From above, from below, from the left, from the right.
I desperately fended off Father’s relentless assault coming from every direction, using nothing but 『Parry』.
「『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』」
This is bad! This is brutal!
My magic power! My magic power is getting drained fast!
And my breathing! I can barely breathe!
「Amazing, Alec! This level of defense is incredible!? 」
「『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』」
「I’m going to keep going, Alec!」
Please don’t! Stop, Father! I’m already close to my limit!
I want to say that, but I can’t! I don’t have the room to speak!
「Come on, Alec!」
「『Parry』『Parry』『Parry』――『Glowing Parry』！」
「Eh…」
Seizing a brief opening, I used 『Glowing Parry』 instead of 『Parry』 to deflect Father’s attack.
A clump of glowing moss sprouted on his sword, and the surprise made him stop attacking.
「Haa… haa…」
「Ah… sorry, Alec. Are you okay…?」
I am not okay. I’m exhausted. Completely drained. I collapsed to the ground, supporting myself with my hands, utterly worn out.
As I casually handled Father’s attacks with 『Parry』, he gradually got more fired up. Each strike became heavier and faster.
It was too scary to deal with those attacks without 『Parry』, so I kept spamming it nonstop.
And before I knew it, I had walked straight into a nightmare…
Father’s overenthusiastic assault had reached a level I couldn’t normally handle. Enduring that barrage was both physically and mentally exhausting. On top of that, the fatigue from burning through my magic power all at once was overwhelming.
「B-but that was amazing, Alec. No matter how much I attacked, you didn’t break at all. In fact, you handled it so well that an average person wouldn’t even be able to keep attacking like that」
「Hyu… hyu…」
「Yeah… so, sorry about that…?」
Hyu… hyu…
◇
I finally calmed down.
That turned into a pretty intense training session for early morning.
「For now, I understand that 『Parry』 is actually useful」
Yeah, I got that. I experienced it firsthand. Thoroughly.
「Yeah. It was amazing….It was so amazing, I started having fun」
「Well, that’s fine, I guess…」
I could tell Father was enjoying himself. Even though I was in such a miserable state, he was happily swinging his sword, and honestly, it irritated me quite a bit.
Still, that was seriously rough…
It was even tougher than my sword training with Jisrare-san.
Jisrare-san, who believes that 『injuries can just be healed afterward』, is actually quite strict in her teaching.
To the point where I sometimes wonder if she thinks 『as long as you don’t die, it’s just a scratch』.
This morning’s training was even harsher than that…
「…Huh?」
「Alec? What’s wrong?」
「Uh………… no, it’s nothing」
「Hmm?」
…Thinking about it, I obtained 『Parry』 during my second world journey.
Which means I probably gained it during my harsh training with Jisrare-san. In those two weeks of training with her, I acquired a 『Sword』 skill art…
How would Father feel if he knew that?
I’ve been training in swordsmanship with him for nearly ten years. If he found out I gained a skill art not from that, but from just two weeks with Jisrare-san… he might feel a bit down.
…Yeah. I won’t tell him.
No matter how annoyed I got, I don’t want to see Father looking dejected.
「By the way, Alec, now that we understand 『Parry』――」
「Hm?」
「What about 『Rental Skill』?」
「…………」
『Rental Skill』, the skill art from my 『Summoning』 skill that I obtained before.
It’s been… about three months now.
「Before you left on your journey, you said you still didn’t know what it did, right?」
「…I still don’t know」
「I see…」
It’s been three months since I got it, and I still don’t understand its effect.
I’ve tried testing it in various ways, but it never activates. I figured 『I’ll understand it eventually』 and left it alone… but even now, I still have no clue.
What even is this skill art? What’s going on with it?
Lately, every time I think about it, it just leaves me feeling uneasy.
「Um… well, cheer up, Alec. I’m sure you’ll figure it out eventually」
Thinking about it like that, three months have passed and I still don’t understand it…?
「Ah, forget about that art for now. I actually had something I wanted to ask you, Father」
「Hm? What is it?」
「About Jisrare-san’s compensation」
「Compensation?」
It was something that came up while I was talking with Jisrare-san yesterday.
The payment for accompanying me on my world journey, just how much was it?
「To be blunt, how much did you pay her?」
「Eh… you really want to ask that…?」
「I absolutely do. I mean, it’s all for my sake, right? I want to know how much you paid and how much Jisrare-san received」
「Hmm…」
「So, please」
「Hmm, hmm」
「Please」
I kept insisting like that, repeating 『please, please』 until Father finally gave in.
And the amount he finally revealed was,
「…Isn’t that way too cheap?」
「Uh…」
The amount Father paid Jisrare-san for accompanying the journey was far lower than I had imagined.
「You should pay ten times that, no, even twenty times」
「Twenty times…」
That much would be appropriate. Honestly, the original amount is just too low.
「During the journey, I relied on Jisrare-san for everything. Without her, my trip wouldn’t have worked at all」
In that case, we should show proper 『sincerity』 in return.
「…Did you really rely on her that much?」
「Completely. I even had her use healing magic on me at least once a day」
「In that case, I think you should work on improving yourself a bit more…」
That leaves me with nothing to say.
Well, after I got over my 『restless outside the forest』 issue, it wasn’t every single day anymore.
「Anyway, I’m going to demand a raise for Jisrare-san」
「You’re the one making the demand…? Hmm, I actually had to push pretty hard just to get her to accept that much…」
「Really?」
Ah, come to think of it, Jisrare-san did say something like 『I said it wasn’t necessary』. And then 『but he gave it to me anyway』…
I see… so Father had to force the money on her despite her refusing…
「So you also wanted to pay Jisrare-san, Father?」
「Hm? Ah, yeah. Of course」
「I see… I see」
It seems Father is the same as me.
He has a tendency to feel satisfaction from giving money to women.
I didn’t expect someone so similar to me to be this close.
Actually, there’s a chance this trait of mine is inherited from Father.
next chapter: 『Parry』 VS World Tree
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