HPDBC Chapter 24 – Harvest Festival
Chapter 24 – Harvest Festival
Chapter 24 – Harvest Festival
— Leon Greyrat —
“Come on, brother. Let the mana flow through you, enhancing your strength with each strike. Don’t control it, just guide it,” I lectured.
A wooden sword whistled toward my face, but compared to the Water God, it looked like nothing more than a baby swinging a stick.
Needless to say, I parried it effortlessly, and with my brother leaving his side open, I gave him some punishment for being so vulnerable.
Thwack!
“Ouch!” Rudy exclaimed as he falls onto the ground.
“Haa...That’s enough,” I said.
As Rudy began to cast healing magic on himself, I silently contemplated what I had noticed lately whenever I sparred with my brother.
With me becoming a Water Saint, I could now sense mana, and by extension, touki as well.
Ghislaine’s was sharp and refined, almost to the point where it was hard to see, though that was probably just the difference in our abilities.
Master did say that at a certain difference in strength, one’s touki becomes beyond one’s understanding, whatever that meant.
Eris’ touki, however, was very... loose.
Unrefined and amateur, at least compared to me.
But lately, she was starting to use touki with some of her strikes, which meant that she was now an Advanced-rank swordswoman, or at least very close to it.
And Rudy... I couldn’t feel his at all.
When one reached the Intermediate rank, like the few knights I saw training in the courtyard from time to time, they should begin having some touki radiate off their body, even if it's uncontrolled.
In fact, even a Beginner-rank swordsman showed flashes of touki here and there.
Rudy, however... seemed to have none at all.
“Dammit... What do you think the problem is, Leon?” he asked me.
“...You said you don’t feel anything at all, right?” I asked.
“What? Don’t start talking like Father now,” he teased. “But no, I don’t. Am I doing something wrong?”
I shook my head. “No.”
While lacking in power, Rudy’s technique was quite good, even being on par with Eris as long as you didn’t take the raw combat instincts and talent into account.
And considering that he had been training for so long... yeah, I was pretty confident about this.
“Rudy... I don’t think you have any touki. Or at least, if you do, you can’t use it,” I stated my hypothesis.
“No touki, huh?” he said despondently. “I guess I can’t be a swordsman, then.”
“I didn’t say that,” I interjected. “I’ve noticed Sylphy has the same problem, but it’s still good for you two to learn swordsmanship to defend yourself and train combat instincts, even if you can barely reach the Intermediate rank. But perhaps... yeah, I think you should start focusing on the Water God and North God instead. Is that alright, Big Sis?”
Looking over to Ghislaine, she nodded in response. “Mmm. Rudeus is not suited for the Sword God Style.”
Ouch.
“And it wouldn’t do any good for Eris to only fight against Sword God techniques. Unfortunately, Leon is too far ahead to be her sparring partner, but with Rudeus learning the other styles, it would broaden her abilities as well,” she continued.
“Ah... I see. But isn’t Eris stronger than me?” Rudy asked.
“...In swordsmanship, yes. But you’re still close enough to be good partners,” I said.
That was something else I’ve learned about Rudy.
He underestimated himself.
Especially in terms of combat strength.
It was probably due to having a very skewed sense of normalcy, as the people he knew were Paul, a genius at all three sword styles; Ghislaine, one of the few people in the world who had reached the rank of Sword King in the world; me, who was extremely talented at both swordsmanship and magic; and then Eris, who, while currently only a bit better than the average swordsman, was a genius in her own right.
Anyway, while he might end up pissing some people off in the future by acting so humble, I’d rather him be like his now than be overconfident and get himself killed, so I think I’ll just leave it as is.
Plus, judging from his ‘experience’ from Eris’ birthday, he was doing just fine in terms of self-confidence.
Speaking of that night, Mama was pretty upset when I told her about it, and even more so when I told her where Rudy got his tips from.
Needless to say, there was a long period of time when I didn’t have to worry about another little sibling of mine entering the world.
Letting the springtime air that was teeming with the scent of blossoming flowers blow across my face, I started heading toward the stables.
“I’m heading home today, okay? I’ll be back by tomorrow around dinnertime,” I said.
“Can I come!?” Eris pleaded.
“You know you can’t, Eri. I’ll take Sylphy on my way back, though. Plus, you still have some reading to catch up on, right?” I said.
“Hmph! It’s way too boring!” she whined.
“Eri,” I said. “I know you want to be an adventurer.”
“Wha-!?” Eris exclaimed.
Was she so surprised that I knew?
She had always perked up at Ghislaine’s adventuring stories, and always made a habit of stopping in at the guild whenever we went into the city.
“And to be an adventurer, you need to know how to read the requests,” I continued. “Unless you want to annoy the receptionist.”
That seemed to shut her up.
“Mmm,” Ghislaine nodded. “That was one of the problems I encountered after our party split. It’s a skill you need to be independent.”
And with that, a fire was born in Eris’ eyes.
Hopefully, with this, she would take my dear brothers’ lessons a bit more seriously, at least for the next week before that determination waned.
That was how it usually went, after all.
“Oh, and Rudy, I’ll have Sylphy join our spars when she comes. Both swordsmanship and magic,” I said as I hopped on the saddle.
Luckily, I was able to shorten the journey to and from Buena Village by an hour by constantly supplying the horse with healing magic, so it wouldn’t be too long of a ride.
Though this method would never work for long journeys, if it was just a day, then the mana cost was acceptable, and the horse could sprint for the entire distance.
“Ah, sure. Will we go into the field for our magic spars?” Rudy asked.
“Naturally,” I responded.
Yes.
While Rudy wasn’t very gifted in swordsmanship, he was a genius in magic, both in regular applications and in combat.
The magic spars were something I started based on what Roxy told me about the Ranoa University of Magic.
While I didn’t think I needed to go to such a place to increase my abilities, the battle class was an interesting idea, and so, after some advice from her letters, I decided to put it into practice with the three of us.
Anyway, Rudy had yet to win a spar against me in pure magic, but that was only because of my greater combat experience, and the fact that his mana’s unique properties didn’t help him.
A crazy amount of mana and increased strength of said mana didn’t matter much in a short battle where we weren’t aiming to kill each other, after all.
I just hoped that the skills he’s been growing with me would help him when he ended up getting on a woman’s bad side, or multiple women’s bad sides, for that matter.
— Information on the Six-Faced World —
The Four Children
Leon Greyrat: An eleven-year-old boy with golden hair and brown eyes, his two favourite activities are entertaining his sisters and training.
Swordsmanship - Sword God: Saint, Water God: Saint, North God: Advanced
Attack Magic - Water: Saint, Fire: Advanced, Wind: Advanced, Earth: Advanced
Healing Magic - Healing: Advanced, Detoxification: Advanced, Protection: Intermediate
Rudeus Greyrat: A nine-year-old boy with brown hair and green eyes, his two favourite activities are practising magic and sniffing used panties.
Swordsmanship - Sword God: Intermediate, Water God: Intermediate, North God: Intermediate
Attack Magic - Water: Saint, Fire: Advanced, Wind: Advanced, Earth: Advanced
Healing Magic - Healing: Intermediate, Detoxification: Intermediate
Eris Boreas Greyrat: An eleven-year-old girl with red hair and red eyes, her favourite activities are practising swordsmanship and visiting the city with Leon.
Swordsmanship - Sword God: Advanced, North God: Beginner
“Do you want to come to the harvest festival, Rudy?” I asked.
“Hm? Nah. I went last year, but it was pretty boring. All the people did was dance around a fire and sell some food,” he said. “I’d rather stay inside and practice my magic.”
“If you’re sure...” I said, getting up off my chair. “Well, see ya.”
Walking over to the front door, I quickly spotted Eris with her arms crossed in her usual stance, feet tapping against the ground in impatience.
“What took you so long?” she asked.
“Sorry, Eri. My brother wanted me to show me his new figure. It’s of Ghislaine,” I answered.
Her eyebrow raises slightly at that. “Is that so...”
She really liked Ghislaine, didn’t she?
“You can always ask for him to sell it to you, you know,” I smiled wryly.
“Hmph! I... might just do that!” she harrumphs. “D-Do you think he’d take any requests?”
“Hm? Probably. What, did you want one of yourself or something?” I asked.
Considering it was Rudy we were talking about, he’d probably try to use that as an excuse to touch her, but then again, he knew I would make him regret if he did anything like that, and Eris wouldn’t that slide either, so he knew better... probably.
Eris averted her eyes. “N-Not exactly... A-Anyway! Let’s go!”
Grabbing my hand, Eris then led me past the manor’s gate and down the crowded street, a visible skip in her step the entire way.
I guess the Young Miss was excited, huh?
Usually, a noble would never intermingle with the common folk like this, even for a festival, unless they were the stars of the show, which was why Eris was currently dressed in cheaper clothes than she would normally wear.
They were still of good quality, of course, but it wouldn’t make one think the girl was the granddaughter of the liege lord and daughter of the mayor.
At most, she would look like the child of a successful merchant or something similar.
Even then, this was still quite a weird situation, but with Eris begging her parents and working hard in her lessons, she was eventually granted permission.
Ghislaine would be watching over us on the rooftops, obviously, but with the culprit behind the attempted kidnapping now discovered, Darius would have to be very stupid to try it again, especially considering how protective Sauros was of Eris and how impulsive the man was.
“-eon? Hey, Leon!” Eris exclaimed.
That snapped me out of my thoughts. “Hm? What is it, Eri?”
“There’s meat pies! Let’s get some!” she said with excitement.
“Sure. Did you bring your money?” I asked.
“Come on, Leon,” she said, bringing out her coin purse. “I’m not that stupid.”
Yeah, but I have a feeling she forgot another part of our outdoor lessons.
“Oh yeah? Can I see what’s inside of it?” I asked.
“Of course!”
Taking a peek inside the pouch, I saw that it’s filled with around ten coins.
Ten gold coins.
“Haa... Do you remember why I get paid ten silver coins instead of one gold coin, Eris?” I asked.
“Huh? No, I forgot,” she said, tilting her head.
“Because not everyone has the coins to exchange for gold coins. Especially not a stall at a festival like this one,” I said. “We’ll have to use my money.”
“...Oh.”
Yeah, oh.
“You should start learning these skills soon, Eris,” I said, pulling out my coin purse. “I won’t always be there to help you out.”
Eris turned her head to the side in a pout. “...Why can’t you?”
“Huh?”
“N-Nothing! Come on, you have to buy me a meat pie, right?” she said, pulling me along once again.
Truly, such a spoiled noble girl.
But ‘why can’t you’... I guess I wouldn’t mind being her guard for a little longer.
I did have a small want to explore the world a little, and maybe even become an adventurer for a while, but family unconditionally came first.
Maybe, when Aisha and Norn grew up a little, we could move to Roa, or maybe even Sharia if they wanted to go to Ranoa, but then there’d be the problem of Sylphy and Eris... ah, whatever, the future was too complex to predict.
With Eris having happily eaten a meat pie and a half, and sharing the last half of the second one with me, we then slowly wandered around the bustling city.
It wasn’t anything interesting, really, but for Eris, who had lived an extremely sheltered life up until now, it was extremely exciting to see such a festive atmosphere.
The bard’s music brought a smile to her face, and the short festival games we played made it even wider, and then, finding ourselves next to the large bonfire that was lit at the city centre, the music changed, and the townsfolk began dancing in celebration.
“Eri? Do you want to dance?” I asked, holding my hand out.
“Erm...” she said anxiously, “I’m, uhh-”
“Look around, Eri. This isn’t some formal dance like your birthday party,” I interrupted her.
The surrounding dancers were extremely uncoordinated.
People took each other’s hands in pairs or larger groups and simply had fun, enjoying the celebratory atmosphere.
Old, young, man, woman... It didn’t matter.
“Let loose, Eri,” I pulled her toward the fire. “Just enjoy the moment with me.”
And then, we began to dance.
She was still a bit hesitant and nervous at first, but she quickly noticed that there was absolutely no need for etiquette and formalities here.
She didn’t have to be prim and proper.
She could be loud and rude.
She could mess up her steps and laugh it off with a smile.
Right here, right now... she could be herself, with nothing holding her back.
And I wasn’t embarrassed to say she looked beautiful... at least inwardly.
A happy and free Eris truly was the best Eris.
Eventually, the fire’s glow began to weaken and the height of the flames reduced, signalling an end to the festivities, but seeing how happy Eris looked, with a light sheen of sweat perfecting her charming smile, she didn’t seem to mind.
“Leon! That was so much fun!” she exclaimed. “You better take me next year!”
“Sure thing. As long as you keep up with your studies,” I teased.
“Hmph!”
At the mention of ‘studies’, she harrumphed and looked away, but that couldn’t hide how the corner of her lips remained curled up.
“But yes, I’ll be sure to take you next year. Hmm... maybe we should bring Sylphy too,” I said.
That girl was nearly as sheltered as Eris, though for a much different reason, so she would probably love to experience such a nice festival.
Instead of agreeing with me, Eris's eyebrows twitched, and I felt an elbow jab into my stomach.
“...Why?” I asked.
Weren’t they friends?
She stuck her bottom lip out in a pout, “Nothing.”
Hmm... she seemed more conflicted than angry.
“...Okay.”
Perhaps she was having some trouble with puberty or something.
“Let’s go back home then. And make sure you have a bath,” I said.
“A-Are you saying I smell!?” she shouted.
My lips curled into a wide smirk. “Maybe~”
Needless to say, I got another elbow jab in response, though I also got a laugh out of her discreetly sniffing her hair with worry on the way back.