at Bratt.
The silent air with neither side speaking anything.
Bratt didn’t like this.
It was partly because he thought that he couldn’t remember what he wanted to say, and even more so was because of his disappointment when he learned that she couldn’t believe this.
However, Bratt’s next words were enough to dispel the confusion in Judith.
“Wait a minute.”
“Ah, why? You bastard, if you can't think of any…”
“It isn’t that.”
“Then what…”
“It is because I didn’t think I would have to talk about it.”
He raised his upper body up.
And as their gazes leveled, Judith's eyes met Bratt.
A slightly cheeky, yet sensual look.
A young lord, who was definitely handsome, was looking at her with serious eyes,
And said,
“I am a planner in everything, but today’s confession wasn’t in my plan. I just suddenly thought you were pretty….”
“Ugh!”
“… without even realizing the words came out. So, I need some time to sort things out.”
“No, are you real….’
“So, wait a little more. I will say it carefully so that you won’t think of it as a joke, but rather sincerely from my heart.”
“…!”
Judith’s face grew even redder.
No, she knew for sure. There was no need to wait for Bratt to speak.
Even though she wasn’t a sorcerer and couldn’t look into other people’s eyes… there was no way that she couldn’t recognize the emotion that was oozing out of his eyes.
This was no joke. Bratt was sincere.
That caused a huge stir in Judith’s heart.
“… I, I will hear from you later then!”
Unable to bear it, she walked away from the hall at a terrifying speed.
“… hmm.”
Bratt stood up, watching her even after she left.
It was a mess. As he told Judith earlier, he had no intention of confessing to Judith today.
It had been a long time since they even had a proper conversation, so he just wanted to reconcile today.
But when he came back to his senses, he realized what he said and that Judith had left.
However…
‘It wasn’t all bad.’
Bratt decided to consider today’s work in a positive way.
The best outcome for his confession was obviously her acceptance.
So, what was the worst outcome?
Refusal. The word ‘sorry’ coming out from a smiling face out of consideration.
And that was something Bratt had to avoid.
And today, that refusal didn’t come, so the confession wasn’t a failure.
‘To be flustered that much, it means that even Judith was aware of this.’
“… very good.”
An unexpected confession.
And an unplanned development.
But it wasn’t bad.
Feeling that, he smiled and walked back to his room.
From today, he thought of being more proactive.
And Bratt Lloyd, who was full of thoughts about Judith, couldn’t even feel the pain in his body.
Four months passed since Airn, and his party arrived in Durkali.
The seasons changed, and the cold breeze of early autumn blew.
Of course, it wasn't just the seasons that changed. Most of Airn's party had also achieved considerable results.
And the one with the most balance was Bratt Lloyd.
Of the five spirits, he showed an immense talent for the aura of water, but had an amazing affinity with other spirits too.
Wood from water, fire from wood, earth from the fire, and metal from the earth.
And finally, the process of producing water from metal and back to its original state.
In other words, it only took a month to achieve the circle of five spirits, which was remarkable even for orcs.
Of course, the main spirit was there.
By continuing the flow of five spirits, Bratt strengthened his inner body, and brought out the energy of water, and achieved a stable balance.
He concentrated on combining his swordsmanship along with the auras simultaneously as well.
Seeing that, Gorha nodded in admiration.
“He is stable, and can handle things without me being here.”
However, the expression on Judith’s face was different.
Unlike Bratt, who cared about all five spirits evenly, she only focused on the fire spirit.
“It is fine. Even if the five spirits don’t coexist within me, my way is enough to make fire.”
“However, if you do not accept the energy of the other spirits, the balance will be disturbed, and the unbalanced power of fire will burn your bod…”
"That is fine; I can handle it. And besides, I can’t even feel the other spirits at all.”
It was true.
Unlike the fire spirits, which she had been familiar with since birth, Judith couldn’t feel the other four.
It was like there was no connection with the other spirits.
In the end, there were two paths Judith could take.
The first one was to not learn the Five Spirits Divine technique at all because her innate balance might be disturbed.
And the other path would mean concentrating on the fire spirit alone.
Her choice was the latter, and at least so far, it had been showing good results.
‘It is weird. Absurd, but it is actually happening in front of my eyes, so I can’t even…’
Looking at the unusual human woman, Gorha shook his head.
Of course, it wasn’t just Judith who was absurd.
Although not as extreme as her, Airn Pareira was also special enough.
Fortunately, he followed Gorha’s instructions.
“Isn’t this a win-win?”
“Yes. Unlike normal people, your energy flows in the reverse direction, not the forward direction.”
Most of those who learned the Five Spirits Divine technique practiced it following the principle of coexistence.
The principle of generating and encouraging other spirits. An example of coexistence was something like a tree that could only grow by absorbing water or a flame rising from a burning tree.
However, in the case of Airn, it was the opposite.
He used a reverse flow, which created a new energy to constrain and control the strong energy of the Five Divine Spirit Technique.
“It has to be like that. Because I used the fire to tame and polish the iron stake into the smooth sword…”
“Hm? Iron stake? Sword?”
“Ah-no.”
“… I see something. I am not going to dig deep, but… it is something like a sixth sense which tells me that it feels right even if I don’t know exactly. And you are right. It takes fire to refine a rough metal. Of course, it doesn’t end there. It is fine now, but if the energy of the fire grows more, then you will need to use water and control that fire.”
“I understand.”
And thus, his training went smoothly.
It wasn’t as good as Bratt, but Airn was also good at handling spirits.
Of course, no matter how hard he devoted himself to cultivating water, wood, and earth, he couldn't handle them like he did with metal and fire, which he had been tempering for years.
For him to control the other three, he would need some kind of realization.
But there was no doubt that with the current groundwork, he could move forward if and when he received that realization.
“Hmm…”
“…”
However,
Unlike the other three, who had remarkable achievements, Ilya Lindsay didn’t have much growth.
Actually, it wasn’t that strange.
The Five Spirits Divine technique was created by orcs for orcs.
It was natural for most humans to find it difficult. Just because they were called a genius didn’t mean that they could handle the spirits.
However, seeing the three of her friends show outstanding abilities, it was inevitable for her to not feel disappointed.
“So it’s like that?”
“Yes? What?”
“We aren't going to stay in Durkali. And you think Ilya is becoming worried, right?”
“Hm.”
Airn scratched the back of his neck after hearing Bratt’s words.
Although it wasn’t explicitly mentioned, the reason they were traveling around was to grow as swordsmen.
More specifically, it was to achieve something worthy of being recognized as a graduate of Krono Swordsmanship School, and thereby breaking away from the status of a trainee of Krono.
‘Except the fact that Ilya was no longer a trainee.’
In that sense, all three accomplished their purpose.
Airn felt that he could end his long wandering because of the experiences he accumulated through travel and the memories of his past life.
Now there was an unquenchable burning conviction in his heart.
Judith, too, had overcome her feelings of inferiority and humiliation to some extent.
Sure the way it was done was pretty bizarre, but she had matured a lot more since she left the school.
And Bratt…
‘… Bratt, doesn’t seem to lack anything.’
At least that was what Airn thought. He felt like Bratt was someone who didn’t have to leave the school and search for experiences to be called a true graduate.
But that wasn’t the point now.
Thinking for a moment, Airn looked at Bratt and said.
“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t worried for Ilya, but that isn’t all.”
“Huh?”
“Yes. There is more for me to learn here. And even if that wasn’t the case… I have no intention of heading back to school right now. Because…”
Before going to school, there was someone he had to meet.
Bratt Lloyd was puzzled hearing Airn’s words.
