THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

"You are a monster. Now I am sure of it." After my spar against Lanuvel, Roxcia comes to me and looks at my whole being with disbelief.

"That's rude."

"I don't care. You are a monster and that is that." She brushes my comment off while looking at my hands with special interest. There is nothing special about them though.

"Well, one thing is for sure now, you are almost our level."

Excia and Farner come as well. Farner's eyes are especially shining, like she just found a jewel..

"Even the way you use your aura…It is almost as if it is a script in itself. To think that elemental types of Angas could blend this well." Roxcia places her fingers on her forehead and frowns deeply. "It seems I still need to study more."

"Hey, Kevin," Farner pulls on my shirt and when I look at her, her face is almost glued on mine, "that means I can fight you for real from now on, right?"

"What?" I look at her sisters but they just turn around and leave. Wait, don't abandon me with this overexcited gnoll!

"Right?" She asks again, with an even wider smile. I hope she won't kill me.

"Huh…okay. If you want to."

***

This was the worst idea I had yet.

"Excia, you are a devil."

"You are the one who agreed to fight her for real."

"You could have told me she was going to go full out."

"You know well enough how she is. Don't blame me."

Three hours... For three hours, I had to fight against gnoll number 1 going all out. I thought I was strong since I held my own against that Longinus but it seems I was mistaken. Farner alone is way too strong!

Each of her strikes sent me flying the whole time and she broke two wooden raizens while I was blocking her attack. The worst part was that she wouldn't stop to let me take another one, saying that in a fight, your opponent will never wait. The result of all that: the garden is a whole mess.

"The tree got smashed, the flowers all almost all destroyed…How did you even manage to make that hole?!!" Keltia came out at some point when we were almost finished and started yelling at us like children. She had us kneel on the ground and is standing in front of us like Mark, back at the Flolerl's order.

I point my fingers at Farner to make her take all the blame. It's true that the hole was my doing but it doesn't matter.

"EH?! HE is lying! I didn't do that!"

"She did!"

"I didn't!! You are the one w-"

"Shut up!! Both of you!"

Keltia is red with anger. Was this garden that important? I read her mind and it seems that she used to come here with her mother and rest under that tree when she was younger. Oops, we have indeed caused trouble.

"Sorry." Farner and I apologize to her but she doesn't seem to calm down at all.

"You guys better fix this before we go back to school."

"What?!!"

"What?"

"Wait, school will start soon?" I thought we had much more time. I wanted to go fishing in Makenz. I never tried fishing before. I remember William even promised to bring me once

"Of course, idiot. You thought you wouldn't go to school anymore?"

"Puahaha! So stupid!" Farner can't hold her laugh in when Keltia calls me stupid and start rolling on the ground while laughing. So much for a hero…

"I don't want to hear that from you."

"You said something?"

"I was talking to idiot number 1 here."

"What did you say?!!"

"I can see your panties again."

"Kyaa!!" 

***

And so, for the next two days, I had to clean up and tend to the garden we destroyed. Farner was messing up things more than repairing them so I chase her out the first day. She proceeded on pulling out the stump of the tree she broke and almost pulled out the whole garden with it. How did that idea even emerge in that brain of hers is a mystery. Nevertheless, there are traces of her hands printed on the tree stump

"Fuuu…"

On the morning of the third day, I am almost done. The only thing that I can't repair is the tree that got smashed to bits by Farner's monstrous slash. Well, nothing I can do about it. The hands' marks on it, proof of Farner's brutish strength, will certainly surprise Keltia's mother when she will come back.

"You work fast, Sir." The butler comes and greets me while I am looking at the tree stump.

"Good morning."

"Good morning, Sir."

"You say I work fast but I still took three days. I am sure you guys would take less time."

"Well, considering you are not somebody who normally works in the fields, I still think you worked pretty fast."

"I did some gardening before." The good times when we were cultivating potatoes. Watering the garden in the morning before the sun came, spraying ashes all over to chase bugs away and fertilize the soil, planting the new seeds. Really, the good times.

"I see. You are a skillful man, then."

"Is there a problem?" You are awfully talkative today. I don't think we have ever discussed for more than a few seconds before.

"No, Sir. There isn't at all. Please don't do overdo it." He smiles and goes away. And he isn't thinking about anything specific in his mind. Just rumbling about unnecessary things. Did I perhaps wake up some pleasant memories for him as well? Maybe he had a joyful childhood in a farm.

I go back inside, all dirty and sweaty, and head straight to my room to take a bath. But I enter, I find Peter sitting on a chair, holding a paper. His hands are slightly trembling. My body immediately tensed up as well. Without asking, I can already guess why he is here.

"Where and when?" I directly ask him the details of the new mission we have been assigned.

The trauma from the last mission is still firmly engraved in my memory, and in Peter's as well seeing how he is trembling all over. But even so, we agreed to do it, no, we swore vengeance on Veronica. And this is the only way.

"Tomorrow night. fifty kilometers from here. A bandit camp where members of the Flolerl's knights order were spotted."

"Members of the Flolerl's knights order?" Could it be…

"Yes."

"Okay." I immediately feel better. There is a high chance that the knights who were discovered are the ones who accompanied Romas here. Though I don't understand why they are still here though.

"You know…I…I have thinking…"

"You don't have to do it if you don't want to. I can go alone, Peter."

"N-no, it's just that…"

"Like I said, you don't have to if you don't want to. It's normal to be afraid. Even I feel fear creeping down my spine right now."

"But then, how are you still so eager to go?"

"There are things that I must do, no matter what. Even if the whole world becomes my enemy."

"Seriously?"

"Well, no to that extent but as long as you understand."

"Well, I also thirst for revenge against her but…"

"You are afraid you won't see Keltia again, right?"

"W-what?! No! Of course not!"

"Ehh…Really?"

"Listen there. She is my master's daughter. Moreover, she is to be married to greater men than my oh so petty self."

"What prevents you from becoming those OH so great men?"

"Everything? Born as a commoner, no political status, no money, no power. What can I offer her? How could I protect her?"

"You can become stronger and protect her. Offer her your love if nothing else. I don't see the problem."

"You are really that naïve? Seriously?"

"I am not naïve!!!"

"If you really believe what you just said, then you are. No, you are stupid then."

"Are you provoking me?"

"No, I am stating facts. Love cannot buy food or houses. Or have you found an extraordinary way to feed people with love? And strength? Oh please, no matter how strong you are, you cannot defeat a king or a noble like master. They have way too many people ready to die for them at a finger's snap."

"I didn't say that's all you had to do! I just said if you truly had nothing better to offer her! Besides, if you already know what you lacking then why not change it?!! Aren't you the stupid one here?!!"

"Everything can't just be solved by punching and slashing through!"

"Then punch harder dammit!"

"Hey, Kevin. You saw my-"

While we are arguing, Cordel enters my room and stops right as he enters. The mood of the room is heavy after all.

"is there a problem?"

"No, there isn't." Peter gets up and leaves my room, almost bumping with Cordel on the way.

"You fucking coward."