THAT DAY I BECAME A STAR

Outside the tent, I meet Keltia and the others, waiting apparently for us to finish.

"Are they finished?" Keltia seems to be the only one who wants to meet Frankher though.

"Not yet but you can go in. I think it is mostly small talk they are having now."

"No, it would be better that I wait then. Oh, by the way, are they doing over there?"

"Good. Lanuvel said she misses you."

"Oh, really? How sweet!" Keltia shows me a sincere and clear smile of happiness.

"What about me?" Where did you pop out from? I didn't see Germinia arrive at all? Was she listening this whole time?

"She didn't say anything specific about you. Just that she hopes everyone will stay healthy."

"Wiat, that's all. No letter or anything?"

"Nope. By the way, Keltia, Excia asks me to tell you that you must bring it back like in the same state that you borrowed it."

"Tch. Can she forget about it?" I don't want to know what this is about.

"Hey, you sure she didn't send any letter?"

"Stop pulling my clothes."

"You are hiding it from me, right?"

"Hm…Actually, I do remember her talking about you once."

"What did she say? What did she say?" Look at you now, with shining eyes. If you were a puppy, Germinia, your tail would be shaking like crazy.

"Woof!" Speaking of dog…

"Sorry, got to go."

I leave Germinia rapidly and follow Willhem who just got out.

"Hey, tell me what she said!"

Just because Lanuvel is involved, she doesn't see Willhem who nearly killed some moments ago, and grabs my shirt so hard I am yanked back.

"See? This is exactly why she said you are annoying."

I remove her hand, fix my clothes and leave.

"I don't believe you, you know?!" I don't care.

"What did Frankher say?"

"There is an armory near the entrance of the camp, we should go there to ask for weapons and armor. I should present this once we reach there." He shows me a piece of paper with a seal on it.

You really are too tedious Frankher.

***

The night that follows, I leave the camp with Willhem and we go inside the forest, a bit far from the camp and the fight.

"I am really surprised, Capt'. I didn't think you wouldn't remember how you fought against that woman."

"As I said, I was in a sort of trance. I can't really explain it since it didn't happen before." Let's go with that since I still can't talk to Cissa.

"Then that was one hell of a trance. Anyway, all I have to do is to show you the movements you executed, right?"

"Yeah, those you remember at least." That way, I can clearly see how was Cissa fighting and add it with my own.

I give a raizen I took at the armory to Willhem then he steps back a bit from me. They didn't have a lot of those and they were mostly of medium to low quality so I took all of the raizen I found.

"Here I go."

Willhem starts with a stab like a spear. That looks wasteful, but then, in the middle of the thrust, he advances his dominant foot then strikes with the handle of the raizen. Yeah, this might be good to lure an opponent in with a dull movement then quickly strike but it doesn't seem all too hard. I wouldn't say it is that great or creative.

After that, willhem spins once and does a wide sweep with the raizen. That's no good. I would be too exposed like this.

"While spinning, you also fired those bullets."

"I see." Indeed, if it is like this.

After the wide sweep, Willhem extends his hand to me.

"Here, you launched a fireball but there was apparently one of your bullets following it right after. I heard two explosions at that moment after all.

"Okay."

"Then you followed with this."

He restarts moving and I start to realize something: I am a genius in the worst way possible.

"I had so many variations I could apply but I kept…"

When was it? I think it must have been around the time I started training with Excafol and Selene. Even I leave aside the raizen, I have been overusing the crescent bullets. Maybe because I never forgot how Excafol praised me when I managed to use it, maybe because it became natural for me to use it over anything else. I forgot that wasn't the only asset I had.

"And there you have it. That all I remember though that most of it, I think."

"Thank you, Willhem."

"You don't look too happy though."

"No, it's okay. I just remembered something I had forgotten."

"Oh don't worry, it happens to all of us. Come, let's go back and drink."

"You know damn well he won't let me drink."

"I never said you would be drinking beer."

"Of course."

We go back to the camp and sit around a bonfire with other soldiers who don't seem to mind us. Though they did look at us for a while when we sat down. K'nor joins us sometime later. Judging by the smell coming from his mouth, this guy just ate.

"Who gave you food?"

"Woof! Woof!" His tail shakes happily. It must be Keltia or somebody who was ordered by Frankher, I guess. Though, with this glutton, I am not sure he wouldn't eat something that comes from a stranger. Hm…Nah, let's trust him.

"Oh, really? Was it good?"

"Woof!"

"I see, I see. But you didn't keep any for me though." K'nor's ears go down and his face changes into a sad one. "I just kidding, don't worry."

"I didn't know humans could speak to dogs." And of course, there had to be people who would comment.

"He isn't a dog but a wolfider." I look at the soldier who just spoke but the guy doesn't have the expression I was thinking he would have. If anything, he looks curious.

"Ah, I am sorry. Since you were treating him like such, I thought it was just a rare breed." The guy extends his hand. "I am Arthur."

"Huh…I am Kevin." Let's not be the one to act savagely now.