Published at 20th of November 2020 09:25:17 PM
Chapter 9: 9
As soon as we started travelling, Lord Corinth began asking the names of various things .
It was indeed inconvenient to communicate using only gestures . I also wanted to learn the language Lord Corinth was speaking myself .
Lord Corinth then proceeded to grab some plants and seemed to be examining each of them . He took a look at a wide variety of plants .
He seemed to be looking for ones suitable for eating . After some time, he pulled out some plants and collected them .
Those are called Poto . They are often served in meals as a side dish . I didn’t know they were actually buried on the ground .
Lord Corinth seemed to be twenty five years old . He certainly looks younger than that though .
When I attempted telling him my age as well, I felt troubled because I didn’t have enough fingers . But Lord Corinth soon counted until seventeen with his fingers and I nodded to confirm . In truth, I would be reaching seventeen half a year from now, and am still sixteen years old . However, I wanted to seem as much of an adult as possible in front of Lord Corinth for some reason .
Suddenly, a Big Boar appeared from within the mountain .
Not good . It was not too large, but it was really agitated . A Big Boar in this state was quite dangerous .
Lord Corinth stood in front in order to protect me, and the moment he unsheathed his sword, the enemy was easily felled – with just one slash too .
The moment the boar was defeated, three Grayhounds appeared .
This was truly bad . I could not serve as help at all as I am now .
However, Lord Corinth easily defeated them as well . Two of them even had their heads sent flying with just a slash each .
I would never have believed a Grayhound could be defeated in a single sword swing if I didn’t witness it myself .
He butchered the Big Boar in mere moments . And after recovering the meat, he started walking while looking as if nothing worthy of note had happened earlier .
He dropped the bodies of the Grayhounds straight down into the valley’s depths without even recovering their magic cores . But I guess he didn’t think much of their magic cores to begin with . Such high standards .
When we managed to discover a river, Lord Corinth gestured for us to go down towards it . He might be looking for a place to stay the night . And dinner as well!
My body felt a little strange since yesterday . I felt really hungry for some reason . It would not be an exaggeration to say I was totally famished .
We managed to collect meat earlier, so tonight’s dinner would definitely be meat! The food wrapped in a metallic sheet was also delicious, but its amount was too lacking .
I looked at the recovered meat, and found there were several types . I am really looking forward to eating them .
Lord Corinth seemed to be a capable chef as well . He proceeded with cooking preparations with an expert air . What impressive skills .
It would be good if I could also assist him somehow… Ah, that’s right! I shall light a fire with magic .
He cut up the black colored meat and dipped the pieces on the river’s waters . Was he trying to chill them?
He then proceeded with cutting up the rest of the meat . His cutting techniques rivaled those of a professional chef’s .
Afterwards, he headed towards the river waters once again, but suddenly threw his knife mid-way . Amazing! He just killed a large fish with that throw . I see . So the purpose of setting down the meat there earlier was in order to bait such a fish .
He also cut up the fish in no time . It has been a while since I have eaten fish!
Lord Corinth finally began cooking . He took out some bread, cut them into slices and put some previously prepared fish meat on top of them . I was curious about how he would cook it further, but it seemed to be finished with just this . We would be eating fish raw?!
I finally willed myself to try one bite after seeing Lord Corinth enjoying his meal . Delicious! I didn’t think raw fish could taste this delicious! I started eating wholeheartedly .
All the dishes that were served afterwards were absolutely excellent . It was embarrassing, but I seemed to have eaten more than Lord Corinth did .
Lord Corinth seemed to want to tell me something after the meal . He pointed at my foot, then gestured that we should not proceed with travelling on the road again for now . It was something of the sort .
Considering what happened yesterday, the condition of my leg truly wasn’t that good .
He was likely telling me that I needed some rest . When I asked how long it would take with some gestures, the answer he gave was about fifteen to twenty days .
I would not readily agree, if not for my present state . I wanted to reach Gotania as soon as possible, but I also did not want to ruin my body any further .
It would be counterproductive if I pushed myself and ended up being unable to walk once more .
I had no choice but to endure for twenty days . I nodded in agreement .
******
That’s good . I managed to convince Cleria .
Well then, there’s still a bit more to go until evening, but there wasn’t enough time to scout out the surrounding woods . Since there’s a riffle nearby, all we could do right now was to take the opportunity for a quick bath .
To be honest, I did a lot of physical work yesterday, so I sweated buckets and currently don’t feel so good . I also wanted to wash my clothes and underwear .
I gestured towards Cleria in order to let her know of my intentions . She turned beet red and gingerly nodded . Why’d she blush? Well, she’s at that age, I guess .
I walked towards the river shallows with my formal uniform and some cloth in place of a towel . It kinda sucks that I lost my spare work overalls yesterday . I started to take off my clothes and took a passing glance towards Cleria . She panicked and hurriedly turned away . Well, I don’t really mind getting seen by a kid .
I immersed myself in the water . Fu~h! That feels great . The water’s about 120 centimeters deep . The river was flowing at a slow pace . I brought my head down on the water as well . It’s a shame that I didn’t have any shampoo or body-soap with me . Does Cleria have some? I also took the opportunity to wash my uniform .
My body temperature lowered after five minutes of soaking myself, so I decided to get out of the water . Cleria still had herself turned away . I wiped my body with some cloth and put on my underwear directly after squeezing the water out of it . I didn’t have any spares, so it couldn’t be helped . It should dry up soon anyway . I put my uniform on next . It kinda felt strange because I’ve always been wearing work overalls for several days .
Cleria sensed that I’ve come out from the river and turned around, only to gape at me absentmindedly as soon as she saw me . She seemed to be quite surprised because of the fact that I changed into an officer’s uniform .
This uniform’s design was revamped five years ago, after going for one hundred and fifty years without any revisions whatsoever . The Imperial Military got unusually fired up about it, and commissioned the current number one fashion designer in the entire galaxy to improve the uniform’s aesthetics . It turned out looking pretty cool .
But anyway, would Cleria also take a bath as well?
******
Lord Corinth conveyed something surprising to me . He apparently wanted to bathe in the nearby river .
To think he would do such a thing in front of a lady! I thought as such, but immediately reconsidered . This was not the capital, and Lord Corinth is a travel companion and not one of my subjects . He was free to take any actions he deemed necessary . Moreover, separating from each other in the current situation wasn’t wise . There was a danger of encountering vicious monsters such as Grayhounds after all .
Lord Corinth mostly likely disregarded his sense of shame in order to be able to protect me immediately in case of such an event . I am sorry to let Lord Corinth experience something so shameful because of my weakness .
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He seems to have finally gotten out of the water . I was surprised to see Lord Corinth’s present appearance . He wore a different set of clothes from the ones he had on before . Silver and gold trimmings were generously used to accentuate his current crisp, black clothing .
It was a military uniform . It was of course a design I haven’t seen before, but my intuition judged it to be so . What exquisite tailoring! I could even feel a sense of majesty . The quality of the fabric used was beyond me!
Until recently, I had only vaguely felt that Lord Corinth was a part of the nobility . But judging from his current appearance, it was possible that he was a high ranking aristocrat – a marquis at the very least . No, it was also possible that he was a part of the royal lineage . This once again reminded me of how unfathomable Lord Corinth was .
I had been thinking of doing so after seeing Lord Corinth bathing earlier, and finally decided to bathe myself . The last time I took a bath was seven days ago, and my entire body was caked with dirt and dried blood .
I conveyed my intentions to Lord Corinth . He reminded me to cry out in case anything out of place happened . He then turned away .
No, at least help me to remove my belts and armor first please . I pointed out all fourteen belts to Lord Corinth in order for him to remove them . I then had him take off my armor as well . I was wearing clothes properly under the armor, so it was fine . It seems Lord Corinth was really curious about my armor .
I went to the waterside with a change of clothes . Lord Corinth had his back turned to me and was busy examining my armor . I took off my clothes and went in the water . It has been a long time since I properly cleansed myself .
It felt great . I thoroughly washed my dirt filled and blood soaked body and hair . I then washed my used clothes next .
I felt refreshed . It was the first time I had felt so happy while cleansing my body . I went out of the water and got dressed .
Lord Corinth seems to have noticed I had gotten out of the river as well . But when he turned around and looked at me, he made a very surprised face . I hurriedly checked my appearance . I was wearing half pants designed for knights and a tunic . I do not think them strange . Why is Lord Corinth so surprised?
******
It seems Cleria also wanted to bathe . That’s good . Cleria’s body still had dried blood sticking all over it . She seemed to have tried removing some of it, but her face and hair still had some sticking on them .
Oops, she seems to want me to help take off her armor . Oh, that’s a lot of belts . Guess you really can’t wear these alone . Her armor felt strangely light when I took them off . I already noticed it when I examined the protectors yesterday, but even her torso armor was quite light .
(What’s it made of?)
[…Unknown . ]
Huh? Nanom was unable to analyze this thing?
[Please ingest a sample . ]
Eh? Ain’t that kind of bad? This was Cleria’s after all . Would a piece from the back of the armor work? I scraped a really small portion off and swallowed it .
[It seems to be a metal alloy of some sort . ]
Uh, okay . So you can’t give me any other details huh? It looks like stainless steel but it’s unusually lightweight . I have no choice but to ask Cleria later . I cleaned the dirt off the armor pieces with a cloth .
She seems to have finished bathing . When I turned around, I saw a whole different girl from before .
Eh? Cleria!?
She turned so beautiful to the point that I would’ve mistaken her for another person .
Her brunette hair was vibrant and her skin was milky white . She had lovely and elegant features fit for Miss Galaxy .
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She changed so much just from washing some dirt off? It was like a complete make-over man! Women really were fearsome .
It’s already evening .
It’s time to sleep . I had Cleria lie down first, cleaned up after the meal, picked up some firewood, threw them inside the bonfire and had Nanom take charge of guard duty .
I woke up at dawn as always . There were still a lot of fish and boar meat left, so I grilled them all before they went bad . We’ll have the rest for lunch .
Cleria was attracted by the smell of grilled meat and fish and woke up as well . The menu is the same as yesterday’s . I refrained from making raw canapes this time .
Cleria’s appetite was tremendous right from the morning, but there was enough grilled meat to go around, so I packed the rest into a bento for lunch .
After cleaning up, I helped Cleria put her armor back on and set off once again . I wanted to look for a place suitable for a base camp upstream, in a direction away from the road . You really can’t resist the benefits of being near a river .
We walked for about three hours along the riverbank . [There is a large opening in that direction . ] Nanom suddenly announced .
There was a wide space between two large rocks nearby . Rather than a cave, it was more of a gap made between two large rock walls .
I cautiously entered inside . I had to bend low in order to squeeze myself in, but the interior was tall and wide enough for people to stand . It was about 5×5 meters by my estimate .
Unfortunately, there was a ten centimeter opening on top of the formation . If it rains, water would soak the place .
But you could say it was convenient in daytime as well, because sunlight would seep in from the opening . There was also an area which would shield us from the rain further in, so we should be able to make do .
It’s pretty nice overall . Yep, it’s great . If we put some obstacles near the entrance, it would serve as the perfect base .
Was this place okay with Cleria? I gestured to ask, and she nodded in reply . For the meantime, let’s stay here . If we encounter any problems, let’s just look for another place .
First, let’s think of ways to block off the entrance . Well, the only options available would be stones or making a fence from wood .
We left all our luggage inside and went out with only weapons in hand for some recon . I found another riffle about 50 meters upstream that was perfect for bathing . There were also some fish swimming about in the water .
After looking around a bit, I haven’t managed to find materials suitable for blocking the base entrance . Wait, there’s a fallen tree with a large enough trunk about 150 meters ahead, near the riverbank . It doesn’t look durable enough to be used for long, but I’ll check it out anyway .
When I observed closer, the tree really did have a fairly thick looking trunk . It felt like this tree had stood in this area for a considerable amount of years before finally toppling over . It’s thickness was just right, but it’s length was about 10 meters long .
If I had a tool specialized in cutting trees on hand, it would’ve posed no problem . But I don’t have such a thing with me . It even seems I would have a tough time even with an axe due to the thickness of the trunk . It would be too difficult and time consuming with just a knife . A sword isn’t exactly suitable either .
I pulled out my sword anyway and tried hitting it with just the tip . When I did so, the blade ended up sinking halfway .
Wow, this sword sure is sharp! I didn’t even put in a lot of strength in that swing . I swung it down with a little more force next . This time, the sword blade got buried fully inside . It would be too inconvenient to do this repeatedly .
If I swung it down with full force every time, there was a chance the sword would chip and break .
Huh? This situation seemed kinda familiar…
Come to think of it, there was a scenario similar to this one in the game .
That RPG had a turtle monster which would rebound most attacks if you only hit it with plain sword slashes . It was a stage where either you defeated the monster first or your sword gets broken in the battle .
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I remember I got a lot of swords broken in that particular stage .
But if you master the control of Ki, you would be able to pass the stage without your sword getting broken in the process .
That’s right! I remember now . There was a technique I learned in order to pass that stage .
Corinth-style Swordsmanship Hidden Technique – Final Blade
This was a special technique which would infuse Ki (life energy) from within the body to the blade of a sword in order to buff its attack and cutting power .
Aaargh! That embarrassing name! Really man, what was I thinking back then dammit!?
What’s up with the whole Ki (life energy) thing anyway? The developers were having too much fun designing that game .
I remember the days when I desperately tried to copy that skill from an NPC master and managed to obtain it after countless rounds of trial and error . It felt kinda nostalgic and made me want to try it out right now .
I closed my eyes and took a stance with my sword . I sensed the life energy within my body, controlled its flow and guided it up my arms, towards the sword blade… Just kidding!
I was just kinda playing around . But when I opened my eyes once more, my sword released a blinding glow .
(What the heck’s going on!?)
[Unconfirmed . But we have managed to pick up an unknown energy signature . ]
Again with that stuff huh . Did I really manage to activate Final Blade?
I tried lightly slashing the trunk with my sword . The tree was easily cut up without offering any resistance whatsoever .
Oi, oi! What the heck’s up with this man? I stared intently at the glowing sword blade .
Even Cleria should find this surprising! When I turned towards her, I found her oggling the tree trunk and not my glowing sword . Huh? You’re concerned about that?
(This is weird, isn’t it?) I asked Nanom .
[It’s abnormal . ]
Yep, thought so . Well, I ended up cutting it anyway, so whatever . Let’s make full use of it then . I rolled the log all the way over to our new base .
When we arrived back, I tried to think of the best method to use the thing . Guess I’ll just have to use some strength to move it aside whenever we go out . There wasn’t any point to using it to block the entrance if it could be moved away easily anyway . It’s length was close to 1 meter, and it looked quite heavy .
I had Cleria go in first and followed afterwards while pulling the log to seal the entrance . I’m glad we managed to find something nearby . Cleria would have a hard time moving this thing . The thickness of the trunk fit the entrance nicely . The remaining gaps don’t exceed 20 centimeters in width . Dangerous creatures would be unable to easily enter with this .
When I turned towards Cleria to ask for her opinion, she nodded while seeming impressed .
Ok . With this, security is set .
Since it was about ten in the morning already, I decided to have an early lunch . The food tasted alright, even when cold .