Chapter 51
Daphne is in the mountain.
It’s that mountain where she started to make a name for herself by beating up bandit groups.
Thanks to Teiti connecting Daphne’s room and the mountain with a teleport magic tool, Daphne was able to come here without much difficulty.
Whoosh, the wind blows. The leaves of the trees filling the mountain rustle and scatter. The smell of grass wafts strongly. It’s peaceful and quiet.
“Damn it.”
But Daphne was never swept up in that atmosphere.
She was just steadfastly staying in a bad mood with determination.
“Petty dragon bastard.”
Yesterday, when she asked Heros about the location of Sellus’s seal, the hero said this.
-Go out.
-If you don’t go out, I’ll chase you out.
Would it hurt to tell me that?
Of course, she knows it’s confidential, but still, huh? Can’t parents and children share one or two secrets?
‘Of course, I’m not really his child.’
To be precise, she’d be his great-grandfather’s friend…… anyway!
“If he won’t tell me, then I have to find out myself.”
To do that, she needs to regain her power first. Her power engraved in her soul.
Right now, she’s doping with Teiti’s medicine, but that’s just like a cup of water when the original Sellus’s power is the size of the sea.
“It’s better than before now, but it’s still far short.”
Daphne wiggled her fingers, then soon sat in seiza on the rock.
‘I need to regain my power.’
To do that, she needs to extract the aura of death from black mages.
But to easily handle black mages, she needs to become strong.
It’s truly a contradictory situation.
The black mages she saw not long ago weren’t that strong. Daphne could handle them alone.
But if those guys come in a group, the situation changes. With her current body, the possibility of defeat is high.
‘So there’s only one thing I can do now.’
Expand the size of the mana vessel and learn swordsmanship.
“Tsk.”
She took a deep breath.
The mana vessel settled in Daphne’s body wasn’t made in the usual way.
It was just forcibly creating space after chewing mana stones and forcefully putting mana into the body.
‘After that, I had to stabilize the vessel, but I couldn’t because of lack of mana.’
But now?
[Mana: 230]
Thanks to devouring three black mages, a lot has accumulated.
With this much, not only stabilizing the vessel but also expanding it should be possible. Daphne took another deep breath.
‘Concentrate.’
She draws in the natural mana filling the forest into her body and mixes it with the mana inside her body.
The mana of nature itself, and the mana created by absorbing the aura of death.
These two can never combine.
But one person, Daphne, can do it.
From the beginning, Sellus was a being born embracing the aura of death, and in that state, she has a history of absorbing natural mana to grow her power.
“Tsk.”
Daphne regulated her breathing and concentrated the mana mixing and scattering inside the vessel.
“Ugh…… It hurts…….”
It’s full of pain, but she endures. Blood flows from her tightly bitten lips, but she endures. Instead, she slowly scratches the walls of the vessel. To expand the size.
Whoosh-
The wind blows again. It’s the natural wind carrying the scent of the forest strongly.
“……Ha. I almost died.”
Daphne panted and wiped the cold sweat falling to her chin with the back of her hand and wiped the blood. She opens her eyes wide.
“I must be getting old too. To be tired from just this.”
But contrary to saying she’s tired, Daphne’s complexion was much better than before.
The sickly air remains, but she doesn’t look as haggard as before. It’s because she organized the mana accumulated in her body and expanded the size of the vessel.
“Still, my power has strengthened to some extent.”
Daphne felt the mana settled in her body and concentrated her mind again.
“Burn up.”
Then a fist-sized fireball appeared in front of Daphne’s eyes.
No matter how you look at it, it’s a very clean-shaped fireball.
Daphne’s lips curved up into an arc.
“By human standards, it’d be about 3-star level.”
A mere 5-year-old child using 3-star magic and handling mana!
It’s unprecedented in the empire’s history.
If people knew, it’s something that would make them fall back in shock, but Daphne was calm.
“It’s still far from returning to my original power…….”
From Daphne’s perspective, 3-star is just infant level.
Tsk. Daphne, smacking her lips, slowly stood up.
“They say even a thousand-mile journey starts with a single step. This is just the beginning.”
She expanded the size of the vessel and refined the mana.
What she has to do after that is,
“Let’s go swing a sword.”
To master the sword even more completely than when she was Sellus!
“Look forward to it, dragon. I’ll become a better swordsman than you!”
And I’ll inherit Vertio’s will!
Daphne clenched her fist tightly and giggled.
***
Whoosh!
Whish!
Daphne, who came to the training ground, had been swinging the sword nonstop for several hours.
The 1st form of the Galaxy Sword, Comet Wave Slash, was a sword form that Daphne had originally mastered, but with her current body, it’s still incomplete.
Because she’s unfolding the form with a human body, not a dragon’s body.
‘A little more……!’
Swish!
A sword form that cuts through the air, leaving multiple afterimages to attack the opponent.
The tip of Daphne’s bamboo sword blurred, leaving afterimages. And the real bamboo sword appearing right from the right side.
“Hoo.”
Daphne lowered her arm, which now had no strength left at all, and panted.
When she lowered her head, the sweat on her face dripped onto the floor.
“I need to build more stamina.”
She doesn’t faint like before, but her stamina is still far short for learning the sword.
From tomorrow, I should come out a bit earlier and run around the training ground…… Hmm?
“Who’s there?”
Someone entered Daphne’s view as she was continuing her thoughts.
A child with pink hair braided into two pigtails and large sparkling eyes.
She looks familiar from somewhere, who was it? Daphne narrowed her eyes. The child greeted Daphne vigorously.
“I’m Brysa Finch, milady! It’s truly an honor to meet you again like this!”
Ah. That promising young human she saw at the ball.
“Alright. It’s been a while. But what brings you here?”
“Yes?”
Brysa widened her eyes. Then she shook her head a couple of times and answered in a strong voice.
“I heard the news that lady Daphne returned from the subjugation party, and with the hope of hearing about lady Daphne’s valiant battles if there’s a chance, I sent a letter, and I received permission to visit today, so I came like this! Perhaps…… you didn’t hear about it?”
Daphne briefly recalled her memory.
Come to think of it, before leaving the room today, Anna said something.
-You mustn’t dirty your clothes today. Because Lady Brysa FPinch is coming. Until the teatime in the afternoon, absolutely! Absolutely don’t run around the training ground!
She seemed to have said something like that…….
Daphne glanced down at her appearance.
Hmm. It’s dirty enough that a beggar would come and ask if you’re my comrade.
“No. I heard.”
“I’m glad!”
“But I forgot and practiced swordsmanship, so my clothes got dirty. I’ll go change clothes quickly.”
Even if she doesn’t know the etiquette of the human world, she knows at least that she shouldn’t drink tea in such a dirty state.
That’s what she said, but surprisingly, Brisa gave an unexpected answer.
“Aren’t the dirty clothes traces of lady Daphne’s efforts? Just looking at them makes me feel good! You don’t need to mind it.”
What Brysa said wasn’t the bone-filled speech that nobles often use, but words filled with sincerity.
Brysa had actually arrived at the grand duke’s house an hour ago.
Then she heard that Daphne was at the training ground, asked for understanding, and stood at the training ground the whole time.
Because she wanted to see Daphne’s bloody efforts with her own two eyes!
She heard that Daphne Achion has a very weak body due to a congenital disease.
Stories that she doesn’t have much time left to live also came often, so Daphne’s eccentric and troublesome rascal behavior might be because she’s too sensitive from living with a weakened body.
Anyway, to the previous Brysa, Daphne Achion was about ‘the unfortunate lady with an incurable disease’, ‘the ill-tempered rascal’. And indeed, when they met half a year ago, Daphne showed such a side.
But the Daphne she saw not long ago shattered Brysa’s preconceptions.
She blew away Mark Brown, who was boasting about becoming a trainee Guardian and raising his family’s status, with one punch.
-How dare you push my subordinate.
Just because Brisa was pushed!
Was that all?
Daphne saved people from the black magic terror. Even herself!
When her leg was crushed under the
debris and she thought she would really die like this and was about to give up on life, Daphne appeared.
-You! Why aren’t you coming out and staying here like this!
And she held Brisa’s hand.
How could she forget that touch? She probably won’t forget it for life.
‘Lady Daphne is a hero.’
Daphne was truly a righteous person. Just like Daphne’s father, the hero!
So Brysa steadfastly watched Daphne practicing at the training ground.
Because those bloody efforts saved not only herself but many people. I want to watch that effort!
‘I want to be by her side.’
Not just because she saved my life. I just want to be by the great Daphne’s side. I want to see and learn many things by her side!
“Um, milady.”
What should she do to achieve that?
Brysa recalled her origins.
She is the stepdaughter of the Marquis Pinch family, and the Marquis Pinch family is a merchant family that dominates the empire.
Does she know what’s the first thing to do to build relationships between people?
Thinking that among her peers, only she would know the answer to that question, Brysa took out what she brought.
“I brought a gift.”
Nicely put, it’s an expression of sincerity.
Badly put, it’s a bribe though.
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By Anna 💓
