Aldred's wives prepared some food and drinks for the guests. Aldred talked with Baendjbi and he was fairly impressed. Baendjbi had a firm knowledge of the theoretical and practical in sword art. Aldred even learned one or two things from him.
With Aldred's godly eyes, he could see the imperfection and weakness of a technique that was already overpowered, but he could not really create a new technique from scratch.
As Baendjbi impressed him with all sorts of tricks and techniques, Aldred surprised and even shocked Baendjbi at how easily he saw the weakness within the techniques.
"You have keen eyes, Aldred," Baendjbi said with awe.
"A lot of people say that."
"No, really. I have never seen a genius like you. These techniques are taught by a Platinum Rank swordmaster, and you just saw through it in a blink of an eye."
"I just see things from a different perspective."
"Yeah… perspective. I think I need that."
Baendjbi did not think he could emulate what Aldred did. The techniques that he told Aldred were something he had studied for years, but he would never be able to find the weaknesses.
"Approaching you was the right thing. I learned so much from you. Maybe I should be calling you master from now on."
Aldred laughed. "Don't be. I still have so much to learn."
Baendjbi smiled. "What a humble man. The guild will love you. Maybe one of our Diamond Rank swordsmen will take you in as a personal disciple."
"Not interested," Aldred said.
Baendjbi was shocked when he heard that. "You're not interested in becoming a disciple of a Diamond Rank swordsman?"
Aldred looked at him. "I want to find my own path first."
"Oh, I understand."
Aldred of course lied. If he became a disciple of a Diamond Rank, it would be Aldred doing the teaching.
Another rock flew at Aldred. It landed beside him, sending dust everywhere.
The viking men in the distance pointed and laughed at him.
Baendjbi glared at the viking. "Aldred, are these people bothering you? If they are, we will help you to handle them."
"No need. The mountain will kill them," Aldred said.
Aldred looked up and saw some Ranehawkes watching them from above. Those giant eagles had been watching the adventurers for some time now. They did nothing but watch.
That made some of the adventurers nervous.
Mira brushed Krista's hair as she sat on her lap. "Krista, are you a princess?"
Krista stopped munching on her food. "Krista don't know."
Mira recalled what happened at sea. She and the others did not talk about it because they didn't want to traumatize her, but now she felt like it was the right time to ask.
The winged men came with a complete armada of battleships to get her back. And after they failed, the nation of Paphia reduced their business involvement with Aldred's company. Clearly, they were very upset about the failure to get Krista.
Enough to cut off a part of Aldred's business in the region.
Mira understood Aldred's business strategy. He was a smart man, so he must have done some things to prevent the local government from pulling his business out. Either with bribery, or making them rely on his company, he always had ways to hurt the government when they mess with his company.
And Tarrar. That guy was very smart in management as well. Aldred gave the ideas and tricks, and Tarrar was like the hand that executed them.
So it was without question the nation of Paphia suffered a lot of losses just to get back to Aldred.
That led to the first question. Who was Krista?
"Krista, how did you get inside that egg?"
Krista shook her head again. "Krista don't know."
She looked at Aldred with sparkling eyes. "All Krista know is big brother is a nice person, and Krista must follow him wherever he goes."
"Why do you think that way?"
Once again, she shook her head. "Krista get a feeling."
Mira giggled. "So you get a feeling and you just follow through with it. You're so funny, Krista."
The Phantom Doomblade laying on the ground sparked with the image of the Golden shield for a split second.
[You will be safe with him]
"Krista know."
"Did you say something?" Mira asked.
Krista shook her head and smiled. Flapping her cute wings, she stood up from Mira's lap, ran to Aldred, and hugged him.
Aldred was talking with Baendjbi until Krista hugged him from the side.
Aldred laughed and caressed her head.
"Is she your daughter?" Baendjbi asked.
"Aldred is Krista's big brother," Krista replied.
"There you got your answer," Aldred said.
Baendjbi raised an eyebrow. "I didn't expect you to have a sister this young."
"Uh… I am actually 11 years old."
Baendjbi was speechless. "Wait, you are 11 years old?"
The other swordsmen were shocked by that revelation. Eleven years old? Even if their fathers told them that, they wouldn't believe it.
He looked at the wives. "And you guys are 11 years old too?"
"No, we're not. Aldred used an appearance-changing spell, so he looked older," Mary replied.
"I thought you would be at least 20 years old. To think that you are merely 11 years old, is it even possible for you to reach Gold Rank?"
"Well, it's possible for me." Aldred laughed.
Baendjbi laughed as well. "I don't want to be rude, but I can't help myself to ask. May I see your sword?"
Krista looked at him and blinked.
"Sure," Aldred replied as he grabbed the weapon.
Krista held Aldred's shoulder.
"What's wrong, Krista?"
Krista shook her head.
Aldred looked at her in confusion as he handed the sword to Baendjbi.
"What a magnificent sword… It's heavier than it seems. It would take four Silver Ranks just to lift this thing."
"It's not that powerful."
"If this weapon is not that powerful then what about ours? Please, don't be too humble."
As Aldred and everyone else chatted with each other, the wind on the mountain became harsher. One of Aldred's tents got blown away and crashed onto the ground.
Stella waved her hand. "Star Barrier."
Star particles suddenly appeared around them, freezing the time and space for a moment, before rerouting the harsh wind to other directions.
The sword warriors were impressed.
"Miss Stella was it? You are quite an impressive magician."
"I thought you only had swords in your eyes," Stella said with a naughty tone.
Baendjbi blushed as Stella was a beautiful woman with tan skin, and her clothes did not hide her thigh at all.
He shook his head. Stella was Aldred's wife, he couldn't disrespect Aldred by staring at his woman.
"Well, should we continue our journey?"
"Sure." Aldred stood up and put everything in his divine dimension, shocking the swordsmen once again.
"Let's go." Aldred walked forward with his wives and soldiers while the swordsmen processed what had just happened.
"Did he just make everything vanish?"
Baendjbi looked at Aldred's back in awe. "I think he did."
"Isn't that what magicians do? From what I can see, he is a swordsman, not a magician," a man said.
"Maybe he can use swords and magic," another man replied.
Baendjbi looked at his friends. "From what I heard, that man is a magician, a swordsman, and a necromancer all at the same time."
"…"
"You gotta be kidding me."
